Steve Austin, astronaut, a man scarcely alive. Gentlemen, we may rebuild him, we have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s primary Bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster. – from the opening sequence of the television show The Six Million Dollar Man

Can we build a wrestler that is better, stronger, and faster?

What is the best type of conditioning for a wrestler? Even though I am no longer competitive, I still grapple with this question. The selective information I find seems mixing up and contradictory at times.

Even though my competitory days are in all likelihood behind me, I have continued to be fascinated in wrestling technique and in wrestling conditioning. I still wondered for the duration of my adult life what conditioning could invent the extreme wrestler. I did a lot of exploration on the internet and in books and started out to piece things together.

What perceptivities did I gain? Let’s explore.

Periodization

I was somewhat intimate with the conception of periodization as far back as the 1980s. I believe that I original read regarding periodization in a bodybuilding/fitness magazine. I don’t do not forget the precise details of the article, but it left an impression on me.

I didn’t commence using the internet regularly until around the turn of the new millennium. Through a heap of researching I came upon two articles that were specifically in regards to periodization for wrestling. I believe the introductory article was plainly entitled Periodization and was written by Ethan Bosch.

The second article was entitled Year Long Periodization Schedule and was written by Richard Fergola. These articles fascinated me very much. The articles described what type of training to do at each stage of the calendar year. It was very stimulating to find an actual blueprint of how to train year round to be in the best condition to wrestle.

Strength and conditioning coach Mark Ginther contends that peak condition is inconceivable to retain for more than a couple of weeks at the longest and, therefore, galore form of periodization is necessary to successful conditioning.

Basic linear periodization often times involves three phases: preparatory, competition, and transition. However, there are galore other kinds of periodization.

Energy Systems

During high school I read an article explaining how dissimilar types of weight lifting could lead to strength. power, or muscular endurance. This confused me a bit, because I figured that a wrestler necessitated all three attributes. I’m not sure when I learned regarding the divergence amid aerobic and anaerobic sports. That conception was a bit mixing up too, because I could do not forget breathing hard and sentiment my heart pound after a wrestling match. And yet, wrestling wasn’t in truth like running a few miles. It involved strength and power. During the early portion of the new millennium, I also learned bout the three energy schemes and how to train them.

The ATP system provides enwergy for approximately 0-15 seconds. The glyco-lactic scheme provides energy for approximately 15 seconds to 2 minutes. The aerobic system provides energy for 2 minutes and beyond. I was still a little confused because a high school match lasts for six minutes. But, those aren’t six minutes of neverending steady state activity. A wrestling match is punctuated by some powerful bursts of activity. So, wrestling uses more energy from the introductory two systems and is unquestionably aerobic. And, knowing that allows you to train accordingly.

A very good article I came all over by Mike Frey was Cardiovascular Training for Wrestlers. In share two of that article he writes, “The whistle has blown marking the end of the introductory amount of time of your match. Your heart is racing and you may scarcely breathe. You have been running 2 miles every day just like your coach and dad told you to. So why are you tired after only 2 minutes?”

“Yes, why is that?” I thought.

The Frey writes, “Running long distance conditioning works the body’s aerobic energy system to use energy over a long amount of time of time, where with wrestling we are required to sustain high levels of energy very speedily and recover in a short amount of time of time.”

You see a wrestler needs not only aerobic endurance, but anaerobic endurance. Mike explains a heap of ways to improve one’s wrestling endurance. It’s a very enlightening article and made rather an impression on me.

Mike concludes part two of the article by stating, “Cardiovascular training for wrestlers is more that just running 2 miles or riding your bike around the block. As you are starting to see, wrestling is regarding anaerobic conditioning. Aerobic conditioning plays a major role in providing a good solid foundation for cardiovascular training but it’s the anaerobic weight training and conditioning that will carry you to the top of the podium.”

GPP/Work Capacity/Strongman Training/Olympic Lifting/ DensityTraining/Kettlebells/Plyometrics/Miscellaneous

I grew up on a farm. I employed to carry bales of hay and pails of corn each day. I lifted and carried bags of lime and feed. I dug fence post holes. In other words, I did a great deal of physical labor. This was my way of building popular physical preparedness (GPP). A conception almost related to GPP is work capacity.

I believe it was articles written by Matt Wiggins that basi brought my attention to the conception of work capacity.

