Strength & Conditioning

Sydney strength and conditioning coach Dave Nagel is no Johnny-come-lately to the Aussie MMA scene.  He’s been around the martial arts for twenty years, and being a BJJ brown belt and former pro fighter himself, he knows firsthand what fighting fit means.

“I’ve fought in the past myself, I only ever jumped in there to learn and see what it was like having a big love of martial arts myself, so I’ve competed a lot in the cage, in the ring and on the mats.”

Nagel has worked with two stand-outs on the Australian scene, ex-Cage Fighting Chamionship lightweight champ Rob Hill, (who’s recently spent time training in the U.S.A with Matt Hughes’ HIT Squad), and Rize and TUFFA lightweight Champion Sonny Brown.

“I’ve worked with Rob Hill for the last few years, he’s a student of (Anthony) Lange’s. I’ve helped Rob a lot with his strength and conditioning, being a sparring partner for him sometimes (basically let him beat the sh** out of me)helping Rob a lot with his injury rehabilitation but mainly with his strength work leading up to fights.” said the Sydneysider.   “I helped him a lot leading up to his title fights with Bernardo Trekko, which he won, and his title defence against Adrian Pang which he lost in a five round decision.  I’ve been over to Hong Kong with him, and was his cornerman for his fight in Legends FC.”

“The other guy I’ve worked a lot with is Sonny Brown, a new up and coming fighter, a sparring partner of Rob’s, ” said Nagel, born and bred in Manly. “he’s the current Rize and TUFFA lightweight champion and Sonny came to me and had seen what I’d done with Rob Hill and being good mates Rob had obviously got in his ear and said give it a go.”

As a coach, Nagel is a believer in structural balance training; ensuring that the fighters (or members of the public) he trains don’t have any muscular imbalances that might make them prone to injury.

“As a strength coach my main prerogative is not only getting the guys stronger and fit and match ready but also to reduce their risk of injury so they can spend more time doing the things they need to do to prepare for the fights”, said the ex-Warriors Realm competitor. “Generally with structural balance we work on unilateral (one side only) movements, a lot of cable and dumbbell movements to address any issues with strength on each side to get the weaker sides coming up to be as strong as the stronger side.”

Like any fighter’s strength coach worth his or her salt, Nagel also focuses on building the explosive power a fighter needs to slam, punch or kick with force.

“Then we develop a lot of power; use a lot of cleans, deadlifts, a lot of olympic style lifts or modifications on olympic style lifting (such as jerks, split jerks and good mornings). Then as we start nearing closer (to the fight) we’ll definitely focus on maintaining the strength, maintaining the intensity but then also really start to focus on building up their endurance because they need a lot of gas in the tank — a good fighter should always be really fit.”

ROB HILL, 77 KILOS, DEADLIFTS 180 KILOS UNDER DAVE NAGEL’S WATCHFUL EYE

And to develop that all important gas tank, Nagel uses a mix of old school exercises.

“A lot of plyometrics, a lot of blood shunting; so your standard stuff, like burpies, sprint training, and a lot of old school training using kettlebells, ropes, sleds. I’m a big fan of plyometrics for athletes just to generate more power for them”

Dave Nagel, alongside head MMA coach Anthony Lange and other assistant coaches, is one part of the machinery at Lange’s MMA, one of Sydney’s longest running fight teams.

“The results are speaking for themselves with the boys between them getting three belts so I was very happy with that” said Nagel. “The boys train hard, they do well and they’ve got really good guidance under Anthony Lange who’s our head MMA coach. Then, with the assistance of other coaches like myself we have a really good fight team covering all aspects.”

If you’re an athlete or looking to get fit and want to learn more about training with Dave Nagel:  ASCA Level 1 Strength and Conditioning Coach, AWF Level 2 Olympic/Powerlifting Coach, Cert 4 Personal Trainer (AIF), Certified Kettlebell Instructor, visit his website at http://allsystemsfitness.com/

“I’m a big fan of the conjugated method, it’s basically a multi-faceted method of rotating and linking exercises that are close in nature so essentially linking things like bicep work into assist with chinning and back work to assist with chinning and a lot of rotator cuff work to create healthy shoulders”

Basic structural balance workout

A1. Dumbell split squat, 3 sets x 8 – 10 reps on a 3010 tempo

A2. Single leg, lying leg curl, 3 sets x 8 – 10 reps on a 3010 tempo

B1. Dumbell row, 3 sets x 8 – 10 reps on a 3010 tempo

B2. Incline dumbell chest press, 3 sets x 8 – 10 reps on a 3010 tempo

C1. Dumbell external rotation on knee, 3 sets x 8 – 10 reps on a 3010 tempo

D1. Side bridge, 3 sets x 60 seconds each side

Basic strength/power workout

A1. Power cleans 5 sets x 5 reps

B1. Power jerks 5 sets x 5 reps

C1. Conventional deadlift 7 sets x 3 reps

D1. weighted chins (supine grip) 7 sets x 3 reps

Basic conditioning workout (MMA style)

5 rounds of 5 minutes each

Round 1.

■         Kettlebell swings – 10 reps

■         Box jumps – 10 reps

Repeat for entire round

Round 2.

■         Sledgehammer on tyre – 15 reps each side

■         Farmers walk – 2 x 50 metre runs

Repeat for entire round

Round 3.

■         Tyre flips  – 30 seconds

■         Burpees – 30 seconds

Repeat for entire round

Round 4.

■         Ropes (snakes)  – 30 seconds

■         Sand bag (40kg) runs – 30 seconds

Repeat for entire round

Round 5.

■         Repeat a combination of the previous rounds exercises for entire round