10.20.06

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Click here to Ask Joe about training. If you send a question, it may appear on the website. Please do not submit a question if you do not want the question published. Only your first name will be used for privacy reasons.
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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.

Damn DeFranco Bars!

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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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