This is great hip dominant exercise that we never really found efficient ways of loading. We now simply take a jiu-jitsu belt and load two kettlebells in...

What works best for a fighter? Linear or undulating periodization? Kettlebells or dumbbells? Olympic lifts from the floor or hang? What do you do for GPP? What exercises do you use to train pulsing? Did you grow a beard to look more like Ryan Reynolds (has nothing to do with this article but I...

Some of the training methods presented in this article are a continuation of my article, “Common Mistakes of a Mixed Martial Artist” and others are things that I have learned more about or added to my program over the last year. This should expose some training components that make MMA...

To me, progression is the key to everything. I have a progression for every exercise I program. This is how you continually build success in an athlete or client. Here is a nice progression for the Inverted Row. Every single person that walks in the door at IPT will be doing some version of...

Hip mobility is important for many different reasons but two trends that you will tend to see with a loss of mobility in the hips are: 1. Low back pain2. Knee pain For those two reasons alone it should encourage coaches and trainers to put an emphasis on hip mobility in their program...

“I don’t have the time to travel”. This is the most common excuse that a trainer or coach gives for the fact that they don’t continue their education. Personally, I think it’s a lame excuse. Anthony Renna has now made it impossible for anyone to use that excuse....

How should you challenge yourself more on plakning exercises?? You can do two things. Increase the time or increase the difficulty of the exercise. I prefer the latter (once someone can hold a plank for 30 seconds). Plus who wants to do a plank for 1 minute +?? There are endless ways to make...

Stretching is one of those things that people tend to not think about much. They simple just go through the motions trying to look as flexible as they can. What ends up happening is they end up moving through the wrong areas and not stretching the muscles that they are supposed to be...

I was having some “writer’s block” so I figured I wouldn’t write anything and rather post a few plyometric training videos that I had buried in my computer. Box Jump: Hurdle Jumps – continuous Lateral Bound &...

Most of you already know who Michael Boyle is. Mike is one of the industries leaders and is definitely my biggest influence. I am VERY excited to not only feature Mike on the blog but also my favorite article he has written, 25 years, 25 mistakes. Like I have said time and time again. If you...

Here is a new progression for the SLDL that I did not have in my article The Deadlift: Teaching it and fixing it. It is a RFE (rear foot elevated) SLDL. I am almost embarrased that I have never thought of this. We catagorize (adopted from Mike Boyle) our single leg knee dominant exercises into...

Here is a nice progression for the plank exercise. Like always, spend time mastering the first exercise before moving on to the next. It’s about what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T do. 1. Kneeling Plank - This is a good entry level plank exercise for those who not yet have a...

Q: I am an MMA fighter and was wondering what you think of wrestling neck bridges for building strength in the neck? A: A strong neck is VERY important for MMA and grappling sports but I would never use the traditional bridges that you see in wrestling. They place tremendous stress on the...

The draw-in maneuver (hollowing) is commonly taught as a technique to activate the abdominals in order to stabilize the spine. In reality, this not a very effective technique for achieving spinal stiffness for a few reasons. First, drawing in the abdominal wall (belly button towards the spine)...

This is for the MMA folks who are being “good boys and girls” and are all ready doing soft-tissue work on themselves. Typically, the areas of focus tend to be the larger muscles like the quads, hip rotators and lats. But their are a few areas that MMA guys are commonly tight and...

I am sure you have seen this infomercial on tv. This is from Master Trainer (please don’t ask me what a Master Trainer is….. I have no idea) Leslee Bender. Apparently she has found a way to jack up you spine more than Pilates. Instead of herniating your discs from doing crunches,...

For those of you using the single leg squat, I am about to show you a much better way to train it that I learned from Mike Boyle a while back. Fist, take a second to look at the anatomy of the single leg squat as pictured below and in the last post. Pay attention to the non-working leg. What...

First off, if you are not training single leg movements for the lower body, you are crazy. Life and sport is on one leg. You don’t run two legs at a time….. rabbits do. Actually the reason for this post is not to state that single leg training is great for athletic performance or...

In general, warming up for 5-10 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment is a waste of time (unless it is for special populations, injured client, overweight, etc). If this is your warm-up, stop now. If your trainer warms you up this way, find a new trainer. If you are a trainer warming up your...

I thought I would post some of our favorite scap stability exercises. Many of our athletes tend to be a bit screwed up in the shoulder complex (and our normal clients due to sitting at the computer) when they first come in. We use a lot of different exercises but here are a few that we use...

