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Q: Joe,
I have a question regarding my program. Basically
I’m not sure if I’m doing the right things.
I mean I feel pretty good and I think I’m getting
stronger but one of my friends who has a personal trainer
tells me that he’s on a better program than me.
So I guess my question is how do I know if I’m
doing the right things in the weight room? I’m
willing to work my tail off and do whatever it takes
but I guess I need some guidance to ensure that I’m
not wasting my time in the gym. I play hockey by the
way.
Jay
Buffalo, NY
A: Jay,
First of all, you never told me what your program consists
of! But that’s O.K.; I can give you some general
advice regarding program design.
I feel that every strength program must have “INDICATOR” exercises. (This
is something that Dave Tate talked about in detail at
the seminar that we did together in May.)
Your “indicator” exercises are basically your “money” exercises;
they are going to tell you whether or not your program
is working. There are no rules to what your “indicator” exercises
should be; I just recommend choosing 3-5 exercises that
you feel are the most important exercises in your program
for determining your progress.
In our program, we have 4 “indicator” exercises
(generally speaking). We have 2 upper body exercises
and 2 lower body exercises. Our “indicator” exercises
are:
#1 - Box Squat
#2 - Vertical Jump
#3 - Bench Press
#4 - Chin-ups (weighted or max reps)
Generally speaking, all of the other exercises
that we perform in our program are meant to “build” our
4 indicator exercises. If we can simultaneously improve
these 4 exercises, we know that we are developing many
different aspects of strength which translates better to
the athletic field. What I mean by this is that the box
squat and bench press require absolute strength for
the lower & upper body, respectively; the vertical
jump requires an athlete to display his/her strength rapidly (explosive
power), and we have also found vertical jump height
to correlate with an athlete’s sprinting speed; and
the chin-up test requires tremendous relative body
strength which we have also found to highly correlate
with an athlete’s sprinting speed. So if we
can improve our 4 indicator exercises, we know that our
athlete’s are developing “balanced” strength & power.
On the other hand, if an athlete’s bench press and
box squat got stronger, but their vertical jump & chin-up
performance decreased, we know that we have to alter the
program and also re-evaluate the athlete’s nutritional
habits, etc. This is because if an athlete only increases
their absolute strength, without improving their relative
strength or explosive power, he/she may become slower & less
agile. This is why we place a huge emphasis on improving
ALL 4 of our “indicator” exercises.
So to summarize…if
you determine what your indicator exercises are, you will
be better able to design a productive program for yourself.
Every couple of weeks (or months), test yourself in your
indicator exercises; if they improve, NO ONE can tell you
that your program sucks! If your indicator exercises do
not improve, you will know that you have to make changes
to your exercise selection, training volume, diet, or any
other training variables that may be affecting your progress.
By having indicator exercises, you will constantly be able
to monitor your progress and make adjustments along the
way. This will DRAMATICALLY improve your results, as well
as your training knowledge and your ability to think and
design a program that best suits YOUR needs!
Joe D.
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Q: Joe what up, I finally got my Defranco bars
and my t-shirt. The shirt
is great, but the bars were better. I
knew the bars were going to
taste good but i was curious about how I would
feel in the gym. So I
ate the bar and headed over to the gym. I got
on the bike for a little
warm -up and i started freaking out. I
had to get off the bike and
immediately hit the weights. I felt
great and I had a killer workout! I
finished my workout by throwing a 45 lb. plate
through the window and then I just walked out of the
gym. Those Defranco bars kick ass. Great job,
i will be ordering some more very soon.
Justin Riemer
A: Justin,
I don’t know whether to be flattered or very concerned
by your actions. I guess I’m glad that you, umm, “responded” well
to the bar. Keep up the intensity and thanks for the support!
Disclaimer: DeFranco’s Training Systems, LLC, its subsidiaries, its officers, directors, owners and/or employees do NOT condone throwing 45-pound weights through the windows of any health club or gym.
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Q: Coach D – first off, keep kickin’ ass, your website
is top notch and your athletes motivate the hell out of me. Anyway last
year I started MMA training and I love it. I was a high school wrestler
(state champ) and I’ve been focusing on my jiu-jitsu and striking
for the past year. My question to you is how important of a role do
you feel that strength plays in the fight game? I’m asking becuz
in high school I was known for overpowering my opponents but now I haven’t
spent the same amount of time with the weights because my body is always
exhausted after my boxing and jiu-jitsu workouts. I’m torn between
whether I should focus on my weakness or make my strength even stronger.
Any wisdom you could share with me would be greatly appreciated. My
goal is to fight in the UFC someday. (I’m 22 years old, btw).
Steven C.
A: Steven,
In the world of mixed martial arts, TECHNIQUE definitely
reins supreme; especially this day and age where it seems like every
guy is so well-versed in so many different disciplines of the martial
arts.
It is great that you have a wrestling background, but since
you have only been working your jiu-jitsu & boxing for one year, I
HIGHLY recommend that you make them your focus for now. I understand that
if your strength was your “strength” during your high school
wrestling years, you don’t want to completely abandon what enabled
you to become a state champ. With that being said, I would recommend that
you still strength-train, but make sure your strength workouts do NOT
take away from your MMA workouts. In other words, revolve your strength
training around your MMA workouts – NOT the other way around. If
your strength workouts ever take away from your MMA progress, you’re
doing too much strength work. At this point in your career, your goal
should be to focus on developing your MMA skills while maintaining your
strength and using your strength workouts to help in injury prevention.
Now, with all of the above being said, I am still a huge advocate of strength when all other factors are equal. To prove my point we need not look any further than last week’s UFC 64. In the title bout between Sean Sherk & Kenny Florian, it was evident that strength played a HUGE role in determining the winner.
Sean Sherk |
Kenny Florian |
Check out the differences in physiques that these two athletes display. Both Sean Sherk & Kenny Florian fight in the same weight class, they both possess incredible technical skill & conditioning, and they are both absolute warriors with hearts of a lion. But if you witnessed this fight, you noticed that the one major difference that set these 2 athletes apart was their strength. Sean Sherk was able to control Kenny Florian for 5 rounds mainly due to his superior strength.
So to answer your question…Is strength important? My answer would
be, “Yes.” But is it the most important factor in MMA? My
answer would be, “Absolutely not!”
But, once you develop incredible technical skill, your
strength may become the deciding factor if all other factors are equal.
This is the beauty of mixed martial arts…it’s usually the
most well-rounded athlete that wins.
Best of luck in your quest to fight in the UFC.
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
Last week you mentioned something about a new
DVD you were coming out with. Can you give some more
specific info on this project as well as when we can
expect it to be for sale?
Eric
A: Eric,
Look for “Super-Strength – The ultimate guide
to develop strong & explosive athletes” to be
available on this website in about 3 weeks.
This video will reveal how we organize max-effort, dynamic-effort & repeated-effort
methods in the training of our athletes. Basically, this DVD is going
to bring the “Westside for Skinny Bastards” article to life!
The thing that makes this DVD unique is that all of the exercise clips
were taken during actual workouts of our athletes. I haven’t seen
too many other videos that do this. Most videos have trainers or athletes “demonstrating” exercises;
this is much different than seeing how things really go down during real
workouts. This DVD definitely bridges the gap between science & real-world
training. The DVD will also come with a pamphlet that contains 7 actual
workouts from 7 different athletes in our program (high school, college & professional
workouts are included). This pamphlet will help tie all of the information
in the DVD together. This DVD is definitely a “must-have” in
your training library as I feel that anyone will be able to use it as
a resource for years to come!
Stay tuned…
Joe D.
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