. "Its like a rope. If you pull the ro

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My career has seen me do the strength and conditioning for some elite members of Team Quest, Reign MMA, and Black House. Its been a wild ride that has found me on the other end of the microphone and writing. Im now more of a media based personality that trains specialized clients, rather than a strength coach that does media from time to time. So when the opportunity came to do another fight camp, I jumped on it. Well, not exactly a fight camp. I dont intend on sparring. This is me showing fans what goes into the physical prep of a fighter. Its something every fan should experience. Not just MMA fans, but all sports. I always say you cant boo an athlete until youve trained like one. Without the sparring and the training injuries, this still isnt the total experience. If you follow along and try adding some of the treadmill sprint work, different lifting techniques and of course, the stretching, youll soon come to realize that MMA is actually a whole new level of tough. Never mind the technical aspect, lets get an appreciation for the workouts. For this blog, I want to give you the full experience. That means, training with a coach. Can I do it alone? Yes, Ive prepared some of the best of the best. I know that to get the best results, you need the best coaches. So I went where a few of my mentors and role models go. Troy Westwood is one of the fittest guys I know, hes the host of the Morning show on TSN 1290, Doug Brown played CFL and was one of the best of the best, Obby Kahn makes the best shawarma in Winnipeg, He also happens to have come back from injuries and illness that would have crippled lesser men. They all go see Jeff Fisher at Elite Performance in Winnipeg. So I knocked on the door. So far I have been through the testing day and I may be regretting the decision. Here is where the journey starts. I had a full medical work up to ensure no mistakes or simple injuries were caused during training. The worst thing that can happen to any athlete is to lose technical and tactical days because a Strength Coach caused an injury in the gym. A mistake that can be easily avoided with an understanding of the body and making a program designed for the athlete. I now have this thanks to Fish. The next step is finding the athletes starting point, and ensuring you never over train or take steps back. My testing day set out to find my lactic threshold, anaerobic capacity, and over all muscle strength. I did 17 beautiful chin ups. Not bad considering Im 63 and 228lbs. I was proud.Im getting my work done with a professional. If you dont have access to this type of total committed training, try doing this to find your starting point next time you are at the gym. (Always consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program) Work with a spotter/counter/timer Complete as many push-ups as you can without stopping. Rest 3-4 minutes and repeat. Same thing for Chin Ups. Plank once until failure. Run as far as you can in 12 minutes record the distance you go in METERS (not miles or kilometers). This is called the cooper test. Plug the numbers into this equation - Basically I want you to subtract 505 from the meters you run. Then divide it by 45. Thats your VO2 max; feel free to compare it with the normal numbers that can be found on the internet. Its fun to know where you stand. Once you have your numbers, start to make them better. Ill retest at the end of this fight camp, a pro athlete would just get in the cage because the proof is in the punch. For us fans of the sport, we just get to train like a pro, and get better at being healthy. Join along; this will increase your respect for top pros. My hope is to go out and visit a few of my friends competing in the World Series of Fighting and get training beside them. In the meantime, Im going to be grinding out workouts thanks to Elite Performance. Check it out on twitter #Relentless. Jon Gray Jersey . The 42-ranked Czech saved seven break points while converting his one chance, and defeated the No. 3 seed in 1 hour 46 minutes. Rosol, who lost in the final in Stuttgart against Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday, awaits the winner between Philipp Kohlschreiber or 2011 champion Gilles Simon. Kyle Freeland Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. http://www.rockiesgearproshop.com/Rocki ... ds-Jersey/. Rookie Christian Vazquez got his first three major league hits and drove in three runs, while David Ortiz had three RBIs to break open the game in the sixth inning and lead Boston over the Houston Astros 8-3. Jonathan Lucroy Jersey . -- Byron Scott is taking over the Los Angeles Lakers with the vocal support of his fellow Showtime greats. Chris Iannetta Jersey . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. TORONTO -- Former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre says his knee surgery went well and the rehab that looms ahead wont impact his decision on whether to return to mixed martial arts competition. The 32-year-old Montreal fighters left knee was operated on Wednesday in Los Angeles. He had reconstructive surgery on the other knee in December 2011. "I climbed Everest once before and Im going to climb it again -- if I want to," St-Pierre told The Canadian Press on Thursday. "Its not a problem for me. . . . Anyway I didnt plan to come back to competition before 2015. "And if I want to come back, when I want to come back, Ill do it again. Ill have all the tools to do it again. Im not going to be less strong or less athletic -- Im going to be just better." "Ill have two bionic knees," he added. St-Pierre (25-2) vacated his 170-pound title in December, saying he needed a break from the sport. He made the announcement just weeks after winning a controversial split decision over Johny (Big Rigg) Hendricks at UFC 167. St-Pierre kept training and tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a recent workout. He was wrestling "a kid" and believes his knee caught in a mat and twisted. "It was like someone hurt his back by tying up his shoes." Both knee operations were done by Los Angeles-based surgeon Neal ElAttrache, who looked after NFL star Tom Bradys knee in 2009. "I believe hes the best in the world," said the fighter. St-Pierre plans to spend the next three months rehabbing in Los Angeles, using the same team as he did for the last operation. While he is on painkillers in the immediate wake of the surgery, he said he was in good spirits. "Perfect timing for me that I get hurt right now," he said. "Thats the way to look at it." He expects to resume training in five months, with full sparringg in six to seven months.dddddddddddd St-Pierre fought 11 months after his first surgery, defeating Carlos (The Natural Born Killer) Condit at UFC 154 in November 2012. His experiences after the first knee surgery will help him, he said. "I know the way now. Its going to be even better. But the thing is you cant go faster than your body heals. I dont want to go too fast." He said the ACL damage in both knees was the same. The former champion believes the damage to his knees was bound to happen, given the pounding the ligaments have taken over the years. "Its like a rope. If you pull the rope every day as hard as you can -- boom, boom, you pull it, pull it, pull it, pull it -- one day its going to break. Its the force of pressure. If you hit a wall at home in the same spot every day when you pass by, at one point youre going to make a hole in it. "And thats what happened with my ACL. Ive been training martial arts since I was nine years old and Im a very explosive guy." He plans to add an expert in the science of mobility to his entourage, to correct his movements -- from running to jumping. "Its never going to happen again," he said. "The pressure will be on my bone and my muscle, not on my ligaments." St-Pierre says he has been told that the vast majority of ACL injuries are preventable. "They happen over the course of time because people do the wrong moves," he said. If or when St-Pierre comes back to the UFC, he will do so as a welterweight. He noted Hendricks, who went on to win the 170-pound title, weighed 215 pounds when the two did their press tour. GSP was 190 pounds. He also reiterated that drug testing in the sport had to improve before he came back. "Its not personal to one fighter," he said. "Its personal to me. Its something that has to be done, I believe." ' ' '