Review: Free Stuff!

by Mike

Crazy Monkey Defense MMA Training Journal by Dr. Randy Broum and Rodney King RSME Free registration required.

I always knew that if I waited long enough, someone would write a nice, free book with all sorts of useful articles so I wouldn't have to.

This little manual is a very helpful guide to some metatraining considerations - things like setting goals, recognizing and treating overtraining/injuries, as well as maintaining focus over the course of not only individual training sessions but a training career.

Definitely worth a read for beginners, and maybe a quick once-over as a refresher course for veterans.

The Ringside Boxing Manual by Jim Brown.

This manual is primarily of interest those just getting started in a boxing program. Oddly, part of the book seems to be written with coaches in mind while the other half is addressed to boxers. This focuses purely on amateur boxing, which is a very different game than professional boxing (keep in mind the old saw, "amateur boxing is about technique while professional boxing is about punishment").

Diet, training, fighting common styles and "how to win an amateur bout" are covered as well as basic techniques. Sidebars cover basic rules of boxing and a useful list of things to keep in mind (I particularly like #5: "Appear confident at all times" and #6: "never forget that your opponent is as tired as you are."

This is a short guide and many subjects only receive lip service, but overall, this is a useful guide for beginners as a guide to see how their training should be structured and progress. Anyone other than beginners is likely not going to find much value in it.

Martial Arts Gear and More Review Index

There's a lot of stuff out there - most of it is OK, some of it sucks and some is great. Of course, unless you spend a lot of time (and money) using a lot of the gear, it's hard to get a sense of which manufacturers you like and trust.

To that end, here is a compilation of the reviews that have appeared on the site. They're heavily skewed towards things we think are great while there are a couple things in there that were so bad we felt we should warn you away from.

If you're looking for a place to purchase gear, you can check the Why We Not Hit Hard? Store as well as MMA Warehouse.

Boxing & MMA Gloves

Combat Sports MMA Training Gloves

Top Contender Quick Strike MMA Gloves

Boxing/Muay Thai Coaching/Training Gear

Combat Sports Air Thai Pads

Ringside Panther Punch Mitts

Fight Wear/MMA Shorts

Sprawl 2005 Flex Fighter XT Shorts

Martial Arts Books

Wrestling for Fighting by Randy Couture

Fight by Eugene S. Robinson

Mastering the Rubber Guard by Eddie Bravo

Superfit by Royce Gracie and James Strom

Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge by B.J. Penn

Infinite Intensity by Ross Enamait

Web sites

Evolutionary Fitness/www.arthurdevany.com

Review Combat Sports MMA Training Gloves

by Mike

Combat Sports MMA Training Gloves

One Liner

Great gloves for MMA training.

Overview

Combat Sports MMA Training Gloves let you experience all the fun of MMA training without the terror of 5 oz. gloves. Granted, these are only a couple of ounces heavier, but that extra padding is very nice (CSI claims they've got the "same shock dispersing capabilities as a 16 oz. boxing glove").

I've been using these for years the only problem that I've had was that some of the piping around the palm and the kinda-superfluous thumb pad started to rip off.

The Good

• Padding is nice.
  
  
• Gloves very flexible and don't hinder your hands when going for submissions.
  
  
• Wrist straps provide acceptable support, but handwraps can be worn without too much trouble
  

The Bad

• No sleeve over the velcro, so watch out when you get to sparring on the ground
  
  
• Some of the piping came around the palm came loose immediately, but over the next couple years of use nothing else has ripped

Recommendation

Been using these for years and am a big fan of them. Bulkier than fight gloves, but you can still get a feel for how things work with these on.

Review: Combat Sports Air Thai pads

by Mike

Combat Sports Air Thai Pads

One Liner:

Light, durable and let you take some big shots without any problems.

Overview:

Combat Sports Air Thai Pads are a great alternative to traditional Thai pads. With their futuristic-sounding "Dome Air Technology" these pads manage to disperse shock without being stiff, which is helpful both for the coach holding the pads and the attacker reducing fatigue and saving some wear and tear on the joints, allowing you to work with guys that otherwise leave bruises on your forearms.

A side effect of their relatively soft padding is that they pads are thicker than you might want them to be, but they're also lighter most pads and so are surprisingly maneuverable. The bulk may get in the way of quick transitions to the clinch and knees, but for most things, you can get away with having only one pad in place.

As rivethead-chic and "I got these in Bangkok, yo" as buckles are, velcro is much more adjustable and quicker to put on and take off. The velcro on these is very strong, unlike the velcro that you often find on more expensive brands.

