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Fight Camp Conditioning

Strength and Conditioning for MMA, BJJ, Wrestlers and other Combat Athletes

Developing Rotational Power for Jiu-Jitsu Athletes

By Craig Ansbach

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.

Because of the need to have rotational power, our training in the weight room should reflect that need. Unfortunately, most of the programming takes place in the sagittal plane. This includes motions like jumping, squats, deadlifts, pushing, and pulling motions. The frontal plane is also sometimes trained in motions like lateral jumps and lateral lunges. Rotational movements occur in the transverse plane of motion and is often less trained than the other planes of motion. Rotational power can be trained through different modalities such as plyometrics, medicine balls, and the landmine.

When training inside the transverse plane, you must always develop the ability to resist rotary forces against the body first. Having the prerequisite stability against rotational forces will allow an athlete to better express power and reduce the risk of injuries on the mats. Once proper stability is established, you can begin to develop more dynamic rotary movements to help enhance your BJJ training.

Follow these basic progressions to ensure you are creating both rotational stability and power:

Rotational Stability:

  • Anti-Rotation Series
  • Band Holds
  • Band Presses
  • Banded Chops
  • ½ Kneeling Chop
  • Split Stance Chop
  • Medicine Ball Rotational Stability
  • ½ Kneeling Toss
  • Split Stance Toss
  • Landmine Stir the Pot

Rotational Power:

  • Transverse Jumps
  • 90°
  • 180°
  • Medicine Ball Rotational Toss Series
  • Standing Toss
  • Standing Punch
  • 2 Step Toss
  • Landmine Pull to Press

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 numerous combat athletes including BJJ black belt world champions and UFC athletes.

Conditioning Workout with UFC Fighter, Alex Perez

by Corey Beasley

Alex is fresh off his win in Philadelphia and we wanted to give you a behind the scenes look at one of his workouts leading up to this fight.  This workout was performed about two weeks out from his fight, so we were making sure he could repeat explosive efforts, while starting to taper the volume down as he began his weight cut.  The goal here is to repeat the explosive effort throughout each set.  We performed each drill for 5 sec ON, 10sec OFF for 16 rounds.

Workout with Alex Perez

Workout details:

Warm Up

Alex typically comes straight from jiu jitsu, so the warm ups are minimal.  We will usually include some type of mobility drills for the hips and shoulders (not shown), then get him performing a few activation drills for the trunk.

Sand Barrel Isometric Holds

These are a staple for our athletes.  We learned this exercise from John Brookfield and it quickly became one of our favorite tools.  Tilting the heavy barrel challenges the entire body to stabilize while tilting the barrel to each side.  This is a killer on the trunk.

 

Push Pull Holds

Using the CORE 44 bar from PurMotion, this simultaneous push/pull exercise challenges our ability to rotate, while keeping the shoulders and hips moving together as one.  We pivot through the back foot, push with one arm, while pulling with the other.

 

Locomotion Drills

This series of drills finishes off our warm up and simply uses common locomotive drills like running forward and back, shuffling side to side, cariocas, butt kickers and skips.  By using these every session it allows us to raise the body temperature, while performing lots of repetitions over time.  This helps develop general athletic qualities that will help our guys perform.

Explosive Intervals

*5sec ON, 10sec OFF for 16 rounds on each drill

 

Drill #1 – Towel Taz 

This unique conditioning drill is simply a faster, more dynamic version of the Battling Rope Slams.  Shake the moving blanket up and down, while quickly changing directions with the feet.  The combination of quickly moving the hands and feet, provides great transfer for combat athletes.

Note: Move like a squirrel trapped in a room, quickly changing directions with the feet, while moving the hands as quickly and powerfully as possible.

 

Drill #2 – Switch Foot

Using a line for reference, you simply need to move the feet back and forth over the line, rotating quickly and driving the arms.  This simple rotational drill challenges our ability to move quickly and transfer force through the entire body.  I make sure to count the reps on each burst, to make sure we are maintaining quickness.

