MMA Endurance Training Workout

I personally consider MMA TRAINING really challenging. Your body goes though so much beating and your heart rate pumps like crazy.

The four key components to MMA training as Martin Rooney depicts in his book 'Training for Warriors' are:

1. Lower Body Resistance Training
2. Upper Body Resistance Training
3. Endurance Training and
4. Core Training

All 4 components are equally important to MMA training.

Today I'm going to talk about the Endurance part and give you a sample workout. Personally, my favorite workouts are with Keetlebels, Sled Pushing or Pulling. With these workouts mentioned above, your heart is pumping really hard trying balance everything out. If a fighter does not have Endurance, he or her can be vulnerable to loose the fight. If you are out of breath in fight, then you are history....Game over.

I can understand that the workouts mentioned above are hard to perform due to limited equipment around, so I'm going to give you a sample MMA Endurance workout directly from Martin Rooney's book that you can surely use.


Treadmill Interval Training:

Warm up: 5 minutes (light jog)
then speed up for about 30 second to a minute Full speed
Then 1 minute jog about 70 % heart rate Max
then repeat for another 3-5 times,
at the end you perform additional 5 minutes Cooldown.

This program can be used with any cardio machine.

As your endurance gets better you can progress it by:
1. INCREASE THE CYCLES (FULL SPEED TO 70 % HRM JOG UP TO 25 MINUTES FOR FULL WOKOUT.
2. SUBSTITUTE THE 1 MINUTES 70 % JOG WITH MEDICINE BALL THROWS AND
3. SUBSTITUTE THE 70 % JOG WITH SETS OF CHIN UPS OR PUSH UPS.

I can admit that this workout does not only work for MMA fighters, but also for general population that want to increase their endurance and decrease body fat levels.

Martin Rooney, JC Santana, J. Ferrugia and of course 'The diesel crew' are great sources for MMA TRAINING.

GO OUT THERE AND TAKE YOUR ENDURANCE TO ANOTHER LEVEL. I'm out.........

High Intensity workout = High metabolism

Hey everyone,

I read a really interesting article from Ryan Andrews at Precision Nutrition website and wanted to pass on the information. As the title of this blog depicts, if you want to have a high metabolism and burn more calories even 3 to 4 hours after a workout the answer is high intense exercise.

As Ryan Andrews says any of these workouts will boost your metabolism:


-Interval Running, Climbing, Cycling, and Rowing
-Resistance Circuits
-Body Weight Circuits
-Rope Jumping (Skipping)
-Running Hills
-Burpees, Jumping Jacks, and Other Plyometrics
-Medicine Ball Tosses and Rotations
-Kettlebell Exercises
-Tire Flipping, Fireman Carries, Farmers Walking and Other Strongman Activities.

As you can see from these workouts mentioned above the heart rate (HR) is kept high involving a lot of muscles firing, and high oxygen demand. Any kind of activity will increase your metabolism as long as you have the 3 components: high HR, Oxygen consumption, and a compound exercise.

In addition to the 3 components mentioned above, there is a metabolism increase as a result of
Higher body temperature
Increased activity of the heart and respiratory muscles
Elevated levels of hormones that increase metabolic activity
Energy absorbing pathways and the conversion of things like lactate into glucose or amino acids
Recovery of muscle damage.

My personal favorites are: Kettlebells, Boxing/ kicking, interval training, sled pushing and pulling and Brazilian JJ(I have not tried it much, but believe it or not its a killer).

It should be noted that a well planned nutrition plan should be followed for a lean body (decrease body fat percentage)...if is that your main priority. Nutrition and exercise go together if you did not realize it.

Don't be one of those people that exercise hard and then eats like a PIG! This is the worse habit ever.......

Go out there and train hard...I'm out.

Ignorance for injuries???

I'm sick and tired of hearing people saying....'I have knee pain for 3 months, that's why I don't train my legs' or 'I have a terrible back pain for a while, I tried going to a physical therapist and did not see any difference' or 'I have pains and needles travelling down my leg or arm for 2 months, but did not have time to visit the doctor'.

I come across these incidences almost everyday. Ignoring your own injuries is not the way you go. Have an untreated injury for quite some time will cost you major health problem in the future.

If you have any kind of injury or pain, the best thing is to do is to seek medical advice. Unfortunately, I know that only few professionals related to injuries know what they are doing here in Cyprus. In my opinion you shouldn't visit the doctor that everyone else goes. Find out more about the individual that is going to treat you. Is he or her are qualified from a well-establish institute, do they know how to diagnose you injury, can they pinpoint exactly where your pain is coming from, do they explain you everything they are doing, do you feel more comfortable along the treatment...these are the questions that you should ask yourself.

If you are in pain or have an injury that is acute or chronic, I'm happy to recommend you some reliable sources out there today that I personally use.

ACT TODAY AND DO NOT POSTPONE SOMETHING FOR THE FUTURE.....I'm out

5 Favorite Exercises!

These are 5 personal favorite exercises that I currently use. Bracing(holding abdominal in) is a MUST while performing these exercises. If you are not familiar with the bracing technique ask a trainer at your local gym. As for the sets and reps start slow and then you progress until you feel comfortable with each exercise.

Lunge with valslide

This exercise works the whole leg muscles(quads, hams, glutes) and balance. If you do not have the valslide, use a towel. The leg that is back slides back and forth while bending the other leg.

Single Arm Chest Press

This exercise looks easy, but try it out and let me know. You are using not only the chest, but of course your abdominal becasue you are off balance, and your hamstrings are firing as well.

Reverse Grip Pull- Up

The band assists you in this exercise. You position the band through your bend knee. Stronger bands can be used for more assistance. Back and Biceps are the primary muscles working, as for the grip...its a good variation.

Abdominal Oblique Blaster

Your obliques can be on fire with this specific exercise. The further you move out the harder.

Single Leg Deadlift holding the cable

Make sure that your back is straight when you lean forward and knee slightly bend. Lean forward until back is parallel to the floor and then move to the upright position.

ENJOY, and let me know how these exercises feel.....I'm out.

Goal setting

Heeeyyyy...everyone I'm really excited for this expireince. Let's get down to business......



In regards to goal setting in the field of fitness, I currently use the SMART methodology. SMART stands for S: Specific, M:Measurable, A:Achievable, R:Realistic , and T:timed. This specific method allows someone to be more accurate in achieving his or her fitness goals.



If you say:"I want to lose weight, or I want to get strong, or I want to get more flexible"...these statements are useless. For example, using the SMART method as described above someone should depict:' I want to loose 3 kgs in body weight and 3-5 % body fat, in 1 month. This Short Term goal has all 4 key elements of the SMART approach.



Goals can be categorized as Short(2 months), Middle(up to 6 months), and Long Term(up to a year). Always have the big picture in your head and visualise it.



Working out just for fun is not a valid reason. Get a piece of paper and write your fitness goals down. This method work out for personal goal setting, too.



I'm waiting for some feedback.....I'm working on the photo alright. I'm out.....