Best coach money can buy?

[Alcon]

I would assume Cain has the "best" coaches money can buy, since he can make millions per fight, missing a fight would mean a lot of lost money. But then you find videos like the one below and really question their coaching abilities.

Will the professional coaching industry in pro sports ever catch up?

Could his current knee problems have anything to do with his "training" choices?

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez (13-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) is injured and unable to fight Fabricio Werdum (18-5-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC 180, a UFC official today confirmed to MMAjunkie.

Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole first reported that the champ injured his knee and Mark Hunt (10-8-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) has stepped in to fight Werdum for the interim title at the pay-per-view event in Mexico City. UFC brass subsequently made an official announcement.

A source close to Velasquez’s camp also confirmed the injury and said the fighter injured his right meniscus. Velasquez was benched for several months in 2012 after injuring his knee prior to a TKO loss to Junior Dos Santos at UFC on FOX 1.

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/10/cain-ve...tle-at-ufc-180

http://youtu.be/kAgFHS8HOLY

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is both amazing and not surprising.

[rmahmad]

Its times like these that make me wonder what genetic freaks (ex Jadveon Clowney/Adrian Peterson) could accomplish with a proper coach. Assuming, that is, that they went through their careers without a proper coach, and a solid program. Which I think is a fair assumption judging from what I have seen and read.

[John Hanley]

Its times like these that make me wonder what genetic freaks (ex Jadveon Clowney/Adrian Peterson) could accomplish with a proper coach. Assuming, that is, that they went through their careers without a proper coach, and a solid program. Which I think is a fair assumption judging from what I have seen and read.

I'm not sure that's a fair assumption. If you happened to be a Seattle-based parent of a genetic freak, it wouldn't be hard to get your kid into some pretty good hands. John Thrush and several exceptional proteges are scattered around the region; Chris Duffin is a short trip south, Anatoily Bondarchuk is a day's trip north; Rip's got a handful of mentees in the area, including that Hanley asshole.

Maybe we're just really spoiled in this region.

[TedB]

Is it possible at all that they just put this clip online to fool the opponents into believing that:
a) Cain and his team have no idea what they are doing so they are taken lightly (are underestimated)?
b) this stupid shit actually works so other fighters do the same thing (remember the whole step-ups for olympic lifitng joke: people bought that and substituted squats for step-ups)?

I know this is not the case, but I WANT to believe it might.

Rip, if you were to be the strength and conditioning coach of a top fighter in mma, would you focus only on strength and let the rest take care of itself by sparring and technique work, or would you have him do specific mobility, stability and endurance work (such as high rep kettlebell swings, single leg work, etc.).

[DirtyRed]

Good lord. How do you not hurt yourself fighting grown ass men and then hurt yourself in training? "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war" kind of falls apart when you start bleeding in training.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Rip, if you were to be the strength and conditioning coach of a top fighter in mma, would you focus only on strength and let the rest take care of itself by sparring and technique work, or would you have him do specific mobility, stability and endurance work (such as high rep kettlebell swings, single leg work, etc.).

I'd spend about 2 days per week for as long as necessary getting his lifts up to 250/350/450/550. Prowler would be every other Saturday after we were well on the way towards these numbers. That is all.

[lewabbit]

I'd spend about 2 days per week for as long as necessary getting his lifts up to 250/350/450/550. Prowler would be every other Saturday after we were well on the way towards these numbers. That is all.

Sorry for the stupid question, Rip. The above regimen would be in addition to standard sparring training, correct?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Obviously. The man is a fighter.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Its like the only thing barbells are really good for is getting strong or something.

Yes, they have a very limited application, quite unlike a leg extension machine.