The three necessary evils to achieving my goal: a strength and conditioning regimen to make me an animal, a fight training regimen to perfect my technique, and a supplement regimen to keep me constantly improving mentally and physically. I was fortunate to have a very experienced support team behind me that allowed me to just go through the training, stick to the plan, and enjoy the results at the end. Now that I have had a chance to sit down after the fight and reflect on how I got there, I wanted to share some of the program that helped me become successful in my MMA debut.

My MMA Strength & Conditioning Program

(this is a general overview, not the whole program)

Programmed and coached by Dino

• 2 – 3 Days per week of long distance cardio (varied times but ran at a slow steady pace)
• 1 – 2 Days per week of sprints (varied between timed sprints – 3 Minute Sprints/1 Minute Walk, etc. or distance sprints – 100 Meters, 400 Meters, etc.)
• 5 Hours of Kettlebell Training per week (varied workouts for strength, speed, etc.)
• 5 Hours of Bodyweight Training per week
• Rest on Sunday (and by rest I mean a long stretch for about 45 minutes and some light cardio)

In my opinion, the strength and conditioning program was what built a solid base for me to be able to add the fight training into my regimen without any significant resistance. I didn’t have to waste any time preparing my body for fight conditioning, which helps out a lot mentally, especially when you are starting something new. Prior to November 2009, I had no experience in Jiu-Jitsu at all, but I knew going in that even if I lacked skill, my strength and conditioning was top of the line, so I could outlast everyone until my technique got better. I think that a good strength and conditioning foundation should be achieved before moving on to more intricate and technique based training. I don’t think I could have asked for a better and more knowledgeable coach than Dino when it came to knowing exactly how to intertwine everything in order to make it work specifically for MMA. He put a lot of time and hard work into preparing me for this fight and I was very lucky to have him in my corner.

My Fight Training Program

(again general overview, not the whole program)

Programmed by Dino and Dave Reeves and coached by Dave Reeves

• Weeks 1 – 8 – Dave had not jumped in as my fight coach yet, I was just learning the ropes of Jiu-Jitsu and starting Muay Thai
  • 5 hours per week of fight training at home (shadow boxing, focus mitt work, etc.)
  • 6 hours per week of Gi Jiu-Jitsu – learning position basics, and basic techniques for passing and sweeping
  • 3 hours per week of Muay Thai Class – more like a conditioning class, but gave me a basic idea of how to combine punching and kicking
• Weeks 9 – 16 – Dave took over as my head fight coach and directed all my training at preparing specifically to fight in March
  • 3 – 4 hours per week of No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu – focused specifically on Jiu-Jitsu for MMA (learning where to throw in punches, etc.)
  • 2 hours per week of Muay Thai Class – giving me a variety of people to work with and spar with when needed
  • 6 – 7 hours per week of private MMA Fight Training with Dave – working on combinations, bag work, combining techniques, sparring, etc.

The first eight weeks was the beginning of the fight program where I basically just wanted to get a feel for Jiu-Jitsu and get some basics of Muay Thai to be able to work at home on some combinations and stringing everything together. By January, I felt that I was ready enough to move on to No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu and start on a hard push to make it to my MMA debut in March. I was fortunate to have met Dave Reeves, who was not only an excellent instructor for the Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai classes, but was willing to spend countless hours working with me privately to prepare me for the fight. He also worked very hard with Dino to integrate the fight training with the conditioning training and the supplement program so that I could peak at the perfect time. He was very persistent at getting me up to speed quickly and kept me dedicated to a very hard training schedule in order to get me to where I felt ready. Because of the intensity during the training, I was confident and able to dominate my opponent in my head before I even entered the cage, and I couldn’t have asked for a better result.

My Supplement Program

Programmed by Nate

Supplements

• Forged Burner
• N2KTS
• Whey To Build Muscle
• Muscle Replenisher
• Better Protein Bars
• N 2 Matrix
• Gear
• Lipoflame
• Lipostim

This was a very in depth program that Nate designed specifically for me to prepare for my fight. I don’t want to go into full detail and give away all of the secrets, but I will give you the basic idea. The first 4 weeks we stuck to a basic regimen of protein products, Forged Burner, N2KTS and Gear to keep my energy level up for the long training sessions. The last 4 weeks I cut out the Protein Bars and the Muscle Replenisher and replaced them with regular protein shakes to lower my carb intake. Finally, the last 2 weeks, I replaced the N2KTS with the LipoFlame and LipoStim so I could sweat more during the workouts and burn off more fat so I would have less weight to cut at the last minute. Like I said, the program was much more involved than it appears, but I don’t want to give away all the secrets. All I know is that with the program that Nate put together, I got results quicker than I ever have before using other products.

We experimented with the combinations of the supplements until we found exactly the combination that worked for me. This was an excellent supplement program that I went on that not only made me leaner and stronger but kept me mentally focused during the long training days at the gym. I definitely like the effect of the LipoFlame and LipoStim stack during the last 2 weeks before the fight, it made making weight a lot easier, and when I needed to cut weight, it helped me sweat it out quickly so I didn’t have to suffer in the sauna suit too long (thank God). These are certainly the most effective supplements I have ever taken and would recommend them to everyone. They don’t have the bad after effects or the crash at the end of the rush, and the protein products actually taste like the flavor and not chalk. I was very lucky to be able to take advantage of this amazing line of products when Need To Build Muscle decided to sponsor me for my MMA debut. I will say that I felt stronger, leaner, faster, and more aggressive than ever before and it clearly paid off in the end. So in short, I hope that as long as I am beating people down in the cage, Need To Build Muscle will have my back, and I will be able to deliver an aggressive and exciting performance every time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under Professional Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.