Note: Initially, as the athlete fatigues, you will notice that they lose coordination.  This simple drill becomes challenging, so its a good learning opportunity for them to perform basic drills well, when they are fatigued.

 

Drill #3 – Battling Rope Sidewinders 

This drill challenges the athlete’s ability to stabilize through the whole body while sweeping the arms across the front of the body.  This not only challenges him to stabilize through the legs, hips and trunk, but also forces him to quickly produce force, change directions and work the other way.  Lots of disturbance that transfers well into the cage.

Note: We are looking for a good athletic position, knees bent, hips back, spine straight, eyes forward…throughout the movement.  Exhale consistently on one side to keep your breathing in sync with your movement.

 

Drill #4 – Lateral Shuffles

Simple lateral shuffles are a common drill, but the main focus here is change of direction.  Absorbing and producing force to change direction may seem simple but it is very challenging when done with intention.  Many people will stutter step or change direction slowly, so count the amount of reps you can perform during each set and maintain that quickness!

Notice that we are challenging his ability to explode in various planes of motion (up/down, rotational and side to side).  From my experience, athletes fatigue quickly when using the transverse (rotational) and frontal planes (side to side), so we make sure to tax the body from many different angles, moving in a variety of different directions.

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.

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Olympic Weight Lifting for Wrestlers

Interview by Coach Carmen Bott
Answers by Guest Coach: Jeremy Martin

Coach Bott: “Tell me about your weightlifting background – Do you compete 
yourself?  Were you always a weightlifter?”

Coach Jer: I have been weightlifting competitively for around 5 years. I’ve been fortunate in that time to improve my results enough to reach a national level. Before my time in weightlifting, I competed in powerlifting and strongman. Previous to that, I played football, rugby and basketball and then transitioned into competitive MMA for a few years. I like to think that my varied sport experience helps me to better apply training principles to athletes of all kinds.

Coach Bott: “How can Olympic Lifting be integrated into an Off-Mat training plan 
for a Wrestler?  What lifts would you use?  And why.”

Coach Jer: Weightlifting movements can make up a large proportion of a wrestler’s off-mat strength and power training. Lifts like the power clean and power snatch, especially the hanging variations, can be primary lifts for lower body training. Jerks (both split and power variations) as well as push presses can be used as primary lifts for the upper body. Pulls, squats and dumbbell variations of the lifts can also be used as strength and accessory movements in a wrestler’s program. These movements teach athletes to apply forceful acceleration through an external object (the barbell), while also maintaining proper technique and body positioning. This is the essential to wrestling, where the object of the competition is to disrupt another person’s positioning while maintaining your own positional integrity.

Coach Bott: “What do you think are the key physical benefits an athlete can gain 
from the Olympic Lifts or their abbreviations?”

Coach Jer: As mentioned above, these lifts teach us to move an object with speed and aggression, while maintaining proper positioning. A well-executed hang power clean, for example, will have the individual exploding upward from an athletic position, apply as much force as quickly as possible through the barbell, then almost immediately return to and athletic “receiving” position to absorb the impact of the airborne bar. We are essentially teaching athletes to create force while also fighting the force that they created, in order to absorb impact in an optimal position. Movements like the split jerk also teach athletes to move the feet horizontally after a vertical drive, similar to switching stances or sprawling in wrestling.

Coach Bott: “How should an athlete go about learning these lifts?”

Coach Jer: It is highly recommended that athletes find a qualified coach to instruct them in the olympic lifts. Ideally, one would find a coach that has experience in both strength and conditioning and weightlifting. This allows the coach to apply the variations of the movements that will be most effective for the athlete’s performance. Some pure weightlifting coaches may not be willing to alter or abbreviate the movements due to their experience being limited to mostly pure olympic weightlifting coaching and instruction. These movements are a sport in of itself. Due to their complexity, it is often best to progress slowly and only advance the movement when technique is deemed adequate by a qualified coach.


