Top 4 High-Intensity Workouts for MMA Fighters

HIIT-based training is known to be one of the most effective and most famous workouts for toning your body and weight loss. Within this workout pattern, you will see better results in a very limited time, and collectively this workout has proved to be the best. Most people use HIIT-based training to meet their goals, reduce their fat proportion and become closer to their ideal VMI level.

However, what most people don’t know is that HIIT workouts are not just for weight loss and getting toned, it also helps you condition your body, improve strength and increase endurance. Most people with weak stamina start with HIIT-based workouts so they can perform their day-to-day functions better.

 So eventually you will be able to perform your daily activities without getting tired. This is even more important when the work gets intense or if you have physical labour.

Why Strength And Endurance Are Used For MMA?

Similarly, when we think about getting into the ring, we all know it is not a simple task. You are not just judged based on your technique but also based on how long you can survive in the ring. If you are technically strong and you know when to kick someone and how to grapple but you struggle with energy and feel drained within two minutes, there is a high chance that the opponent with better stamina will win the game.

In real-world d, especially in street fights, your technique will play a very small role because most people might not be very good with technology but they are good with stamina. Another important thing to keep in mind is that most people have a struggle where they don’t attack but rather try to exhaust the opponent.

Once the opponent feels drained and tired, then they attack and win. This technique is very common so you need to make sure you know when and where to use your energy.

With the help of this article, we will mainly focus on the simple HIIT-based workout that every MMA fighter must try. This workout will help the fighter train according to the needs of the MMA fight. Since MMA fighting involves much more intense and vigorous use of energy, you have to train accordingly.

4 High-Intensity Workouts for MMA Fighters

High-intensity training is just a simple format or framework that you can use. Within this workout, you will have an intense workout spell followed by resting time. Usually, the ratio of workout and resting is somewhere between 4 ratios 1.

However sometimes people exceed it to 4:20, this change might seem very small, however, in real life, this will impact the progress and you will increase the resting time. To make sure you meet your goal this ratio must be maintained.

Within this workout pattern, you will have three exercises per batch. Each batch will help you target different muscles so you can increase the calorie burnout rate. This workout is very intense so you need to adjust the energy according to your diet as well.

Batch 1

For the first batch, you will start with high lateral hops. Then you will switch to plank jacks and finally jumping lunges. All these workouts will help you focus on your calorie burning as well as lower body strength so you can stay for a long time in the ring. These workouts also help in improving the balance so you can easily dominate your opponent in the ring

Batch 2

For the second batch, you will start with explosive push-ups, then you will get to Turkish get up and finally you will end with Single Leg Ventral Hops. For this workout, you will work on the core strength as well as lower body and shoulder muscles. This will help you know how you can conserve energy easily.

Batch 3

Within the batch, you will start with a ball jack knife crunch that is very good for core strength. Then you will switch to Windshield Wipers which are good for the strength of the limbs and finally, you will end it with Ball Back Extensions. This is a very intense workout but you will be able to work on all the muscles.

 

Batch 4

For batch 4 you will start with leg raise which is good for the strength of your upper body along with the core. Then you have to switch to side leg push up and finally end it with the jump turns. This batch will help you focus on the core strength along with the limbs.

Bottom Line

To sum it all up, HIIT is just a framework. The way you choose the exercises to fit the framework, the time duration you choose, and the goal you set will dictate everything that will make this a success. For an MMA figure, a full-body workout is very important. Although you need to work for at least 10-15 minutes there is no hard and fast rule if you adjust the intensity. Another very important thing is that the effectiveness of the workout is greatly dependent on the way you adjust the energy, intensity, and time. If your workouts don’t help you meet goals you should track the progress and see where you lack. This will eventually be used to optimize and upgrade your workout routine and you will meet your goal.

