Boxing, Kickboxing for MMA, defense Low bobs and rocks.MPG

Both the "bob" and the "rock" can be used in many different applications. In this video I show you how you can use them for setting up low body punches or to use a s defense against an attack and thereby countering with the low punches. There are many other punches, kick and takedowns that can be set up using them, largely up to your own imagination. I will give some of these examples in the upcoming videos.

Boxing and Kickboxing for MMA - Slipping punches

Of all the different types of head movement slipping is the fastest and works very well to avoid straight, fast punches. It also aids in adding momentum to your lateral movements Slipping left and right will not help if your opponent is throwing looping punches like hooks or over hands and also they are no good for countering with power because you don't build up any torque. They are, however, fundamental to the jab game and keeping the head moving as you change angles.
The elements to the slip are:
1. "Slip with the hip" shoot your hip out to the left to move you head right and vice-versa.
2. When countering allow your opponent to come to you by a slight pause, then slip and counter. 3. Stay forward of your hips with your head.

New years workout

I'm doing a couple short blog posts on getting back into shape after the holidays. I say they will be short because there won't be much bullshitin' as you know, I like hearing myself talk but for today let's get right to the workout.
{Remember that you should always check with a medical professional before starting an exercise program. This workout is pretty hard and the people I am training have been doing this for a while so you might need to work your way up to this intensity.}


The next couple weeks we are trying to get back into the swing of things so we went a little easy on the workouts. The first day we did aerobics mixed with some plyometric intervals of one minute followed by a small circuit of weights. It went like this:

First we did a slow warm up and then 10 minutes of medium impact aerobics; ie. Jumping jacks and twists etc. Once well warmed up we did some plyometric interval sets, going from a high intensity sport-specific movement to a more plyometric movement. These you can mix up any way you like for your sport.

Do each set 3 times.

Set 1. Straight punches for 1 minute then hit the floor for wrestling hip heist 10 times.



Set 2. Punch, knee punch knee alternate sides for one minute then hit the floor for 10 clap pushups



Set 3. Left and right upper-cuts fast for one minute then hit the floor for sprawl to knee alternate sides.




Then we switched to full body weighted movements
1. Squat press - 20 reps



2. "Raise the dead" (stiff leg deadlift to a front row) - 20 reps



3. Curl to press - 20 reps




Then we did another round of aerobics with plyo intervals.




Try this out yourself this week and I'll shoot you some more later.


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The next 2 workouts will be based on Tabata intervals.
A Tabata interval consists of the maximum reps or intensity you can do for 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds rest. Do up to 7 of these interval sets for each exercise.

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 1

Functionality is a word that is floating around quite a bit lately. I think that the concept is quite sage and sound. The idea is that we might be doing too much of the wrong things and not enough of the correct things.
An example of this is the age old boxing training practice of "roadwork" or, jogging. When a person is fighting in a boxing, kickboxing or m.m.a. match the physical exertion the body is under hardly resembles a 20 kilometre jog. Imagine a long distance runner, having trained for his event for many years, the long thin musculature and the lean upper body are not favourable to a fighter.
All three types of muscle tissue (cardiac, smooth and skeletal) are made up of fibre-like cells.
The skeletal muscle tissue can be changed dramatically by the manor of the training.
1. Plyometric exercise; A combination of cardio and resistance training encourages the formation of type IIa fibres or "fast twitch".
2. Resistance exercise; weight training etc. builds up type IIb and somewhat IIa fibres, forming thin and thick myofilaments, increasing the size of the muscle
3. Endurance exercise; Cardiovascular training, prolonged intervals using less force over longer periods result in vast increases in blood flow and type I or "slow twitch" fibres, also known as "slow oxidative".
The human body will recruit the necessary fibres and combinations of fibres as well as the proper level of vascular efficiency to best suit the activity that you do most often.
Therefore, if I will be swinging punches, torque my body violently while pushing around someone my identical weight for 5 rounds (intervals) of 3 minutes, for example, how would I benefit from jogging around for an hourStay tuned.
Coach Toby