by Craig Ansbach
If you’re not testing…you’re guessing.
Testing should be a cornerstone of any sound training program. Testing can be done to evaluate a new fighter or re-assess a fighter returning at the start of camp. What and when you test is determined by the coach but there should always be a purpose behind the test. Testing for the sake of testing is often times a waste of time if it is not used to better build a program to make a fighter better. There should be clear goals for each test you do and result in valuable information that can be related back to some aspect of performance for the fighter.
At the Performance Ranch, we focus on an athlete centered approach and try to give our athletes the edge in all aspect of performance ranging for strength training, recovery, nutrition, mindfulness. We take a similar approach to our testing protocols for the strength and conditioning of our fighters. While the 1RM a fighter can press or squat is important, we take a more holistic approach incorporating other aspects such as body composition as well as movement, elastic, and cardiovascular qualities of our fighters as well.
The following are some of the testing protocols we use for our fighters that come through the door at the Performance Ranch:
Body Composition Scan:
We use the In-Body Scan to establish body composition when assessing an athlete especially during fight camp. The In-Body uses bioelectrical impedance to scan the body and reports on lean muscle mass, body fat, water levels, basal metabolic rates and asymmetries in the body. Having accurate body composition date helps the fighters have a basic understanding of where they currently are physically in regards to body fat percentage and lean muscle mass. By having this data, you can give your athlete a starting point for their weight cut and help monitor weigh decent through camp. This information can also be passed off to a nutritionist and other support staff to help established a fuel plan for a fight and weight cut.
Functional Movement Screen (FMS):
The FMS is the standard in assessing movement quality of any athlete. The FMS give the coaches the ability to assess how well an athlete moves through different patterns and start to determine if there are weak links within the body. These weak links identified could be a structural or neuromuscular issue. The FMS does not diagnose any conditions but it does identify patterns and gives the coach a starting point when working with a new athlete. Understanding basic human movement as well as the demands of the particular combat sport will help a coach better identify weak links and understand why some compensations in movement exists.
Dynamic Warm Up:
Often times a fighter will show up to train with a group and an FMS can not be completed during that time so the dynamic warm up serves as a great tool to assess movement quality. A dynamic warm up should include basic movements like squatting and hinging and overall body control while should taking place in different planes of motions. After watching an athlete warm up, a coach will have a good idea about the movement quality they possess. The warm up should serves as a daily assessment tool for established athletes movement quality before a workout. If an established athlete or group of athletes are having a difficult time with the warm up, due to fatigue or injuries, a change in workout may have to be made that day.
Vertical Jump Test:
Testing different vertical jumps allows you to determine strength and power qualities of an athlete. At the Performance Ranch, we use the Jump Mat technology to measure height but you can also use a Vertec or wall to measure jump height. The two test we focus on are the non-counter movement (NCM) and counter movement (CM) jumps. We use these two jumps because they can illustrate the strength qualities of a fighter. The non-counter movement jump takes out the elastic qualities by pausing for 3 seconds before jumping. The counter movement jump displays elastic/power qualities by using the stretch shortening cycle to produce a more forceful jump. Observing both numbers will show you how efficient an athlete is at utilizing the stretch shortening cycle. Often times, an athlete with a higher CM jump is much more efficient in utilizing the stretch shortening cycle and is a more dynamic athlete. On the other hand, an athlete with similar NCM and CM jumps show that the athlete may not be efficient in utilizing the stretch shorting cycle and is more strength based. The goal is to move both the jump height up with training and increase the gab in-between the NCM and CM jump in the case that the two jumps have a similar height.
Non-Counter Movement (NCM) Jump:
The non-counter movement jump is preformed when an athlete stays in loaded in a jump for 3 seconds to allow for the elastic energy to dissipate. After 3 seconds the athlete jumps as high as they can and land on the mat. They are given 2 attempts and the highest jump is recorded.
Counter Movement (CM) Jump:
The counter-movement jump is performed the same way but without the 3 second pause. This time, the athlete loads up the jump and immediately jumps as high as possible and lands on the mat. They are given 2 attempts and the highest jump is recorded.