 

 

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20 Min MMA Workouts to Get In Shape

As a beginner, starting your MMA journey can be quite daunting. This is mainly because you will see that to get in the ring people invest years. They have long training sessions and complex diet plans that help them maintain a good routine and fight in the ring. However, most people are not familiar with that. Just to be in the ring and to start training you have to be in good shape as well. Even if you have been an MMA fighter for a long time and you take a break for a few months, just to start training again you will start with the pre-training sessions. Within this session, you will get to work on the flexibility, and capacity of your lungs, improving the muscle range as well as the functionality of your muscles so you can effortlessly work without feeling the strain. In case you skip this phase, you will find it difficult to move because of the intense throbbing pain that is caused by an intense workout.

How to Start your Training after A Resting Period?

For MMA training, it is very important to start with some basics that can help you get your body in shape. The main issue is that when you take a rest or when you have never workout before, your body muscles have already lost flexibility. Eventually, when you start an intense workout, you will be at high risk of injury. Apart from this, when staying inactive means you will see an increase in the fat content of your body. This increase in fat content means you will not be as agile as you should be. Your BMI will be higher than normal and you will feel like you are struggling when you work out and breathe at the same time. With the help of pre-workout training, you will be able to bring your body to an active stage where your lung capacity will become better, your muscles will be flexible to support your intense training and you will see improvement in your overall workout technique as well.

With the help of this article, we will help you address all the issues that can cause injury or restrain your training capacity. We will also look at some of the basic workouts that will help you get into shape so you can get to the technical training as well.

20 Minutes MMA Workouts to Get In Shape

The workout is divided into four different sessions. Each session consists of just 5 minutes of blasting, intense workouts that will help you work on the whole body and its performance. After each 5-minute session, you can take at least 30 seconds to one minute for rest.

Yoga Warm-Up for Flexibility

To start your training and get into shape, your body must have enough flexibility that it doesn’t just feel strained after you start your intense workout routine. To start it off, you need some dynamic stretching that will then help you improve the flexibility of your muscles so you can without getting injured. The best way to improve flexibility is with yoga. You can start with some basic poses and slowly when you feel you are ready to switch, you can then get to some intense and dynamic poses.

Cardio Warm-Up for Stamina and Endurance

The stamina and endurance-based workout mean you will be able to stay in the ring for long. This also means that you will not get tired and your body will be in shape for an intense workout. This is also used as an indicator of progress. The best workout is to start with cardio. Within cardio, you can start with just 1 minute of extreme running followed by jumping jacks, squats, and touchdowns.

Strength Workout without Weight

Strength starts with the core so if you have a good core you will be able to perform better in the ring. This is where you will use your 5 minutes core strengthening workout. You can start with a plank for one minute and then switch to crunches, scissor kicks, and push-ups and complete it off with side planks.

Punching Practice Fat Burner

For a better technique, you need to start with fat burning so you can get rid of extra fat and get back into the right BMI. For fat burning, you need to start with simple cardio-based shadow boxing then you will switch to an intense speed boxing spell followed by heavy bag punching. This will take just 5 minutes.

Bottom Line

To sum it all up, it all comes down to your current workout stage. If you have never worked out before and you are just a beginner, you need to start with flexibility and then use different workouts to improve your BMI and cut down the fat content in your body. However, if you have been working out before but you took some time to rest, there is a high chance that your body and muscle memory are still good enough to start your intense workout. You can start with some simple cardio and warm-up sessions and finally, you can start your workout routine just like you would. Even with the combat-based workout, you will see different categories of workouts and different intensities that you can easily adjust to the requirement of your body.

 

 

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Is BJJ the same as MMA? What about if you train Thai boxing on the side?

Do you still practice karate? Which out of Jiujitsu, judo and karate is your favourite martial art? What’s the best martial art out there? What’s next for you?

These are the questions I get the most often when people hear that I’ve earned black belts in three different martial arts (karate, judo and Jiujitsu) and I’ve noticed, over the years, that my answers have evolved. 

Courtesy of Mr Iain Abernathy: leader within the field of Practical Karate

Every art I’ve trained to any length* has had an element of exchange, aka partner drills / kumite / randori / rolling / sparring. Granted, some arts focused on that more than others but even the year or so I trained in tai chi chuan, an art made famous by its solo practice, had something called “pushing hands” which necessitated having a partner / opponent.  

