Josh Barnett: Training & Blogs!

[NWOWolfpack]

Josh Barnett: Codex BarnetticusWorkout Routine!!!


The work in question here is not 9 to 5, clerical, labor, busy or normally classified as work in general. The work I'll ramble about today is work in the gym or lifting weights. Oh, so because you do BJJ, Kickboxing or some other "Martial Art" you have now put-off or even perhaps shunned weight lifting or strength training? What's that? Your Sensei/Professor/Sifu/Guro/Swami has you do ancient martial breathing and a few body weight exercises so you don't need to lift weights? Same "Amazing Kresskin" says, "Lifting weights will make you big and inflexible and less able to deflect chi attacks"? All of that is shit and when push comes to shove being bigger, stronger and faster always means something. Always.

I here so much talk about technique conquering all and to practically sacrifice athleticism for technique in sparring. While I can certainly agree that technique is a very crucial and vital aspect in martial arts, I always preach: "Technique within strength." This means that if you lack the strength or athletic ability to make said techniques work, then you are bound to fail. I have witnessed and been subject to countless times when the more skilled technically athlete is unable to execute simply because they were not strong enough or fast enough or both.

This is were strength training becomes vital and by strength training I don't just mean hopping into your local iron works, doing some bodybuilding and thinking you're building the foundation for success. I mean building raw, usable, explosive power that you can execute over and over again throughout a match without tiring. It also means gaining size in lean mass and dropping excess fat…well as much as some of our genetics allow sometimes. This kind of training is not the sort of thing you will find on the shelves in muscle mags or in books on bodybuilding; which is why I am here to throw some light on this.

First off I'd like to say that bodybuilding training is not useless to the combat athlete. Why? Because bodybuilding builds strength, size, looks (Don't kid yourself, it's important.) and most importantly because in our sport often we end up in positions where limbs become isolated and we are unable to recruit a lot of other muscle groups to help. Where bodybuilding training can help is in strengthening muscle groups in isolated exercises and certain small muscles that may be bypassed by larger, stronger movers in more power/explosive movements. For example, the rotator cuff muscles. Bodybuilders spend time working these muscles to give their shoulders the perfect symmetry and shape but because they are a small muscle group, exercises like overhead pressing will recruit more from the delts, triceps, pecs, and other big movers leaving the rotator cuff underdeveloped. When I trashed my shoulder, all the time I spent working my rotator cuff helped me from tearing them to and having even more surgery done.

As combat athletes thought the most beneficial work will be gained from explosive full body movements, heavy power work, endurance circuit training and above all: Always working with intensity. Without intensity you will not even come close to pushing your body to the limits and over. When you compete your opponent will do all they can to stop you from doing what you want to do and work as hard as they can to force their strategy on you. This is not a waltz or even lindy hop, this is muscle against muscle and at high intensity. Training should mimic this and with intensity you will be able to break through what you think are your limits. Intensity is "attacking" the weights, not just hoping to lift them. Intensity is using the same force to accelerate 40lb dumbbells as you would to move 80lbers. Intensity is going for one more rep then you think you can, one more set or more than your partner.

For combat athletes I can't stress enough that grip training is crucial in this. I don't let the people I train nor do I use straps 95% of the time. You want a grip that can crush and hold like a vice. Nothing says manhandled like having someone with a monster grip grab you and jerk you around the mat.

Another important aspect is speed. Get in and get out. Don't waste all day between sets as your opponents won't give you that much time to rest. Plus, the more work you do over a length of time the more work you will have accomplished. If you lift 400lbs once in 5 minutes you will have done less work than if you had lifted 200lbs 10 times in that same time span. I take about 20-45 seconds rest between sets usually. Rest between circuits is a different animal though. At Lou's, I will get 2 minutes to rest but I spend 11-14 minutes working…and that's going balls-to-the-wall, at the top of my anaerobic threshold. Didn't I say something about intensity?


Some of my favorite movements for this kind of training are:

-Deadlifting and squatting because nothing builds raw power like these two exercises.

-Olympic lifting such as cleaning, snatch, high pulls, clean and jerk push presses. These can be done with a barbell or with dumbbells which can add a lot of diversity to your training.

-Pull-ups and dips. I know when I am strong by how many pull-ups I can knock out. Dips are another great power builder and both can be done with weight by simply using a belt harness or even by crossing your ankles and having your partner put a dumbbell between your legs.

-Dumbbell pressing. Flat bench, incline, overhead you name it.

-Strongman (Thanks Tim) and unorthodox lifting. Log pressing, stones, sandbags, sleds, bands, tires, axels, ropes, Indian clubs, the Macebell, hammers. Moving weight in multiple planes, dead weight, and full body work. These are true tests of power and are a great way to make lifting fun.

Ok, so you have some exercises in mind now what do you do with them? Therein lies the fun and some of the most difficult part of the equation. How you put together your training is crucial. Opinions most certainly vary and even mine could take more pages than I am willing write. But we'll keep it simple, point you in the right directions and give you a place to start from.

-Variety. Not just in movements but in changing your routines on a regular basis. I usually won't do the same exercises from week to week and focus more on what muscle groups or concepts I want to work and just make it up when I get there. Variety can also be creating cycles of specific training, for example: Doing a power lifting program for 4 weeks, then an endurance/speed program for 2 weeks and then back to power lifting again.

-Supersetting. I love to superset. Not just like movements or exercises that hit the same areas but opposites as well. One of my absolute favorites is Westside Barbell Club's "Push and Pull" method (Nod to Tim Nagy for showing me this). I will do pull-ups with dips or push-ups. Or maybe bent-over rows with overhead presses. Of course your classic superset like barbell curls with preacher curls is still valid and can be great for building endurance and over taxing the muscle groups. I include drop sets in this kind of thinking although not something I do much of.

-Circuits. Non-stop movement from one exercise to the next is a great way to build endurance, power and increase your anaerobic capacity. You can design your circuits around specific groups or say to simulate rounds for competition. If you can blitz throw circuits of 5 minutes pushing towards your limits then when on the mat or in the ring fatigue should at least be something to not be concerned about.

-Splits. I like a 3 day a week split, my brother-in-law Pat who was a competitive power lifter used to have us do 4 day splits. I have some fighters doing only 2. The main thing is you need to have rest in between your training and there is still time to be put in on the mats. Sometimes you may dial back mat time to improve strength and therefore use some of the time you would have been at the dojo resting. Other times you need just the opposite. For some it's about time management but either way you can't not go at all or go everyday.

And to address stretching this is so simple: Just do it. Who said lift but don't stretch? I have heard so much ignorance from folks saying oh I can't lift weights because I will get stiff and lose flexiblility. Yeah, because your dumb ass stopped working on flexibility. Flexibility allows you to be stronger and faster, period. Extreme examples that counter that stupid notion of weight lifting decreasing flexibility is many of the pro bodybuilders who are way bigger than any of us will likely ever be who can do the splits and more. When Bob Sapp was 370lbs with abs he was more limber than I was. And on a side note (this mostly applies to women) I hear the "I don't want to get big". Guess what? You won't. Unless you have the genetics or are really putting in the effort to do so it won't be a real problem. Trust me.

Last thing to say is that in the end this training is designed to augment and help your combat training. Nothing can take the place of that. Your technique is key but with the added strength and power behind it now you have increased you success rate several fold. Also, when all things are equal whoever is stronger or gets it first wins. Now go throw some iron and rip an arm off or two!

Important links:

-Torque Athletic (Macebell, Clubs, Kettlebells, Hammers, Rings - Anything you can think of. The place to go to get extraordinary equipment to build extraordinary strength)
-Westside Barbell Club (Louie Simmons. Full of great info for building incredible strength)
-Lou's Training (My strength and conditioning coach. I think he's the greatest there is.)
-Lifeline and Power Systems (For all your bands, medicine balls and wheels)
-Veloforce (Mark Ginther a great strength coach for combat athletes.)

Abayo,


Josh

Addendum: Some of my lifting data.

