Sarah Long (MMA S&C Coach)
MMA strength and conditioning coach; posts on nervous system fatigue, recovery, assessment, and injury risk management.
All Martial Arts Overlap—Choose a Solid Instructor
Damn, do martial arts. There is no “better” art when the alternative is NO art. I’ve been taught a roundhouse in Capoeira, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, MMA, and Taekwondo. IT’S ALL THE SAME. I’ve been taught takedowns in MMA, Capoeira, Judo, wrestling, bjj, AND Taekwondo. IT’S ALL THE SAME. Get a good and gritty instructor who teaches the nasty defenses along with the sport. You’re more likely to stick with one that you like that’s close to home. Getting good is the important part.
Too Much Volume, Not Weak Muscles, Causes Injury
It’s good to have one coach that knows ALL of the stuff you’re doing. A program manager. I had a fighter say a PT said his hip flexors were weak. He was having hip flexor issues…. …… because he was kickboxing...
Assessments Replace Guesswork, Drive Global Training Success
I recieved a lot of flack for telling you guys that you need assessments. Because if you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing. We got into assessments in 2009, when the first few started to gain traction. FMS and Assess and Correct...
Train to Absorb Force, Not Just Deliver Power
Understand physics. When you impact a bag or person you absorb the same force. Newton’s 3rd law- Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is a teeny bit different based on if you’re hitting a soft bag or a...
Master Toe Catch, Straight Knees to Prevent Knee Injuries
Did you all see how Carlos stepped when his knee blew out? I did a post a little bit ago about strong ankles. Flat footed with your toes turned out, is the worse way to catch yourself. Get good at...
Efficiency Beats Size: Power
Fix your power you guys. Big movements are unnecessary. Get better at efficiency. I didn’t get stronger or faster in the one seconds it took to change patterns. It’s just better physics. You can hear the power is better even...
Strengthen Key Muscles and Stabilize Foot to Prevent Injuries
How to avoid hyperextension- Elbow = strong biceps Knees = strong hamstrings These mucles catch the force of your forearm and lower leg during fast extension. How to avoid ankle rolls- Get really good at foot stability. Weight on the ball...
Let Minor Injuries Heal Naturally, Skip Excessive Treatments
Some of you all are doin too much with your minor injuries. Let me explain. We have a painful shoulder. Not awful but it’s there. We want to do all the things and keep training. So we get massage, dry...
You Can’t Outtrain Capacity, Recovery Isn’t Unlimited
I was asked a great question. “There’s no such thing as overtraining, just under-recovering.” Is this true? No. If it was, full time athletes could just add volume all the time. All they do is train and recover. Our current...
Train Shoulder Injuries Safely: Use Dumbbells, Skip Barbells
Training with a shoulder issue: This isn’t to fix anything. I’m not a doctor. This is to help you train without making things worse when you are injured. 1. Avoid barbells and overhead. If one shoulder is janky, keeping them locked...
Hip Thrusts: Glute‑Focused, Safer Alternative to Deadlifts
Hip thrusts are KILLER. They’re a posterior chain exercise that you can load up. They’re generally easier than deadlifts, for the people with lacking hip mobility. Cues to focus on: Our ribs and hips shouldn’t get further away from each...
Distinguish Training Laws From Principles to Cut BS
Helping you cut through the BS. Understand there are laws and principles to training. Laws are non-debatable. They happen every time without fail. Arguing a law is for content creators. Principles are close to laws. They’re a general rule or pattern...
Simple, High‑intensity Combos Build Fight‑ready Grit
I just trained a fighter who said, “Just when I think something’s ‘the worst’, you come up with a new thing. This is now ‘the worst’.” 😂 Here’s the workout: Favorite 3 strike combo (include one kick) x10 each side Sit...
Blocked After Influencer Dismisses Sleep, Hormones for Recovery
I just got blocked. A guy on gear said that sleep and hormones don’t matter for muscle damage recovery. He had 52k followers. Thats rough. 😭
Fighters Need Expert Guidance for Concussion Recovery
Second Impact Syndrome. A lot of fighters don’t understand how to properly recover after a concussion. Aspiring fighters don’t often have access to experts. They trust the governing bodies to keep them safe. One of our speakers at Fight Camp...
Injured Fighters Can’t Train Hard on Low Calories
So many fighters get injured a week or two out from their fight. We can’t train 100% with 75% of our normal calorie intake. The math isn’t mathing.
Nervous System Fatigue Undermines Performance and Increases Injury Risk
Understand that our nervous system fatigues. If we don’t recover well, the dude just forgets how to operate our body. Which is a problem. If we do hard live rounds or blast a workout, we’re at an extreme risk of...
Simplify: Adjust Grip Instead of Adding Grip Workouts
I had a fighter say his forearms were blasted after a night of heavy grappling. A good indication that that’s one of his weaker links. Forearms are tiny muscles anyway, comparatively speaking. They’re going to give out first no...