Outside the above mentioned (1) exchange of techniques with a partner, martial arts also have exercises that (2) strengthen the body and / or improve your control over it (callisthenics, lifting weights, stretching, coordination drills...etc), (3) solo forms of drilling the techniques (shadow boxing / wrestling, forms aka kata in Japanese arts) and (4) equipment practice (striking / wrestling bags, makiwara, elastic bands, dummies  ...etc) and, again, the extent to which these avenues of exercise are emphasised varied greatly from style to style but also from instructor to instructor. I know for instance that some styles of karate lay a huge emphasis on making the body strong using traditional implements (weighted jars, iron rings, isometric contractions...) while more modern styles emphasise explosive delivery of techniques fostered through the use of elastic rubber bands and plyometrics. Different courses for different horses. 

My two major challenges were always that: 

1. I like all forms of exercise 
2. There are only 24 hours a day and I’m only a part time martial artist. 

Why Learn Jiujitsu?

Why Learn Jiujitsu indeed? 

I started practicing martial arts back in the mid-90s. I started with, believe it or not, Kung Fu which was taught by a man who came to our high-school and taught us every Wednesday after school.d I felt invincible. I learnt very little of combative use, but even then I recognised that what I was learning was healthy and logical. Putting a lot of emphasis on body weight distribution and correct alignment gave me a great frame of learning which I then used to deconstruct and learn many martial arts over the years. Soon after leaving high-school and joining university I started WTF - Taekwondo and soon thereafter I fell in love with Karate and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Fast forward to today, many lessons, belts, seminars and competitions later, I am just as in love with the martial arts as I was back then. In fact, I'd say that love affair has now blossomed into an incurable infatuation. I no longer see problems and differences between the styles of martial arts. I only see similarities and opportunities for growth.

With that in mind I thought I'd share a few reasons here why I feel my main art, Gracie Jiujitsu, would form the perfect compliment to any other martial art, be it my first loves of Kung Fu, Taekwondo or indeed Okinawan and Japanese Karate or my more recent focus on Kodokan Judo. I hope it encourages you to venture outside the confines of your own limitations and try jiujitsu or, indeed if you are already a jiujitsu practitioner, try another one of the above mentioned arts to compliment your jiujitsu practice,

12 reasons why Jiujitsu is the perfect compliment to any martial art

BJJ / NoGi grappling seminarium hos Berserk MMA- Stockholm, Sweden

Jiujitsu / grappling resan fortsätter. Nästa destination: Stockholm, Sverige hos Berserk MMA.

Min resa till Stockholm var mycket lättare och enklare än till Sicilien på många sätt:

• Jag flög vid 9
• Jag flög från London Gatwick som är båda enklare och billigare att komma till och ifrån
• Jag skulle bara stanna i ett dygn
• Målflygplatsen (i detta fall, Arlanda) är endast 45minuter ifrån Stockholm city med flygbuss
• Flygbussarna går var tionde minut, har AC och t.o.m. Wifi!
• Seminariet jag skulle hålla i var nogi, så jag behövde knappt packa med något
• Ingen vidare språkbarriär som i Italien

Sagt och gjort, dagen efter att jag landade från Sicilien befann jag mig i Stockholm och, tack vare världens snällaste och trevligaste polisgubbe, gick genom passkontroll på mindre än hälften av tiden jag hade avsett till det så jag gick lite runt i Stockholm och fyllde mina lungor med den friska nordiska luften. 

Kron Rickson Gracie MMA FIGHT Hideo Tokoro

Rizin FF have started booking matches for their next event (late September 2016)- Rizin Fighting World Grand-Prix 2016. The first advertised (and largest draw) fight is one involving Kron Gracie (2-0) and Hideo Tokoro (33-28)

BJJ / MMA / Grappling Interview: Marcos "Parrumpa" da Matta

This jiujitsu interview with 4th degree Carlson Gracie black belt famous MMA coach Mr Marcos ‘Parrumpa’ da Matta during his recent visit to his affiliate Union BJJ in Manchester.

