Author: Eric Wong

What To Do When Your Opponent Can’t Make Weight
When it comes to fighting MMA, because it’s a weight class sport, sometimes your opponent doesn’t make weight.

In the amateur ranks, this actually happens quite often, because guys have no idea about how to cut weight properly.

Or maybe their T-levels are out of whack? 🙂

Or your original opponent drops out and they offer you an alternate, who is often bigger than you.

When this happens you’re faced with a choice:
1. Take the fight anyway and hope to get a % of fat boy’s purse and beat him down for his inability to lay off the Twinkies
2. Don’t accept the fight because you don’t want to be at a disadvantage and rack up a loss on your record that might hurt or at least slow down your career’s progress
For a lot of guys, #2 is a good choice.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with not accepting a fight you didn’t plan for.

But, you’ve probably trained long and hard for this fight, you might have some friends and family in the crowd and you don’t want to disappoint your coaches who have spent so much time getting you ready.

With all this pressure, most guys end up taking the fight.

If you’re a fighter, be prepared for this scenario.

Also be prepared to face a guy who may be 10 or even 20 lbs bigger than you.

Now, there’s one thing you can do as “insurance” for this all-too-common scenario… You buy insurance for your car and house “in case” anything happens – so you might want to think about getting insurance in case this happens too.

Because it happened to Maurice in his fight recently, and here’s the email he sent me afterwards about how it went down:

“I purchased your MMA strength and conditioning program over one year ago.

Since then, I sent you several e-mails and asked for additional pointers.

I followed the 8 week program and incorporated short burst intervals into my routine.

I agreed to fight my opponent at a catch weight of 190 but he weighed in at 202.

By the time I fought him, he was back up to 216.

The commission gave me the option to fight him or decline the fight. I accepted the fight because I knew I was in excellent shape and I felt great.

I dominated my opponent and won in the second round due to referee stoppage via strikes.

I attached several pictures from the event and my cornermen were Jason Norwood and Lee Stuckey.

Thanks for all of the pointers and for making such an excellent program. Take care!

Maurice Jones
San Diego California”

Here are the pics he sent along with his email:

Way to go Maurice!

And that’s how you go about getting insurance – get in excellent shape and you’ll have the confidence to take on whoever they put in front of you, as long as their last name isn’t “Silva” and their first name rhymes with “Banderson”.

Sign up today for the very same “fight insurance” Maurice used to help him win his fight with the Ultimate MMA S&C Program.
November 23, 2011
Increase Testosterone: Training, Nutrition, Supplements and More

GUYS: this is a mucho-importanto post to read with solid scientific info that will help you increase your testosterone.

Failure to heed the advice given may result in excess pectoral adiposity, regression to adolescent behavior and/or the inability to sustain a prominent erection.

English Translation: Follow the advice given to prevent man boobs, act like a man instead of a whiny little child and/or be a tiger in the bedroom.

When putting this blog post together, I gathered all of the notes I have written down and in random word documents on my computer and started reviewing them to include what I thought the most important info about increasing your testosterone was. And this is just a sample – there’s more to come…

After all was said and done, I’d reviewed 41 scientific studies, a bunch of websites and my human biochemistry textbook from university for good measure. Saying that testosterone is a deep topic is an understatement.

I felt like I was back in school cramming for an exam or scrambling to finish a final paper.

I’d planned on writing this post yesterday, but seeing as I had to attend to my bleeding eyes, I’d decided to put it off until today.

The bleeding has stopped, so here we are, ready to get into what’s been actually PROVEN to increase testosterone.

No hype.

No hoopla.

Just some good ol’ fashioned scientific research coming your way.

Can I kick it?

“Yes you can!”

How to Increase Testosterone through Exercise

After reviewing the science with respect to training effects on T, one thing is clear: training can cause ACUTE bumps in testosterone, but not chronic adaptations.

So you’ll get a boost after a training session, but over time, your workouts won’t have much of an impact on your testosterone levels over time.

To boost T after strength workouts, big muscle group exercises, particularly involving the lower body and a standard bodybuilding style protocol gives the best results.

With respect to conditioning, interval training, with a variety of work:rest ratios showed a bump in T.

Understanding that, we don’t have to get too crazy with our workouts if low T is an issue, however, we do have to consider the opposite – can training negatively impact testosterone levels?

Yes it can.

Any training session that results in a boost in cortisol will negatively effect T.

Think about it this way…

T is the main sex hormone in men. As such, its main function is to drive us to reproduce.

Cortisol is a stress hormone whose main function is to help us survive.

