Diesel Crew - Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training, Grip Strength » fighting

Elitefts.com – Exclusive Interview with Martin Rooney – Part 4

Jedd Johnson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:51:58 +0000

Similar Posts:

Complex Training for Elite MMA Athletes

Jedd Johnson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:00:14 +0000

COMPLEX TRAINING

Guest Blog Post from Franklin Joyner, Triumph Athletics

The beauty of complex training (CT) is that it’s simple and it works. CT is the blending of strength and speed. In essence, CT is nothing more than a ME exercise immediately followed by a DE exercise. This is an enormously effective style of training. To better understand why it is so effective we will first need to look at the science behind CT.

The Science Behind Complex Training

The Maximum Effort

Every muscle within the human body acts on a specific principle called the All or Nothing Principle. The muscle as a whole can produce varying levels of force, but an individual fiber is only capable of producing its own amount of force. If more force is required, then more fibers are recruited. The key is that when a muscle fiber is innervated by the central nervous system, the fiber is totally and completely activated. There is no varying degree of activation. It is all or nothing.

The Size Principle demands that small/slow Type I fibers are recruited first and as more force is required bigger/faster Type II fibers are recruited to complete the effort. Thus, muscle fiber recruitment is regulated by required force. In the unfatigued muscle, a sufficient number of muscle fibers will be recruited to supply the desired force. Initially, desired force may be accomplished with little or no involvement of Type II fast motor units. However, as slow units become fatigued and fail to produce force, fast units will be recruited as the CNS attempts to maintain desired force production by recruiting more muscle fibers. Consequently, the same force production in fatigued muscle will require a greater number of muscle fibers. This additional recruitment brings in fast, but more quickly fatigued fibers. In layman’s terms, if you want to lift a lot of weight you must teach your CNS to become proficient at innervating the biggest/fastest fibers. The best way to do this is by lifting near maximum weight. This is the primary goal of the ME exercise.

The Dynamic Effort

Dynamic effort is best defined as lifting a non-maximal load with the greatest speed possible. Some examples of DE training are plyometrics, Olympic lifting, and shock training. DE training is important for one main reason: The Recruitment Principle.

The Recruitment Principle holds that the CNS can be trained to bypass the Size Principle and selectively recruit Type II fibers immediately rather than getting them involved only after the entire pool of Type I fibers have been innervated. This is extremely important in sports because of the need for immediate force production. Examples are a vertical jump, swinging a bat, throwing a punch, or even producing velocity on a fastball. DE’s are how the CNS learns to produce immediate maximum force. The reason we do the ME before the DE is Post-Activation Potentiation.

Post-Activation Potentiation

The underlying principle surrounding Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) is that maximum efforts induce a high degree of CNS stimulation, resulting in greater muscle fiber recruitment and force. Thus, you can produce a greater DE after your CNS has been “super stimulated” by the preceding ME.

Practical Application of Complex Training

CT can be scaled for use at any time in a program. We use this type of training most often as a transition between a strength/hypertrophy block and a specialization block. We increase the number and frequency of DE’s in our programs as we progress toward the specialization block (in season). As a result this is a great way to keep strength levels high while being able to incorporate more DE’s.

CT also provides a big bang for the buck for in season training. Because of time constraints during the season, athletes will often have time for only one or two sessions each week. CT allows athletes a time efficient means to maintain both absolute strength and explosiveness throughout the duration of the season. Below is a sample two day program using complexes for in season football players.

Day 1 (Lower)

Squat/BB squat jump 6 x 3/5
DB Lunge/split squat jump 2 x 5/3
Lateral Lunge/lateral bounds 2 x 5/3
GHR 2 x 10

Day 2 (Upper)

Bench/clapping push up 5 x 3/5
Pull up/DE sled row 3 x 5/5
Hang clean & press or jammer 2-3 x 3-5

In the video below I will demonstrate various complexes for all movement planes.

The Premier MMA Training Bible – Blunt Force Trauma

_____________________________________________________________

Tom Lawlor Wins!

Jedd Johnson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:34:33 +0000

Tom won a unanimous decision over Kyle Kingsbury Saturday night! Unfortunately, he injured his hand and he is working to get that healed up right now. Tom was an animal with his training and completed some of the toughest conditioning circuits I’ve created during the lead up to the fight.

We here at Diesel are proud of Tom!

Tom is looking at his next fight in the UFC at 185, so he is going to be dropping down to a more natural weight.

Here is Tom giving a shout out on MMA Junkie – CLICK HERE FOR THE DIESEL MENTIONSimilar Posts:

Big MMA Weekend!

Jedd Johnson — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:38:29 +0000

Image from Sherdog

Not only is Kimbo fighting James Thompson this weekend on primetime (CBS May 31 at 9-11 p.m. ET/PT) but Jens Pulver is fighting Urijah Faber at WEC 34 on June 1st.

Kimbo vs. Thompson

Thompson has his work cut out for him as Kimbo is steadily improving under the watchful eye of Bas Rutten. I remember watching Thompson, who has tons of energy and was very hyper in the ring, lose via a quick knockout to Fedor’s brother Aleksander, but since then he has gone on to a solid 14-8-0 record. Kimbo, at 2-0, is fighting to establish his legitimacy in the heavyweight ranks and at the same time, progressively picking his opponents as his skills develop. Kimbo has gone from a homeless guy, to youtube sensation to living his dreams. I think this fight is not only a great opportunity for both fighters, but also the sport of MMA. Being on prime time tv will continue to increase the exposure of a great sport.

Here is a cool story on Kimbo for ESPN the Magazine: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3405201

Faber vs. Pulver

Faber, 20-1-0, is explosive, young and hungry. This is already his 5^th title defense of the WEC Featherweight title. Jens is in need of a win and would love to get a title again. This will, without a doubt, be a quick, fast-paced fight – so don’t blink! Watch on June 1^st on Versus.

Special Note: At the 1:20 mark in the video, Jens talks about training his GRIP and how he hits harder than ever (notice the KB’s in the background).

Check out this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ZyZvo-N78

Here is another video of Jens doing thick rope pull-ups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWpPwCCdAMo&feature=related

Leave your predictions in the comments section!

Check out the pic of Kimbo above throwing the medicine ball around, check this out for more sick abdominal training exercises for athletes.

SmittySimilar Posts:

UFC 84 – Make Your Predictions!

Jedd Johnson — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:05:17 +0000

Copy the following list and make a comment with your predictions for each fight!

Sean Sherk vs. B.J. Penn

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida

Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine

Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes

Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic

Smitty

Similar Posts: