| 101. When you wake up in the morning, throw 40 light | | | | use these steps right to prevent swelling and to speed |
| punches and elbows in front of the mirror with an | | | | up recovery time. |
| emphasis on technique. | | | | 39. Switch stances to shock your mind and body. If |
| 100. Take a 30 minute run before the day starts to | | | | you like to stand in a right handed stance (orthodox), |
| rev up your metabolism. | | | | then switch it up and try to learn to stand in a |
| 99. Find a partner who is better than you in one area | | | | left-handed stance (southpaw). If you can learn to |
| of the game, but worse than you in another area of | | | | switch it up, it will help your game. |
| the game. Exchange techniques and thoughts daily. | | | | 38. Keep working through plateaus. If you find |
| 98. Keep a daily journal of everything that you have | | | | yourself frustrated because you have been at the |
| learned and refresh yourself often | | | | same level for a while, do not quit. Consistency is the |
| 97. Take a video of you sparring so that you can | | | | key to success. The turtle does win the race. |
| see yourself and spot the errors. | | | | 37. Visualize greatness. Even if you do not |
| 96. Strengthen your core by doing 200 sit ups a day | | | | necessarily compete, visualize the moments when you |
| as part of your workout routine. | | | | feel the best at training or sparring. Think back to |
| 95. Take Muay Thai classes at least 2x a week and | | | | how you feel on those highs. |
| BJJ classes 2x a week | | | | 36. Train your mind to be able to get back to those |
| 94. Learn how to do 3 types of takedowns | | | | highs. The mind drives the body. If your mental |
| effectively and learn how to defend against 3 types of | | | | state is in peak performance state, your body will |
| takedowns | | | | respond. |
| 93. Spar with someone better than you as a weekly | | | | 35. Feel the need for speed. Speed matters a lot in |
| habit | | | | the sport of MMA. If you want to develop faster |
| 92. Sit down and ask your instructors how they | | | | strikes, practice with a speed ball. Don't focus on |
| succeeded | | | | power. Just focus on pure speed. Do it at least |
| 91. Go out to dinner with your teammates and talk | | | | every day for 5 minutes and you will see results. |
| about MMA. Exchange ideas, training tips, techniques | | | | 34. The need for speed also applies to the ground |
| and everything else. | | | | game. Drill the intricate details of the arm bar 50 |
| 90. Go to YouTube or MMATKO and watch past | | | | times after a class. Your muscles will start to |
| fight footage - Do it every Sunday. | | | | memorize the move and you will be able to do it fast |
| 89. DON'T ask advice or tips from someone much | | | | in your sleep. |
| worse than you | | | | 33. Teach someone who is less skilled than you. |
| 88. Evaluate the sources of your learning and be | | | | When you teach someone, you actually end up |
| very careful who you learn from | | | | learning a lot because it forces you to review all the |
| 87. Speed up your reflexes. tand against a wall and | | | | details of every technique. It also end up being a |
| have a friend lightly toss a tennis ball at your head | | | | forum of questions and answers that open your mind. |
| while you try to dodge it with your feet planted in the | | | | 32. Dedicate a whole week to the ground game |
| same spot. | | | | only. Instead of alternating or doing both striking and |
| 86. Drill, drill, drill. After class, find a partner and do | | | | ground, focus on 1 area on a given random week. |
| drills to improve muscle memory. | | | | 31. Dedicate a whole week to the standup game |
| 85. Stretch out dynamically every morning. | | | | only. Instead of alternating or doing both striking and |
| Dynamic stretching is much more important than static | | | | ground, focus on 1 area on a given random week. |
| stretching. | | | | 30. Learn to use your hips. Your hips are the key |
| 84. Do some strength training to improve your | | | | to power for striking and they are also the key to your |
| strength. | | | | ground game. |
| 83. Do some high intensity cardio training like doing 5 | | | | 29. Compete. It does not matter whether you just |
| rounds of running up 100 flights of stairs as fast as you | | | | do MMA for fun or if you are a professional fighter. |
| can | | | | When you compete, you learn to use all aspects of |
| 82. Drink your supplements daily - fish oil, glucosamine | | | | your game in a live setting. Adrenaline, pressure, and |
| chondroitin, multi vitamins, BCAAs, recovery drinks | | | | fatigue are all great elements to deal with. |
| (after a workout) and protein shakes. | | | | 28. Compete often. Fighting (or self-defense) is |
| 81. Sleep 8 hours a day. The body needs to rest in | | | | 99% mental. Even if you have all the tools in the |
| order to recover so that you can perform to the best | | | | world, but you have a weak mental game, you will |
| of your abilities during training. | | | | fail. The best way to strengthen your mind is to |
| 80. Eat 5-6 small meals a day to keep your | | | | compete. |
| metabolism revving hard and your energy level high. | | | | 27. Tap often. There are no heroes in the gym. |
| 79. Stick with the training system at your school, | | | | Training is about learning. Leave your ego at the door |
| especially if it is proven. | | | | when you are training. It is far better to tap 1000x |
