UFC 140 is less than two weeks away and will be held December 11, 2011. The event will be the second time the 24-year-old Jon “Bones” Jones will defend his light heavyweight title, against former champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.
Jones was relatively unknown less than three years ago but his superior wrestling, strength and agility soon earned him the title of the youngest UFC champion in the organizations history.
Jones’ success came not only from his superior athleticism but his love for hard work. As he states he lives by the motto, “Pain is weakness leaving the body and I don’t want any weakness.”
Much of Jones’ training and his perspective on the sport has similarities to CrossFit. When discussing the issue of fighting Jones states, “Its an individual sport and a sport where you kind of make your own destiny. It’s all about beating the weakness out of yourself and just earning it.”
Although CrossFitters don’t have to face fists and elbows in competition, there are workouts that are so painful it’s almost all the same. Anyone that has pushed himself or herself to failure in a WOD knows the feeling, when it comes to those final reps, it is you and you only that has to complete the workout. It then becomes very apparent that CrossFit is an individual sport and really is about “beating the weakness” out of your body.
It is interesting to see someone of Jones caliber using training techniques that many CrossFitters would be familiar with. Throughout the training session you see Jones and his conditioning coach Kelly Tekin implement exercises like the kneeling clean and press, landmine rows, jumping dumbbell squat presses, sled pushes with combined power thrusters, band work with the Vertimax machine and knee jumps combined with box jumps.
If you have a few minutes take some time to check out how the champion trains.
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