Reflections on UFC 116 and the UFC Gym

I joined the UFC Gym page (or 'liked' as they now call it) on Facebook a couple of weeks before it opened so I can keep updated on events going on. Last saturday they had a parade with Chuck Liddell that I didn't feel up to going (kicks himself now) and also a free viewing of UFC 116 at the Crazy Horse Steakhouse and Night Club in West Covina.

A couple of fights stuck out in my mind. Soszynski vs. Bonnar and Carwin vs. Lesnar, both for similar reasons. I'm definitely not saying Bonnar isn't skilled, but he is quoted to saying "You know me; when I bleed, it tends to bring the best out of me." After taking several heavy blows from Soszynski, his heavily scarred face started opening up and gushing blood. I definitely do not want to be that kind of fighter. I would rather be skilled in my defense to block such blows that would ugly me up like that.

The other being Carwin vs. Lesnar. Carwin by far is the more skilled athelete, but Lesnar won the match. In the first round Carwin exhibited his superior fighting ability by landing several good blows, preventing Lesnar from a successful takedown, several times gaining the mount over Lesnar and delivering heavy blows for almost 4 minutes. This gassed Carwin and led to Lesnars successful arm triangle choke that Lesnar confirmes he just learned for this fight. Brute strength, the ability to take a lot of hits to the face and one learned submission took this victory.

I have been training hard for my first Amateur MMA fight in August. Training not just for fitness and strength, but for skill. I want to have the strength and skill to win my first fight, not one or the other.

I picked up a special waiving the $49 enrollment fee for the UFC Gym. Yesterday Michael and I went down for a tour. The place is unbelieveable, specialised equipment, an octagon, and great classes in fitness and MMA. I bought the base membership for $39 a month given my limited funds, which includes access to the facilities and equipment, and the fitness classes. Michael on the other hand got the Ultimate Championship package, which includes unlimited access to all the MMA classes, and as he paid for the year he got another year free, and 50% of his third year. While Michael was in his boxing and Muay Thai classes, I got my weight training in, which in addition to a good amount of benches they have a squat rack with a padded bar, letting me go with my 130lb squats. I also utilized the Jacob's Ladder cardio machine, rope climb machine, kettlebells, incline treadmill, and heavy bags in the middle of the gym floor. I was there during the 2hr peaktime, in which they turn the music up loud. It wasn't that emo crap at the La Fitness that you just want to gouge your eardrums out. After my awesome intensive workout I had a good sauna and shower (shampoo and conditioner in the shower :-p) and went to the Arm Bar for a great proten shake. the beautiful attendees kept passing out samples to me of their different shakes, with names like the 'Kimura' and 'Ankle Lock'. Cheesy I know, but really some good quality stuff for under 5 dollars. They also have healthy breakfast items and lunch wraps, some rice bowls, and all under 5 dollars. This is definitely a place I will be in shape for my first fight.

Anatomy of a Jab

The jab is your most basic punch. Utilized by many forms of unarmed combat, the importance of a jab is more defensive than offensive. It is one of the least powerful punches, but no less important. The jab allows you to keep your distance from your opponent, which is especially useful when you have a long reach. It is used to distract your opponent while you are setting up another more powerful punch, such as the cross, hammer fist, or uppercut. The power or pivot jab is your most powerful jab. In pivoting your forward foot and turning your hips into the jab, you increase its power. In competitive boxing, the fast jab or ‘jabbing the fly’ is a move utilized to score more points from the judges.

Performing the Jab

Perform the jab with the lead hand. Make a sideways fighting stance. Push off with your rear foot and snap the arm out quickly, connecting the lead fist to your opponent’s cheek, eye, nose, temple, mouth or chin. Avoid the forehead. For maximum power, twist the lead arm in a corkscrew motion before landing.

Muscles Involved in the Jab

It is best to utilize the entire body in any strike, creating maximum force. However, the precise muscles involved in the jab are:

Exercises to Increase Jab Power

The best exercise to increase power is repeated jabs to a punching bag or dummy. Additionally, pull-ups and chin-ups, knuckle push-ups, and plyo-push-ups.

A good weightlifting exercise is the clean and press, which can be performed with both a barbell and dumbbells.

Too Fat to Fight?

