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Training For MMA A Unique EndeavorByline: Brett Orzechowski
Aug. 19--SHELTON -- The concept is abstract, but Kevin Gendron often debates a tire's purpose. In his gym, the tire never rolls. The rubber is pushed, lifted and thrown.
The one thing the tire cannot do is fight back.
The 245-pound object absorbs force and frustration and deflects drops of sweat. Still, by the time the mixed martial arts fighters are done with the first of three fiveminute intense training cycles, the tire remains standing.
Sometimes, Gendron's fighters are not.
The personal trainer's business occupies the third floor of a 90-year-old warehouse where the drone of heavy industrial machinery is replaced by shrieks of anguish from grown men. His subjects are John Clarke and John Cannata, two MMA fighters who train with Gendron three times a week with some of the more unorthodox methods around. Gendron has devised each regiment around the functionality of each athlete's sport. MMA is different, but appealed to the former Southern Connecticut State football player.
"Improvising is almost needed with these guys because really, that's all they do when they fight. It's one improvised move after the other. They don't know what to expect," Gendron said. "Why should they expect it here?"
Norwalk light-middleweight boxer Travis Simms works with Gendron along with a handful of mostly high school and college football players from the Valley. There are machines and devices rarely found in a standard gym. Most are built to induce pain and are relentless. Mostly, it's Gendron who is merciless.
The training has evolved since Roger Denton began fighting during the early stages of the MMA's short history. Denton teaches Clarke and Cannata, but he relies on Gendron to physically push the two before a fight. For Clarke, he has five weeks before his next outing. Cannata, an amateur, serves as a training partner for now, the same philosophy thoroughbred horse trainers employ.Denton lived in California when he first entered the world of MMA, years away from returning to Connecticut to open gyms with his business partner, Fabio Araujo. Denton was introduced to members of the Gracie family, a name synonymous with MMA, and the network began.
Still, his training was different.
At the time, Denton drove out to the desert and was told to run while sucking on a tube to improve endurance. Plyometrics, forms of calisthenics, were performed on park benches. Then fighters would spar for hours before one ultimately passed out.
That was training in the 1990s.
Now, it's a bit more sophisticated. There are five days of learning technique and a day or two a week of sparring. Three days then belong to Gendron.
"I think he absolutely enjoys doing this. There are days when you think this is odd, but then you just have to do it. Kevin's in your face. And for some reason, life is a little different when someone's in your face like that," Clarke said. "But he's smiling when he's in your face."
Araujo spends days on the mat, practicing submissions and demonstrating proper technique. Marcio Stambowsky, a member of the Gracie family, teaches the aesthetics of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Luis Rosa perfects boxing technique. Denton streamlines all disciplines to his fighters.
As for Gendron, he rubs his hands against his shaved pate, and begins improvising.
Five minutes later, Clarke and Cannata drip through their Tshirts. The first of three cycles ends.
Cannata then reaches for the nearest garbage can.
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Copyright (c) 2007, New Haven Register, Conn.