I'm not sure if this is a deliberate design feature or merely a happy coincidence, but the space in "Combat Sports" lines up with the sweet spot, hitting where the padding is strong as well as the optimal place in your forearms to keep a strong structure to take the kick, which is very helpful to point out your classmates who may not yet have learned the finer points of targeting.

The Good:

• Surprisingly light and maneuverable
  
  
• Durable handles and...velcro that doesn't fall apart or come loose
  
  
• Excellent shock absorption qualities, yet soft enough to not hurt your partner's delicate shins
  

The Bad:

• Kinda pricey, but not too bad
  
  
• Significantly bulkier than other Thai pads, which probably isn't a problem unless you have limited space to pack your gear before riding your bike to class

Recommendation:

These are some great pads, especially if you're going to be taking kicks from the heavy-hitters.

Review: Top Contender Quick Strike MMA gloves

by Mike

One-liner

These gloves are terrible, don't buy them.

Overview

I figured that Top Contender gear was to Ringside gear what C fire-rated doors were to A doors - same thing, but they didn't do as-extensive testing on them and so were able to pass on those savings.

Then I tried to save a couple bucks, got a couple bits of TC gear and am starting to suspect that it's substandard rebranding in order to drive more sales to the Ringside/Combat Sports brand.

Or it could be that their gear is just crap.

The Top Contender Quick Strike MMA gloves are a cheap alternative to even midrange gloves from other manufacturers. By cheap, I don't just mean inexpensive. These things are poorly constructed and painful to wear.

I know that the problem isn't with me not knowing how to size gloves - I have small girl hands and I got the largest size they sell. The left glove fit pretty well, but the right was waaay too tight. This was strange since I don't think my hands are noticeably different sizes and when I have problems with gloves fitting, it's usually on the left hand.

The padding appears to be sewn onto a weak mesh backing which somehow makes the gloves very stiff and tears easily. The palms are semi-enclosed which looks cool with the white piping, but deforms when you make a fist and is strangely uncomfortable. Except for the strange mesh and the "striking surface," the gloves are made of vinyl.

The padding is also very stiff - reminiscent of Fairtex fight gloves, but even worse. I'm surprised there's not a roll of quarters in there.

The Good

• Least expensive gloves you're likely to find

The Bad

• Ill-fitting in general, leading to:
  
  
• Cuts in between my knuckles
  
  
• Right wrist strap doesn't fit properly
  
  
• Straining to make a proper fist
  
  
• Even only after a few uses, the wrist straps are tearing
  
  
• That might be just as well because these wrist straps are nearly useless anyway - I can get away without using handwraps with most other boxing gloves and MMA gloves for even medium sparring or bag work but I'm afraid to use these even for light bag work
  
  
• Hard to get handwraps on under them
  
  
• Material is very stiff and hard to make a proper fist with. Fortunately, there's a short break-in period. Unfortunately, the break-in period ends when the seams tear

Check out that awesome tear!
Less than two months' use with these things.

Recommendation

Save your pennies and get a decent pair of gloves.

Review: Evolutionary Fitness

by Mike

www.ArthurDeVany.com

One-Liner

More science than an undergrad course, but simple and easy-to-apply principles make this a superb all-around diet/fitness system. May not be ideal for high-level athletes though.

Overview

The Evolutionary Fitness system encompasses both diet and exercise to work your body in a way that is consistent with it's evolutionary history. Like other Paleo diets, De Vany wants to eliminate modern foods (including grains, beans and dairy) and work out according to how a hunter-gatherer would have worked (short, intense bursts of activity).

The basics of the diet are pretty simple - eat nutritionally dense foods, stay away from grains, sugars and other foods that promote inflammation or have otherwise detrimental effects on the body and try to even out insulin spikes. A big sticking point for a lot of people will be the no supplements (De Vany does take an antioxidant supp).

On the exercise side, things are equally simple: short, intense workouts one to two times per week (both the day of the workout and the exercises in the workout should be randomized to a degree); intense work to limit oxidative stress and promote anabolic hormone release.

Easy enough, right?

In my personal experience, I went from heavy lifting and a diet pretty close to what was in the Grappler's Guide to Nutrition and hit a plateau at 195# (my goal was to get to 205# - I'd never been heavier than 195# in my life). From there, I injured my shoulder, stopped lifting and started eating in an EvFit manner (to be sure, I kept my normal class load at the gym). Within about six weeks, I had dropped about 10#, was noticeably leaner had more energy than before. Though I had stopped lifting, I had instructors notice the difference and ask what sort of lifting program I was working.

