Kimbo Doin' Work

Outside of the unexpected lack of killer instinct by both heavy handed heavyweights, one very obvious disappointment that Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander displayed was their lack of cardio and conditioning.

Now, I’m not one to sit back and just analyze and criticize fighters all day from the comfort of my couch.

Although I’m far from a professional fighter, I train in MMA on the regular and can truly understand the type of hard work most fans simply cannot even begin to appreciate that fighters put themselves through.

With that being said, there was no denying that the internet born celebrity and “The Assassin” had a lot of room for improvement in the cardio and conditioning category.

Whether it was due to Kimbo’s first time cutting weight or the fact that both fighters simply didn’t put in the hard work and consistent effort to reach a satisfactory level of conditioning, nobody really knows for sure.

The fact is that there must be a change in any fighters conditioning program if they are too tired to throw clean punches by the second round.

With all due respect to both fighters, I was a little shocked at how exhausted they both were by the end of the match, especially when there was so little action.

We never see a 40+ year old Randy Couture resting his hands on his knees at the first sound of the bell, and he’s been in plenty of FIVE round fights with a lot more action then the fight between Kimbo and “The Assassin.”

What We Can Learn From This

If you’ve ever seen Houston Alexander’s “Train Like a UFC Fighter” series of videos, you’d think his conditioning would be superb.

Also, based on Kimbo’s previous experience in the cage and even in one of his home video’s where he loses, you would think he would learn his lesson in the importance of cardio and conditioning.

But there is more to just “training hard” that may be one key element both (and many more fighters) may be missing out on: they are not training their conditioning specific enough for a real mma fight.

MMA Strength and Conditioning is MUCH More Complex than People Seem to Think

If you have the conditioning of a boxer, you don’t necessarily have the conditioning of a grappler, and visa versa.

If you have the conditioning of long distance runner, you don’t necessarily have the conditioning of a sprinter. Even further, if you are used to running in 85 degree weather on the track, you don’t necessarily have the same conditioning as required to run in 50 degree weather on the beach.

There are a LOT of other factors in the cage that many mma fighters don’t take into account in their training.

Things like weight cutting, the anxiety of fighting in front of the big screen that naturally speeds up your heart rate, taking REAL blows to the head and body, to name a few.

Fighters who are smart will take many of these things into their account in their mma conditioning workouts.

It is not enough to just run, throw tires around, do 100 push-ups, and spar sporadically or arbitrarily.

There has to be a METHOD to the MADNESS.

So how can you make sure your mma conditioning workouts have specific and measurable results so that you don’t end up sucking wind halfway through the first round?

Your best bet is to follow an already proven program that is designed specifically for mma fighters.

Following a workout from a  body building or fitness magazine is the worst thing you can do.

In most cases, if a conditioning program is NOT geared towards mma fighters it will actually be counter-productive.

For reviews of some good (and some not so good to be aware of) mma strength and conditioning programs specific for mixed martial artists on the web today, be sure to check out www.BestMMATrainingWorkouts.com

I’ll just be honest right now and suggest my number one recommendation that I currently suggest to all mma fighters in the making: Eric Wong’s

Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Guide.

Eric has trained many professional fighters, including current APEX champion welter weight champ and veteran UFC fighter Jeff Joslin, so he knows his stuff.

You can find out more details here:

Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Guide

Hope this helps fellas, I’ll talk to you soon.

Derek Manuel
MMA Workouts