Parrumpa, first of all, thank you for today's seminar and for this interview. Let's first start with your opinion on the Gi vs nogi debate. You have had huge success both as an athlete and a coach in BJJ, nogi grappling and MMA. Where do you stand on the gi vs nogi debate?

The pleasure is mine. Firstly, I want to clarify something. It has now been proven that if you have to chose one singular martial art in a art vs art fight, there is only one winner and that is Brazilian jiujitsu. This is now been proven! And to really understand what is going on when you are grappling, especially on the ground, you need to learn with the gi. 

Yes you can learn good grappling with out the gi, but that is not BJJ. You need to learn with the gi. You could be preparing for a tournament or for a fight (MMA) and my answer is the same: to learn proper technique and all the essential details you need to learn with the gi.

Now, the percentage split of gi vs nogi will depend. At my gym, West Palm Beach ATT, we train gi every session, except for one nogi session per week. 

As for Pro fighters like Cole miller, while I appreciate that they need to work without the gi, they still do three gi sessions per week all the way throughout fight camp until the last three weeks then only nogi.I really believe that this makes him more technical in his jiujitsu.

Thanks for that. What is your opinion on the recent attention given to points tournaments (e.g. IBJJF) vs sub only tournaments (e.g. Metamoris)

The way I was taught jiujitsu and the way I teach it, everyone needs to fight to submit. To finish. But running a large sub-only style tournament isn't reality. When you are renting a sports hall there are time constraints so it's not doable. 

Like the old UFC with no time limits, we can't have that nowadays so we need rules and rounds. This made MMA more dynamic for spectator. This is the same for jiujitsu. If you run a large sub-only no time limits tournament, no TV will pick it up. 

I like the IBJJF rules, including advantages. If fight is 2-2 or 90-90 you need a winner at the end, but I don't like stallers. No one does, but you need the rules, points and advantages. I don't like double pull or fifty fifty guard because I feel they lead more to stalling and they lead us away from finishing in jiujitsu.

You travel a lot. What advice would you like to share about diet and recovery?

It's a real shame that we get old but we do (laughs). 10 years ago I used to get hurt and a week later I'm fine. Now a month at least! 

I tell you what, I've never ever had alcohol. Initially, I just didn't want to and then jiujitsu came and I knew it wouldn't be helpful to my training. The same with drugs. I never did any so that helps a lot too. 

I try to eat clean but this is now my 12th day in and out of airports and hotels so it's harder to maintain but here are some recommendations:

• You have to eat every three hours regardless of whether you are trying to manage your weight up or down. You need the calories. 
• Eat as clean as possible, preferably organic food stuffs. 
• When I travel, airport / airplane food can be a nightmare. I stick to a chicken salad and ask for any sauce / dressing on the side if possible.
• Avoid white bread and stick to wholewheat.
• Avoid drinking soda and stick to water instead. Stay away from sugary treats like ice-cream.

Do you want to know the real secret? Support! Support from my family: my wife is a jiujitsu black belt. My children train. I can't see myself being with someone who doesn't support jiujitsu. It's my whole life. I work 30-35 hours per week and on weekends I'm on the road for various projects. Without my family's support, there's no way I could do what I do.

What is your opinion on the breakdown between time spent sparring and drilling in a session?

That depends on the length and type of the lesson:

The fundamentals class is a 1 hour lesson: We spend 10 minutes on the warm-up, 40 minutes on drilling fundamentals and 10 minutes rolling (2 x 5 min rounds)

Before a competition we change things up a little.

As for the Advanced class, it's 90 minute class: We spend 10 minutes on the warm-up, 50 minutes on drilling and 30 minutes rolling (6 x 5 min rounds). If preparing for a tournament we stick in an additional 30 minute of rolling at the end.

You are a 4th degree black belt under the late grandmaster Carlson Gracie. What is one of your favourite memories from Carlson?

One? You want me to choose one? I can't just choose one! (laughs) OK, I will try.

