WNY MMA & Fitness Nutrition to Keep Training Hard

WNY MMA & Fitness Nutrition to Keep Training Hard

There are some diet fads that are circulating the net and those infomercials that you watch so religiously, but some of those will actually do more harm than good for you and your goals for a stronger healthier body. It will also effect how hard you can train as well as your recovery time after those training sessions. So let me give you some small gems of information, courtesy of WNY MMA & Fitness. 

Carbohydrates

I know what you are thinking, you want to cut out your consumption of carbs because you want to lose weight faster. Let's look at why this is actually a bad idea, it may change your mind about completely cutting out carbs. When eating and digesting carbohydrates, they are broken down into smaller units that are absorbed by the small intestine to be transported to the liver (i would tell you the smaller units, but the names get a little long so just bare with me). Glucose is sent from the liver to the tissue in the body, this includes the muscles and the brain; to be used as a source of energy. Here is a diagram that will give you a better idea of how this works: 

What does this mean for fighters, people who are constantly expending the glycogen and the free circulating glucose; you need to consume carbohydrates to have energy. There are many alternatives to overly processed breads and pastas; fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, milk, whole grain breads, etc. What does this mean for you, if you are training hard, make sure you are getting the recommended amount of carbs before, during and after training. I know when guys are leaving after doing muay thai or american kickboxing at WNY MMA & Fitness, looks like they need some carbs in their life. 

WNY MMA & Fitness: All leg kicks are not equal

WNY MMA & Fitness: All leg kicks are not equal

Leg kicks; if you are on the receiving end of them, then they are the bane of your very existence. They hurt bad and linger, slowly giving you lead feet as a fight goes on. When people hear about leg kicks, they immediately think about muay thai, can't blame them. I'm here to show you some very interesting variation to the low kick and how they can add some deceptive touches to your arsenal. Think of this as a favor from your friendly neighborhood WNY MMA & Fitness. 

I will only be highlighting the kick from two striking styles in particular; muay thai, and kyokushin. Don't underestimate kyokushin style leg kicks, those things can do some damage and at close range aswell. Besides, kyokushin has laid the ground work for some very vicious kickboxing styles. This style is the Dutch style, most notable for their powerful punching combos and vicious leg kicks. Some notable people of this style are: Ramon Dekkers, Rob Kaman, Allistar Overeem, Andrew Souwer, etc. 

watch this guys fight reels, scary!!!

Muay thai style:

If you ever took a leg kick from a muay thai guy without shinguards, you definitely identify with this poor guy. People that train styles like muay thai, kyokushin and other styles of the like; are accustomed to getting a shin to the leg. It's an everyday occurrence. But for those who have not, you will be put on your keister. People have compared getting hit by a thai style leg kick to someone swinging a baseball bat at their leg. I for one, am not gonna ask how they know what it feels like to take a baseball bat the leg. Ill ask one of the guys at WNY MMA & Fitness

With the muay thai leg kick its rotation of the hip all the way, that's where the money is. That and the stationary foot has to rotate to allow the hips to open up completely, this also helps turn the kicking leg over so that the shin will land correctly on the thigh maximizing its effectiveness.

THE LEG KICK:

• Start from your Muay Thai fighting stance.
• Step forward and slightly out of the center line.
• Kick with your back leg and twist on the ball of the foot of the front leg (standing leg). The knee of the standing leg is slightly bent.
• Kick with the bottom of the shin and not with the foot. The foot of the kicking leg is extended but relaxed. Turn your hips with the kick.
• At impact, the kicking leg is 80 percent extended.
• Don’t bend the kicking leg too much at the beginning. Muay Thai roundhouse kicks are not snapped.
• Extend one arm, keep the other hand close to your head and don’t lift the elbow. Make sure both sides of your head remain protected.
• Go back the same way and plant the kicking leg at the exact same spot where you started.
• If you notice that your opponent keeps looking at your head, attack him with low kicks.
• The cut kick is an even lower roundhouse kick variation than the thigh kick. Thigh kicks are usually easier to apply.
• Practice the Muay Thai thigh kick on a high heavy bag.
• Exhale as you kick.
• Keep your chin down

THE CUT KICK:

The cut kick is a variation on the muay thai leg kick. It's used to unbalance someone by intercepting an on coming kick; when someones weight is on one leg. This is done by kicking along the line of an incoming kick, the target is right below the hollow of the knee. This kick will put your opponent on his or her side if performed correctly. You will hook your foot above the calf of your opponent, following through with a closing of the hip and pulling your foot across your body. With some practice you will catch this thing like crazy, train with the WNY MMA guys to get it. Need more clarification, here's a video. Don't worry, there are English captions. 

Kyokushin leg kicks and set ups:

Now before you start bashing me for posting karate here give me a minute to show you that there is something valuable in this styles kicks. Kyokushin is known for its knockdown format; what that means is that they get into a ring or on a mat and go balls to the wall with nothing but a mouth guard and groin cup. Because of the bare knuckle aspect of the style; no punches to the face are allowed, but you will take a foot or shin to the mouth or face. Its not like the point karate that you are used to seeing, you win by beating the crap out of the other guy. Because the distance for this style is so close, it doesn't leave alot of distance for kicks. So you be creative with them. There are a lot of tactics of making someone miss a leg kick to get your own in. 