With dandier work capacity, one may do a dandier volume of conditioning. Having more outstanding work capacity is like having a bigger”gas tank.” If you have great work capacity, then you won’t gas out toward the end of a wrestling match.

A wrestler will perfectly gain from bettered work capacity. He will be prepared for intense work and will be competent to recover more quickly.

Strength and conditioning specialist Ross Enimait states, “All athletes may gain from bettered work capacity. This is particularly true for combat athletes.” In addition he writes, “Improving work capacity is one crucial step to enabling the body to train harder and more often.”

Strongman training involving pulling weighted sleds, swinging sledge hammers, and flipping tires has become rather ordinary amid combat athletes. Look into it.

Some trainers believe that Olympic lifting (e.g. power cleans) is beneficial for a combat athlete while others don’t. The same may be said of plyometrics.

I’ve heard good things with regards to kettlebells, clubbells, and Indian clubs.

Density training often times involves attempting to do more work in the same amount of time or the same amount of work in less time. How some push ups may you do in ten minutes? Try to double the number of push ups you may do in ten minutes. Think you won’t be in better condition? Or, you could keep doing the same number of push ups but reduce the amount of time you rest amidst sets.

You must read up regarding density training.

I guess the bottom line is that there are galore ways to condition your body and a potpourri of tools and proficiencies one may use.

Traditional Cardio/Intervals/Sprints

Aerobic base training has been a primary ingredient of training programs (including those for wrestling) for decades. This type of training (think long slow bouts of jogging) is purported to increase mitochondrial size and density as well as muscular capillarization, which results in increased blood flow to the muscles and bettered muscular endurance.

Sounds good, right? However, a growing number of conditioning experts are claiming aerobics (traditional cardio) is useless and perchance even dangerous.

For instance, numerous assert that aerobic training may make you slower, cause adrenal stress, and worsen one’s testosterone/cortisol ratio.

Interval training is commended as an alternative. Interval training involves alternating bouts of high-intensity exercise with that of low to moderate-intensity exercise. For instance, one might sprint for 40 seconds and then jog for two minutes and repeat this for assorted sets.

On the other hand, in his article A Basic Primer on Endurance Training Charles Staley writes, “Note: Many conditioning specialists eschew the conception of manufacturing an aerobic base, sentiment that a highly devised aerobic capacity is counter-productive to the attainment of speed and strength. However the anaerobic system is based on the aerobic system, so at least in principle, it seems logical to construct the system which will promote lactic acid clearance for the duration of high intensity training attempts later in the cycle. As in all things, it actually is an issue of how much aerobic work is done, and where it is placed in the training cycle.”

Several conditioning experts are advocates of sprinting (including hill sprints).

In the diary article Physiological and Performance Changes from the Addition of a Sprint Interval Program to Wrestling Training, Farzad et al. (2011) state, “Our results indicate that repeated sprint-interval runs with short passive recovery periods, over a 4-week amount of time are utile in increasing both aerobic and anaerobic performances. The training amount of time likewise significantly influenced serum hormone concentrations.”

The total testosterone of the players performing the sprint protocol increased significantly. Pretty cool, huh?

Lactic Acid Training

Wrestling is considered to be principally an anaerobic sport. Earlier I cited the three energy systems. One of the energy schemes that wrestling relies to a great extent upon is called the lactic acid or lactate system.

The lactate scheme may be linked with the burning sensations felt for the duration of high intensity activities. Therefore, if a wrestler may train his body to tolerate and efficaciously use lactate he will become less fatigued and will be capable to wrestle at a higher intensity longer.

According to Strength and Conditioning Specialist Jonathan Siegel, “In terms of bettering the use and re-use of lactate in our muscles, lactate threshold (LT) intervals give hope or courage to fast-twitch muscles to create an enzyme (MCT-1) which is necessary to transport lactate into muscle cells where it is converted into pyruvic acid for further exercise. The more MCT-1 you have, the dandier the rate of lactate conversion and the more outstanding the muscle endurance. LT intervals likewise increase the number of mitochondria (cellular energy power plants) and capillaries (blood highways).”

According to Owen Anderson, author of Lactate Lift-Off, one method of increasing one’s lactate threshold and capacity to clear lactate is to carry out an exercise he refers to as lactate-dosers.

The lactate-doser involves alternating two minutes of close-to-max-speed running with 4 to 5 minutes of easy jogging until you have finished 5 to 6 of the 2 minute bursts.

