Showing posts with label Evan Aubrey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evan Aubrey. Show all posts
Monday, July 1, 2013
Benefits An MMA Fighter Gains From Olympic Weight Lifting PART 3
PART 3: My own personal experiences. Some of the benefits I’ve received through Olympic weight lifting (MMA and personally): one major difference I’ve noticed is that my posture is actually correct now! Before I was slightly hunched over, a common issue for both grapplers and strikers due to the posture requirements of our sports and unbalanced muscle development that comes with there regular practice, and it would cause me to lose my balance during lifts or strain too much. As I started to correct my posture, I started to understand how to use my hips and explode from the ground up. This did not happen overnight and took many months to develop. As I experienced the new posture and use of my hips, my striking in MMA drastically improved. The reason for this is because my new found balance from correct posture helped me launch faster punches from the ground to my hips and finally to my hand, exactly the same path that that power is generated in the OL’s! I also started to understand more principles and techniques that I had been told a million times before; but now with the correct posture they were working. Being that I’m tall 6’1” without proper posture it’s a lot easier for me to be off balance and slower than a shorter fighter. After training in Olympic weight lifting I could better control my center of mass which in turn helped me strengthen my core. I thought I had a strong core going into this type of lifting but found out rather fast I was wrong. After developing my core through proper lifting technique and use of the Valsalva maneuver, I had another epiphany if you will. I thought that if I can snatch all this weight and stabilize my core by just holding my breath, I should try to implement this into my fighting: and I did. I started using the Valsalva maneuver during my take down attempts: as I’d shoot in and grab a leg I would hold my breath then explode with individual into air completing take down. Once the take down was completed I would recover faster than before because I used less energy from proper technique.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Benefits An MMA Fighter Gains From Olympic Weight Lifting Part 2
OK, fast twitch muscle fibers: the muscle fibers needed for explosive fast pace movements are type 2B. These fast twitch fibers are targeted during most any anaerobic workout especially Olympic weight lifting. As you explode with any lift coming from the ground up you need to recruit as many muscle fibers as you can to successfully complete the lift. The speed at which you lift will cater to the muscle fibers developed, hence , the slow twitch to fast twitch ratio. Everyone is born with a certain number of each fiber type but you can changes the muscle fiber types by how you work and train them. The target of an MMA artist is to finish fights explosively whether from strikes or submission. To gain victory (by either way) you have to continuously explode through movements or a technique and can’t give up half way through a strike or submission. The harder you can explode or the more efficiently you can recruit fast twitch fibers for a given task the easier it will be to finish the fight or lift. That’s why I introduced Olympic weightlifting to my regimen. The mental game is the most important part I believe of any sport, especially that of Olympic weight lifting and MMA. In order for you to be successful at high stress situations you need to be able to control your adrenaline and central nervous system. To a certain degree as you get more efficient you will gain more control over what stimuli will or will not affect you. And in turn this will make you a better athlete in any circumstance. Olympic Weightlifting helps train your central nervous system by putting added stresses on your mind like more weight that you may believe you can’t lift. Even when you continuously fail at a lift its strengthening your central nervous system immeasurably because its desensitizing you from the feeling of failure and opening your mind up to the possibility of being able to do the heavy lift or your new 1rep max. The new found motivation or desensitizing causes you and forces you to refine your technique and break down every detail you can think of so you can master each small step to achieve your goal. {MY goal is to be able to clean my body weight… almost there}. Take for instance the ritual as you go up to bar: foot placement, hand grips, first pull, second pull, sticking the lift, holding the breath to stabilize core, the list continues. You have to break down techniques, you have to adapt, and you have to explode! Developing through different stages and continue to progress is growth: in both MMA and OL (Olympic lifting). The use of visualization is also a huge part of both sports. You have to be able to envision yourself doing the lift or winning the fight to actually complete it (but that’s another series completely) Next time some of the personal benefits I’ve seen from OL! Till next time- Evan
Friday, May 17, 2013
Benefits an MMA Fighter gains from Olympic Weight Lifting PART 1 -Evan Aubrey
My man Evan from Wai Kru knows of what he speaks- listen up and improve!
