MMA and Conditioning

So some updates on my own training, which in spite of the lack of updates in this blog has been ongoing. Basically I’ve delegated the task of making sure I get enough hours in to Will. So not only does he now look after my strength and conditioning, but he’s also going to check my logs at the end of each week and make sure I’ve put in enough quality hours on the mat as well. Reason being that as a coach, it’s very difficult to get your training in when you’re also making sure everyone else is getting their training in. It’s also very easy to just not do anything when you’re feeling tired or pissed off. As I’ve said before on this blog, training for anything is about logging hours in the gym, putting enough in the tank so to speak. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve got to the end of a week thinking that I’d done a lot only to discover that I’d only logged, in real time, 2 or 3 hours.

So I’ve given Will yet another job. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if I gave it to one of the lads I train they’d only do what I told them and I’d probably ignore them anyway in the same way that they ignore me when I tell them what to do. The second is that even though Will is a member of the gym and harbours ambitions of competing, he’s the only one in the gym who tells me what to do on a regular basis so he fits the bill. So I’ve set myself a target of at least 8 sessions per week. I think that would be a good average for the next ten weeks or so, with some weeks going above and some below. I’ll send my hours to Will at the start and end of each week and he’ll rate them and let me know if I have to do more or less the week after. In fact, I’ll probably know myself but it’s good to have that fear of an external examiner.

Here’s this week so far:
Monday: 8-930pm. 3 rounds hard boxing on the pads with Jonny after helping him make the new weightlifting platform. Then about 7 or 8 rounds rolling with the boys.

Tuesday: the following session in the morning-

Rower – 4x500m with 60 sec recovery between efforts…near on max effort.

1A Punch Bag Zercher Squats

1B Pull Ups

1C Push Ups

12 minute work blocks. 4 rounds of 3 minutes. 50 seconds work and 10 second change over. Do as many reps as possible in each 50 second work period.

Rower – 4x500m with 60 sec recovery between efforts…near on max effort.

2A Punch Bag Lunges
2B Barbell Rows

2C KB Floor Press

12 minute work blocks. 4 rounds of 3 minutes. 50 seconds work and 10 second change over. Do as many reps as possible in each 50 second work period.

Rower – 4x500m with 60 sec recovery between efforts…near on max effort.

3A Front Bridge
3B Left Side Bridge
3C Front Bridge
3D Right Side Bridge
3E Front Bridge

Hold each for 30 seconds and transition from each directly to the next without letting the hips hit the ground.

1x500m effort on the rower at max effort. Record time.

Thoughts- very, very tough session but not as tough on the rower as the last time I did the 500s. The first work block was insanely hard on the arms, I had to drop the punchbag a couple of times on the Zerchers towards the end my arms were so tired. The second block had rows in it… that is all you need to know about how my back feels today.

Evening: MMA, 20 minutes wrestling to takedown. 4 rounds MMA in the wee gloves. Not too many of the fight team around last night but got absolutely dominated by Ger so it didn’t matter. A really good session.

I’m off in a few minutes to the Wednesday morning class in the gym, a significant occurrence as it represents the very last time rolling on the old mats. The new mats arrive at 6.30 this evening and with enough help we’ll have them down for Muay Thai at 8pm. So if you’ve nothing else to do at around 6.30, come on down and help out. You’ll get to say you were there!