Now let me ask you a question – if you were in a bar fight or being chased by a masked man with a gun, do you think it would make sense for your body to have high levels of a hormone that makes you want to make a baby?

Of course you wouldn’t.

Survival is a higher priority than reproduction, therefore when cortisol is floating around your blood stream, it takes precedence over T, and since T feels unwanted, it simply goes into hiding until big-bad cortisol goes away.

This is an important concept to grasp, as you now understand that if stress, regardless of where it comes from, is not effectively managed and overruns your system, whatever you try to do about your low testosterone levels won’t help.

When cortisol is around, your body doesn’t care about your under-active libido or your ever-increasing need to wear a sports bra when you workout.

A lot to take in?

Just take a deep breath.

Relax.

And get back into reproduction mode with me.

Well not with me, but, uhhhh, you know what I mean.

Basically, with respect to training, to avoid over-production of cortisol, keep your workouts under an hour with a focus on intensity vs. endurance.

One study I reviewed actually showed that baseline levels of T are depressed in endurance trained men vs. sedentary men.

So stick with the strength/power training if T is a main concern of yours.

Now, let’s move on to our next topic of the day…

How to Increase Testosterone through Nutrition

To increase testosterone with nutrition, the main key is to eat good, natural food minus the chemicals and pesticides that have penetrated our food supply.

Pesticides and a lot of chemical additives are something called xenoestrogens, which I talked about in Part 1 of this series, mimic the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen.

If you can, eat grass-fed, pasture raised, organic meat.

I buy an eighth of a cow and a few pounds of pork every few months from a local farm and I’ll never go back.

I’m still working on sourcing some good chicken and fish though.

If you don’t have access or the money for it, choose leaner cuts of conventional meat, as chemicals are stored in the fat of the animal.

Organic fruits and veggies are also lower in xenoestrogens compared to their conventional counterparts because they aren’t grown with pesticides.

If you can’t go 100% organic, use this list here and work your way down, choosing organic versions of fruits/veggies that you eat most often that are highest on the list. That’s where I started on my path to organics when money was tight.

And if you eat canned stuff, try and buy cans that don’t have BPA – canned foods from Eden Foods are 100% BPA-free (I love their beans).

One thing that’s key to keeping T levels high as well as hormones in general at healthy levels is eating cholesterol.

That’s right – eat cholesterol. Daily.

If you don’t, your body is forced to produce cholesterol, adding another physiological task it needs to perform.

The best source? Eggs.

I recommend eating 2 eggs per day, 5-6 days per week.

And for those of you who are worried about this because of all the fear-mongering that’s taken place on fat and cholesterol, let me quote some text directly from a 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition titled “Dietary cholesterol: from physiology to cardiovascular risk“:

“What do the few studies on eggs and the risk of CVD tell us?

The Framingham study (with fewer than 1000 subjects) concluded as to the absence of the relationship between egg consumption and the risk of CVD.

The Harvard study on a cohort of 38 000 men and 80 000 women has shown that eating up to one egg/d (or seven eggs/week) did not increase the risk of CVD.

Similarly, in the prospective cohort study of 21 327 men from the Physicians’ Health Study during an average follow-up of 20 years, egg consumption was not associated with incident myocardial infarction or stroke.

The only exception concerned diabetic women, with a slight increase in risk for those who ate more than one egg/d relative to those who ate less than one egg/week.”

So eat your eggs, unless you’re a diabetic woman, then maybe take it easy.

Choose eggs raised by a local farm where you can see the hens running around. Most organic eggs and “free run” eggs in the supermarkets aren’t worth the extra price.

If you can’t find a local farm, just buy omega-3 eggs, as at least you know what you’re getting.

There are a few other nutritional tips and tweaks I’ve come across but these are the main points I wanted to share with you here.

How to Increase Testosterone – Going Deeper…

I can see that I’m well past my self-imposed 1,000 word limit and I haven’t even touched on the biggest area of my research on boosting T: supplements.

There are definitely some supplements to use, some to try and some to avoid completely.

I’m actually still in the process of reviewing everything and putting all of the things I’ve used and new things I’ve learned together in an easy-to-follow format.

Some of the research I uncovered will surprise you. It definitely surprised me.

The reason why I’m choosing to stop right now is that I’ve already given more info than most people will apply.

Information overload is a problem in today’s society and there’s also a lot more knowledge out there than application going on, so before going further, I want you to go through this post and pick 1 or 2 things to DO.

I’m not here just to entertain you or make you feel good; I’m here to help you change your life.

I’ve done my part, now it’s up to you to do yours.

It’s a team effort after all!

November 22, 2011
Low Testosterone Facts and Figures
Low testosterone is becoming an epidemic in today’s modern society.

