Wrestling 101 - Last Weekend

This is going to be a short blog post this week, but I would like to go over some of the things from last week end. I'll go over the tournament as well as touch upon the UFC and what transpired. Next week will be more technique on wrestling and mma but for now enjoy.

First I would like to congratulate everyone who competed at the tournament. Morgan led the way with a gold and silver in bjj and freestyle grappling respectively, while Brett brought home a bronze medal. Our only female competitor Elyssa had a very strong outing in the striking, unfortunately the division was different then she thought it would be and therefore she didn't get to truly show of her power. Rounding out the list of competitors from Raptors was Oliver, Bryce and Reed who all had an amazing showing at the tournament. Be sure to check some pictures from the tournament on facebook.

Now before we get into the obvious fight from UFC 104 lets talk about some of the other fights. For me the best fight of the night was the Cain Velasquez fight. The best part his fight wasn't his wrestling or the TKO, it was his cardio and willingness to outwork his opponent. You can't always be bigger, stronger or more technical than your opponent but you can be in shape and have good cardio. This trait is most common in the lighter divisions (Lightweight, feather/Bantamweight) but to see it in a heavyweight is truly something to appreciate. Guys like Diego Sanchez, BJ Penn, and Clay Guida have made careers out of overwhelming their opponents and for Cain to bring that work ethic to the big boys will make for some interesting matchups. The other fight/technique I need to acknowledge is from Gleison Tibau. The standing back mount to flying armbar transition was a thing of beauty (watch for it at 2:15 of the 2nd round). Also his takedowns weren't that bad either.

Now for Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Personally I thought Shogun won that fight, he was aggresive, controling and more effective than Machida. Unfortunately the judges didn't see it the same way I (and most) did. For anybody interested in the numbers behind that fight I recommend checking out Fightmetric.com.

Now as far as gameplan goes Shougun's was damn near perfect. Machida likes to wait and counter by moving straight back and then lunging in with a counter puch. What Shogun did really well was not to give Machida a chance to lunge in with a counter, He chased Machida right up against the cage with a high guard incase machide punched. Once Machida hit the cage He was no longer in the right posture to counter back and was instead forced to cicle laterally of the cage. Shogun would then capitalize when Machida could no longer move backwards by kicking him hard to the legs and body. After awhile Machida was visibly bothered by this, having to repeadetly switch stances and being slowed considerably as Shogun landed more and more kicks. The key to this strategy though was a combination of a really good, high guard from Shogun (e.i. hands up) and working the body and legs. Too many fighters head hunt for the knockout instead of attacking the body and legs. If you hurt their body and legs you take away their foundation, and without a good foundation your opponent can't do good technique, inturn making it easier to beat them the longer it goes.

The rematch will be an interesting fight because Machida is a smart fighter and won't be quick to make the same mistake twice, and with him fixing pontentially his only weakness in his otherwise near perfect style will Shogun beable to find a new hole or will he try the same strategy. I personally have a hard time seeing Shogun beating Machida the second time but I didn't expect him do what he did either so we can't count him out. Now that I've gone on a little longer than I wanted to try and remeber to always take something away from a UFC event and always try and learn more. Until next time, train hard.

Swine flu and over training

The big news in health of the last month or more has been the H1N1 "swine" influenza and so many people are panicking and running for the vaccine I believe, prematurely.
The H1N1 flu strain is a rare and dangerous strain but there has not been adequate testing done to prove the effectiveness or the safety of the vaccine.
H1N1 swine flu can lead to viral pneumonia only 3-5 days into the illness and progressing to life-threatening within 24 hours. H1N1 attacks the lower lungs as well as the upper respiratory system unlike the regular seasonal flu which stays primarily in the upper lungs. This virus is different in that it can cause clotting in the lungs, so that standard ventilator care for pneumonia may not work.
That being said, we need to talk about over training in this flu season.
Exercise is very important for the human body to stay healthy and to fight off bacteria, virus and fungi but there is a limit. Healthy muscle cells are like a bank account of protein to feed your immune cells when you are sick. When we are in good shape we have better circulation and the muscles themselves have tiny filaments that massage the lymph system to help flush the detritus from the system which doesn't have its own pump to keep things moving. Simply being outside breathing fresh air and building up your vitamin D reserves are tremendously important. These are just two of the myriad of reasons to keep oneself in shape.
The problem occurs when inflammatory signals like Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha or T.N.F.a, a common result of excessive cardiovascular activity robs the energy and resources from the immune system. Supplementing with co-enzyme Q10 and vitamin D and A will support your immune function. Studies now show that bovine colostrum can pretty much eliminate the adverse effects of over training.
The other issue in over training is the lack of protein reserves in the muscles due to excessive calorie burning, protein being the most important calorie used by muscle cells. This will leave the immune system competing with the muscles for these resources, thus the achy muscle feeling when you are sick. By the way, the amino acid Glutamine is the most important to produce immune cells quickly.

