Factum CrossFit and Mixed Martial Arts: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

CrossFit Didn't Invent Barbell Workouts, They Just Brought them to the Average Joe

The reason why the answers are vague, when people ask “what is CrossFit” is because every CrossFit gym is dramatically different. Unlike Subway, McDonald's, 24-hour Fitness or any other franchise, you buy into a product, and then expect to be audited. CrossFit does not buy into this ideology. Instead, CrossFit instructors get certified, and are than asked to uphold these standards, but are not audited to keep them honest. CrossFit does this deliberately.

Yes, there are CrossFit workouts out there, that are used in every CrossFit gym in the country, but the owner or manager of your local CrossFit box writes his/her own program. For instance, at our gym, we are also an MMA school that trains pro fighters. For this reason, we want our fighters to have strength for the first round, and stamina for the third. So, some days we do strength workouts and other days we focus on endurance/stamina. This leads to effective cross-training for our athletes. But some gyms focus on gymnastics while others, olympic lifts. You can see our daily Workouts (WOD for short) here: http://factumutah.com/crossfit-wod

Remember, CrossFit doesn't do anything but give a college level weight room to the average joe. That is it. I own a CrossFit gym, and I was an NCAA wrestler, and the parallels between the two are shocking.

In college we had a strength coach write us a program (CrossFit Certified instructor gives WOD), then as a team, we push each other (Same thing that happens in a CrossFit class). Our strength coach taught us proper form (all CrossFit classes should be doing this), and the workouts were grueling (you won't see results unless you mentally push yourself past barriers).

CrossFit has simply taken an NCAA weight room, and given it to the average Joe.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Should the UFC Introduce a Super Heavyweight Division

The UFC's weakest division, in my opinion is the heavyweight division. There just doesn't seem to be that many top contenders. Also, the heavier the division, the slower the fighters are. Fighters are slower, so the excitement of the fight is considerably less, however, the potential for knockouts, is tremendous.

Knockouts would be common at a superheavyweight division, however, they would almost always have to come in the first round. My experience with people weighing above 265 pounds is that they lack the stamina to make it into the later rounds and if a fight went past their early rounds would be pretty boring to watch.

Last but not least I think its just harder to find human beings heavier than 265 pounds, not to mention good fighters in that weight range. I would personally be much more interested to see the introduction of smaller weight classes. Perhaps a featherweight division at 125 lbs?

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Could Bruce Lee Win in Today's MMA?

If we were to raise Bruce Lee from the grave and put him in the prime of his life, would he win? No, I don’t think he would, but that’s not fair, seeing as Bruce Lee was raised in an era where Jiu Jitsu didn’t really exist, and collegiate wrestling was not considered a major part of martial arts. However, let’s say he was born in 1990, and was raised in this era of MMA, I think, by the time 2013 hit, he’d be a legitimate contender. He's got a peerless work ethic, fantastic conditioning, and an open mind to picking up new techniques.

The skills of somebody from half a century ago would be out of date in today's world of mixed martial arts, but MMA wouldn't be what it is today without people like Bruce Lee as a part of it's history. Today it’s hard to go a city block without stumbling past an MMA school. Bruce Lee is an icon to many top mixed martial artists today, including 8 year undefeated middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

You don’t have to look too far back in history to know that the MMA fight game has evolved tremendously. Forget about people who were born in 1940, how about we focus on the early days of UFC and how much better the fighters have gotten in just the last decade. Bruce Lee practiced a hybrid martial art, and was one of the first hybrid martial art athletes ever. However, his primary martial art was called Wing Chun, a martial art that was proven very early on in the UFC to be tremendously ineffective in the cage. Many Wing Chun fighters tried to fight in the UFC and all were destroyed. Wrestlers would take them down, Muay Thai artists would strike effortlessly through their blocking scheme, which consisted of having their hands far away from their face, and jiu jitsu practitioners would simply submit them. All this being said, if MMA was popular in the 1950’s (the decade that Bruce Lee was a teenager) I believe that Bruce Lee would have focused on the martial arts that were proven to be the most effective, and studied them tirelessly.

Dana White was once quoted on the subject and said, “Actually, the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee. If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away.”

Just as it is perhaps naive to think he can battle against everyone decades after his passing, it is disrespectful to go "he'll lose because he was born 70 years ago". Well, yeah, just don't be a jerk about it. I think he would have realized rather young, which sports worked in the UFC, and which ones didn’t, and would devote his life to the martial craft, and by the time he reached fighting age, would be a strong competitor.

Why Do Fighters Exhale So Much

Whenever you watch a boxing or MMA match, you will almost always hear the fighter exhale on every punch and when receiving a punch. Here are the top 6 reasons fighters exhale so much.

Not leaving air in your lungs: This is the same reason Judo guys are taught to exhale or yell when they are thrown and as they hit the mat. Having air in your lungs when you fall or are punched causes that sensation of having the wind knocked out of you. Lungs that are full at the moment of impact means you will be left momentarily stunned and gasping for air. When you are punching or throwing any type of strike is when you are the most vulnerable / "open" for a counter. Hence, just like keeping your chin tucked and your guard up when throwing a strike, exhaling is a way of leaving yourself slightly less exposed when attacking: if you do get hit with a counter, you won't have the wind knocked out of you. This is the most important reason you see boxing and kickboxing guys and gals exhaling with every strike they throw. Be careful of how you're doing it though because exhaling by opening your mouth wide open can be even worse than not doing it at all--you'll end up with your jaw on the floor and your lights out. Properly exhaling the air from your belly / abs actually takes a great deal of practice.
Tightening your core as you strike: Much of the power from a punch or kick comes from your legs and your core. Tightening those stomach muscles as you throw will add a bit more power.
Remembering to breathe: People, especially beginners but even very advanced athletes in a high pressure match, tend to forget to breathe regularly in a fight or competition. Remember we're talking about PROPER breathing DURING a high intensity match where your mind is thinking about a hundred other things at once. If, like me, you've watched thousands of MMA matches, you'll notice every third or fourth match, even for high level, experienced competitors, their corners yelling: "BREATHE!!! BREATHE!!!" or stuff along the lines of REMEMBER TO BREATHE! This actually happens in other sports too. Any highly demanding cardio activity, especially like boxing and grappling there is a significant anaerobic component as well, which requires that you take in air as often as possible.
You must breathe. If you hold your breath, your blood doesn't stay oxygen charged. Bad things (e.g., cramps, significant loss of strength) happen very quickly. It sounds stupid unless you've experienced it in actual competition, but it's quite easy to forget to breathe properly (i.e., taking in air through your nose, quick controlled exhales through your mouth) on a regular basis (i.e., every 10-20 seconds) during a match. We all tend to naturally hold our breath when we're concentrating hard. Finally, remembering to breathe can help some people with their timing. You may not realize it, but the timing and rhythm of your strikes are probably based somewhat on the timing and rhythm of your breathing.
Blood pressure: Remember how in high school, your football trainer or PE coach or whoever told you to inhale when lowering and exhale when lifting weights? This is especially true if you're doing low reps and high weight. Holding your breath during intensive exertion raises blood pressure. This is usually not a huge problem if you're young and in good health, but it is good practice and common knowledge. Same applies to a strike if you're putting a lot of strength behind it. It's a single explosive movement that's not so different from a single rep on a bench or squat cage.