powerDOJO

Author: Eric Wong

  • My Top MMA Fights of All Time

    The UFC is running a little vote on their site for the Top 100 Fights of all time. Because I don’t really have the time or care to go through the 181 fights they have posted on their site, I figured you’re probably in the same boat.

    But that doesn’t mean that we can’t choose from a more select list of fights. Now I’m not going to say that these are the best fights to have ever taken place, but for me, they came to my mind first.

    So here are 3 of my top MMA fights of all time for your viewing pleasure, in no particular order:

    rampage-slam

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  • Why Being Different is Good

    About 2 weeks ago a buddy of mine talked to me asking if I wanted to play hockey in a ‘beer’ league once a week because his team needed a couple of players.
    baby-hockey1

    For those of you who weren’t born with a hockey stick in his hand like we are in Canada, a ‘beer’ league is simply an adult hockey league, where generally the focus is more on drinking beer after the game than playing hockey. And that beer is usually of the Molson or Labatt varieties.

    I thought about it for about 2 seconds and decided to get back on the ice and see how I was. It would be a good time, I haven’t played in 2 years and there were a bunch of guys I knew from high school on the team.

    Well our last game was last week and here’s what happened.

    I walked into the dressing room and started getting ready and 2 of my buddies from high school said something to the effect of, “Wong, you’re fucking ripped, are you on the Bruce Lee diet or something?”

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  • Master the Art of Breathing

    If you read a lot of the articles and advice talking about how much you should eat, different experts have different opinions.

    With respect to calories, the bottom line is that it can’t be determined by anyone other than you. You’ve got to notice the effects of how you’re eating on your body.

    If you’re gaining fat week after week or have crazy energy level changes right after a meal, you’ve got to notice what you’ve been doing and make changes and notice what happens to you when you make those changes consistent.

    egg-mcmuffin-fruitHere’s a pic of a recent breakfast of mine:

    Now, if you compare this to the typical advice given by top sports nutritionists, you’d think that I was undereating calorie-wise, I didn’t eat enough protein and I’m probably losing muscle mass.

    They often say you need to eat 2 eggs and 6 egg whites in the morning and a couple pieces of fruit, and eat like that 6 times a day.

    Well, the bottom line for my body is that I’ve been eating like this for years now, and the facts are:

    • Maintain body fat ~ 6-7%, weight ~ 170 lbs @ 6′ tall
    • Gained strength and improved my fitness year-over-year
    • Never get sick

    You’ll often hear WHAT to eat, but you’ll almost never, ever hear HOW to eat to get the best results.

    Well here’s a HOW that is so important to you from a performance, health, and MONEY-SAVING point of view:

    Nutrition-itsu Principle #4 – Master the Art of Breathing

    This is a simple principle I teach in my Nutrition-itsu program (you get this when you order my Ultimate MMA Strength & Conditioning Program or MMA Ripped).

    What it’s all about is taking the time to breathe when you’re eating. When you take the time to breathe as opposed to ‘choke’ food down, a few things happen:

    fireYou give your body time to tell you it’s full, limiting over-eating and improving digestion because your system doesn’t have to handle a huge load of food, backing the system up.

    Think about it – when you’re driving on the highway when there’s too many cars on the road, what happens? Exactly – traffic, gridlock, and stress. Same thing when you cause too much ‘traffic’ in your digestive system.

    You give your body oxygen, which is needed in every chemical reaction to break food down to produce energy. Think of your metabolism as a fire. How do you get a fire burning hot? That’s right – you fan it, blow on it, or find some other way to give it more oxygen. Same thing goes for your metabolic fire.

    So what this all means to you is that you’ll digest more effectively so you don’t need to eat as much to get more out of the food you are eating.

    I’ve had clients get rid of problems like heartburn, gas, bloating, and indigestion simply using this one principle.

    Plus, your metabolism will be fired up, helping to provide you with lots of energy and helping you stay lean.

    This tip is FREE for you to implement right away and will give you these benefits and more. Focus on the HOW, and you’ll get more out of whatever the WHAT is.

    Let me know your thoughts, results if you use this, or if you have another TIP to share with us.

  • Anderson Silva – What the #$@!?

    If you saw UFC 97 this past weekend, I want to know what your thoughts are on the Anderson Silva fight, because I’m not too sure what to think of it either. I’m kind of torn.

    silva-leites

    On one hand, as a fan, I see a guy who is giving 30% of what he is truly capable of. Really, he could’ve destroyed Leites if he wanted to, I think there’s no doubt about that. His movement and the speed and power of his strikes are no match for it seems any fighter in his division. But the great thing about MMA is that anything can happen and he’s set the bar super high, so sooner or later, someone will surpass him.

    On the other hand, it just seems like he’s placing more emphasis on not getting hit than knocking his opponent out. I’d like to know exactly how many strikes (kicks, knees, punches, and elbows) have landed on Anderson Silva in his UFC fights. I know there aren’t that many.

    bodog-girls-punchNow as a fighter, if he’s interested in having a long career and staying healthy not only for fighting and for everyday life, not getting hit is a really good plan. It doesn’t take too many heavy shots to the head with 4 oz gloves to cause lingering, sometime permanent effects.

    In a post-fight interview, he was talking about fighting the ‘perfect fight’. In a perfect fight, you would land all of your strikes on your opponent, and not get any points scored against you. If this was his goal, I think he did pretty good.

    The last thought that I heard about the fight was from my friend Rich, who was in Montreal with me. He made a good point and said, “Anderson is the champ, and maybe he’s just thinking that you’ve got to come and take the belt away from me, so you’ve got to be the aggressor.”

    I think this is a very good point. I don’t think it’s smart for a champ to put himself at risk if he doesn’t want to. Sure, it’s not the most exciting strategy from a fan’s point of view, but it is smart to do and it seems like it works.

    What do you think?

  • WORKSHOP: How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries in MMA

    I’m holding a workshop for MMA fighters called “How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries in MMA”. To see full details, check out the flyer by clicking the image below:

    strong-stable-shoulders

    By attending this workshop you’ll learn everything you need to know to ensure your shoulders are as strong and stable as they possibly can be. Obviously if your shoulder gets cranked to hell there’s not much you can do, so I’m not going to say, “You’ll NEVER get a shoulder injury, ever again!” But apply the techniques you’ll learn and you’re doing your best.

    As stated in the flyer, here are the details:

    Workshop Details

    Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009

    Time: Noon – 1:30 pm

    Location: xelf fitness centre
    1000 Upper Gage (click here for map)
    Inside the Runner’s Den

    Cost:    $20 before April 29
    $30 after April 29

    A workbook is included.

    This workshop is LIMITED TO 12 ATHLETES. To register, simply click the ‘Seminars’ tab at the top of this page and enter your payment and you’re in!

    See you there.

    Eric

  • UFC 97 in Montreal – My Picks

    Can’t wait to get out to Montreal for the UFC coming up. Although the atmosphere probably won’t be anything near what it was last year when GSP laid the beat down on Matt Serra to reclaim the welterweight title, it’s still gonna be awesome.

    The fight I’m most looking forward to is Anderson Silve vs. Thales Leites. We all know The Spider is an animal, not an arachnoid, but many don’t know how good Leites is on the ground. It could be an interesting duel if the fight goes to the mats, if it’s kept standing, we all know A. Silva will be the victor.

    So here are my picks for UFC 97:

    MAIN CARD:

    A. SILVA vs. T. LEITES – Silva in 2nd round by KO
    LIDDELL vs. RUA – Liddell in 2nd round by KO, although I do hope Rua does some conditioning this time
    K. SOSZYNSKI vs. BRIAN STANN – Soszynski by ??
    KONGO vs. HARDONK – Kongo by 2nd round KO
    CANTWELL VS. CAIN – I’ll take the Brazilian Cain in this one

    UNDERCARD:

    MARSHALL vs. MAGHALES – no clue so I’m gonna take Marshall
    KANG vs. FOUPA – Kang by 3rd round sub
    MACDONALD vs. QUARRY – J. Mac by 2nd round sub
    LOSEAIU vs. HERMAN – Loiseau by decision
    BOCEK vs. BIELKHEDEN – Bocek by 2nd round sub
    CHONAN vs. GRANT – Chonan by decision
    STOUT vs. WIMAN – Stout by decision

    So those are my picks, leave a comment with your picks and we’ll see how you match up.

  • Balance Exercises for MMA

    I was out for a long walk the other day and where I was by Lake Ontario, which is really close to where I live. It’s one of the 5 Great Lakes as they’re called in North America.

    Unfortunately it’s polluted as hell from all the steel companies and other industries that dump their toxic waste into them, but it still looks nice on a sunny day.

    Anyway I was walking on the shore and came to a spot where there were those big rocks that they sometimes have near water. As I was jumping from rock to rock, I, for some reason, thought about the fact that barely any fighters (or anyone in the gym) trains their single-leg balance.

    Training your single-leg balance will not only improve your performance in the cage, it’ll also help to keep your ankles and knees healthy.

    One thing you don’t want to do (unless you’re rehabbing an injury) is focus on standing on unstable things like BOSU balls, discs, or foam rollers. These tools don’t do anything for performance and limit the strength you can build.

    You might think they’re great for balance, but the truth is, the ground doesn’t move under you, you move over theground, so it’s a different neuromuscular pattern that doesn’t transfer over to a real life situation.

    So what kind of exercises do you want to do?

    Check out videos of 3 of them here:

    => Balance Exercises for MMA Training

    As I mention in the videos – these are not meant to replace your traditional strength exercises, they’re supplementary.

    Train smart,

    Eric

  • The Myth of Distance Runners Being Fat

    If you’ve ever heard some fitness professionals talk, they make it seem like cardio is the worst thing ever.  They make it sound very black and white like cardio = fatness.

    Now while I agree that just doing cardio is not the best use of your exercise time, I do contend that you can lose fat with cardio as your only mode of exercise. The thing is, most types of cardio doesn’t help your overall movement, it doesn’t make you stronger or better able to navigate the demands of everyday life, and it can wreak havoc on your  joints if you don’t have an efficient running gait or your body isn’t strong enough to take the impact of running. Every step you take when running causes an impact 4-7 times your body weight. If your muscles aren’t ready for it – your joints are going to take this impact and complain at you later.

    Important Tip: if you’re currently out of shape and you want to run, first get in shape through strength training and lose some fat by changing your eating habits, then start running.

    Anyway, if you want to get lean, running long distance can help, and it definitely is good for your heart and lungs. Just remember the caveats above. But like any exercise, you have to constantly force your body to do more than it’s used to, otherwise why would your body change?

    To illustrate my point that runners can get lean, here are some pictures from a 30km race that was held in Hamilton/Burlington called the Around the Bay race. The track comes right in front of my house. Plus, check out the dude in the pink tutu – he’s pretty lean!

    .

  • ‘Core’ Exercises for MMA

    These are variations of traditional exercises that increase the recruitment of the core muscles in a stabilization role, which helps you develop explosive KO power and a shredded six-pack:

  • Power Oatmeal!

    Getting up early in the morning and making a quality breakfast can be a difficult thing to do. With the change in the daylight savings time this past weekend, the mornings just got a lot darker. Getting ready for the day in total darkness is like doing an interview after being KO’d by A.Silva.

    The spring sun will soon come, but for now, it’s back to the primitive days of waking up in total darkness in the cave!

    When it’s dark and cold, it’s even tougher to want to do up a good breakfast. But you’ve gotta persevere, because your first meal of the day really does set the tone for the rest of the day. Boxed cereals simply do not cut it – they just spike your blood sugar, setting up a nice big crash later on.

    So if you want something that’s pretty quick and has all the components to fuel your body up to perform like a porsche instead of a ford, try my Power Oatmeal:

    1. Soak 2/3 cup of steel cut oats in a pot overnight
    2. Fire up the burner to max to get it bubbling, then lower it down to around 4
    3. Add a pinch of sea salt
    4. Add some fruit (blueberries, strawbs, apple are my favourite choices)
    5. Add some all-natural nut butter (almond, cashew, and peanut work well)
    6. After it’s all cooked, add some protein powder (hemp or whey)
    7. Top off with some cinnamon, mix it around, and enjoy!

    Also feel free to add some plain (organic) yogurt, some milk, or I’ve been liking coconut milk lately. I also like having a single fried egg on the side.

    When you soak the oats, they cook up a lot faster, saving you time.