ON TOP OF BROCK: But Carwin will soon gas out, something that could be blamed on genetic failings

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FIGHT SCIENCE

Genetics testing in MMA – the key to unlocking your full potential as a ! ghter or a bunch of misleading hokum? Brian Schatz talks to some major players about this intriguing process

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“How can you help somebody get somewhere they can’t be genetically? Use the strengths and gifts that you do have and improve those”

simple mouth swab. Jon Chaimberg, one of MMA’s most “Some people have the ability genetically respected S&C coaches and a Fighting Fit to contract their muscles for long, hard expert columnist (see page 75) sees periods of time [isometric strength]. Some great value in the tests. “I think it’s people don’t,” says Tom Murphy, UFC veteran revolutionary. All you’re doing is swiping and co-founder of the company, Warrior someone’s mouth and then you’re basically Roots, which conducts genetic tests for getting their athletic genetic profi le. I’ll have fi ghters. “You have to look at someone’s a complete gauge on somebody and it’ll genetic strengths and some of the things give me an extra little bit of info that I can that aren’t their strengths, and then build a go back and consider when I’m making pro- specifi c plan that’s right for them. grammes for somebody. It’s pretty amazing.” “I tested a former Division I wrestler Understanding your genetic make-up will and UFC champion, and he was very low not only a! ect your training regimen, but isometrically. We had a long discussion also how you form gameplans. At UFC 116, about his results. He says, ‘Oh my God, this Shane Carwin spent the fi rst round battering is terrible.’ I said, ‘No, this is not terrible. You the face of Brock Lesnar with an onslaught just have to take it into your training and of heavy, continuous punches. Most agreed your gameplan. If you think you’re going the fi ght should have been stopped, but to stay in a clinch and hold somebody for it wasn’t, and by the time round two came a long, contracted period of time, you’re along, Carwin was gassed. This wasn’t making a mistake. Now, a lot of strength and necessarily a matter of being in or out of conditioning [coaches] would say, ‘Oh I can shape, but more likely had to do with his help you with that.’ But how can you help genetic ability to transport lactic acid. somebody get somewhere they can’t be Lactic acid is produced in muscles when genetically?” Instead, Murphy suggests: “Use glucose is broken down during strenuous theth strengths and the gifts that you do have activity, and it’s also responsible for the n the dynamic sport of mixed martial and improve those.” heaviness and fatigue in muscles after arts, the di! erence between blocking WarriorWarrio Roots o! ers analysis of 10 di! erent short periods of high-intensity exercise. As a punch and having your opponent’s geneses associatedass with athletic performance Murphy describes, since the build-up of lactic fi st crunch against your chin can be in the followingollowin areas: muscle e" ciency, acid contributes to muscle fatigue, these Ifractions of a second. When consequences endurance,e, VO2 max, lactate levels, molecules have to be transported out of the are potentially so severe and can be isometric strength,ength body fat, exercise blood skeletal muscular system quickly and into determined so quickly, you fi nd any edge pressure, aerobicc fi tness,tne muscle fi bre type, other tissues and neutralised if that high rate you can. Most innovations in MMA training and muscle mass andnd ststrength. When the of anabolic activity is to be maintained. transpire either in the cage or the gym, results come in, the Warrior Roots athletic “So there’s certain people that have but there may be an evolutionary step now panel is able to identify thehe areareas in which the ability to transport that quicker than taking place in a laboratory. Scientists pour you are more genetically inclinedclined to excel. others,” Murphy says before referring to the over reams of DNA samples to determine In a sport where knowledge of an opopponent Carwin-Lesnar fi ght. “Watch what happened the maximum athletic potential of a fi ghter. can be used to exploit their strengthsgths aand to [Carwin] in the second round. You could Their goal? To design the most advanced weaknesses, confi dentiality at Warrioror RoRoots probably take an educated guess that he competitors in the world – and all it takes is a is paramount. has a pretty low tolerance for transporting X

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRECISION TRAINING

In 1996, along with colleagues at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japanese scientist Dr Izumi Tabata came up with what is considered to be the most e! ective interval splits for training an anaerobic athlete: 20 seconds of maximum work with 10-second rests. He had taken a broad sampling of anaerobic athletes and got the best results by using the 20/10 split – not a 30/20 split or 40/10 or 15/8, but 20/10, specifi cally. With the results that Warrior Roots’ scientists are fi nding regarding athletes’ performance genes, Tom Murphy can’t help but view Tabata’s standard range as less than perfect. Murphy asks, “Could you change that by a percentage or two if someone has the ability to hold more oxygen in their blood, or mobilise the cellular debris more? “I know that genetically some people can mobilise cellular debris quicker than others. So could you translate that into 25 seconds of maximum work and seven seconds of rest, and get an athlete in better shape by doing that instead of just leaving them in that standard range of the Tabata?” These are questions that mirror the trends in how S&C coaches are conditioning their charges. Training regimens and gameplans are designed to uniquely match the way a fi ghter’s body performs, leaving guess work and standard ranges to the amateurs.