-Deadlift 505lbs x1(no belt, no wraps, no suit @ 250lbs), 465 x8 (same)
-Squat 550lbs x1 @ 18 years old (Wraps and belt), 355 x20 (raw @ 250lbs), 455lbs x10 (raw @ 250lbs.)
-Bench 315lbs x4 (raw, my weakest lift)
-Clean 227lbs x1 with an axle.
-Turkish get-ups with a 70lb sand bag 8 times in 1 minute. 6 in :42 sec.
-Towel pull-ups 16 @ 247lbs
-Pull-ups and push-ups 50 and 100 in 5 sets with :20sec rest in between super sets @ 260lbs.
-Squat with 400lbs of bands for 20 then deadlift 315 for 10 @ 247lbs
-I can alternating swing 25lbs clubs in each hand and swing the 10kg Macebell
-Baseball pull-ups x12 @ 260lbs

My buddy Tim though, I have seen him press a 300+lb log for reps, front squat 405 for reps then drop it and deadlift it for reps raw. Bench 500lbs raw and generally make me feel like I'm not very strong! But with a guy like that to push you, you can only go up.

[Keithlewis]

that is an intense workout!

[Keithlewis]

So after travelling back and forth to Japan, NY, fighting and all the press sleep is my greatest friend as of late. I can't wait to have some downtime, not travelling for once in these last few months. I got a lot ahead of me with my next fight and IGF match so it's imperative to be in great shape. Don't know who I will face in Sapporo for the IGF but I know Pedro is no joke. Nothing to it but to hit the gym, crank the metal and prepare for war.

It seems after seeing the latest UFC and a few recent fights that since my prescence isn't in the octagon a couple of fighters have decided to showcase my gimmicks. We got BJ Penn licking blood after fights (See me vs. Semmy Schilt UFC 32) and Thiago Silva doing the throat slash post fight celebration (You can see that as far back as me vs. Chris Charnos at AMC). I'd like to hear what these fighter's thoughts are on this as it could just be a form of respect/dedication and not straight out biting. But I hope its the former and not the latter. In Pro Wrestling using another's gimmick to get over is highly frowned upon.

I did some great press recently and wouldl ike to fill you guys in on some of the stuff I've done. First off, I love working with Scotty Ferrall of Howard 101 and Jose Mangin of Hard Attack on Sirius radio. Scotty's show is always pure chaos but the guy has such a good time doing his job and such a love for the sport plus Lou always plays an awesome collection of metal.

Speaking of Metal, Jose and Hard Attack may be a new home for me. Within 5 minutes, Jose and I bonded over the blood and steel of real metal. We did a special with some tracks picked by yours truly and it hould air sometime before the Affliction: Banned event. Hope you guys tune in.

I did stuff with NBC, ESPN's MMA Live and TBS of all things too. Keep an eye out.

And head on over to Gfight.tv to see Jeff Osbourne's latest website on the world of women's MMA.

Abayo,


Josh

[Keithlewis]

[tuco]

[NWOWolfpack]

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A lot has happened since I last wrote and yet, even more things are still to happen. That's the thing about time I guess - concurrent and all. I'll put some order to it though and we'll start with my last fight.

It wasn't my best or my most compelling but it was a job done. He tapped, I scored another win and one step closer to being the best there is. Gilbert was very tough and I had expected him to have thrown in the towel long before it got to the point it did. My hats off to Gilbert for coming to fight because without an opponent... it just looks silly. I also have to give thanks to all who supported me in this fight -those in attendance and elsewhere. This was very difficult fight to prepare for, for many reasons, but I did what I could and came through. My coaches Erik, Oscar and Lou helped my tremendously and all of my sparring partners and corner people deserve my thanks too.

Thank you to my sponsors for their continued support of me as well:

Lethalperformance.com
Whipple Superchargers
Toe 2 Toe fight wear
Bolt Thrower
Progenex SRG
Room 101 Silver
CSW
My friends and Famliy
And the whole Heavy Metal Death Korps

I finally got the chance to row some gears in my modded out 2007 Mustang GT/CS and I have to say the car feels like it should have been built that way from the start. Whipple provided the 500hp supercharger kit and Lethal Performance gave me the BMR rear control arms, Steeda Tri-Ax shifter, Magnaflow cat-back exhaust, and DSS one piece drive shaft. What a machine. It rides like a great cat, ready leap at a moment's notice and when the back-end drops and the blower screams -airborne is where you could swear you were headed.

