It might have been August Bank Holiday weekend for most people but not for G4 MMA Fighter Rus ‘Rage’ Smith as he puts himself though a gruelling fitness schedule to ensure he’s in peak condition to return to the cage next February.

This week week get another fascinating instalment of Rus Smith’s training schedule, as he works his way back to peak fitness for next February. As he recovers from a knee injury sustained earlier this year. We find out how Rus has been slowly increasing his MMA participation over last two weeks, while increasing his lifting weight to improve strength – taking strict care not to overload the knee.

Fri day 27th August

The  “Fit challenge” is how many times you can lift your own body weight- in Rus’s case its 85kg

Bench press 85kg x 16reps

Squat 85kg x 50 reps

Dead lift 85kg x 65reps

Push press 85kg x 8reps

Could not do Clean & Press as he did not want to hurt the knee.

Saturday 28th  August

“300 Training” for Muscle endurance & conditioning

25 x chins

50 x dead-lift @ 60kg

50 x box jumps

50 x push ups

50 x floor wipes @60kg

50 x clean and press @25kg

25 x chins

Total time = 11 mins 32 secs  personal best

Then…

4 mile mountain run

Sunday 29th August

Thai Boxing and MMA with Gregg and Lee at Celtic Pride

Monday 30th August (Bank Holiday)

Day off! GGGRRRRR !!!!

Tuesday 31st August

Strength training

Squat 135-140 x 8 reps

Superset with

Walking lunges 30kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

Incline db press 40kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Cable cross overs 15kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

Cleans 70kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Lat pull down 45kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

Military press  70kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Upright row 30kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

MMA

High intensity grappling for 45 mins in the evening

Wednesday 1st September

Fitness runs

2 x 600m

2 x 400m

2 x 200m

2 x 100m

2 x 50m

Thursday 2nd September

Strength training

Dead lift 145 kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Prone pull 40kg x 15 reps (both x4)

Flat bench 100kg x 8 reps

Superset with

db flys 17.5kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

Leg press 300kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Stiff leg deadlift 70kg x 15 reps (both x 4)

Smith shoulder press 70kg x 8 reps

Superset with

Front lat and rev raises x 15 reps each (both x 4)

MMA

Grappling and sparring for endurance for 90mins

Phew…time for a rest I think…

Here’s this week’s rigorous schedule for Rus Smith which just goes to show how dedicated professional MMA fighters are to compete at the top level in the UK, while running a business and a family.

This week I’m looking to increase my lift in my big exercises, but superset them with small group higher reps to keep muscle endurance high.

While also looking to slowly increase my running by including a brief outdoor run.

My plan this week is to increase MMA fitness working with Greg Creel at Celtic Pride.

Monday
Core / weights

– squat(deep) 4 sets 8 reps @130 kg
– lunge 4 sets 15 reps @ 30 kg
– incline db bench 4 x 8 @40 kg dumb bells
– cable cross overs 4 x 15 @ 20 kg
– clean 4 x 8 @70 kg
– lat pull down 4 x 15 @45 kgs
– smith sh press 4 x 8 @70 kg
– lat, front and rev raise 4 x 15 @5 kg dumb bells

Tuesday
Weight circuit all 3 sets of 12 rep

– push up pull up 12
– squat 12 reps @80 kg
– s.a push 12 reps each arm @25 kg
– sumo high pull 12 reps @35 kg
– clean and press 12 r @50 kg

Pad work 4 x 2mins 30 sec’s rest

Wednesday
Indoor running

- 2 x 600m, 3 x 400m, 4 x 200m and 5 x 100m
– core – matt work

Thursday

– dead lift 8r 4 sets@140 kg
– prone pull 15r 4 sets@40 kg
– flat bench 8r 4 sets@ 100 kg
– db fly 15r 4 sets @17.5kg dumb bells
– leg press 8 r 4 s @300 kg
– stiff leg dead lift 15r 4 s @70 kg
– military press 8r 4s @60 kg
– upright row 15r 4 s @45 kg

Friday

– mma fitness 2mins work 30secs rest on each exercise
– then 1min work 20sec rest, then 30 sec work no rest.
– punch bag
– ring pull ups
– kick bag
– monkey walks
– ground and pound

then some take down defence with Greg, defence in to attack movement

Saturday
300 training

25 chins
50 dead lift @60 kg
50 box jumps, 50 pushups
50 floor wipers
50 clean and press@25 kg
25 chins.
To be completed in one circuit
Do twice full recovery between sets
1 forgot to time
2 12mins 14secs

2.5 mile run to finish out side

More next week as this man machine works his way back to peak fitness…

(Gary Cross of G4 MMA Fighters with notorious weight cutter Anthony Johnson of the UFC)

Weight cutting is now a major science where fighters can drop 9kgs in the final days before their weigh in, so why not use the same concept for an MMA manager?

London (G4MMA) 10 August 2010 – UK based founder of G4 MMA Fighters Gary Cross has decided to lose 60lbs in weight. The first stop for advice and products was G4 MMA’s new sponsor Pro Athlete Supplementation (PAS) backed by British Olympic Gold Medallist Darren Campbell MBE and Senior Nutritionist Jon Williams. The aim is to drop from 284lbs to 224lbs using PAS products with their nutrition plans, combined with a rigorous training schedule comprising kettle bells and circuit training put together by top G4 MMA Fighter and Personal trainer Tim Newman.

You can follow Gary’s quest as he sheds the pounds and increases fitness on a weekly basis, and transforms his bulky businessman frame into a well honed MMA fighting machine. Follow the progress as Gary works towards his goal each week.

The campaign starts today with a high protein diet for the week combined with PAS Phase 3 protein and CLA tablets. Just quote the promo code G4MMA when purchasing products on the PAS website for a discount.

 Details of the workout sessions will be published each week along with weight loss results and the diet can be obtained from gary@g4mmafighters.com.