To sum it up:
Easy on the over training but don't be a couch potato!

P.S. Always wear your warm hoody or a hat and sweater when you leave the gym all sweaty this winter.

Wrestling 101 - Cutting Wieght

A lot of people are concerned about there weight, but probably none more so than fighters. As fighters we are under a lot of pressure to be bigger, stronger, and faster than our opponents. We cut weight to be at the top of the weight class. The more you cut the bigger and stronger you will be, theoretically. If done wrong though, all that size and strength won't help you if you're not at 100% on the day of competition. We are going to look at some ways to make the cut easier as well as how to stay at 100% for fight day.

Let me first make something really clear, cutting weight is not the same as losing weight. You are simply removing the water from you're system to help drop a couple of pounds. As soon as you reingest water you put the weight right back on. As I cover the weight cutting process remember that these are the tips that work for me, some people drop the water easy while others have a hard time with it.

The water cutting process generally starts a week out from when you have to weigh in. During that time I will increase my water intake to about 4 - 6 litres of water a day, more if I'm working out hard. Now what this does is trick my body. Most people are dehydrated in their day to day lives. Their bodies retain water out of fear that more water isn't coming for a while. By drinking extra water, or what I like to call super hydrating, our body is forced to get rid of the water instead of retaining it to make room for the more that is coming. Another thing you need to do is cut out salt as it makes you retain water, therefore making it harder to lose it. We keep this up for the whole week.

The night before weigh in I take my last drink of water as well as my last meal. The day of the weigh in is when I start the hard work. Basically you need to sweat. Simple. By super hydrating the week leading up to our bodies will give up the water easy, but we don't replace it. Our bodies won't have enough time to readjust to retaining water therefore it will be easier to dehydrate ourselves and drop more weight. Some people like to give themselves two days to cut weight if they have a lot to lose. Say you had to drop 12 pounds to make your weight class, you could cut 7 pounds the first day and drink back 1 pound of water throughout the day and the next day you drop 6 more, effectively dropping 12 pounds. If you do this make sure to eat dry foods throughout the first day, no fruits, vegetables or anything else with lots of water in it. For any serious weight cutting I recommend picking up a sauna suit.

Now that the weight is dropped many people think they are done, but the most important part to being 100% is how you replenish. Make sure you gradually introduce the water back to your system. Pedialyte is a really good drink to replenish with as it has electrolytes and other stuff you lost during the sweating period. If you drink to quick you will cramp up and feel really bad. By this point you're probably thinking with your stomach instead of your head, but we have to make sure we eat properly at this point. That means go back to your routine leading up to this weigh in. Don't go get greasy nachos right after weigh in as this will be a shock to your system and not make you feel very good. The other really important thing is a good nights rest as you body needs to recover.

Now remember that this is just to cut water weight. To control your weight you need to eat properly. As far how much you should cut, that all depends on you. If you've never cut weight before then I recommend a practice cut to learn what is feasible for you. Now as the tournament is this weekend here is a highlight of Genki Sudo, one of the best/most entertaining grapplers and MMA fighters ever.