The blasts bathe muscle cells in lactate, and the recovery jogs concede muscle fibers to clear the lactate which has been produced. Over time, this kind of workout ought to dramatically increase MCT concentrations, lactate clearance, lactate threshold, and performance capacity.

In an article at the Science Daily internet site entitled Lactic Acid Not Athlete’s Poison, But An Energy Source — If You Know How To Use It, exercise physiologist George Brooks and his UC Berkeley Exercise Physiology Laboratory colleagues Takeshi Hashimoto and Rajaa Hussien are cited and their exploration concerning lactic acid is discussed.

According to the article at Science Daily:

“The world’s best athletes stay competitory by interval training,” Brooks said, referring to repeated short, but intense, bouts of exercise. “The intense exercise generates huge lactate loads, and the body adapts by building up mitochondria to clear lactic acid quickly. If you use it up, it doesn’t accumulate.”

In a diary article entitled The Physiological Basis for Wrestling: Implications for Conditioning Programs, Kraemer, Vescovi, & Dixon (2004) commend circuit resistance training as one share of a wrestling conditioning program. They state, “The main aim for circuit resistance training is to develop a toleration of high hydrogen ion and lactic acid concentrations, which will subsequently heighten the acid-buffering mechanisms within the body.”

Circuits are merely a series of exercises performed in a fashion in which one moves from one exercise to the next with little or no rest. A good description of circuit resistance training specific to wrestling may be found in the diary article noted above, in online articles, and in the book entitled Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science:Strength Training for Sport.

Pavel Tsatsouline/Strength

Pavel Tsatsouline, Master of Sports, is a former Soviet Special Forces physical training instructor and the author of Power to the People: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American and assorted other books and articles.

Pavel believes in lifting heavy weights for low reps. Bodybuilding has no place in most athletes training in his opinion. He states, “The punch bag who came up with the light weights/high reps formula for martial artists did not have the slightest clue when it comes to either strength training or martial arts.”

He also says, “The best strength training formula for a fighting man is heavy, 80-95% 1RM, weights, and low, 1-5, repetitions.”

Any combat athlete, including wrestlers, may become tired and sore from following a high rep weight training program. If you have no energy left for practice, what’s the point? Pavel concludes, “If they go to low rep, heavy, non-exhaustive training–three sets of three or five sets of five–they would not get sore.”

Strength training will have to never interfere with your wrestling practice. If exercise itself makes you tired and fatigued that’s okay. You can’t exercise your wrestling achievements well if you’re sore from weight training. You can’t shoot good takedowns if you’re tired and sore.

If wrestling exercise itself makes you tired and fatigued that’s okay. However, your strength training shouldn’t. Strength training is not for conditioning. You must get a great deal of conditioning for the duration of wrestling exercise from drilling, live wrestling, calisthenics, etc.

Strength training is also not a way for you to prove how tough you are. Save it for the mat. Nobody cares how much you may bench press if you walk out and get pinned. Lift heavy weights, but keep the overall volume of strength training low.

Strength training is plainly there to give you a possible vantage over an evenly skilled opponent.

Barry Ross/Strength and Speed

Strength and conditioning coach Barry Ross is mainly known for his work in the area of track and field, peculiarly sprinting. Ross helped train sprinter Allyson Felix in high school. Allyson Felix has gone on to become an Olympic silver medalist and world champion sprinter. You may wonder what this has to do with wrestling.

Well, the interesting thing in regards to Ross is that he came all over a study by exploration physiologist Peter Weyand. According to Ross, “Weyand and his associates proved that plainly benefitting strength is not enough. Their study showed that the key to rapidly and without delay running was mass-specific force. ‘Mass-specific force’ is just another way to say that it isn’t plainly the amount of strength applied to the ground that increments stride length; it’s the amount of strength in relation to bodyweight.”

Ross realized that increasing mass-specific strength meant getting more inviolable without adding bulk. Don’t most wrestlers want to get more inviolable without benefitting bulk? I think so. How does one do this? Ross had his sprinters lift heavy weights for low reps and focalized mainly on the deadlift. In his article The Holy Grail in Speed Training Ross writes, “The deadlift wasn’t a bestloved in our eyes either until we noticed an interesting and powerfully motivating fact: World and European powerlifting records show that the deadlift and the squat records are within 10% or less of each other throughout all weight classes, both for men and women. Yet the deadlift works a significantly dandier part of the muscles and involves multiple joints; why waste time and energy on squats or leg press machines? Realizing the efficacy of the deadlift led to the finish restructuring of our strength workout.”

