Yoga for the Warrior

He’s an excellent yoga master and knows exactly how to pump up the intensity of a yoga workout the moment he starts to hit the mat. His name is Bob Harper and with his program, Bob Harper: Yoga for the Warrior DVD set. It has a bunch of different features that people should know of. It’s just a single disc set, it’s a 75 minute feature and it usually well reviewed from those who have purchased the DVD. Not every Yoga program has to be extensive, and this program will help maximize the benefit gained by practicing yoga.

Again, this is not a program for beginners. You will need to have at least some intermediate experience before you try this particular workout. It will stress you and possibly get you to harm yourself if you try these more advanced workouts without proper experience and training beforehand. With 75 minutes of intense yoga exercise, you get to see different parts of the show, like basic stances before the more intense parts of the workout appear. You are in for a treat and will probably need a few workout attempts before you can fully complete the regimen without panting or sweating too heavily.

Comfort and Great Fit

If you have noticed that your old grappling gloves are getting a little worn, not fitting properly, or just need to be replaced then don’t hesitate to get a new pair when you need to. There is nothing worse that working out in a pair of grappling gloves that don’t fit well. The Everlast Style Grappling Gloves are a good choice. They are functional and very durable thanks to the premium synthetic leather they are made of and the excellent construction. The glove padding of their new design has a more ergonomic shape to give you more flexibility and make them more comfortable to wear. They even have lining that absorbs moisture so that your hands stay dry. It will even make your gloves last longer. There is a full wrist strap to allow you to customize your fit more and give you full wrist support. At this affordable price there is no reason not to get a new pair of grappling gloves when you need them.

Cardio for MMA Fighters

If you’re an aspiring MMA fighter or have some fights under your belt and are looking to improve your cardio, then we have some top tips for you. Cardio is your staying power in the Octagon – there’s no point wanting to be an MMA fighter without working on your cardio since you’re going to be blowing hard after only the first round with inefficient lungs and weak and heavy muscles. You can be as strong as an ox with excellent groundwork, great boxing and solid Jiu-Jitsu but if you really don’t have cardio, you might as well submit straight off the bat.

The Muscles Need Blood and Oxygen

This is key to your cardiovascular system working to its maximum efficiency, with your heart being the key factor here. If the heart is bigger and stronger, it can pump more blood around the body and hold more blood at any one time. A good way of improving the size of the heart and therefore the volume of blood the heart holds at any one time is by adding in traditional steady-state cardio into your routine.

In contrast, HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) can vastly improve the strength of the heart, thickening the muscle and walls and therefore increasing the amount of blood pumped out with each beat. With the large volumes of blood being pumped around the body, more and more oxygen is being circulated and used up by the muscles. The faster the muscles recover the better and HIIT is perfect for doing this by including longer sets and shorter rest periods.

Strength

Some don’t believe that strength and cardio go hand in hand and are at complete ends of the fitness spectrum or shouldn’t be compared at all. IN some respects these people are correct, however when it comes to MMA, a combination of strength and cardio is incredibly important. Strength actually aids your cardio in terms of how close you need to work to your max strength levels during your fights. If you’re constantly having to work at 100% to grapple your opponent to the canvas, or need to wrestle them off you, you’ll be using more and more of your body’s energy and cardio capacity to do so. If you’re muscles are twice as strong, you’ll be needing less effort and energy to do the same move, therefore being more cardio-efficient. Naturally, you’ll be building in strength training into your fitness routine for MMA, however ensure that you have a good balance between strength and cardio – it’s not all about being a complete beast!

Strength Training Workout

Getting into the fighting world takes a different kind of mindset compared to most athletes. Whether it’s MMA training, Competitive Martial Arts, Boxing, or any other fighting skill set you have to build up certain training habits and exercise routines that sometimes are foreign to less combat oriented athletic events. Where most athletes might take a bit of strength training to balance their skills, for the most part aerobic exercise and cardio are the order of the day when it comes to training. They need to keep their lungs full, and they need to burn that energy long-term. The longer they can keep away the burn from lactic acid buildup, the better. Fighters need a different energy-set, cardio is a big part of that, but when you spend five, ten or even twenty-five minutes pounding on another human being you have to deal with the aches of muscle pain. You need to be able to deliver explosive power even when your muscles protest every movement, and that requires strength training.

MMA currently is the debatable top of the competitive fighting game, and if you ask the current line of super athletes like John Jones, or previous greats like Randy Couture, they will tell you that you cannot neglect your strength training. Much of Randy’s fights degenerated into long, grinding matches, where through sheer brute force he was able to power his opponent into positions where he could finish the fight, even when his muscles just didn’t want to cooperate anymore. When you get into training, you need to have the same mentality, you need to work those muscles until they burn, complain, and maybe even give out, because next time they will work better, longer. Each person should make their own customized workout plan, but here are a couple of possible workouts as a point to start, one is an alternating day plan, the other is a daily workout;

Day 1:
Clean and Press: 15 sets x 2 reps
Curl Grip Chin: 15 x 2
Medium Grip Bench Press: 10 x 1
Deadlift: 20 x1
Abdominal Work

Day 2:
Dips: 12 sets x 3 reps
Clean and Front Squat: 20 x 2
Bent Rows: 12 x 2
Barbell Curl and Press: 6 x 4
Abdominal Work

or Every day;
Clean and Press: 20 sets x 1 rep
Bench Press: 8 x 2
Barbell Curls: 6 x 3
Chin: 15 x 2
Squat: 20 x 1
Abdominal Work
For both workout styles, you need to make sure you are pushing your body to the max each time. Work up your weight until you’ve determined that you’re maxed out, and then back off just enough that you can complete each series of reps. You want the burn through your whole body, because you then know that you are pushing your muscles and forcing them to perform when under the extreme forms of stress you encounter in a fight. Don’t forget a trainer though, make sure that your plan works for you, and that someone monitors your performance. When you are just building to get into shape, it’s one thing, but when you are pushing for fighting shape, you need careful monitoring, especially when you are maxing out and pushing so hard. Take it to the top, but take it safely and you can build the muscle mass and the explosive power that serves the best fighters in the ring.

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