MMA training techniques that have proven to be inneffective/outdated?

I recall a show about UFC fighters and some of the crazy shit they did as a part of their fight camps... like Wand wearing a 35 pound weight vest, taping up his nose so he could only breathe through a snorkel as a means of restrictive breathing so he'd be able to get a 2 hour workout within 30 minutes.

Sean Sherk had some amazing training techniques as well.

But I'm curious, practically no current high level fighters are doing those same exercises. Was it because Wand and Sherk were doing these things ten years ago and they've been proved to not be effective, or are they too high risk, or have they evolved into more effective exercises?

 

Running on the ocean floor with a rock.

 

the breath mask thing turned out to not be effective. They were trying to simulate being at altitude, which doesnt work.

 

The Curly shuffle used by Silva was a bust.

 

The snorkel has evolved into some sort of face mask.

BTW is there any evidence that mechanically restricting breathing is good for anything? Same for weighted vests.

The world is full with cardio sports, yet I have never heard of anyone using either of these things outside of combat sports.

 

This guy explains it pretty well:
[YT]vlyMrpTU7BM[/YT]

 

Does anybody train the Five-Finger Death Touch any more?

 

The mask for sure. Reading the tread title I first thought it was about techniques used in the cage (grappling, striking)

 

Kicking with ankle weights and shadow-boxing with dumbbells used to be a staple; these days not so much.

Vests would be good for loading push-ups and stuff, no?

The mask has been pretty well discredited for simulating altitude, since the concentration of oxygen in the air remains the same, but devices like the Powerbreathe do seem to work as resistance devices for the inspiratory muscles. Ironman is on board with them.

N.B. How much training the inspiratory muscles really benefits you is another question.

 

what fighters were doing this?

weighted vests are useful when you want to train yourself to carry a heavy vest type thing.

 

I think it was BJ Penn.

 

Weighted vests can be useful as a way to add load to some exercises, although for a lot of things there's usually more practical means. I met a guy who found that while recovering from a back injury, he could squat more weight pain free if part of that loading came from a weighted vest. So it's potentially a useful tool, but hardly essential or special.

Training with restricted breathing could be useful for someone who has to physically exert themselves with restricted breathing. A firefighter, for example. I've heard of some endurance athletes training the inspiratory muscles, but done separately from their other training. More like spending some time breathing through progressively smaller straws, rather than training with some kind of mask on. No idea about actually evidence of it's efficacy though.

 

I always wanted to try that.

 

I think anything king fu, aikido, hapkido and qi (chi) has pretty much been shut down.

 

plyometrics.




although one thing I think probably works and isn't used by anybody currently, is the old school knuckle toughening techniques. Like Bruce Lee used to do. Like punching canvas bags filled with gravel, punching into a bucket of sand, makiwara boards...things like that. Seems to me like that kind of thing might help reduce risk of breaking your hand in a fight.

 

Just for clarification, I meant stuff like jogging with a weighted vest, not doing BWEs with them.

 

Plyometrics are legitimate, and potentially very effective, it's just that a lot of people have no idea how to properly utilize them in a S&C program.

 

I don't want to take the thread to far of course but could you recommend a brief article or something on it? or a starting point to learn a bit?

 

http://www.workout-x.com/fitness-articles/1137/Plyometrics-and-MMA

FYI when I was pretty serious about training I used stability balls, medicine balls, kettlebells, along with a decent plyo routine.

 

Speedbag