These four docs/posts from Art's blog will get you up to speed, after digesting (as it were), you can go through the rest of the Evolutionary Fitness posts for more background.

• The original Evolutionary Fitness essay (pdf file)
  
  
• Chapter One of the book - lays out some guidelines and background (pdf file)
  
  
• Sample workout
  
  
• "The Best Workout"
  

The Good

• Once you understand the basic principles, it really is easy to follow
  
  
• You'll become a much better cook, trying to work with essentially fewer ingredients
  
  
• The workouts are short, challenging and fun, even for people who don't like slinging iron
  
  
• I think this is the most comprehensive and useful diet/workout got all-round health. However, see the last point under "The Bad"
  
  
• Art's OK with drinking beer
  

The Bad

• I'm pretty sure the book is never coming out. Fortunately, aside from more science I don't know what else he's going to put in there.
  
  
• One big turnoff that's going to get to people is the "your body knows what it wants"/"do what you feel is right." This leads to the standard comeback, "if you knew what your body needed, you wouldn't be such a fatass in the first place." I can see this to a degree, but even in a rigidly monitored diet, there's still a lot of trial-and-error, so I'm not sure that there's a problem past a given diet guru's own biases. If keeping a journal helps you, keep a journal. If you don't have the discipline to stick to a diet of any regimentation, keeping a journal or not won't matter.
  
  
• No deadlifts? No bicep curls? No bench press? DeVany uses machines on occasion? Don't worry, it's OK, but these may be reasons for some to pass this workout by.
  
  
• This diet is for optimizing the human body, not sport-specific training. As such, I don't know that it's the best plan for martial artists competing at high (or even intermediate) levels of competition - Grappling/MMA requires you to be in some very strange positions, positions that DeVany wouldn't suggest to anyone (those with a high amount of shear forces on the spine). Neglecting to train those is asking for injury.
  
  Also, the daily, intense practice required, even for just skills training, is phenomenal and a full-time job for many pro fighters. This is vastly different than the "1-2 workouts a week, do something fun in between" that DeVany ultimate proposes.
  
  Then, there's the issue of supplements which are almost necessary to aid in recovery (if nothing else) for most athletes.
  
  That's not even getting into the diet and the difficulty of trying to stuff all those calories and macronutrients into not-six-meals-a-day.
  

Recommendation

Despite falling off of the EvFit way due to laziness, I was really happy with my energy levels and etc. while on it. Art's not a big fan of martial arts (from the perspective of keeping everything in line with what it's supposed to do, not necessarily what you can do with it), or at least considers it suboptimal, the training and diet methodologies make the most sense to me of anything I've read and combined with better results from this, I'm definitely a fan and recommend giving it a try if you're looking for something new. Just be sure to give yourself enough time to make sure you've got it and can gauge the results.

Updated 2/16/08 - totally forgot about the beer thing

Review: Ringside Panther Punch Mitts

by Mike

Ringside Panther Punch Mitts

One Liner:

If you're doing mitt drills, you should be using these. If you're not doing mitt drills, you need to start.

Overview:

Ringside Panther Punch Mitts are a great choice for boxers needing to do mitt work. Maneuverable, light and durable, they can definitely up with your workout. There are some people who are crazy and use the old-school flat pads, but the curve in these is necessary - you wouldn't catch a punch with a flat hand, why use a flat mitt?

The striking surface has a nice "target" so you know where the sweet spot is (the picture is the old ones, the new ones have a different design) and are stiff enough that you can tell when your punch has the right snap on it from a very pleasing "thwap."

The hand compartment his fairly snug, although you do have to occasionally readjust them on your hands and during long combos, I have had them fall off entirely.

The Good:

• The finger hood keeps you from jamming fingers.
  
  
• Nice and lightweight, you can move as fast or faster than the boxer and work in realistic counter punches
  
  
• Curved surface keeps your hands in position like you're catching a punch and saves a lot of strain on the wrist and shoulder
  

The Bad:

• Hand compartment may be a bit small - even with my small girl hands, my fingers wrap over the top of the pad.
  
  
• Very stiff - some sensitive partners may complain. The correct answer is that they're not punching properly
  
  
• Working kicking combinations in is difficult with the curvature of the pads. But if you're kicking, you should be using Thai pads anyway....
  

Recommendation:

If you like your wrists, be nice to yourself and get a pair of these.