Benefits an MMA Fighter gains from Olympic Weight Lifting Part 1
There are various benefits an athlete can gain from a weight lifting routine. But an Olympic weight lifting routine is best for an MMA athlete or Mixed Martial Artists if you will. There are many reasons starting with the energy systems used during such lifts, the muscle types worked, and the mental game gained from such training. A lot of the logic and principles in the benefits carry over from one to the other and correlate nicely with the benefits I’ve received from an Olympic weight lifting routine. The energy systems used in Olympic weightlifting are all three depending on length of workout. The three energy systems are ATP-PC or Creatine phosphate system, Anaerobic Glycolysis system, and the oxidative system. During almost any exercise routine you use all three whether or not you’re trying to, but in MMA you predominantly use and want to train your Anaerobic Glycolysis system. This is perfect because you gain immense anaerobic cardio from Olympic weightlifting because lifts usual last only seconds and sets end before 3 minutes. The oxidative system takes over after 3 minutes of training but the anaerobic system can last up to ten minutes if a break is given for about 30 seconds: perfect for amateur MMA fighter because fights are 3 rounds of 3 minutes with one minute in between round. The reason the anaerobic properties are so important in MMA is because you have to be able to fight at a furious pace for 0 to 30 seconds and be able to recover quickly. To be successful your opponent can’t recover before you and put you on the defensive. This correlates directly to the Olympic Weight lifters workout set. The lifter has to set himself, lift heavy amount with all his/ her strength in one fluid explosive movement {can have more intricate motions}, or fail and attempt lift again. Depending on how sets are determined you can better suit them to MMA. I found that sets where I lifted 3 to 5 reps made me more powerful and gave me enough anaerobic cardio for fighting which was my aim. Anything over 6 reps didn’t yield me with more power it just made me more tired throughout day and next training day would sometimes be less explosive. The Olympic weight lifting lifts best suited for MMA gains are the overhead snatch, clean, and front squat. The snatch requires you to lift weight and stabilize it over head in an uncomfortable situation. In MMA you have to be able to move weight (your opponent) around at will and stabilize him or control as it’s referred to throughout match. All of this happens well someone is trying to punch you in the face. This could be compared to the stress of the weight about to be snatched. Cleans are my favorite Olympic exercise because you have to pull, get under weight, and explode up. This replicates the takedown the best I would say and is more geared towards MMA type cardio I need. Also cleans helped me develop my legs ability to use the stretch reflex. As for the front squats, these where pretty much the general warm up exercise and used for maintenance. The Clean is an awesome exercise that easily fatigues participants if they use progression with proper technique. To further understand the energy systems and lift benefits from Olympic weightlifting for a Mixed Martial Artist you have to also know what they target and that’s fast twitch muscle fibers. More on that next time- Now go Train Hard! Evan
Benefits an MMA Fighter gains from Olympic Weight Lifting Part 1
There are various benefits an athlete can gain from a weight lifting routine. But an Olympic weight lifting routine is best for an MMA athlete or Mixed Martial Artists if you will. There are many reasons starting with the energy systems used during such lifts, the muscle types worked, and the mental game gained from such training. A lot of the logic and principles in the benefits carry over from one to the other and correlate nicely with the benefits I’ve received from an Olympic weight lifting routine. The energy systems used in Olympic weightlifting are all three depending on length of workout. The three energy systems are ATP-PC or Creatine phosphate system, Anaerobic Glycolysis system, and the oxidative system. During almost any exercise routine you use all three whether or not you’re trying to, but in MMA you predominantly use and want to train your Anaerobic Glycolysis system. This is perfect because you gain immense anaerobic cardio from Olympic weightlifting because lifts usual last only seconds and sets end before 3 minutes. The oxidative system takes over after 3 minutes of training but the anaerobic system can last up to ten minutes if a break is given for about 30 seconds: perfect for amateur MMA fighter because fights are 3 rounds of 3 minutes with one minute in between round. The reason the anaerobic properties are so important in MMA is because