With our upcoming seminar, 'Training for GOLD!' (Details HERE), Jason C. Brown and I will be covering a myriad of a training methods, principles, tools and program design methods.
Before I get into the details and reveal these 3 videos below with GSP in action, a NJ MMA Fighter & Martin Rooney, I will tell you a shortened version of a story I revealed during this past weekend's USC Cert.
I spoke about when I trained Football players & Wrestlers from my garage using odd objects, backyard training, training with sleds, sprints, playground workouts, truck pushing, etc down on a field.... NONE of our athletes EVER got hurt, either in lifting OR during competition.
Then, when I opened The Underground Strength Gym in a warehouse, I no longer had access to training on the field, performing hill sprints, jumping and climbing on, over and around playground equipment.... the workouts became VERY strength focused. It was then I realized we were building strong, slow and useless athletes.... as well as seeing the bigger guys getting injured.
I remember the moment as if it was yesterday, I said to myself, "That's it.... I'm gonna start training ALL our athletes like full blown athletes..... like wrestlers.... NO matter how big or small they are, we're gonna start using a longer warm up, more bodyweight exercises, the pace will be fast and furious and everyone will develop mental toughness...."
As soon as I made the change to train everyone for athleticism, which in essence is an optimal blend of strength, speed / explosive power, conditioning, mental toughness, agility.... the results of our athletes when competing went through the roof and the injuries went waaaaaaay down.
Watch these 3 videos carefully, and you will see that training for overall athleticism is THE ticket. You will also get a deeper understanding as to why I use cross training for ALL my athletes as well as why our Football players get trained like our wrestlers.
[youtube width="640" height="380"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpUzD4y9Nb0&feature=colike[/youtube]
[youtube width="640" height="380"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVkV_NirFYM[/youtube]
[youtube width="640" height="380"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUIFYufMXP4[/youtube]
Many may argue this point, but as you heard Martin Rooney, his NFL players, MMA Fighters, etc ALL do the same warm up which in and of itself is a workout!
Whether you compete in combat sports or not, do NOT miss THIS seminar.
Details HERE, space is extremely limited
9 Responses
I took Martin Rooney’s TFW Level 1 cert a few weekends ago. The man is awesome and very informative. I agree. Why train is only one mode. Be the most athletic you can be. Mobile, agilie, and hostile!
@Daryl J Updike: Yep, even training Football players and guys who need max strength, they need ALL the other traits as well
I’m not sure GSP is the best example considering he suffered a major knee injury during training.
@Scott: His training is excellent…. to disregard his training b/c he suffered an ACL tear would be wrong.
95% of top athletes have been injured quite seriously, this is what happens
On the flip side, he is a world champion….. so that does count for something, doesn’t it?
Getting injured should not discount the success of someone or how they train
Then again, there will always be haters
GSP is a perfect example – an athletic freak – and he continues to prove it every single fight. Injuries are unfortunate, but definitely NOT a reason to NOT cross-train. Rooney is a mastermind. His training methods are on the list of “must-haves” – along with you of course Big Z, Smitty, Jason Brown, Jonny Hinds, Paul Wade, and Defranco. I’ve got all of your guys’ books, DVD’s, and programs on the bookshelf in my office. Great post, great videos, and great content as always Big Z!
@luke denney: Thnx, Luke
Yes, GSP is a FREAK, but he trained to get there
His workouts are athletic focused, if he trained less dialed in then he does, his freak athleticism wouldn’t exist!
Thnx 4 props, brutha!
I’m not saying you should disregard his training but remember he was an elite athlete before he started training this way several years ago. I remember hearing that he couldn’t even do 10 pull ups at first. I was only saying to talk about this way of training being better for preventing injuries and then pointing to someone who just suffered an injury seems strange. I think it is just a good example of the need for movement assessment in all people including someone as athletically gifted as GSP. Sometimes we take for granted that just because someone is a phenomenal athlete that the do not have issues that could lead to injury. No type of training will compensate for that. Zach I love what you do and have read your stuff for many years and was certainly not criticizing your training methods, just didn’t understand the use of St. Pierre (who,as a Canadian, you better believe I’m a huge fan of as well) in this post.
@Scott: NO worries at all, love when U comment brutha.
I’m not sure I know of any of these guys who never got hurt. If we compete hard, it’s gonna happen one day 🙁
“I’m not sure I know of any of these guys who never got hurt.” Love it. True, true, wish I could say I was training them all. Remember though injuries are like accidents, most of them are preventable. On another note, I’m a little behind on the MobilityWOD and just saw this today. http://www.mobilitywod.com/2010/11/episode-98365-basic-upper-body-mobility.html
I assume you’ve seen it but I hadn’t. Awesome. Cool looking shirt.