Blog Re launch

                                      

Hi all,

I realise its been a bit of a while since I've put out any content here but a couple of people have told me it was a good read (especially the supplement and other reviews). 

With that in mind I'm going to bring it back. Nothing crazy, just 1-2 times a month to start to see if anyone actually reads the thing...

To start with I'm going to be re posting some of the popular reviews along with some of the new content we have happening over at Unorthodox Performance. 

If you would like to see any content in particular just let me know.

Thanks for reading, 

Mike 

Unorthodox Nutrition

Bad coaches/Trainers/ people on social Media/anyone who doesn't out the years in.

Hey Guys,

Today I want to share an article with you about bad trainers.

Now most of you know that the quickest way to get me ranting is to talk about kids coaching on Social Media without putting the hours in. I must have wrote massive rants on this at least 5 times then deleted them as I hate being negative on here.

Now everyone has the right to chase their dreams and I highly encourage everyone to try to make a career out of their passion. The problem comes however, when people want to go straight to selling £1000 worth of coaching without going through the process (putting work in for YEARS).

Doing a successful diet yourself does not qualify you to coach anyone.

Until you have coached for at least 10 years then your opinion isn't worth shit. Put the fucking work in.

I want to rant more than this put THIS ARTICLE says it much better than I ever could.

let me know what you think!

Stay healthy,

Mike

You don't need a bigger cannon!

Hey Guys,

Today we continue the Strength and Conditioning (S&C) article by coach Mal Fitzgerald.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

YOU DON’T NEED A BIGGER CANON!

Athletes want to win.  No matter what the sport, you take part to win – either as part of a team or as an individual.  In every sport there are winners and losers; but at the end of a fight – it’s your hand you want in the air. 

Strength & conditioning enables you to express your technical skills (punching, kicking, sprinting, jumping, etc) with more power, speed and energy – it’s that simple.  I have seen very talented and technically brilliant fighters lose because they ran out of power or energy in the crucial stage of a fight. Although developing a strength & conditioning programme can be a complex process, even without access to a specialist, there is a   LOT you can do to structure your training to improve those vital physical qualities.  So, let’s start with the basics.

In strength & conditioning, there is a phrase that get used a lot – ‘You can’t shoot a canon from a canoe!’.   It’s pretty simple really – you could have a bigger canon than everyone else, but if you don’t have a solid base to fire it from, then you just making a big noise!  (plus, you end up being very wet!) So a solid foundation is vital and in this case; that foundation is strength. 

There are very few sports that don’t require an appropriate level of strength (darts and snooker being the only ones I can think of, if you can think of some more, please let me know) to perform them effectively.  If you are a runner and you can exert more force with each foot strike you are going to travel faster and need fewer steps.  If you’re a fighter and you can punch faster and harder, you significantly increase your chances of inflicting more damage to your opponent.  Strength is the foundation that every other physical quality is built on: Force, Power, Speed.  Think of what happens if you replace your canoe with a concrete island!

My experience is that far too many athletes focus on conditioning in their training, probably because their greatest fear is ‘gassing out’; running out of energy in a game or a competition.  Developing your energy systems is important for any sport and I will cover this in later articles, but for right now – start with the foundation.  Without strength you cannot have power.  Force x Velocity = Power (or put another way, Strength x Speed = Power).  One thing I do need to point out is that I am not talking about getting bigger.  If your sport is bodybuilding (yes, it’s classed as a sport) then size is your goal, so ‘crack on’ – but for the majority of athletes (with the exception of Rugby) you want to be stronger, not bigger. 

A lot people compete in specific weight categories so adding size and weight is the last thing they want.  Being stronger doesn’t mean being bigger.  Strength is developed by making your muscles more effective at moving a load, not by making them bigger.  To develop strength you have to put your body under load and you have to increase the load progressively over time. So how can YOU do this for yourself? 

