I am going on 4 years of training with UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens and I'm quite proud to say that not once in that time frame have we ever had to bow out because of any soft tissue injury. Considering how prone Mixed Martial Artists are towards getting injured, we have managed to facilitate proper structural integration to ensure that Jeremy does not go into muscular compensations that would later lead to injury. Along for the ride has been a tremendous leap in his athletic ability and body awareness. Here's a video of me working with UFC fighters Jeremy Stephes and Johnny Case in preparation for their UFC fights on June 28th.
*Side note to strength and conditioning coaches or anyone who's interested in the practice of strength and conditioning*
Neglecting attention to biomechanics in sports in the way they really work in reality is the fundamental reason why athletes are so commonly injured. The only real training activities we see any kind of focus on in regards to mechanics is olympic lifting. The problem with that is that olympic lifting has very little application to the dynamic environment that is our reality. Sadly, olympic lifting has become the go-to for strength and conditioning coaches everywhere and the injuries that have spawned from those negligent training models is present in the athletes seen today. After working with MLB, NFL, UFC, and other professional and collegiate athletes, the common complaint found was that olympic lifting was the modality of training that seemed to do the most damage. Some of these athletes weren't just training at any average joe facility either. They were working at the highest level facilities here in San Diego (the mecca of training) with people who were extremely credentialed. I have been left with having to mend issues not covered by these "specialists" and it is fundamentally because they have not objectively analyzed the reality their athletes face in their sports.
The issue ends up becoming that the credentialed of our current time have trusted established "research" without taking into consideration a certain bias that exists in systems oriented by monetary profit. I myself have made it a point to test theories and question established practices through my own personal application on people of all varieties. Every hour of the several thousand I've spent has been dedicated to this and it is fundamentally, why no athlete I train with regularly ever gets injured. We here at Functional Patterns will be making videos discussing injuries very soon so stay tuned.