From Justin Bieber blasting on the airways to drugs in MMA, low T is everywhere.

This past weekend at UFC 139, Dan Henderson, who fought to a 5-round decision with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, has said publicly that he’s on testosterone replacement therapy.

The ethics of this are up to debate, but the fact is that he’s doing nothing illegal and he’s within the legal limits.

The fact of the matter is that until the rules are changed, you’ve got to do whatever you can to compete, if this is going to be how you make your living.

HOWEVER, if you’re not down with drugs or the associated costs, there are a lot of things you can do naturally to keep your T high, which we’ll be talking about soon…

A year ago or so, I watched a documentary called “The Disappearing Male” that talked about the role of environmental toxins on the globally declining birth rate of males. [You can watch the full documentary here]

The documentary was based in Sarnia, Ontario, a town whose economy is based on the petroleum industry.

The theory is that the refining of petroleum products is spewing chemicals in the air called xenoestrogens that mimic the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen in the body.

When estrogen levels are high it skews the estrogen:testosterone balance towards femininity.

This is why many more baby girls than baby boys are being born in Sarnia, Ontario, say the documentary creators.

It’s also possibly why men have accepted the idea of wearing skin tight jeans.

I couldn’t imagine putting those things on, not to mention walking around in them!

Anyway, this is all just theory, but here’s some hard data for you to swallow:

A 2007 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed that from 1987 to 2004, testosterone levels in men have been on the steady decline.

So if you’ve felt that there’s been a general ‘sissification’ of men as time has worn on, your feeling might be right.

And it could all be due to low testosterone.

And it doesn’t just happen in men, women are also feeling the effects of a skewed estrogen:testosterone ratio, as you may remember a post I wrote called “Hormones and Body Fat” about a boxer who I felt may have had some T issues, which was preventing her from losing fat.

[UPDATE: Since implementing the changes I outlined in that post (and a few others), she went from 130+ lbs to make her weight class of 112 lbs to win the Provincial championships]

But most of you reading this are males, who, like me don’t mind a bit of hair on their chest or feel that scratching your crotch and burping loudly are god-given rights you must exercise on a regular basis.

Except I’m Chinese and I couldn’t grow hair on my chest for a million dollars…

But the other two I’m with you on.

Anyway, there are a whole range of symptoms that could be related to low testosterone.

Because testosterone is such a powerful hormone in our bodies, if it’s thrown off, a range of bad things can happen.

Unless of course you enjoy chick-flicks and talking about your feelings.

In all seriousness, here’s a list of things to look out for that might mean you’ve got low testosterone:

Possible Signs of Low Testosterone
- Low sex drive, but not necessarily the inability to get it up ie you can get it up but you just don’t feel like doing anything with it
- Problems gaining muscle mass, despite proper training and nutrition
- Gaining body fat disproportionately in the chest (man-boobs) and thighs relative to the rest of your body
- Poor motivation to do things ie you start a lot of projects but never follow through
- Inability to focus and concentrate; short attention span
The bottom line with testosterone is that it’s the MAN hormone and if it’s low, you just don’t feel like how a man should feel: strong, confident, motivated to get shit done and full of vitality.

Now one thing that I preach is that you should never put all of your eggs in one basket.

Related to low testosterone, it means that if you have 1 or 2 or all of the symptoms, they’re still all ‘subjective’ measures – to be sure, the next step is to get your T levels tested.

You can go to your doctor, a naturopath, or buy a testing kit online and ship them your blood or saliva sample and they’ll send you your results.

[I actually just bought a testing kit from ZRT Labs and I’ll report my results as I get them and my results from any interventions I do]

Once you’ve gotten your test results, you have both subjective and objective measures to work with, which will better guide your treatment protocol.

As I mentioned earlier, I suspected that a boxer I train had messed up testosterone:estrogen levels and I designed the training program taking that finding into consideration.

The result is that she lost the fat that she’d been unable to lose to get down to the 112 pound weight class and compete for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team.

Was it the fact that I identified the T issue and addressed it accordingly?

Possibly, but we did so many things, it could’ve been any of them. In the real world, you don’t always have the luxury to isolate one variable hoping to notice a significant results.

Sometimes, you’ve just gotta go for it and if it works you’ve done your job – who cares if you didn’t isolate that one single variable.

Now, we’re focused on peak performance for the National tournament coming up in January.

Well, I’m almost at 1,000 words here, and I know that attention spans are short these days (could it be low T?) so I’m going to end it here.

