Oli's fitness is going through the roof!

With Christmas and New Year looming, Oli Thompson is showing no signs of letting up on his preparation for the ZT Fight Night- Heavyweight Tournament in January.

Christian Vila, from Brighton Kettlebells is phasing Oli's training in blocks so he is in peak condition for the tournament.

Tournament

This one of a kind event will be one of the most exciting things to happen in UK MMA, with some of the top UK heavyweights fighting for a £15k Prize money.

Held at the HMV Forum in London, tickets are now selling fast.

See: http://www.ztfightnight.com/


 THE TRAINING


The gruelling sessions with Christian involve the use of bodyweight exercises, bands, kettlebells and anythings heavy Oli can throw around.

To warm up Christian has Oli perform Tabata Jump squat to sprawls- throwing punches in the rest periods.
They then use IHPCombat's MMA Matrix with dumbells to build all over endurance and flexibility whilst on the move.



As an MMA fighter, Oli needs to be a multi-faceted athlete. He must have great cardio, agility, power, strength and flexibility to survive the tournament. Rounds last a gruesome five minutes and are relentless!

Heavyweight MMA fighter Ollie Thompson begins 11 week training camp.

This week ZT Fight Skool's Heavyweight fighter, Ollie Thompson began his preparation for what will be the biggest test of his MMA career.

Ollie who won the title Britain’s Strongest Man in 2006, was also ranked in the world strong man top ten. He has also competed in the prestigious World’s Strongest Man competition.

Ollie in action:

He is now persuing a career in Mixed Martial Arts, already winning his first three fights (3-0) with great ferocity. Christian Vila and his revolutionary training techniques has been brought in as Strength and Conditioning coach Ollie's weekly training sessions leading up to the highly anticipated ZT Fight Night- The Tournament on January 30th in London.

The tournament

The eight confirmed fighters for the tournament are Rob Broughton M1 Challenge Team, James Thompson Pride Veteran, Martin ‘THE OX’ Thompson UK MMA title holder, Tengiz Tedoradze UK MMA legend, Neil Grove UFC Veteran, Karlos Vermola CFC Heavyweight Champion, Oli Thompson former Britain’s Strongest Man and Neil Wain UFC Veteran.

This is going to be one not to miss!

Strongman attitude


Using his wealth of training knowledge, Christian will be pushing Ollie to his mental and physical limits, both of which are very strong thanks to his strongman training.

 Ollie's mental attitude is what allows him to move his 125kg frame for extended periods, like someone weighing in at 85kg. Christian, who always tests circuits and programmes on himself was truly shocked to see how quickly Ollie finished his circuit despite his size.

The test

Using a Concept Rower and Kettlebells, Christian decided to test Ollie's power and endurance with a series of gruelling exercises running against the clock.

 Ollie finished the circuit in 23 non-stop minutes and even had enough for some core work at the end. 

Keep checking back to see how Ollie's training is progressing leading up to the big day!

TacFit ISS

Think you're fit?

Try this....

This is the intermediate level skill version and intermediate level fitness version of the workout. Advanced skills are too difficult unless you’ve mastered the intermediate level. However, if you’re gutting it out and can perform the 6s. The advanced fitness level version of the program is with 8 reps per exercise; beginning fitness 4 reps each.

Each minute on the minute for 20 minutes; finish 20 rounds in 20 minutes of:

* 6 Quad Hops to Flat Foot Squat
* 6 Knee Drop Spinal Rocks to Butterfly
* 6/6 Springing Tripods
* 6/6 Swinging Planks.

If you don’t get all of the reps finished in 60 sec, you don’t get credit for the round! You start the next round as soon as the next minute begins, whether you finish the prior round and get credit for it or not!

Tonight's workout!

We haven't done the Newport workout by the Art of Strength guys for a while...so its time to get sweaty and go for it tonight!

Here's what you can expect:

Circuit style kettlebell workout divided into 10 “rounds” including a 5 minute snatch test.
Most rounds take about 4 minutes and consist of continuously alternating between two exercises for 4 minutes.
We'll rest between rounds with 1 minute of abdominal work! (Active Rest jejeje!)- followed by a proper rest of 1 minute!
All exercises will be done with just one Kettlebell!



Check out the Art Of Strength Website for more videos and cool info!

This is one workout you won't want to miss...so come on down tonight to the King Alfred Leisure Centre, Kingsway, Hove! We kick off at 7.30pm!
Bring a towel!