More than likely I will focus on my workouts, fitness, MMA, food, and things like that. Oh and I’m sure I’ll also ramble on about relationships and Web stuff too. I’ll make my self post about my workout later tonight. Now I have to or I’ll look like more of a jerk than I already am. Ha.

Elite Combat Fitness

The segment on Inside MMA on the last Title Fight Championship event in Des Moines. My kid was stoked to see himself at the very end behind Brian Green, even though it was only for a millisecond.

I rarely ever do the same workouts twice. Since my workout space is limited, I have couple rooms in my basement that I workout in. I have my heavybag and 50lb barbell set up in the laundry room and in the other room I have 2 30lbs dumbbells, a 30lb barbell, kettlebell, stability ball and some tension bands. Weather permitting I go out side for some wind sprints up and down the block, jump rope in the driveway, overhead squats, or use the pull up tower. Three times a week I try to get some training in with the Grinnell College MMA club.

Here is just an example of a typical workout for me:

• Warm up with some jogging in place, jumping jacks or jump rope
• Bodyweight squats (hindu squats) 30-40 reps
• Pushups 30-40
• Sit up cluster: 100 alternating knees to elbows, 50 bicycles, 50 crunches
• Hindu pushups 25-30
• More hindu squats, as many as I can at this point
• Stability ball pushups 20 or so
• Upright rows 30lb barbell 20reps
• Alternating 30lb dumbbell curls to over head press 15-20 each arm
• Upright rows 30lb barbell 15reps
• Alternating 30lb dumbbell curls to over head press 10-15 each arm
• Upright rows 30lb barbell 10reps
• Alternating 30lb dumbbell curls to over head press 8-10 each arm
• Over head press with 30lb barbell 20reps, then 15, then 10
• Sit up cluster
• Side arm raises with the tension band, 20reps x 3
• Over head squats with small heavy bag (about 30lb I think) 20reps, 15, 10
• One arm snatch with kettlebell 10reps each arm x 3

I don’t like to take too much rest between sets or exercises, maybe 30 to 60 seconds. I will take more if I think I need it, but I like to keep moving. I also don’t do all of those each time, but I try to do most of those exercises. I only do that work out a couple times a week. The other days I’ll do either 30 min of Muay Thai on the heavy bag, Randy Couture’s, grappler’s set using the 50lb barbell, or I’m training with the Grinnell MMA club.

Most of those exercises are taken from Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning book. Some are from other books or web sites such as Crossfit.com or even just from watching pro fighters train. The workouts I do work for me and I have lost almost 20 lbs in the past year, I’m about 185lb now, and I feel great. Another thing is that I have made some big changes in my diet. I have drastically cut out gluten foods, dairy, and sugar. I still sometimes cheat and have pizza or a cookie, but for the most part I eat lots of salads, lean meats, fish, fruit and vegetables.

(photo by Zink Photography)

I’ve been watching this season of The Ultimate Fighter, just like I’ve watched all the others before. But I’m not near as excited to watch like I was. I don’t now why really. Could I be getting burnt out on the whole UFC thing. I mean it used to be that it was only a couple times a year the we could watch the UFC, sure we had King Of The Cage and PrideFC, my personal favorite, but they were few and far between too. It was also hard to find them on PPV, not every cable provider had them. So you had to rely on buddies with video tapes or real slow internet downloads of highlights. This was back before torrents and high speed internet became so common. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that MMA is taking off and I’m glad to see fighters getting paid. Maybe it’s because I am also doing more with the local fight scene here in Des Moines and I get to be a cage-side judge for Midwest Cage Championships. Maybe it’s because season 5 is a bunch of little youngsters with crooked hats. I do like a couple of the fighters though, which have also been the ones that made it to the next round of fights. I’ll write more about later. Right now I need to help with the database upgrade on the work servers.