But we’re not finished yet…

In the next post, I’m going to recap some of the changes we made to address low testosterone and share the science I’ve uncovered related to boosting T – so stay tuned for Part 2!
November 20, 2011
BIOMECH BREAKDOWN: Junior Dos Santos KO of Cain Velasquez

I had an eventful Saturday night…

First up, I called JDS to win in a text to my man Claude Patrick who replied, “no way emoney, cain’s got this, you’re getting worse by the event”.

To be honest, I mainly picked JDS because I like him – he’s always smiling and so happy!

IMO, much better having him as champ vs. Big-Headed Brock or Alistair “Ronnie Coleman” Overeem.

Then got to see Manny Pacquiao get the win over Juan Manuel Marquez…

Not the way I would’ve loved to see, but it was a win.

Then, I made it over to a a Black Star concert. I was hoping to see Mos Def zoom away in a Mini Cooper after the show but it didn’t happen.

And it was at this concert where I lost my iPhone. 🙁

Anyone who’s ever lost a cell phone can feel my pain.

In my sadness and despair I even considered going cell phone free, but then came to my senses and realized how inconvenient it would be to have to send smoke signals when meeting people and to run plastic cups and string across the city of Toronto for remote voice communication with friends.

That brings us to today.

In today’s article, I’m bringing back the BIOMECH BREAKDOWN that I first did of Anderson Silva’s front kick KO of Vitor Belfort.

I’ve got a very interesting comparison to show you guys along with techniques on how to develop KO power like JDS.

First, let’s take a look at a video of Junior’s KO of Cain in slow-mo:

[jwplayer config=”512×288″ mediaid=”3865″]We can see that the initial knockdown was a step-jab followed by a big overhand right.

As shown in the poll I posted on my blog here, the Rear Overhand was a close second to the Rear Cross as “the most powerful punch in MMA”.

I personally choose either the Rear Overhand or Lead Hook (meant hook with lead hand vs. rear hand, not like a hook jab) as I think most KO’s happen with either of these punches.

JDS gave us another example of the power of the Rear Overhand.

So if we want KO power, we’d better learn how to throw it properly.

But first, check this video out, as you can see many of the same mechanics that I’m going to talk about in a second:

Notice the similarities?

Especially with the fact that JDS led with the jab, it was basically his “pitching wind-up” to get maximum velocity behind the punch.

So here are the technique cues to turn your overhand right into a 100 mph FASTBALL:

BIOMECH BREAKDOWN: The Overhand Right

STEP #1 – Lead with a Step Jab

This does a few things.

It gives you forward momentum for more power behind the punch.

It gets your opponent to either a) block or b) counter with the lead hand.

Most guys don’t have the speed to slip a good jab (other than Anderson Silva).

It’s also difficult to counter a jab with a right hand because it’ll either be too slow or get blocked by the jabbing arm/shoulder, if thrown with the shoulder high and chin tucked of course.

So you know your opponent is either going to block/parry or counter with their lead hand, which will keep you relatively safe vs. simply leading with the overhand right.

STEP #2 – Plant Your Front Foot

This comes naturally after a step-jab, but I want to communicate the importance of this for power.

There’s a misconception among beginners that a jumping right hand is a powerful punch.

Well it’s not, because you’re missing 2 critical components:

1) Without being planted on your front foot, you cannot generate any rotational power through your core.

Try it right now – get in your fight stance, stand on your back foot, and throw a right with good rotation. Now compare that with standing on your left and doing the same. See what I mean?

2) When you plant your foot after forward momentum, you create the whip effect in the sagittal plane of motion (the plane of motion where you march your arms like a soldier).

It’s like the olden days when seat belts in the backseat of your car were only around your lap – if your Dad braked suddenly, you’d get whipped forward. Same thing happens when you plant the foot then throw the punch – you create that whip.

STEP #2b – “Wind Up” Your Right

As your front foot is landing, your right hand should be winding up.

The term winding up is perfect, because it’s a rotational wind up: down, around, then BANG.

It’s the circular motion of the wind up that allows you to generate max power in your punch.

Just like throwing a fastball – if you started with arm up and tried to throw, you’d get no velocity. You’ve got to go through a big circular motion to get the speed on your pitch.

STEP #3 – Core Rotation and Drop

Finally, to get the most power possible, you rotate and drop through your core, with your head ending up lower and to the side of where it started.

To get more speed for the rotation, you use the lead jab and pull it back as fast as you threw it out – another reason why it’s great to set the overhand right up with the jab.

If you execute these steps all properly and land, LIGHTS OUT!

That’s your BIOMECH BREAKDOWN of Junior Dos Santos’ Knockout of Cain Velasquez.

What do you think – any questions or Comments?

