90s/2000s MMA training vs Now...

[Ogata]

How did old school fighters train back in the day that is different?

I am curios to know because the talk is that now fighters get paid to train full time and usually former champs get old and lose their status.

Other than that, has there been new techniques or new training methods that specifically replaced the old ones?

 

[Altaloma1990]

 

[BobblyStruggles]

Modern technique

 

[EndlessCritic]

Whatever GSP was doing in 2010 is probably better than what most guys are doing today.

 

[Fight Professor]

No gym was necessary.

 

[Mammothman]

Modern technique

I like this one better

 

[Simple Southerner]

 

[Russie]

In 90s so much was about the offense. They trained with the focus on their means of attack whether it be in striking, grappling and so forth. Now so much more focus is on the defense. Preventing takedowns, getting out of submission attempts, countering whatever might be thrown at them. You just don't see as many fighters easily submitted as you used to see. Then there is diversifying a fighters skills in training so that they aren't one dimensional. The talent in these training camps has improved. Guys aren't training with nobodies. Some of these camps are stacked with great coaches and fighters that further help each other in their growth.

 

[Fergelmince]

Axe murderer

 

[Ogata]

In 90s so much was about the offense. They trained with the focus on their means of attack whether it be in striking, grappling and so forth. Now so much more focus is on the defense. Preventing takedowns, getting out of submission attempts, countering whatever might be thrown at them. You just don't see as many fighters easily submitted as you used to see. Then there is diversifying a fighters skills in training so that they aren't one dimensional. The talent in these training camps has improved. Guys aren't training with nobodies. Some of these camps are stacked with great coaches and fighters that further help each other in their growth.

See I like this post.

This makes a whole lot of sense when you mentioned fighters not getting subbed as much. Few day ago I made a thread about exciting grappling and submission fights that went down in recent times.

I realized there is not much as before. Watching old fights are super exciting and at times sloppy but very action packed. Usually its either action packed or tons of stalling. Now there is defensive aspect as mentioned before.

I guess back then it was Muay Thai as the king of striking but we are also seeing karate and boxing doing well in there.

 

[Forceof1]

Back then everyone had their "base" and they just did the other stuff to supplement.

Now, people are training MMA from the jump. Literally, from day 1 they are learning striking, TD defense, TD's, submissions, cage work, etc. They may have different backgrounds, but the delineations of styles have really faded. People have to be more well rounded to compete at the highest levels.

 

[kpoz12]

 

[Coconutwater]

You can’t take people like GSP or say Wandy with an altitude mask and say that’s how old-school people trained....

They are outliers and old-school Wandy was most likely juiced and trained like a savage during camp, which would lessen the careers of guys today.

Modern MMA fighters train with more periodization, peaking during the event etc...
Plus we simply know more about weight training and conditioning. For instance, the rear neck military presses where considered normal in the 70’s and 80’s, we now know it is a poor exercise choice that leaves the shoulder’s in a very vulnerable spot.

We know more about fighting against the cage...

We know better ways to implement spinning shite so it doesn’t leave as many openings to takedowns since fighters are more crafty with their set-ups...

Back in the day, Marcus Bossett tried spinning shite with Dan Severn and got taken down easily. Though that could still happen now, it would happen less because modern mma set-ups are tailored to MMA offensive moves and adjust the defense, posture and guard more effectively.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Believe the biggest change is that people doesn’t go balls out striking anymore, oldschool was beat the shit out of each other in every sparring, now people watch their chin much more, once is gone ain’t no coming back

 

[Invisible Jiu Jitsu]

back then the training was "blocko", cause you either blocked or got KO'd

 

[HunterAcosta]

Think what is VASTLY overlooked is better and designer PEDS. Especially for recovery . Mma is SUCH a grueling sport year round , year after year , I don’t know how anybody could be “ clean “ for a whole career even with periodization abd advanced training protocols .

 

[RemyR]

I like this one better

 

[dsdoubled]

Remember the Rich Franklin All Access episode? Those insane weight room marathon sessions? His trainer's philosophy was "Rich fights 5 five-minute rounds so we do ten 10-minute rounds so he never ever gets tired". Did it work? Was Rich in great shape? Sure. But you gotta think if it was worth the time and how much it taxed his recuperative ability.

The truth is if you fight 5 minutes at a time then you should train 5 minutes at a time in fight camp. Going longer changes the energy systems you're using. You'd be better off resting less than the allotted 1 minute then you'd be training more than the 5 minutes.

In the late 2000s a fighter and S&C coach named Paul McVeigh experimented with fight camp S&C training and anecdotally found that less was more in terms of volume. And it didn't matter much what modality he used, he just had to work hard for the 5min on 1min off format. Urijah Faber, Randy Couture, and others have echoed similar thoughts.

 

[Chandler sama]

Does anyone remember Minowa-man and his high altitude training. I think he went to Mt Fuji and started training there by lifting rocks and running around. They shot a promo of it and then about a week later he had to pull out of the match because of altitude sickness. I seemed like until 2008 nobody knew what they were doing and just thought up their own training methods.

To be fair I think Deigo Sanchez hired a trainer that chased him and other fighters around a cage with a knife as training. That was last year I think.

 

[dsdoubled]

Does anyone remember Minowa-man and his high altitude training. I think he went to Mt Fuji and started training there by lifting rocks and running around. They shot a promo of it and then about a week later he had to pull out of the match because of altitude sickness. I seemed like until 2008 nobody knew what they were doing and just thought up their own training methods.

To be fair I think Deigo Sanchez hired a trainer that chased him and other fighters around a cage with a knife as training. That was last year I think.

Minowa also would sprint against horses and cars. Or was it airplanes?