Pimping Myself Out

Absolutely 100% agree with Irish, I greatly appreciate you giving us a chance to pick your brain, very classy thing to do!

You said you train around 15 session a week, do you have any off days or “lighter” days or just work hard every day, every session, unless you hurt something in your body bad enough that you need to take a few days off?

Also, how much do you sleep a day on average, do you take naps in between training sessions? Last one is more out of curiocity, I always found that when doing 2hrs+ a day on daily basis I need like 10hrs of sleep a day or I’m not going to recover nearly as fast, and that is with training session that probably lack quite a bit in intesity compared to what you are doing. With the ammount of training athletes like you do I can only imagine what else you have time to do but sleep and eat :wink: .

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.

[quote]krazylarry wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:
I spar twice a week, sometimes 3 depending on the schedule. This isn’t taking in to account the fact that everyday I grapple there is some sort of “live” work being done.

I do S&C work twice a week. Two full body workouts at MBSC usually. I used to do a 3 day program there but it became increasingly hard on me because a) it is over an hour drive for me w/o traffic to the facility and b) I train about 15 sessions a week so one or two extra will sometimes “put me over the edge”.[/quote]

How hard do you spar?
1 day light, the other heavy?[/quote]

High intensity both sessions. Some sessions are geared more towards groundwork, others are more towards standup, but always a high intensity.

[quote]rundymc wrote:
Aw yeah, Filthy Tom.

Ok. What are your thoughts on the current state of the takedown game in MMA? You see a lot of guys working the single and double on the cage wall, with mixed success. What do you think is the next step of evolution in that area of the game? Trips and throws? Mixing them into combos the way Cruz and GSP do?
What do you focus on, when training takedown yourself?

How much thought do you put into those weigh ins and entrances?

McCall vs Mighty Mouse II. Who ya got?

[/quote]

I don’t think there will be a huge revolution in takedown techniques, guys will just get better at defending, and guys will have to work harder to get the fight to the ground. The same basic moves will continue to work, it just might take shot after reshot after shot to get the opponent down.

My favorite way to practice takedowns is to do striking with takedowns. There are unique things to focus on in the MMA game with regards to takedowns, as opposed to if striking/cage/etc aren’t involved. So a “san shou”-ish approach is the best imo.

I don’t put that much thought in to the weigh-ins and entrances. I have a pretty good grasp of MMA history so the weigh-ins are a cakewalk.

McCall. I am a huge MM fan too, but Uncle Creepy is a fellow UG member and I have to support him.

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Neither can I…lol. Yoga…and lots…lots of foam roller work…and the occasional(for obvious reasons) ice bath. Thanks for answering.

I actually practice San Shou^ haha awesome.

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Is this because of the pay, or other reasons?

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Is this because of the pay, or other reasons?[/quote]

Well obviously more pay would be great. I just can’t justify paying for it because I don’t have a lot of disposable income and already have to pay trainers,gyms,gas to get to the places,food,etc. Something has to give somewhere along the line.

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Is this because of the pay, or other reasons?[/quote]

Well obviously more pay would be great. I just can’t justify paying for it because I don’t have a lot of disposable income and already have to pay trainers,gyms,gas to get to the places,food,etc. Something has to give somewhere along the line.[/quote]

Are you still running gym in FL??? I saw not too long ago that you were training up in NY/NJ with Lauzon’s camp as well.

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Is this because of the pay, or other reasons?[/quote]
Watch his latest post fight interview with Helwani.

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]rundymc wrote:
Aw yeah, Filthy Tom.

Ok. What are your thoughts on the current state of the takedown game in MMA? You see a lot of guys working the single and double on the cage wall, with mixed success. What do you think is the next step of evolution in that area of the game? Trips and throws? Mixing them into combos the way Cruz and GSP do?
What do you focus on, when training takedown yourself?

How much thought do you put into those weigh ins and entrances?

McCall vs Mighty Mouse II. Who ya got?

[/quote]

I don’t think there will be a huge revolution in takedown techniques, guys will just get better at defending, and guys will have to work harder to get the fight to the ground. The same basic moves will continue to work, it just might take shot after reshot after shot to get the opponent down.

My favorite way to practice takedowns is to do striking with takedowns. There are unique things to focus on in the MMA game with regards to takedowns, as opposed to if striking/cage/etc aren’t involved. So a “san shou”-ish approach is the best imo.

I don’t put that much thought in to the weigh-ins and entrances. I have a pretty good grasp of MMA history so the weigh-ins are a cakewalk.

McCall. I am a huge MM fan too, but Uncle Creepy is a fellow UG member and I have to support him.
[/quote]

Hahah, true that. UG represent.

Hmm, San shou. So you try to have your striking and takedowns flow. Got that. Thanks Tom.

[quote]Fistiecuffs wrote:
Absolutely 100% agree with Irish, I greatly appreciate you giving us a chance to pick your brain, very classy thing to do!

You said you train around 15 session a week, do you have any off days or “lighter” days or just work hard every day, every session, unless you hurt something in your body bad enough that you need to take a few days off?

