Take the I out of Team

UFC 101 was a whirlwind of activity for me. Although Kenny Florian was fighting, I went to UFC 101 as a spectator, not as his coach. I had resigned as Kenny’s strength and conditioning coach a few months earlier. However, ending that relationship didn’t stop me from wanting Kenny to win badly!

Kenny hired me after his loss to Sean Sherk in October 2006. Kenny realized that he needed to improve his strength and conditioning if he was going to get another title shot. We worked very closely for the next two and half years as he pealed off 6 straight victories, which resulted in him once again earning a title shot, this time against BJ Penn.

Unfortunately, he would have to wait 9 months for the opportunity. After visiting Georges St-Pierre's training camp, Kenny decided to add on John Chaimberg, a strength and conditioning coach from Canada to the KenFlo team. Unfortunately, it was clearly evident from the beginning that John wanted my spot. Personally and professionally I am all about learning new ideas and working with other people. That being said, when you reach out (phone calls, emails) to someone on numerous occasions and get no response, it’s disturbing.

If long distance coaching is going to work, than you must have a colleague to work with that you can trust and communicate with on a daily basis. With John devising the programs from Canada, I was not able to provide meaningful inputs based on my history with Kenny and how he was performing under John's training programs. Eventually, I had no choice, but to resign as Kenny’s strength and conditioning coach.

While I am disappointed that Kenny wasn’t able to win his fight against BJ, I am very proud about the performance of a current client, Kurt Pellegrino, who fought and won earlier that evening on the main card.

With Kurt, I have a colleague I work directly with in New Jersey. Her name is Sharon Wentworth and she is a true professional. Although fairly new to the sport, she is willing to learn from me and I from her. Sharon had interned with Martin Rooney, who I respect greatly.

When I came on board last summer to train Kurt, he was in a difficult place. He had moved back to NJ, to open a school, and was living with his in-laws. He has just signed on for a tough fight. Kurt put his faith in me to design a program and Sharon to serve as his day-to-day coach. He was coming up against Thiago Tavares, a conditioning machine. Kurt not only won the fight, it was fight of the night, which provided a huge bonus that enabled him to buy a house for his family in NJ.

Kurt is now on a three fight win streak. The reason it works is simple - it's about the TEAM. There are No egos between Sharon and myself or the other coaches. We focus on the goal, “help the athlete win.” This mantra is what professional coaching is about.

Kurt once told a story about the great Genzo Gracie. Kurt was a blue belt at his academy and witnessed the Professor taping everybody in the room. He went up him and said, "professor that was great, I can't wait till I can do that." Genzo replied, "Kurt in life people are either a hammer or a nail, don't answer me now, but when you are awarded your black belt, you let me know which you want to be." When Kurt was awarded his black belt years later, he called the professor and said, "Professor, I know the answer, I want to be the nail!" Genzo asked, "Why?" Kurt replied, "because a nail makes everyone else look better and be better."

As coaches we are nails, we want our athletes to get shine. It takes a team to help them reach their goals.

Fighter Training Updates

I shot down to NJ today to train Kurt Pellegrino. He's getting ready for UFC 101 on August 8th and is right on track! My counterpart, Sharon Wentworth, helps me while I"m not there. She has been a huge asset for me and Kurt.

I played a little trick on Kurt, for his new ''Gas in the Tank" program. I told him on the drive to the gym it would be a walk through. I fibbed:) I wanted to test him and see where he was at. As a coach we need to use this tactic once and while to keep athletes on their toes. He did great and he will be ready for Josh Neer. Another MMA fighter client Jorge Gurgel, fights on Friday's Strikeforce card. He was out training with me for 3 weeks. Jorge is ready to put the past in the past. Kenny is lookin good as always as we approach his title shot at 101! Until next time stay strong, stay fit and stay focused.

My MMA Road Trip

The past few weeks have been very busy, I have been in NY, NH, MD and now Colorado conducting MMA Conditioning seminars and having a blast. We are rolling out a new program that uses the Burn with Kearns FitPack with martial arts schools to launch a 90 day fitness challenge. It's an innovative program that my mentors Tim Barchard , Keith Thompson, and myself have put together.

