For the last 6 years I have trained my body far too hard at times with little rest.

After pulling out on very late notice of MMA Attack 2, which would have been a highlight in my MMA career, I’ve taken a few weeks out of training and spent time looking at how I can change my training schedule and routines in order to keep in the best condition possible whilst remaining relatively injury free.

I have been training so hard without a break for a long time, very rarely taking a day off and always training pretty hard. Competing at a high level of MMA you need to train so many different disciplines as well as different aspects of conditioning it is hard not to overtrain. (more…)

Hey all,

So here we are, a week after surgery and whats happening?

Healing is coming along steadily, I can now walk with minor pain while a few days ago I could barely shuffle and mobility is returning to the shoulder.

Not making many changes at the moment (if it’s not broke, don’t fix it) but I am making a few small ones. The first is adding in two walks a day outside (the outside bit is important due to added vitamin D uptake, fresh air and a changing surface). One in the morning for 30 mins and one in the afternoon for about 45 mins at a moderate pace. I’ll probably increase either the distance or the pace over the next few weeks or so, just trying to get my body moving and using itself. As far as stretching and mobility work goes, I’m just moving at the moment as everything is a bit to raw (this isn’t my area, so if anyone feels like chipping in then I would appreciate it!).

The second change comes to nutrition. The main thing that I have noticed is that I have put weight on after the opp (about 2.5 kilos). This is a surprise as I expected to lose a few pounds. What I expect this is, is water weight due to the swelling and a side effect of some of the drugs I’m taking. I am keeping my macros and calories the same but I’m going to add in a litre of water a day and adjust from there (everyone is a camel, just ask Eddie Kone). Another side effect of the medication I have noticed is it’s bunging me up a bit (to much info?) so I’m adding in a fibre supplement to my morning shake. I will probably change this for milled flax seeds when I can get to the shop for the added nutrient profile.
All of the supplements are working as planned with their desired effects. However I have doubled the recommended ZMA dose (6 tabs spread over 90 mins) to aid with sleep. The reason for this is that I have to sleep on my back at the moment and I keep waking up throughout the night, so this should lead to a deeper sleep.

I have been inquiring about a few different types of medication (all legal) to help aid the recovery, but as I have nothing concrete or anything that I would recommend I will leave it to another post.

I have an assessment at the hospital on the 24th to have my stitches out and to see how I’m getting along. This will be the first test to see if any of this madness is working. So fingers crossed I blow them away.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about anything I am doing. Always happy to hear peoples suggestions.

If anyone is interested in following my ramblings as they happen, follow me on twitter @mike_unorthodox and on instagram at mikeyleng.

More soon

Mike

Mike Leng is the Managing Director at Unorthodox Nutrition. They specialise in nutrition plans for fighters whether they have a fight coming up or are looking to simply lose fat or gain muscle. Visit www.unorthodox-nutrition.com or E mail mike.unorthodox@gmail.com for details.

Hey everyone,

So here I am a couple of days after the opp. Everything went well and I feel like I’m slowly on the mend. For the last two days all I’ve done is sleep which is good thing as it means my body is putting itself back together.

Over the next week I plan to rest as much as possible and take in the right amount of nutrients that will help my body keep muscle and help grow the connecting tissue that it needs.

Nutrition is going to be based around shakes as I have no appetite and I can sip them throughout the day, ensuring a steady flow of nutrients. I will be focusing on making sure for this first week that I am getting 2g of protein, 0.5g carbs per pound of body weight with the rest of my cals coming from fats. No processed food at all. This will be a base line for a few days then I will change things depending on how my body reacts.

Here is a list of the supplements thats I’ll be using and why I’m taking them. All of this has been supplied by the great people at Myprotein who are helping me with this experiment.

Before I list what I’m taking, I’m going to comment on the amount that I am taking. It looks like a lot, and it is. I wouldn’t normally take this amount of supplements but what I’m trying to do here doesn’t normally happen to me. The whole point of this is is to give my body more than it needs to recover so it can do it at the fastest pace possible. I would also mention that I cleared all of this with my Doctor (even if he looked at me like I was slightly mad).