| 78. Attend as many seminars as you can to grow | | | | than to have your arm broken 1x. |
| and learn. Learning one new technique is worth a | | | | 26. Lower the volume often. If you are sparring |
| seminar, especially if it sticks and becomes your own. | | | | Muay Thai, learn to spar lightly so that you don't injure |
| 77. Do basic BJJ drills every day in order to keep | | | | your partner. Controlled sparring is a time to work on |
| your hips fast and flexible - hip escapes, rolls, break | | | | new combinations and footwork. |
| falls, burpees, etc | | | | 25. Spar hard once in a while. If you are a serious |
| 76. Take 1 day off a week and unwind. | | | | MMA athlete, you will need to spar hard to understand |
| 75. Get a massage as often as you can so that you | | | | the intricacies of speed, power, pain, and more. Even |
| can keep your body lactic acid-free and limber. | | | | if you are not serious, you should try to spar hard at |
| 74. Do some boxing drills such as simultaneous jab | | | | least 1x a month. |
| counters, parry counters, and other cool drills with a | | | | 24. Do not spar hard often. If you spar hard often, |
| partner to improve your speed and timing. | | | | you will inevitably get injured (or injure your partner). |
| 73. If you don't know any drills that will improve your | | | | Injuries are the things that slow your progress down |
| speed and timing, then ask your instructors for a full | | | | because it puts you out of the game for a long time. |
| detailed list of drills in every discipline - Muay Thai, BJJ, | | | | 23. Variety is the key. It is easy to get stuck in a |
| Boxing, and Wrestling. | | | | rut. If you repeat the same thing over and over, it will |
| 72. Throw 50 kicks with each leg into a heavy bag | | | | get boring. To keep things interesting, do not have a |
| every day after practice. It builds up your power and | | | | routine (if you are not competing). If you are doing |
| your bone density. | | | | MMA for fun, then the idea is to keep it fun. |
| 71. Buy tons of training DVDs from the world's best | | | | 22. Buy some excellent running shoes. |
| experts in all disciplines. | | | | 21. Use the Gi when doing BJJ. Even though many |
| 70. Mix up your cardio workouts - high intensity | | | | MMA athletes train solely without the gi, top MMA |
| versus low intensity, anaerobic versus aerobic | | | | athletes use the Gi like GSP, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, |
| 69. Shock your body by doing different sports that | | | | Kenny Florian, and others. |
| your muscles are not used to | | | | 20. Invest in 2 great Gis for BJJ |
| 68. Remember that MMA (BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing, | | | | 19. Stay on top of informative fight blogs such as and |
| and Wrestling) is a lifestyle if you really want to | | | | 18. Buy cool training apparel. MMA is a lifestyle, an |
| receive all the benefits of the discipline. | | | | attitude, and a way to express yourself. So whether |
| 67. Don't smoke. Quit if you do. | | | | it is that cool Affliction shirt you have been eying or |
| 66. Drink alcohol in moderation. Or don't drink at all. | | | | that awesome pair of fight shorts you've always |
| 65. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. A fully | | | | wanted, buy them. It might not help you fight better, |
| hydrated body is needed to optimize performance. | | | | but it will keep you inspired to train. |
| 64. Master the basics of Muay Thai, BJJ, Boxing, and | | | | 17. Go to a live UFC event. There is nothing more |
| Wrestling. | | | | electrifying than a big fight. The adrenaline, the |
| 63. Learn the transition game or how to weave | | | | excitement, the energy. It will give you a high for |
| seamlessly between the 4 disciplines. | | | | days and you will train like a madman afterwards. |
| 62. Train combinations that utilize all 4 disciplines (ie. | | | | 16. Drink Red Bull and eat a banana 30 minutes |
| low leg kick, right cross, double leg takedown, side | | | | before you train - don't do it too often - only when you |
| control, mount, armbar) | | | | feel a little sluggish or mentally tired. It takes 30 |
| 61. Take private lessons with a qualified instructor. | | | | minutes for caffeine and taurine to take full effect. |
| You can have your bad habits eliminated. | | | | 15. Invest in your role models. If your favorite fighter |
| 60. Buy the best books in each discipline and read | | | | is Anderson Silva, buy his DVDs and learn all his little |
| like a mad man. | | | | tricks. If you love BJ Penn's game, buy his books. It |
| 59. Skip rope for 30 minutes straight on a regular | | | | is important to have role models to learn from. It |
| basis. It builds your calf muscles and shoulders for | | | | helps to accelerate your learning. |
| more explosive striking. | | | | 14. Make SAFETY your #1 priority. When you train, |
| 58. Do circuit training with stations of TRX, weights, | | | | you should always make sure that safety (your safety |
| heavy bag work, sprints, tire jumping, and rope climbing | | | | and your partner's safety) is the #1 priority. If you get |
| to improve your cardiovascular performance. | | | | injured, it takes you out of the game of training. If you |
| 57. Find a group of training partners at your level and | | | | injure a few partners, no one will want to train with |
| motivate each other to prevent slacking or skipping | | | | you. |
| class. | | | | 13. Train with different sizes. Train with people |