Ross never has his athletes train to failure (exhaustion). He plainly gets his athletes very strong. He believes in the philosophy, “Do as little as needed, not as much as possible.” This is similar to the doctrine of strength and conditioning coach and trainer to boxers and UFC fighters Steve Baccari. Interstingly, Baccari is also a fan of deadlifts. Baccari says, “In my opinion, easy strength training is the only generative way a competitory fighter may strength train. But most people think if you don’t break a sweat it ought to not work. This used to bother me a lot, but not anymore, because I think it is one reason why my fighters win so much.” Baccari likewise says, “Low rep slow strength work is like putting cash in the bank to gather on the fight night.”

I think the lesson for wrestlers is that you shouldn’t wear yourself out by lifting weights to the point of exhaustion. Lift heavy weights for low reps (never more than five) and get genuinely strong. Lactic acid training and conditioning have their place, but don’t forget with regards to the importance of pure strength.

Dan Gable and Rocky Marciano/Work Ethic and Conditioning

Dan Gable doesn’t actually need an introduction. He was one of the greatest American wrestlers to ever set foot on the mat and perhaps the greatest collegiate coach in history. Gable’s work ethic and conditioning was legendary.

Gable enjoyed hard work from a young age. During his high school years he had the stamina to exhaust his teammates. He would then look for a fresh partner. Some would have called him a fanatic in terms of conditioning.

Gable had this to say, “The apparent goals were there- State Champion, NCAA Champion, Olympic Champion. To get there I had to set an each and everyday goal which was to push myself to exhaustion or, in other words, to work so hard in exercise that somebody would have to carry me off the mat.”

During his college years at ISU, Gable’s goal was to work so hard in exercise that he wouldn’t be competent to leave the room beneath his own power. He came close at times, but always managed to creep to his feet.

According to the book A Season on the Mat: Dan Gable and the Pursuit of Perfection, after losing his final collegiate match (after 117 straight victories at ISU), “For the next two years, Gable worked out three times a day, eight hours of running and lifting and hard wrestling, endeavoring for Olympic perfection.” What did Gable do after he won the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics in Munich? According to the book, “The day after winning a gold medal in Munich, he ran four miles.”

A year prior to that Gable had responded to winning in the same manner. The morning following the 1971 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dan Gable was out running, already focusing on his next challenge.

Ben Peterson and his brother John were Olympic teammates of Dan in 1972. They many times worked out with Dan. Ben writes of Dan, “His favored after a run, was taking turns doing push-ups using a deck of cards. While John and I strained with huge numbers we had picked, Dan would tell us we were lucky. When he got a little number he complained.” Dan employed to do that deck-of-cards workout by himself at times, seeing how a great deal of times he could go through the deck.

When Gable coached at the University of Iowa, he was no less demanding when it came to his team’s conditioning. In fact, two-time NCAA champion Royce Alger said that he’d rather do prison time than ever again go through the workouts that Gable had them endure for the duration of the time he wrestled for Iowa. How did Gable do at Iowa? During Gable’s tenor, Iowa won 21 successive Big Ten championships and 15 NCAA team titles.

In his book Coaching Wrestling Successfully, Dan Gable informs the reader that conditioning is essential. He believes in preserving a high fitness level year round. He writes, “Daily work adds up to a whole lot after a while. Five minutes a day doesn’t seem like much, but it equals close to 31 hours of extra work when added up for a whole year.”

Gable concludes, “A wrestler may construct from intermediate to good or good to great with just a bit more time and venture each day.”

Another athlete known for his work ethic and conditioning was boxer Rocky Marciano.

In his book Wrestling Tough, Mike Chapman writes, “When he retired as the undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world in 1956, Marciano had a record of 49-0, with 43 knockouts. Most experts maintained that Rocky’s unmatched special and significant stress on conditioning, oftentimes considered extreme, was the key to his success.”

One of the ways that Rocky liked to improve his stamina was by running.

Charlie Piccento, Rocky’s uncle, had this to say, “He does it (runs) each morning even if he doesn’t have a fight…five or six miles. Been doing it for six years, each day. Even does six or seven miles on Christmas morning.”