Anaerobic Power Test:
The anaerobic power test is done and the Watt Bike and is an all out sprint effort on the bike for 6 seconds. During the 6 second burst, max watt output and anaerobic power are measured. This test gives us a look at the anaerobic energy system of a fighter. This data is especially important because a large number of fights are typically won during quick anaerobic bursts. Getting a baseline for fighters will help improve anaerobic output overtime and set a benchmark for watt output when performing anaerobic conditioning in training sessions.
3 Minute Aerobic Test:
The 3-minute test assess aerobic fitness by using the Watt Bike. The test is performing an all out but sustained pace for the whole 3 minutes. The test can establish both estimated max heart rate and VO2 max. By having this data, a coach can establish HR training zones for different glycolytic conditioning as well as monitor recovery through heart rate monitoring. Besides creating HR zones for conditioning, this test is great for teaching fighters to maintain a pace at a high intensity for a longer duration. Being able to maintain a sustained high effort transfers to the ability to maintain a pace in a fight.
In conclusion, testing give both coaches and athletes an objective starting point for where they are physically and can help establish future training goals. These are some of the test we look to incorporate into our training with our combat athletes. Generally, these tests are done with an athlete when they first start training with us or when a new camp starts. Many gyms and coaches have their own testing protocol based on the available resources. In most cases, it is not the equipment that make great testing system but rather the coach taking the information from a test and applying the information to get the best results for their athletes.
Craig Ansbach is a strength and conditioning coach at the Performance Ranch in Albuquerque, NM. Craig earned his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and his masters in Physical Education/Sports Administration. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (C.S.C.S) from the NSCA and is also a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Craig has coached combat athletes from all disciplines including BJJ black belt world champions and UFC athletes.
Coach Bott: Tell me about your background as a Therapist
Coach Bott: In your opinion, 
Control what you can absolutely control
Work those Hips!!
Take a Break!
All athletes will benefit from an entire care team. I call this a ‘pit crew.’ Each member of the team serves a role in athlete development and care. On my team, I have sport psychology, therapy and nutrition. We all have the same intake files on each athlete we see and add to the file as we see fit. This can only help and athlete. Everyone must work together and must share information. Today, I have the privilege of talking with Conor Collins about concussions in combat sports.
Coach Bott: Tell me about your background as a Therapist. Specifically, how do you help athletes recover from concussions?
Coach Bott: “Are there better screening practices than others?”
Coach Bott: “Are there risk factors or red flags athletes need to be more aware of?”
Coach Bott: “Are concussion more prevalent or are they being detected /diagnosed much better?”
Conor is in his 12th year of manual therapy and movement education. As both a massage therapist and sports injury therapist, Conor provides a unique approach to clinical practice combining disciplines of manual therapy integrated with movement-based rehabilitation strategies.
We are starting to see the evolution of the combat athlete. In the past, skill sets were limited and toughness was the common denominator. These days, athletes are more skilled, well rounded and have access to top coaches around the globe. However, along with new skill acquisition is the need for total athletic development of combat athletes….and that starts when we are young.
For example, kids between the ages of 7-9 should be able to demonstrate movements such as:
Many kids these days are rolling, wrestling, boxing and some are even training for MMA at a very young age. We are now seeing the negative effects of “sport specialization” where a youth athlete only participates in a single sport at a young age and only focuses on the movements required in that sport as opposed to developing a wide variety qualities. Young athletes should have a wide variety of stimuli and should be active to develop well rounded athletic foundation. Numerous studies have directly linked the effects of sport specialization to burn out and a huge increase of overuse injuries. The rate of injuries are skyrocketing; kids are experiencing burn out as well as lacking other athletic and movement skills needed to be successful.
If you are a youth combat athlete, focus on becoming the best athlete you can be. Learn how to properly move, jump, run, land etc. before getting too specific. As your body is becoming more physically mature, various training methods and techniques can then begin to take precedence in your programming once movement literacy is achieved.
In my career working with youth athletes of all sports, as well as high level fighters in various disciplines, I strongly encourage youth combat athletes to participate in a total athletic development program as early as 10 years old. Young athletes need to learn how to control their bodies and require a variety of stimuli to become well rounded. While I encourage some guided activity, it is also important to allow kids to play and participate in a variety of activities.
