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Kettlebells for MMA Athletes28 Feb 2010 4:12PM Last week I had a company called Creating Chaos come in to the gym to do a workshop on kettlebells. It was a good session lasting about 90 minutes and we went through all the major kettlebell movements including the swing, clean, snatch, get-up and various others.
We had about 15 coaches down to the workshop from both sport specific and strength and conditioning backgrounds and it was well received all round I think.
Firstly, i have to say that I experienced severe DOMS in my hamstrings after the workshop...which is all good! And I was surprised that all the movements were taught and coached from a straight leg (very slight kneebend) position. I have performed swings and snatches with slightly more knee bend previously.
So....on to the workshop!

One of the major positives that people claim from using kettlebells is the metabolic effects and I would agree that this is an benefit of the training sessions you can do with the kettlebells. When performing swings and cleans within complexes you certainly experience a strong metabolic effect. Is this any more so than training with barbells and dumbells? Not really but the kettlebells are easier to use individually than having several pieces of equipment around you and I can see why people rave about using them for fat loss and general conditioning. When performing rep after rep you have the issue of performing rep after rep and the breakdown of technique. I think this is not such an issue with kettlebells as the movements are very easy to perform well which is certainly a positive however for novice trainers maintaining a good back position will be challenging and I would certainly not be doing dozens of reps straight out.

The individual lifts have their pro’s and cons just like any exercise. The swing is an excellent exercise for glute activation and general posterior chain work. The weight of the kettlebell obviously determines just how much you recruit these key muscles however my feeling is that you are not going to perform kettlebell swings with anywhere near the load required to build strength or power for sports that require strength-speed qualities such as rugby, MMA, and contact sports. I do think that the swing is an excellent warm-up exercise or would make a very good superset between power cleans, squats etc as a way of recruiting glutes just like I use hip lifts and bridges now. The swing would can also be effectively used for teaching hip extension to people who cannot extend their hips at all and at the earlier stages of training programmes therefore I think this exercise certainly has a place in a training programme.

The kettlebell clean i think is a strange movement which is actually less natural than barbell power cleans or hang cleans. The kettlebell inevitably bangs against your forearms and pulls on the wrist at the catch phase. You could argue that this is wrist conditioning etc but i don’t particularly like this aspect and I know that the athletes I work with would not like it at all! I have a hard enough time trying to get rugby players to do front squats due to their wrists being the limiting factor! With the snatch I think the same factors apply as the clean. Better with a dumbell and barbell in my opinion.

The Kettlebell get-up is a great movement which I would certainly use in my sessions as I currently use dumbells now. I don’t think there are any real advantages with using a kettlebell than a dumbell for this exercise though.

One of the key positives that Phil Wright from creating chaos stated was the elastic qualities that you can elicit from the kettlebells. In the downward phase of the swing for example you place the hamstrings on stretch and force a rapid contraction of the fibres, producing a more powerfull movement as a result. There is certainly a strong eccentric component to this movement, however whether it is more so that say a stiff legged deadlift to hang clean or alternatives Im not sure. With most athletes you need to take care of the 95% before you even think about the 5%. Get the foundations in place before you start to think about the icing on the cake! How many athletes do you work with who need to build basic athleticism? Forget the rest. Its amazing how much increased relative body strength will improve on all the physical factors, this is well known.

With that being said, can you build strength with Kettlebells?? In short, unlikely, with the exception being novice/untrained athletes. Unless you buy some seriously heavy kettlebells you aren’t going to experience the kind of forces required to develop even basic strength let alone maximum strength. You need to be pushing loads equivalent to 1-3RM for max strength and 4-6RM for basic strength (Rough Guide). To ignore this concept of force and velocity would be going against one of the fundamental principles of strength and conditioning and I guess this is my answer to those trainers who think you can do everything with a kettlebell! I would recommend heavy squats, deadlifts, presses and pulls to build strength.

Power gains are more achievable with kettlebells and specifically speed-strength as opposed to strength-speed due to the loadings imposed, so perhaps there are better choices for sports that require strength-speed such as MMA. Power cleans, bench throws, jump squats, high pulls, specific med ball throws etc spring to mind.