Rocky himself said, “I’m in better condition than any of them. I may go as galore rounds as I have to.”

Gable and Marciano are just two of a great deal of athletes who placed a outstanding special importance and significance on work ethic and conditioning. Obviously, for them it salaried off.

Dave Schultz/Mark Schultz/John Smith/Technique

Dave Schultz is regarded by numerous as one of the best technicians in the history of wrestling. Dave was a world and Olympic champion. But, those honors may only get started to give one an idea of just how unbelievable he was. Dave Schultz was phenomenal.

Evan as a high school senior, Dave competed at the world level. In 1977, he wrestled for the United States in the Tbilisi Tournament in the Soviet Union. Dave won a silver medal at the Tbilisi Tournament, considered by a heap of at the time to be the most challenging tournament in the world. In fact, numerous considered it to be tougher than the world championships or the Olympics. So, what Dave Schultz accomplished at such a young age was rather impressive.

Mark Schultz said of his old brother Dave, “He taught me how to take notes too. Everything he learned, he’d write it down so when I started wrestling I did the same thing and I had my technique notebook.”

Mark Schultz too is known for his technique. In the article A Conversation with Mark Schultz, Marksays, “Anytime I learned anything, I’d write it down. I made my technique notebook and I divided my proficiencies by tie up. I’d make a page like front head lock on the top of the page and write down all of the dissimilar technique I could finish with. I’d have all the counters to the front headlock on the back page. I’d have another page and write high crotch and write all of the finishes from there, lift, trip, spin, go behind, run the pipe, switch to another move, backing down to hip, go out the back door, etc.”

John Smith, four time world champion and two time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling, is known for his technique perhaps more than any other American wrestler. In his article Smith’s Six Titles Only Matched by His Perspective, Kyle Klingman writes, “Drilling was the central cohesive source of support and stability of Smith’s training regimen. Smith would drill proficiencies over and over and over again. The key was repetition.”

Klingman concludes, “Wrestling was a year-round routine for Smith. After the World Championships he would take a week off and then start out training again. Up until January, it was a combining of drilling and body-weight exercises for in regards to one hour a day. But once January came around, the pace picked up…and Smith kicked it into high gear.”

Are you more than willing to drill a move 40 or 50 times a day?

Martial arts instructor and personal trainer Brian Copeland writes, “Researchers have encountered that the elite athletes of the world no matter of the sport have accumulated over 100,000 – 300,000 perfective reps over the course of their lives. This is likewise known as the 10,000 hour rule, the best have put over 10,000 hours of perfective exercise in.”

Universities/World Champions/Olympians

In his article Strength and Conditioning for Wrestling, John Stucky (1988) discusses the Oklahoma State University wrestling strength and conditioning program. He writes, “At Oklahoma State University, our goal is to aid each athlete be more inviolable and in better shape than any contestant they will face. The accomplishment of such a task will construct more physical and more convinced individuals, which will subsequently yield wrestling champions.”

In the article, he discusses the importance of training the ATP-PC and lactic acid energy scheme as well as the effectiveness of interval training.

Most of the universities known for their wrestling programs divide the training year into phases such as pre-season, in-season, tournament time, post-season, etc. Most programs have a wrestler lifting weights year round. Often, the wrestler moves from focusing on sheer strength developed by lifting heavy weights with low reps to focusing on power and explosiveness and endurance. Often circuit training is used as well at a great deal of point in the training year.

At the 2011 FILA Wrestling World Championships, Russia won the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling team titles. One may wonder what makes the Russians such great wrestlers. No one knows for sure.

Zach Even-Esh said in an interview, “I was talking with regards to this with a former champion wrestler, coach and current Division 1 head strength coach, Ethan Reeve – he had investigated the same question, but, he went straight to the source and got a hold of world champion wrestlers from Russia. A big percentage of their training was drilling, but this drilling was super intense and looked like an actual match, done at very high intensity.”

Olympic and world champion wrestler Sergei Beloglazov is considered perhaps the best technician the sport of wrestling has ever seen. He states, “I don’t believe in talent. I believe in a coaching program, attitude, and commitment. That is primary in any sport, in particular in wrestling. It takes a long time.”