Oh – and I’d like to ask you a favour…

Go old school and copy and paste the link to this blog and send it in an email to your friends who train or like MMA.

I’m sure everyone’s gotten enough “man does something stupid and hurts himself” videos that they’ll appreciate something like this.

Or maybe not.

And hit “Like” on your way out too. It’d be much appreciated!

That’s it for now.

Signing off,

Coach E

November 15, 2011
Your MONEY Meals
As you may have noticed, the new tagline I’ve chosen for my blog redesign is “Strength and Conditioning Science. Simplified.”

It’s because I feel that over the years, that’s what I’ve evolved to.

Simplification. Making things easy for you.

Like Master Bruce said, “It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.”

In my last article I shared a simple training concept that will boost your confidence, skyrocket your training results and invigorate you after your workouts… but only when used in small doses.

You don’t even need a special program – it can be applied to your current program right now. [BTW – if you haven’t applied it and left your Comment, what’s holding you back? Make sure you take action then leave your Comment on “The MONEY Set” article ASAP]

Today, I want to share a similar concept, but with respect to what you eat.

Simple, applicable, with tremendous benefits.

Most guys I know are a lot like me – they ate a lot of junk food growing up and didn’t have to learn how to cook until they “left the nest”.

Very few grew up with what we now know as “healthy”.

Now, I definitely enjoy making fancy things like pate, roasted chicken with stuffing, and ginger mashed sweet potatoes.

Homemade burger, tabouleh, and sweet potato chips… YUM

The thing is, a lot of the same guys I see still lack skills in the kitchen and could never dream of anything fancy like this.

It’s not because of inability.

Everyone has the ability to cook.

It’s all a mental block.

I often hear things like, “I just don’t know how to cook” or “I’m not very creative in the kitchen”.

Here’s the thing:

1) You know stuff now. Maybe some MMA skills. Or how to write your own name. That means you’re capable of learning, which means that you can learn how to cook.

2) Cooking doesn’t require creativity. It requires the ability to follow a recipe, with most having simple, step-by-step instructions.

I’m going to leave you some simple step-by-step instructions at the end that you can follow to prove to yourself you can do both #1 and #2. [Failure to follow these instructions should worry you]

When it comes to nutrition, to get 80-90% of “optimal”, some very BASIC things will work for you:
- Eat a fruit/vegetable that came straight from the ground with every meal
- Eat a natural protein source that was hacked off an animal with every meal
- Avoid refined carbs (sugar, white flour, white potatoes, white pasta)
- Don’t overeat (if you have to unbutton your pants or your stomach hurts, you over ate)
- Don’t starve yourself
- Drink only water and lots of it
I just gave you the keys to nutrition success.

There goes my shot at a NY Times bestseller!

So now that you’ve got the basics, one of the ways to make it work is to have your MONEY meals.

What is a MONEY meal?

Example of a good resource to find your “MONEY” meals

A MONEY Meal is a go to meal that:
- You can whip up quickly
- You always have the ingredients available in your fridge
- It either gets you closer to your goals or keeps you where you are – it never sends you backwards
- Possibly the most important: you enjoy eating it
It’s like GSP with his takedowns. No matter what’s happening, he knows he can pull it off.

GSP’s “Money” Move

So if you’re short on time, short on energy, or simply have no brainpower left after a hard day’s work, you can pull off a MONEY meal.

They can change over time, or you can have the same ones for the rest of your life. Doesn’t matter.

Most of mine have been the same for years.

This is a big reason why I’ve been able to maintain 7-8% body fat for years.

As long as you have MONEY meals in your arsenal, you’re 80-90% of the way to optimal nutrition.

I want to know what your MONEY meals are, and here are a few of mine:

Eric’s MONEY Meals

BREAKFAST

1) Oatmeal + Natural Peanut Butter + Fruit (berries, banana, apple, pear, even raisins) + Cinnamon

2) 2 Sunny side up Eggs fried in Olive oil + Black Beans + Vegetable (sliced tomato, cucumbers, peppers)

LUNCH/DINNER

1) Broiled beef/chicken/fish/pork seasoned with black pepper, sea salt and garlic powder + Vegetables or Salad + rice/rice pasta (dinner only)

SNACKS

1) Handful of Nuts + Fruit

2) Cottage cheese or Yogurt + Natural Peanut Butter + 1 tsp Crofter’s jam (all-natural, no refined sugar)

Uhm, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Not too glamorous.

But keeps my abs visible. And gives me loads of energy. And a ton of other good stuff.

Can you do it?

Of course you can.

The real question is, WILL you do it?