Impact Whey protein – for gaining and maintaing my muscle mass. Also aids in recovery and burning fat. I have about 2-3 shakes a day to meet my protein requirements.
Omega 3 fish oil – Helps reduce joint inflammation, helps with fat oxidisation, helps with nutrient partitioning, 6 caps a day.
Alpha men multi vitamin – help my immune system run at its highest. I take 4 tabs a day, 2 in the morning, 2 before bed.
Taurine – I take this before bed as a neural transmitter to aid recovery. I take 10g before bed.
ZMA – to aid sleep and recovery. 3 tabs leading up to bed.
Green Tea extract – I hate the taste of Green tea so I take the tablets. Very powerful anti oxidant, helps just about everything. 3 caps a day with meals.
Probiotic – helps aid digestion. I take 1 a day in the morning.
Glucosamine Sulphate – Reduces joint inflammation, promotes over all joint health. 1 per day in the morning.
L Leucine – Branch chain Amino acid. Strongly aids with protein uptake. 3g with every shake or meal.

As I go on the amounts will change and I will probably remove some supplements if I feel no benefit. Again I must stress that everything I do is about how my body reacts. What works/doesn’t work for me might not be the same for you. For example I feel no effect whatsoever with creatine despite how I cycle it and the dosage.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about anything I am doing. Always happy to hear peoples suggestions.

If anyone is interested in following my ramblings as they happen, follow me on twitter @mike_unorthodox and on instagram at mikeyleng.

More soon

Mike

Mike Leng is the Managing Director at Unorthodox Nutrition. They specialise in nutrition plans for fighters whether they have a fight coming up or are looking to simply lose fat or gain muscle. Visit www.unorthodox-nutrition.com or E mail mike.unorthodox@gmail.com for details.

We all know the jist, and it’s no secret. To 99.9% of promoters running a show is about selling tickets and getting people through the gates. That’s not saying anything negative about them, it’s just the truth. If people want shows to fight on and if professionals want to get paid, the events must at least make enough money to be sustainable and cover the costs otherwise they won’t be around for very long (or people won’t get what they’re owed).

From the best, all-professional fight cards right down to amateur events, you’ve got to make it worthwhile and not put yourself in a hole that financially you can’t get out of. Some people promote for the love of the sport, but unless their pockets are ridiculously deep and their heads are pretty thick, they won’t continue to do so at a major loss, no matter how passionate they are.

This brings up the question of ‘who is the market?’ (more…)

Hey guys,

So I’m a couple of days out from the op so I thought that I would share a couple of random thoughts that are rattling around my brain.

-I am now looking at everything ‘one handed’. What I can and can’t do, plus how to adapt things so I can keep doing them (ever tried to put contact lenses in with one hand?..)
-I need TV shows to watch and books to read/steal. Please give me some suggestions. (more…)

I injured my neck 2 weeks and 1 day prior to the fight. It was pretty bad; my left arm was numb and in agony at the same time. I hurt the bottom of my neck and the top of my back, I think T6/T7. The muscles around tightened into a knot next to my spine. I had physio and a chiro work done for for 2 weeks, stopped sparring and could only carry on doing sprints until a few days before the fight.
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Good day all!

Here we are at the second blog entry and already there have been changes!

The date for the surgery has now been moved back to the 8th of May. This sucks in one aspect as it means I have to wait yet another week. However it also means that I still have an extra week of training and a little time to get stuff organised.
(more…)

(Let me preface this by saying I won’t be making any reference to bad rappers. Apart from Richard Blackwood. What was all that about?!)

It’s not often I’m a sentimental old fool, but there’s a time and place for everything – well, almost everything – and this is one of them. As anyone reading this will (or should) know, we’ve just released our first print edition of Your MMA Magazine. If you didn’t know, then where the hell have you been? And why aren’t you clicking this link immediately to go buy it?
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18/04/12

Good day sports fans (always wanted to say that)!

Firstly welcome to my blog on how to become a super soldier after surgery (or as close as we can).

If you are reading this blog you know (or want to know about) a couple of things;

I am currently very injured and awaiting surgery in 2 weeks time
You’re interested in how much pain I am in/how I’m going to recover from it.
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Let’s get straight to the point. Padding records is not an MMA phenomenon (it’s exponentially worse in boxing), nor is it a UK phenomenon, but it is an issue that has been raising its head, even moreso over the past couple of years.

This food for thought for this blog was actually a tweet by Cage Warriors matchmaker Ian Dean, who said:

“Gonzaga defeats the 13-0-1 Edinaldo Oliveira. UK fighters take note, protected records don’t help you in the big show.”
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