powerDOJO

Author: Eric Wong

  • Training through Pain

    ‘NO PAIN NO GAIN’.

    The common mantra you hear across ‘hardcore’ gyms around the world.

    Especially in the MMA world.

    According to some, if you can’t put up with a little pain, you’re not a man.

    Well, it’s all B-S-.

    Kinda.

    Here’s the thing…

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  • Tips for Your First MMA Fight

    I’ve been catching up all week since I was across the country in Vancouver for my boy Joe’s first amateur MMA fight at the Canadian Amateur MMA Championships…

    It was a tournament style and he won his first fight but lost his second.

    The tournament was great – tons of people and really well organized, props to Don and Louise who put on a fabulous show. All amateur MMA events should be run this smoothly!

    I’m proud of Joe for stepping into the cage and getting one step closer to his ultimate goal…

    Here’s a video of his first fight:

    Now I want to share some of the tips that both Joe and I learned as we got ready for this fight that will help you if you’re planning to have your first one soon.

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  • Training in the Morning

    Was up at Xtreme Couture in Toronto working with a fighter named Claude Patrick who is making his UFC debut in June…

    Claude’s got great skills, he’s a sponge and he’s intensely interested in learning everything he can do improve his game, so keep your eyes out for him.hen you see him with his arm raised in the center of the octagon, you can tell your buddies, “Yeah, I heard of him a LONG time ago…” 🙂

    On to today’s article…

    I recently received a question wondering if it was OK to train first thing in the morning.

    There are 2 things to consider: the central nervous system (CNS) and your spine.

    If you’re training for maximal strength or power, you do not want to workout first thing in the AM.

    This is because it takes a while for your CNS to wake up and operate at full capacity (it seems to have learned about the snooze button).

    So your workouts won’t be as productive.

    I suggest waiting at least an hour, or better yet, train when you feel you have the most energy.

    I’m at my peak around Noon and have my best workouts then.

    The second consideration is your back.

    When you sleep, the intervertebral discs in your spine fill up with fluid because gravity isn’t weighing down on them.

    Then, if you go and do a heavy exercise with a weight on your shoulders (Squats) or heavy weights in your hands (Deadlifts, Overhead presses), higher than normal stresses are be placed on the outer ring of the discs called the annulus.

    Over time, this could lead to injury, ESPECIALLY if you have poor exercise technique and/or poor core stability.

    So wait at least an hour before training to save your back, maybe a bit longer if you’ve got back pain.

    Then when you do go for your workout, it’s a good idea to hit the treadmill for a brisk walk for 5 minutes (or just go outside) to normalize the pressure in the discs and gently mobilize your spine.

    This will ensure you don’t have one of those embarrassing moments in the gym where you can’t walk around because you just threw your back out!

    If you do have back pain, learn more about how I eliminated my pain here:

    — http://www.BulletproofBack.com

     

  • Wicked MMA Conditioning Workout

    OK so the title is a bit grandoise of me, but I’ve gotta say that my NRG System Complex workouts blow any other conditioning circuits out of the water, because they properly train the energy systems for peak power endurance while including important movement patterns for MMA.

    So if you haven’t tried one yet, give this one a shot…

    I created this circuit for Joe, a fighter who’s getting ready for his first fight on April 23rd…

    His fights are only one 3 minute round, so he doesn’t need a ton of gas in the tank but he’s gotta be able to maintain a super high pace for those 3 minutes…

    Enough talk, watch the workout after the jump and try it out… If you do, leave me a report with your results!

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  • Make Your Meat Tasty

    Your ability to cook plays a huge role in your quest for a lean, muscular body and peak performance.

    If you want to be strong, shredded and live a long, healthy life, make it a priority to improve your cooking.

    Now notice I said, "Improve your cooking" not "Be a gourmet French chef."

    Most young guys have no idea what to do in the kitchen.

    Luckily I grew up in a household where all of our meals were home made vs. already prepared… I picked up a lot from my parents in the kitchen for sure!

    I see cooking as a time to relax and reconnect with the earth, which is why the ingredients you use should come from the earth, not from some lab.

    Think about it – there are only a few activities that we do today that humans did hundreds of thousands of years ago.

    Cooking & eating.

    The eventual elimination of what was cooked and ate.

    Sex.

    drunkAnd maybe pulling pranks on the first guy to pass out.

    I know for a fact if I was a caveman I’d find some coal or something to draw on Rex. Poor Rex is always the first to go!

    Anyway, by far the biggest question I get from guys is, "How do I cook meat?"

    It’s so mind-boggling to me because I’ve cooked for myself since I was 15.

    Not all the time, but once in a while I would fire up a steak or something if mommy wasn’t around to feed me.

    Now I’m going to share my easy meat cooking guidelines so you can start getting quality protein in without all the sugary sauces (almost every sauce on prepared meat has loads of sugar) , preservatives, or other physique-sabotaging ingredients.

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  • Email or Blog?

    Thanks for checking this out and giving me your answer… it’ll help me provide content the way you like!

     

  • Your Most Powerful Weapon

    Joe and I were working together preparing for his first MMA fight which is coming next month…

    He’s been training hard and he started training with me because he wanted to be 100% confident that he was in top shape going into this tournament… By doing so, he feels that whatever the outcome, he’ll be his best come fight night…

    Atta boy Joe!!

    So we started the session off doing strength training and finished with some intervals on the Airdyne… if you don’t know what an Airdyne is, it looks like this:

    It’s an awesome tool for interval training because the harder you push, the more resistance is created since it’s driven by a fan…. plus it’s virtually indestructible…

    I’m lucky to have scored mine for $60 used (I love finding deals)… Unfortunately mine didn’t come with the girl…

    Anyway, this is NOT the most powerful weapon for MMA…

    The most powerful weapon was revealed to me as Joe was in the middle of the 5th 60 second hard interval…

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  • Best Stretch Ever??

    I was doing some program design (I always call it ‘PD) while hanging out on the couch and I did something I often do – I dropped down into a stretch while mulling over some PD considerations in my head…

    Whenever I do PD, I try to do it away from the computer… for one – the computer is distracting and I can easily find myself losing focus while reading the latest ramblings on CagePotato or watching old fight vids…

    It takes me at least a few hours to create a customized program for someone… After the assessment, I like to read over the results the day of, jot some more notes down, then just let it ‘brew’ in my brain for a couple of days like a good cup of green tea…

    green-tea

    I was creating a program where we have 14 weeks until the fight… So I plan backwards from fight day, and fill in each week in reverse order based on the needs of the fighter…

    [BTW – all people who train seriously should be following programs, which are designed for some end goal and are at least 8 weeks in length, as opposed to winging it or making up workouts the same day – the difference in results is HUGE]

    Anyway, I want to share the stretch that I did that has really helped me loosen up a tight area for mixed martial artists and anyone who sits down for the better part of the day…

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  • 4 years, 1 big disappointment

    The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver juts finished up, and what a finish! There were so many lessons to be learned, but one story sticks out in my mind which I’ll get to in a sec…

    The men’s hockey team won gold in a nail-biter of a game that ended in overtime over a tough US squad…

    After the win, people were spilling out on the streets (I was one of them) to yell and act like a fool… Good times!

    But when all is said and done, there’s one story that I’ll remember forever…

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  • Hydration Strategies

    It’s been a while since my last nutrition post… sorry for that – but I’ve been caught up in training mode since I’m prepping for a boxing fight…

    So today’s topic is one that’s very important – hydration.

    I’ve chosen this topic because I was woken up this morning by the mailman with a package that contained my new water filter. You’ll learn more about this later.

    water

    I know staying hydrated isn’t the sexiest or most bad-ass topic I could talk about, but it deserves a piece, so I figured I’d get it done then talk about how to choose the juiciest and ripest melons next time. :O

    BUT, if you stick around, I promise you’ll learn a thing or two that will improve your performance, health, and even help you lean out.

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