Conclusions

• Periodization is fundamentally just planning your training. Even if you use a conventional linear model – hypertrophy phase, strength phase, power phase, longer runs in the off season and then sprints for the duration of the season – well, you could do worse. Periodization may be beneficial. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You could plainly divide the year into pre-season, in-season, and off-season. Maybe you want to work on your strength over the summer. Perhaps you’re already strong and want to place more special and significant stress on your conditioning by doing circuits. The point is to have numerous sort of plan. In his book Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, John Jesse emphasizes the importance training year round. You may take a break from wrestling after the season, but don’t take a very long break from your strength and conditioning. You want to come back a little more inviolable and better than the year before.
• Always do not forget that wrestling is an anerobic sport. You’re not training for a marathon. Train accordingly.
• Remember the importance of work capacity. Build a more spectacular gas tank.
• Most conditioning specialists believe that long cardio sessions (e.g. going on long runs) is not beneficial for a combat athlete and may even be detrimental. On the other hand, galore assert it’s good to build an aerobic base and that running at lower amount of energy for longer distances may aid in recovery. Going on numerous longer runs isn’t going to hurt you. Dan Gable ran a lot and it didn’t hurt him. Of course, he also did sprints, strength training, and a lot of wrestling. Just don’t overstate the long running sessions. As I stated earlier, you’re not training for a marathon. You’re a wrestler.
• Interval training and sprints may be an indispensable factor in a wrestler’s conditioning. But, don’t hyperbolize it. Intervals and sprints may be taxing. If you’re already doing a lot of anaerobic accomplishments training (e.g. drilling and wrestling in practice) than adding too much extra anaerobic work (e.g. sprints) could lead to overtraining.
• Strength is exceedingly important. Lift heavy weights for low reps at least portion of the year. It’s possible to gain strength without benefitting too much mass. Circuit training may be great for a wrestler. However, circuits don’t do a wrestler much good if he isn’t reasonably strong to start out with. He’ll plainly develop a lot of fatigue and still be weak. So, do basic heavy lifting and use circuits sparingly.
• Technique is probably the most primary factor in wrestling. You may be very strong and well conditioned, but if have poor achievements you are going to get beat a lot. Make sure you are practicing proper technique. Watch videos if you have to. A stand up is simple, right? But, do you actually recognise how to do a proper stand up? How a great deal of ways may you set up and finish a single leg? Do you have a technique book like Mark Schultz? Will you drill as much as Olympian John Smith

This has gotten to be a long article. Let me leave you with a couple of quotes.

Strength and conditioning specialist Martin Rooney describes the best way for a combat athlete to train. He states, “Squats, deadlifts, bench presses, power cleans; the basics, combined with a good deal of sprinting and a lot of stretching. It may not be glamorous, but it makes you more inviolable and faster.”

Alexander Karelin was a nine time world champion and three time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling. Some accuse Karelin of using performance heightening drugs. He replied by stating, “The humans who accuse me are those who have never trained once in their life like I train each day of my life. The real drug is to train like a madman, actually like a madman.”

Ufc Personal Trainer

Set personal goals and achieve real results with an unparalleled mixed martial arts (MMA) fitness program designed by leading MMA training experts and certified by UFC and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). UFC Personal Trainer provides players with an broad potpourri of effective and challenging MMA-inspired exercises, in both pre-set and customizable routines, to build strength, increase endurance, burn calories and get results. Personalized instruction and tips from the MMA trainers guide players to stay motivated, get fit and track their goals with a helpful in-game journal. In addition, the game’s Ultimate Training Mode enables players to participate in high affect agility drills, with prospects to earn rewards and have fun with friends in a competitive, multiplayer environment.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #586 in Video Games
• Brand: THQ
• Model: 55239
• Published on: 2011-06-28
• Released on: 2011-06-28
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

• Learn over 70 MMA-inspired exercises, including moves from disciplines such as wrestling, kickboxing and Muay Thai
• Utilizes your existent Kinect sensor for Xbox 360 to translate motion to the screen without the need for a controller
• Focus on specific fitness objectives, guided by a UFC personal trainer, in building individualized routines with up to 12 dissimilar exercises
• Hit the mitts versus various general UFC fighters with a potpourri of challenging rhythm and timing-based agility drills that utilize punching and kicking sequences
• An in-game diary enables players to view a comprehensive calendar of their fitness activities, including specific routines, time management and more

Ufc Personal Trainer Pic

Ufc Personal Trainer Picture

Ufc Personal Trainer Photo

Ufc Personal Trainer Image

Ufc Personal Trainer Pic

Ufc Personal Trainer Image

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful.
Great fitness program
By Heisenberg
Just FYI Best Buy is currently giving away UFC Undisputed 2010 free when you buy UFC Personal Trainer. I took advantage of that deal.