Also, how much do you sleep a day on average, do you take naps in between training sessions? Last one is more out of curiocity, I always found that when doing 2hrs+ a day on daily basis I need like 10hrs of sleep a day or I’m not going to recover nearly as fast, and that is with training session that probably lack quite a bit in intesity compared to what you are doing. With the ammount of training athletes like you do I can only imagine what else you have time to do but sleep and eat :wink: .[/quote]

For this last fight here was my base schedule:

Mon- sometimes 10-12 S&C work or grappling 12-1, 1-2 boxing (mitts & footwork for all listed boxing sessions/1 hour long)),BJJ 6-7:30
Tues- MMA ground 11:30-1, boxing 5:30, sparring 7-8:30
Wed- off or S&C 10-12, sparring 7-8
Thurs- BJJ 11:30-1, boxing 5:30-6:30, grappling 6-7:30 or 7-8:30
Fri- S&C 10-12, boxing 1-2
Sat- Sparring 11:30-1 or BJJ 11-12:30

sometimes I would have to move around the boxing due to scheduling. To be honest I just go til I can’t go anymore. Sometimes I would have to take a session or so off a week due to being tired, so I kind of use autoregulation I guess.

I was sleeping about 8 hours a night and then probably taking 3 naps a week.

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Tom…what kind of restorative/recovery tools do you favor…if any?? Ice baths…ART…etc? [/quote]

Sleep. Stretch. Eat. Some yoga. I can’t afford massages/ART/etc on a regular basis.[/quote]

Is this because of the pay, or other reasons?[/quote]

Well obviously more pay would be great. I just can’t justify paying for it because I don’t have a lot of disposable income and already have to pay trainers,gyms,gas to get to the places,food,etc. Something has to give somewhere along the line.[/quote]

Are you still running gym in FL??? I saw not too long ago that you were training up in NY/NJ with Lauzon’s camp as well. [/quote]

Nope, no more FL for me. There is no surprise that Casey Anthony, Trayvon Martian, and the Miami Zombie all come from the same state, there are some weirdos there. J/K, I love FL but moved to Providence to be closer to my family. I train at Lauzon’s, Tim Burrill MMA, Tri-Force MMA, and I do my S&C work at Boyle’s.

[quote]rundymc wrote:

[quote]FilthyTomLawlor wrote:

[quote]rundymc wrote:
Aw yeah, Filthy Tom.

Ok. What are your thoughts on the current state of the takedown game in MMA? You see a lot of guys working the single and double on the cage wall, with mixed success. What do you think is the next step of evolution in that area of the game? Trips and throws? Mixing them into combos the way Cruz and GSP do?
What do you focus on, when training takedown yourself?

How much thought do you put into those weigh ins and entrances?

McCall vs Mighty Mouse II. Who ya got?

[/quote]

I don’t think there will be a huge revolution in takedown techniques, guys will just get better at defending, and guys will have to work harder to get the fight to the ground. The same basic moves will continue to work, it just might take shot after reshot after shot to get the opponent down.

My favorite way to practice takedowns is to do striking with takedowns. There are unique things to focus on in the MMA game with regards to takedowns, as opposed to if striking/cage/etc aren’t involved. So a “san shou”-ish approach is the best imo.

I don’t put that much thought in to the weigh-ins and entrances. I have a pretty good grasp of MMA history so the weigh-ins are a cakewalk.

McCall. I am a huge MM fan too, but Uncle Creepy is a fellow UG member and I have to support him.
[/quote]

Hahah, true that. UG represent.

Hmm, San shou. So you try to have your striking and takedowns flow. Got that. Thanks Tom.
[/quote]

Having the striking and takedowns flow for sure, that is the name of the game. I still have wrestled for over half my life, and train striking on it’s own, so I do them separately, together, any which way I can. There are so many subtle nuances that have to change in striking when the possibility of taking someone down or getting taken down arises, and there are just as many things that need to change wrestling-wise when you can get blasted in the face too.

No specific question at this time. Just wanted to say welcome and good to have you posting here. Love watching your fights!

Hi Tom! Loved your Steven Seagal impression! Here’s my question for you:

How transferable is general strength/conditioning to fighting ability? I do plyometrics for explosive strength, free weights for max strength, and bodyweight exercises for endurance strength (and am pretty good at all 3). However, I’ve been beaten up by much less conditioned people in the MMA gym. Do I just need to drill technique/spar more before my conditioning starts taking effect? It’s just a little frustrating.

Thanks!

[quote]Heroic Wolf wrote:
Hi Tom! Loved your Steven Seagal impression! Here’s my question for you:

How transferable is general strength/conditioning to fighting ability? I do plyometrics for explosive strength, free weights for max strength, and bodyweight exercises for endurance strength (and am pretty good at all 3). However, I’ve been beaten up by much less conditioned people in the MMA gym. Do I just need to drill technique/spar more before my conditioning starts taking effect? It’s just a little frustrating.

Thanks![/quote]
This question seems rhetorical don’t you think?

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

[quote]Heroic Wolf wrote:
Hi Tom! Loved your Steven Seagal impression! Here’s my question for you:

How transferable is general strength/conditioning to fighting ability? I do plyometrics for explosive strength, free weights for max strength, and bodyweight exercises for endurance strength (and am pretty good at all 3). However, I’ve been beaten up by much less conditioned people in the MMA gym. Do I just need to drill technique/spar more before my conditioning starts taking effect? It’s just a little frustrating.

Thanks![/quote]
This question seems rhetorical don’t you think?[/quote]

If you want to be good at fighting, get good at fighting. The other stuff transfers over once skills are comparable.

Tom, thanks for the response to my last question.
I was wondering if you have ever suffered any tendinitis from all of the pad work and bouncing around and how did you over come that? also what is the longest time period you have had off training, and why?

[quote]Charged wrote:
Tom, thanks for the response to my last question.
I was wondering if you have ever suffered any tendinitis from all of the pad work and bouncing around and how did you over come that? also what is the longest time period you have had off training, and why?[/quote]

Yes, my elbows crack constantly and oftentimes hurt but it is just part of the game methinks.

Longest time off? I usually take a week off after each fight. That is about as long of a break as I take. Even when I have been injured I have trained what I could.