So the key question remains would I go out and order a bunch of kettlebells for my athletes? Well I think there are enough positives to justify the purchase and will be ordering some in the near future. And forgetting all the pro’s and con’s of the specific movements and the science behind the training, the most important positive of all is the introduction of VARIATION into the programme. You really cannot overlook this. I can see my athletes really enjoying training with kettlebells right from young athletes I work with up to my professional athletes and myself too!

Bottom line..kettlebells are not the answer to all your training needs and never will be but they are a nice alternative to some of the stuff most of us do now and should not be overlooked in this capacity.
If your interested in the creating chaos qualification courses or would like them to do a workshop at your facility check out their website here.
The owners Phil and Jenny are really nice people and I would encourage you speaking with them about anything kettlebell related.
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Supplements to enhance Combat Sport Performance21 Feb 2010 8:34PMA recent paper in the journal of strength and conditioning research examining the use of sodium bicarbinate supplementation of punching performance showed that 0.3g/kg body weight significantly improved the power endurance capacity in these athletes (A friend of mine Neil Welch wrote a nice review of this paper available at http://www.nwconditioning.com/2010/01/research-overview-sodium-bicarbonate-ingestion-and-boxing-performance/). In the paper the bicarbinate was ingested 90 minutes prior to the bout which was 4x3 minute rounds with 1 minute recovery.

I have experimented with various supplements with the combat athletes I have worked with over the years and have found this to be the case. One of the issues I had with it is whether the effects would last for the duration of the fight (15-25 minutes). This study suggests that the effects do last for at least 16 minutes which is encouraging. More research would certainly add to this.

Looking at the weight classes in MMA the measure used in this study would equate to the following doses:

Lightweight: 21g
Welterweight: 23g
Middleweight: 25g
Light-Heavyweight: 27g
Heavyweight: 29g (dependant on bodyweight)

I would take this with a pint of water personally as that dose is going to taste pretty disgusting! You have a choice with bicarb in that you can supplement in training and over periods of time, or you can use it for specific events and it will still have a significant effect.

It is worth looking into some of the other buffering supplements such as beta alanine and citrulline mallate. I have used beta alanine and found it very effective. Beta alanine is relatively new to the market but is being used by British Cycling and other strength and power sports. It is effective over shorter durations such as those seen in mixed martial arts fights.

Myprotein have some formulas which contain this supplement such as punch. Check out www.myprotein.co.uk for more info. But don’t rule out the simple and cheap solution of sodium bicarbinate either. You can buy this in any supermarket for very little.

I was talking to prominent nutritionalist Matt Lovell yesterday at the perform better Summit in Ipswich and he made a good point about supplements in general saying that he felt it was important to cycle your supplier on a regular basis as the body can get used to certain supplement types. I am definitely guilty of using particular suppliers and have decided to try different companies products in future months.

Let me know how you get on with any of these supplements ill be interested in your feedback. You can read more on combat sports strength and conditioning at www.brendanchaplin.co.uk or find out about my MMA strength and conditioning programme at www.athletesunlimited.co.uk.

Siegler, J.C. & Hirscher, K. (2010). Sodium bicarbonate ingestion and boxing performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24(1) pp. 103-108. Add/View comments (0)

Heart Rate Training for Mixed Martial Arts10 Feb 2010 10:47AMIn one of my previous roles working as a strength and conditioning coach for a number of GB rowing internationals, I spent a lot of time reading up on the heart rate training protocols they use as rowing is a very physiology based sport requiring huge contributions from the aerobic systems.
As a result of the time I spent with these athletes, I now utilise heart rate training extensively with my athletes. In fact I would say that a heart rate monitor should be part of any athletes training kit bag!
I tend to work with 5 Zones. These are taken from the individuals maximum heart rate (MHR) and are as follows:

