An Inside Look at Mario Sperry’s MMA Conditioning
Many people who are new to the sport of mixed martial arts and have only recently become fans of the UFC might not know who Mario Sperry is. That’s understandable Sperry hasn’t accomplished much on American soil. That being said, Sperry is a true legend of the in both the grappling and MMA. He is a highly decorated in mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and submission grappling. So today, I’m going to take you through some of Mario Sperry’s MMA conditioning routine.
Mario Sperry is a co-founder of the Brazilian Top Team and formerly trained with the legendary Carlson Gracie mixed martial arts team.
Sperry is known mostly for his highly decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu background, which includes a submission win over Royler Gracie, who many consider the most technically sound fighter from the Gracie Family. In MMA, Sperry’s resume includes a win over Igor Vovchanchyn. And let’s not forget that the Brazilian Top Team is one of the most successful MMA teams in the world.
Mario Sperry’s Training Background
Sperry is a multiple time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion who also began very successful in no-gi grappling.
Eventually, Sperry had no trouble transitioning to MMA and his team now produces some of the best conditioned athletes in all of mixed martial arts. His teammates and training partners include Ricardo Arona, Paulo Filho, Murilo Bustamante, and both Rodrigo and Rogerio Nogueira.
So let’s take a look at what Mario Sperry and his mixed martial arts team members have learned about MMA conditioning.
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As with most Brazilian fighters, Mario knows that conditioning for mixed martial arts is highly important. You don’t win at the level that Mario Sperry has won at without impeccable conditioning. That is why Sperry uses a very MMA specific conditioning routine. This conditioning consists of a lot of drills and exercises that mimic the movements used in a mixed martial arts fight or a grappling match.
Here are some important exercises of Sperry’s conditioning routine:
Paulo Caruso, the strength and conditioning coach for the Brazilian Top Team emphasizes that a mixed martial arts conditioning routine needs to be “high intensity.”
So it’s not surprising that the fighters from the Brazilian Top Team, including Mario Sperry, go through a very intense conditioning circuit.
Sperry does circuit training 2 to 3 times per week, using a combination of resistance band exercises, isometrics, weight machines, and fighting drills.
Mario said this of his circuit style conditioning routine:
“This type of training I do three times per week. As you can see, we pretend its kind of a fight with some special moves. And then on Tuesday and Thursday I do wrestling. And I do Jiu Jitsu everyday and Muay Thai every day at night. Basically like that…the whole day training”
On top of that, his team runs hills sprints in the mountains and do a lot of conditioning work while training for either wrestling, muay thai, and Jiu Jitsu.
All of these elements combined are what gives “The Zen Machine” and the members of his team have such a high level of conditioning. And these are some perfect examples of what you can do to improve your MMA conditioning as well.
Groundfighter.com filmed a great DVD that follows Sperry through his MMA conditioning routine and through an entire training day. Here’s a link to Day of the Zen DVD if you are interested.
More Mixed Martial Arts Conditioning Pages
Ginastica Natural Conditioning for MMA,
MMA Conditioning and Strength Training,
MMA Conditioning Part One,
MMA Conditioning Part Two