As a special present to myself I picked up a 2009 Mustang Shelby GT500 from the guys at Ken Grody ford right around my last fight. Blue with white stripes (just like Rally's ride in Gunsmith Cats) as I have always wanted. The car is as awesome as you can imagine and the pull of the 5.4L DOHC up front is a engaging sensation that always begs for the next gear. I have plans for this baby as well and you can bet Whipple and Lethal Performance will be on board. So far just 3.73 gears, JLT carbon fiber intake, and a tune but I have some BMR control arms just waiting to be installed. There are oics of the new ride up in the pics section.

I was also fortunate enough to get my 300C SRT8 back from the body shop. It seemed like a lifetime and I was convinced that in the end I would know it was different. That it was never to be the same as when I bought it and would liken it to a replacement pet. I am glad to say that the car feels as it did and I am just glad to have it back.

I have a seminar coming up this weekend in Hankinson, North Dakota @ the Dakota Magic Casino and Convention Center. The cost is only $50 and we will have a good time learning new and exciting ways to injure one another. This is not my first trip to the "Flickertail State", my third actually. I hope not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes this time. For more info on the seminar and the events that weekend, look here: http://www.Midwestgrapplingchallenge.com

Tomorrow I wake up bright and early to make the trek to hair and make-up to fill in for my buddy Bas on Inside MMA. This will be a return to hosting for me as I hosted the currently airing Pancrase: Legends of Mixed Martial Arts on Imaginasian TV. It'll be a hoot...so I am told. It airs this friday so take a look.

In terms of who and when I am fighting next I can't say. Not because I can't say but because I don't know. I can say for sure though that I haven't turned anyone down nor have I been truly offered anyone as a solid opponent. I train and stay ready, awaiting the call to battle.

It has come to my attention that Aleksander Emelianenko has been making very bold statements about me again. I have heard, from his own blog have you, that I have been offered a fight with him recently and refused and that I was scared when I approached him backstage at Affliction: Banned. Well, I for one have heard from many valid sources that Aleks has a blood borne disease such as Hepatitis B and with his abundance of tattoo work that could easily be the case. This rules out the possibility of fighting him in a sanctioned fight anywhere they require a blood test. I have not been offered any such fight with Aleks but will say this : If you want a rematch Aleks all you have to do is come up to me somewhere and say something. Talk any kind of shit you want and it's on. If you got the guts, we will do it right then and there and I for one will make sure you won't be able to ask for much of anything, let alone a rematch ,when I am done with you.

Me and my student Erik Hammer recently returned from another successful venture to Japan for the IGF. Hammer put away Daijiro Matsui and I tapped out Fonseca, a huge BJJ stylist. The IGF is going strong and it's looking like a three way fight between me, Ogawa and Takayama for a possible title match. I can't wait to see who's left when the dust settles.

I was very lucky last Friday to attend a special screening at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences the finale of Battlestar Galactica. This was the finishing note to the symphony that the cast and crew had created over the course of 4 years. And what a beautiful song it was. All of this was from my friend Tahmoh. Thanks. It was cool to meet Edward James Olmos and Grace Park in person as well. I also ran into Ed Quinn, another friend from a group of ours too infamous to get a nickname yet. Aleks, Ed, Tahmoh, Josh and Victor doesn't sound very sinister does it? But that's the beauty of it! (insert maniacal laugh here)

Here is where I will address some of the tragedy that has befallen people close to me recently. It started with the tremor that was Justin Levens and his wife. Suicides that came suddenly but linger on their exit. I had just seen him a month or so ago back in CSW and had tried to reach him up often up until his incident. I wore a JL on my trunks when I fought to take some of him, at least what was left of him in me, to the ring once more. I hope he enjoyed it. The night before my match my boxing coach, Oscar Muniz was involved in a serious car accident that had him so stuck in his vehicle that they used the "Jaws of Life" to free him. He has surgery on his knee and will recover but I hope that my coach can be back in the ring with me as it was before.

