The Best Bodyweight Exercise for Fighters
by Scott Sonnon
From an early age, Scott Sonnon faced visual, physical and mental disabilities which led teachers to believe that he was unlikely to succeed at anything. But as Scott says, these "defects" were a blessing which allowed him to see, feel and think about the world in a wonderfully unique way. Despite his disabilities, his trek across the world to learn alternative methods of health improvement led him to become an international martial art champion, an award-winning author, and a globally-acclaimed public speaker.
His love for helping others to improve their quality of movement, health and life was born of never being able to take for granted what came naturally to everyone else. Due to poor nutrition, conditioning and aging, now children, seniors and even athletes suffer pain similar to what Scott encountered and overcame. Scott designed his programs to prevent accelerated aging of joint and connective tissues, and to give people of even his own poor genetic stock access to the physical and psychological mastery which can only be described as "flow."
Now known around the world as The Flow Coach™, he has become an inspiration to many through his incredible story of triumph and his passionate dedication to helping others. Scott now leads the fight against the core issues behind childhood obesity and accelerated aging leading to arthritis. Designed to aid the "walking wounded" - people just like himself - his courses can be found in every Veteran Medical Center in the United States, as well as in health clubs, chiropractic, physical therapy and massage therapy clinics around the world.
Many professionals that I train suffer some sort of injury from years of being subjected to short-sighted and unhealthy conditioning methods. My theory is this is the result of adopting a scholastic/collegiate training approach to a sport that only has periodic events. If you’re competing frequently, then peaking becomes problematic. Most scholastic wrestlers never peak because they must habitually compete in a state of sub-prime conditioning and are chronically under-recovered.
In contrast, fighters typically have two to three months minimum between fights, if their coaching teams are concerned about their longevity. As a result, if I’m given a full 12 weeks to peak a fighter for an event, they will notice a dramatic improvement in conditioning, sparring performance, technical accuracy, confidence and attentional stamina. This isn’t just because of the magic of the formula and the excellence of the content, but also because my fighters are then able to compete fully restored to their conditioning prime.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has the potential to devolve because it remains an “entertainment” sport. A fighter who is out of sight is out of mind, and he doesn’t generate the public excitement necessary to be offered a title shot. This is why some fighters feel the pressure to behave like “bad boys” on camera, with the same drama of entertainment wrestling. Unfortunately, to stay in the minds of the public, fighters feel forced to accept bouts with only a few weeks’ notice. That’s insufficient time to peak.
Many of the fighters eager to train with me say that they absolutely must have a two-week program to get ready for their next fight. They aren’t happy when I have to tell them that almost nothing can be accomplished in only two weeks, and the best thing they can do is wait for another fight. They feel so much pressure from so many directions that the advice to hold back seems too overwhelming. Nevertheless, it’s not just a matter of how much better their performance would be, but also one of career longevity. Since my primary concern for my athletes is career longevity, increased mobility for technical refinement, and then enhanced performance of actual skills, my exercise selection is unorthodox.
One recurring chronic pain and injury in many fighters is rotator cuff tears and impingements. The primary culprit implicated in this damage is the conventional push-up. This isn’t because the exercise itself has poor mechanics. It’s due to the fact that any exercise performed without compensation and recovery will result in diminishing returns, performance decrease, and eventual injury. This is especially true with the excessive numbers of push-ups that most fighters are forced to perform.
The Swinging Plank, and its remedial version the Piston Press, solve the dilemma of a fighter’s need for forward pressure in a full range of motion without injury from excess volume. The full range of motion of the shoulder needed for forward pressure for fighting can be seen here:
And for the Piston Press and Swinging Plank address from 70 degrees to 170 degrees out of the full range of motion of the shoulder (approximately -50 degrees to 180):
The Piston Press is the beginning move for developing the full Swinging Plank. It involves the following steps:
Begin with a deep quad squat, arms extended overhead, butt to heels.
Keeping elbows in, drive forward off the forefoot to place forearms on the floor.
Continue driving until lower-arms are perpendicular to the floor pinching the floating ribs, glutes clenched and squeezing the corset of muscle around the core.
Drive elbows backward until forearms touch the floor.
Continue backward into deep quad squat to complete the repetition.
The Swinging Plank takes this broad range of motion and then “slings” it across from one shoulder to the next to involve the core in an alternating ipsilateral (same side) upper torso contraction with a contralateral (opposite side) lower-body contraction. This wringing-out-the-washcloth motion allows you to generate full bodily forward pressure without isolating strain to the shoulders, in a manner superior for transferring to the sport of MMA.
Begin in the deep quad squat but turn your head to one side (i.e. to the left) burying your nose in your armpit, with the knees together and twisted to the same side as the head is turned (i.e. to the left) with the outside of the bottom thigh parallel to the ground.
Driving with the forefoot, twist forward and out to the forward position of the piston press, forearms parallel to the ground tight to the ribs, glutes clenched, tailbone slightly tucked and core contracted as if taking a shot in the gut.
Continue the direction of your twist as you drive backward off the palm heels to bury your nose in the opposite shoulder and twist your knees to the opposite direction top of the bottom thigh parallel to the ground.
Perform the opposite swinging plank to the original position to complete one repetition.
The Swinging Plank and its remedial version - the Piston Press - will allow you to generate actual functional strength in the range and motion necessary for fighting, not just in stand-up grappling but also in ground-fighting. Once you have developed smooth performance in the exercise you can insert it into a metabolic conditioning circuit, such as the program that has created such successes for Alberto Crane: METCON Tango v5.0.
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Alone... Together,
VOLUME 5 ISSUE 6
ISSN#: 1555-7723
Publisher: Scott Sonnon - Senior Editor: Ryan Murdock - Associate Editor: Jeanne Gostnell - Contributing Editor: Dr. Kathryn J. Woodall, DC
© 2007 RMAX.tv Productions All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.
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