I was once chose to do a super fight against someone who for me is one of the best jiujitsu fighters ever: Leo Vieira. We fought for 20 minutes which I won, but that's not the interesting part. 

On the way to the mat from locker room, Carlson stopped me and said "Don't lose it. Now go!"

This made me really nervous! Why did he say that? I knew I stepped in as the underdog but did he doubt me? Did he believe in me?

Just before I was ready to step I see him Carlson answered those worries for me. Looking to Jacare, ounder of Alliance and coach of Leo Vieira at the time, Carlson said: "Jacare you wanna make a bet? I give you 5 points - 0 and Parrumpa will still win!"

This really warmed my heart. He really believed in me and, to be fair, in all his students. I won 10-0. Carlson kissed me and said "I never thought you'd disappoint me.".

Wow what a fantastic story to end on. Many thanks for your time Parrumpa and I hope to learn from you again very soon.

Thank you and I'd like to extend the invitation to all your readers: If you are in Florida, please come and pay us a visit at West Palm Beach ATT.

Kron Gracie MMA Debut: Breakdown Analysis

Jiujitsu and grappling phenom Kron Gracie, son of the founder of the Jiujitsu Global Federation, the legendary Rickson Gracie and grandson of the co-founder of Gracie Jiujitsu grand-master Helio Gracie, recently fought his MMA debut against Kim Hyung Su of Korea in the Japanese promotion "Real Fight Championships". You can watch the fight below:



Here's my breakdown of the fight as I saw it:

BJJ / Grappling / MMA DVD review: UFC coach Nathan Leverton Super Grappling Seminar - The Turtle

Nathan Leverton is a great grappling and MMA coach with several fighters from his team, Leicester Shootfighters representing on a scale of MMA shows from local events to the UFC.

I was recently contacted by Nathan to review his latest product:  A DVD instructional on the turtle position, which is a huge part of grappling, jiujitsu and MMA so I was more than happy to oblige. As I am very busy with school at the moment, I told Nate it'd go in the queue and I finally got an hour or two free so here it goes.

You can download Nathan's Turtle Top MMA curriculum here.

Here is a great example of Nathan's MMA / grappling coaching skills: Here he is teaching the Front Headlock - 3/4 Nelson - Darce Choke chain.

BJJ Interview with Carlson Gracie black belt and world BJJ champion Leo Negao

World Champion Leo Negao teaching in London

Carlson Gracie Team produced many great champions in both BJJ, Grappling and MMA. Here's an interview of such a great champ: Mr Leo Negao who spent many years helping build the jiujitsu and MMA scene in my country Sweden and is now based in London.

)

I'd like to thank Henry from Gym Talk for sending me the link to the interview and for the kind words.

You can find more info on Leo on his website.

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MMA: Alex Gustafsson fights Jimi Manuwa at this weekend's UFC event in London. Promotional videos by UniBet

This UFC in London will see my homeboy Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson fight it out with homegrown UK fighter Jimi "Poster Boy" Manuwa.

I'm not a huge fan of MMA, but Alexander is Alexander and he's wearing my country's flag (albeit on his bum in BadBoy Vale Tudo shorts!)

Check out these two promotional videos by UniBet. The first one features a chat with Alexander about his diet and preparation for the UFC fight.

Is Gracie / Brazilian Jiu Jitsu good for Self Defence or Is It Just a Sport?

Gracie Jiu Jitsu, self-defence, MMA and the competitive aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitus (BJJ) all build on the same fundamentals, or at least in my mind they should do. But together these disciplines have hundreds if not thousands of techniques and details, so where should I focus my limited training time?

Well, you should follow your bliss as it’s up to you, but to me the answer is obvious: Focus on the universal delivery system which is acquired thru keeping your training strike-safe and punch-proof.

One of my favourite martial arts books is one called “Mastering Judo” by the awesome Takahashi Family:

The book has great technical sections on how to train, grip, do combinations and counters, weight cut, plan your competitive strategies in a judo match / tournament…etc. but it starts with 35 pages on the evolution of judo over the years, its traditional values and etiquette and its focus and attitude. A brilliant judo book. On page 8 is a very simple yet powerful diagram describing the evolution of judo as a sport:

BJJ and the Cycle of Action

You didn't think Helio rolled competitively every day did you?

