Physical Preparation of MMA Fighters - Chris Miah

The Progress Theory

Hello and welcome to The Progress Theory where we discuss how to implement scientific principles to optimise human performance. On today’s episode, we have Pro MMA fighter and S&C coach Chris Miah. Chris has fought professionally throughout Europe in promotions including Cage Warriors, Akhmat, BAMMA and ACB, and if you want to watch his fights I have included online links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lw5rnCCQkc

In this episode, Chris shares his experiences in MMA and how he’s used these experiences to form his coaching of the next generation of fighters. There are a lot of factors to consider when preparing a fighter from the grassroots level to the professional level, and Chris really shows his experience when rationalising his approach to coaching. This includes the importance of communication, how consistency is key, and how fighters should spend more time developing their skill set. If you want to compete in MMA or want to coach MMA, this is the episode for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

2:20 - An introduction to Chris Miah

6:04 - Is Chris Looking to fight again? Choosing fights to help develop coaching skills

13:13 - How Chris started MMA and how it changed him as a person

16:45 - Biggest lesson from his MMA career

22:22 - Developing skills in MMA

26:45 - The 4 key areas of MMA

28:03 - How Chris started his MMA club as a response to fighters rushing their technical development

29:50 - Training differences between the off-season and preparing for a fight.

34:45 - do S&C MMA coaches make the mistake of going too specific too soon?

38:10 - Do some pro fighters make similar mistakes as amateur athletes?

45:11 - Communication between coaches and athletes the most essential factor in the success of a fighter

49:16 - How MMA will change as the sport becomes more global and professional

51:57 - How to contact Chris

Final Thoughts

I loved hearing about Chris' background and how he got into the sport. It’s one of those stories you love to hear where someone has used sport to shape them as a person and has led them to great successes. After this episode I watched the youtube links Chris sent me of his fights and the guy is a machine, so check them out too.

I just wanted to provide some final thoughts on some key areas of the chat with Chris which really resonated with me.

Firstly, his message of mastering the basics. People in many different areas of life try to get ahead by trying to copy the professionals or accelerating their development too quickly without putting in the time to master the basics. In fact, many of the stories I read from professionals all say that mastering the basics is the key to success. Chris really emphasises how important this is in MMA as whatever happens in a fight you’ll always have your mastered skill set to fall back on. If this isn’t developed and you fatigue heavily during a fight, you can be in serious trouble. This message seems even more important when ignoring this could result in your getting knocked out.

And secondly, what I think makes Chris stand out is his ability to learn what is missing throughout his fighting career and try to solve this during his coaching career. Fighters accelerating their development too quickly? He started Combat Sports Centre which has a philosophy of working on the basics. Communication between coaches is poor? Chris has enhanced his coaching in overseeing the skill and physical development of the athlete while bringing in experts in other areas. He’s the coordinator, which will help make sure all coaches are working in unison towards the same goal. He’s providing the expertise, culture and management skills that are essential for success in MMA. I'm looking forward to what Chris does next. Check out his Instagram to see if he does fight in the near future.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this episode. To find more of our episodes please head to our website theprogresstheory.com where you can download our podcasts or watch the full episode via our youtube link. We’ll see you in the next one.

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Explore these Resources or Items Mentioned in the Show

St Mary’s S&C MSc

Combat Sports Centre, Solihull

Fearless, MMA

Renegade, MMA

Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC S&C handbook

UFC

Olympics

@TheRock

Mentioned in this episode:

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