I’m well into my preparation for my next fight. As you know, as a result of my strength coach Don Messing’s passing, we had to come up w/ a new system. I didn’t want to get a new “strength coach” per se; their couldn’t be another Don, and I didn’t want anyone to try. As a result, we’ve come up w/ a great system that I truly feel is fantastic. Now I have more of a “Strength Team” – Headed by Core Performance (Altoona, PA), I am on a very consistent strength and agility program. Tyke and Paul provided me w/ the workouts, and I do them here in Whippany, NJ at Signature Fitness. It’s perfect, Signature is 2 miles from my house, and 1 mile from AMA. Signature has it all – weights, open space, bands, etc. And today I found a banana bag (muay thai heavy bag). 

On top of the S&C, my fight training has been great. It took about three days until I was back in fight shape. At this point, I feel like my body is a machine. Like riding a bike, it will never forget how to fight. Sparring, drilling, you name it, we are getting it done. 

Also something brand new I’m doing is paying special attention to my diet. Now when I say that, you may be surprised. But what I came to learn, w/ the help of Ben at InMotion Meals (Don was always telling me, I just didn’t listen! I know he’s thrilled now seeing me consume all this healthy food!), is that I was consuming only a small fraction of the nutrients I really need to operate at full capacity. I was killing my body physically w/o replenishing it properly. I’m on a strict IMM diet (maybe I’ll cheat once a week!) w/ the proper amount of calories, protein, carbs, etc. No wonder I was the skinny guy at 170! Granted, it will take more than a month to notice a big difference, but I’m finally on the right track.

All things are looking good. My team @KOReps @AMA FIghtclub and my brother ChAd are working on some great sponsors, but beyond that, I am the point where I’d fight in a garage w/ no one around, I just want to perform to my best ability!