Bio:

Coach Jeremy is a certified strength and conditioning coach with a master’s degree in Kinesiology. He has applied his years of experience under the barbell to offer athletes a high level of expertise in strength training, programming and technique. Jeremy owns Loaded Athletics, a facility in Vancouver, BC focused on offering intelligently designed training to athletes, competitive lifters and the general population. Jeremy collaborates with

Coach Bott and is the resident Olympic Lifting Coach for The Wrestler’s Edge program.

Contact Jeremy:

Instagram: @loadedathletics @jerpicksthingsup

Facebook: Loaded Athletics

Contact Info: jer@loadedathletics.com

MMA Kettlebell Workout

by Brett Bartholomew

Kettlebells are a great resistance tool for any athlete.  Today we are going to showcase simple kettlebell workout that allows you to tax every major muscle group in the body. We are going to focus on compound movements like squats, swings, presses, and rows.  This is great if you are short on time, on the road or simply only have access to a kettlebell.

MMA Kettlebell Workout

The Kettlebell Swing

Start in the hike position, back is straight, draw the kettlebell back toward the hips, then snap the hips into the kettlebell and allow the arms to guide the bell up to about sternum height.  Then draw the lats down, pulling the kettlebell back down toward the start position.  Forearms coming back through the legs before initiating the next swing.

Kettlebell Goblet Squat

Hold the kettlebell close to your body, forearms vertical, then sit down with the elbows just inside the knees.  Feet flat, hips low, chest up and then drive the feet into the floor to stand back up tall.

Kettlebell Overhead Press

Start with the kettlebell in the racked position, wrist neutral.  Lock in through the trunk, glutes tight, and root the feet into the floor before pressing overhead.  You’ll finish with the palm facing forward, arm in line with your ear.

Kettlebell Row

Hinge at the waist, back flat, braced through the trunk, then pull the kettlebell up toward the arm pit. You can maintain a square stance, stagger the feet or perform it standing on one leg.

The intensity, volume and speed of each movement is determined by your ability level and training goals.  For more details, be sure to check out Brett’s FREE 45 Minute Webinar here… or click the link below to learn about Brett’s Savage & Simple training plan for fighters.

Click Here to Learn More About Brett’s Savage & Simple Training Plan for Fighters

Medicine Ball Exercises for Fighters 

By: Craig Ansbach  

 Medicine balls are a great tool for developing power and speed-strength in fighters because they help transfer the strength gains in the weight room and apply them to the fight. Medicine ball exercises are efficient and effective when training power because it teaches an athlete to produce high rates of force development by using the entire body. Medicine ball training also improves kinetic linking which is the ability to generate force through the entire body while controlling and decelerating forces from different planes of motion.  

 A well designed medicine ball program should develop vertical, horizontal, and rotational power to help create a well rounded athlete while reducing the risk of injuries by increasing the tissue tolerance to different velocities and directions. As with any exercises modalities, medicine balls should follow a progression to ensure the athlete is maintaining kinetic linking and developing power in the right positions before advancing the exercise. Medicine ball progressions should start from a simple positon with the focus of maintaining proper tension and position and then become more dynamic as they progress. Progressing too soon can result in the lose of kinetic linking and and have less transfer to fighting. 

 Follow these progressions for vertical, horizontal, and rotational movements to further develop you or your fighter’s power and speed-strength:  

Slam Progression:  

  • Declaration Slam  
  • Vertical Slam 
  • Rotational Slam  

 

Rotational Toss Progression: 

  • ½ Kneeling Toss  
  • Split Stance Toss  
  • Standing Rotational Toss & Punch   
  • Two Step Rotational Toss  

 


Sprinter Throw Progression:  

  • Static Sprinter Throw with Ball in Hand 
  • Sprinter Throw with Ball on Floor  

 

When programming medicine ball training into your next program remember the following guidelines to maximize power: 

  • Do not go too heavy on medicine ball  
  • Focus on proper movements and speed of the medicine ball  
  • Have ability to perform base line exercise before progressing   
  • Program lower repetitions (8 or less) with higher intensity  

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 numerous combat athletes including BJJ black belt world champions and UFC athletes.  

