MMA Conditioning

By Tim Coppin

The ''Terranova Church'' (AKA Tony's garage) has seen many battles of many different styles (kick boxing, BJJ, Thai etc) with many lucky???, folk who will always walk out feeling that little bit better for their blast to 'neversville' and back.

Tony had asked me to join him, Joe and Tez for one of their Tuesday night weight sessions and there was only one answer for me, this was a must. Not a stranger to gym workouts and weight sessions, I was eager to train with the FFMA guys, as training solo like I have for the past 3 or so years is tough and often the hardest battle is the mental one trying to put you off going to the gym. Its miles easier to think ''I have had a hard day'' or ''I will go tomorrow'' and guess what? Tomorrow never comes around! However, if you have others to train with then it's a different story. There is massive motivation because you do not want to let them down and someone pushing you on during the last 2 or 3 reps can make all the difference.

Tony briefly explained the session he had planned and I can assure you it was not a conventional class you would find at ANY gym. The whole workout was to be completed in 1hour; that is a complete body workout from head to toe, 4 sets of 20 reps for each part of the body i.e. legs, chest, arms etc. The 4 sets were each very different and most locked on to the need for core strength while being kind to areas such as neck and back to avoid possible injury (smart training).

Standing watching Joe and Tez demonstrate the first 4 stations to be done in 8 minutes seemed like a lifetime to push out 20 reps on 4 different exercises.........Wrong, considering the weights were not much less than if training for 8/10 reps. This was going to be a burn!

Each set had been thought of and tested to destruction by Tony and the parallels between his engineering and human biology knowledge were coming through in floods of lactic acid in our muscles, as most of the kit has been designed and fabricated in a bespoke fashion to make the burn arrive fast and stay on for days afterwards. With all of this kit there is no room for fancy machines or electrical panels with flashing display, just cold steel and hard concrete. Some of the bars are as thick as your arm to improve grip strength (curls are done with 3" inch diameter barbells!).

This was by far the toughest weights session I had EVER done. I will not spoil any surprise by describing the sets in detail, as you may have the pleasure or pain of a Tuesday session. All I have left to say is I have found my religion at the Terranova Church.

By Tim Coppin, FFMA Student

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