| 56. Watch the UFC, Art of War FC, Dream, | | | | smaller than you. Train with skinny tall people. Train |
| Sengoku, and all the other top MMA shows on TV a | | | | with big linebacker types. Train with all sizes and |
| regular basis. It will keep you fired up, but also you will | | | | learn to adjust your game. The experience itself is |
| learn a lot. | | | | worth its weight in gold. |
| 55. Visit Sherdog, MMA Weekly, MMA Junkie, | | | | 12. Find the best teachers possible. If you are |
| MixedMartialArts, and Middle Easy daily to get your | | | | learning Muay Thai, make sure your instructor has |
| information dose of MMA. | | | | deep experience in Muay Thai. If you are learning |
| 54. Take training vacations. Fly to Thailand to train | | | | BJJ, make sure your instructor has deep experience in |
| a month in Muay Thai. Fly to Brazil to train a month | | | | BJJ. |
| of BJJ. Go to the source of each discipline and | | | | 11. Keep your gym bag stocked with all the |
| absorb everything. | | | | necessities at all times. Extra clothes, muscle |
| 53. Put up a blog and chronicle your journey towards | | | | ointment, band aids, athletic tape, painkillers, a cup, a |
| greatness. Nothing helps more than being public with | | | | mouthpiece, handwraps, gloves, running shoes, protein |
| your successes and failures. | | | | shake packets, etc. You never know when you will |
| 52. Make a wish list of the top academies that you | | | | need them. |
| would like to visit to train. | | | | 10. On your days off, be sure to cheat. Eat |
| 51. Visit them! | | | | anything you want. Do anything you want. But don't |
| 50. Subscribe to magazines like Fight!, Fighters Only, | | | | do anything that has to do with MMA. Keep your |
| Gracie Magazine, Grappling, and FightSport to stay on | | | | love for MMA fresh. You'll train harder. |
| the cutting edge of news, tips, and techniques. | | | | 9. Set goals. If you set mini goals, it will help you to |
| 49. Practice your 3 favorite submissions every day | | | | stay on the path to unleashing your potential. If you |
| by drilling them 50 times each with your partner | | | | are a blue belt in BJJ, focus on the next stripe before |
| 48. Practice your 3 favorite striking combinations and | | | | you focus on the purple belt. If you are a beginner in |
| drill them with someone holding the Thai pads for you | | | | Muay Thai, focus on mastering the Thai clinch. MMA |
| for 5 minutes per round. | | | | is a mountain and you need to set little goals to climb it. |
| 47. Shock your body by breaking out of your routine | | | | 8. Accept roadblocks. There will always be training |
| and doing something completely different like rock | | | | plateaus or injuries or a bad training partner to prevent |
| climbing, yoga, or gymnastics. | | | | you from wanting to train. It is a natural part of life. |
| 46. Treat your balance as yet another skill to | | | | Go with the flow. Don't fight it. |
| master. To achieve great balance, sharpen it by | | | | 7. Don't accept roadblocks for too long. If you are |
| spending 15 minutes every other day to do balance | | | | injured, rest. If you are frustrated, go do something to |
| drills like squats on a wooden board with a ball | | | | get your mind off it. Don't stay out of the game too |
| underneath it or by trying to stand on a Swiss ball | | | | long or else you will completely lose momentum. |
| while punching combos in the air. | | | | 6. Learn to workout with kettlebells. Kettlebells are |
| 45. Deprive yourself. Take a week off every now | | | | a great way to build your entire body. Take some |
| and then to let your body and mind recharge. Nothing | | | | kettlebell classes and see the results. |
| is better for you than getting the hunger back for | | | | 5. Take a Strength and Conditioning class 2-3x a |
| training. | | | | week to help boost your fitness. |
| 44. Practice yoga 1-2x a week to improve your | | | | 4. Train with people you love. If you train with |
| breathing, concentration, and flexibility. | | | | friends, it makes it more fun. You don't have to |
| 43. Do isolation drills on the ground by starting off in | | | | worry about getting hurt and you will both be focused |
| an inferior position with your partner and try your best | | | | on your favorite sport in the world. |
| to reverse the position. | | | | 3. Jump tires. Find an old tire of a car. Lay it flat |
| 42. Practice ground and pound with a heavy bag on | | | | on the ground. Start bouncing on it. After a few |
| the ground. Max out for 5 minutes for 3 rounds and | | | | minutes, you will feel your calves burn and your heart |
| be sure to change up positions from side control to | | | | pound away. Tire jumping is a great way to warm |
| mount to knee on belly, etc. | | | | up and to develop your calf muscles for explosive |
| 41. Invest in the best equipment that money can | | | | movement. |
| buy. When it comes to safety protective gear like | | | | 2. Remember that it is a journey! There is no |
| gloves, headgear, mouthpieces, cups, etc, spend the | | | | destination. MMA is about constantly evolving |
| most that you can. It will keep you safe (or safer) | | | | yourself and always improving. Always go back to |
| and help to minimize the risk of injury. | | | | why you are doing it in the first place. Because it is |
| 40. If you accidentally get hurt, practice RICE. Rest, | | | | FUN. And because you LOVE it. |
| Ice, Compression, and Elevation. To minimize injury, | | | | 1. Keep EVOLVING!!! |