You can take the first step right now:
1. Hit Like below (good karma)
2. Think about what your “MONEY meals” are
3. Share your “MONEY meals” in a Comment below
Also, if you have any questions or general Comments, leave ’em below:
November 9, 2011
The MONEY Set
Today, I’m going to issue you a challenge.

Before reading what it’s all about, I want you to agree to take part in this challenge.

You may be thinking, “How can I do this without knowing what it is?”

Here’s how…

If you’re on this site, I’m assuming that you workout. (If you’re on this site and you’re not exercising regularly, stop reading and start doing something! Knowledge without action is a waste of time.)

No, actually, not workout, that’s the wrong word.

I’m assuming you TRAIN.

The difference between someone who works out and someone who trains is seen best in this example:

Johnny shows up at the gym. Changes into his Nike Dri-fit top and matching shorts. Laces up his Nike Frees.Cues up his iPod.

He then walks out of the changeroom, into the gym, and thinks to himself, “Soooo, what should I start with?”

Martin shows up at the gym. Changes into a similar outfit.He even comes in with an iPod too.

But when he steps into the gym, he’s got something else in his hand.

A piece of paper.

On this piece of paper is a list of exercises. Each exercise has specific reps, sets and rest periods.

When Martin walks into the gym, he thinks to himself, “Let’s do this.”

Between the two, who is working out and who is training?

If you said Johnny is working out and Martin is training, you’re bang on the money.

When you’re training, you’re following a program.

Not some random program, but a program for your specific goals.

When you’re training, you know what you’ve done before, what you’re about to do, and what you’re going to do next.

When you finish a training session, there’s a real feeling of accomplishment and confidence knowing that you’re 1 more step closer to your goals.

But when you’re just working out, who knows what the hell is going on.

You’ll randomly choose exercises. You’ll probably pick the ones you’re most comfortable with, neglecting those your body needs.

You’ll do whatever # of reps makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something. You’ll then leave, possibly making gains, but likely not doing more than breaking a sweat and maintaining.

Sure, it’s better than nothing. And working out randomly can be good for you, if you’re deloading for a period of time between training phases or programs.

So that was a little aside, but something I had to get across, because I still see 90% of the people in gyms simply working out.

If you want to be average, join the 90%.

The unfortunate majority in our society…

If you want to be one of the top achievers, look around you and do the things that the majority AREN’T doing.

And one of those things is today’s topic:

Here’s your Challenge:

Think of an upcoming training session, either strength or conditioning specific.

Pick one set, from one exercise and blow your previous results out of the park.

Some examples would be:
- On your last set of Squats, regardless of what the reps are, don’t stop until you know in your SOUL you can’t do another
- On your last interval, even though it’s only supposed to be 1 minute at 9.0 mph, go for 2… or even 3, if you want to feel like a KING after
When you’re done, report your results here.

Not just what you did, but how it made you feel.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve agreed to this challenge already, so not reporting back is a broken commitment, to me AND to yourself.

If it’s easy to break commitments to yourself, the worse your life will get, I guarantee it.

So take this opportunity to strengthen your commitment and follow-through muscles by coming back here and reporting your results when you’re done.

Now, here’s why THE MONEY SET is an awesome training tool…

Although we always do our best to train at a high intensity, the human body simply cannot go 100% all-out, all-the-time.

Think of each energy system and your central nervous system as separate batteries.

It’s simply not possibly to completely drain each battery, give them no rest, and expect them to continue to perform at a high level indefinitely.

This is an old-school mentality that has caused more injuries than any stupid circus-act exercise or fitness fad out being performed in big-box gyms around the world.

I can think of ONE functional use of this tool…

But what THE MONEY SET does is gives you a clear focus on where you’re going to direct most of your mental and physical energy.

[It’s a concept I’ve integrated quite heavily into my MMA Ripped 8-Week Training Camp]

Focusing all of your energy into this one set is like a powerful laser-beam that can burn a hole through a steel vault.

You might just astonish yourself at what you’re capable of, bringing your confidence to a whole new level.

So think about what you’re going to do, then you’ll automatically start gearing yourself up for one of the best sessions ever.

I can’t wait to hear how it goes.

– Eric
November 7, 2011
How to Punch Harder – Part II

In Part I of this article series on “How to Punch Harder“, I asked you what you thought the specific cue was that I used with my athlete as we were doing the Medicine Ball Scoop Toss exercise.

I was looking for one specific phrase.

When I started reading the answers and re-watched the video, I realized that there were a few things that I said in there.

The majority of answers included “driving from the ground up” and integrating the “hips and core“.