• 1.     Build a foundation of strength, particularly if your sport has an ‘Off Season’.  Spend at least 8-12 weeks developing your strength at least three times per week. 
• 2.     Do a proper warm up! I don’t mean have a quick five minutes on the treadmill either.  A good warm up should take the majority of your joints through a good range of motion, get some blood flow to the muscles, raise your body temperature and prepare you for the movements your about to tackle. 
• 3.     Use compound movements.  Compound movements use a combination of different muscle groups; Squat, Deadlift, Full Body dips, Pull Ups (my opinion is that ALL athletes should be able to do at least 10 bodyweight pull ups).  If your sport has some kind of overhead limb movement you can include some shoulder press movements in there, if you have no shoulder mobility or injury issues.
• 4.     Do whole body sessions, include movements for lower body, upper body and trunk stability.
• 5.     Perform 3-5 reps for between four to five sets of each movement.  If you are using heavy loads, take longer rests of 2-3 minutes between each set to let your energy systems catch up with the demand.
• 6.     Limit the number of movements/exercises you do – stick to between four or six per session; quality over quantity!
• 7.     Keep a training log.  This is probably the most important thing to do.  Make a note of your exercises, how many sets you did, how many reps you did and what weight you used.  Did you hit your target for that set or session?  What weight will you use next time?  Think about progression – increase the load you move over time. 
• 8.     De-load!  Every four to six weeks, reduce the load you are lifting.  Stick to the weight, just do less sets or reps to give yourself (and your body) time to adapt.  Some people will need to de-load sooner, some later – everyone will adapt at a different pace.

That gives you the basics.  Don’t forget, they are not called ‘Basics’ because they are easy or for beginners.  They are the foundations to build a better athlete.

Mal.

You can find more from Mal HERE

Stay healthy,

Mike

Strength and Conditioning articles for Unorthodox Nutrition

Hey Guys,

I'm over the moon to announce that we now have a strength and conditioning coach on board who will be doing a monthly column on how to make yourself stronger, faster and an all round better athlete!

Allow me to introduce Mal Fitzgerald!

If you have any Questions for Mal you can get him the Q&A on the website

Make sure you come back next week to check out his first article!!

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Interview with Ollie Richardson

Hey Guys,

Today I wanted to share an interview I did a while ago for YourMMA with Strength and Conditioning Coach Ollie Richardson.

Give it a read and let me know what you think!

YourMMA.tv's Mike Leng recently caught up with strength and conditioning coach for Team Rough House, Ollie Richardson. Richardson is a respected figure, not just in UK MMA circles, but in the strength and conditioning field as a whole. He also works with the Leicester Tigers and world-class grappler Victor Estima. There are many hot topics in the blurry field of MMA strength and conditioning, and here is what Ollie had to say.

YourMMA.tv: Ok so first things first, in your opinion what are the biggest mistakes people make in strength and conditioning?

Ollie: OK, well it depends if you mean when they are coaching or when they are doing strength and conditioning workouts for themselves.

I think the biggest mistake coaches are making is not taking the time to understand the physiology that underpins what they do. Although there is plenty to learn from other coaches, simply copying what other more established guys do will ultimately limit you as a coach. The principles of strength and conditioning are universal; once you learn the physiology you can adapt and apply them to any sport you choose. You can't be an ‘MMA strength and conditioning coach' or a 'lawn bowls strength and conditioning coach'. You become one by learning the principles of the profession and then apply those principles to the sport you choose.

In terms of the major problems for people training, I would say that being blinded by the lights would be a problem. There are no miracle programs. Stick to the basics, be consistent and if you are competing in a sport, make sure you understand that strength and conditioning is only part of your training, don't neglect your technical work.

The other problem would be reliance on volume. The more research that is done, the clearer it is that you don't need a lot of volume to become stronger. Accurate, quality, intense exposures with plenty of time between them will elicit strength gains with far less gym hours needed.

YourMMA.tv: How many weights workouts would you say as a minimum, have to be done to elicit gains?

Ollie: This would depend on a lot of things (genetics, other training requirements, quality of those exposures etc.) but I know for a fact that someone can get 'stronger' with one exposure every seven, days but how much stronger and how much more they could gain with more would be dependant on the individual. However, for a professional MMA fighter, I usually recommend two strength/power exposures (usually 30-45 mins) and one conditioning session (15-20 mins).

YourMMA.tv: If someone is 100% dedicated to a strength routine, what are realistic gains someone can make (taking out genetic freaks)?

Ollie: Tricky question and very much dependant on their previous training history (beginners will make huge gains but more advanced lifters will make small improvements). I look for an athlete to consistently improve one of their physical qualities every time they train. If they are not improving, even if it’s only by 1-2%, then why are they training? I plan for a 3-5% increase in max strength over a 10 week period, but like I said that is dependant on a lot of other factors.

YourMMA.tv: As people become more focused on nutrition (and rightly so) what are the main priorities fighters should have providing they are not in camp?

