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Tila Tequila

UFC 110 Sydney trip part 1

You’re probably thinking looking at the title of this blog, “what the hell?” A bucks weekend away? Or a recipe for those looking for more then a bite to handle?

Actually this is what all unfolded in one day when I arrived in Sydney on Saturday. Left Melbourne with a good friend of mine Quocas to have 2 nights of UFC action and a bit of sight seeing. We stayed at Sebel Pier One, which is situated in Circular Quay on the wharf. Nice place, great bathroom, soft beds and prompt friendly customer service. The first thing we did when we arrived, dropped the bags in and checked out the gymnasium. It read free weights but when we entered the small workout room it had a latpulldown machine, seated chest press machine, leg extension and lying hamstring curl machine. Free weights?? So me being the trainer, I had to quickly devise a workout that attacked the fullbody using these machines. So here goes; supersets lat pulldown with chest press 3 x 12, leg extensions superset with hamstring curls 3 x12, tricep pushdowns supersetted with bicep curls (using the lat machine) 3 x 12, 5 mins of varied crunches and we were back in our rooms, deoderant on, fresh new tee and an appetite for some home made cooking.

Quoc and myself being of Vietnamese background thought what better way to start the culinary day off with a nice bowl of PHO. Who better to cook this delicious dish (other then my mum) but the popular Vietnamese TV chef Luke Nguyen.  Off to Star City to his restaurant ‘Fat Noodle’ we went on foot with thongs. A note of warning: “do not walk long distances with flip flops on”, however it was worth the dreaded walk as we rested our battered feet and dived into the hot beefy noodle soup.

Rampage Jackson

Quoc got a call from his cousin who came up from Melbourne to Sydney with MTV star Tila Tequila. She was hosting a night at Tank nightclub and brang Tila Tequila from the states to be a guest star. So we thought why not, lets make a night of it and we’ll head down. So we headed back to the hotel by taxi (thought taxi was the better option with a full stomach of food and raw feet) to get ready for the night out.

Dressed and smelling the goods we left the hotel and headed into the city. With shoes on we decided we could walk without a complaint and im glad we did because we bumped into UFC star ‘Rampage’ Jackson in Darling Harbour. Out came the camera and I got this nice shot of a relaxed, intoxicated and careless attitude of Rampage and myself. He mumbled and slurred something and quickly darted off to a bunch of tall-legged blondes which I don’t blame him for leaving in such a hurry.

Arrived at Tank nightclub to be greeted by Quocs cousin (love the skip the queue treatment) and we went straight in to the club to see a pretty, tiny, loud-mouthed girl yelling obscene things and ‘trying’ to sing on stage. Its Tila Tequila! She was quite intoxicating and yes I did have a hangover the next day not from drinking, but from a lot of Tequila singing.

Wanderlei Silva in preparation downunder!

Mirko CroCop last UFC fight?

3 days to go and counting…. I cannot wait till the weekend…

Heading up to Sydney for 3 days around the hype of the UFC entourage, the mardi gras parade and head banging ACDC fans. Your probably thinking which one am I visiting for or am I there for all, makes for an interesting story. Actually, you guessed right (or wrong :p), I’m there for UFC 110!!!!

This is the first time the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) will make its way across from the US to televise and present a historical moment for all MMA enthusiasts downunder.  I will let you know of my journey as I arrive Saturday, hopefully to catch the weigh in and will venture into MMA gyms around Sydney to get a taste of a fighters training regime.

I will give you a full detail of my physical pain and gain, emotions and learning experiences through photos and a writeup in my next blog. Once again, I am talking about the UFC.

Stay tuned, peace!

“Tuesday Fight Night” had a big turnout and the team sure had their work cut out for them. 48 yep that’s right (no typo there) 48 different exercises were performed from throwing, twisting, lifting and occasional pushing. We had the guys emulate a strength and conditioning workout for fighters. From what we saw, everyone has a fighter in them as they all fought their way through multiple stations of functional, fat burning and cardio conditioning exercises. Well done guys!
Saturdays “Weekend Warrior Workout” implemented our first session with the use of boxing gloves and pads. Killer hits and outstanding pad holding was on display. Judging from all the rounds, it was a unanimous decision to give all a win in this fighters workout. ☺
Nick and myself are looking forward to this weeks training as we change the scenery and move up to another level of fitness.
Keep up the great work! ☺

During our Next Session Wet and rain didn’t stop the team on Saturday either from getting into some gut busting work at BrickMakers Park and it was a full team effort to get through it. Workout was “COMPLEXITY”. A series of Resistance style exercises with hardly any rest! Guys you certainly showed some determination on this one!

Workout : ”Twist And Shout”
We thought we would do something completely different and unusual for people today! It ended up that everyone was twisting and moaning so perhaps we should have renamed the routine “Twist and Moan”?
Anyway Peter and I did plenty of shouting to keep everyone motivated! We would love to hear how everyone pulled up after todays session so please let us know! 

Keep up the good work people, make sure to do some other work also e.g. Walk, Jog, Sports, so basically just keep your body moving… We want to see some changes come the end of the 6 weeks!  If you need help in that department let Me or Peter know. We look forward to bringing you more interesting and challenging workouts to come!