Functionality Part 2

In the gym we see people banging away on some machine or grunting under the weight of a barbell, each person envisioning the body part or muscle growing or shrinking. We often treat our bodies like a bunch of individual parts, molding and shaping, making them stronger and longer. Imagine a car with a 1000 horsepower motor and skinny little tires, you hit the gas and burn all the rubber off without making it to the finish line!
Look at a complete athlete like George St.Pierre; he is not obsessed with having huge biceps or massive pecs, rather, he trains his body as a cohesive unit.
If you haven't heard of "core" training you probably live in a cave, in which case you most likely are not reading this blog post. Core training is much more important than building big muscles when it comes to fighting or any sport for that matter. Throwing a powerful punch, turning out of a rear-naked choke, upa bridging or kneeing to the face all require a powerful core.
Try thinking of your body as a torso first with no arms or legs,then break your body down to 3 major areas. A) the shoulder girdle, consisting of the humerus, scapula and the clavicle. B) the core which consists of your abdominal, torso and back muscles. C) the pelvic and hip stabilizers. Without strength in these areas you would have no need for legs or arms!
Here are some good exercises for strengthening the shoulder, hip and core stabilizers.
1) Forward and back lunges: hold dumbell in each hand at your side, step forward and dip knee an inch or so from the floor then step the same leg back and perform the opposite movement.
2) Side to side "sit outs": From the push up position kick one leg out to the side and drop your hip to the floor, then repeat the movement on the other side. Switch back and forth fast to add some cardio to the exercise.
3) Perform a set of leg raises then flip over and do 10 sprawls. Repeat this for 5 or more sets then do 2 minutes or more of planks, front and side.
4) Try some Yoga "cobra" or sometimes called the "Hindu" push ups. these are done by going from downward dog, skimming the ground in a scooping motion to upward dog and scooping back to down dog. Try doing 10 of these if you think you have strong shoulders!
5) Lie on your stomach and, keeping you abs tight, lift one leg and the opposite side arm. Alternate and do 10 reps per side then lift both arms and legs at the same time for 10 to 20 reps.
These are a good start but I recommend that you incorporate a more comprehensive regimen in your daily routine.
I recommend the book you can find in my blog Amazon store; Core Performance Essentials by Mark Verstegen as a very good guide and there is a full workout plan that will give you a great base to improve your
performance.
Now think of your car with 1000 horsepower and traction bars and 30 inch meats in the rear! Now yer gonna get somewhere!!

P.S. here are some vids that might help:

Wrestling 101 - Mentally Tough

Last week in Wrestling 101 we talked about the most basic of wrestling and grappling fundamentals, the body follows the head. We looked at a double leg takedown to illustrate our point and this week we're going to build upon that by going over some of the most basic takedown defense, a sprawl.

If the body follows the head and I want to stop my opponent from picking me up then what do I have to do? Push his head down! This should be your highest priority when defending a takedown. Without good posture, i.e. head looking up, then your opponent will have a real hard time lifting you off the ground. Any one who has ever done any squats or deadlifts knows that looking down as you lift results in not being able to lift the weight and potential injury. Why would this principle change just because the weight is changing from a bar to a human being. Now just pushing the head down is not enough, we have to keep it down by kicking our legs back and dropping the weigh of our hips on to the back of his neck and shoulders. This action of a good, heavy sprawl can be very disheartening to your opponent and mentally shut them down in a match. Which brings us to our next point, attitude.

A good offense is the best defense. It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. To win you have to want it. That doesn't mean trying not to lose but actually going out there attacking trying to win. Vince Lombardi, one of the best coaches of not only football but of any sports put it this way:

"I think winning is the result if mental toughness. I think mental toughness is many things, and it is very difficult to explain what it is. First, I think mental toughness is humility; I think that it takes humility to realize that greatness is really simplicity. Mental toughness is made up too of the spartan qualities of sacrifice and self-denial. Mental toughness is loyalty. You cannot win consistently without it, and as you win each man grows because of it"

Dan Gable used these same principles to not only be one of the best wrestlers in the world but coach one of the best teams ever to compete. To be sucsessfull we need confidence. Confidence in our technique. Confidence in that we get out what we put in. Confidence that the people around us, coaches, teammates, all have our best interests at heart. Without this confidence and mental toughness you'll always be trying not to lose instead of going out there and winning. Here is a clip of Alexander Karelin, one of the most sucsessfull athletes ever

To win you need to be confident. To be confident you need to feel prepared. To feel prepared you need to put the time and energy in. You need to train how you wish to compete, with the same intesity, the same drive, and the same will. To be the best doesn't make you great, to be great you need to be ready to give up everything. You need to be mentally tough.