Review: Wrestling for Fighting by Randy Couture

by Mike

Wrestling for Fighting: The Natural Way

One-Liner:

Can anything Randy does be wrong (don't answer that internet forums)? Great resource for those who need to brush up on their wrestling skillz. Slightly less useful for experienced wrestlers.

Overview:

Wrestling for Fighting: The Natural Way by Randy Couture is a wonderful book for mixed martial arts fans who need to brush up on their basic wrestling skills. Randy takes the reader through three main parts, Wrestling (attacking the legs), Greco (upper body throws and clinching) and Wrestling for Fighting (specific applications to MMA including ground and pound and using the cage).

Each of those parts is broken into smaller sections that include Randy's thoughts on where and why they are useful to the fighter. Entries into each position are covered (such as his famous overhand to takedown), but only a couple basic defenses in each part are shown.

The last 1/4 of the book covers specific applications to MMA, which may be disappointingly short for some. However, if you can master the guard pass to strike technique and his discussion of using your knees to keep an opponent pinned against the cage, the relatively few techniques in this section won't matter. Encyclopedia types may want to supplement this with BJ Penn's coverage on the topic.

Randy's thoughts and little bio turned out to be surprisingly good reading, especially giving some hints into his famous gameplanning for opponents. Now that he's in kinda-retirement/waiting-out-the-contract limbo, it might be a perfect time to write an entire book on that subject.

The Good:

• The direction is very clear and technique selection well thought out
  
  
• Good variety of techniques to handle many situations
  
  
• Specifically covers entries when strikes are added to the mix as well as how to work with the cage
  
  
• Philosophy/reasons for including each technique and their application very helpful
  

The Bad:

• Doesn't discuss working in a ring
  
  
• The MMA-specific portion of the book may be a bit short - BJ had a much more extensive ground-and-pound section
  
  
• Experienced wrestlers may find 2/3 of the book to be things the already know and use
  

Recommendation:

A great condensation of the a couple styles of wrestling that belong in a well-rounded fighter's repertoire. Necessary for those who don't have much experience with wrestling, seasoned wrestlers may only find it useful as a way to alter their thinking to coexist with strikers.

Now if only Randy would write, "Gameplanning the Natural Way...."

Review: Fight by Eugene S. Robinson

Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking

by Mike

One Liner:

If you know enough to realize that the hands on the cover are not wrapped properly, you don't need to read this book; if they look menacing to you, your friends will be impressed when they see it on your coffee table.

Overview:

Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking by Eugene S. Robinson is a book about fighting for the Vice and Maxim crowd, Robinson travels the country to talk to MMA fighters, prisoners, hockey players and assorted beatdown artists. We get little bits of history, a smattering of technique, a couple "best of/worst of" lists and some fun anecdotes.

Unfortunately, there's not much more to the book. It doesn't go in-depth enough to be a "look into the world of," there aren't recurring characters to any significant degree, so there's no hope for a narrative and the book doesn't build to anything significant. It would seem to be a piece of gonzo journalism, but Robinson doesn't enter into the picture as anything more than an interviewer or occasional sparring partner.

A couple lists on how to start (or end) a fight are fun, but most of the interviews are not particularly substantive (the bits on Maurice Smith and Kevin Randleman end up being, "I spent some time with these guys and they're pretty cool and can hurt you") and some of bits of the interviews are just plain odd - one guy talks about how wrestlers can probably handle themselves the best in jail, but no one fights in jail anymore, so it's a moot point.

The Good:

• Robinson knows his stuff, no doubt and is able to provide a view into the subject's world (as it were) that is neither too technical nor too obscure for the reader who may or may not be a dedicated martial artist or fight fan.
  
  
• A couple spots where the pros show that a life of fighting isn't always something to aspire to. Robinson devotes an entire chapter to the etiquette of being knocked out, which was the most fun part of the book.

The Bad:

• An awfully annoying amount of alliteration.
  
  
• Very few pictures for a coffee table book and those that are present seem random (KOTC pics unrelated to the people he's talking about) or intriguing, but unnecessary (LaBell popping a wheelie).
  
  
• Overall, the book gives the impression of being a repository for all the articles Robinson couldn't sell to a magazine.

Recommendation:

Not a book of technique. Not a book of aphorisms. Not a book of history. I think your time and money would be better spent elsewhere.

Review of Mastering the Rubber Guard by Eddie Bravo

by Mike

One Liner

Love him or hate him, Eddie Bravo's Mastering the Rubber Guard provides some very useful techniques for improving your Jiu-Jitsu game.