1. 95% MHR or above.
2. 85%-95% MHR
3. 80%-85% MHR
4. 70%-80% MHR
5. 50%-70% MHR

Zone 5 is essentially recovery type work and this should be used for mobility work, active recovery etc on non training days.
Zone 4 is aerobic development. Isolated sparring, drilling and some skill work may fit into this zone. It is also the zone I recommend for weights loss work in athletes who have high volume training programmes as it will not induce large amounts of physical or mental fatigue.
Zone 3 is usually around where your anaerobic threshold (AT) point is. This is where your body switches from producing energy aerobically to producing it anaerobically. It is an important training zone as training around your AT point allows you to develop your heart so that you can maintain aerobic work for longer. This is beneficial as you can sustain this level of work for long periods of time.
Zone 2 moves into anaerobic training and is commonly associated with high intensity drilling and sparring, conditioning games, circuits etc. It is important that this zone is trained extensively for strength and power sports such as MMA, tennis, rugby, soccer etc. My take on this is that you are training to improve your work capacity within these heart rate limits. How much work can you do with your heart rate above 85%? That should then be the goal of the sessions moving forward and it should be measured accordingly.
Zone 1 is fully Anaerobic and can only be sustained for around 1 minute in most cases. It is reserved for extremely high intensity periods of play within your sport. In training it is important to experience zone 1 and attempt to improve your bodies tolerance and the duration you can maintain this work rate as these will be the times when you are under the most pressure.

One of the key points about heart rate training is that yes you need to train your heart to develop and adapt to the demands of your sport, however the methods in which you do so are very important. For example it would not be optimal for an MMA athlete to be continuously performing shuttle runs in order for anaerobic development. When it comes to the crunch the muscles demanded from clinching and grappling may not have been conditioned optimally. An MMA athlete needs to do specific training utilising stand-up, clinch and ground based activities in accordance with their game plan and their opponents style. Shuttle runs are more suited to rugby players, field and court sport athletes although for general preparation type training sprints would be suitable.

Heart rate training can be utilised very effectively in ‘Skills Under Fatigue’ type sessions. Click here to read more about these type of sessions.
Within these sessions if your athletes have heart rate monitors on you can effectively see what type of stress they are experiencing. It is interesting to note the difference between a technical session with and without conditioning. Look at the technical execution of the skills at 70% MHR and compare these to 80-90% MHR. You will initially notice a huge difference but over time it will diminish. When you think about the application to sport of this concept it does make sense......to me anyway!

The other area of importance is the recovery rate and time to recover to a certain heart rate. For example, with the combat athletes I train I like them to get their heart rate back to 75-80% of their max heart rate within the 1 min rest between rounds. So a 200bpm max heart rate would return to 130bpm by the start of the next round. This is extremely demanding and requires some training. Practice different methods of breathing such as 3 seconds inhaling 1 second exhaling or in through the nose out through the mouth. You will find that recovering to 75% MHR allows you to perform substantially more work in the following 5 minutes, therefore it is a key facet in the conditioning process.

Here is a guide to which zones certain sports should be focusing on:

Mixed Martial Arts: Zones 3, 2 and 1. 4 weeks pre fight work should focus on 2 and 1. 8-12 weeks out more so on zone 3. Use 4 and 5 for recovery and technical work. Zone 2 is the zone which I believe most athletes will experience the greatest benefits from training in and should be done with specific circuits/strength training. Zone 1 is best trained with either sparring with new body thrown in every 20-30s or with exercises such as squats, presses and pulls as these are fixed objects and have to be dealt with by the athlete. It is easy to slow down when you have to move yourself like in a bodyweight circuit, its much harder when you have to move someone or something else! Make sure you have technical competency in the exercises you use before putting them into this type of training and keep the reps low on power exercises. You are better off doing several exercises. I do not recommend doing extensive reps on exercises like power cleans or snatches!

Thats all for now, let me know your thoughts on this and keep training hard! Add/View comments (0)

Considerations for Contact Sport24 Jan 2010 3:42PMOne of the main areas I feel should carry great importance in contact sports is the actual conditioning process for the impending takedowns and impact that will be received. Working in rugby league and mixed martial arts I see a lot of athletes week in week out who need to be trained to deal with high impact contacts. Now clearly I think that you cannot condition somebody to receive blows to the face, however I do think there is a process of conditioning the body to produce and absorb these contacts.

Below is a list of some of the key areas I feel are important to include in the programme for athletes involved in contact sports. It is by no means an exhaustive list and I have not included conditioning and other areas such as flexibility, mobility, etc as they a given and are clearly part of a full programme. If you are interested in reading more on any of these aspects let me know and I will expand on them in the future. Click HERE to read more about MMA strength and Conditioning.