(more…)

October 19, 2011
How to Punch Harder

Last week I posted an exercise to help you kick higher, so this week, I thought I’d throw in another article that I know is going to be popular on how to punch harder.

Punch is one of those funny words if you say it enough times, it starts to sound comical.

Punch.

Punch.

PU-nch.

Don’t agree? OK maybe I’m just a weirdo or I’ve spent too much time with this article rolling around in my head then. 🙂

Before continuing – take this poll/quiz, I’m just curious to see where you’re at:

There are a lot of myths out and about talking about how to punch harder.

Let’s bust those then get on with how you can actually go about increasing your punching power properly.

How to Punch Harder MYTH #1 – Increase Tricep Strength

I remember watching a video put out by one of those fitness magazines that shows a trainer ‘teaching’ the magazine interviewer guy how to punch harder.

One of the exercises he shows is the standing tricep cable extension, saying that it’s a good exercise because you need tricep strength to punch harder.

He then goes to punch this geek in the gut when he’s not expecting it, crumpling him, “proving” his theory right.

WRONG.

Tricep strength contributes very little to punching power, which comes more from the hips and core.

How to Punch Harder MYTH #2 – Punchers Are Born, Not Made

Your genetics and build play a role in your punching power through their effects on muscle fiber type, neuromuscular activation speed and tendon length, to name a few. [For those with more background about the human body, even tendon insertion points that increase moment arm size to increase force production at that joint]

However, you can take the most genetically gifted freak in the world and if he’s never taught proper technique, he’s probably not going to have ridiculous KO power.

Anybody can wind up and throw everything they’ve got at a bag, but this is useless since something like this will never work in a fight (maybe in the street, but not against a trained opponent).

So we’ve got to talk about punches that have a chance of landing, and with this, technique is first and foremost.

Teaching technique is one way to “make” punching power.

After that, we can train the body strategically to improve two of the genetic components (in italics) mentioned above.

OK I’m done with myth-busting. Let’s move on to what to actually do to punch harder instead…

1) We know that before punching power can be developed, you’ve got to master technique.

2) We also know that much of your punching power comes from your hips and core, not just your arms.

Because I’m the S&C guy, I’m going to leave #1 to your striking coach. [f you don’t have one or you’re not confident in what he’s teaching you, talk to Jeff Joslin]

What I am going to do is address #2.

And I’m going to do it in a 2-step process, because I want you to think about this and understand it.

Once you understand it properly, you’ll start to practice the concept in all of your training and you’ll punch a hell of a lot harder than ever before.

Step #1 is for you to watch the video on this page and identify the key concept that I’m cueing my athlete to focus on.

Step #2 is for you to leave your answer as to what you think the key concept is in the Comments section below.

When you leave your comment, scroll right to the bottom of this page so you don’t see anybody else’s answer and it doesn’t influence yours.

Remember – you’re not doing this to prove how smart you are, you’re doing it to deepen your understanding.

There are 2 exercises shown in this video, both of which are in my Ultimate MMA S&C program.

I want you to focus on the exercise that more closely resembles throwing a punch and listen closely to my coaching cues.

Ready?

Identify the “Cue” to Punch Harder:

[jwplayer config=”512×288 with controls” mediaid=”3684″]

I also want to encourage participation – so let’s get at least 50 answers here and in addition to revealing the magic cue to punch harder, I’ll also outline why we’re doing what we’re doing in this short clip, so let’s hear your answers!

October 17, 2011
How To Kick HIGHER With POWER

“Eric, do you have any stretches or exercises to help
me kick higher and develop more kick power?”

It’s one of the questions I’ve gotten most.

It’s also one of the questions that I’ve shied away from answering, because quite frankly – I can’t kick worth shit.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’ve stuck to boxing… [Actually, it’s DEFINITELY one of the reasons]

I attribute my poor kicking ability to my old man’s hips, which I’m guessing came from the years of hockey without any proper mobility work or even <gasp> static stretching.

That’s not to say I have no kick power… as long as the target is knee height or below.

If I ever fight a midg– errr, little person, he’d better be careful I don’t Crocop his ass, otherwise, it’s a safe bet you won’t get clubbed with a roundhouse to the head from me.

“Right Kick Hospital… Left Kick Cemetary!”

But that’s all going to change…

I’ve been working at improving my hip mobility and playing with exercises to do so and the one I’m going to show you in this video will definitely help you kick higher.

I actually came up with it when working on my hips to help me get deeper into the squat for the Olympic Lifts and realized it was a perfect exercise to improve one of the reasons my hips are so terrible – poor internal rotation mobility.