BJJ works, but that of course goes both ways.

When I’m rolling competitively I'm always initiating attacks. Always. It might feel like I'm just laying on you in side mount or just holding your head in my guard but believe me I'm actively working to kill your arms in the former and rocking your balance (kuzushi) in the latter to initiate a flower sweep or a back take. At the very least, I'm working to create a posture deficit to my advantage. This is something I've worked hard to develop over the past few years. To me, this is one of the strongest links between BJJ and MMA*.

But as I said above, this goes both ways. The other person is doing the same thing. They are constantly defending and negating my actions, trying to set up their own. This places the following three sets of demands on you:

Mental: As Saulo says in this clip, the only thing that differentiates us on the mat is the heart, and for this style of BJJ you need a huge heart. It's not easy. You're constantly working. Constantly flowing. Constantly in the moment.

Technical: You need to know your techniques inside and out. If your takedowns are getting stuffed and your passes ending with you getting swept then you will eventually stop doing them or at least hesitate to initiate them. Your momentum will be turned against you and you will start freezing.

Physical: I put this last because even though I acknowledge that BJJ, MMA or any combat sport places physical demands on you (strength, cardio, balance...etc.) these can never overshadow technical knowledge and having a big heart.

Start today. Grab a piece of paper and write down three attacks from each position you know and work out how to link them. The next time you roll competitively**, start from one of those positions and just machine-gun those 3 attacks in succession at your partner and watch your progress rocket***! Speed is not essential. Technical knowledge, heart and flow are.

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*Martyn, our coach at the LABS - FIGHTING FIT MANCHESTER, has always kept the MMA mindset with us. He couldn't care less if we ever compete (whether in gi-jiu jitsu, submission wrestling or MMA) or if we are just training for fun or self-defence. To him, you always keep to the positional strategy and hierarchy of BJJ.
**I don’t roll competitively often at all. I do it every week or two just to stay sharp and more nearer *the rare) competitions.

***Roy Harris wrote a classic article on Progress in Jiu Jitsu and the different belts.


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MMA / Grappling Interview - Nathan Leverton - Leicester Shootfighters Team Part 2

I recently had the pleasure of chatting to Mr Nathan Leverton of the Leicester Shootfighters fame. Nathan is a warrior and a gentleman and in this multipart interview you will gain some insight into his philosophy, training ethos and tips for part time grapplers. For Part I of this interview please go here.

- Give us your top 5 tips for time-management (to fit exercise around life)

I'm one of the least time efficient people you'll ever meet, my wife calls me "Last Minute Leverton" lol. I have learnt a few things over the years that have helped me and those close to me though...

1. Have a short to do list, only the one to three most important things, don't list everything you can think of as you'll get overwhelmed or do the unimportant stuff first.

2. Deciding what you'll not do is as important as what you will do. Identify the one or two non-essential things you'll lose the most time doing and pick that as a thing not to do that day.

3. Good is good enough. Been the hardest one to learn for me. Tinkering away with something forever has you going around in circles and losing perspective, it will never be exactly the way you want it so let it go. Keeping things to yourself is not being a perfectionist, feedback is part of the process of growth, get it as good as you can by a deadline and put it out there. You'll learn more and quicker from feedback than keeping it to yourself anyway.

4. The opposite of a lot of self-help books, say "No" more. But do it for the right reasons. Don't say it because you find something scary or challenging, but do if saying yes will get you stuck in a role or position or give you responsibilities that aren't yours and is simply someone else using you to save them time or effort (no matter how they try to disguise it).

5. Get things done earlier in the day. The later in day you schedule to do something the more time there is for problems to stack up and get in the way of it.

MMA / Grappling Interview - Nathan Leverton - Leicester Shootfighters Team

I recently had the pleasure of chatting to Mr Nathan Leverton of the Leicester Shootfighters fame. Nathan is a warrior and a gentleman and in this multipart interview you will gain some insight into his philosophy, training ethos and tips for part time grapplers.