1: Build general and relative strength- This will help the body to

produce force. You will also develop greater muscle density

which will help in reducing the impact forces.

2: Develop eccentric strength- This will help the body to

decelerate more effectively and absorb the attempted

shots. Plyometrics, cleans etc are good choices for this.

3.Power production with a variety of loads: Bodyweight

plyometrics such as hurdle jumps and movement drills

are very important, but equally important is the

production of power with heavier loads in excess of your

bodyweight. You will always be competing with a body

that is equal to or greater than your own weight. Train

power with high pulls, cleans, jump squats, and

complexes. For upper body explosiveness use medicine

balls, bench throws and complexes utilising heavy to light loads. See my article on complex training and potentiation by clicking HERE.

4: Develop additional key musculature:

Anti-Rotation/Extension based core training as

well as some rotation work such as barbell

rotations, barbell rollouts, plank rows etc, eccentric

bicep work, rotator cuff. This will train the trunk

functionally as well as developing muscle in these

key areas which helps absorbing contact and

producing force.

5: Rotator Cuff, Bicep and Scapular Work:

Train to recruit the scapular stabilisers and

train the rotator cuff itself in an integrated

manner. Not isolated bandwork, unless

recovering from injury. Biceps should be

trained eccentrically for tendon and muscular

strength, not concentration curls!! Joint by

Joint training should be used to train the

body. This is an article in itself! There are

other areas to emphasise when looking at this, maybe this will be expanded on in the future!

6: Hypertrophy- If possible? Weight controlled athletes obviously not unless moving up a weight. Non weight controlled or heavy-weights should train to increase functional muscle mass to help with absorbing contacts.

7: Introduce tackle shield based conditioning into

sessions: This is an important one. Shooting in on

someone holding a tackle shield allows you to drive as

hard as you can whilst simultaneously training yourself

to shoot with correct posture and shoulder tightness.

All key aspects of training for contact. Resisting the

shoot whilst holding the bag really helps you to absorb

the forces safely through bracing and effective

movement. If you are not using this type of training you are missing out. There are a lot of drills you can use with these shields. They are also excellent for conditioning work. You can also change conditions with the tackle shied within conditioning sessions to really challenge the athletes such as hit and drive, hurdle jump and hit, hit and circle off, hit and drive then hit again etc etc etc.

8.Train Contact under fatigue: After contact work has been introduced this needs

to be worked into conditioning sessions stressing the impact and drive whilst under fatigue. Click HERE to read about skills under fatigue, a closely related topic.

9.Include some muscular endurance based work into the gym: Clearly metabolic

fatigue is a key factor in conditioning, but a lot of the fatigue in wrestling and grappling comes from the actual muscles themselves as opposed to the cardiovascular system. Muscular endurance work helps to prevent this.

Thanks for reading, click HERE to find out more about my MMA specific Strength and Conditioning programme.

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Reverse Periodisation for Mixed Martial Arts??20 Jan 2010 7:16PM

Traditional periodisation models involved planning training in a linear fashion working on aerobic work before anaerobic, hypertrophy before power etc etc in the hope of carrying this transfer over into the next phase of training. More current practice is to use what I refer to as a concurrent model. In this periodisation system qualities are trained simultaneously with an emphasis on one or two qualities. For example your programme may have a strong emphasis on strength but you still have power work in the sessions and you may still have aerobic work in there too.

Generally these models still tend to follow the classic periodisation sequencing where your emphasis will be on adaptation before hypertrophy before strength before power, and conditioning will be aerobic before anaerobic in line with the resistance programme.

My view for MMA is that this is not the optimal system. My experience with fighters over the years is that actually the aerobic system is not the main area for development. This system tends to be adequate due to the volume of sparring and drilling that is done in practice sessions. The main areas that need work with fighters coming in is in force production and power development. Clearly weight gain is rarely desired so hypertrophy specific sessions are not in the programme unless moving up a weight class in which case functional hypertrophy should be trained.

My programmes tend to work from 12 weeks out and focus on relative body strength whilst concurrently working on introductory power exercises and some anaerobic conditioning. Moving towards fight time the percentage of anaerobic conditioning increases, as does the power endurance and strength endurance work. The key here is that it is built on a solid base of relative strength and power and this is what is important.

The conditioning work stresses work capacity through opponent specific and gameplan specific methods. This design of the conditioning is absolutely fundamental to the outcome of the fight. If your strength and conditioning programme is not designed in accordance with your gameplan and opponents strengths and weaknesses you are not optimising your time and I would strongly suggest adapting your programme sharply!

Let me know if you want any more info on this guys,

Cheers,

PS: I nearly called this post ‘I like to do it in reverse’!! but i thought I would keep it serious!! Haha!!

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Athletes Unlimited on Twitter17 Jan 2010 2:54PM

I have been advised by more intelligent individuals than myself that I should smarten up and embrace the whole social networking revolution that seems to be going on around me! So with that being said I have set up a twitter account. You can access it here.

Untill about a month ago I had not been on facebook for at least 9 months and now i have an Athletes Unlimited page (Click here to access) which I update time to time, now I have something else to update! Lets see how it works out!! Enjoy!

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Q and A with SprintStrong.com creator Tim Egerton PT 115 Jan 2010 2:59PM

I am doing a series of Q and A’s over the next few months and thought this might make a good opener.

I know Tim from university on my masters course and brought him up to Durham University when I was involved there.

'Hi Tim, thanks for doing the Q&A. I know you you have a new website up, www.sprintstrong.com with some interesting videos and blogs on it. Lets cut to the chase and get going with the questions:

> Q: Firstly tell us a bit about your website, whats it all about?

> A: It's an information site, and is all about providing coaches and athletes with knowledge on speed training. The focus is on the strength training aspect of speed development. In particular you will notice an emphasis on olympic weightlifting methods.

> Q: Can you briefly outline to the readers your st rength and conditioning background?

> A: Academically I hold a Bachelors degree in Sport & Exercise Science as well as an MSc in Strength & Conditioning. During my time studying for my Masters degree a number of sprinters approached me for individual coaching. I found I really enjoyed this, and was having some great results as well.

For a significant period of time my coaching was restricted to working with athletes on an individual basis. Once I obtained my certifications from the National Strength & Conditioning Association and the Uk Strength & Conditioning Association more coaching opportunities began to arise and I began working with athletes at a number of universities and colleges.

Through www.sprintstrong.com I am looking to positively impact the sporting careers of far more athletes than would ever be possible through 'in person coaching' alone.

> Q: You are a track athlete first and foremost, can you outline some of the key physical qualities to develop for speed development?

> A: One of the key considerations is that when accelerating over short distances the ground contact time will be around 0.2 seconds. If an athlete reaches top speed then the ground contact time is likely to be 0.1 seconds or less. This does not allow much time for applying force to the ground. This means that, when working in the weights room, the key quality to develop must be rate of force development.

This is not to say maximum strength work should be ignored, but the goal must be to increase force production ability within the short time frames mentioned above.

> Q: In terms of training for both speed and endurance, what are the key considerations in terms of periodising training, emphasising particular qualities etc?

> A: Firstly I would like to emphasise that speed development is a key route to improved endurance. By improving an endurance athlete's maximum speed they will have a greater 'speed reserve'. By this it is meant that the difference between the speed they must maintain during competition and their top speed is greater. This will help to improve their economy of movement, allowing greater performance levels to be attained.

For the sprint athlete maximum speed and acceleration work should be emphasised earlier in the programme than speed endurance work. This flies in the face of traditional thinking, but to help convince you I will leave you with this thought: 'how can it be possible to develop speed endurance if you have no speed to endure?'.

For the team sport athlete things become a little more complicated. Rather than just requiring a single sustained effort these athletes require repeated sprint ability in multiple directions. One of the key considerations here is whether or not linear speed should be emphasised before multi-directional movement skills.

> Q: What are the key areas of injury for sprinters and how do you train for these?

> A: The classic sprinter's injury is the pulled hamstring. In my experience, this particular injury is usually related in some way to weak or inactive gluteal muscles. The gluteal muscles play a key role in hip extension during the ground contact phase of sprinting. If the glutes are not performing the work that they should be doing, either through weakness or inhibition, then the hamstrings must take up the slack.

As a short term measure, performing static stretching of the hamstrings before sprinting will help. This will inhibit the hamstrings so that they are no longer performing more work than they should be. Obviously this is not a satisfactory solution, since by inhibiting a major muscle group the potential for force production is decreased.

The long term programme must focus on addressing the root cause of the problem. Key to this is establishing whether the glutes are fundamentally weak or just inhibited. Gluteal inhibition is usually caused by tight hip flexors creating an anterior pelvic tilt. A good Strength & Conditioning Coach should be able to test for this and implement a suitable strategy based upon the result.

PART 2
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Q and A with SprintStrong.com creator Tim Egerton PT 215 Jan 2010 2:49PM

> Q: What do you feel are the areas that perhaps the general population who may partake in athletics recreationally could address most easily and get some instant benefits in their training?

> A: The average person who takes part in athletics recreationally will be in school, university/college, or full time work. It is therefore safe to say that these recreational athletes will be spending many hours sitting at a desk and/or computer. This usually results in: tight hip flexors, weak glutes and poor mobility in the thoracic spine (upper back). Addressing these areas will definitely improve performance. They may not achieve instant benefits though, since these imbalances have taken time to develop and so will take time to correct.

In terms of achieving instant benefits I would look at optimising the warm up. Most people simply think that they should feel warm in order for a warm up to be effective. This is not true since there are many more factors to consider than just raising core temperature. In particular the neuromuscular system must be fully activated in order to perform optimally in a high intensity training session. Rather than just jogging until they feel warm, one aspect that should be included in a sprinter's warm up is short runs of progressively increasing speed.

> Q: Can you briefly outline how a typical weights session and a typical technical session look like with you Tim?

> A: Obviously the precise details would vary depending on a number of different factors. One of the biggest factors would be the goal the athlete is working towards. Sticking with the theme of running speed, the different types of speed that can be trained include: starting speed, acceleration, maximum speed, and multi-directional speed (agility). Each of these have different requirements.

There are, however, certain characteristics that must be adressed with all of these. They all require high levels of force to be produced during a short ground contact phase with one leg at a time. An example of an exercise that would be beneficial for all of these types of speed is the split clean. This is because the Olympic Lifts are very good for improving force production capabilities within the short time frames required for sprinting,and receiving the bar in the split position is conducive to developing the unilateral strength that is required.

In terms of factors such as the number of repetitions, sets, and exercises in a session, my philosophy is the same both in the weight room and with technical sessions on the track. You will not see me or my athletes performing vast numbers of different running drills. Instead, I prefer to focus on just a few of the most relevant exercises. Similarly, in the weights room a typical strength training session might have around five different key exercises. There may be additional low level corrective exercises as well, but the number of heavy strength exercises will be kept to a minimum. This allows a greater number of sets to be performed on the exercises that provide the greatest 'bang for your buck'.

> Q: Do you use any 'specific' exercises in the gym to improve your speed?

> A: I am always careful when talking about 'specific' exercises, as it tends to conjure up the image of trying to replicate sporting movements in the weight room. For example, I would be wary of performing the sprinting arm movement whilst holding dumbells or performing a leg drive with ankle weights (unfortunately, both are commonly seen activities amongst track & field athletes). These types of exercise tend to mimic the sporting movement too closely and so the added resistance tends to confuse the nervous system. This can result in altered recruitment patterns to the detriment of sprinting performance.

However, as I have already alluded to, the olympic lifts do feature heavily in my programming for speed. The standard lifts of the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch transfer into improved sprinting performance very well. In addition, the lifts are very adaptable. For, example, instead of starting from the ground they can be performed from the hang position in order to emphasise hip extension.

> Q: What are the best resources for learning about speed development out there at the moment?

> A: In terms of the best place to pick up new tips and techniques on a daily basis I would have to point people towards my site www.sprintstrong.com.

There are also a number of great products on speed development out there at the moment at various price points. Some of these include: 'Complete Speed Training' by Latif Thomas and Patrick Beith; 'Running' by Frans Bosch and Ronald Klomp; and various products by Canadian sprint coach Charlie Francis.

It is my intention to write a comprehensive series of product reviews on my site in the near future. This will help people decide which products are worth their investment. Add/View comments (0)

Training Skills Under Fatigue13 Jan 2010 2:39PM

One of the main areas in rugby league strength and conditioning training I utilize is the concept of ‘skills under fatigue’. This is very simple- the performance the key game related skills and tactics under fatigue. How do we train for this? Well one of the ways is the integration of skill training with conditioning. When I am training my fighters I always try to utilise this concept within my sessions. So for example I will have fighters do circuits with general movements included within them such as powerbag throws, tackle bag drives, sled pulling, high pulls etc and also key movement skills such as jab and shoot, floor based movement with the bungee cord, clinching and pummeling and other key areas. I also think there is a clear progression to this conditioning work. That is the clear integration of the technical and conditioning coaches work. So within a technical session you may be isolating some technical striking work. After 8 minutes you might move to a med ball circuit emphasising power development for 5 minutes duration. You would then switch straight back to more integrated work perhaps some jab sparring, before again switching back to conditioning work using ladders and hurdles to emphasise footwork. I think this is the future for high level strength and conditioning for fight sports. Quick and smooth transitions between the sessions to allow the athletes to develop skills whilst under fatigue. I do believe this type of training is more appropriate for advanced athletes as clearly the beginners need to develop the physical literacy and the skill sets separately, build their work capacity over time, before being put into this type of training session. I think the positives of this work are huge! Lower volume of separate conditioning sessions required therefore more recovery time, greater specificity of training and also opponent specific training. You will also get greater athlete buy-in as well in most cases. The cons?? This type of conditioning requires a greater understanding of the sport by the conditioning professional, so look for someone with a good MMA background as well as sound strength and conditioning background.

I will be using a lot more of this type of training to prepare the fighters I work with in the coming months.

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Neck Training 101 ?? Watch this Clip!09 Jan 2010 2:51PM

I saw this clip on TV the other day and was pretty damn amazed by the strength this guy shows. The two individuals are hod carriers in Bangladesh. It really does highlight the kind of adaptations the human body can achieve when exposed daily to a stimulus.

The key question is....will I be putting this kind of training into my programmes?? Not anytime soon I don’t think! Having said that, I do believe that neck training should play an important role in combat or contact sport athletes training. I tend to go for the more traditional swiss ball isometric holds against the wall and the head harness good morning type exercises. The main area to work on with neck training is neck extension and lateral flexion strength and endurance and isometrics are excellent for this. Work up from 3 x 10s holds against a swiss ball adding both time and extra sets. You will feel more strength and endurance in clinching and wrestling.

What a great clip though!!

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Origins of MMA- Closer than you might think??08 Jan 2010 2:34PM

Im not suggesting that certain countries weren’t staging Vale Tudo fights at this time but this shows that we (the Brits) were competing in combat sports at a high level and not just in boxing.

I was over in Manchester last weekend and I happened to come across this interesting display in the war museum- yes I know i’m a nerd but you get the odd little gem like this so its worth it!

The photo is a poster for the All-In Wrestling World Heavy-Weight Championship’ and its in 1933!! The winner was Douglas Clarke, a yorkshire lad who was also a Rugby League international and it took place in my back yard- Leeds Rugby League Football Ground in Headingley.

Note the actual duration of the competition- 6 x 10 minute rounds! That is an exceptionally demanding period of time to be in the ring or cage and places huge stress on the aerobic system. What makes this story all the more remarkable is that Clarke had come straight out of the first world war where he had been British Army Champion but during his time in the war he had been gassed in combat- not once, but twice!

I am a big believer in training people to experience far more than they will in competition and pushing through phychological barriers but this just shows you how far you can actually go! Apparently Clarke thought he was dead and that he wouldn’t see his family again. When he woke up in hospital and he found he was alright he decided that he would go on a build a career as an athlete, and he did a pretty good job of it!

Just thought I would share this interesting story with you, it certainly impressed me. Add/View comments (0)

Intervals for Fight Sports - NW Conditioning05 Jan 2010 2:29PM

My blog on interval training for fight sports was re published on NW Conditioning site the other day. If you haven’t read it check it out by clicking here. The site is run by a friend of mine from university Neil Welch. He is working with a lot of snow sport athletes from the British Ski Team and is based down in London. The site has some interesting research reviews on it including a recent paper on sodium bicarb for enhancing boxing performance.

Check out Neil’s site at www.nwconditioning.com.