you have to be able to fight at a furious pace for 0 to 30 seconds and be able to recover quickly. To be successful your opponent can’t recover before you and put you on the defensive. This correlates directly to the Olympic Weight lifters workout set. The lifter has to set himself, lift heavy amount with all his/ her strength in one fluid explosive movement {can have more intricate motions}, or fail and attempt lift again. Depending on how sets are determined you can better suit them to MMA. I found that sets where I lifted 3 to 5 reps made me more powerful and gave me enough anaerobic cardio for fighting which was my aim. Anything over 6 reps didn’t yield me with more power it just made me more tired throughout day and next training day would sometimes be less explosive. The Olympic weight lifting lifts best suited for MMA gains are the overhead snatch, clean, and front squat. The snatch requires you to lift weight and stabilize it over head in an uncomfortable situation. In MMA you have to be able to move weight (your opponent) around at will and stabilize him or control as it’s referred to throughout match. All of this happens well someone is trying to punch you in the face. This could be compared to the stress of the weight about to be snatched. Cleans are my favorite Olympic exercise because you have to pull, get under weight, and explode up. This replicates the takedown the best I would say and is more geared towards MMA type cardio I need. Also cleans helped me develop my legs ability to use the stretch reflex. As for the front squats, these where pretty much the general warm up exercise and used for maintenance. The Clean is an awesome exercise that easily fatigues participants if they use progression with proper technique. To further understand the energy systems and lift benefits from Olympic weightlifting for a Mixed Martial Artist you have to also know what they target and that’s fast twitch muscle fibers. More on that next time- Now go Train Hard! Evan
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Evan Aubrey: Psychological Effects of Cutting Weight
By:Evan Aubrey
Psychological Effects of Cutting Weight The psychological aspects of cutting weight in sport are diverse and complicated. To understand cutting weight you have to understand the requirements of sport in which the person is cutting for and the different aspects of a weight cut. The three aspects of cutting weight that have the most psychological impact on the athlete are eating disorders, dehydration, exhaustion, and recovery. All these aspects have a profound impact on the athlete and his performance.
Cutting weight was introduced by the sport of wrestling. This formed because people in higher weight classes or in the middle of two weight classes wanted to become the most dominant fighters they could be. So these individuals started using a number of different techniques to lower their body weights to reach these brackets. The techniques they started to use where dieting, various exercise routines, and dehydration. The weight classes or brackets are as follows 125lbs is fly weight, 135lbs is bantam weight, 145lbs is feather weight, 155lbs is light weight, 170lbs is welter weight, 185 is middle weight, 205lbs is light heavy weight, and 225lbs and above is heavy weight. Also there is a weight class or agreement of sorts called a catch weight. This is when two athletes who will face off agree to fight at a certain weight and show up at weigh ins at that weight, So for instance there isn’t a 115lbs weight class, so two 115lbs fighters could set up a catch weight bout. As a result athletes had more and more success with this practice because they were able to overpower there opposition. So as time went on cutting weight became wide spread in combat type sports such as mixed martial arts, jiu jitsu, judo, and sambo respectively.
Eating Disorders are any severe disturbance in ones eating behavior. This could be from extreme over eating or lack thereof. This is a big part of weight cutting because fighters will develop these eating disorders and not even realize it in order to fight in various weight classes. These eating disorders include starvation, anorexia nervosa and even bulimia.
Starvation is the act or instance of starving and is a big aspect of eating disorders. This in English is not eating and attaining the nutrients to sustain a healthy body. This comes in to play with the weight cut because the easiest thing most athletes can think of when cutting weight is if you do not eat you will lose the necessary weight. Usually a weight cut will start with the necessary healthy dieting, Such as eating the required portions staying away from unhealthy foods etcetera. But as competition becomes closer and the athlete is not at their desired weight from lack of knowledge or discipline they will resort to starvation to make weight.