I just recently did an interview with Mike Robertson. Mike is the President of Robertson Training Systems and the co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training (I-FAST) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mike has made a name for himself as one of the premier performance coaches in the world,...

Q: You have emphasised the importance of power endurance for mixed martial arts. How do you train this component of strength? A: This is an interesting one. The term “power endurance” is actually an oxy-moron but at the same time it is something that exists within combat sports....

I have had numerous people ask me about P90X and I have to be honest……. I didn’t know what the hell it was. I thought it was a new type of motorcycle or 4 wheeler. I just finally got around to checking it out and I cringed the whole time I was watching! They use the science...

Strength is arguably the most important physical quality a person can have and even more so for an athlete. Strength is too commonly measured only in terms of the bench press. But we need to look at strength in a more balanced approach. So the question should not only be, how much can you...

Let me first say that Eddie Bravo’s jiu-jitsu is amazing. It is second to none. This is not a bash on Eddie but more of a warning to NOT listen to his advice on flexibility. Eddie is what we would categorize as hypermobile……. Think of the far opposite of being really tight...

I recieved a question on training the pulse that I wanted to share. The question was: How does this compare / contrast with the theories of plyometrics? I was going to answer it myself but being the knucklehead I am, I didn’t want to confuse anyone. So I emailed Stuart...

Alright, alright……. I will talk a bit about the pulse. I have been getting emails asking me to talk about Stuart McGill’s “pulsing” idea. To be honest, I am still playing around with it, so I will give a sample (of course I am not giving it all away!!) of what I...

Can you touch your toes? It should be a simple task, yet so many people fail the ability to simply bend over and touch their toes. First off, let be clear that bending over and touching your toes is not a stretch that I recommend but it SHOULD be something that someone CAN do. I just want to...

Look, the glutes are the biggest, most powerful muscle in our bodies. Yet nearly every time I see a new client, I see the same limiting factor…….Their ass is asleep!! Glute amnesia can lead to so many different things. Think about it. If the biggest muscle in your body is not doing...

MMA guys, along with most combative sports, walk around with Neanderthal like posture. Because we try to have hunch back posture (shoulders elevated and rounded, chin tucked, rounded upper back) when we box and kick box, we should pay extra attention to our posture outside of training. Having...

This is a fun one that is a bit harder than it looks. It’s great for core/scapular stability. Focus on bracing the abdominals and pretend your favorite beer is on your hips……DON’T...

Plyometric High Intensity Interval Training? Huh?? Plyometric training and HIIT are two very opposing concepts. Using plyos as a conditioning tool is one reason they get such a bad rap. It’s the same thing I wrote about with Olympic Lifts. Repetitive jumping is a great way to develop...

I had a new article come out this week at strengthcoach.com. It is called “The Deadlift: teaching it and fixing it”. It is written more for trainers and coaches but can definatley serve some purpose for others. If you don’t have a membership to strengthcoach.com (why...

For those of you who have done any hydrotherapy like a cold plunge, I am sure you are aware of the benefits. There are not many things that make you feel better or recover faster from a hard training session than a cold plunge. It can be a bit shocking the first time you hop into 50 degree...

I did an audio interview this week at strengthcoach.com. It was on my recent article “Common mistakes of a mixed martial artist, from a strength and conditioning perspective” Have a listen...

1. It seems a lot of folks in the fitness industry like gimmicks. Fancy speed ladder drills, stability ball exercises, bosu ball stuff, balance boards, tire flipping, and so on. What ever happened to the basics? Most everything has its place but people seem to jump on the bandwagon of the...

Q: There are conflicting views at my gym between the trainers on whether the toes should be turned out or straight ahead during a squat. What is your view on this topic? A: Many Coaches and trainers say that during loaded squats it is best to have the toes turned out 7-15 degrees. I completely...

Oh boy……This one is gonna stir the pot. How pilates became so popular, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the pretty girls in Lycra pants that do it or the fact that you can stay in one spot for an hour and call it exercise? Or, maybe it’s the list of lies and false...

RINGS!!!! I love them!!! Here some examples of a few exercises we use our rings for: Pushup (Horizontal Push) – This is one of the hardest pushups you will EVER do! Lots of shoulder stability…….I love it!! Inverted Row (Horizontal Pull) – I have shown this...