Hurt

05.11 — MUSCLE & FitnESS 143

There’s going To be hell To pay in The UFC. Brock Lesnar has someThing To prove.

This Will DefiniTely

Hurt

yescover story

by mike carLson // phoTography by frank W. ockenfeLs 3

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144 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 05.11

Ask Wes Hand, a University of Iowa wrestler who beat Lesnar at a dual meet in 2000. Lesnar turned things around on him when it counted, beating Hand en route to an NCAA Division I title as a University of Minnesota heavy-weight. You can also ask Frank Mir, who welcomed Lesnar into the UFC by submitting him in the first round, only to be jackhammered into oblivion in the rematch. Better yet, ask his doctors, who believed that an acute case of diverticuli-tis would leave him wearing a colostomy bag instead of a championship belt. Just don’t tell Lesnar. For a guy who’s used to winning, nobody responds to losing quite like him. “I’m not the kind of guy who

gets discouraged very easily,” says Lesnar. “I guess that’s just who I am.”

Nobody can say for sure which fighting style is the best foundation for a UFC champion. Some claim it’s freestyle wrestling. Others say it’s more important to master striking at an early age. One discipline, however, has created more high-level cage warriors than any other: farming.

“I grew up on a dairy farm,” says Lesnar. “I’ve done everything from throwing square bales to milking cows, and I’m proud of it. That’s what I attribute a lot of my success to. My mom and dad understood that you don’t get nothing in this world for free.”

Hay can’t bale itself, and sometimes there’s only one way to load a 12-week-old calf into the back of a truck. The relentless manual labor that farming requires breeds both strength and tough-ness in the men who do the work. Lesnar is living proof, and he’s retained that farm-based work ethic throughout his wrestling and fighting careers.

“The whole community I’m from, they’re all hardworking people,” he says. “They had to work for everything. I don’t recall anybody lying down and holding his hand out.”

Lesnar is still relatively new to MMA, with only seven pro fights. His striking and jiu-jitsu skills are still

rock Lesnar lost his heavyweight belt at UFC 121. That’s good news for his worldwide legion of haters, but a devastating development

if you’re a heavyweight contender in the UFC. When Lesnar’s on the rebound, all bets are off

except one: Someone is getting his ass kicked.

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03.11 — MUSCLE & FitnESS 145

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146 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 05.11

brock lesnar

a work in progress. Despite one of the best wrestling pedigrees in the sport, he’s had to rely on sheer physical strength to get so far so fast—a capacity achieved by dint of hard, brutal work. So much work, in fact, that the main concern in his Team Lesnar camp is keeping him from overtraining.

“His intensity is unmatched,” says Luke Richesson, the head strength and conditioning coach for both Lesnar and the Jacksonville Jaguars. “The things I’ve asked him to do would make a billy goat puke.”

Lesnar’s fight camp resembles a NASCAR pit crew more than a tradi-tional MMA squad. There’s a team of specialists huddled around the former champion, constantly making tweaks and checking gauges to refine his perfor-mance. With most MMA camps, the gym is the center of the fight team’s universe. In Lesnar’s unique case, he’s the sun, with everything revolving around him.

“I don’t know if our camp is like any other MMA camp,” says Marty Morgan, Lesnar’s former wrestling coach at Minnesota and his current head coach.

Lesnar showed offhis evolving MMAskills when hesubmitted Shane Carwin at UFC 116.

Lesnar won theUFC title in only

his fifth fight as a pro.

“i’m noT The Type oF gUy who geTs disCoUraged easily. i gUess ThaT’s jUsT who i am.”

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148 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 05.11

brock lesnar

Overtraining is a constant concernin Lesnar’s camp.

Peak power is thekey to Lesnar’s

startling brutality inthe Octagon.

“My job is to bring in the right instructors and training partners and to set up the right practice environment in both train-ing camp and non–training camp cycles.”

One major difference in Lesnar’s camp is the presence of a full-time videographer. He’d been recording his training for a documentary when he realized it could be put to better use. Now, every strength and conditioning workout is recorded, then transmitted to Richesson in Jacksonville, who watches it and makes any neces-sary changes. Richesson also frequently coaches Lesnar via Skype, adjusting his workouts in real time online.

this is Lesnar’s way of getting pre-cisely what he wants and needs. He’d met Richesson eight years ago, when he was trying to play in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. The two formed an immediate bond and have been working together ever since. Both feel their video-centric training methodology has been seamless and highly effective.

