This week’s column is going to be a rant of sorts…
In the current issue of Muscle & Fitness (a magazine dedicated to professional bodybuilding), there is a story covering Sean Sherk. It discusses how he came to train in MMA, a little about his athletic history, his time in the UFC, and of course, his training regimen.
Now, most of the time, I take anything I read in a professional bodybuilding magazine with grain of salt, due to all the ghost-writing that usually takes place. However, I’ve see Sean discuss his S&C training a little over at the Underground Forum, and comparing what I saw there, with what was printed in the article, I tend to believe that it’s legit.
Sean’s training is pretty much completely bodybuilding-oriented. It’s a split system in that each day is for certain bodyparts, his sets/reps scheme is mostly 4 sets x 10 reps, he uses quite a few machines, and he heavily uses supersets.
Now, this style of training is completely contradictory to what you might see other professional athletes especially MMAists doing. There are no full body workouts, no olympic lifts, no complexes, no sport specific exercises, etc. Just plain old bodybuilding.
This has certain people in internet S&C circles all in a tizzy. I know, it’s hard to believe people on the internet up in arms about something…
The consensus among many (not all, but quite a few) is that it’s almost beyond belief that he’s using a bodybuilding program. Just how good could Sean be if he used Program X, Program Y, or Program Whatever…
Let me tell you something that might have slipped past a few people…
Sean Sherk is the UFC Lightweight Champion of the world. He’s lost only twice in his career. He has 31 wins to his credit, with over 20 of them not going the distance. Although he lost, he was the first fighter ever to take Matt Hughes a full five rounds.
Not, I’m not the sharpest tool of in the shed, but I just gotta believe that he’s doing something right…
Now, many of the internet quasi-gurus will say, Well, this is a perfect case of somebody succeeding in spite of his training not because of it.
*rolls eyes*
Listen, I’ve heard the whole in spite of quote, and many times, I highly agree. However, to determine that, first you have to take a look at what the trainee is doing, and analyze why it is (or isn’t) working for him/her. Then, take a look at other training methods, and determine then whether or not other training methods could improve on how the athlete is currently performing.
EVERYBODY can improve, so don’t go down that route with me. But, if something is working and working well should a fighter want to be so quick to change it?
It is in vogue to not like bodybuilding. As MMAists, we care about how we can perform on the mat and in the cage or ring, so the idea of training just to look good is ludicrous. But you know what, I’d bet that most bodybuilders think that rolling around on a mat between another guy’s legs is a little…well, you know.
MMA and bodybuilding aren’t alone. Most cliques in the S&C world powerlifters, Olympic lifters, strongman competitors, kettlebell’ers, crossfitt’ers, S&C coaches, etc. all have somebody (and some training method) that they don’t like and/or don’t agree with. And most of the time, it’s everybody besides their own little clique.
And that sucks.
I’m not a fan of the sport of professional bodybuilding. I’m not going to get into why, because this is not the time or place. However, this doesn’t mean that bodybuilding training is not useful.
When I say bodybuilding training, know that I mean training programs/methods that can be employed by natural trainees for the sake of looking better. The programs that the pros use are pretty much useless to the regular joe because one would have to be on insane amounts of drugs for them to work effectively.
Do I think bodybuilding training is optimum for MMA? No. I think there are plenty of ways to train that are better. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work. Sean Sherk is a perfect example. So is Matt Hughes, Andrei Arlovski, Mikael McDonald (from K1), most of the MFS camp, Frank Shamrock (until recently), and a whole slew of others.
In the end, know this and this is what I want you to take away from this little bitch-session:
Before you start dogging somebody because of their training program, take a look at not only what they do, but why they do it. Are they successful? Why? And if not, why not? Only then can you begin to ponder ways to improve training methods.
Try to learn something before you start telling somebody they’re automatically wrong…
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