18 days to go until “The Beginning”.
A good coach will take care of his fighters – it’s not just about training them to physical and technical perfection – it’s a about taking proper care of them too. According to Paul, “This close to a fight it all starts to get psychological, my aim is to keep the guys calm and their head’s clear”. This means helping ensure they don’t niggle old injuries which may interfere with their final preparations and ultimately f*ck with their heads. But also ensuring they watch their diets, keep themselves hydrated and generally in tip top shape for the 18th. On the day, our fighters need to be concerned with one thing…winning!
Paul cares! He really does. Last week’s sessions saw him taking a softer approach with his fighters. Don’t get me wrong, the warm ups were still relentless but the focus was now on perfecting moves, maintaining fitness and keeping old war wounds at bay
.
Enough has been said in past weeks about the beastings masquerading as the warm-up; suffice to say they weren’t any lighter this week. But the more the guys practice how it feels to fight when they think they’ve got nothing left, the better equipped they will be for their fight…but also the fitter they will become.
Monday night (29th) saw some heavy sparring, Paul wanted to mimic fight night as close as possible so while the guys were protected with big gloves, head, shin, mouth and groin guards; hands and feet were let loose. It was an opportunity to punch, kick, elbow, clinch and eventually take opponents down. The goal was to unleash full power and to know how exhausting that is from both a giver and receiver’s point of view.
Wednesday night (31st) was a different atmosphere all together. This is where the softer, caring Paul came into play. Wrestling played a big part in the proceedings but Paul also wanted the guys to throw enough shots, positioning them well enough to get a submission. The final part of the evening was all about drilling…and drilling to perfection. Hopefully the repetition would mean that on the night doing them correctly would be second nature, which means more efficient use of strength, speed and fitness. The team drilled kimuras, triangles, guillotines and their escapes up to 50 at a time. As the guys cosied up on the mats, there was much love in the cage on Wednesday night…and most of it flowing from Paul.