I wouldn’t call UFC Personal Trainer a game. It’s a fitness system. This is not a gimmick to get MMA fans to open their wallets. The program was developed and certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine based on MMA training techniques. I started the 30 day strength training program and had an excellent workout. I’m a sergeant in the USMC and I’ve had numerous physical training sessions. The exercises I performed in UFC Trainer were very familiar as they are the same basic exercises Marines use to stay in shape. Pushups, squats, and lunges are proven and tested exercises. If you are already fit I would suggest picking up some light weight dumbbells for the standing upper body workouts such as upright rows and the Arnold press.

The program features various modes to help you get in shape. “Workout mode” has several pre-made routines for you to choose from. Each routine has a short description including what areas it will improve and estimated number of calories burned. You can also make your own workout routine. There is also a “quick workout” mode which I have not tried but the instruction manual implies you pick a target goal and quick workout automatically starts up a workout to improve that area. “Programs” are really where I think this game shines. Here you pick a workout program with a specific goal such as strength, cutting weight, and cardio. The program is for a specific duration as well such as 30 or 60 days.

The “Activities” are simply fun UFC inspired mini-games for you to play. The speed bag is about timing and rhythm, the tire flip is basically a squat where you explode upwards from the squat position, you can hit the mitts and freestyle on the heavy bag as well.

There are systems in place to help track your progress as well. You input your age, height, and weight and your BMR can be calculated. There are graphs to track your progress by calories burned, weight lost, muscle’s exercised, etc. You can even take pictures of yourself to keep track of your body’s fitness transformation. Consistently doing the workout programs unlocks rewards and achievements such as doing 100 upper body workouts.

If you are under the impression that this game will make you into a fighter, you will be disappointed. If you want to be a fighter you need to find a martial arts gym with a focus on both ground work and stand-up. What this game will do for you, is provide you with a fun and motivating way to transform your body. If you do these exercises and have a consistent routine I’m fully confident you will get in better shape.

Note: I didn’t have any problem with the game freezing but some of the other reviews have indicated that the problem was already fixed.

For some of those still having issues:
I’ve noticed a few things in the past week since I bought the game. First it is extremely important that your entire body appears green within the octagon in the corner. If you get in plan position to do push-ups and your face is yellow or red, you are too close to the sensor. Floor exercises seem to be giving people the most trouble. I suggest you make sure your kinect is calibrated properly and give yourself enough room.

Secondly, timing is important when doing the exercises. You have to wait for the green arrow to at least begin to appear before changing position. There is also an audible bleep sound that helps you with the timing. For example When doing push-ups go down, hear the bleep, and then go up. You will then hear another bleep you can go back down. If you do them too fast or out of rhythm the exercise will not register. It actually helps you develop proper form and rhythm. Exercises like push-ups should be done in a steady controlled manner to get the most out of them.

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful.
AWESOME addition to regimen
By GODJOEY
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3Q3N63OHNLTNL Updated 7/5/11 I have been training 20 years and I have to say this 30 day endurance on advanced is definitely a great test. To get a little extra burn a few 5 minute sessions of heavybag and mitt work. I got about 10 pauses today in my workout hopefully they fix this it auto pauses even if you are entirely green and standing still. If anyone was worried about back problems and doing ground routines this is very forgiving with technique found this out when I was getting tired. I wish they made the pushups register like you do jumprope it would be much better for fast pushups. Nothing worse than non registering reps while you are really tired.

Updated 7/1/11 Calorie burning estimator needs some tuning. 600+ strikes 60,000+ points on heavybag in 5 minutes gave 13-53 calories burned. But 3 minutes of very light much slower paced mitt work of maybe 40 strikes gave 99-300+ calories burned.

Updated 6/30/11 Uploaded short video. 5 stars for both fun and overall.

Updated!6/29/11 Just tried an hour of heavybag, speedbag, tire flips and mitt work. I think it’s all FIXED!!! Now this is how it was intended to be! I’m ONLINE and no freezes the last hour. Do pushups according to the pace of the machine I know some of you out there are pushup and situp machines you are limited by the kinect device itself from keeping up with you. That being said I think this is now better than fitness evolved and the best entertaining workout kinect title to date. It’s a MUST for any UFC fan. Hope this review helps I’m totally enjoying this Title now!