 

 

 

Viable Alternatives to the Olympic Lifts for Fighters

by William Wayland

Weightlifting or Olympic lifting, which ever parlance you prefer is part of the culture within strength and conditioning much like the power lifts, both belong to the strength sport family and contested as a means unto its self. The lifts are a part of the long standing legacy of strength sports and their influence on strength & conditioning as profession.

When we consider the Combat athlete we have to obviously consider a number of factors, training load, training age (years spent training), injury status, joint health and ability to learn. Olympic lifting is rough on the joints with especially when chasing heavier loads. It’s not uncommon to train fighters usually have some sort of accumulated micro trauma (usually hands, shoulders and knees), it is the prudence of the lifting coach or yourself as to whether it is appropriate to add high force – high velocity lifting to your training, when that high velocity lifting requires a technical competence in yet another sport to really reap benefits. For instance, the catch on the clean requires high levels of tolerance in force acceptance in the wrist, shoulder and elbow which doesn’t play well on bad joints or taking hook grip as an example can be taxing on the hands do we need to add this already beat-up hands? And so on. Injury when lifting is a risk but this risk can be mitigated by proper supervision, qualified instructors, lifting appropriate weight and using proper technique. This milieu detracts from the primary purpose of power improvement.

To quote Bob Alejo “The only non-athletic thing about the power clean IS the catch! This is biomechanically and physiologically useless for an athlete to help improve sports performance. Yet, special steps must be taken to teach the maneuver—increase flexibility of the wrist, include front squat into a program to help teach the “rack,” or separate rack flexibility exercises. Wrist inflexibility seems to be the biggest issue with the catch, and at times detracts from the very thing we are trying to achieve—power!”

This aim of the article is to explore the best options available of outside of this narrow set of technical asks movements like the clean and snatch ask. The most of absurd proposition I’ve heard is that Olympic lifts are a must for athletes. Absolutes are always a huge red flag for me. I’ve stated before that ‘too often get the most from athletes, we have to do things that others don’t expect of us.’ I break from ‘Strength sport orthodoxy’ is not a problem if outcomes are positive. This is not an exhaustive list but gives you some of the best exercise variations I’ve found for the purpose of improving power.

Trap Bar Jump

Trap Bar Jumps (Hex Bar) are one of the simplest replacements for Olympic lifting as straight swap.  Much has been made of the evidence showing that trap bar jumps produce greater power outputs than the hang clean. The learning curve is very minimal, as it pretty much pick up the bar with an even grip and jump! Suggested loading is 10-20% of Squat maximum. I’ve found a lot fighters find this movement immediately intuitive. We can however enhance the amplitude of effect in our next variation.

Reactive Banded Resisted Trap Bar Jump

The upgrade for the trap bar jump, the reasons why this maybe the best replacement for the Olympic lifts is twofold: Magnitude and Accentuated Eccentric

The reactive nature of this jump means that a lot of work can be done in a very short time frame, in the amount of time someone can do 5 jumps they may only achieve 1 or 2 reps of a more conventional lift. This beneficial because the stimulus within a given time frame is greater, meaning greater training effect. Cal Dietz suggests this is 3 to 5 times force produced compared to Olympic lifts when you account for time frame and up to 5 to 10 times force requirements using drop jump version (which involves rapid accelerated drop). I’ve measured ground forces in excess of 5-7 x bodyweight which leads to the next element that makes it a good option. Attenuated eccentric created by the bands actively slamming you back into the floor, this rapid eccentric deceleration has a number of positive adaptations that are absolutely crucial in building powerful athletes. I absolutely challenge athletes to try to turn over the whole thing in as short a time frame as possible. If you have force platforms you can measure the time from start to finish. Or Alternately put a sub 3-10s time of your choosing on the clock and challenge the athlete to get as many reps as possible.

