Zia Strength Systems

Bars Loaded Episode #8-Warehouse Gym Business

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:59:48 +0000

In episode 8 I get into how we started our gym and the mistakes that we have made. I will definitely revisit the business stuff in a later podcast please keep the questions coming.

Be sure to sign up for the You Don’t Know Squat seminar Dec 2nd with Ray Williams. A portion of proceeds will go to a 16 gym member that is fighting cancer. Sign up at ziastrengthsystems.com

To donate directly to the GoFundMe for Elijah, here is the link https://www.gofundme.com/help-support-elijah

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Untitled-101117-2.43-PM.mp3

Bars Loaded Episode #7-Conjugate for Strongman

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 19:20:04 +0000

Bars Loaded Episode #7-Conjugate for Strongman

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Untitled-10317-1.14-PM.mp3

We are back!

Bars Loaded gets into the swing of things with episode #7. I take a look at cycling conjugate method when it comes to strongman.

Please give us that 5 star and leave a review so we can make this podcast the best it can be.

Bars Loaded Episode #6-Keto Diet and Weight Loss w/ Nez Hoover

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Tue, 16 May 2017 18:28:45 +0000

Bars Loaded Episode #6-Keto Diet and Weight Loss w/ Nez Hoover

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Barsloaded-Episode-6.mp3

Nez Hoover discusses weight loss how he went from 270 down to 219 in 4 months to make weight for BBB2 Strongman and how he did that with the help of a keto style diet.

Bars Loaded Episode #5-Q&A with Coach T

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 19:15:58 +0000

Bars Loaded Episode #5-Q&A with Coach T

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/barsloaded-ep-5.mp3

We have an amazing show for you guys. We did a Q&A with the infamous Coach T. Coach T touches on question that were sent in via social media. We talked about training, eating recovery among other things. It was an epic Q&A and one we hope to retouch on in the future. Hope you enjoy the episode.

Instagram

@nez_hoover

@mr_nfp

@bars_loaded

@coacht5510

Bars Loaded Episode #4- Pizza & PR’s

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 18:09:23 +0000

Bars Loaded Episode #4- Pizza and PR’s

Today discussed pizza and worked in some talk on PR’s. Are the imported? Are they overrated? When should you PR? Should you PR before competition? We have another great episode for you guys!

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Pizza-n-PRs.mp3

Strength Training for MMA

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 20:10:29 +0000

Strength Training for MMA Part I

MATTHEW CHAVEZ, ZIA STRENGTH SYSTEMS

ALBUQUERQUE, NM DECEMBER 14TH, 2016

MMA is the fastest growing sport and has taken the country by storm. Fifteen years ago it was thought of as barbaric and was even called “human cock fighting” by then Senator John McCain. Finally when the Fertittas and Dana White took over the sport was regulated and was accepted by most athletic commission. Boxing has always been king of the combat sports but with a mediocre Heavyweight division the last decade+ and less people understanding the sweet science, boxing’s strangle hold on combat audience has loosened and some would say lost it. With that being said, MMA was easy to relate to by new fans. Everybody can understand a KO and KO’s are exciting.

In the early days MMA was dominated by the tough guy, wrestler or jiu jitsu master. Most fighters were one trick ponies this is how they were going to beat you and if you could defend against that then you would be successful. Flash forward 10+ years MMA has now become a sport and MMA is now its own martial art. You don’t just box or just wrestle, you can’t just be a jiu jitsu master. Jiu jitsu is a little different when somebody is trying to hit you in the face. Fighters now wrestle using the cage, box or kickbox with style that is conscience of the takedown

Now that MMA is a full blown sport athletes are coming up training MMA, just like they would baseball or football. You now see the best in each division of the UFC are all for the most part the best athletes, Mighty Mouse, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones for example.

When it comes to training MMA it to has evolved and now fighters aren’t just beating the crap out of each other everyday, its structured with a specific plan. There are some great MMA coaches out there who have perfected their craft and are now the gold standard such as Greg Jackson, Duke Roufus, and Javier Mendez just to name a few. Point is, they know what they are doing in the training room. Most fighters know how to get in shape for a fight and know how they should feel. Most will even have various indicators that with let them know that they are in shape. Fighters for the most part are eating like athletes should, many have their own nutritionists that help them with their diet. These are all elements that a fighter needs to help them be the best fighter possible.

There is something missing…

Where does strength training fit into all of this? All other sports strength train… We already said MMA has become a full blown sport. So does MMA need strength training?

Yes!!!

There’s slight problem, there is an old idea that strength training for fighters is bad. Mostly coming from old school boxing guys thinking that strength training is going to make you slow and bulky is the old adage.

Answer me this, if strength training makes you slow and bulky then why isn’t Usain Bolt slow and bulky and he strength trains. Coaches have this idea that by strength training you are doing bodybuilding, which we know is not the case. There is no direct correlation between muscle size and muscle strength. That’s why you can have a 181 powerlifter lifting way more than a huge bodybuilder.

Strength training properly allows the fighter to add strength without adding weight to their frame. Now does a fighter need to train exactly the same as football player or track athlete? No, of course not they are in different sports and have different needs. But, are the basics the same? Yeah, for the most part.

Strength training programming for fighters cam be tricky. First you need to find out their schedule in their fight gym. Which days they are sparring, wrestling, boxing, jiu jitsu. Are they going 100% or are they just drilling. Without this schedule, I can guarantee that your fighter will be over trained. Remember when they are in your gym, their fight training should still be priority #1. It does the fighter no favors if he or she is beat up from lifting and then goes into sparring and they are feeling like mush. Don’t have an ego this is a fact!

Training Split

Most MMA training has the same structure each week. If you know Monday is hard sparring or hard wrestling, you don’t want to schedule a taxing workout that day or the next allow the fighter to recover.