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334_37_Genetics4_37_Genetics PASSED.inddPASSED.indd 3355 222/03/20122/03/2012 110:030:03 and mobilising thatt lactlactic acid in his body. So, for a guy likee ShaShane to get in there and get on top off somsomeone and try and ground- and-poundd thethem for a minute-and-a-half straightt coucould be a huge mistake. What wouldld haveha happened if Shane would have backedacke o! a little bit and just controlled from on top? “We like to tell ourselves it’s about the intangibles of dedication and heart. We say, ‘Oh I can overcome them,’ but that’s sort of a myth.” There are real genetic limitations, and simply ‘having heart’ isn’t necessarily enough to counteract them, suggests Murphy. Knowing how your body is genetically predisposed to function could be the di! erence between victory and getting PLACEBO EFFECT? knocked unconscious, or in Carwin’s case, Ariza worries that genetic head-and-arm chocked at 2-19 in round two explanations for defi ciencies of a title fi ght. could divert a fi ghter from gym-based solutions Prior to exploring the athletic implications of genetics testing, Warrior Roots got its start performing Y chromosome tests. Through these they can trace a person’s ancestry as far back as 60,000 years, which they then pair with ancient warrior tribes of the same lineage. “Why would I want to show an “The Y chromosome is very unique because it’s passed down from father to athlete a limitation and tell him son unchanged,” says Murphy. “You have a duplicate copy of your father’s Y chromo- some, and his father’s and his father’s, and that genetically he will never so on. We all carry this marker in our DNA that shows exactly where our bloodline be able to overcome it? came from on our father’s side.” Many UFC fi ghters have already participated, seeking answers to what They need to believe they can” Murphy refers to as the two central questions of mankind: “Who am I?” and “Where do I come from?” Brendon Schaub is linked to the plundering Sumerians, Georges phenotypes’ (Rankinen T et al, Med Sci “At the end of the day, if I say to you, St. Pierre and Rich Franklin descend from Sports Exerc. 2001 Jun;33(6):868) among ‘Change your eye colour.’ You’d look at me Central Europe’s rushing Celts, and Shane other industry studies. Those qualifi ed to and say, ‘That’s ridiculous, I can’t change my Carwin’s roots go back to the ruthless and analyse your DNA, determine your athletic eye colour.’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, and you can’t violent Saxons. potential and package the results for you in change how explosive you are. You have a Of course, these Y chromosome tests do a 14-page, easy-to-understand and accurate maximum potential for either endurance or nothing to educate a fi ghter about how his manner include: geneticist Keith Wetherby in explosiveness based on the genes you were body performs, and Murphy is the fi rst to Washington DC, Dr Declan Connolly, a sports given upon inception.’” describe them as pure novelty. When their physiologist at the University of Vermont; Chaimberg isn’t convinced of this, however, athletic performance panel came to fruition, Dr Brian McKeon, who holds a PhD in Medical saying, “I agree that you’re never going to however, that all changed. Ethics from Binghamton University; and turn a slow-twitch athlete into a fast-twitch “We look at markers that science, not Dr Stuart McGill, one of the world’s leading athlete. They’ll never be able to compete Warrior Roots, but science, has said directly back and spine scientists. with a pure fast-twitch athlete, and relate to athletic performance.” All the genes According to Murphy and Warrior Roots’ I wouldn’t exhaust my energy with it. the athletic panel tests for are established athletic panel, the overriding component to But I would try and get my athlete as good in a paper titled ‘The human gene map for take from the testing is one simple fact: as he can be in every aspect. He’s never performance and health-related fi tness your genes are what they are. going to be the most fast-twitch guy, but

THE GENES OF POWER AND EXPLOSIVENESS

There’s no denying that power and explosiveness are important elements of mixed martial arts. But as Warrior Roots’ tests of the muscle fi bre gene, ACTN3, have revealed, it’s just one part of a large and complex recipe that makes up a successful athlete. “Many of the pros (and even current and former UFC champions) have a pretty wide variety of results in the area of power and explosiveness. The best athletes we have tested have a pretty considerable level of explosives, but not as dominant as you might think,” explains Tom Murphy. And this is a good thing. It suggests that explosiveness is not a primary factor in becoming a champion. “We have seen some highly explosive athletes also have genes in muscular endurance, lactic acid removal, and VO2 max that can play against their explosives. If you’re a super-explosive athlete, you also need to take heed of many other genes that could get you into trouble if you don’t understand how they can be factored into your training and gameplan.”