Squat Jump

The original power exercise and often highly underrated due to its simplicity. A natural follow on from barbell squat that athletes would have used during strength cycles. The squat jump has an increased transfer of training since it uses a similar range of motion to the squat while implementing the power output and rate of force development necessary for maximal velocity. Only primary concern with this technique is using a squat type pattern to jump, rather than a natural jumping pattern. Much like the quarter squat this exercise has a high correlation coefficient across broad spectra of sport’s performance, higher than many Olympic lifts. This can be employed as CMJ style jump or a full squat depending on the athletes needs.

The Quarter Squat/Sports Back Squat

Technically the most different to the other technique’s listed, why? Well the athlete never leaves the floor; triple extension has been dampened more recently as a marker of a movement of that has high ‘transfer’. The quarter squat and its sports back squat (narrower stance) has been shown to correlate positively to improved power. The partial squat has been a staple of many track athletes and jump athletes programs, for instance Istan Javorek used Wave Squats (partial squats) in his programs. Fred Hatfield aka “Dr. Squat” prescribed partial squats and keystone deadlifts to Evander Holyfield and it certainly did him no harm. Apparently Dr. Bondarchuck rarely ever squatted his athletes that deep because they never utilized those deep positions in their throwing movements, he combined these with additional glute hamstring for for optimal effect. I even used these with Luke Barnatt prior to his Andrew Craig fight paired with RDL’s and Barbell Hip thrusts.

The usefulness of the partial squat comes from accelerating high loads at high velocities, which allows for greater force and power outputs according to a Drinkwater et al study (2012) which allows in a fully fleshed out program to train all parts of the time/power curve and most strength coaches agree on that. The same thinking is why I make use of band assisted jumping.

A study by Bazyler et al (2014) found that partial ROM squatters could train at high intensities while peaking concluded that “Partial squats may be beneficial for strength and power athletes during a strength-speed mesocycle while peaking for competition.” Most of these studies do focus however on regular stance squatting, which as dynamic correspondence dictates that we try and perhaps change widths to be more sporting in nature.

No Catch Clean – Clean High Pull – Hang High Pull

Bob Alejo has made his feeling about the catch phase of the clean clear “The only non-athletic thing about the power clean IS the catch! This is biomechanically and physiologically useless for an athlete to help improve sports performance. Yet, special steps must be taken to teach the manoeuvre—increase flexibility of the wrist, include front squat into a program to help teach the “rack,” or separate rack flexibility exercises. Wrist inflexibility seems to be the biggest issue with the catch, and at times detracts from the very thing we are trying to achieve—power!” His answer to this problem is heavy emphasis of the no catch clean, clean high pull and hang high pull. The important distinction being this, two athletes may have the same pull height with the same load, but one due to wrist/elbow or shoulder limitations might have to drop his effective training load to catch the bar effectively. The solution being not catching it at all so the power production element, ‘the pull’ remains intact. The athlete’s needs are put ahead of the requirements of the sport of weightlifting.

Catch or don’t catch

Right now there is a lot of great research on pulling derivatives that don’t require a catch.  Questioning some previously unquestioned Olympic lifting methods for athletes is important as it makes sure we don’t get stuck in the ‘we’ve always done it this way mode of thinking’ which can stifle creativity. The body of evidence surrounding the olympic lifts is also broad, but the important consideration is asking what elements can we condense to yield improvement and do the best by the athlete.

Swinton etal (2012) Effect of load positioning on the kinematics and kinetics of weighted vertical
jumps. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22446664
Rhea, Kenn, Peterson, Massey, Simão, Marin & Krein, (2016)Joint-Angle Specific Strength Adaptations Influence Improvements in Power in Highly Trained Athletes.

Accentuated Eccentric Loading for Training and Performance: A Review. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28681170

The Effect of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage After a Bout of Accentuated Eccentric Load Drop
Jumps and the Repeated Bout Effect. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27893481
Bondarchuk A. () Transfer of Training Vol 3

William Wayland is a strength coach and owner of Powering Through in Chelmsford, Essex, UK. Striving for performance that can be measured in success on the field, on the court, in the ring or in the cage. William works with Olympians, UFC fighters and other high level athletes.