The response has been overwhelming. Tim had to close my seminar at 40 people, and Keith had to add a second session so we could handle 98 people! Last week when I went to MD , I received an unexpected email from my friends at Under Armour. They asked me to come out early and train a group of them. What an awesome company!

Kudos goes out to Marcus Davis for his win at UFC 93! We gear up now for Stephan Bonnar's fight on Jan 31st and Kurt Pellegrino's fight on Feb 7th. The MMA Partner Drills DVD is ready - we are just waiting to receive product shipments.

All the Best

UFC Fighter Training Updates

The holidays are here and things are in full swing. I have several fighters getting ready for early 2009 fights. Last week I went down to NJ to work with Kurt Pellegrino on his new gas in the tank program for his fight on Feb 7th. It was truly an evil program. Kurt called me 5 days later and said he was already feeling the results.

A few weeks ago, Stephan Bonnar came in to work with Kru Mark and myself. Stephan has made real progress after his knee surgery and is ready to get back in the ring. Marcus Davis and I will be working closely together over the next few weeks for his fight in ireland. As always Kenny Florian and I continue to work smarter on his S and C conditioning.

Happy hoildays. Cry in Training, Laugh in Battle.

The Helladays

I have been back for over a month from UFC 91 and I did not even notice. It is true - time does fly by.

This week I will be working with Kurt Pellegrino on his Gas in the Tank phase training as he prepares to fight Rob Emerson for Fight Night 17 on February 17th. I am also working with Marcus Davis for his fight in Ireland next month. Last week we offically wrapped up shooting the latest installment of the basement tape series, MMA Conditioning Partner Drills, the content will be off the hook. I start shooting today for an MMA pay to view site (more details to come).

It's amazing how cranked up my kids get with Christmas around the corner. A sponsor of mine, Fitness Quest sent me a bunch of Bosus, so I had them set up in my family room so the kids could get rid of some energy. Better than siting them in front of the TV!

Well time to bolt to sweat my a$$ off in yoga. All the best. KK

Moving with The Predator and Others

The week ended training Patrick "The Predator" Cote for his last hard gas in the tank session for his upcoming fight on the 25th of October. I have to say I was completely impressed (which does not happen often) with the 5 rounds that we did. He looked at me at the end of the last circuit, and asked if that was it! Cote wanted to do more! He never once backed down or slowed down during the 45 minutes of torture I put him through. Also, what impresses me is his ground game has shot through the roof! If others want to count him out, let them. I think and hope he drops a lot jaws on the 25th, for "The Predator" is on the hunt!

Nate Quarry and Greg Thompson were in town to train with me and the team. I now know why the call Nate the “Rock”. We did one of my favorite routes, The Summit of Pain. This is 246 stairs in Brookline Mass. It is quite sadistic. Nate hammered the stairs into submission and cranked out times like a sprinter! All I could see was his AND 1 shorts running by like Flash Gordon.

Kurt Pellegrino came in to work with Kenny. He’s probably one of my favorite people to hang with. You just never know what he is going to say or do. He kept Kenny and I laughing in training. As a bonus, I think I’m rubbing off on him, he came up with some new gas in the tank exercises for Kenny! Nice Job Bro!

The Batman

After a much needed vacation last week, I decided to shoot back into work and train Kenny Florian on Friday. This week Kurt Pellegrino came into town to help Kenny Florian prepare for this fight on August 9th against Roger Huerta. Kurt is also a client and I put him through the paces of the Burn with the Kearns' Gas in the Tank workout. He has a fight coming up in 7 weeks. It was a new type of training fort Kurt and he loved it. He said " this really makes sense to me before a fight to train this way."

UFC Fighter Training

This has been a very interesting week for me. I have continued to get Kenny Florian ready for UFC 87 which is 4 weeks away. (man does time fly). Kurt Pellegrino came in town and after Ultimate Fight Night 13 and decided he want me to train him and work with Team Florian. It is a honor to have such a top notch fighter in my stable as well as Team Florian.