Few things make me want to work harder to get out more information than the success stories I get from people who have bought my book, read my articles, and put methods to effective use. This month, Bill Easlick from Fairfax JJ was kind enough to share his experiences and 8weeksout.com/ success story.
From Bill Himself….
“I’m the MMA Coach for Fairfax JiuJitsu here in Northen Virginia. I have been involved in combat sports most of my life, competing in wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, judo, bjj and submission grappling, and MMA.
As a coach my focus has always been about teaching skills and sparring and left most of the S&C up to the students. When they asked me for advice I would often say “Road work”. This is what my family did as boxers, This is what I did every morning as a wrestler and what every muay thai insructor I’ve ever trained with had done.but in the last few years more and more students came to me and said “Coach, people say roadwork doesn’t help you and we should be sprinting and doing intervals and Tabatas” I began to research more and more what was going on and why new “internet guru’s” were saying that roadwork, which had worked for every great fighter I’ve ever known, was garbage!
Well the more I read from them the more they sounded the same – because they were all quoting the same few pieces of research. Some of their points seemed valid and I really didn’t understand enough about the S&C side to dispute them, but I knew there had to be something more to it.
Till one day in November 2009 when I stumbled on an internet message board where a very bold S&C coach was telling the forum that there is a better way to train and all the sprinting they are doing isn’t the best method! He was getting attacked immediately by the angry mob but the more he spoke the apparent was that this guy was not only working with top MMA athletes, but he backed up everything he said with science and studies. This guy was Joel Jamieson and when he told everyone to stop trying to do silly random intervals and mish-mash workouts with no order or progression, I knew this guy was the future.
I immediately bought Joel’s book and within a week had read it at least twice and several parts even many more times. but before I tested out my students, I decided to try the program myself. The results were outstanding, in 17 weeks (two 8 wk blocks w a 1 wk rest between) I was able to build up an amazing aerobic base allowing the “old coach” to hang with even my top students round after round and while others who were doing CrossFit and other interval-inspired methods were falling to the sidelines I was fighting as strong as ever. Next up, I did a General Strength training block and my lifting numbers went thru the roof! I haven’t been this strong since my collegiate wrestling days. Unfortunately an injury acquired in class forced me to stop the block at 6wks but the results were abuntantly clear – Joel’s program works.
After my experience I went about putting a few of my fighters on the General Conditioning and General Strength programs to start with and like me, they all began to benefit from the programs.
One had a fight lined up just after finishing his block and then went right into the 8wk fight training block. This was his opinion :
“I found great results from this s & c work. In a short period of time I felt lighter on my feet and more explosive. But more importantly I was able to maintain the explosiveness for a longer duration. it was the first time for me so I am excited to see how this program fits over a longer duration.”
– Hiro P.
With other fighters we identified some weaknesses in explosive power and power endurance and they went to to using the appropriate blocks to make some changes. before going into their next fights. One fighter said:
“I saw great results this training cycle as opposed to my other three fights. My first three training camps, I quit strength training completely during shark tanks weeks, felt burnt out at times, and lost weight uncontrollably. For this last camp and the weeks before, the S&C program we used was very effective. Using a periodized S&C program that is tailored to each fighter is the way to go. Lifting heavy improved my raw strength while the plyometrics and explosive intervals developed my speed-power.
Another major difference between this cycle and others was using heart rate training zones. Not every workout has to be at or above lactic threshold… because it doesn’t feel like my body is doing “work” unless it is working at over 170bpm, I often overexerted myself during runs and circuit courses, which lead to burn out and overtraining. As it got closer to fight day, my conditioning workouts were tailored to sport specific exercises (threshold training on the bag vice the bike or a run) which helped develop the type of conditioning I needed for gameday.
This last camp, I felt great the whole time, experienced no signs of overtraining, continued to lift weights during shark tank weeks, completed all my training runs and plyo drills, and made it to fight day feeling the freshest and strongest I have been yet. I have always been a grinding type of fighter. This next period is geared towards developing explosive strength and after just a few weeks, I feel stronger and faster.
Looking forward to my next fight. ” – Bryan L.
My experience with Joel’s work has been exceptional. Everyone who uses Joel’s methods benefits. No exceptions! It’s now officially the way we do S&C at the gym and I am now much more in tune to what each student is doing and how they should be training that day. Best of all.
Everyone is training with the scientific knowledge of whay they are doing this particular exercise and what is the intended adaptation and the logical sequence. They know the What, Where, When and Why of S&C!
Joel Jamieson Fans for Life!
-Bill Easlick
MMA Instructor Fairfax Jiu-Jitsu