The kick is similar to the muay thai in the fact that there is dependence on the hip for the deliverance of power; but before the kick lands, there is a snapping of the leg near the end of the kick to deliver the power. There are a few set ups for the kicks, but they are to get the clearance for a clean leg kick. Mostly movement of the legs. Here is a video of the mentioned kicks below: 

Like those?

This has got to be the longest article I have written for you guys, hope you enjoy it. But what is a usual article from me without extra videos for your viewing pleasure. I've got a good mix of them for you today; leg kicks, lovely leg kicks. Enjoy and come train with is, the door says WNY MMA & Fitness. See you soon!!

WNY MMA and Fitness: Muay thai, nothing hits harder

WNY MMA & Fitness: Muay Thai, Nothing Hits Harder!

In the post about american kickboxing, there was a comparison between muay thai and full contact kickboxing. I'm not sure if you ever been kicked or kneed by a person who does muay thai, but man does it linger. So, I'll be giving you a run down on muay thai as a preferred striking system and maybe it'll make you come visit us at WNY MMA and Fitness for a lesson or two.

 

The Tools of the Trade:

Right from the get go, you will notice that there is something different about muay thai. It can't be described as being similar to the other forms of kickboxing, that's because it isn't like the others. In muay thai you have 8 tools or limbs to cause some massive destruction with when trained; hands, elbows, knees and shins/feet. They don't just train to hit, they invest a percentage of there training to being accustomed to getting hit aswell.  You may think its all fine and dandy, but lets really look at each of these things and what getting hit by them would spell out for you. 

Elbows, they suck!

I found other pics but this one was viewer friendly

They suck, getting hit with an elbow really sucks. When comparing a had to an elbow, the hand seems pretty flimsy; so many tiny bones that can break unless the hands are trained for those impact forces. The elbow is the meeting point of the humerus, radius, and ulna bones; three bones, that's it. Elbows are vicious if trained properly; they can cut or put someone out, depending on how you choose to use it. Now don't get me wrong, you can't just start using elbows; improper technique will result in some rather unpleasant results for you. It also hurts like hell if you have never trained your elbows to strike with. So until then, stick with the heavy bag and the thai pads at WNY MMA and Fitness. 

That Knee

I'm really highlighting how much getting hit by these things suck. But come on, they really do suck. Alright, so we have knee strikes. Knee strikes are pretty versatile, that is because they can be used to hit anywhere on the body. Legs, stomach, face; you can get hit pretty much anywhere with a knee. I could type more about knees, but I can also do this

I know it gets pretty boring to just read all of the time.

The Shin and the Leg Kick

 We all know about kicking with the shin right, we are among the converted who used to kick with the instep until we noticed just how much more getting hit with the shin hurts. Getting hit with a shin really hurts; I mean think about it, you are getting hit with something that supports your weight everyday. The way muay thai people kick with their shin, really gets some good power to their kicks. Those things can really put you down. If you don't believe me look for the video of Vince Phillips vs Masato and you will see what I mean. But don't worry about bruised legs at WNY MMA, we make everyone wear shin guards.

American Kickboxing at WNY MMA & Fitness: There's something besides muay thai?

American Kickboxing at WNY MMA & Fitness: There's something besides muay thai?

When ever I hear people talk about striking, it is always muay thai or boxing. Here at WNY MMA and Fitness, we have both of those options. We also have one that many people have very little knowledge about; American Kickboxing, also known as full contact kickboxing. Full contact kickboxing was made popular in the 80's by many people, three of these champions are; Rob "the Dutchman" Kaman, Joe Lewis, and Bill "Super-foot" Wallace. Why have you not heard of it? well because of the fact that it belongs under the kickboxing umbrella term, it's usually just called kickboxing. 

Why Full Contact Kickboxing is Relevant:

Full contact kickboxing is about finesse. I say this because of how everything is being compared to muay thai in terms of quality of striking, it sometimes sounds like; "that person is a good striker, but can he beat Jimmy Crowbar Leg from XYZ muay thai gym". Previously I mentioned that full contact was all about finesse, that's because it stresses the fighters ability to string together boxing style punches with kicks that are reminiscent of styles like karate. By no means does having karate style kicking make full contact kickboxing a joke, the heavy boxing influence on the style really rocketed it into the forefront during the 80's. There are current fighters that have that Full Contact kickboxing style, the dutch style of kickboxing is a very well known proponent of this. So what makes full contact kickboxing different from muay thai; its the lack of leg kicks in full contact, knee strikes and elbow strikes are also not allowed in full contact kickboxing. This does not mean that leg kicks are not practiced. If looking at the dutch style of kickboxing which has the same influences, the leg kick comes behind a barrage of well placed and timed boxing punches.

Training at WNY MMA and Fitness:

Okay so you are still wondering if you should train Full Contact Kick here at WNY MMA and Fitness, this maybe the last little bit of push needed to get your butt in gear. You see the guy in the picture there, yes that guy doing the high kick. That man is Amer Abdallah, he is ranked second in the world in kickboxing. Why is that relevant, because our very own Corey Webster is his trainer. Ill give you sometime to let it sink in. This means you can to be trained to worldly awesomeness here; and for the muay thai guys, I haven't forgotten you guys. 

Extras:

I'm gonna post some gems here for you to get a taste of full contact kickboxing style. K-1, which was a kickboxing promotion started in japan, was dominated by strikers with a heavier boxing based style with powerful kicks. Ill post some videos here to check out, enjoy:

Andrew Souwer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prnrWLCBe3g
Masato - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjkVRPz4hs