As you can read on my website and here on my blog, I am currently training to enlist in the Army National Guard. The National Guard uses the same standards for enlistment as the US Army does. Among other qualifications there is a body fat % requirement. I offer a body fat % calculator on my website http://patrickmccoyonline.com/fitness if you're interested in seeing where you stand.

http://www.nationalguard.com/careers/become-a-soldier/height-and-weight-requirements tells you that the average male entering the Guard must have 26% maximum body fat and a female to have 32% Both these numbers are at the high end of overweight, and for men is considered obese. At my age at almost 32 years old, I can have 28% body fat. I'm about that now, techincally I can enlist, though I have more training to make the push up and running qualifications. However I am still in the obese category.
Getting back to the topic Too Fat to Fight, BBC News put out an article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8655651.stm the Headline: US youngsters are too fat to fight, warn generals. John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairmen of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: "Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military." They say more than a quarter of young americans are too fat to fight. Given the qualifications of the army enlistment for men are already allowing obese men to enlist. Females are still required not to be obese, but given obesity for women is 33%, these generals are not painting a pretty picture for the future of america.
I applaud and support these generals who have joined forces with 130 other retired or senior armed forces members to take action against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. They are calling on congress to pass legislation to turn back the tide of childhood obesity.

Muscle: Bigger is Not Better

I had the privilege of watching UFC 111 on the big screen, March 27, 2010. It was the beginning of the inspiration for this article. One of the fights that stuck out in my mind was:

Rodney Wallace

Vs.

Jared Hamman

I know what you're thinking; Rodney Wallace was probably the winner, as he is much bigger than, in the words of Joe Rogan ‘built like a mailman’ Jared Hamman. Incorrect, Jared Hamman was the victor in this fight. They were evenly matched in skill; however, Jared’s lean muscle beat out the big flashy muscles of Rodney Wallace. Wallace had the misconception that big muscles mean you are stronger. The reason he gave for training as a fighter was ‘Because the guys didn’t look all that tough to me on TV.’ Once again, big muscles mean big strength doesn’t pan out.

Body Building

Look at all those muscles! He must be strong! Wrong. First, this is not muscle. Training the way our bodybuilder here actually causes calcium deposits over the muscle, not actual lean muscle. Additionally this guy is actually the weakest he can be on competition day, due to the days of dehydration and starvation so the ‘muscle’ is better defined. Bodybuilders often suffer from high cholesterol and high blood pressure due to bodybuilders eating five to six times what they should be eating to attain results like this.

Let us look at a renowned bodybuilder:

Arnold Schwarzenegger



He is a perfect example of how big ‘muscles’ must be sustained with regular weightlifting. Lean muscle never goes away, but let a month or so pass for this big ‘muscle’ and it just melts off

He has some good lean muscle definition, but all those big lumps just went away when an injury during the filming of Terminator 2 prevented Arnold from weightlifting for three months.















Here is a great example of bodybuilding lean muscle

Sean Connery began bodybuilding as a hobby, which culminated in 1950 when he placed third in the Mr. Universe competition. Connery kept this physique throughout his career, even though bodybuilding to him was just a hobby.

Female Bodybuilding

One of the hot topics of the fitness community is the masculinization of Female Bodybuilders. Shrinking of the breasts, infertility, and low libido are all side effects of this kind of bodybuilding.

Strength training is necessary for stability and agility, two indispensible components of fitness. Like everything, is unhealthy when done to excess.

Core Training Post Pregnancy

Three things, the stretching of the abdominals, fat, and the stretching of the skin cause saggy midsection after pregnancy.


The fat and abdominal muscles are remedied by diet and exercise. Stretching of the skin can be improved with Supplements and topical moisturizing





Diet

It is recommended to go no more than a two pound a week weight loss regimen by starting a calorie deficit diet. Eliminating soft drinks and battered deep fried foods are a good start to the deficit.

Abdominal Exercises

Avoid floor crunches. These not only do more harm than good but also you have to do lots of them. Any exercise that needs more than a dozen reps and a few sets is a waste of time. The best abdominal exercise is to maintain a good posture and keep your abdominals tight all the time. Eventually it will become second nature. Good abdominal exercises are Plank, Stability Ball, lunges and squats. Invest in some dumbells, start with 2 5lb dumbells and go up to 10lb and then 15lbs.

Make sure you doing Cardiovascular Fitness a couple times a week and keeping up with your non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

Loose Skin

This is improved with some supplements and topical moisturizer. In addition to your multivitamin, add a supplement of biotin. Apply skin moisturizer, cream, lotion or natural oil. Also, make sure you are staying hydrated.

For more in depth training, follow the link to Fitness & Combat Training

Breakfast cereal, the most important staple of any diet

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast cereal is the most important food of that meal. However the choice of this cereal is very important.