Wrestling 101 - The Golden Rule

This is Kurt and I'm going to be writing a column about wrestling as well as any other anecdotal, opinionated and otherwise relevant things that pop into my head. Without any more babbling I present Wrestling 101.

Wrestling is one of the oldest martial arts there is, with reference to it as far back as the 12th and 13th century bc. Greco-Roman wrestling was a part of the first modern day Olympics back in 1896 with freestyle wrestling following in 1904. In MMA, wrestlers are know for their ability to control fights as well as their conditioning and their unparalleled work ethic.

If we break wrestling down to its core elements we find that it's about your opponents disrupting your opponents balance while maintaining your own. Balance is determined by two things, stance and posture. We need to think of our stance and posture as our foundation, without a good foundation no amount of moves is going to make you good. With that in mind we are going to look at the most important thing to remember about wrestling, the Golden Rule:

THE BODY FOLLOWS THE HEAD!!

This is the most important thing to remember about wrestling as 90% of our technique is based off of this principle. We are going to look at a double leg take down to illustrate my point. Now in a double leg we first change levels then drive into our opponent, looking where we want to go. It's important that we never look down on our take downs as we compromise our posture as well as increasing our chance of being stuffed or submitted. We are going to look at a clip from 2 time Olympian Barry Davis on how to do a double leg.




Wow, thanks Barry, I couldn't have said it better myself. Now that's a lot of information, especially for someone just starting out with wrestling, but it's important to note the things we've been talking about. Notice the good posture as well as his head position, those are the most important things for beginners to focus on. The other thing he stressed that we haven't touched on yet is the penetrating step. It's important that we step deep with our inside leg (the one that is between our opponents leg) so that we can get right underneath their center of gravity and make the lift easy. That also helps us knock our opponent off balance which brings me back to the start of the article, wrestling is all about disrupting our opponents BALANCE.

Some people think of wrestlers as bullies or even brutish but if I can knock my opponent out of their stance with that first deep step and contact, then they're already one step behind. They are thinking of defending and recovering rather than attacking like they should be. You will often hear wrestlers and coaches refer to this as imposing your will or setting the tone, and that's how you want to start a match. This sport, as well as most other sports, are 80% mental and if I can make my opponent believe that there is no way he can beat me, by setting the tone early, then my life will be easy.

Now we've gone over a lot in this article but it is important to remember that we can't build good technique without a solid foundation. Next week we will be going over some more technique and principles with a single leg and a sprawl, as well as discussing proper work ethic in the gym. Until next time, remember the Golden Rule:

THE BODY FOLLOWS THE HEAD!!

Low back pain!

I don't know very many people who have never experienced low back pain at one time or another! I myself have and I know that most of my students have as a result of training constantly one-sided in our fighting stance. In fact, most folks are unbalanced by nature. We have all heard the saying that if a person were to walk in one direction for a length of time they would end up going in a circle because everyone tends to favor one side or have one leg shorter than the other among other reasons. Another reason why the lower back is so stressed is in the design of the human anatomy. Think about the structure of the skeleton and imagine all the huge muscle that you are building while you pound out 400lb bench sets and 300lb rows! Al this weight and power sitting on the little chicken-neck we call a spine! I am not a chiropractor, but it seems obvious to me when I think of it this way that taking good care of the back is crucial.
The foremost authority on back pain (and many other health subjects) in my opinion, is a fellow named Josh Rubin from East West Healing at http://www.eastwesthealing.com/Resources.aspx. He has sourced out a low back exercise from Doctor Guy Voyer that is easy and effective but you have to follow it exactly as he describes in this Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb1pzak7w_M. It doesn't look like much but it works.

Give it a shot.
Coach Toby