Overview

Let's clear something up before we start: the Rubber Guard system is not a replacement for "traditional" Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's an addition.

The same way there are guys who use the De La Riva guard and the half-guard, there are guys who use the Rubber Guard to great effect in their BJJ game. The same way there are people who have never heard of the De La Riva guard and never touch the half-guard and still do wonderfully, there are those who won't like the Rubber Guard, or find it useful for their game.

Leaving behind the hype and the dis/like of the cult of personality around Eddie Bravo, the Rubber Guard system provides a very solid set of techniques for enhancing your game and giving you some extra options throughout a match. Like any Jiu-Jitsu manual, there are moves you can incorporate into your game and moves that leave you thinking, "WTF?"

The book is nicely organized, starting with a flow chart, then heading into the intro/infamous pot rant and techniques starting with stretching and then going into various parts of the Rubber Guard game. Both offense and defense is covered, including escapes from an inferior position to the guard.

The Good

• Like all the Victory Belt books, the instruction is very clear, often showing multiple angles of a give. This makes many of the counter-intuitive moves and positions very easy follow.
  
  
• Despite the silly names and strange-looking positions, the Rubber Guard is a great addition to the Jiu-Jitsu game. There are even some unorthodox variations of standard BJJ techniques that can be incorporated into your game.
  
  
• Very helpful flow chart - this lays out the positional hierarchy and available techniques so the remainder of the book just isn't just disembodied techniques.

The Bad

• Despite the subtitle being, "Jiu Jitsu [sic] for Mixed Martial Arts Competition," and Bravo's talk about the utility of the Rubber Guard in MMA, all of the photos show Eddie wearing gi pants (and presumably his favored knee sleeves underneath). In the Troubleshooting: MMA Tactics section, both Bravo and the uke are wearing pants and shirts!
  
  I've seen exactly one guy wear gi pants in a US-based MMA competition in the past several years and one wearing tights (coincidentally, they were both in the same show. Only one was a 10th Planet guy).
  
  This may be a minor quibble for some, but it really grated on me. Be sure to drill like you're going to fight - even t-shirts add a lot of friction and make it easier to hold on to someone in the Mission Control/New York and other positions.
  
  
• Flexibility may be an issue for moving into some of the positions - especially Crackhead and Chill Dog. Stretching should work this out, but if you're chronically inflexible, you may not want to try this system. In my experience there hasn't been too much trouble teaching inflexible people to use the other positions.
  
  
• The pro-marijuana screed really has no place in an martial arts tutorial. As written, it's silly and forgettable, but I can see someone being particularly offended by this.
  
  Here's the short version so you can skip it and get on to the good stuff: Eddie Bravo likes pot. The Man is trying to keep people from finding out how useful pot is. Eddie thinks pot should be legal and everyone should use it.

Recommendation

Despite the silly names and strange-looking positions, the Rubber Guard is a great addition to the Jiu-Jitsu game. I don't know that it's necessarily as revolutionary as Bravo claims, but it's been a big help to my game, and not just due to the novelty of bizarre new moves - even after showing others the techniques (and more importantly, the counters), I'm still able to effectively use the system.

If you have a strong base in the fundamentals of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and you're looking to expand your game, I highly recommend this book. Just be careful though, when you start tapping others in your class, you'll foreverafter be hearing things like, "hey, can you show me that retard thing again?"

Review: Superfit by Royce Gracie and James Strom

by Mike

Overview:

Superfit by Royce Gracie and James Strom

Unfortunately, I think this review needs to start with the obvious attacks: What does Royce know about lifting and conditioning? He had to drop out of UFC 3 due to exhaustion! He got clowned by Sakuraba for 90 minutes! He was too weak to compete against Hughes!

Hey man, I don't know. That may be a valid concern, but let's check the book out on it's own merits.

A very brief introduction sends you straight into the Gracie Stretching Routine. Some explanation of their rationale for organizing the rest of the book (not quite fully formed enough to call it a theory) and it's off to the good stuff - well detailed and photographed exercises. Lots of them.

They start with abdominal work, go to cardio, then free weights, isolaterals (basically exercises done with one limb at a time), plyometrics and the power series (movements that combine the above categories in a more "real world" mode of movement.

Sample workouts and a brief section on program creation with bits of preparation for a fight mixed in and then we get to the infamous Gracie Diet, which is based on breaking foods into categories based on...someone's upset stomach/food allergies from a long time ago. But any sample diet that includes french fries is OK by me.

