Consult a professional before embarking on any activity or lifestyle change. The author, publishers and distributors jointly or separately do not accept responsibility for any injury, damage or loss of anything, including, but not limited to life, person or property due to any advice from this book.
Copyright © 2004 by Kobus Huisamen. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Pictures by John Yoo.
To the trainers who made the most impact in my career: Steve Kalakoda, Henk Pelser and Ivan Hippolyte.
How strong are you, physically?
How do you measure up to the real power fighters?
If you think this is an irrelevant question, think again.
The days when strength wasn’t a requirement for fighters are gone. Long gone.
All the athletes are getting bigger, stronger and quicker.
If you compete in the heavyweight division, how do you weigh up on strength and size? In this division, it’s probably more important than any other division.
Strength in itself is an advantage. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the 2002 K-1 series when newcomer Bob Sapp fought reigning K-1 champion, Ernesto Hoost, twice that year.
Bob Sapp, with a weight of 160 kilograms and the physique of a body builder could bench press houses.
Hoost, had impeccable speed, technique and agility.
Sapp couldn’t even punch straight and threw the kind of wild haymakers that you would see a 6-year old throw in a school fight. But he knocked Hoost out – in both fights!
I asked Hoost a month or two later in Vos Gym about it and he said that Sapp punched him with such tremendous power, that he just couldn’t take the shots and remain standing.
Working in the gym
Is there any sport in the world where people don’t go to the gym to improve their ability, any more (except for chess, maybe)?
Golfers, sprinters, fighters and football players are all working out in the gym these days.
Initially, I didn’t feel it necessary to lift. So, I didn’t start working out in a gym until I turned professional at the age of 23. Now, I wish I had started in high school!
However, I was fortunate to have had my introduction to a gym by a national level powerlifter.
Today, powerlifting is still the basis of my gym training routines.
I believe in lifting heavy – I’m in the gym to develop strength and not a pretty physique. That would be a bonus – a marketable bonus, but not the primary aim.
Developing mass and the ability to increase the weight you lift usually goes together.
So, if you haven’t already – go in there and start lifting.
And if you have, then are you getting any results? Strength increasing?
If not – then there may be something wrong with your programme.
In the beginning, I would advise you to focus on the three basic powerlifting exercises: bench press, squat and dead lift. If you don’t want to do squats, do leg presses. If you want to do squats, make sure you stretch regularly.
These are compound movements, meaning they use a lot of muscle groups. By working these three movements, you’re working your whole body.
Train to become really strong in theses three exercises, primarily. By becoming stronger in these movements, you can increase your workload and gain more overall strength and improve your stabilizers – because the movements are compound movements – they involve large muscle groups.
Lifting heavier will increase your size a bit which will increase your strength again, and increasing your size, causing a reactive circle which will snowball both factors – until you reach your limit, that is.
A caution, please: When you lift – please wear a belt, especially with back exercises. Ninety percent of my injuries in the gym came from back exercises – especially the dead lift.
Use the following routine for the first 3 months of your gym career, or in a comeback, or when you just need a change.
Power building:
| Day 1 | Bench press | Heavy – until you reach your one-rep max |
| Flat bench flye | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Seated shoulder press | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Triceps cable press down | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Day 2 | Squat (or leg press) | Heavy – until you reach your one-rep max |
| Leg curls | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Leg extensions | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Standing calf raises | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Day 3 | Dead lift | Heavy – until you reach your one-rep max |
| Seated pulley rows | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Barbell arm curls | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps | |
| Lat pull down | Medium weight: 3 sets of 10 reps |
I love to combine “push muscles” in one session and “pull muscles” in another – except for leg day. On leg day, I would do a complete leg workout in one session.
A typical workout should vary every 3 months.
My routines would look something like this: (it all depends on how it fits in with
overall workout schedules, i.e. incorporating stamina, fight training and other
special routines.)
| Day 1 | Chest and triceps |
| Day 2 | Back and biceps (sometimes, I do biceps on a separate day and combine it with forearms) |
| Day 3 | Neck, traps and shoulders |
| Day 4 | Legs |
| Day 5 | Rest |
Stick to one routine for about 3 months, before changing it. I usually use:
| Week 1 | Week 2, 3 and 4 | ||
| Chest routine |
Bench press (let the bar touch your chest) |
Work up to a one-rep max – lifting as heavy as you possibly can. |
Lifting 80% of your one-rep max for 5 sets of 5 reps |
| Incline bench press (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Peck deck | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Seated chest press | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Flat bench flye (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Back routine |
Dead lift (Once every 7 –10 days – don’t use straps) |
Work up to a one-rep max – lifting as heavy as you possibly can. |
Lifting 80% of your one-rep max for 5 sets of 5 reps |
| Seated pulley rows (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Lat pull down (underhand grip) (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Bent over barbell rows (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Biceps routine |
Alternating dumbbell curls (Seated) |
Lifting as heavy as you possibly can for 3 sets. |
Lifting as heavy as you possibly can for 3 sets. |
| Alternating hammer curls (Standing) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Barbell curls (Optional) |
Lifting as heavy as you possibly can for 3 sets. |
3 sets x 8 reps |
| Triceps routine |
Cable press downs | Lifting as heavy as you possibly can for 3 sets. |
Lifting as heavy as you possibly can for 3 sets. |
| Cable press downs (Reverse grip) (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| One arm cable press downs – moving diagonally down across the chest |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Neck routine |
Wrestler’s bridge | 2 sets of 20 repetitions on both front and back sides |
2 sets of 20 repetitions on both front and back sides |
| Neck pulls on pulleys (Optional) |
3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Traps routine |
Smith machine shrugs | 2 sets of maximum reps on heavy weight, for each in front of body and behind |
2 sets of maximum reps on heavy weight, for each in front of body and behind |
| Shoulders routine |
Seated shoulder press | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Arnold press | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Lateral raise | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Front deltoid raise | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps |
| Legs routine |
Leg press (You can do squats if you like) |
Go as heavy as possible for sets of 6 reps |
Go as heavy as possible for sets of 6 reps |
| Leg curls | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Leg extensions | 3 sets x 8 reps | 3 sets x 8 reps | |
| Seated calf raise | Go as heavy as possible for sets of 6 reps |
Go as heavy as possible for sets of 6 reps |
|
| Standing calf raise | 1 set of 100 reps on a very heavy weight |
3 sets x 8 reps |
Warning, if you do all the heavy (week 1 in programme) work in one week, your body will need to be packed in ice for another week. Arrange the peak intensity of different muscle groups at different intervals.
Note about using straps:
A lot of guys use straps to wrap around wrists to help them pull. This is especially relevant to exercises such as dead lift, lat pull down, pull-ups (chins) and shrugs.
Bodybuilders can do this but fighters shouldn’t. Fighters need to develop grip strength. What good is the strength if you can’t hold on to your opponent? Work out until you can hold onto that dead lift!
The Eastern European power principle
When you’re reaching a plateau in your strength gains, then switch the maximum lift routines to the “5×5-principle”.
This was developed by the former Soviet block to build strength in their weightlifters.
What you essentially do is to take a weight that is about 70%-80% of your onerep max and try to lift if for 5 reps, over 5 sets.
This is really tough and not something that you’ll be able to do right away. It’s something that you work at, build over a few months.
When you can do that again, then you’ve actually gained strength and you can measure your maximum again.
Ballet
Ballet?
This is a funny one to many fighters.
Oh, if you know how tough this thing is, you’ll stop laughing right now.
Maybe you should ask a ballet dancer to kick you…you’ll probably be surprised.
Yes, I did ballet. For the first two years that I worked out in a gym, I would do legs maybe 8 times per year – so I did ballet instead.
The reason was a fear of losing flexibility and mobility. This fear was well founded, as I’ve discovered later.
For a period of 4 years, I broke away from martial arts and did competitive powerlifting.
When I made a comeback I was horrified to discover that squats have changed the muscles and tendons in my hips in such a way that I almost couldn’t kick!
It took me at least 18 months to get some kicking ability back and full ability took a total of 2 years to recover!
I couldn’t decide whether or not to put ballet in the flexibility section or the strength section. However, I found more value in it strength-wise at the time.
Ballet is excellent for leg development – if you can let go of your ego for a minute.
The movements and positions in which you hold your legs take a lot of strength. But be warned, sometimes I found ballet class harder than powerlifting training!
But, my legs recovered really quickly after the sessions. Maybe it was because of the continuous stretching in the movements
It was fun too. Of course, being the only man among all those girls made it more fun.
