Intro My names Eric Wong and Im a MMA Performance Coach based out of Hamilton, Ontario.

Ive helped Jeff Joslin in his last 2 fights (including his UFC debut), Rory McDonell, Ray Penny, and other pro fighters. Because I train at a mixed-martial arts gym - and all of the fighters know that Im a MMA Performance Coach - Im asked questions about training pretty much everyday. Over the years Ive noticed that the same questions keep coming up, over and over. Despite the plethora of information available, confusion still reigns as athletes of all levels are still chained to old, dogmatic theories of training, or still making crucial mistakes that basically means theyre wasting their time in the gym. Well Ive taken the 5 questions/topics that Ive been asked about the most, and compiled them into this report to hopefully shed some light on what MMA specific training is really all about. No bull, no fluff, just the straight facts, laid out as concisely as possible. Mistake #1 Overtraining If youve ever had a professional MMA bout, then I congratulate you. It takes a lot of courage, training, and determination to deal with the hard training required to adequately prepare for a match. But the same tough-it-out mentality that makes a fighter able to deal with the long hours of sparring, conditioning, and technique work, can hurt a fighter if they dont know when its helpful and when its detrimental. When creating a program for an athlete in preparation for a fight, I look at a fighters strength and conditioning program, as well as MMA classes. Because theyre both strenuous on the body, you cant just look at them as separate entities. Both must be scheduled and taken into account to create a training schedule that brings the athlete to where they need to be by fight day and avoids injury. Most fighters simply go hard too often. Thats the bottom line. The body gets stronger, muscle motor programs improve (thus techniques improve), and tissues get regenerated during periods of rest and recovery, not training. So if your body never has rest and recovery, then your body will not adapt. Now recovery has a lot to do not only with rest and recovery, such as lighter training days, complete days off, and good quality sleep, but also nutrition. Eating well is a huge part of the equation when creating a successful fighter, but were going to focus on training in this report. Lets say theres a fight in 8 weeks, an athlete doesnt have to put on any muscle mass, and theyre a well-rounded fighter. Heres what Id see as a typical training schedule:

Sun Weights

Mon Cardio MMA

Tues Weights BJJ

Wed No-Gi

Thurs Fri Cardio Weights Kickboxing Boxing

Sat MMA

Each of these sessions would normally be performed at maximum intensity. Sometimes Ill talk to fighters and theyll say things like, I didnt feel too good today, but I pushed as hard as I could anyway. This goes on week after week and gets more intense as the fight gets closer. When I hear this, I know theyre probably setting themselves up for symptoms of overtraining (fatigue, lack of explosiveness), illness, or injury. Heres what I would change to maximize performance: Sun REST Mon Weights MMA Tues Cardio BJJ [T] Wed No-Gi Thurs Weights Kickboxing [T] Fri Boxing Sat MMA

On Monday, I would have the athlete do fewer sets than normal, but intensity (eg. weight lifted) is maintained, to maintain/increase strength and explosiveness without fatiguing the muscles too much. That would leave more energy for the all-important MMA training, where some sparring will occur. If the fighter is tired from lifting weights, its going to impact their MMA technique, and they might develop some bad habits and get sloppy. On Tuesday, Id have the fighter go hard in their Cardio workout (I hate that term and use different terminology that I dont have time to explain here), but focus on technical skills in BJJ (the T). That way, they can go really hard and not worry about having gas later, because they know theyre going to just work on drilling moves and techniques and not rolling too hard. Thursday I would have them go hard in their weight workout, and focus on technical skills in Kickboxing. Friday and Saturday theyre free to go hard because theyll have a full day off on Sunday. Can you see how this would minimize injury, as well as improve both skill and conditioning at the same time? Trying to improve in everything and go balls-out all the time is a sure-fire path to defeat! The key is intelligent focus, directing your energy to where it needs to go for peak performance. Now this is just an example, and changes with every fighter, depending on their strength and conditioning needs, technical needs, etc. But the basic concept is all here. Remember the goal is to maximize performance and win the fight, not train as hard as possible all the time.