Coach Jared has over 10 years of training and coaching experience. He holds a Master’s Degree in (Physical Education Sports Administration) from the University of New Mexico. He holds four training certificates from nationally and internationally recognized associations. He has experience working with:
Eccentric Isometrics have the ability improve your power, strength, stability, movement efficiency and much more.
EI’s are not a new training method. As aforementioned they have been effectively used for decades across disciplines with great yielding results. To break things down to a digestible definition, essentially we are looking at performing a movement whereby the eccentric portion of the lift is lowered in a controlled manner, holding the bottom of that position before completing the actual lifting phase of the movement. Below, I break down multiple benefits to performing EI’s in general, with specific carry over to combat athletes, as well as practical applications you can implement right away.
Without shadow of a doubt, EI’s are a surefire way to turbocharge your training, clean up your movement patterns and pack some serious power into your shots. One of the mechanisms behind the success of EI’s come down to their ability to increase post activation potentiation – the all important process of priming your CNS for strength training thus allowing the athlete to yield a greater training effect from their dedicated S&C Session. Another importance of EI’s is that of better sensory feedback and an increase in proprioreception – essentially tidying up body mechanics, body positioning, improving motor control and neural firing patterns, all of which allow for a greater training effect. Furthermore from this, left-right imbalances are addressed when utilising EI’s in a unilateral (one-sided) format. Lastly, muscle stiffness and EI’s go hand in hand. In lay-mans muscle stiffness is a sought after attribute for its ability to produce insane amounts of power. Due to the controlled nature of the lowering phase, the pausing and holds at the bottom position (so long as proper body mechanics are attained) the athlete can express increased movement velocity.
When it comes to ‘corrective exercises’ (a term dubbed by strength coaches and personal trainers to try and remedy poor body mechanics by using special exercises) – there is nothing more corrective than correct movement, period. EI’s allow the athlete to really hone in on and dial their technique to near mastery by reinforcing correct movement patterns, again largely due to the control nature and natural pauses associated with EI’s.
Movement wise therefore, you can’t really go wrong. Sure there’s always going to be a good / better / best scenario given your athletes variables and training outcome desires but its pretty foolproof. How about rep ranges and tempos? Given that there are significant changes in repetition pace than what might already be considered ‘normal’ it’s generally recommended and in best practice to perform movements in the 1-6 rep range. The time under tension will yield quality over quantity all day long, here. The eccentrics should be lowered for between 3-6 seconds with the isometric being held for between 2-7 seconds. Any less than this and you’ll negate any benefits from pausing the lengthened position and any longer than this will add to fatigue accumulation, again negating the intended positive outcomes we are looking for. When it comes to intensity, this is completely tailored to the individual – essentially start conservative and adjust as needed until your moving the weight at the given tempo for the given reps and being an 8 RPE (simply meaning you should finish the set with in theory another 2 left in the tank) which should be increased when overloaded over time as part of a systematic training programme. Heres an example of how EI’s should be interpreted:
Jacob James is a strength and conditioning coach and the founder of 
The need and ability to rotate the body on the mats is a must for any grappler. When grapplers are standing, they are trying to arm drag, cut and angle for a takedown, or sprawl out. On the ground we are rotating to pass guard, sweep, take the back and using hip escapees to defend bad positions. All these movements require some level of rational stability and power. The ability to control rotation and produce power in the transverse plane is key for success on the mats.
Sand Barrel Isometric Holds
Push Pull Holds
Drill #1 – Towel Taz 
Drill #2 – Switch Foot
Drill #3 – Battling Rope Sidewinders 
Drill #4 – Lateral Shuffles
Corey Beasley has been helping people get in shape and compete at their best for over 20 years. He has worked in small training studios, large corporate gyms, traveled to people’s homes, opened a couple gyms, taught certification courses/workshops and is the founder of Fight Camp Conditioning. Corey has experience working with wrestlers, jiu jitsu players, mma fighters and other combat athletes…from kids to aging adults.
Coach Bott: “Tell me about your weightlifting background – Do you compete
yourself? Were you always a weightlifter?”
Coach Bott: “What do you think are the key physical benefits an athlete can gain
from the Olympic Lifts or their abbreviations?”
