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I love MMA, I've been training the sport for seven years now, you all know this. Today, I've been tipped off by my friend and UFC veteran Tom Murphy about his Warrior Roots project. Remember yesterday I was talking about the intellectual side to wrestling? How is it for an intellectual display of intensity to trace your genetic profile in order to give you an optimal understanding of your body? It's a very stimulating read for my fellow writers about the practical applications of DNA. Enjoy!
f you blinked during the Carwin/Mir fight you missed the sheer power and athletic ability that was unleashed. Shane Carwin’s speed and potent athleticism was spectacular, showing a competitor at the top of his game. However, there is much more to the story that the world is only beginning to understand. Although the masses look at Carwin as a real life terminator the truth is actually closer than you think.
Shane Carwin is not only the UFC’s Interim World Champion he is also a structural and mechanical engineer. It is no coincidence that Carwin applies the same engineering standards in his athletic training that he does in his professional career. Carwin is not only one of the top heavy weights in the world but he is also one of the top intelligent fighters in the game today. While most fighters rely on their staff for designing a training program, which Shane does as well, he also has taken his physical game to another dimension by tapping into scientific research to approach the game from an engineering perspective.
“Look, bottom line is that I would not be where I am without all of the people that have helped me become a champion,” Carwin admits, “but to be the best you need to design everything; your workouts, your goals, your nutrition, everything. Create the blue print and execute the design,” the champ added.
But who hasn’t done this? As camps and athletes are designing more sophisticated training regimens, Carwin is out in front of the pack. Shortly before Carwin’s win over Gabriel Gonzaga he added a new element to his design, one that other champions, including George “Rush” St. Pierre and Rich “Ace” Franklin, have utilized. However, this level is so far ahead of its time that even Carwin was a little amazed. Carwin contacted Warrior Roots, a genetic testing company that specializes in examining an athlete's DNA, helping to pin down exactly how their individual body performs athletically.
“I’ll tell you this much, I was blown away! These guys took a quick little mouth swab and told me things about my physical characteristics that I would have never know. Granted I could have just read their analysis of my genes but that’s not how Shane Carwin operates. I took the information, shared it with my strength and conditioning coach and together we applied it not only to my workouts and my fight strategy.”
Jonathan Chaimberg, one of Carwin’s strength and conditioning coaches, is also a believer, and it is one of the first steps in developing an athlete. “I’m a Mike Boyle trained guy, but at the end of the day good strength and conditioning coaches need to develop programs on an individual level, although GSP and Carwin have many similar physical characteristics they also have just as many dissimilar ones. Their programs must be designed uniquely for them. In the past; experience, intuition, and evaluations where the tools to figure this out, but honestly that won’t get you to the top and keep you there. Warrior Roots takes the guess work out of the equation. I personally use DNA testing now to evaluate an athlete, there is noting more powerful.”
Warrior Roots reveals specific genes that are related to athletic performance. Think of it this way; an individual’s eye color is determined by a specific gene, and once that gene is created; that individual is stuck with that eye color forever. The same is true for everything else about an individual’s physical characteristics. Warrior Roots specifically tests for genes that relate to: Power and fatigue, lactate levels, VO2max, body fat, several strength genes, exercise blood pressure, aerobic fitness, and muscle efficiency.
Many of these elements can currently be tracked with elaborate and costly tests, but what is gained are the end results. You have to test, measure and test again to get an estimate of potential performance. By examining the specific DNA of the athlete it is possible to pinpoint exactly what is possible with that individual. “Strength and conditioning is one of the foundations of our great sport and using the same style and techniques on every athlete can be a recipe for setting an athlete back,” Chaimberg added.
So back to the “Engineer;” Carwin’s dynamic blue print and technical design is as scientific as his profession. The rest of the heavy weight division could be in big trouble with a competitor that has put so much into his personal growth, design, and development.
Tom Murphy, co-owner of Warrior Roots added, “Shane is a remarkable individual and athlete, and it is a real honor to have such a humble and intelligent guy use our athletic panel. Warrior Roots really does not take any credit for Shane’s incredible victory and place in the history books, all we do is give athletes a tool to squeeze out the last few percentage points of performance. When you get to a championship match a 1% performance boost can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”
“The team at Warrior Roots is proud of their work. We have a very impressive list of athletes that have already been tested (below). Watching the impact our DNA Athletic Panel is having on the sport is very exciting. It's very rewarding to see a real impact and evolution in the sport.”
Murphy added, “Even if you are not preparing for a World Championship, finding out your DNA results can have a huge impact on anyone's performance as it can guide you on the type of training that will most benefit your body. Rather than wasting time and money on training regimens that are not suited to your own strengths and weaknesses, instead you can get a road map to your body's maximum performance.”
“What we are doing in MMA is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg; this will really be the final evolution in strength and conditioning across all sport; both professionally and recreationally. Of course people will think of new training styles and techniques but at the end of the day they need to be adapted to an individual and what their individual body was designed for,” Murphy concluded.
Warrior Roots is not only changing the face of MMA but also the world of strength and conditioning, it will be interesting to see how athletes continue to develop with rigorous scientific help. It will also be mesmerizing to see what happens when the two real life terminators square off for the undisputed heavy weight title in July. Will Carwin’s intelligence, science, and hard work be the formula that reins him supreme?
Some of the fighters tested by Warrior Roots:
Georges St-Pierre
Kenny Florian
Rich Franklin
Rashad Evans
Elliot Marshall
Nate Marquardt
Brendan Schaub
John “Bones” Jones
Keith Jardine
Denis Kang
David Loiseau
Nate Marquardt
Firas Zahabi
Side Note (recent event):
If you missed Kenny Florian dominating win over Takanori Gomi on March 31st you also missed the evolution of another great fighter. Along with Florian’s camp and training overhaul, Kenny has also proudly used Warrior Roots in conjunction with world renowned strength and conditioning Coach Jonathan Chaimberg to take his game to a new level. Here’s what Kenny had to say about Warrior Roots:
“I have been blessed with incredible coaches, and hard work and dedication have given me real results, but education has also been crucial to my career. One of the biggest keys to my athletic success is understanding who I am as an athlete and what my body was designed to do, and that is where Warrior Roots has played such a huge roll. We all have spent countless hours working with strength and conditioning coaches and subscribing to their theories and athletic philosophies, but not any more. Warrior Roots has unlocked the genes that make up my athletic ability. With scientific DNA analysis, which on my end was just a simple mouth swab, I now understand the genes that I have and what my genetic strengths are. Rather than guessing, now I know where to focus my training and fight plan.”
Tomorrow, I'll post Tom's follow up to this article, which is a study case with former light heavyweight kingpin Rashad Evans.
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