Days are TUESDAYS at 7pm and SATURDAY’S at 11am, meeting place is Brickmakers Park in Oakleigh and we will be using multiple training locations from there!
Next Monday 18th Jan, we require people to come down at 7pm for registration and general assessments at the Fitness Federation personal training studio.
The cost for the 6 weeks is just $150 so it’s very affordable as a ONCE OFF deal!
Duration is 45-60 minutes depending on what we do on the day.
We ask that you confirm that you are coming at least a day before we start so we can finalise numbers.

We look forward to seeing you all there to kickstart the new year!
Any Enquiries please contact us at fitnessfederation@hotmail.com or
Nick 0433-189-078 or Peter 0402-345-809
Thanks, Nick and Peter!

After today I am exhausted. Sitting here writing this post and looking back at today’s workout with my mates Nick and Dan, that nauseas feeling is returning again. Now I love pushing myself through hi intense workouts but let me tell you these two trainers will take you to higher limits or what I like to say is “seeing the white buffalo” at the end of a serious workout.

I had my sweat towel, pre workout drink and high level of enthusiasm when I arrived at the Fitness Federation PT studio in Oakleigh, unaware of what I was getting myself into. No messing around, the studio was ready for my arrival as stations were set and I had little time to down my pre workout drink before I was marched straight into it. Innovative functional exercises with the use of sand bags, tyres, hammers and your own bodyweight were implemented into my day program. I got smashed! I had an amazing muscle building and fat burning 30 minute bash taking me through all range of full body movements.

I will be back there again….. anytime soon, just got to let my body heal

If you want to see Nick and Dans workout tips and exercises or catch up on the latest Fitness Federation news visit www.fitnessfederation.wordpress.com

Hear from me soon….

Dan, Nick and myself.

Lately i have been incorporating bodyweight exercises with the team and myself.

Have a look at the video, absolutely amazing!! Partly the reason behind our training of bodyweight exercises lately.

Enjoy!

New Training Program

I make sure that every week I am incorporating a new exercise or program into my workouts as it keeps me sane and fresh. Repeating the same thing over and over again becomes quite mundane and may lead to a lack lustred workout because of boredom and lost motivation. It also helps me see what works and how and why it works. Better yet as a personal trainer, we need to practice what we preach!

Local Trash Tees

Okay I know what your thinking…. Nice plug for my brother. But everyone should be comfortable in what they train in and for me its my brothers tees. Plus side, I have a dozen of them to sweat in

Nike AirMax 90

If you know me then you know I love my sneakers. My choice of shoe is the Nike AirMAx 90s. I have 15 pairs of these. These shoes are incredibly comfortable, lightweight, and look ice cream cool if you ask me.

Grip Pads

Just picked these up a couple of weeks ago.I never used to be a huge proponent of weight training gloves but so far these are putting a smile on my face. Not like a normal training glove, it provides a comfortable grip while at the same time preventing calluses, heat, and odor (hence my old stinky gloves). Apparently there more durable…well I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Blender bottle

There are shaker bottles and then there are Blender bottles. This is something I wish I would’ve thought of and made millions of dollars. It’s got a wire whisk ball that helps break down and mix your protein powders.

I-pod Nano

If I’m training with friends, I can usually leave my I-Pod in my bag as my mates supply more than enough motivation and noise. But when I’m by myself I need to listen to something other than the crappy music playing over the gym speakers.  At the moment im going old school electronic breakbeat ‘The Prodigy’, album ‘The Fat of the Land’….Perfect.

Boxing mitts

Who doesn’t like kicking and punching, just ask my clients. Love holding these mitts and watching my clients go nuts and improve after each round.

Skipping rope

An inexpensive exercise tool that can be carried anywhere.  Jumping rope is a great fat burning cardio exercise that can also build rhythm, hand and feet coordination.  So  mix it up, the treadmill or crosstrainer will only do so much.

So whats in your gym bag?

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Such competitions allow martial artists of different backgrounds to compete. Today, mixed martial artists must cross-train in a variety of styles to counter their opponent’s strengths and remain effective in all the phases of combat. This is where the importance of not only fight training but strength and conditioning training gets involved.

The art and science of MMA strength and conditioning training workouts still has a lot more evolving to do in the coming years, but there are still some great resources and MMA training workouts that have been put together that are tested and proven by experienced MMA fighters and used as UFC workout programs and other professional MMA workouts. MMA Training is evolving constantly as coaches and athletes are finding better and better ways to train. Cardiovascular conditioning, speed drills, strength training and flexibility are all important aspects of a fighter’s training.

Heres a sample of a MMA program that i myself am currently doing in the hope to move faster, look better and feel endlessly energetic.

• Box jumps 15
• Swissball rollouts 15
• Military press 12
• Weighted chinups 12
• Medicine ball slams 20
• Dumbell bench press 12
• Plyo pushups with clap 20
• Front squats 12
• Jump squats 15
• Treadmill sprint 1 min

Perform these exercises in a circuit one after the other and have 2 min rest, then repeat it 3 times. Give it a try and let me know how you go or if you have any questions drop me a line peter@fitclub.com.au