Quick TIps

Sorry for the delay as I have a fight coming up along with a few of my teammates in Moultrie GA on April 5th (it's an hour drive north of Tallahassee--let me know if you need tickets {$20} 941-539-3383).

ANYWAY quick tips:

Not to give blanket instruction but avoid energy products for the purpose of training. Proper diet(EAT before training, even if you're trying to lose weight) and rest should give you enough energy. While there are some supplements that do help with energy realize that most 'energizing' products are meant for a quick fix and most often meant to get you through a few hours of driving or sitting at a desk, not heavy training.

Get plenty of rest. This will help with the above. If you have ever trained on little sleep you will know how it effects your recovery from the previous day's work and your performance during even very light training. Aim for about 8 hours of RESTFUL sleep each night. If that's impossible, try a nap--20 minutes will do unbelievable things.

Water. About 1 gal a day for most people (slight + or - for your size). It helps with digestion, hunger control(start every meal with a tall glass of water if you find yourself overeating at meals), prevents cramping, helps carry nutrients to where it's needed, helps with recovery, etc, etc, etc. Try to drink plenty before, during, and after workouts. One helpful note on that would be to try drinking most of your water well before you go to bed. If not, you'll find trips to the bathroom cutting into that restful sleep you need.

MMA Greater than the sum of its parts

Upon its creation the sport had the interesting problem that all new things have, what to call it. When it come down to it a few names were rejected in favor for Mixed Martial Arts for a reason--previous examples were No Holds Bar fighting, extreme fighting, ultimate fighting (feeding off of the "ultimate" name being tossed around a lot during the early 90s but now copyrighted by the UFC) and cage fighting (in the end, not all matches occur in a cage). MMA became a de facto moniker where it became necessary to refer to it within a mainstream and politically correct context. The history and story surrounding the name MMA would likely take a few thousands words to describe. However, let's skip all of that to take a lesson out of the name 'Mixed Martial Arts' by allowing the title to give us a useful way of looking at the sport.

One way to appreciate and to train for the game is to break down MMA into a few basic parts: Striking, Wrestling, Grappling, and Conditioning.

Striking- for the most part lifted from boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai kickboxing. Basically, hitting for the purpose of stopping an opponent. (note the goal is full contact and LEGAL techniques as opposed to those found in some other martial arts)

Wrestling- most techniques taken from folk wrestling, freestyle wrestling, greco roman wrestling and judo. The act of taking an opponent down, keeping them down, keeping them underneath you. Add to that the ability to counter these actions.

Grappling- with greatest influence coming from Brazilian Juijitsu and submission wrestling. The main difference between wrestling and grappling is that grappling does not always focus on staying on top, but instead on applying techniques that finish an opponent. These include chokes, strangulations, joint manipulation, and bone breaking. The difference between chokes and strangles will be a future lesson.

Conditioning- the x-factor so to speak in MMA. Cardio, power, strenth, diet, personal care (such as recovery and injury treatment) Perhaps more recently this area of the sport has received the most attention as successful camps with long histories have only just recently been adding strength and conditioning coaches that might have only a theoretical understanding of actual combat.


Overall, MMA is an expansive sport. Part of its great appeal is that this is so. However, there are two things to keep in mind when appreciating and training within the sport. One is to break it down in its part. Two is to be able to put it together.

*I rarely purposely input my personal decisions in this blog but in my humble opinion the second is the most important.

A note on finishing

One of the rare skills in any combat sport is the ability to finish. Not just finishing strong, but literally finishing the fight. For the sake of this blog we'll take a very, very small look at finishing via strikes.

For most, the idea of being a strong finisher is tied to a fighter's ability to be aggressive. This might be the single most important factor, but wanting to KO or TKO an opponent doesn't always lead to that. In fact, most times a fighter's over-aggression can lead to many problems among them: tiring out, being open to counter-striking, deviating from a game plan, loss of control, not getting off first, frustration, injury, etc.

Instead, what may be more accurate would be that one of the keys to being a finisher is to be able to mix aggression with know-how. Among the many different components of ending a fight are the concepts of power, speed, and accuracy. While most see damage as a result of power, what is often overlooked is the ability to hurt an opponent with a rapid succession of strikes and with the well-timed placement of a single strike. Beyond that is the idea of mixing all three. An example of how this is NOT done: rocking an opponent with a single shot and then throwing nothing but wild, hard punches that are easily evaded(or lead to being tied up or taken down), working too much on combinations and not following up with heavier shots (in a headhunter's sport such as MMA we often see where a more technical striker outpoints an opponent but gets caught in the end because they did not finish), not throwing any strikes at all in hopes of waiting for a perfect opportunity (no offense is no offense).

So if we take lessons from the previous examples: if you stun an opponent, work on connecting a follow-up strike that in actuality won't require as much force as the initial blow to finish; if you're landing in combinations that open up an opponent's defense or put them off balance look for the opportunity to land a more powerful shot; be active with either of the previous approaches to encourage an opponent to open the door for you.

Last and perhaps most of all: Don't try to knock people out. Don't try to knock people out. Work hard and be assertive. Don't try to knock people out. Finishing is an incredibly rare gift. By some accounts finishing in a natural born talent. Some champion strikers with great and successful careers don't ever develop the ability to KO people. Some low-lever fighters with lackluster skill and losing records will in contrast, or perhaps in compliment, go there entire careers with the other gift of a granite chin. Let's not also forget that finishing via strikes is a very one-dimensional approach when you consider the wide range of options in MMA. Don't be greedy and instead find your own strengths. KO power is another topic altogether (to be discussed in the future) but don't try to knock people out.