A little off topic but should still be fitting here. Feel free to add your own but these are some things that I’ve learned in 2009
- Flexibility/Mobility
This has become one of the most important aspects of my training. For one it’s injury-preventative, two it helps my recuperation (personally), three a lot of higher level MMA skillsets require a certain degree of flexibility. There’s way too many benefits to ignore prioritizing it in your training.
- Speed curls.
Yep some aesthetic stuff haha… I never really curl’d all that much previously so just to balance my physique and prevent injury I’ve thrown in a few sets here or there. I usually went pretty heavy, but one day I decided to use 1/2 my normal weight but keep the reps the same but rep it out as fast as possible. I’ve never had DOM’s like that before in my biceps. Explosively doing curls really actually put some size on my arms.
- weighed vest
holy shit you can use this for everything. Just a slight 10-15lbs if you wear it while your shadowboxing really changes how you move when you take it off. Doing regular conditioning with it as well is a whole other ball park. Just the slight additions in weight adds another level of difficulty. Jumping rope, sprinting, db swings, etc… Just wow.
- Rings
Even a TRX system or whatever will be one of the best investments you make. Your dynamic strength, shoulder stability, isometric strength, and maximal strength can all be trained with just slight adjustments.
- Running
Yes for distance. All the MMA guru’s say that it’s unnecessary or not specific. Yet every professional combat athlete does some form of long distance cardio. Running is the toughest form imo and most realisitic for combat sports. I don’t think it needs to be an everyday sort of thing but it’s just my opinion that if you’re not doing it you’re missing out.
- Health conscious
shifting my focus from what’s good for just my performance in the gym to what’s good for my overall health has really enhanced my recovery. I mix a serving of “Superfood” into 2-3 shakes a day. I drink a lot of “raw” food shakes, really watch my mineral intake, drink a LOT of tea, sleeping, managing stress, getting adequate fiber, concerning myself with my digestion (taking probiotics and what not), etc have all really changed how I view what enhances “performance”.
- Time management
Every evening I set aside a few hours and prepare for the next day. All my shakes, pills, powders, meals, clothes, etc all are ready before I go to bed so the next day I can just automatic pilot through all my activities. I’m 10x more efficient through the day and surprisingly have quite a bit of time to rest up during the day and way more time to read. Without the stress of thinking about things I NEED to do or should have done during the day I sleep earlier and way better. Go figure.
- Meditating
I guess I sound very homeopathic now but taking the time to center myself at some point during the day and before training has really helped my focus. While stretching I focus on my breathing. I often shadowbox for 30-40min straight (with a HR monitor to make sure I stay above 150) which is something like a moving-meditation to me. One of my favorite drills is just calmly sitting seiza or however I’m comfortable and letting thoughts drift through my head and the moment things get crazy I imagine blowing out a candle and dispersing the thoughts back to calm. After 15min or so I feel unshakeable. It really helps right before training to leave everything outside the gym and to become singular in purpose.
- Hydrating.
It seems REALLY obvious but I see it going on all the time. We go to the gym and carry water with us and will drink plenty DURING our workout but what about prior? By the time you feel thirsty you’re already dehydrated. So I started drinking 48-64oz of water 30-45min before training taking a big piss directly before practice it takes a lot less tenacity to finish training. The oddest thing to me (which I thought would be moreso attributed to sugar) is that I feel REALLY clear headed. Not having enough water made my head feel a lot “cloudier” than I ever realized till I started increasing my water intake for the day.