Cardio - 7 days from your 1st mma fight, what to do?

[Bible_Belt]

So if you normally trained once a day, how would you structure the last week before your first mma cage fight? Should I do a set of sprints three times a day, spread throughout the day like high school football practice used to be? What is the schedule for cardio that you would put yourself on if you had the week free?

 

[Kerpal]

A week isn't enough time to improve your conditioning at all. I don't think I would do anything except light sparring, unless I was going to have a hard time making weight.

 

[Bible_Belt]

ya think? I certainly have noticed that it gets a lot worse after taking a week off. Normal training is a good cardio workout, but I am going to lighten up a lot so that I don't get cut or injured.

It's below freezing outside, and there is ice everywhere...running is a pain.

My girlfriend has one of these things, a "gazelle:"
http://tsa.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p561100dt.jpg

maybe I will try it out.

 

[AAAgent]

for being an athlete my entire life, for the last 2-3 weeks before a major competition we TAPER. meaning we gradually cut back day by day on our training to conserve energy and let our muscles rest fully. the day before the competition should be pure rest and relaxation. im surprised your coaches haven't put you through some sort of taper.

 

[Bible_Belt]

The fight is late Sat night, so at least the last day will be all rest. I might still run some sprints on Friday. We do "taper" in a sense, but mostly to lighten up on contact and reduce the risks of injury and cuts. Going into a fight with a pre-existing cut is bad news.

I just dragged out the gazelle thing and tried it. It's gay as hell; the thing is made for housewives. I can't get out of breath on it.

Then I sprinted four blocks and about died. I am still coughing. I can roll (bjj submission grapple) for 30 minutes at a time, no breaks and rotating in fresh opponents, that is no big deal, but sprints just kill me.

 

[Kerpal]

for being an athlete my entire life, for the last 2-3 weeks before a major competition we TAPER. meaning we gradually cut back day by day on our training to conserve energy and let our muscles rest fully. the day before the competition should be pure rest and relaxation. im surprised your coaches haven't put you through some sort of taper.

I've noticed that many people in the combat sports seem to be more "old school" with their training. They are still of the mentality that "more = better", lots of emphasis on long slow distance running instead of interval training, etc.

Then I sprinted four blocks and about died. I am still coughing. I can roll (bjj submission grapple) for 30 minutes at a time, no breaks and rotating in fresh opponents, that is no big deal, but sprints just kill me.

Same here, but it doesn't matter. You're a fighter not a sprinter

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Hmmm...interesting. I'd probably work hard till a day or two before the fight. I notice when I take a certain amount of time off my body gets weaker with my lifts. May or may not be bad advice in regards of MMA

 

[Flyer]

well, its your first fight.

Make sure you note down what you did this week, and then note how you felt before the match. Then next time you'll know what to do.

Good luck!

 

[Bible_Belt]

My fight is tonight. I haven't done any running since that last post, just mat work in jiu-jitsu.

I think I can stand and throw against my guy...but I'm gonna gas out if I don't knock him out right away. So my plan is to get the fight to the ground right away. I am much better on the ground anyway, but not running out of gas is my prime directive.

I will try to post a video for you guys to let you know how it went.

 

[Kerpal]

How do you feel? I think I'd be ****ting my pants right now if I was you, lol.

I want to try fighting MMA at least once.

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Right on! Hope you win!!

 

[bornyesterday]

a video would be awesome

 

[Bible_Belt]

I fvcking lost...but by decision after three rounds. I will post a video soon. It was pretty close, but the other guy had better cardio.

This is me after the fight. Not too bad, right?
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x252/dotheopposite/after.jpg

 

[bornyesterday]

looks like someone did a copy paste on you.
Neh, looks good.

 

[speakeasy]

I fvcking lost...but by decision after three rounds. I will post a video soon. It was pretty close, but the other guy had better cardio.

This is me after the fight. Not too bad, right?
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x252/dotheopposite/after.jpg

Hey kudos for having the balls to step in the cage.

 

[Bible_Belt]

round 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_DAUQvayYo&feature=channel_page

I gassed out pretty badly.

I am in the black shorts.

Round Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llmbqMAmk7Y

Video has random music dubbed over sound; it was all just screaming anyway.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Round 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK5YEYaa8LU

I left the audio. The female voice you hear saying "you got this sh!t" is an mma fighter herself.

Despite being so gassed out, I had him right where I wanted for a minute, but I knocked his mouthpiece out and across the cage. The ref stopped the fight to put my opponent's mouthpiece back in. I let him go when the ref said break because I did not know what was going on. I never got my weight back on him for the re-start, and he slipped away.

 

[Amazing]

Man, congrats first of all, you are a better man now.


You looked very tired, I don't know if it's your stance- so low, but it looked like you were looking at his feet and your hands were down majority of the time.

At any point I skip to it's you getting punched or kicked. I am guessing you were very tired half way into the fight, but congrats on getting it done, it will be easier from here on.

 

[Bible_Belt]

I have kind of a Rocky thing going on, where I feel like the other guy will get tired if I just let him wail on me a lot. It's hard to tell from the video, but he does not land any punches to my head while we are standing, all of it is blocked by my forearms and elbows. With the way he was swinging, I also thought I could get him to break his hand on my elbows or forehead. He does land some gut punches though, that was starting to hurt a little.

One minute into the fight itself, I took an inadvertent knee to the nuts:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x252/dotheopposite/nutkneecrop.jpg

That is why I keep bending over after that and stop being aggressive. It took the life out of me for about a round and a half.

 

[Amazing]

I have kind of a Rocky thing going on, where I feel like the other guy will get tired if I just let him wail on me a lot. It's hard to tell from the video, but he does not land any punches to my head while we are standing, all of it is blocked by my forearms and elbows. With the way he was swinging, I also thought I could get him to break his hand on my elbows or forehead. He does land some gut punches though, that was starting to hurt a little.

One minute into the fight itself, I took an inadvertent knee to the nuts:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x252/dotheopposite/nutkneecrop.jpg

That is why I keep bending over after that and stop being aggressive. It took the life out of me for about a round and a half.

Did you not take your 5 mins to walk it off?

Study the tape, practice more and you'll get him boy! You didn't get knocked out, that's a good start.