Clinching aka the "Up and Down game of MMA"

Here's a great vid I like to refer people to when they start getting into clinching and understanding it's importance in MMA, Muay Thai and Self Defense. What you'll notice is use of the primary control points of the body. The Crown of the head, the neck, jaw, ears, shoulders, biceps and triceps, wrist, hips, knees, and ankles, using single and double neck ties, underhooks, overhooks/whizzers, bicep tie ups, along with great wrist and ankle control.

Stephan Kesting and his partner Ritchie Yip do a AMAZING job of going over the rematch between Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir at UFC 140, including the amazing Kimura that ended the fight.

Learn and enjoy!

January 25th WORKOUT

Well this is a LATE post but you'll understand in a minute why. Well what was my workout for Wednesday the 25th.... Well it was one of the most physically and mentally challinging workouts of all. MOVING!!!

I moved out of my place a 3 story town house into my girlfriends, and MAN carrying my giant L-shaped desk down a "modern" stair case was TONS of core and stability work. Not to mention all the book boxes and breaking down the bed frame and trying to get it to not hit the walls....

But in short, I did tons of squats, lunges, deadlifts, zercher squats, stepups, curls, and farmers walks for 4 and a half hours then drove it to my new place and unloaded it in a hour. Oh it was a mess but I had to get to the gym to do some privates in MMA and stick fighting (man that was the easy part of the day)

So anyway I'm still getting things in order and setting up my home gym but most morningg I wake up, check my email and then go straight to figuring out how all this crap is going to fit in one space BUT give me the most space for working out ;)

and I still have to get a new bag too :D

January 23rd 2012 morning workout: 10 minutes and 10 pushups

workout January 23

Sticking with my 10 minutes and 10 pushups bare minimum workout this was my morning workout. I did the entire thing with a weighted vest to maximize intensity on all my exercises

4 minutes of shadowboxing Muay Thai both leads
10 hand release pushups
10 tuck jumps
10 wall squats for depth
5 clean and presses each arm with 53 lbs kb
5 high pulls each arm with with 53 lbs kb
10 hand release pushups
10 tuck jumps
10 wall squats for depth
5 clean and presses each arm with 53 lbs kb
5 high pulls each arm with with 53 lbs kb


I'M SO GLAD I DID IT!!!

January 19th Morning workout. 10 minutes and 10 pushups

I've been getting BUSY with work, training and my 2012 plans. Being your own boss isn't easy, but making excuses for not doing what you should be doesn't make anything better so I told myself last night "Hey it doesn't have to be a super kill your self workout like you normally do" I've sometimes got a bad attitude to training where it's either go hard or go home, basically I try to kill myself when I'm "TRAINING" training and if I think about a short workout I put it off to long so I told my self. "10 minutes and 10 pushups. If you feel like going longer go longer, if not don't but at least you did 10 minutes and 10 pushups." So this is what 10 minutes on the timer and 10 pushups turned into

So I started the timer and started shadowboxing while listeing to music, after a minute or so I noticed my weight vest and threw it on (it was set for 10lbs which is perfect for some shadowboxing) so after a minute more of shadowboxing I did my 10 pushups, then I did 10 2 arm kettelbell swings with a 63lbs kettlebell, and then 10 2 arm swings with a kick and then 10 walls squats, and well I decided to do it again so I just kept doing that untill I heard the bell

So for time I didi
Shadowboxing 1min 30 seconds
Shadowboxing with 10lbs weighted vest 2 minutes (at this point everything I'm doing is with the vest)
10 hand release pushups (because they're tougher)
10 2handed kettelbell swings
10 2 handed kettlebell swings with a kick
10 wall squats
10 hand release pushups
10 2handed kettelbell swings
10 2 handed kettlebell swings with a kick
10 wall squats
10 hand release pushups
10 2handed kettelbell swings
10 2 handed kettlebell swings with a kick
10 wall squats
10 hand release pushups (the timer hit on the 8th pushup but I had to finish)

So that's my 10 minute workout. IT KICKED ASS!!! AND I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY I DID IT!!!

TOMORROW MORE WORK, MORE RESULTS!!!!!



Incidentally later that day aka a hour ago I did a quick set of deadlifts first bodyweight, then 5 at 225, 3 at 450, 6 at 225, 15 with a pvc pipe to work on my form

NO MORE EXCUSES!!! January 16th morning workout!!

EXCUSES KILL!!!


I've made a ton in the past week but now back to work. My morning quickee was

20 kettlebell slingshots
3 turkish getups on each side
10 clean and presses each side all with a 63lbs kettlebell

I got a quick workout in and I'm gonna do strength when I hit the gym today and do some deadlifts and some balance work.

I'm so glad I said "Screw the excuse! Now is the BEST TIME!!!"

January 10th Morning workout

Well my neck was still sore from my grappling tournament over the weekend and it wasn't doing the best things for my shoulder either so I went with a SUPER simple morning workout with the most bang for the buck and the least likeley to make anything worse.

100 wall squats

I did
25 hands down
25 hands over my head
25 hands down
25 hands over my head

the main emphasis was on getting now from various foot positions and making sure I kept my posture as upright as possible. No cheaters. Anyway I felt great after I did it despite all the excuses I kept feeding myself before I started, and it only took a few minutes.