Not a fan of a ring girl giving demands on the heavybag, speedbag or tire flips if I wanna hear a woman complaining I’ll go deal with the old lady .

Don’t know if Amazon is slowing down but this deserves a 4 to 5 star now that this bug is fixed also it’s showing I only put 1 star for fun this is 5 stars on both. Amazon needs to fix that.

I’ll continue to update this according to fixes.

Updated! 6/28/11
Game locks up to frequently to get a good steady cardio going. It does not track many exercises accurately pushups or situps etc.. I found it tracked jumping jacks the best also noticed while hitting the heavybag if you perform a Thai clinch it tracks your hands as well while you throw knees so it looks like a triple hit… I feel the activation of particular strikes need serious tuning.

I performed 29-30 pushups it counted 13 not before locking up the whole xbox. These lockups last 10 or more seconds at times. It doesn’t just lock the game up it also may do a never ending loop of whatever sound was on. Do it at the machines pace otherwise it won’t count even if you can bang out 100 pushups in 1 minute it’s too fast for the kinect not UFC trainers fault.

Pros
UFC franchise
Create your own workout routine also “weighted routines”
assorted equipment “Mitt work, Tire flips, heavybag, and speed bag
Unlockable equipment
Overall progress tracking
Best workout title on Kinect a must for UFC fans
Great addition to regimen.

Cons
Wish Pushups registry were like Jump ropes for fast pushups
Intermittent pauses becoming more regular got 5 pauses while my body was green during mitt work. Kills the pace.
None , girl giving me demands “You’re going too fast” You’re going too slow” on the speedbag lol. Not so much a con.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
An Exercise in Frustration
By J. Estrada
I’m a big fan of the UFC and a big fan of working out, so this title seemed like a natural fit for me. I’ve successfully completed P90X and GSP’s excellent RushFit, so I have reference as to what a good workout routine is and I entered UFC Trainer with certain expectations, neither of which is fully met with this title, which certainly feels like a rough draft of a game that could’ve used 3 months of additional development time. At first, the sheer variety of workout options seems rather nice and varied. The variety is quickly wasted upon hearing your trainer repeat phrase after phrase, such as, “let’s get the body ready for a great workout,” followed 3 seconds later by “let’s get the body ready for a great workout.” Much more variety in the dialogue is a no brainer. How the developers let this slide is surprisingly Bush League game development since it really bites into the experience.

More variety in warm-up exercises would have been welcome, such as having the CPU randomly select 5 warm up moves from a pool of warm-up exercises instead of having to do the same ones before every routine. The option to skip warm-up or cooldown would have been nice.

During a routine you are prompted to input how heavy a weight you would like to use for the upcoming exercise… but are never told what that exercise is. So how do I know how much weight to grab (since the weight has to be input, to help figure calorie burn) – I’ll use different weight for triceps than lunges, for example. Again, the user experience seems to be an afterthought

The biggest sin this title commits is in its shoddy body movement recognition during ‘gameplay.’ I can’t remember how many clean, strict, push ups I would hammer out only to see the game wasn’t registering but a fraction of them. Jumping jacks also gave the game a hard time to see and register, so the frustration quickly builds as you are losing your point bonuses and sometimes even fail an exercise outright since the goal numbers aren’t being met. This problem rears its ugly head again in sparring, where sharp and crisp jabs and crosses frequently are met with a buzzer announcing you failed to throw the strike properly.

Graphics are decent, nothing remarkable, background music is derivative hard guitars trying to emulate the UFC feel. Sound effects are ridiculous, similar to 80′s kung-fu movies, like when a trainer throws a knee strike you hear a whoosh! Every step the trainer takes on the mat sounds way more dramatic than it should be.

Overall, I got some decent workouts in, but the game’s faults were so glaring that I became jaded with it after 2 weeks. Even Xbox Achievement hounds should steer clear of this sweaty turd. In closing, this title suffers greatly from its lack of polish. Perhaps next year’s edition will clear up the blemishes this is covered in. For a mere $20 more, I recommend George St. Pierre’s RushFit dvd set. Very varied, very demanding, very fun – and produces great results.

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