Learn More from William Wayland:

 

Rotator Cuff Exercises: Wax On, Wax Off

by Jorge Bonnet

Many fighters and grapplers struggle with their shoulders.  The combination of poor posture, sport specific overuse and an incomplete strength training plan contributes to this wide spread issue.  In today’s video, Jorge Bonnet shares one of his favorite rotator cuff exercises, called wax on wax off.  Inspired by Tai Chi. Jorge developed a simple, effective way to add resistance to this movement pattern.  Check out the full video and leave us a comment or question below!

 Wax ON, Wax OFF Exercise for the Rotator Cuff

Shoulder circumduction is commonly used in physical therapy clinics and this simple exercise allows you to do this anywhere.  This rotator cuff exercise allows you to challenge the entire shoulder, through a wide range of motion, while keeping the joints safe.   Feel free to mix up the body position, adjust the resistance and challenge your shoulder from various angles, so that you are strong, healthy and ready to compete.

Jorge is the founder of PurMotion. His experience as a 5-time Olympic athlete fueled his passion to change the way the world thinks about fitness and has led to the creation of a new training modality complete with new movements, products and programming. In today’s podcast, we discuss Jorge’s athletic past and how he transitioned into fitness, manufacturing and education.

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Preparing for a Fight: Reverse Engineering Your Fight Prep to Maximize Results

by Brett Bartholomew
Savage & Simple

In today’s video, Brett discusses how to create a plan of attack when preparing for a fight.  Many people just randomly work hard, but the key is developing a coordinated plan by reverse engineering our fight prep.   In order to maximize our preparations, it’s important to address a variety of athletic qualities.  Laying the foundation, addressing imbalances, strengthening the body, increasing capacity, intensifying over time, ramping up the conditioning, getting explosive, then tapering for competition.  The following video explains this in more detail.

Tips When You’re Preparing for a Fight

** Watch Brett’s Free 45 Minute Webinar Here **

 

Brett Bartholomew is a strength and conditioning coach, author, consultant, and founder of the performance coaching and consulting company, Bartholomew Strength. His experience includes working with collegiate teams, professional teams, businesses, and individual clients. Taken together, Brett has coached a diverse range of athletes from across 23 sports at levels ranging from youths to Olympians. He’s supported Super Bowl and World Series Champions, along with several professional fighters, including those competing in the UFC. He has also worked with members of the United States Special Forces community. His coaching and speaking has spanned the globe, from China to Brazil and numerous other stops in between.

As an entrepreneur, Brett has proudly served as a teammate and supporting partner in the strategic growth of two separate performance companies and is a highly sought-after consultant and mentor for many others across the United States and abroad. Additionally, his work and expertise has been featured in numerous local and national media outlets.

His book, Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In, achieved “Best Seller” status in the categories of “Sport Coaching” (#1), “Business/Money” (#8) ,and was ranked in the “Amazon Top 100 Books Overall.”

Brett is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) where he holds both their CSCS*D & RSCC*D distinctions. He is a proud graduate of Kansas State University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology, and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where he obtained a Master of Science in Education in exercise science with an emphasis on motor behavior, cueing, and attentional focus in human performance.

 

 

Earning the Right to Rotate – Learning to Stabilize During Rotary Medicine Ball Exercises

by Alex Rosencutter

Medicine ball exercises are very popular among fighters.  People want to use these drills to produce more explosive athletes, but typically overlook building the foundation.  In today’s video, Alex Rosencutter walks us through a couple of his favorite anti-rotation drills that teach his athletes how to stabilize and develop a ‘rock solid’ foundation while throwing the medicine ball.

Earn the Right to Rotate – 2 Anti-Rotation Exercises to Develop Stability

Half kneeling, Anti Rotation Toss 

  • Start with one knee on the floor, other leg in front of you
  • Knees about 90 degrees at the knee, with posture tall, eyes forward
  • Focus on stabilizing through the hips and legs, only rotating through the upper back and shoulders
  • This teaches you, not only to produce force into the wall, but to also absorb the force when catching it.

