Sand Bag Training with the Long Bag

Sand Bags are one of our favorite training tools for combat sport athletes, especially our grapplers. Below is an interesting video of The Long Bag, once again in Beijing.

Likes:

O Static and dynamic grip action.

O Slight rotational components.

O Explosive hip and knee extension.

O Multi-planar movements.

O Hyper-gravity training stimulus

O Low Price tag - a simple bag filled with some sand or rice.



Dislikes:

O Spinal mechanics- too much flexion and torsion. I know those actions take place in combat sports and are strongly involved with grappling arts, and that some drills should place your body slightly outside of it's intended range in order to build a safety valve. It's the repeated training of those actions on top of their sports skills that could quickly lead to injury.

Combat Sports Conditioning - On A Budget

He's solid video proof that if you have the desire to train nothing can stop you. This is some solid and legit sport specific combat sports training in Beijing. It's so sad when I hear Americans complain that they can't make it to the gym to train or that they don't have the money.

You don't need so-called state-of-the-art training facilities to get an effective training session, all you need is the desire to train, some creativity and heart.

Band and Medicine Ball Drills for Grappling Combat Sports

My introduction to this band drill for grappling combat sports came from Rhadi Ferguson. I'm not sure if Rhadi took it from this gentleman but I'm glad he passed it on.




If you'd like to take this drill one step further please check out the second video below. In my opinion, this Drop Seio Nage drill performed with a Tornado Ball has even more carry over into the actual throw.

If you'd like to learn more about Combat Sports Conditioning please click here !

To check out some sample articles please click here: Combat Sports Conditioning Articles

The Red Devils in Action

An article exist where Fedor states that he does not train with kettlebells. I think he's just being secretive.

In the below above please check out these times:

1:20 Kettlebells and Dumbbells under a tree

1:38 Fedor next to some ketelebells doing a back exercise

3:30 Fedor doing sit-ups next to a kettlebell

3:48 Kettlebell under the Swing Set

I guess it's a possibility that Fedor just likes to exercise and pose next to kettlebells ?, but it seems logical enough that if his team is training with kettlebells then Fedor is also.

Kettlebells and Red Devils

The Red Devil Sport Club is a mixed martial arts academy in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The team’s main fighter base is comprised of Russian and Eastern European sambo fighters who have adapted their style to MMA, and they regularly compete in full contact sambo tournaments.

The team’s most notable fighters are the brothers Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko. It appears that they're fan of kettlebell training from the photos above.

Kettlebell Training for Combat Sports Part 2

This video is of Vadim Kolganov - Master of Sport in Sambo. Vadim appears to pick his drills from a large library of kettlebell training exercises, he then applies those drills to meet his sports specific needs. Notice he doesn't mimic and actual sport skills, he simply works to build that attributes that are needed for his chosen combat sport.

If you'd like to learn more about Kettlebell Training for Combat Sports Click Here !

Kettlebell Training for Combat Athletes

I really love this video. It just goes to show the variety and broad applications that kettlebell training offers combat athletes.

Of course, there is always the debate that you should focus your efforts on a few select and very effective kettlebell training exercises such as Long -Cycle Clean & Jerks, one - arm Snatches and perhaps Kettlebell Turkish Get-ups. The theory is to go deeper into your conditioning and not wider by adding silly sport specific exercises to the mix. Get in better condition through kettlebell training and get better at your sport by spending more time in that sport, actually working on the skills needed to excel.I tend to agree with the former. However, different coaches and athletes don't always share the same experiences and are successful with their training plans.

You have to be able to justify why or why not something is in your plan and go from there, trial and error.

Below is a very cool video of some combat sport kettlebell drills. Enjoy.

If you'd like to learn more about Kettleebll Training for Combat Sports Click Here.

What About Technique ?

Technique training for Combat Sports Conditioning can be broken down into 3 catagories;

O General Technical Training

O Directed Technical Training

O Sport-Specific Technical Training

General Technical Training simply refers to the learning of general exercises that have an impact on your performance. For example, learning to Lunge and Squat properly would be good examples for a combat athlete that relies on shooting in for a leg or perhaps a Suplex.

Directed Technical Training helps to form the foundation for future sport-specific exercises.

And Sport-Specific Technical Training simply refers to the actual skills used in competition such as submissions, sweeps, hooks or right crosses.

In future post, we'll be going deeper into each catagory.