Program in some active recovery work instead those days. This worst thing you can do is over train the fighter so that they are worthless in the gym the next couple days thats where injuries occur.

Pulling sleds or pushing the wheel barrow is a great tool to still accumulate work on those days without over training.

Drilling days are usually days that are good to really hit the strength stuff like squatting, benching, deadlifting or harder conditioning. Just make sure that they do not have a tough day scheduled right after this workout. Working around their schedule can sometimes be the toughest part of strength training for a fighter.

Get to know your athlete know when to push and know when to back down. If a fighter is having a rough week of training for what ever reason and they come in the gym and say that they aren’t feeling that day, its ok to back down. Just because you have a heavy day scheduled, its ok to modify what you have your athlete do that day. Believe me they are getting plenty of work in.

Out of Camp

Unless a fighter takes a last minute fight, ideally you want at least an 8-10 week camp. If there are no fights scheduled in the near future the fighter would be considered out of camp. Here is the time that the fighter would be working on the things he or she considers weaknesses and perfecting their strengths.

Example: We have worked with Jon Jones for the past two years. The first 8 month due to suspension, Jon knew he would not be fighting so he really wanted to attack one of the his weaknesses which was strength. Would we have done what we had done between fights? Absolutely not, but he was in a unique situation and wanted to take advantage of it. Looking back we agree he took to much time of martial arts training, but we learn and move forward.

Traditionally between fights, fighters don’t have that much time to work solely on one thing. They must keep all their tools sharpe because they never know when the next call will be for the next fight. Take this time to really dedicate the time to making your fighters weaknesses their strengths.

-When we have worked with fighters in the past they are usually extremely anterior dominant. This could be because everything they do is going forward or a combinations of a weak posterior. Any kind rows are great, this goes a long way in developing the posterior.

-Fighters are fighters and they are extremely efficient at what they do in the cage, however, a lot of them struggle with stimulus that they are not used to. Now is the time to introduce foreign movement patterns to them which allows them expand their movement rages.

-Don’t try to emulate a fight with specific movement in the gym. Yes, they have special needs and movements that need to be addressed but there is now way to simulate a fight without being in a fight. All we can do is try to prepare them for any situation.

-Strongman movement are GREAT for fighter. The odd objects allow fighters to be strong in odd positions. Stones, yoke, carries etc.

-Isometrics are great but monitor their volume, because these can really leave them sore for several days. Even tempo lifts are great at this point.

At the end of the day get to know your fighter, building that relationship is essential to putting together the best game plan.

In Camp

When a fighter gets that call to fight and they are 10 weeks out. Now is the time to narrow down a game plan so that he or she is peaking at the right time.

Your job now it to keep them healthy so that their training sessions in the MMA gym are they best they can possibly be.

Making sure they are conditioned, this is where the most mistakes are made. Remember there is nothing that you can do in the gym that will equal a hard wrestling or sparring session. Most of their conditioning is done in practice. So as long as they are still going hard in the gym, just be there to polish off their conditioning. A great way to do this is work on their muscular endurance in their legs. But, do not forget about their upper body. If their arms are heavy at the end of the fight they are going to be in trouble.

Examples but not limited to:

-Battle Ropes

-Russian Twist various

-Kettlebells

-TABATA

We need to prepare the fighter to be the strongest they are going to be 3 weeks out. Why 3 weeks out? Well one it will allow delayed transformation to take over and two at his point they are not going to get any stronger and thats a point of diminishing returns if we try to go past that. Remember to trust the accumulation of work they have done over the time since their last fight.

Also now depending on the size of the fighter the weight cut becomes real. Some of you will be involved in the weight cut, some won’t. We aren’t going to get into weight cutting right now. Hopefully they are dieting down and getting to weight safely.

MMA is a really dynamic sport and there are all kinds of different athletes, styles and backgrounds competing. Do your homework and understand the sport, this goes for all sports. Lets do our athletes a favor and not allow our ego to get in the way of their success. If they succeed, we succeed!

Bars Loaded Episode #3-Estevan Lucero Athlete Ready

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:28:14 +0000

Estevan Lucero

Estevan Lucero is an Albuquerque native, and former collegiate football player. Following his collegiate career he played three years of arena football and has since made the transition to being the lead collegiate and high school prep Coach at Athlete Ready. He holds an MBA in Sports Management, he is a NASM performance enhancement specialist and a certified functional strength coach (CFSC)

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Bars-Loaded-Episode-3.mp3

Bars Loaded Episode #2- Does your programming suck?

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 18:18:20 +0000

Does your programming suck?

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Bars-loaded-Episode-2-1.mp3

Bars Loaded Hosted by: @nezhoover, @mr_nfp and @cruel_hand_luke

Guests included: @ash_cakes and @crossfit_beaver

We have a great show for you! We cover programming… What should your programming look like? Who is doing your programming? What kind of programming we use?

We cover a lot of the mistakes beginners make with their programming, we talked a lot about conjugate programming and how it is set up.

Give us a Follow on Instagram and give us a Like on Facebook

We look forward to the things we have coming up and thanks again for all the support!

Bars Loaded Episode #1- You down with the GPP?

barsloaded2016@gmail.com (Matthew Chavez) — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 15:23:21 +0000

You down with the GPP?

http://ziastrengthsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Bars-Loaded-Episode-1-1.mp3

Hosted by @nezhoover, @mr_nfp and @cruel_hand_luke

In our first episode we get into the discussion of GPP (General Physical Preparedness). What is GPP? How to implement GPP into your training? Who should be using GPP?

We go through what our experiences with GPP both personally and coaching.

We are excited for the future of Bars Loaded and thanks for the support!