 

Split Stance Anti Rotation Toss 

  • Coming off the ground forces us to control, building up from the half kneeling.
  • Same rules apply, stabilize through the hips and legs, then rotate with the shoulders and and upper back only.
  • Do not allow a lot of movement through the legs and hips.
  • Your goal is to create a rock solid base through the legs and hips.

You can perform 8 -10 repetitions, for 2-3 sets on both exercises.  I typically use these either at the beginning of the session, as movement prep.

Alex Rosencutter is the owner of Rosencutter Ultra Fitness and Performance (Wauwatosa, Wis.) and a strength and conditioning coach at Greendale High School (Greendale, Wis.). He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with an emphasis in strength and conditioning and a minor in nutrition. Rosencutter is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength & Conditioning Association; a Certified Sports Nutritionist through the International Society of Sports Nutrition; and a Certified Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Stay in touch w/ Alex on Instagram –> @alexrosencutter

 

Learn more about Alex and his approach to training mma fighters in our Podcast episode here

Building Muscle vs Dropping Body Fat While Training in Jiu Jitsu

by Mark DiSalvo, CSCS

When push comes to shove, there shouldn’t be many competitors at any belt level who wouldn’t want to optimize their body composition at their weight class. It helps lead to strength gains, better overall health, and in most cases, big performance improvement. It also just so happens that one of the lowest hanging fruit I see for grapplers is the ability to improve their body composition and this is true of the professional down to the amateur competitor. For the pro, the stakes are obvious, but for the hardcore amateur practitioner: just because you aren’t making any money doesn’t mean you don’t want to show up and show up looking the part of a fighter. Whether it’s losing weight or putting on solid mass, there’s a way to do it even when training jiu jitsu with a high frequency.

GPP First, Body Comp Goals Second

Jiu Jitsu is a skill-heavy sport. The people who reach a high level in it are very proficient at their game and the overall movement literacy of jiu jitsu. With that “literacy” comes efficiency, and that efficiency can mask true fitness and athleticism. That’s why you’ll hear or see guys on the mat that are good at jiu jitsu (think purple belt and above), but they’re red in the face after just a round or two of rolling with someone of equal or more skill. They couldn’t rely on their efficiency of technique alone (the way a black belt plays with an under-belt like a cat), so they started tapping into their other athletic qualities, which are a finite resource. These are usually the guys whining about their gas tank too – and they’re actually onto something…

These guys have no GPP. What do I mean? General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is your overall fitness and back end physical ability. This includes your general aerobic capacity, your basic agility, balance and jumping ability among other qualities. Along with strength, it’s a building block of athleticism.

Now, strength and hypertrophy training can take you a long way, but it’s not likely to happen unless you first take care of your GPP. One reason is that those who have good GPP generally will be leaner or at a more ideal body composition for their size. It’s always easier to gain muscle while being lean (think insulin sensitivity).

An athlete with a solid GPP base is also one that tends to understand how to move their body more efficiently and will have better technique in the weight room. Barbells, dumbbells, and compound movements all are more computable to the athlete who has a good working knowledge of their body. Better technique will translate to better improvements and better progress.

This is one reason that exercise selection for grapplers who only really have physical experience in grappling and no other sports or pursuits is so important: you have to find things their bodies understand and they can process. If you can diversify their understanding of their body, you can use more tools in the weight room.

Be Lean First, Build Muscle Second

I mentioned it above, but the best way to gain muscle is to already be lean. That is to say, if you have a lot of weight to lose, lose it first. Muscle mass is best gained when the body is insulin sensitive, and you can use the hormone insulin to your advantage while you’re working out and eating the right amount of carbohydrates. Those who are insulin resistant are blunting their ability to use the hormone during workouts or to have the proper response to carbohydrates. Once you’re in the relatively lean territory: if you train jiu jitsu 4-5x per week, calibrate upwards on your strength training, slowly.

