Issue 143

When you’re a mixed martial artist and you step into the cage, the first thing you’ll do is look across the canvas to stare at your opponent. However, if you’re looking across the Octagon and you see Clay Guida bobbing around like a sugar-loaded jack-in-the-box, with his hair bouncing all over the place, you’ll have to ask yourself a pretty honest question: ‘Did I really train my cardio as much as I possibly could?’

Why? Well, there’s a strong possibility that Guida will outwork you until your legs give out and you can’t physically move anymore, because if there’s one thing that ‘The Carpenter’ brings to a fight, it’s his unrelenting workrate. Such is the legend of his intense cardio, some men often submit to the pressure long before the final bell. And yet, according to Guida, the secret is down to nothing more than long hours of hard work in the gym... Damn it!

“There’s no substitute for hard work,” he says, with the trademark enthusiasm which has made him one of the most iconic figures in the UFC’s 155lb division. “That philosophy was instilled in me at a young age with my parents and from my grandfather. My grandfather’s family had nine kids, and he began working from a young age. I’ve always followed in their footsteps when it comes to getting the roadwork done and putting in the time so it pays off later in the cage.

“I do a lot of things that other mixed martial artists do, I just believe that I put more into it. I put more heart, more determination. I believe I have a different mind-set compared to a lot of athletes. I don’t just do my strength and conditioning workouts to get them done and move on with them. I do them so I can destroy things. I want to improve every time.”

KETTLEBELLS

Guida says: “I sling a lot of kettlebells. They’re really good for hip explosion, core strength and just general explosiveness. I do a lot of kettlebell smashes and a lot of swings to get me to that point. I use all kinds of different weights during my sessions. 

“At first, my instructors had me using a 14–16kg kettlebell, but I’ve gone as far as a 40kg kettlebell. Obviously, I don’t swing that as much as I would other ones, but it’s good to finish off a workout with something that big, and do a dead lift with it.”

DISTANCE RUNNING

“There’s nothing better than just getting out there and getting some good ol’ fashioned distance running going. I run for self-preservation and to stay motivated. Obviously it helps to keep the weight down too, but there’s really no substitute for me to go out there and just run a few miles,” he says. “When I was in high school and I had to run because of football and wrestling, and I had to cut weight too, I hated running. Now I really enjoy it.

"You’ll see me pretty much anywhere I go, whether it’s on vacation or sight-seeing, I’ll always have a pair of running shoes on me. I just love being out there, being able to get a sweat and be one with nature.”

SWIMMING

“I swim two days a week and it’s a major part of my workout,” Guida reveals. “I do a lot of pool exercises with my strength and conditioning coach. It’s good to get the resistance from the pool when I’m doing my workouts in there.”

CIRCUIT TRAINING

“Greg Jackson got his circuit workout from Jon Chaimberg, who is Georges St-Pierre’s strength and conditioning coach, but Greg has put his own little twist on them. We’ll do push-ups, then jump up to do a pull-up, stuff like that. We do a lot of sprints, shuttle runs, we run in the sand dunes in New Mexico. We do trails with loose rocks. There’s a huge mountain in New Mexico that a lot of fighters at Jackson-Winkeljohn’s run up and that really works you out.”

THE GUIDA TRIATHLON

Clay says: “When I would train in Illinois, I would ride my mountain bike to the place that I went to high school. I’d run a couple of miles along the track, do a couple of sprints up and down the bleachers, and then I’d peddle my bike back home as fast as I could to my house, which was about three miles away. I’d then jump on a kayak for about an hour.”