[SIDENOTE: the word “mobility” is a combination of the words “movement” and “ability”, which alludes to the fact that mobility is “your ability to move in and out of a certain range of motion”. It’s one thing to be able to get there (flexibility), it’s another to be able to move in and out of there smoothly (mobility). Just thought I’d share]

Since I’m Canadian and I grew up playing ice hockey, I call it the “Goalie Saves” exercise and when you watch the video, you’ll see why. If you’re not an ice hockey fan – after you watch this exercise, watch this YouTube video to see what I mean.

Watch the video now, then we’ll discuss details after:

When you perform this exercise as part of your Dynamic Mobility Warmup routine, the first thing is to make sure you’re doing it right.

Stop the exercise if you lose good form.

Do a total of 10 reps per side (10 on left, 10 on right), either in 1 set, or broken up into 2 sets of 5 per, or 3 sets of 3-4 per. Whatever it takes to get 10 per side.

Do it daily and you’ll see TREMENDOUS results.

So How Will This Help Me Kick Higher?

As I mention in the video, this exercise improves the ability for your femur (thigh bone) to rotate in the hip joint.

Being able to kick higher with the roundhouse requires a ton of rotation around both hips – the one that’s kicking and the one that’s planted.

If you don’t have this ability (like me) then you won’t be able to kick higher or kick with any power.

If this isn’t a limitation for you, then it won’t help.

But most people in our society have problems with internal hip rotation, so for the majority, it will help.

Of course – you need to learn proper kick technique first, so if you don’t have that, send Steven Seagal an email.

“Got Any Other Resources To Help Me Kick Higher?”

You greedy bugger. 🙂

I’ve got a few, check these out as well:

Another Hip Mobility Exercise – this will help you kick higher as it also works on your hip rotation, but more external rotation

The Jacknife – this exercise trains your hip flexors; the single leg version is particularly helpful to improve kick power

That should keep you busy for a while…

Now please, if you liked this post – LIKE IT UP using the handy buttons below. Thanks a million!

– Eric

P.S. The bottom line is that everybody from athletes to desk jockeys should use this exercise because it won’t just help you kick higher and increase your kick power, it’s also good for other things like getting into the Deep Squat for Olympic Lifting and just making your hips feel 10 years younger.

October 11, 2011
Kettlebell Training Injury-Free

Kettlebell training is often seen as a ‘hardcore’ way of working out, but it’s just another tool in your toolbox that can be used for some specific purposes.

One thing that I love about kettlebell training is the grip strength development, especially doing exercises like swings and turkish getups.

Another benefit to mixed martial artists of kettlebell training is hip power.

Kettlebell cleans are a great exercise to use in your MMA or kettlebell training workouts for developing hip power as well as a fundamental movement if you’re using KBs to bring the bell to the rack position for other exercises like squats and presses.

But I myself have had issues when I use a heavier bell with bruising my forearms.

Results from kettlebell training… if you’re not using the tips in this post.

I even broke a watch cleaning a kettlebell one time because I forgot to take it off!

You may be thinking, “Don’t be such a pussy Eric, man up!”

The thing is if your S&C workouts either stop you from training MMA or negatively impact your MMA training, you’ve got to find ways to eliminate or minimize it.

It has nothing to do with being tough – just being smart.

So I asked my buddy Chris Lopez who is a certified kettlebell training instructor through some crazy Russian dude to show me how to clean a kettlebell properly so you don’t have to use lighter weights because you’re killing your forearms.

And of course, I filmed it for you, so I hope you enjoy the video.

I’ve made these changes to my technique and they’ve helped tremendously. I no longer beat my forearms up during kettlebell training workouts whenever I do the clean!

Kettlebell Training Technique Video – The Clean

>> Click Here to Learn More About Kettlebell Revolution 2.0 by Chris Lopez <<

Chris just launched version 2.0 this week.

Right now, he’s giving away 3 additional kettlebell training workouts!…

… but this offer ends this week, so make sure you check it out and if it’s right for you, pick it up.

Now, this is NOT a fight-prep program.

It’s good for general conditioning and for learning how to perform kettlebell exercises safely and effectively.

Again – it’s just another tool to have in your toolbox and investing in educating yourself always pays off more than you pay for it, but only if you put it to use…

In addition, after you take advantage of his bonus offer, I’ll hook you up with a kettlebell circuit workout that I asked Chris to design that would be beneficial for my MMA fighters – it’s an awesome circuit and yours free when you grab Chris’ Kettlebell Revolution program.

To claim this bonus kettlebell training circuit that Chris put me through that’s designed for MMA, grab Ketllebell Revolution 2.0 then enter your invoice # on the page here.

September 27, 2011