Mistake #2 Lifting like a Bodybuilder Heres another common scenario that I come across in the gym. A guy will come up to me and ask me, Hey, what do you think about this, on Monday I do chest, Tuesday legs, Wednesday abs, Thursday back, and Friday is for arms. Is that a good split? Let me put it bluntly, the traditional bodybuilder split is a waste of time for a mixed-martial artist. It could be useful before starting to train MMA but not during, because during, youre going to be wasting energy lifting weights that could go towards learning how to punch, grapple, and move properly. Anyway, I usually respond with, For my athletes, I setup full-body programs, 2 days/week, mixed in with other conditioning work, which changes depending on how far away from a fight they are. If you need more info, check my website. If you want a program, get my book. Its not that I dont want to help, but to try and explain everything at once would be too overwhelming to most guys I meet in the gym. But for you, Im going to break it down as simply as I can.
Not too useful for MMA

My programs are based on movement patterns. There are six major movement patterns a mixed-martial artist should be concerned with: lunge, squat, bend, twist, push, and pull. Two additional patterns are necessary: accessory movements, which are generally single-joint movements such as bicep curls and tricep extensions, and core stability, which includes exercises like bridges, supermans, etc. If you make sure that within a week every movement pattern is worked, then you will undoubtedly be working every muscle in your body, in the way that it was meant to be worked. Now depending on the athlete, they may have lagging muscles that need extra attention, but even if this is true, focusing on proper movement patterns will bring them back into balance eventually. So unless theyre my personal client, I recommend the training program found in my book, which actually has info on customizing your program based on your muscle imbalances. Getting back to the problems of bodybuilding programs for mixed-martial artists, there are actually 3 main problems which really make these programs a horrible choice for a MMA fighter. The first is that most programs require too many training days a week, usually consisting of around 5 days a week at least. If you want to follow this program, but then have to grapple, box, do MMA, and more, then youre going to be wasting energy lifting weights

as opposed to learning whats actually going to win you a fight. Im not downplaying conditioning, but I do recognize that your time is precious and where you spend it must be thought about and prioritized getting buff is NOT a priority for a mixed-martial artist. The second issue is that they prescribe too much volume per muscle group. For example, a typical chest day would be a bench press of 5 sets, followed by incline dumbbell presses for 4 sets, and flys for another 4 sets, and maybe some cable crossovers for 4 sets, which is basically 17 sets of chest exercises. This is great if you want to totally rip your muscles apart and grow, but useless for a mixed-martial artist since your goal is to be as strong as possible, and keep a certain weight. Also, whatever muscle group you annihilated will be useless to you in training, so if its shoulder day, and you expect to train boxing later, youll have a difficult time maintaining proper technique through your combos since you wont be able to lift your arms! The last thing is that many traditional bodybuilding exercises are just not useful for a mixed-martial artist. Doing exercises like hack squats, machine presses, lying leg curls, and donkey calf raises are a poor use of your training efforts compared to front squats, dumbbell presses on a ball, and deadlifts. Following my scheme of 2-3 days/week of strength training requires that each exercise have a purpose and that no time is wasted in the gym. Youve gotta get the most bang for your buck out of every second you spend lifting weights, otherwise you might as well be doing your MMA training.

Mistake #3 Long, Slow Distance Running OK seriously, if youre still going for 4 km or longer runs to improve your cardio, then youve gotta stop that right now and get with the times.
Pop Quiz: What weight class would this guy fight in?

Unless youve been living under a rock, you must have heard of Interval training, HIIT, or Tabatas. These are all forms of intense work followed by easy work. When you run at a slow pace for a long-time, your muscles lose their explosiveness and ability to recover from intense work. Interval training improves your power output and recovery from high intensity muscular work. If youre new to interval work, follow this schedule to get your body used to the high output. The key is HIGH OUTPUT, so its better to have shorter intervals (30 sec) where youre moving fast as opposed to longer intervals (1 min) where youre really dragging your ass. You can do intervals running, on a bike, treadmill, doing stairs, or basically anything. I do avoid the elliptical however, as I just feel its very unnatural. My favourite is to do them running or on a Schwinn AirDyne bike.

Make sure to do a progressive warm-up before doing the first hard interval, otherwise you might pull a hammie!
Week # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # of Sessions 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Hard time (sec) 30 30 30 30 30 45 45 45 Easy time (sec) 60 60 60 45 45 60 60 60 Reps 6 9 12 8 10 6 8 10

Now doing intervals will definitely aid your conditioning. But Ive developed further methods of MMA specific conditioning, which fall into two different categories: Lactic Acid Training and NRG Complexes. Lactic Acid Training is all about getting the most lactic acid produced in your body as possible, which forces not only your muscles to work overtime to process it, but also your liver. Continually forcing adaptation to high levels of lactic acid is a bulletproof way of training your body to endure those matches when you need to exert consistent strength against an opponent, such as escaping a mount or side-mount. You may be able to surprise him with power if hes not well-trained, but it will likely take consistent working towards the move that will get you out. There are 2 different methods of training your ability to tolerate lactic acid: locally and systemically. Check this page out to see what I mean: => http://www.ultimatemmastrength.com/mma-workouts-anaerobic-lactic.html Now NRG Complexes are something Ive developed that are my bread and butter. These routines involve at least 10 exercises, performed in rapid fashion, working the following qualities: Power/Explosiveness, Power endurance, Strength endurance, Core stability, Agility, Balance, Co-ordination, Speed, and Mental toughness!

Ive created many different NRG Complexes all designed for one thing keeping you explosive and active in the last 30 seconds of round 3. I have different examples of NRG Complexes in my Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program that will have you feeling in better shape than youve ever felt before in your life. Theres also a nice side benefit: the fat melts away from your body faster than youve ever imagined!

Mistake #4 Not Following a Program Another big mistake that many fighters make is that they workout instead of train. Working out is going to the gym trying to get a sweat. No attention is paid to what was done before and what is to come. Training is going to the gym with a specific goal in mind, which leads you to another longer term goal down the road. Each session builds on the previous session and will result in a stronger, more powerful athlete. So when I ask people, Whats your program? Ill get vague answers like, Oh, Ill go in and do some bench, then curls, then maybe hit the shoulders pretty hard, yeaaaah. Working out like this is a recipe for poor results. For my fighters, I have every workout weve ever done together logged, with little notes at the bottom if anything was going on, like decreased performance due to an injury, etc. This way, I can look back on my training logs and see what worked and what didnt, which allows me to refine my programs. Thats how Ive come up with my strength and conditioning program for fighters. My goal was to do the least amount of volume possible, while creating explosive, allaround athletes with great endurance. Keeping this goal in mind has allowed me to create a program that is only 3 days/week, avoids injury and overtraining, and most importantly gets results in the only place it counts - in a fight. If you want results, instead of simply working out, get a program that you know gets results, then you can follow it too, its like having me as your personal strength and conditioning coach. => http://www.UltimateMMAStrength.com

Mistake #5 Not Tracking Training Sessions For people who arent following a program, theyre definitely not tracking their training sessions. But some people who do follow a program still dont track their sessions. Heres an easy example describing the importance of tracking your training sessions. Its Tuesday, and you lift 200 lbs for 5, 5, 4, 3 in the bench press. Your rest time is 2 min between sets. Now its next Tuesday, and you know you lifted 200 lbs, but youre not sure how many reps you did in the last 2 sets.

So now, you do sets of 5, 5, 4, and 3 again. The thing is, if you had this written down, before you started your workout, you couldve looked at it and said, This time, Im doing 5, 5, 4, 4. Having that goal in mind helps you focus your strength and achieve that extra rep. Sure, 1 rep isnt a big deal, but repeat this process over 12 weeks, for all of your exercises, and youve got yourself some new strength. You dont need an extremely complicated training log. You can just write in a notebook what you lift each session. The key is to consistently track your sessions, then every session, improve, even if its only by a rep. Heres an example of the training and tracking log that I use for my athletes and in my book: Training Log
Exercise 1) Bench Press 2) Prone Cobra Reps 8 12 3-9 Tempo 202 20 60 s Intensity -1 RM 3 min total Rest 60 s of hold Sets 2-3 1

Tracking Log
Exercise 1) 2) Date: Reps Intensity Reps Intensity Aug 10/07 12 10 135 lbs 9 20 s holds Aug 13/07 12 12 10 135 lbs 6 30 s holds Aug 16/07 12 12 12 135 lbs 4 45 s holds Aug 20/07 10 8 8 145 lbs 2 2 60 s 30 s

Pretty simple stuff - and once you put it into practice, its very powerful.

Conclusion If youre making one or more of these mistakes, then youre wasting time and/or energy that could be spent in a more beneficial way. Eliminating these mistakes will get you ahead of 80% of the other mixed-martial artists out there and drastically improve your chances of being the one with his hand raised in victory. Make SURE youre following a proper strength and conditioning program thats designed specifically for mixed-martial artists. It has to take into account the fact that youre training often everyday, so you cant be sore or too tired from your workouts. Plus, MMA requires specific physical qualities, which most general strength or conditioning programs lack. Check out what UFC vet Jeff Joslin says about this program:

"Eric Wong is my secret weapon... "

"Eric Wong is my secret weapon. The peak conditioning level he pushes me to reach before each fight gives me extreme confidence in the cage." Jeff Joslin, UFC Fighter

Click Here to Get Started on the Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program Today