Anorexia nervosa comes into play during and after the weight cut in the athletes life. Reason being is most fighters will cut till they only have about four percent body fat which is a lot less than the healthy limit. Also most fighters will continuously feel fat even though they are way below their minimum guidelines for weight and are indeed very slim. One of the main characteristics of Anorexia nervosa is an intense fear of gaining weight. If you’re a fighter with massive amounts of stress on you to make weight for a fight in front of how ever many thousands of people you can bet top dollar that fighter has fear of gaining one gram of weight.
Bulimia has all the factors anorexia nervosa has plus binge eating, laxative use, and self-induced vomiting. The reason bulimia becomes involved in the weight cut is because some fighters will over use laxatives in an effort to flush there system. Some athletes have reported using laxatives for over ten days when directions for use say discontinue use over three days. On the weeks leading up to a fight a fighter might eat something he shouldn’t have and feel horrible about it. This will lead to depression and self-induce vomiting to purge them self’s of the guilty feeling and potential weight they might gain. As for after their competition many fighters will be depressed because they know they don’t have a competition for a little while and will feel empty. But they realize that once there competition comes near they will have to go back to weight cutting. This can lead to binge eating up until a specific date the fighter chooses. As with binge eating the athlete will feel a loss of control on his eating habits up until the date he chooses or trys to stick to. This leads the athlete into making excuses on why he’s eating what he is eating and trying to justify it by saying I have so many weeks to loose x amount of weight.
To sum up the psychological impact of eating disorders on an athlete who is cutting is enormous and negative. They have to deal with extreme amounts of psychological stressors and physical stressors. The psychological impacts are as follows excessive dieting, guilt about eating, excessive exercise, weighing one’s self may time, and depression.
Dehydration is the most commonly used technique to cut weight. Dehydration in regards to a weight cut is removing as much water as you can without potentially killing yourself, to rid yourself of any unnecessary weight before weigh ins. This technique is accomplished by not drinking water for one to two days while exercising. If the weight requirement is still not met then the athlete will have to do sauna work. Sauna work is when the athletes puts on a couple layers of clothing and sits in a sauna. This doesn’t sound too bad until you realize the athletes been working out for a couple days without water and now has to sit in a 130 degree room well wearing a sauna suit to induce severe sweating. This practice if not done right has many negative psychological aspects. Such as hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, and severe mood swings. The athlete might see a number of hallucinations such as shimmering people or there teammate saying something unusually bizarre to them. Intrusive thoughts include when some athletes use the bathroom they will look at the toilet water and say dam that must be cold and actually debate drinking it. As for sever mood swings some fighters have been known to attack there teammates in the sauna from fear of claustrophobia or too much stress on there already taxed mine. Also people have been known to die from this practice by hypothermia and kidney failure from too much stress on the body. As mentioned earlier this is usually done with a teammate and athletes have been known to lose up 20lbs well doing sauna work. Although not healthy it is practiced that losing about 7lbs in a sauna is ideal. All of these aspects of a weight cut cause exhaustion. This isn’t like being a little tired from lack of a good night sleep. This is you feel so hungry and thirsty that you can’t even bear the thought of being up another minute but you can’t sleep for days leading up to weigh ins. The lack of sleep is caused by pain such as cramps and unbelievably dry mouth, throat and skin. This leads to all sorts of self-deprecation. Also the body feels worn down like your limbs weigh a thousand pounds. Some people have been known to be held up by a teammate during weigh INS well on the scale.
