The UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka certainly has a very strange a very different technique of training. He believes that punching trees does benefit his training and most of all benefits his body.
Jiri Prochazka is not the first one to introduce a strange technique in his training. There are quite a few MMA stars that have their unconventional method of training. Several that are worth mentioning at this point are Joshua Fabia –chasing his pupils and hitting a real-size photo of his opponents with a stick, Diego Sanchez – running around a cage with a knife, and Tony Ferguson – overexploiting his body in the gym.
Jiri Prochazka is not secretive about this technique of his. Last year, he even uploaded a video to Twitter, where he consecutively hits a tree with full force. Giving it a ‘beating’ with fists, elbows, and knees. Seems that whatever he does while training works like a charm. Regardless of how unconventional it is, his fists are like made of iron. Does he maybe have to thank this type of training for that?
Jiri Prochazka Tells Why He Punches Trees Before Fights
At the UFC 275 event, Jiri Prochazka held the main bout with Glover Teixeira. Both fighters are exceptional, with the great force, and great technique. As a result, the fight is a top contender for the ‘Fight of the year’ contest. Jiri Prochazka exits the octagon victorious and with a belt on his waist. He is now the undisputed light heavyweight UFC champion.
Seeing the success that Jiri is able to achieve, we wonder what his secret is. Maybe all fighters should implement tree-punching as their regular training.
“This kind of training is very good for your body, for the stability. You can stabilize your punch when you’re punching the tree.” – Jiri says for Overtime Heroics MMA.
“But not a big tree like I punched in the video. It’s better to punch some smaller trees. That’s why I changed that. But, sometimes I’m using the tree, sometimes I’m using the makiwara. The makiwara is like, a wood stick.” – he provides more details on how to perform this tree-punching correctly.
“It’s helpful for your body, to be more powerful in your punches, to be stronger. You have your core, your stomach, be stable and just better.”
The light heavyweight champion continues his ramble and says that in his career he even managed to knock down several trees with leg kicks.
Having this in mind, his next opponent should be really cautious. Or even maybe start punching trees himself to match the champion. I, for example, for sure would not like to be kicked with a tree-breaking force that Prochazka most certainly has.
Do you see this type of training responsible for his win over Glover Teixeira? Should all fighters start with unconventional training?
