Back in June 2008 received a copy or Martin Rooney’s “TRAINING FOR WARRIORS”. I loved it. It’s a practical introduction to combat conditioning, with dozens of exercises and drills geared towards the combat athlete but scalable for all levels.

A couple of years on Martin has followed up with another excellent resource “ULTIMATE WARRIOR WORKOUTS”. This book is pretty unique. Martin clocked up some serious air-miles to get the inside track on how martial artists and combat athletes, around the world, train for their specific discipline. So what we get is a window in to their dojo, gym, training hall and beach!

The book is broken down into training for the various arts. For the MMA enthusiast their is a mountain of cross training material covering conditioning for BJJ, Mauy thai, Wrestling, Boxing, Judo, Kickboxing, Sambo and Karate.

For the record, Rooney isn’t yet another “keyboard ninja” Guru with Mad SKILZZ. He’s a world class coach, martial artist and judging by the photographs, very obviously practices what he preaches.

Martin’s approach is all about “learning to fish” so you can eat for a lifetime. This is about training yourself. And that is one of the greatest things you can master as a combat athlete. Roger Gracie’s foreword makes it clear the impact Martin’s approach has had on his own journey.

It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between the various arts Martin explores. You can see how easy it is for like minded people to get together and simply have fun. If you have training partners, this book is going to be a source of serious fun. If you train solo, you will be kept very busy.

Each section of the book outlines the core skills, concepts and techniques of the art and concludes with a Warrior Challenge. These challenges fit very well as an extension of our own 100 Rep Challenge.

I am not going to go into the specifics of the drills on offer, I will say, all of the sections contain practical, usable material for the anyone interested in developing a fighters fitness.

The wrestling section is particularly challenging and it’s obvious why wrestlers have had such an impact on MMA in the last few years. So much of the training here is completely geared towards performance and there can be few better conditioned athletes.

The Mauy Thai chapter is a core work masterclass with a manner of  conditioning variations to deal with those pesky body shots.

You will find some excellent floor and mobility drills in the BJJ section along with some basic weight training.

Boxing, who wouldn’t love boxing training. And again the key qualities are explained and the relevant training covered in detail.

The Judo Section has some great partners drills and some band work.

The Karate section incorporates some traditional tools such as Nigiri jars and Iron Padlocks and brings me back to my Shotokan days, including knuckle push ups!

In the Kickboxing section there are some excellent floor drills and push up variations.

The Sambo section includes rope training and partners drills. The kettlebell section is basic, but I am going to say that, of course !

For anyone who is interested in variety without forsaking effectiveness this book is an excellent resource. You will also find -

• A six month training plan for anyone who needs it mapped out.
• Stretching, Cardio and foam rolling! Yup, big thumbs up for addressing recovery. If in doubt check out the GRID!
• Some straight forward diet advice
• A section on partner based training
• A selection of challenges to work towards completing
• 20 Guiding Principles of Training for Warriors.

The pictures throughout are superb, all shot in world class training locations. It’s could be a travel brochure for the combat enthusiast. So if you can’t get yourself over to Gracie Barra in Rio, or the foot of Mount Fuji, you can at least use the same drills, fighter or not, to get yourself in fighting shape.

Excellent book. Simpe Strength – Skillful Means