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Top 5 Exercises for Speed Development01 Jan 2010 2:27PM

This post outlines 5 exercises I believe are extremely beneficial for athletes concerned with the development of straight line speed. Check out the link to read the post.

http://www.sprintstrong.com/2009/12/guest-coach-brendan-chaplin.html

The post is on www.sprintstrong.com. This site is all about speed training and is run by one of my old university colleagues Tim Egerton. Its an interesting site with some good technical clips on it so check it out. Let me know what you think of the exercises choices I recommend! Add/View comments (0)

It’s all in the Head!! (Along with a couple of other factors)18 Oct 2009 5:31PM

I was speaking with Steve McGlouchlin, head coach for Leeds High Performance Tennis Centre, about identifying new players to join the programme, and we got on to the topic of what do we look for in new talented players. Steve has worked as a tennis coach for many years and has developed some strong players.

Current talent ID models are very much geared towards statistics, data collection and athletic attributes. When I asked for steve’s thoughts he said simply that an individuals timing was the key. By this he referred to timing of the tennis stroke and movement to the ball. To identify this Steve uses a range of hand-eye and foot-eye co-ordination drills.

Alongside timing the other factors that both of us agreed on were mental strength and body awareness.

The importance of the psychological aspects of competition are well documented. What is the value of identifying an individual with exceptional athletic ability if they do not have the will or determination (amongst other qualities) to succeed at the highest levels. The last element that I particularly feel is important is one of body awareness. There are clearly genetic factors that play a part in an individuals athletic potential, however from my perspective the ability for an individual to have control over their body segments within coaching scenarios and then move this into the competitive arena is key. So for example the ability for them to move their hips into a certain position to initiate a deadlift or squat at the basic level, through to sport specific postures at a more complex level and then applying these within the sport at an even more complex level. The diagram below shows the importance that has been placed on the psychological factors by soviet talent ID models in the past as well as the performance factors.

Clearly this model is for wrestling, a sport where you would naturally place a great emphasis on the psychological aspects however I feel that this would not change significantly for the majority of sports. In this diagram you can see that qualities such as strength, power, endurance etc are the smallest piece of the pie. Why?? Because you can train these fairly easily and there is a large amount of adaptation that can occur in this department. The motor qualities section is where body awareness, athletic intelligence etc would appear, and the psychological is self associated with determination, will to win, application in training and many other factors.

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Muscle Building Info17 Oct 2009 5:34PM

Below is a factsheet that I have given out to the athletes that need to put on lean muscle mass. Now I am no nutritionalist but I think that the info on this sheet is up to date and valid. Its by no means exhaustive, if you want more info I would encourage you to check out Precision Nutrition by John Berardi (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/). In the meantime you might find some interesting onfo on the factsheet below.

Muscle Building Fact Sheet

•You need at least 2g of protein for 1kg bodyweight per day

Example: Bodyweight = 90kg, protein required = 180g

What is this in food terms???

Standard Chicken Breast = 35g protein

6 ounce Sirloin Steak= 30g protein

Standard turkey Breast= 38g protein

Skimmed Milk 1 200ml glass= 7g protein

Tuna, 1 Can= 24g protein

So 90kg individual needs 5-6 chicken breasts per day!!!

•Recommended Supplements

Whey Protein, Creatine Monohydrate, Glutamine, Meal Replacement powder, weight gain powder, beta alanine

•Timing of Supplements

Make sure you consume protein and carbohydrate around training sessions. 1 hour before the session and within 20 minutes following a session.

10 Habits of Healthy Eating (Berardi, 2006)

1. Feed every 2 or 3 hours

2. Eat lean protein with every meal

3. Eat vegetables with each feed

4. Eat vegetables and fruit at any meal and other carbs such as pasta and sugars after exercise

5. Eat healthy fats DAILY: 30% of the diet should come from fats. Avoid all transfats as they can increase the risk of CHD. Split the fats into thirds- saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. This gives a good balance .

6. Only drink calorie containing fizzy drinks (such as Lucozade) and other similar products during or immediately post exercise.

7. Eat whole foods instead of supplements

8. Plan to break the rules: Allow 10% of the meals to be cheat meals. 10% means 10%!

9. Plan ahead: This can be the main reason that people don't eat what they should

10. Eat as wide a variety of foods as possible Add/View comments (0)