 

- Hello. Why don’t we start by you telling us a little about yourself?

Hi, thanks for having me.

My name is Nathan Leverton, I'm head coach of the Leicester Shootfighters team and founder of Leverage Submission Grappling which is the system we teach at our academy.

I started my martial arts journey in Karate around 1985 but now teach the elements of MMA, with a focus on the grappling aspect.


- Are you currently working? Is that Full time / Part time?

I'm very fortunate to say that martial arts is my job. I teach classes, privates and seminars for a living.


- You also set aside time to practice a sport. Which sport(s)?

Only sport I'm involved in is MMA and it's component arts and that is primarily coaching. When I'm able to I train the no-gi grappling arts for myself.


- How long have you done that?

I first got interested in grappling when I saw UFC 1 in 1995. Being from a striking background I didn't really understand what was going on when they rolled around on the floor but closely followed the rise of what was then called NHB (No Holds Barred) or "Vale Tudo" but is now widely known as MMA.

In the late 90s I met and became friends with Geoff Thompson, one of the UK's most influential martial artists whose students competed in this countries earliest MMA events, which is where I got my first hands on experience of grappling. At the same time I became involved with the start of Submission Fighting UK (SFUK), the UKs first Mixed Martial Arts website, so have been around grappling and MMA for about 15 years now.

- Have you competed much?

No. I did a couple of grappling tournaments about 10 years a go. I was never really interested in competition and have had chronic health problems since my teens so have never been athletic or able to train as much as I'd like. Last year I was in Paris with some of our competitors for the NAGA Europeans so did throw my hat in to the ring so to speak, seeing as I was there anyway.
 

- Do you feel that you have to compete to get a black belt in combat sports / martial arts?

Different arts, schools and instructors have sometimes contrasting reasons for giving a black belt in their respective arts. How much competition plays in to that entirely depends on who is giving the grade and why. Some may be simply for fighting prowess but others may value different achievements higher. Each can have their own opinion but who are they really to say what others should do. For example, is a blackbelt given for tapping people out in a strictly defined competition arena more worthy as one given to someone who could not do the same but has made the maximum technical growth possible within their physical capabilities against great obstacles and helped others to do the same?

As long as people aren't being deceived or deluded when it comes to their ability to defend themselves and those close to them, each to their own.

- Do you follow any special diet? Do you use any dietary supplements?

I try to stick to a paleo/primal style of eating as much as possible. Basically, I eat plants and animals but avoid dairy, grains, cereals, refined sugar and foods that are highly processed or laced with chemicals.

As for supplements, I've tried quite a lot but now only consistently take fish oils and vitamin D. Occasional ones I use as needed include multi-vitamins, protein powder, l-glutamine and ZMA.

In the past I've found N-Acetyl L-Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid cleared the mental fog which has led me to become interested in nootropics (or "smart drugs"). Been researching it for a while and looking in to trying some different products this year.

I also try to fast, I do a 24 hour food fast once a month.

- How do you manage to fit your training around work, study and family time?

Well, with martial arts being my job I try to squeeze bits of training in here and there while at work and of course I'm always learning when teaching.

Family and social life is a little more difficult as I'm free when they are at work and vice versa, haven't quite got that one figured out yet.

- What is the greatest thrill you have gotten out of practicing your sport?

I've gotten so much out of martial arts I don't know where to start. It's brought me close friends, taught me about myself, given me the opportunity to help others and taken me to parts of the world I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise.

I spent several years working with a small group of pro fighters from my classes and the surrounding area, collectively known as Team Rough House. I coached them for around 50 fights which led to some pretty amazing experiences such as cornering at UFCs in front of 20,000 people and traveling to many countries including America, Germany, Abu Dhabi and Poland.

However, the greatest thrill is the journey martial arts has taken me on, excited to see where it takes me next.

  Part two coming soon :)

ps. All pics except the Rough House one are courtesy of my wife Gen Leverton at http://photobygen.com

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ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters