"How You Can Learn From Herschel Walker's Strikeforce MMA Debut Win"

Last night, former NFL pro-bowler, USFL all-star, college Heisman Trophy winner, college football hall of famer, and even US Olympic bobsledder Herschel Walker made his MMA debut at Strikeforce Miami, beating Greg Nagy via TKO in the 2nd round.

AP video highlights below:

Oh...and by the way...Herschel is 47 years old..

Now, a lot of people are sayng that Herschel Walker getting picked up by Strikeforce is a farce, he doesn't deserve to be in MMA, let alone on Showtime, etc. And yeah, his opponent in Greg Nagy wasn't exactly top-tier (not to talk junk about Nagy, but still). But c'mon...when you compare Herschel's experiences/doings in MMA to that of other relatively recognizable names that we've seen in the past six months or so (Kimbo Slice, 5x World's Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski, all the former NFL players on this past season of "The Ultimate Fighter", etc.), he's been just as impressive and accomplished just as much (and in some cases, done better).

And to think that Herschel has been much older than anybody else above mentioned...and easily in the best shape out of them all. Only Pudz could be considered in the same league physically, though he and Herschel are much different in that regard with their physique and capabilities. Herschel, however, blew away pretty much any ex NFL player from TUF...and his conditioning make Kimbo look bush-league.

Here's the thing though - Herschel wasn't just in great shape. His MMA also looked pretty good. He obviously still has a LONG way to go, and has many holes in his game, but for no longer than he's been training, and for his age...I was impressed.

Now, why was Herschel able to do all this? Several reasons, actually.

First - and just b/c I know there's already people screaming this - Herschel is amazingly gifted genetically. There's just no way around that.

Herschel is also amazingly dedicated. While Herschel has had some personality issues (he's admitted publicly to having Dissociative Personality Disorder), he has, however, been extremely dedicated to his training, working out, and fitness.

It's (relatively) well-known that Herschel doesn't use any free weights in his training, and has performed a program of various bodyweight calisthenics to include pushups, dips, situps, and more every single day for years...since high school.

These workouts aren't your typical few sets of pushups and call it a day, though. Herschel is known for doing literally thousands of reps per day...per exercise. 1500 pushups and 2500 situps per day are not out of the ordinary.

And look at what kind of shape he's in. Though he's 47, he was in amazingly better shape than his opponent Nagy. In fact, if you didn't know better, you'd have thought it was Nagy who was the 47-year-old. Not Herschel.

Now, does that mean you should drop your current program in favor of thousands of reps of calisthenics per day?

In my opinion, no.

Remember, Herschel has amazing genetics. Just b/c this style of training has worked so well for him over the years, that doesn't mean it will or would for you. It also doesn't mean he wouldn't have had similar gains on other types of programs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of super-high reps - esp so often and for so long. And Herschel's workouts aren't super-high reps...they're well beyond that.

I've always thought of the body kinda like a car engine. You can take care of it, change the oil every 3000 miles, perform all scheduled maintenance like clockwork, etc....but it still only has so many RPMs it can go before you're gonna run into trouble. You can make it last longer by taking care of it, not running it "all-out" all the time, etc...but you're still only gonna get so far. The better you take care of it, the longer those RPMs are gonna last until you start running into trouble. The engine only has so many miles on it. It's just a matter of how quick you get to that breaking point.

Well, I think the body is the same way.

Your joints only have so many reps in them, and can only take so much wear and tear. Even with a good diet, proper supplementation, rest, good recovery methods, etc., your body can only go so far before you start to hit breaking points. Your joints only have so many reps in them. And doing thousands of reps/day is gonna get you there in pretty short order.

It's the same way with heavy lifting. Your body can only take the stresses of super-heavy lifting for so long before it starts to break down and get injured. You can do it some, but you can't do it all the time.

That's why a good training program should consist of some of everything - heavy training, lighter training, more volume, less volume, high reps, backoff days, etc. All put into a logical, and ordered manner.

This will keep you progressing on many fronts, will allow your body to recover, stave off overtraining, should allow you to stay (relatively) injury-free, and let you consistently get better....not only in the gym, but in the ring, on the mat, on the field, or wherever else.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.

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