Daniel Cormier is a mixed martial artist and the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Here is an explosive conditioning workout inspired by DC.
Daniel Cormier won the belt in his fight against Anthony Johnson on May 23, 2015, when the reigning champion Jon Jones was suspended for one year due to his hit & run incident.
Now Jon Jones, who never lost the title in a fight, is ready to get his belt back. DC and Jon Jones will clash on July 9th, 2016.
We have compiled here a conditioning workout inspired by Daniel Cormier's training footage and his personal instagram account.
Daniel Cormier (left) vs. Jon Jones
This is training camp conditioning, which is season training and it's very different to the regular training a fighter or an athlete would do during off-season.
During off-season an athlete or a fighter wants to do maintenance work - strengthen the body as a whole.
During season, the athlete has to prep the body for athleticism and explosive movements.
In other words, the strength and structure built during off-season needs to be converted into explosive fast twitch muscle fiber strength.
Daniel Cormier Conditioning Exercises
Tire Flips
What makes the tire flips an excellent posterior chain exercise to do during training camp, is the fact that you don't have to lower it down.
You only do the concentric part of the repetition and this is good because in athletic movements the eccentric (lowering) portion of the repetition doesn't often exist.
You can completely focus on deadlifting the tire with your maximal effort and then just turn it over and repeat.
The strength built with tire flips will improve wrestling, striking and grappling because your hips can generate more power.
To make it even more effective, you can jump over the tire with every repetition. You can do tire flips for 5 to 20 repetitions per set for 3-5 sets.
Explosive Bar Push
The purpose of this exercise is to explosively push the barbell. Don't fully straighten your arms because it's not necessarily safe for your joints. Start very cautiously.
You should aim to use the momentum of your entire body to create the push. This is an explosive press that should target the entire body.
This exercise will condition your triceps, shoulders, chest, abs and hips to deliver explosive strikes. It's good for punching power.
This exercise is popular among footballers, hockey players and MMA fighters. Do the exercise until you feel like you no longer can do it explosively. 3-5 sets.
Medicine Ball Throw
Medicine ball throw is also one of the exercises where the eccentric, lowering portion of the repetition is often eliminated. You can go all out and just explode. Then do it again.
The great thing about medicine balls is that they offer great versatility to your methods. You can throw them upwards, downwards, forward or behind.
The medicine ball throw is great for overall athleticism, striking and speed. Excellent work to tune your body for fast twitch muscle fibers.
You can combine the medicine ball throw with other exercises like push ups or knee jumps, or just do it alone for explosive repetitions. 5 to 10 reps per set for 3-5 sets is fine.
Explosive Box Squat
Explosive box jumps are one of the best exercises to develop explosive lower body power.
You start by sitting on a box and then explode with your hips to stand up on your toes. This will develop vertical jump incredibly well.
Because it's explosive work, it's not about weight, but how explosively you can do the movement. Just a barbell should be enough - you don't necessarily need more than that.
Do this for as long as you feel like your body no longer can do it explosively. 5+ sets is recommended.
Bear Crawl
Doing the bear crawl movement is tough, especially if you do it fast. The movement will work your entire body and develop overall athleticism.
Bear crawls and movement training has become popular in MMA lately, but in sports conditioning this is nothing new. Bear crawls have been incorporated to training by football and rugby players for decades.
It's a phenomenal conditioning exercise to do on a field when you don't have access to free weights or any other equipment.
You can use the bear crawl as a warm-up exercise or use it as a proper conditioning exercise. Do it for 3-5 sets for as long as you have the strength to do it.
Train hard, stay safe.
PS. We just added 6 Active Flexibility videos to our Movement 20XX course. If you are already registered, you can just login and find them.
