MY GYM TRAINING ROUTINE

[Underdog]

I try teaching the very basics of Ruas Vale Tudo in a small gym to a bunch of friend; we are a small group but very well assorted; that's pur current training regimen:

-anywhere from 300 to 1000 jumping jacks

-4x3min rounds footwork, shooting and sprawling on command.

-some basic stretching and joint rotations

-push-ups, varyous types, a total of 200-250

-squats, 5x50

-lunges (shoots) 4x50

-ab work; series of 100, 500 total

-bridging and neckwork; until fatigue

We train three days/week: that's the basic training, geared toward obtaining a decent fitness level, for technique, we work one day striking (Muay thai) with thai pads, bags, mitts and sparring. One day is devoted to takedowns and clinching; we do pummeling drills, takedowns, thai clinching work and do sparring (strikes vs takedowns and closing the distance). The remainent day is for groundwork: we work with no strikes and very basic; guard passes, positioning, leverage and weight control. If the gyn owner let us, we do one day also, dedicated to sparring. NHB with whatever gear one decide. It's here that we decide what work best for us regarding our bodytipe, attitude, stamina etc.

I also do some weightlifting, geare toward the improvement of my strenght and explosiveness, and everyday I run anywhere from 3 to 6 miles, alternating sprints at random.

As you see, no frills and not complicated. Very basic stuff.

How it compares from what you guys train?

I'm very intersted, please post.

P.S. I'm no healt and fitness freak at all, I freely admit that currently I'm smoking up to three stoogies a day; I eat no carbs at all (bodyopus diet), hit the bong (rarely) and eat an unbelievable amounts of fats. The only thing I didn't do is get drunk: I have very bad mood when drunk; basical did whatever enter my mind at the time: one time held a girl outside a window for a full minute with my arms stretched out. She got very scared and pissed off; never wanted to talk to me again....go figure....

[Mr. Miyagi]

Your regimen sounds pretty good. Are you a certified Ruas Vale Tudo instructor? Do all the guys you train with also follow your routine? Your routine or something close to it in terms of intensity, is absolutely necessary for serious grappling or striking training. I would wager that of males between the ages of 18-30 in this country, that most would not be able to handle it without gassing.

[Underdog]

Right now I'm a four stripe blue belt; but in hope to spread RVT in Italy, our Instructor has allowed us to tech the VERY basics to people, all test and examinations must be held in the Center academy in Rome. To be a certified Instructor in Ruas Vale Tudo you must be appointed personally by Marco Ruas; that means that you'll spar with him, no pads, NHB and full contact. My instructor told me some horror stories about Ruas training...

As doing shrimping for 60 min continuosly....


My friends seems to hold on training pretty well, but this is the starting program: what I've undercome in the main academy was really brutal; it was so brutal that since the first instructor course things have been more watered down. Most people get freaked out and left for good...

One thing particularly I remember well, and was duck walking down the gym perimeter; everytime we reached a big brazilian flag we must burst-hop and tap the wall over the flag. The top of the flag was 7', whenever you did touch the flag you were send in one corner and did 100 push-ups.

I throwed the lunch...

So did my fellows...

[ArAi]

Holy Sh!T!!!
That is one extreme workout...
a typical day at our class would be
a few reps running around the mat
various kinds of crunches about 100 reps.
4 kinds of push ups 25 reps each.
stretching
then do techniques...
then last 15 mins or so spar...

thats about it...
sounds wimpy huh.

Underdog:

Man, you train HARD dude! Very impressive.

Your work-out sounds similar in type and intensity to the Lion's Den. I read a good article about their training a couple of years ago in a Men's Health magazine. The writer was a former kickboxer who went to train with them for a week. Within a few hours he lost his lunch during calisthenics, almost puked on Vernon White during sparring, and later in the week got thrown on his head by Jerry Bohlander. By the end of his week he was wussing out of work-outs and just taking notes, as his neck was still out of whack from Jerry's throw. Can't say I blame him.

One question: do you think your time might be better spent on drills which work technique as well as conditioning? My kicking/grappling technique would suck after 250 squats. Then again, it sucks anyway...

[Underdog]

Ronin:

Actually yours is a good question.

I too have tought that too much bodywork would hindrance technical development; I haven't found the perfect answer but I've observed from our sparring sessions that conditioning plays a far more crucial role than sheer technique; so my priority is first to reach a sufficient combat fitness, and then work on techniques.

We do have some standards to reach; they are not unrealistic at all; last year we worked hard on conditioning and reached what we wanted. This year most of the guys left the gym because of controversies with Gym owners; so now I have new guys to train. We hope to find some other place where train to bring out the old group...

My set standars are:

-at least 250 hindu squats
-at least 100 push ups
-at least 250 cruches
-at least 3min bridging, no hands
-at least 3miles jogging at 5min/mile speed.
-ability to withstand strikes with boxing gloves

I was very impressed by a quote from Frank Shamrock:

"FATIGUE MAKES COWARD OUT OF FIGHTERS"

Underdog:

Good answer! Actually, I like Hindu squats (well, I like the results). Incorporating the calves is very cool. I just learned the proper way to do them from my instructor the other day.

Here's my favorite Shamrock quote:

CONDITIONING IS YOUR BEST SUBMISSION.


The one you quoted reminds me of The Art of War:

"With momentum, all men are heroes. Without momentum, all men are cowards."

I'm sure Pit Dog would disagree, but Sun Tzu was speaking of seizing the advantage in battle.

[Ryu (non-working password]

Underdog,
could you give me some examples of the pummeling drills you do at your training facility? I'd like to incorporate as much as I can into my own training.

Thanks

Ryu

[Hitchahard]

Underdog:

That sure sounds like a Marco training session. I trained with Marco yesterday. He strapped the heart monitor on me and put me through a grueling workout. As mentioned, I have a cracked rib so we did only stand-up. I threw over 1000 punches and 400 kicks within the hour. In addition, he placed 2lb weights in my boxing gloves and 5lb weights around my ankles during the workout. It doesn't sound like much, but after a few hundred punches and kicks it feels like 100lbs.

By the way, Marco would be very disappointed in your eating habits (LOL!). He asks me constantly if I am eating right. He makes it clear to me that, "Diet Is More Important Than Training!" The past few weeks, I've been abiding by his overall diet and I feel great.

Anyway, glad your doing well.

Regards,

Hitch....

[Underdog]

The 25 november will be held in Milan a grappling tournament inside "Dragons" a martial arts show here in Italy; I've not qualified to partecipate in it, having lost my fight during the summer training camp (actually I did tapped because I was pissed of and dead tired from the previous workouts. I hate "no strikes grappling", what I've won was my blue belt fight, during wich I proudly dislocated my opponent shoulder....; but that was a vale tudo fight: no pads and NHB).

Right now I made a point to spar with the dragons competitior the next time we gather at the academy; I cannot explain it but I REALLY wanna fight with them.

Inside or outside the gym.





Damn, I must stop taking ephedrine. Speed rage.

[Underdog]

Damn I forgot to post it.

That's the reason because I'm training hard.


Hitchahard; glad to hear you!