You’ll need about 10 sets per week per body part to spark growth if you have a little gym experience already. If you’re new to lifting weights, then you’ll actually need less in your first 6 or so weeks. Studies show as little as 5 and as many as 9 sets being optimal*. Before the body builders in the room groan at me, remember, the jiu jitsu athlete is already doing hard training each day on the mats, and we aren’t trying to overtrain them.

If you have a long lifting and athletic history before jiu jitsu you can push it, but listen to your body. Remember that even if your muscles feel fine, you also have connective tissue to consider that tends to not let you know you’re having problems until it’s too late. Add to the fact that submissions are aimed at ripping that same connective tissue apart, and you see why you should be smart.

*I define “relatively lean” as not obviously obese or overweight. There are a lot of ways to measure body fat percentage, and a lot of them vary wildly from individual to individual, which is why I hesitate to give you a body fat percentage range as a rule. Traditionally, people would say get to 10-12% in men or below 20% in women, but I have seen guys who read at 15% and a bit higher who adequately and effectively gained muscle mass. The point is to simply eliminate very obvious excess fat before trying to deliberately gaining muscle.

Work with Tempo and Long Time Under Tension

The best body recomposition programs include two very important variables: work volume and TUT (Time Under Tension). The good news is this translates very well to jiu jitsu, as there is a huge isometric (high constant tension) component to many jiu jitsu techniques. Using slow tempos and isometric exercise help train this quality in the weight room.

The bad news? You’ll be pretty sore at first, but if you’re doing it right, you’ll likely only end up this way the first week of each new workout cycle, and progressively less for the next month. For both those losing weight and gaining mass: volume and time under tension are good ways to optimize your lean muscle while dieting appropriately.

Don’t Serve Two Masters

In the end, you can only seriously pursue one major goal at a time. Otherwise, you’re diverting your efforts and diluting progress. If getting serious about your body composition is important to you, prioritize it!

You may need to take a reduced jiu jitsu training schedule while you pursue some serious body composition goals. Consider rolling less and rely more on drilling for a few weeks at a time when your workout schedule is particularly intense. Alternatively, if you take a lot on at once, remember to de-load and take rest days/weeks every once and a while. Remember, the athlete who can keep training is the one that gets better. Getting hurt = not training = not improving!

Don’t Forget to Eat

Jiu jitsu athletes tend to be open minded towards diets and many different ideas on eating get passed around the mats on a regular basis. One eating strategy that is quite popular is intermittent fasting, which has a lot of promising literature around it. I have used it with clients looking to drop weight with success too. While fasting has been around as a remedy for many ailments since the beginning of time, it’s not always the right performance, weight gain, or even weight loss strategy. This is my way of saying that nutrition is very individualized and you would be wise to consult a nutritionist familiar with the high output of sports like jiu jitsu. Depending on how much you train, your nutrition strategy will become all the more important and play a major role in your efforts. Most importantly, you need to make sure you’re properly fueled, especially if you’re looking to add muscle. Remember, there are many ways to skin a cat!

In Closing

I used many of these methods last year with Rehan Muttalib, all while he trained hours each day at Cobrinha’s in L.A. and completed my strength workouts in the afternoon in preparation for IBJJF Worlds 2018. His before and after shots are indicative of great progress and show you that this is quite possible at a high level and without injury.

Keep these principles in mind and you’ll be able to apply any sensible training program with great results. I have never bought the excuse that jiu jitsu is too calorically demanding to make meaningful body composition changes and I think the recent impressive transformations of the top athletes in the sport are great proof of this.

Mark DiSalvo, CSCS, is New York City based strength and conditioning coach and owner of DiSalvo Performance Training. He specializes in work with grapplers and works with some of the highest level athletes in the sport at all belt levels and ages. He can be found at disalvotraining.com.

Sources/Citations
* https://medium.com/@SandCResearch/what-determines-training-frequency-62ec783f908f

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