"Training to SLAM Your Opponent"
(originally published at MMA Weekly.com)

I’ve got to say, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson cracks me up. Watching the latest Pride Fighting Championship pay-per-view, Total Elimination 2003, Rampage had me laughing pretty much every time he was near a microphone. And when you get Rampage and Bas Rutten together, well, I think those guys could damn near go on a comedy tour…

What isn’t funny about Rampage are the vicious slams he uses in his fights. While other fighters battle for position when on the ground and others will try maybe to pass the guard, Rampage will just, well, as he put it during the Pride PPV, “I was never that good at wrestling, but I’ll slam a ‘mutha f#%ka.’”
Have you ever thought that you’d like to slam your opponent? Well, here’s how to train for it.

Barrel Lifting

If you’ve ever done any “odd object” training, have seen any of Brooks Kubik’s “Dinosaur Training” books or tapes, or have seen any of Steve Justa’s books, then you’ve more than likely been exposed to barrel lifting.

Barrel lifting, in case you’ve no experience with it, is just what it sounds like it is – lifting barrels. Instead of performing weight training exercises with a barbell or dumbbell, you’ll use a barrel, beer keg, 55-gallon drum, etc. The advantage to this is that picking up a barrel is usually fairly awkward, so while you may have to reduce the amount of weight you use, you will be training your muscles from new angles, and may even bring certain muscles either more into play or into play altogether that you wouldn’t normally. Another advantage to this is that when you get in the ring, cage, or on the mat, you’ll be more able to use and apply much of the strength you’ve built. Have you ever seen a person who has good “gym numbers” (i.e. – they lift a lot of weight in the gym on regular exercises like Bench Press, Squat, Overhead Press, Row, etc.), but when it comes to “usable” strength in the real world (say for stacking firewood) or on the mat, that the person didn’t seem to be nearly as strong as the “gym numbers” might indicate? This is because more than likely the person is now in an awkward position, or situated differently than he normally would be in the gym. Or the weight is not uniform, like a barbell or dumbbell. But, when you lift a barrel, you’re training your body in an awkward style, so when you need to use that strength you’ve built, you’ll have more carryover.

And if a barrel itself wasn’t hard enough to lift, most will have either water sloshing around or metal shot or sand moving around inside it for extra weight. Trust me, a 50 lb. barrel with water inside is heavier than a 50 lb. barbell or dumbbell ever thought of being. Anyway…back to slamming people.
If you’ve ever been in an opponent’s guard, and decided that you were going to stand up with them and slam them, you probably found that it’s a lot harder than it looks – especially how Rampage makes it look. The Barrel Lift (or Stack Lift, as it’s called when using weight plates) will greatly help you build the necessary strength you need.

The Barrel Lift

To perform the Barrel Lift, lay the barrel on its side. Walk up to the barrel, so that one end will be right at or just between your legs (your feet should be a little wider than shoulder width). Squatting down, lean forward and grab the barrel by “hugging” it. If you can work your hands under the barrel and clasp your hands, feel free to do so. From there, lean back and squat up to a stand position. Drive forward with your hips and concentrate on keeping your butt low. DO NOT STRAIGHTEN YOUR LEGS, STICK YOUR BUTT IN THE AIR, AND PICK THE BARREL UP BY USING YOUR LOWER BACK. If you do this, I can virtually guarantee that at some point you will injure yourself. While your upper body will be responsible for holding onto the barrel, it is your hips, butt, and legs that actually bring the barrel off the floor. Once you reach a fully standing position, lean back slightly to complete the lift. From there, you can either just reverse the motion, squatting back down, to set the barrel on the floor, or you can simply drop it.

Do Barrel Lifts 2x-3x per week, at the end of your strength and conditioning workout. Do one rep every 45 seconds for 10 minutes. Don’t increase the weight very quickly with this exercise. Only when you can “easily” do all the reps every workout during the week, should you add weight. With Barrel Lifts, moderate increases in weight (say 25-30 lbs.) are usually best.

Work on your Barrel Lifts for the next six months, and I promise you, you’ll be strong enough and be slamming opponents just like Rampage. Well, maybe not just like Rampage….but pretty close.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.