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you can’t totally neglect an area. You can “A fi ghter is always concerned about willing to push the limits of science to see if always train a physical attribute.” winning and his record and his payday. there is a better way is a promising sign for Chaimberg isn’t alone in his reservations. A champion is only concerned with the sport.” Scot Prohaska, current S&C coach for challenging himself to the utmost While Tom Murphy believes more stead- Michael Bisping and exercise enhancement possibilities. They thrive on preparing for the fastly in his product, he agrees that genetic specialist for dozens of elite athletes, is best and overcoming what most doubt they testing is not an end-all. It won’t magically extremely skeptical of Warrior Roots’ claims. can. Why would I want to show an athlete a turn you from an amateur to a pro overnight. “I’ve read a tonne of the genetics research limitation and tell him that genetically he or But what it can do, he urges, when taken and I don’t think we’re at the point yet she will never be able to overcome it? into consideration with training regimens and where we can accurately get that kind of They need to believe they can.” gameplans, is help you reach your athletic information out of DNA. Given the Echoing this point is Manny Pacqiauo’s S&C goals much faster than if you were to miss complexity of the performance and trainer, Alex Ariza, who says, “I try to avoid out on the information the tests provide. health-related fi tness phenotypes, it should those kinds of tests because I think there’s “This is just another piece of the puzzle,” be obvious that we have a long way to go a placebo e! ect. If you start to wander o! Murphy says. “Guys like GSP - is this test before we have a satisfactory understanding into testing and checking all sorts of going to change everything about him? No. of the role of genetic inheritance on exercise- di! erent levels, you’ll start to think and He understands his body very well, but related traits and in the adaptation to a assume there’s a lack of performance what George needs to do is to stay 1 per physically active lifestyle.” because of some kind of defi ciency, instead cent better than everybody else. Continue The questionability of the science behind of just focusing on a stricter diet or changing your same diligence; continue the same Warrior Roots makes up only a portion of the training. It’s just something I try not to do work ethic. If you focus it in the right areas, Prohaska’s concerns. Second to athletic unless there’s an absolute need for it.” we’re going to get you one per cent better performance, one of the biggest changes Genetic testing may not be for everyone this year, and then two per cent better next he aims to develop in a fi ghter is the yet, but at the very least it’s an encouraging year.” You never know – it could provide that transformation of their mind and soul from indicator of the growth and development of split second you need to be the one with that of a ‘Fighter’ to that of a ‘Champion’. MMA. Prohaska concurs: “That people are your hand raised at the end of a bout. Q

TRAINING REGIME

Eric Wong (www.ericwongmma.com), an S&C coach based in Toronto, Canada, who has worked with top UFC fi ghters such as Claude Patrick, Mark Bocek and Je! Joslin, believes that DNA testing has enormous potential for laser-targeted performance training in sport. But it’s dependent on having actual fi tness tests correlated with a specifi c gene; and only then can the training become precise. “For example, if we fi nd genetically that you have high potential for lactate levels, we need a real-world test for that ability specifi c to your sport. For MMA it could be your Flexed Arm Hang time (holding the top of a chin-up for as long as possible). Then we need to know what people with your specifi c gene are capable of and what your score is. If your gene pool can hold for two minutes but you only get 30 seconds, you know you’ve got room for improvement and can spend time working on it. But if you hit two minutes, there’s no point in trying to go further.”

BEFORE WORKOUT This is a well-balanced strength-training workout that addresses a number of qualities: power, endurance, strength and core stability.

ORDER EXERCISE SETS REPS REST TEMPO NOTE: 1 Box jump 8 3 1 min X0X2 Tempo of X022= 2 Deadlift 5 3 3 min X1X2 Explosive Concentric, A3 Inverted rows 4 10 ~ X010 No pause at top, 2 A4 Reverse BB lunge 4 6 per leg 2 min Control sec Eccentric, 2 sec B5 1-arm DB press on SB 3 6 per arm ~ Control pause at bottom B6 SB plank 3 ~ 1 min Hold 30 s

AFTER WORKOUT Here are all the tweaks based on someone who has tested “fast twitch, low isometric strength, high aerobic performance, low lactate”: • #1 and #2 – decreased # of sets for the box jump and deadlift X want to maintain these qualities, so spend less time and energy on it to focus on the low isometric and lactate indicators • A3 – The reps decrease but overall time under tension increases, due to the tempo change – two-second lift, four-second pause at the top, two-second lower = eight seconds per set x six = 48-second set, well into the lactic energy system as well as training isometric endurance • A4 – Doing a higher rep set (12 reps per leg) will stretch the set out to at least 48 seconds, which trains the lactic energy system… Performed as a superset (A3/A4) will really get the lactate fl owing on a whole body level, forcing the liver to work like mad to process it • B5 – Changed the tempo and added a pause trains isometric and lactic abilities • B6 – No change needed

ORDER EXERCISE SETS REPS REST TEMPO

1 Box jump 4 3 1 min X0X2 2 Deadlift 3 3 3 min X1X2 *On the last rep A3 Inverted rows* 4 6 ~ 2420 hold at the top A4 Reverse BB lunge 4 12 per leg 2 min Control for as long as B5 1-arm DB press on SB 3 6 per arm ~ 2022 B6 SB plank 3 ~ 1 min Hold 30 s possible.

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