Hocevar Performance

As you may know I am a fan of mixed martial arts and have lately started back up with training. I have done this for a couple of reasons:

1). To better understand the demands of the fighters that I train (I have been very active in the training of some high level MMA fighters and wrestlers)

2). The competitive drive never lets me be average at anything and as I started training I realized at that point I was “average” at MMA.

I can’t tell you how much I have learned by training the sport as well as studying it and applying my knowledge at the same time. I’m not saying you should train every sport from which you have athlete clients but it can definitely give you an edge. The least you should do is start watching more of the sport and/or your athletes games to look for things that you could help them improve and realize what the demands of the sport are.

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Before I say anything let me give you a friendly word of advice, never drink a can of Spike energy drink after 8 p.m.! It’s been a long day and I’m up at 2 a.m. looking like a damn rave junkie that popped an e-pill. At the same time, if you are an entrepreneur it could become your best friend.

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I came across the idea for this article while being ringside at a high level MMA event that was held at a local community college in the Seattle area.

Do you ever notice how many athletes in sports have an extremely visible drop off in power as the fight/game goes on?

You may say well that’s logical they are tired and it’s to be expected. I’m talking about a drop off where you look like a shadow of your former self because your arms and your legs get heavy, your lungs are on fire and you cannot breathe and you are moving for the sake of moving and just getting done with the game/fight.

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“Apply yourself, Get all the education you can, but then……do something. Don’t just stand there. Make it happen.” - Lee Iacocca

The words that I write from here on are going to be about educating yourself, opening your mind and “stepping outside of the box.” Education still is and always will be a driving force in my life, whether it be a new book, journal, teleseminar, seminar/conference, hands on experience and/or one on one communication with someone that is great at what you want to be great at.

Here I talk about the last one……

My trip to New York was a great experience where I put my learning process on warp speed in a three day weekend. The last day of our trip I also did something spontaneous that ended up being one of the best parts of our whole trip. I decided to take a chance and go visit Martin Rooney at the Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn, NJ. For those that do not know of Martin, he is a world class trainer, speaker, writer, motivator and has trained elite athletes from just about every sport conceivable, with a number of olympic athletes. If you want to find out more about Martin, check it out here.

Martin walking the talk

Now, I had no clue whether he will be there and if he was, if he had time to see us. On top of that we had quite a little bit of a trip and had to make it back to the airport in time. It turned out the trip was well worth it as Martin ended up being there and took the time to talk to us. What was supposed to be a 15 minute conversation ended up being around 3 hours!

The conversation made me understand more about why the best are the best. In the three hour conversation Martin was asking us just as many questions as we were asking him and he was just really intrigued with the subjects we were talking about. One of the things he said that stuck with me was: “I want to be the dumbest person when I walk in the room.” So no matter how much knowledge and experience you may have, you can always learn more and it may be from anyone in any field. Stay open to ideas and thoughts of others as they may give an “A-HA” moment.

A lot of the things that we talked about were not even about training but rather mindset, business, life, etc.. It also showed how the best care about the industry as they will take time to share their knowledge and experience with up and coming trainers that are passionate and seeking to know everything they can (never ending journey!). I definitely left the Parisi facility with a lot on my mind and at the same time very fortunate that I was able to meet Martin Rooney and take tons away from our conversation. For everyone that is an MMA athlete, coach or is interested in MMA training, visit Training For Warriors, as Martin has created a community where there is a ton of information available from articles, videos, forums and a great blog by Martin himself. This resource is free (just another great deed as this information is worth a bunch) and you would be crazy not to sign up if you are in any way involved in the martial arts.

Martin’s book - Training For Warriors

I will make an effort to pass it on just as Martin. These types of efforts help the industry become better and better and I hope that we can see more and more of it in the future.

Sometimes I just love doing some crazy conditioning stuff and I also love kettlebells (this deserves a post by itself), so why not combine the two!

I like for my athletes to have superior conditioning and go just as fast, jump as high and hit as hard at the end of the game as they did at the beginning. Everyone is all energy at the beginning but the athlete that finishes strong is going to be the victor the majority of the time. I like doing many different types of “evil” conditioning sessions, sometimes as a stand alone training session and sometimes just a time frame at the end of a training session (depending on the athlete, sport, time of year, etc…). One of the methods I like to use is loaded conditioning. Basically your body will be under load for the whole time of the exercise, which can take minutes. This is great for the MMA athlete as it truly caries over to the sport. This one will also build mental toughness believe me! In the video I am doing a shorter version while using 2 x 55lbs kettlebells. Enjoy!

By the way, the video was used by my colleague Jeff Jowers with permission, which is why it links to his site (which has quite a lot of very iseful information, so don’t be hesitant to hop over there).

I guess it can be a fat burning work out too

Loaded conditioning can use a lot of other implemets as well, such as dumbells, sandbags, kegs, etc… Choose them wisely and assess before blindly following. I do gurantee that this type of training will give you an edge in competition!

As I am watching MMA on TV I realize that these athletes are the modern gladiators. I have a high level of respect for these warriors especially because I have had the opportunity to train some high level mixed martial artisits and I can tell you that they are some of the most dedicated athletes.

When I talk about warriors, most people will understand this as the definition of someone who engages in battle or desires combat. This is one of the descriptions, but I believe that the greatest warriors have shown us that being a warrior is also about gaining control over oneself in all aspects of life.

“Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory and you will come home with no wounds whatsoever.”  - Samurai General Kenshin Uesugi

Since the rise of the MMA and movies such as “300″ the warrior is once again in the forefront. Many forget that there have been many famous cultures that have glorified the warrior, the Spartans, the Romans, the Persians, the Vikings and the Samurai were societies that were famous for the development of their warriors. The reason that many of those legends have been passed down to this very day is the impact that they had on history. The question is whether you want to leave a leagcy for future generations? Do you think you have what it takes to be a warrior?

“Given enough time, any man can master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior that can master bothe……and surpass the result.” - Tien T’ai

Believe it or not, anyone can develop the physical fitness, mentality and strength of charachter of a warrior, whether you are an MMA fighter, athlete or regular Joe. I think that it all starts with training. I am talking about both the body and mind. For me the physical training is where it starts (for some people it may be getting the right mindset before beginning anything) as it is where I have my peace of mind. One of the things that I believe in is giving it your all every time, knowing you did not leave any effort in the tank, whether it be training or anything else you encounter. Hold yourself to the highest standard and you will achieve the highest goals. The warriors that have become legend had quite a few things in common, one of them was training to be the best at what they do. They commited themselves with everything they have. Now ask yourself if you are giving your everything in the goal that you want to achieve? Think about if you applied the warrior mindset and effort into waht you are doing?

“Hard training, easy combat; easy training, hard combat.” - Marshal Suvorov

Modern Day Warrior

I apply warrior training in my athletes (and everyone else) training sessions and it takes them to another level of performance physically and mentally. Remember that you cannot train muscles every single day bit you can and should train the mind every single day! To contol the mind is to to control your own thoughts and that means controlling  your own actions……………

There is a warrior in all of us. Are you going to resurrect him/her?

My favorite quote on being a warrior:

Out of every hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there,

Eighty are just targets,

Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them,

for they make the battle,

Ah, but the one,

One is a warrior,

And he will bring the others back. - Heraclitus

If you want to unleash the warrior in you then let me know.

I will be giving you a peak into some of our warrior training……..coming soon!