On top of that during the day, I did some shadowboxing, stick sparring, stick and knife drills, a few cleans and some Turkish getups but that's just a regular day training for me

January 7th Workout aka The Copa Nova Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament

Well there's a long story behind this one so I might Come back and edit this for the full story but right now I just want something up.

Long story short, I quit grappling for 4 weeks to do a Muay Thai fight, after that I had to let some injuries heal, and then work got super busy so I couldn't make my usual class times or meet my training partners for a good roll here and there like before. So anyway I told some friends I was going to do the Pan Ams, and possibly the worlds in BJJ which are pretty big deals so after saying that and driving home I found it impossible to look myself in the mirror with those goals and not do the Copa Nova which was only 8 miles from my girlfriends house. Sooo I signed up for a tournament with 5 days notice and with only about 45 minutes of BJJ training in 4-5 months. But hey, I'm the kinda guy who's competed before and looks forward to losses because I know they make me push for something better.

Aaannnyy Way below is a break down of what happened. Not my best competition but I GOT IT IN!!! I didn't let my fears stop me, i didn't let my excuses stop me. I DIDN'T LET ME STOP ME!!!

January 6th 2012 Morning workout

I was jammed for time again so I made it super quick and simple again.

50 clean and presses with a 63lbs kettlebell

I wish I had more time, but I did what I could and I feel better for it!

January 5th 2012: I GOTTA DO THIS QUICK WORKOUT

Well I had some early clients again and almost skipped my morning workout but I GOT IT IN!!! Nothing super crazy I just went for high INTENSITY!

5 Judo pushups
25 Burpees with a pushup

It made me sweaty and got my heart racing with just enough time to jump in the shower and get to work in time

January 4th afternoon workout

I had some early clients so didn't have time to get in my regular am workout so i just upped my afternoon workout

5 minutes of grip fighting in the gi
2 rounds of grip fighting and takedowns in the gi
5 minutes of technical takedown drills
5 minutes of submission drills from the bottom
2 minutes of escape drills

BREAK

deadlift
135 x5
225 x5
405 x3
405 x3

January 3rd 2012

I'm in a rush this morning but I know I still need to get my workout in. Also I just signed up for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament so I'm going to get a good puke workout in later today. So here's my morning quickee workout

Workout
5 turkish getups each side with 35lbs kb
3 turkish getups each side with 62lbs kb
100 zercher squats with 35lbs kb

38 Closed Guard Combos Gi and No Gi

Some more great info from Jason Scully. I really like this video because of the simplicity. Keep your game simple and aggressive and the win is yours. Just remember to DRILL, DRILL, DRILL!!!

High Percentage Closed Guard Techniques

Incredible details and concpets that can help the old and new BJJer a like.
I LOVE JIU-JITSU!!! SO MANY OPTIONS!!!

January 2nd 2012 Morning Workout

I woke up and putzed around the house and tried to come up with valid reasons stall my workout like "I can fit my workout in between clients" "This'll be much better at the gym" "I'm not a morning person" and all of have some validity but really it's just BULLSHIT!!! I've made those same damn excuses before and the answer was no workout later in the day because of course life/bullshit happens and things get thrown off course so I bit the bullet and knocked out a quick workout.

January 2nd workout

body weight box squats x20
iron cross x20 with 2 10lbs dumbbells
forward lunge and overhead press x10 with 2 10lbs dumbbells
reverse lunge and overhead press x10 with 2 10lbs dumbbells
overhead squat x10 with 2 10lbs dumbbells
parallel pull ups x10
zercher squat x10 w 35lbs kettlebell
overhead squats with 2 10lbs dumbbells
single arm high pulls x10 with 63lbs kettlebell
zercher squats x10 with 63lbs kettlebell
parallel pullups x 10


I DID IT! I FEEL BETTER! (Hell I even did it while watching one of my favorite tv shows.) I'M DEFINITELY DOING IT AGAIN TOMORROW!!! Not the same workout, that would bore me but I'm definitely going to get back in FIGHTING SHAPE at my fighting weight. Now to figure out if I want to do a skill workout later today or a endurance one.

Either way I'm PUMPED!!!!

January 1st 2012 Kettlebell Workout!

To kick off the new year right I decided to do a quick workout. Thankfully I didn't party to hard for New Years Eve so I managed to get a great little workout in.


Slingshots x12 with 35lbs kettlebell x12 with 62lbs
Turkish get UPS x3 each side with 62lbs kettlebell
Clean & Press x5 each arm with 62lbs, 53 lbs, and mixed doubles with 35lbs and 24 lbs (switch after 5)
Swing and Kick x10 with 62lbs, 53 lbs, and mixed doubles with 35lbs and 24 lbs (switch after first 5)
Uneven poppers x5 each arm x2 rounds
High Pulls x5 each arm with 62lbs, 53 lbs, and mixed doubles with 35lbs and 24 lbs

BREAK

Swing and Kick x12 with 62lbs, 53 lbs, and mixed doubles with 35lbs and 24 lbs (switch after first 6)
Uneven poppers x6 each arm x2 rounds
High Pulls x6 each arm with 62lbs, 53 lbs, and mixed doubles with 35lbs and 24 lbs (switch after first 6)
shadowbox 3 minutes