Robbie Lawler doesn't spar (Not another sparring thread)

Ignoramus

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Was watching the Joe Hogan podcast with War Machine, and it was actually pretty interesting to hear his insights on sparring and how other fighters spar.

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@ 1:22:00 and on WM talks about how Robbie Lawler doesn't spar at all, and how he'll only spar once a week now with MMA gloves only.

He mentions how it's good for beginners to spar hard more often to get that comfort, but as you get more comfortable, hard sparring has a point of diminishing returns.

Cool podcast all around.
 
I never thought I'd say this but... War Machine is absolutely right.

Actually, that's not true. I agreed with WM's take on Evan Tanner's death and the life of a fighter after retirement as well.
 
Once a week sparring is fine for that kind of experience, when a fighter is off a training camp. I'd imagine a training camp with more sparring sessions would be necessary before a fight.
 
I never thought I'd say this but... War Machine is absolutely right.

Actually, that's not true. I agreed with WM's take on Evan Tanner's death and the life of a fighter after retirement as well.

What did he say about Tanner?

I could only catch about 20 minutes of the show.
 
Very interesting. I wonder how true it is.. I imagine they do a lot of situation-based drills then.

Reminds me of Dorian Yates claiming he train 3.5-4 hours a week.

Dorian_Yates_2.jpg
 
What did he say about Tanner?

I could only catch about 20 minutes of the show.

http://mmajunkie.com/2008/09/war-machine-ufc-cut-me-over-declined-fight-evan-tanner-comments/

Earlier this week, the mixed-martial-arts community learned that former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner died while camping out in a California desert. Initially, little was known about the situation other than a body had been found and that it was believed to be Tanner.

Upon learning of the news, Koppenhaver posted a MySpace bulletin in which he speculated that Tanner had committed suicide and that he may have been depressed over the fact that his career might be over and that he had little to show financially for all his greatness.
 
Eh, I don't believe that about Tanner. Word has it he was always an eclectic kind of guy. Even during his fight career he'd take seemingly unusual odd-jobs for whatever reason. Just to do it. Some guys are just unusual that way and will inevitably go out in that kind of fashion. Crocodile Hunter style. Like boxer Diego Corrales. Dude had a bit of an alcohol problem, combined with a daredevil lifestyle of adrenaline-based activities and fast cars/motorcycles, how it all ended made sense to people who knew him. I don't think Tanner was all "Boo hoo, I'm so poor, let me go out into the wilderness and die."
 
If you read the literature on career planning from children though professional, the training changes dramatically as each critical window closes, as your skills improve, and as your body ages. If you are not on steroids it is very hard to have high volume high intensity training year round after your late teens/early twenties. During that time you can overtrain and still improve, I saw this often in with my old swimmers who would swim twice a day, surf on the weekends and do a martial art or dance...they still improved their times as their bodies naturally developed.

My coach/friend now only hits pads 3 times a week, spars lightly 3 times a week, strength trains 2 or 3 times, and runs every morning except Saturday. He says he feels better and performs better, even though his training load is cut in half. Mind you, he is getting ready for a pro fight in six months.

Like other posters say, I assume he is doing lots of drills and on that one day he spar hard for a many rounds. When I used to see Frank Shamrock train before his Cezar Fracie fight, he would only stand up spar once a week.
 
Very interesting. I wonder how true it is.. I imagine they do a lot of situation-based drills then.

Reminds me of Dorian Yates claiming he train 3.5-4 hours a week.

Dorian_Yates_2.jpg

That is enough time during the off season for a body builder if he is only counting work sets.

4 sessions a week that are 45 minutes long (not including warm up, warm up sets, abs, and warm down) made up of high intensity, low volume, compound movements. Add great nutrition, pharmacology, massage, and 12 hours of rest each night.
 
tough choice on who to emulate - guys like floyd mayweather, wladimir klitschko, andre ward who spar over 100 rounds in a fight camp or to barely spar at all like war machine and robbie lawler. Hmmm I will really have to ponder this deeply
 
tough choice on who to emulate - guys like floyd mayweather, wladimir klitschko, andre ward who spar over 100 rounds in a fight camp or to barely spar at all like war machine and robbie lawler. Hmmm I will really have to ponder this deeply

I see your point and I agree. I like to spar so I can't think of how a high level fighter wouldn't during training. Maybe with MMA the chances of injury are higher?

There are/have been some boxers that don't spar. Joe Calzaghe and Zahir Raheem didn't do many rounds during camp.

Ronnie Shields says that he doesn't believe in having his high level guys spar a lot before a fight.

On a side note: I am a casual MMA so I don't know a lot about the fighters, but this "War Machine" guy is hilarious. I feel like he epitomizes every negative stereotype of an MMA fighter :icon_lol:
 
tough choice on who to emulate - guys like floyd mayweather, wladimir klitschko, andre ward who spar over 100 rounds in a fight camp or to barely spar at all like war machine and robbie lawler. Hmmm I will really have to ponder this deeply

hahah...
 
On a side note: I am a casual MMA so I don't know a lot about the fighters, but this "War Machine" guy is hilarious. I feel like he epitomizes every negative stereotype of an MMA fighter :icon_lol:

Pretty much.

Bless him.
 
and Lawler spars again now. what was the point of bumping this exactly?

tbf I think it was the right decision.

At his old gym they apparently sparred super hard and reckless so if he had sparred in those years he might be completely shot by now and he is still not that old and had a few years of only working on technique while o
not taking damage outside of fights.

It makes sense for him to spar now but I think it also made sense for him to not spar at that specific point of his career
 
If you read the literature on career planning from children though professional, the training changes dramatically as each critical window closes, as your skills improve, and as your body ages. If you are not on steroids it is very hard to have high volume high intensity training year round after your late teens/early twenties. During that time you can overtrain and still improve, I saw this often in with my old swimmers who would swim twice a day, surf on the weekends and do a martial art or dance...they still improved their times as their bodies naturally developed.

My coach/friend now only hits pads 3 times a week, spars lightly 3 times a week, strength trains 2 or 3 times, and runs every morning except Saturday. He says he feels better and performs better, even though his training load is cut in half. Mind you, he is getting ready for a pro fight in six months.

Like other posters say, I assume he is doing lots of drills and on that one day he spar hard for a many rounds. When I used to see Frank Shamrock train before his Cezar Fracie fight, he would only stand up spar once a week.

That sounds interesting, could you post some of that literature?

I found I could train 5 hours a day on a day off at 19. Now anything over 3 hours is a big problem.
 
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