The Good:

• There are a wide variety of exercises and they're generally described very well, so even if you've never heard of one, you should be able to figure it out without hurting yourself. Thus, you've got a lot of possible workouts that can be constructed from this book.
  
  
• I like the emphasis on isolaterals and plyometrics. Definitely very underutilized in most of the routines I've seen people working on in the gym or in other books/articles. They're mixed in with the sample workouts very well.

The Bad:

• The Gracie diet blows my mind. The only people I know who have followed it at all are the Gracies, but it seems to work for them. I prefer a little more science in the diets I end up not following. If you try it and it works for you...then, hey. If you're more apt to follow the Grappler's Guide to Nutrition, cool.
  
  
• The sample workouts are pretty solid, although I would have liked to see a more detailed description of how to put your own together (whether push/pull or bodypart splits) and some more details on progression. Their "if it feels like to much, go easier" philosophy might work well with an advanced lifter, but could result in either injury or not slower progression for a more novice lifter who isn't used to listening to their body as required for those sorts of judgment.

Recommendation:

Superfit would be a good choice for someone who is looking to start a program or a novice/intermediate looking to add some more tricks to their routine. The weight and stretching stuff is pretty standard, but the isolaterals, plyometrics and power series are pretty cool.

The lack of detailed theory and program creation sections is a turn off for me, but if you just want to pick up a book that tells you what to do and how without the anarchy of a CrossFit workout, this book is a good choice. If you've been doing well with your current routine, this book probably isn't going to teach you anything revolutionary although the isolateral and plyo sections might be worth a read through.

Review: BJ Penn's Mixed Martial Arts: the Book of Knowledge

by Mike

Overview:

BJ Penn's Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge is one of the most comprehensive books on the overall game of MMA. BJ is one of the all-time greats and has a particularly confounding style, one that others have a hard time adapting to/adopting for their own. Watching any MMA event he fights in at the bar, you can practically hear the guys in the audience think, "Dude!...I'm going to try that out tomorrow." And for the most part it doesn't work, but you know....

The one thing I was worried about with this book was that you'd have to actually be BJ (with his bizarre flexibility and preternatural sense of balance) to pull off most of this stuff. Like any instructional, there's going to be stuff that you can't do, or that doesn't fit into your game, but I was pleased to see that very few of the techniques in here rely on anything other than a standard level of physical ability. Even the ones that don't are presented in such a way that you can either leave them out or just drill them a little harder to incorporate.

A buddy of mine picked this book up and said he was disappointed, calling it too basic.

I don't know if that complaint is valid - a lot of the techniques and information that you'll find in this book is stuff that you've seen before, but there aren't too many books that teach you the proper way to do upkicks from the shell, nor teach you how to escape from the bottom in an MMA scenario. Regardless, given the sheer number of techniques in this book, there's going to be both a lot of stuff you've never seen before as well as stuff that you never thought of using as shown.

Another buddy is fond of telling the new guys that show up wanting "to be a fighter" that the hardest thing in the world to find good instruction on is striking on the ground. BJ covers that topic exhaustively, from a number of top positions as well as striking from being on the bottom in the guard.

The introduction lays out BJ's philosphy on training and some of the workouts he uses in a general strength/conditioning sense, which cool because of the emphasis on training as if everything's gone wrong - i.e. tired-as-hell-you vs. fresh opponent. On the whole, this doesn't seem like an entire system (nor should it be), but it is a great example of some sport-specific drills for those who might not have implemented them into their own training already.

Despite a somewhat curious explanation of basic punching (I'm hesitant to call it "striking"), the book supposed you have a basic understanding of both the standing and ground games.

From there, though, it's full speed ahead. At 300+ pages divided into two main sections - the "Stand Up Game" and the "Ground Game" and what looks to be 100+ techniques, there's the hell of a lot of ground to cover.

We start with basic punches, then get right into striking-to-the-takedown and takedown defense. You've probably seen all this before, but he puts a new spin on a lot of it. I'm glad that he has contingency plans in place, In including an entire section on what to do when your shot gets stuffed.

A section on the clinch follows and it's some great stuff, covering the Muay Thai clinch, a Greco-style clinch and everyone's favorite, dirty boxing. A great section on fighting against the cage and working against an opponent in the "downed guard" while you're still standing round out the section.

Throughout the Ground Game section, BJ emphasizes the necessity of maintaining constant action so as to avoid standups - you worked hard to get the fight to the ground, you deserve a chance to work (oddly, he doesn't cover stalling at all....). To that end, he's got a lot of nice little tricks for forcing the action.

BJ does a great job of covering both offense and defense, while keeping in mind that both guys need to be aware of both strikes and submissions and the aforementioned standup at all times. Some techniques are fairly advanced in jiu-jitsu terms, but nearly everything here fits together well and covers nearly all situations I can think of. Unless you're going up against Sakuraba and need to worry about cartwheel guard passes that is.

The guard and several variations are covered, again both offensive and defensive. Half-Guard, Mount and the back/turtle positions are also covered fairly extensively. Using the cage on the ground, both offensively and defensively is covered.

There are two major holes in this book - the first is the lack of offensive kicking coverage. Muay Thai guys looking to make a transition to MMA and CroCop fans might be a bit disappointed by this.

The second is this book assumes that you'll be fighting in a cage as opposed to a ring or square enclosure. The corners present challenges and opportunities alike, as does the threat of falling through the ropes, or slipping under them to force a restart. These very real concerns for fighters in a ring and will affect their strategy. Obviously, only the cage-specific techniques are rendered invalid but this (for instance, you need to be more careful about how you keep your weight against the ropes vs. a cage wall) doesn't make the rest of the book less useful, just incomplete. Perhaps an addenda or second edition will address this.

The Good:

• Many of the more complex techniques are shown from several different angles. This is one of those ideas where once you've heard it, it sounds like a no-brainer, but to my knowledge no one has done it before Victory Belt. You remember all those times in class where you had to wonder, "where did this hand go?" because you were standing on the opposite side, or if you needed to run around the instructor to see what he was doing...it's more annoying with a book because if they didn't show it, there's no way you could ask them to do it again. It's very clear where all the bits go in this book. What a great idea!
  
  
• They "key concepts" at the beginning of each section give you the "big picture" things to keep in mind, either bits of strategy, or general notes that apply to that section.
  
  
• BJ covers techniques from both the Pride/K-1 rulesets as well as the UFC/"unified" rules. Not that stomps need a lot of explanation, but the high knees from a guillotine was pretty slick. Just be careful in practice with a lot of these. No need to go all Mark Coleman on your training partners.
  

The Bad:

• No kicking! The only kicks covered in this book are a "sweep kick" (which doesn't seem to be a kick at all, rather a reap) and kicking to a downed opponent. Countering kicks while standing is covered, but not kicks as offense. It's BJ's book and BJ's style doesn't involve many/any kicks, so no problem, but for Savate and Muay Thai types should be aware that kicking is neglected in this book.
  
  Granted, kicking in MMA is generally limited to leg kicks and I think the desperation spinning side kick gets more usage than the mighty teep, so perhaps the lack of coverage is warranted.
  
  
• The book assumes that you'll be fighting in a cage and not in a ring. The ropes and a square boundary provide some significant tactical advantages and defensive concerns that can't be translated from the cage/not square boundary.
  
  
• One complaint that I have about the Victory Belt books in general is that the layout is obnoxious. They do a good job of cramming a lot of information into the book, but that leads to some claustrophobic bits. The instruction is generally clear, but the text-heavy bits are often painful to read.
  
  
• There's a weird conceptual gap in the book where BJ explains a couple basic punches and basic punch defense (I'm hesitant to call any of it boxing), but doesn't give similar tutorials about other strikes. He assumes that you know the basics of striking (as he does the basics of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu), which he should, but this just sticks out in my mind as something that's not in the right place. I'd be surprised if anyone else noticed this, much less cared and there's always the possibility that I'd complain about it not being included if it wasn't, so take this for what it's worth.
  

Recommendation:

This book is great! This is a must-have for anyone interested in competing in MMA and a great resource for everyone else interested in the game as a whole. Even if you only have a basic knowledge of the stand up game and the ground game, you'll definitely be able to pull bits and pieces from this book and include it in your game. Even if you can't, you can still study the offense and figure out how to defend against it, for those techniques that don't have a corresponding defense or counter associated with them.

Just be warned - no kicking and no ring-specific tactics in here.



Update 03/17/08: it occurs to me that the terms "B.J. Penn" doesn't occur in this article and therefore may be difficult to find on a search. Added for intrasite SEO as it were.

Review: Inifinite Intensity

by Mike

Overview

I like to think that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to exercise and fitness. I'm certainly not formally trained, but many hours of reading has given me enough of a base to know when someone knows what they're talking about.

Ross Enamait definitely knows what he's talking about.