If all goes well and the athlete makes weight he will start his recovery process. If he does not make weight he will either have to give 20% of his purse to his opponent or not be able to fight at all. The recovery is the light at the end of the tunnel. Once you weigh in and make your goal the endorphins go off like you never thought possible. The athletes will usually start off with small bottle caps of pedialyte and water to rehydrate. Well they are rehydrating most athletes will start to consume food but must do this at a slow pace to avoid becoming sick. Most athletes say the weight cut is the hardest part of a fight and feel victorious right after making weight. All the pain they went through physically and mentally almost doesn’t even matter. The athlete will continue to rehydrate and eat until its time for him to perform.
Although weight cutting has many negative side effects not all athletes deal with the psychological aspects above. Some athletes might have to deal with one or a couple of the aspects named above. But mostly the athlete who is going to fight doesn’t want to bring shame upon him or his fight camp by not making weight. You have to remember that if this person is a true mixed martial artist he has the up most respect for his fight team and in essence is going to war with them. The weight cut is a necessary evil now in the fight game because everyone is doing it on average a person who fights in one weight class walks around 20lbs heavier then said weight class.
In conclusion, there isn’t enough research on weight cutting and its psychological effects. So you have to break down all the aspects of the weight cut and find there different psychological effects. Unfortunately I know a lot about these disorders because of being in the fight game and experiencing some of these psychological effects or seeing some of my teammates goes through them.
Modern Jiu-jitsu 4 DVD Set with Caio Terra
Cutting weight was introduced by the sport of wrestling. This formed because people in higher weight classes or in the middle of two weight classes wanted to become the most dominant fighters they could be. So these individuals started using a number of different techniques to lower their body weights to reach these brackets. The techniques they started to use where dieting, various exercise routines, and dehydration. The weight classes or brackets are as follows 125lbs is fly weight, 135lbs is bantam weight, 145lbs is feather weight, 155lbs is light weight, 170lbs is welter weight, 185 is middle weight, 205lbs is light heavy weight, and 225lbs and above is heavy weight. Also there is a weight class or agreement of sorts called a catch weight. This is when two athletes who will face off agree to fight at a certain weight and show up at weigh ins at that weight, So for instance there isn’t a 115lbs weight class, so two 115lbs fighters could set up a catch weight bout. As a result athletes had more and more success with this practice because they were able to overpower there opposition. So as time went on cutting weight became wide spread in combat type sports such as mixed martial arts, jiu jitsu, judo, and sambo respectively.
Eating Disorders are any severe disturbance in ones eating behavior. This could be from extreme over eating or lack thereof. This is a big part of weight cutting because fighters will develop these eating disorders and not even realize it in order to fight in various weight classes. These eating disorders include starvation, anorexia nervosa and even bulimia.
Starvation is the act or instance of starving and is a big aspect of eating disorders. This in English is not eating and attaining the nutrients to sustain a healthy body. This comes in to play with the weight cut because the easiest thing most athletes can think of when cutting weight is if you do not eat you will lose the necessary weight. Usually a weight cut will start with the necessary healthy dieting, Such as eating the required portions staying away from unhealthy foods etcetera. But as competition becomes closer and the athlete is not at their desired weight from lack of knowledge or discipline they will resort to starvation to make weight.
Anorexia nervosa comes into play during and after the weight cut in the athletes life. Reason being is most fighters will cut till they only have about four percent body fat which is a lot less than the healthy limit. Also most fighters will continuously feel fat even though they are way below their minimum guidelines for weight and are indeed very slim. One of the main characteristics of Anorexia nervosa is an intense fear of gaining weight. If you’re a fighter with massive amounts of stress on you to make weight for a fight in front of how ever many thousands of people you can bet top dollar that fighter has fear of gaining one gram of weight.
Bulimia has all the factors anorexia nervosa has plus binge eating, laxative use, and self-induced vomiting. The reason bulimia becomes involved in the weight cut is because some fighters will over use laxatives in an effort to flush there system. Some athletes have reported using laxatives for over ten days when directions for use say discontinue use over three days. On the weeks leading up to a fight a fighter might eat something he shouldn’t have and feel horrible about it. This will lead to depression and self-induce vomiting to purge them self’s of the guilty feeling and potential weight they might gain. As for after their competition many fighters will be depressed because they know they don’t have a competition for a little while and will feel empty. But they realize that once there competition comes near they will have to go back to weight cutting. This can lead to binge eating up until a specific date the fighter chooses. As with binge eating the athlete will feel a loss of control on his eating habits up until the date he chooses or trys to stick to. This leads the athlete into making excuses on why he’s eating what he is eating and trying to justify it by saying I have so many weeks to loose x amount of weight.