“Luke has implemented functional movement strength, keeping me strong in all the right areas,” says Lesnar. “I’m not looking to bench-press a thousand pounds. I need to be able to bench 225 for long periods of time. Fighting is aero-bic and anaerobic all in the same breath.”

Richesson believes in building strength and power in the gym, allowing Lesnar’s

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150 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 05.11

conditioning to develop through his MMA training. He disagrees with the practice of mimicking five-minute rounds through circuit training, a popu-lar practice in some MMA circles. “That would be like having football players just do a bunch of seven-second exercises and then just going out and playing,” he says. “Doing things in five-minute circuits breaks the athlete down and is similar to what they’ve already gone through in their MMA training.”

Lesnar’s regimen also has him doing twice as much pulling as he does pressing—a concept Richesson learned as a football player at the University of Kansas. He believes this ratio matches fighters’ movement patterns, and he is convinced that this strategy has saved the shoulders of legions of athletes he’s trained over the years.

“A LOt OF wrestling is pulling and not pressing,” says Richesson, who also coaches UFC lightweight standout Gray Maynard and WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. “We try to keep more of the strength work on the pulling and more of the quick snap work on the pressing. We’re not having Brock try to do 5 x 5 at 405 or anything.”

Richesson recently spent six weeks in Las Vegas to support Lesnar in his role as a coach on the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter. During that time, the two drilled some of the things Lesnar needs for his upcoming fight with oppos-ing coach Junior Dos Santos.

“The mind-set is always achieving as much strength as we can but having the ability to pull that trigger and have peak power throughout the fight,” says Richesson. “We’re not trying to make sure he can throw a million one-two punches, but I want the hundred punches he will throw to be so powerful that whoever is on the receiving end is going to feel them over every square inch of his body.”

Just eight months before his trium-phant return to the Octagon against Shane Carwin—a fight in which Lesnar, written off as all-but-stopped, put together one of the most dazzling mid-fight comebacks in the history of the sport—Lesnar underwent an epic health struggle in virtual obscurity.

“I had a fever of 104.3° for seven hours and 45 minutes,” he says. “As I was lying there, they were wheeling me into the

operating room at the eight-hour mark. They were going to cut me open and cut out the infection. At 15 minutes before eight hours, I broke my fever.”

Had they operated, surgeons would have removed nearly a foot of his colon, which would have entailed crapping in a bag for six months and searching for another career. It was a comeback that was exponentially more stunning than his masterwork against Carwin, but more important, it showed the world, and Lesnar himself, that his refusal to cower when the chips are down is more than just the conditioned behavior of a trained fighter. It’s the essence of Brock Lesnar the man.

“They wheeled me To The operaTing

room aT The eighT-hoUr mark. They

were going To CUT oUT The inFeCTion.”

Lesnar lost 46 pounds in the

hospital but fought to put it back on.

brock lesnar

“I don’t think anybody else in that posi-tion could have done what I did, but who knows? There are some tough sons of bitches out there.” Lesnar pauses, consid-ers this for a moment, then adds, “But I’m still the toughest mother around.”

152 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 05.11

Lesnar’s intensityis now legendary.

brock lesnar

tHe WorkoutThe following is a strength and con-ditioning program that Brock Lesnar will perform two to three times a week during fight camp.

Warm-up Lesnar performs a variety of moves over several min-utes to warm up his soft tissue, increase flexibility in his tendons, and activate his muscles. The exercises will include rolling a hard plastic ball—called a Quad Baller—over his IT band, using a dowel to stretch his rotator cuff and triceps, and doing lateral walks with a mini band around his legs, among others.

StrengtH and poWerLESnar CoMpLEtES thrEE SEtS oF EaCh CirCUit, inCrEaSing thE wEight.exercise reps weightFrOnt SqUAt 3 315 3 365 3 405SUpErSEt with

BArBeLL rDL 3 365 3 405 3 455SUpErSEt with

SqUAt JUMP 3 Bw (Stop in-BEtwEEn EaCh rEp)

KneeLing DB rOw 3 125 3 140 3 155SUpErSEt with

BArBeLL BenCh PreSS 3 315 3 365 3 405SUpErSEt with

CLAP PUShUP 3 Bw (Stop in BEtwEEn EaCh rEp)

PULLUP 3 Bw 3 Bw 3 Bw 3 Bw SUpErSEt with

rOPe SLAM 5 ropE SLaMS

5 ropE SLaMS

5 ropE SLaMS

5 ropE SLaMS

Warm-doWnLesnar slams a Dymatize protein shake after his work-out followed by a total-body cold-water plunge for 12 minutes and then a sit in the sauna for eight minutes.

tHe dead Bug Lesnar’s coaches claim that no other athlete is as self-motivated as the

former champ. When they come up with a workout, he’ll do it top to bottom with no argument. Lesnar, however, admits that one exercise is the bane of each training session: the dead bug.

To perform the dead bug, lie on your back with your hips and knees bent at 90 degrees, holding a five-pound dumbbell in each hand at chest level. Extend your right arm straight up as you extend your left leg as though you’re pedaling a bicycle. Slowly return to the start position and then extend your left arm and right leg. Alternate your arms and legs in a slow and smooth tempo, keeping your lower back pressed into the floor the whole time.

“A lot of people think this doesn’t sound that hard, but if you do it right for one minute, you will be on fire,” says Richesson. “Brock recently worked up to six minutes. When we started, he was dying after one minute.”

“his inTensiTy is UnmaTChed,” says riChesson. “The Things i’ve asked him To do woUld make a

billy goaT pUke.”

A videographercaptures every moment of Lesnar’s workouts.

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nOteS:• Bw = BODy weight• ALL Strength MOveS ShOULD Be DOne with COnSiDer­

ABLe SPeeD• JUMP SqUAtS, CLAP PUShUPS, AnD rOPe SLAMS ShOULD Be PerFOrMeD with MAxiMUM SPeeD

154 MUSCLE & FitnESS — 03.11

Leaner and meaner one of the architects behind Lesnar’s

recovery from near-fatal diverticulitis is Luke richesson’s wife, anita nall. an olympic gold medalist swimmer turned nu-tritionist, it was her guidance that helped Lesnar put on the 46 pounds he lost in the hospital. here are a few of her nutritional rules that have helped change Lesnar’s life:

COMBining FOODS: At every meal, Lesnar always eats a protein, a vegetable, and (sometimes, but not always) a starchy carb such as a potato or yams. This improves digestion and aids recovery from training.

DitCh the DAiry: For a guy who used to drink three gallons of milk a week, it hurt Lesnar to give up his beloved beverage. But he didn’t miss the chronic stomach-aches that plagued him for years.

MOre vegetABLeS: “Back in the day, I wouldn’t have come within 10 feet of a vegetable, but now I am a grazing machine,” says Lesnar.

PrOtein: Nall has taken Lesnar off dairy, away from gluten, made sugar verboten, and banned processed foods, but that doesn’t mean she’s rationing out the pro-tein. “Anita recommends 1 to 1½ grams of protein per pound of body weight each day for Brock depending on the workload,” says Richesson. “It is not easy getting that in. If he is not meticulously prepared, he can miss a snack and be 50 grams down.”

That is why Lesnar relies heavily on Dymatize Nutrition. Even with his new-found nutritional regimen, Dymatize pro-tein powder combines well with his other foods and he finds it easy to digest.

SUPPLeMentS: One of Lesnar’s go-to supplements is Energized Xpand by Dymatize. It helps him recover quickly from his morning workout so he can be back in the gym a few hours later.

DiSCiPLine: The closer he gets to fight time, the stricter his diet gets. “There are times when Brock might indulge in ice cream or some bread, but once camp starts, he knows he cannot compromise his immune system,” says Richesson.

The results of his effort speak for them-self. “Grouping my foods differently and staying away from processed foods have allowed me to shave off 15 pounds of shit weight,” says Lesnar, who now walks around at a lean 270 pounds.

Check out the nutritional philosophy of Anita Nall at phenomenallnutrition.com

For information on Dymatize go to dymatize.com

brock lesnar

“my mom and dad UndersTood ThaT yoU don’T geT noThing in This

world For Free.”

Lesnar’s new dietnixed gluten and

processed foods.

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