Now recently someone I knew for a long time. My very first sponsor in fact was Tapout and it came through Charles Lewis. Most knew him as Mask but I knew him as the guy i would talk on the phone with for hours throwing ideas at each other. They guy who would crash with me at UFC's. The guy who truly loved MMA. He's now gone as well. A night time case of harmless fun, except one guy is enjoying life and the other is drunk behind the wheel and including us all in his misery. People are not meant to be forever. Not even most of our memories will last long enough for more than those immediately around us to ever remember even our names. But I will remember those that matter me. Even though I too am not immortal, it's the best I can do.

I think that will cover things for now. I'll be around but I can't always promise I'll be in a mood to write. I'll leave you with some of the things I have been digging lately:

Fallout 3 on the PC
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II on the PC
Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3
Afro Samurai on Blue Ray
Django on DVD
The Road Warrior on Blue Ray
Cain's Last Stand by Sandy Mitchell
Achetype and Obsolete by Fear Factory

Abayo,

Josh

[Keithlewis]

Embarrassing and Ridiculous

Or at least that's what Cyborg and camp must have thought. It's stupid that I should be blogging about this and not about the sweet, kick-ass events I went to recently but with all the talk I suppose it has more merit.

With the menstrual cycle excuse firmly in hand and an unwillingness to do any more than bare minimum, Chris Cyborg stepped on that scale Friday with no intention of making weight I assume. I heard blame on a scale at a gym they used, the period (as explained to me by saying, "Blood" in a Portuguese accent and making a whooshing effect with his hands from the crotch area.), and the fact that Gremlins didn't enter the picture is surprising.

It would be one thing if Hitomi had cut too but this issue is compounded by the fact that she gained weight to make this fight already, accepting she would be out sized....but accepting it from a weight of 146, not 150lbs. By the time any deals were made, Cyborg hit a scale at 1 am and was 158lbs. This was post pizza, which we saw her eat after just making weight enough to close the gap in weight difference which the commission needed just to even allow a fight to happen. She had until 8pm to cut. She could have worked to insure a bout by trying to make 146 as was agreed. But she did just enough and hoped we would accept the fight. They wouldn't reject a fight this big and on TV of things...of course not!

Hitomi did at first and I supported her in doing so. But when she decided to fight anyways, I had to support that as well. By the time Hitomi had agreed to fight there had been many attempts to make the fight happen and her mind had not changed. Each time Shannon, Shu and I would present the offer and let her know, any choice she makes is OK by us. Each time she said no. When 2 am rolled around and Cyborg's camp was A-OK with anything that didn't involve cutting any weight and the deal was lofty...Hitomi eventually agreed. I don't think money or anything like that was what changed her mind though. Hitomi and Megumi talked things over and the decision was made.

The fight went on and we all deeply hoped Hitomi would make cyborg pay in the cage. In the end the weight difference was much too much. Hitomi lacked the size and strength to effectively use her techniques and I believe that that is the main and deciding reason why Cyborg won that fight. Cyborg was gassed half-way through the 2nd and if she had had to make 146, I think she would have fainted from lack of 02..or maybe cramps would have been the excuse.

Her victory is hollow and her turning a blind eye to her lack of professionalism is deplorable. Never once was an apology uttered. Never once did I see one act of accountability. I don't know how to say it in Portuguese but, Cyborg is deserving of no respect and no praise. If you were ever a fan, I'd find someone of better character and better heart.

Josh

PS. Throughout this Scott Coker never once tried to circumvent or go to the fighter directly. He always was professional and always left the business dealing to the managers.

PPS. I am now getting behind in what I wanted to blog about so I will try to catch up. Here are some previews -Megadeth, Howard Jones, Golden Gods Awards, Me fighting in public, and Goatwhore. Are you excited?

[broncofan]

WAR Megadeth and Barnett!