Issue 154

Russ Dunning, Strength and Conditioning coach to Urijah Faber and many other top athletes, details the work involved in training a top UFC fighter.

Q: Where do you train Urijah?

A: “Results Psychical Therapy, Sacremento. We work with a lot of the professional athletes in town which include a lot of the baseball players, football players and tennis athletes. My boss knew I had a background in martial arts so when any of the martial artists got hurt they came to our clinic through a doctor, I would typically see the martial arts athletes.”

Q: How did you first hook up with Urijah?

A: “Years ago one of his friends at Team Alpha Male, Justin Buchholz, came in. He had torn both of his groin muscles doing Muay Thai. Urijah came on in and saw our clinic was quite a unique setting. After Urijah broke one hand and dislocated the other thumb with his fight against Mike Brown he asked me what I could do while his hands were healing, that’s when we started working together.

I helped him gain about 10lb of solid mass even with a broken hand and a splint on it. I would help tie his shoes and then I’d have him squat and do punches while doing things to his elbows to rotate. We’d spend about an hour to an hour and a half working out every single day and he couldn’t even use his hands. I helped him gain 10lb of good solid mass even with his hand injuries and when he healed from his hands he kept training He just loved the training so much that he just kept up with it. We’d do two to three workouts a week ever since.”

Q: How many sessions do you do with him a week?

A: “It really depends on where he’s at in his season. If he’s six months out I’ll regularly see him three times a week. If he’s closer to about two months out then I’ll probably see him twice a week. If he has a rehab injury then I’ll see him every day but if he’s healthy and training I’ll see him probably at the end of the day. He’ll come in around five o’clock and he won’t leave ‘til about seven.”

Q: What other tools do you find particularly effective for Urijah’s size and fighting style?

A: “My favourite one is plyometrics. What I mean by plyometrics is moving the body with as much speed as you can generate. A lot of people would just simply equate that to a sprint, but really you can do it in any way you can think off. I have him do three types: jumping plyometrics, punching plyometrics and pulling plyometrics.”

Q: Jumping as in vertical box jumps?

A: We use adjustable hurdles. I like hurdle jumps and single-leg jumps. Single leg jumps are jumping from one leg to two legs and jumping from two legs to one leg. It’s amazing how hard you can make a jump if you tackle two jumps together and then tackle three jumps together. It can make it very hard to control your agility and power.

I have different hurdles that Urijah jumps over and different lengths he jumps over. It’s not only fun but challenging because I’m asking him to jump as far and high as he possibly can. We fully maximize his potential that way and achieve some fantastic results.”

Q: Why does that work so well for fighting?

A: “When they punch they don’t put pressure on both feet off the ground, they put pressure on one particular foot. All that power from the fist is coming from one particular foot so I like doing single leg jumps because it works one leg.”

Q: Urijah says he does a lot of agility work. Would this be ladder drills?

A: “Yeah, I really like the ladder routine. With the ladder routine and sprinting I can create a circuit that mimics how he fights. I can push his body to the full limit for five minutes and then he gets a minute break. It’s a great way of not only being a little bit creative with the program but also mimicking the aerobic demand of the sport.”

Q: Is there anything unique to Urijah that you train?

A: “I do different mobility movements to help his spine be able to rotate well. He has a lot of mass in his upper body so I help him become a little bit more flexible.”

SCHEDULING WORKOUTS

Q: What advice could you give guys fitting exercise in around their busy American work schedule?

A: I would first and foremost write down and put on your wall a set of reasons as to why this schedule is going to help you in your life so you can remind yourself why you’re going to make time to do it. Whether it’d be health, feeling better, looking better or giving you more energy, put it on your wall.

Secondly make a schedule and stick to it. Get someone who’s gonna help you stick to that schedule like a friend with a common goal or someone who can keep you honest with it. Finally, find something that’s fun. You don’t want to do something every day that you dread so try and implement exercise that you enjoy into your life.”