A little history of breakfast cereal. In the late 19th century of the United States, there was a large movement of vegetarianism. Among those inspired by the movement were Dr. James Caleb Jackson, creator of Granula. John Harvey Kellogg, who created two breakfast cereals, Granola, and Wheat Flakes. His brother, Will Keith Kellog created Corn Flakes. Charles William Post, creator of Grape-Nuts

During this time, the traditional western breakfast was eggs, bacon, sausage, pork and beef. This was causing health issues such as gout, hypertension, obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease to name a few. Though the science has later found the improvement of the gastrointestesinal system is through the consumption of fiber, these vegetarians found that by replacing the high fatty meat breakfast with one made with whole grains greatly improved intestinal health.

America has forgotten the innovations of breakfast and the improvement health, by going back to the same unhealthy breakfast health. Most cereals now are loaded with sugar with very low fiber content. As a result, the majority of Americans are obese, and have the same kinds of disease that plagued us in the 19th century.

What can be easier than a bowl of cereal at breakfast? Even those who are lactose intolerant have the choice of lactose free milk, as well as the equally healthy rice and almond milk (due to the problems arising from soy causing hormone imbalances, I do not endorse soy milk as a healthy food). The ingestion of a high fiber breakfast has been shown to improve overall digestion, lowering cholesterol, and promoting bowel movement regularity.

The choice of breakfast cereal is important, it must be whole grain, and with the highest fiber content possible. It is recommended for a healthy bowel to have 20-35 grams of fiber a day. I would recommend the oldest cereals, being grape-nuts, granola, and wheat or corn flakes. As always, look for the lower cost store brands. Avoid anything loaded with sugar. Men's Health's best healthy cereal is Post Spoon Size Shredded Wheat. It contains one ingredient: whole-grain wheat. and per cup, 170 calories, 6grams of protein, 40grams carbs, 6grams of fiber, and 1 gram of fat.

Another important tip with cereals is to make sure you are having the proper serving, which is usually 1/2 cup to 1 cup. If you think the calorie count is low for breakfast, it is. Ever wonder what 'part of your complete breakfast' is? Add a piece of fruit, a hard boiled egg, a serving of non fat yogurt or cottage cheese, and you have a complete breakfast.

It is important to know what your calorie count should be and make sure you have a third of your daily requirement at breakfast. Part of my services as Fitness and Combat Trainer includes a nutrition plan, which gives you your proper calorie count for your fitness goals.

Genesis

I have been tracking my fitness on livestrong.com. take a look, I'm off to a good start. http://www.livestrong.com/profile/mayhem833/ Going to the gym today after a 72 hour recovery. It was the first time I went away from the weight machines and nautilus machines and went all free weights. Free weights are the best way to build stability, but I had used new muscles that needed more recovery. I want to try to put ten more pounds on all my sets, 10 reps 3 sets. Currently they are:


90lb squats

90lb deadlifts

90lb shoulder press

130 bench press

60lb barbell curls

I'm also alternating 20 minute treadmill run for cardio, one 5 mph tempo, one interval. the tempo was a little too easy, so I'm going to add a 5% incline.

Some good news, my physical training regime greatly corrected my knock knees. 15 years of doctors telling me I needed surgery and eventual knee replacement, and all I needed was a physical therapy regime. If only I had the motivation to become a Fitness Trainer 15 years ago :-p

The problem now, is the Fulkerson Osteotomy  I had in 1998. This was performed due to an issue with a uniquely shaped knee joint causing patellofemoral pain syndrome. Although the procedure was performed correctly and I have completely healed and in fact have a superior knee, the presence of the titanium bolts are holding up my enlistment into the Navy. Though I am able to enlist with a knee waiver this will take time.

The irony is, if I hadn't gone to a doctor in the first place, and just followed the common sense of eating healthy and exercising, I would have been a successful college educated USMC Officer. Ah well, I'm not going to think about what could have been, just what needs to happen.

In other news, I qualified for $3500 from the Pell grant to go to college, and with student loans will be able to be a full time student. I applied to Mt SAC's Associates degree with an emphasis in Kinesiology and Wellness for the Fall of 2010. Just have to get by till then.

I contacted AAAI/ISMA regarding the Personal Fitness Trainer certification I took on 3/20. I passed. I should have my certificate on monday, then I can start applying to gyms for employment. In the meantime. I provide 1 year of online Fitness and Combat Training for $50, in person Fitness and Combat Training for $50 a session.