Ollie: Balance is key. Camp is a very stressful and restrictive time for a fighter - they have to train, they can't eat what they want and then at the end they have to go and compete. So once that is all over, it's important that they do get to eat and drink some of the things they want. However, I would recommend that they still stick to the basics in the off season. Plenty of lean protein, plenty of green veg, fish oil supplementation and stay hydrated all the time.

If they get themselves into bad shape it is just much harder on them when it comes around to camp time again. They have to realize that the training load will also decrease outside of camp as well so there is a calorie discrepancy to address. Having said all of the above, I am not aware of any fighters who don't go a bit crazy in the weeks after they fight. I won't mention any names but a certain Rough House fighter has been known to mainly live off all you can eat Chinese buffets for a month after fights. His initials are JW.

YourMMA.tv: As MMA fighters people rarely get an 'off season', do you think it would be important to be taking time off inbetween fights to work on strength issues?

Ollie: Yes, definitely. Once a fight is set it's time to fine tune and drill their game plan. Strength and power development at this stage is important but not a priority. Once the fight is over and they have taken some time out, it’s a great opportunity to make some serious progress in terms of mechanical strength and power as well as improving their technical capabilities.

YourMMA.tv: Would you say it is more important for a fighter to get consistently stronger or work on areas of weakness i.e. power? Is there a base of strength that must come first?

Ollie: I'm not 100% sure what you mean here, but fighters have to see strength as a long term plan. You can't get strong over night. You might get more efficient at the strength exercise you are performing but to actually get those strength gains ingrained and transferable to the sport takes time. An aggressive, consistent and accurate approach to strength training will ultimately give you the best results that are useful to you in your sport.

YourMMA.tv: What would you consider the top five strength exercises that people aren't aware of or aren't doing?

Ollie: There are no magic exercises, but basing your program around the basic lifts will set you in good stead. Deadlifts or squat, barbell bench press, prone row, some sort of loaded jumping exercise (Olympic lifts, box jumps etc.) and some sort of med ball throwing movement. I'm not a big believer in exercise change being a good change of stimulus. I usually keep the exercises the same but manipulate the load, speed, variable resistance and range of motion.

YourMMA.tv: How important would you say it was for fighters to work on percentages when getting stronger? Is this an area where some fighters are lacking, preferring to just go by 'feel' in the gym?

Ollie: I have no idea how people think they will improve their force, power or velocity qualities without firstly knowing their existing peak force capacity, and then without implementing progressive overload methods to encourage adaptation. Beginners will pretty much get stronger whatever they do, but once someone has had a few years of training, a very calculated and informed approach is the only way to get consistent results. Coaches have to be objective, they need numbers to inform them, not feelings.

YourMMA.tv: Running. Still got a place in MMA training or a relic from a past age?

Ollie: [Laughs] I have this argument a lot. I can only see a limited place for running.

Steady state running has pretty much been covered and I think most people are accepting that it is a very outdated training concept that will not aid performance in combat sports, but even interval or anaerobic running based conditioning sessions I think are limited as the mode in which a fighter is conditioning does not match their competition. It would be like a marathon runner doing all the training on a bike - at no point will a fighter do any kind of running in competition. This is why all of the conditioning sessions I do are based around the activities in the sport, with some key pre-fatiguing exercises thrown in that overload key musculature (anterior deltoids and leg drive).

Some very short sprinting (5m) may well be beneficial for developing power as sprinting is the fastest type of plyometric you can train, so there maybe be some use there in terms of developing horizontal power and velocity.

YourMMA.tv: What's the most impressive MMA performance you have seen recently?

Ollie: Nick Diaz when he fought Daley. I still don't understand how he got back up after being dropped by Paul. He is definitely a fighter's fighter and earnt some serious respect by taking the chance and standing up with Paul. That was the most exciting first round I've seen in a long time. I would like to see him against Georges. But I'm also glad Daley seems to be back in favour with the UFC, he'll always be one of the best in the welterweight division.

YourMMA.tv: What are the 5 top things rocking your world at the moment?

Ollie: Top 5 things at the minute.... in no particular order:

1. At last there being some sunshine in the UK!
2. The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins
3. Thor
4. Deadlifts
5. My little girl, Mia (and my girlfriend, Anna!)

YourMMA.tv: Thanks for taking the time to talk to Your MMA Ollie.

Stay healthy,

Mike