I did a lot of research into this book before I bought it. I didn't find one bad review of it and came across someone who said that they'd seen grown men cry when they got done with these workouts. Not being able to think of a better recommendation, I picked it up.

Screw crying after one of these workouts, I almost cried just _reading_ about them.

Infinite Intensity tells you everything you'll need to know about the physiology, theory and practice of getting stronger, faster and better gas (as the MMA guys would say). The book starts with a bit on why you'd want to use dumbbells rather than barbells, then heads to some db excercises. Information on bodyweight exercises, plyometrics and isometrics round out this section.

The next section opens with an obligatory "conditioning is king" quote and covers the energy pathways, interval workouts, running, Tabatas, heavybag drills GPP and density training. Whew. This is where the pain starts. You can maybe cheat the weights and go light, but you really find out what you're made of with these drills.

Core work, grip strength and neck training follow that.

If you survived the preceding, you get to the "finishers." Not so much for physical conditioning (you've already done that) so much as getting you ready for the proverbial "you wanna do one more?" Farmer walks, sandbag tosses and more await. Despite the name, you won't be training to failure.

Program creation, a sample 50-day program and Misc. Q&A finish up the book.

The Good

The book is written in a generally accessible style.

Enamait does a great job of covering covering his bases, both in his explanation of the physiology and the practical applications of his work.

No nutritional information. This book is about kicking your ass in the gym so you can kick other people's asses in the ring. Putting nutritional information in here would be doing a disservice to the rest of the book. Besides, there are plenty of excellent nutrition resources out there.

The Bad

Although I know Ross knows his stuff, sometimes his quotes from scientific literature seem more like he can't wrap his head around the concept to explain it in laymen's terms, so he just throws the quote in there as a stop gap measure. Likewise, his writing style occasionally gets too flowery for it's own good.

The layout of the book is dense as hell, even at 252 letter-sized pages. This is good because there's a ton of information packed in there, but trying to go back and find specific exercises or information is difficult. Granted, most advanced students won't need to refer back to these bits very often. Fans of smooth information design will be confused at the lack of coherent headings and subheadings.

Recommendation

This is a great book for any combat athlete who is serious about getting into fantastic shape. I'd recommend DeVany for a non-athlete or athlete who just wants to be fit, but the exercises, information and programs in Infinite Intensity are excellent for the hardcore and the elite, or those who want to be.

Pair this up with Berardi's Grappler's Guide to Nutrition and you'll be in great shape insofar as strength training/conditioning and nutrition are concerned(please excuse the pun).

After putting this information and some of the exercises to work in my own program, I've noticed a great increase in my strength and conditioning. Regardless, even thinking about getting on his 50-day program still makes me want to cry.

Review: Sprawl 2005 FlexFighter XT shorts

by Mike

Overview:

The reason I mention old-ass gear is because they're currently on clearance at Sprawl and I've been very happy with my shorts for the past two years.

I know Sprawl has been changing their shorts for the past couple years and I could probably use a third pair of shorts, but haven't gotten around to getting any. I will say that I can't imagine any other shorts being as good as these.

In two years of heavy use, all the stitching is still good, there aren't any tears and everything works the way it's supposed to.

The good:

• These are made of a heavy-duty nylon, rugged and won't tear easily, even when judokas grab your shorts in lieu of a gi


• That nylon also makes them light as hell and despite holding sweat after particularly long workouts, don't get noticeably heavier


• They dry quickly, so you can wash them in the sink if you don't have enough time to go to the laundromat, but still be ready for the next day's training session


• I'm not sure that the flex-panel does anything to help with the high kicks, but that probably shows that it works the way it's supposed to!


• The slit on the side that makes them XT gives you free movement for those head shots without being constricting for rubber guard work and still stays tight on your ass to keep you from getting mat burn. The slit also highlights your sexy gams.


• Mouthguard pocket in the shorts so you don't have to hunt for a place to put it and/or let the drool run onto the mat while you're in between rounds.


• Drawstring is nice and tight - you'll never get pantsed.
  

The bad:

• During particularly long sparring sessions with multiple rotations in and out, I sometimes forget my mouthguard in the pocket and run around looking for it like a fool. That really means I need to work on my boxing defense a little more so I don't get punched in the head as often

Recommendation:

Unfortunately, they've only got larger and smaller sizes left, otherwise I'd probably pick up a couple more on my own. You can't beat the price, though. If they've got your size and you could use an extra pair of shorts, I highly recommend these.