Working Out
A fighter begins the day with a protein rich breakfast, which helps him build muscle without adding weight, and then heads to the gym for an early morning workout with his trainers. This is only the first training session of the day. He will also have an afternoon or evening workout and sometimes even a third late night training, especially when it gets close to fight day. A lot of fighters have two trainers: one for grappling, or "groundwork," and one for punching and kicking, or "stand up." In addition to sparring with their trainers, or other fighters, to work on technique, an MMA athlete lifts weights and medicine balls for strength and does cardio work, such as side shuffles and standing leaps, to improve his footwork and agility.
Marketing
A fighter spends at least an hour every workday on activities related to self-promotion. This is important for two reasons: to get booked to bigger name, and hence more profitable, fights and to score product endorsements. Depending on the day, a fighter could spend this time attending photo shoots for sports-centric magazines, talking to his agent, signing autographs for fans, interviewing with a newspaper reporter or updating a blog.
Fighting
When fight day comes around, the regular work schedule goes out the window. The athlete spends the entire 24 hours preparing for that all important 10 to 20 minutes. He spends the morning fasting so that he can make weight for the fight. (If he's too heavy, he can't qualify for his class.) If this doesn't work, he sweats off the rest of the weight he needs to lose by sitting in a sauna in heavy garb. After the weigh-in he meets his opponent and may have a photo shoot with him. Then he fills up on carbs to get his energy level where it needs to be so that he can perform. (Once weigh-in is done, it doesn't matter if he gains every pound back.) Five minutes or so before the fight, the fighter tapes up his hands and puts Vaseline on his face, which helps prevent cuts in the sensitive skin around his eyes. Finally, he spends a few minutes alone or with a trainer mentally preparing for the match and visualizing a win.
Tags: which helps