To sum up the psychological impact of eating disorders on an athlete who is cutting is enormous and negative. They have to deal with extreme amounts of psychological stressors and physical stressors. The psychological impacts are as follows excessive dieting, guilt about eating, excessive exercise, weighing one’s self may time, and depression.
Dehydration is the most commonly used technique to cut weight. Dehydration in regards to a weight cut is removing as much water as you can without potentially killing yourself, to rid yourself of any unnecessary weight before weigh ins. This technique is accomplished by not drinking water for one to two days while exercising. If the weight requirement is still not met then the athlete will have to do sauna work. Sauna work is when the athletes puts on a couple layers of clothing and sits in a sauna. This doesn’t sound too bad until you realize the athletes been working out for a couple days without water and now has to sit in a 130 degree room well wearing a sauna suit to induce severe sweating. This practice if not done right has many negative psychological aspects. Such as hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, and severe mood swings. The athlete might see a number of hallucinations such as shimmering people or there teammate saying something unusually bizarre to them. Intrusive thoughts include when some athletes use the bathroom they will look at the toilet water and say dam that must be cold and actually debate drinking it. As for sever mood swings some fighters have been known to attack there teammates in the sauna from fear of claustrophobia or too much stress on there already taxed mine. Also people have been known to die from this practice by hypothermia and kidney failure from too much stress on the body. As mentioned earlier this is usually done with a teammate and athletes have been known to lose up 20lbs well doing sauna work. Although not healthy it is practiced that losing about 7lbs in a sauna is ideal. All of these aspects of a weight cut cause exhaustion. This isn’t like being a little tired from lack of a good night sleep. This is you feel so hungry and thirsty that you can’t even bear the thought of being up another minute but you can’t sleep for days leading up to weigh ins. The lack of sleep is caused by pain such as cramps and unbelievably dry mouth, throat and skin. This leads to all sorts of self-deprecation. Also the body feels worn down like your limbs weigh a thousand pounds. Some people have been known to be held up by a teammate during weigh INS well on the scale.
If all goes well and the athlete makes weight he will start his recovery process. If he does not make weight he will either have to give 20% of his purse to his opponent or not be able to fight at all. The recovery is the light at the end of the tunnel. Once you weigh in and make your goal the endorphins go off like you never thought possible. The athletes will usually start off with small bottle caps of pedialyte and water to rehydrate. Well they are rehydrating most athletes will start to consume food but must do this at a slow pace to avoid becoming sick. Most athletes say the weight cut is the hardest part of a fight and feel victorious right after making weight. All the pain they went through physically and mentally almost doesn’t even matter. The athlete will continue to rehydrate and eat until its time for him to perform.
Although weight cutting has many negative side effects not all athletes deal with the psychological aspects above. Some athletes might have to deal with one or a couple of the aspects named above. But mostly the athlete who is going to fight doesn’t want to bring shame upon him or his fight camp by not making weight. You have to remember that if this person is a true mixed martial artist he has the up most respect for his fight team and in essence is going to war with them. The weight cut is a necessary evil now in the fight game because everyone is doing it on average a person who fights in one weight class walks around 20lbs heavier then said weight class.
In conclusion, there isn’t enough research on weight cutting and its psychological effects. So you have to break down all the aspects of the weight cut and find there different psychological effects. Unfortunately I know a lot about these disorders because of being in the fight game and experiencing some of these psychological effects or seeing some of my teammates goes through them.
Modern Jiu-jitsu 4 DVD Set with Caio Terra
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