Why Chuck lost

[love2roll]

I just don't think he is into it like he used to be. I saw him on a workout video here and it just doesn't seem like he is working exceptionally hard. I hate to say it but he is past his over the hill, anyone else think so too?

[Britt]

I think Rashad's anaylsis of why Chuck lost was the best; he evaded Chuck, got him frustrated, timed his shot and caught him with a knockout punch.

About the video, a couple of things come to mind. One, that's a very, very light workout. More typical of Hackleman's harder workouts workouts would be "The Pit Mile." Click on this link to see a video. You start with a mile to the Pit compound, then push a wheelbarrow with either your bodyweight or twice your bodyweight in weight up a hill for a quarter of a mile (either 200 or 400 pounds for the heavyweights), then flip a tractor tire back and forth for several minutes, then hit the tires with a 20 pound sledge for several minutes, then throw an 80 to 100 pound D-Ball up an even steeper hill for about an eighth of a mile, then interval sprints up that hill, followed by pull ups, sit ups, leg lifts, and back extensions. Some days he'll cut out some of the other exercises and have them do three times their bodyweight up and down the steep hill several times, about 600 pounds for the heavyweights. It's a bitch of a workout, but that's just one workout for the day, they'll have at least one other that evening as well.

Second, even though it's light workout it's a lot harder than it looks. Those aren't your regular 10 or 20 pound sports store medicine balls, they're D-Balls, and they're heavy as shit. The ones he's throwing are about 40 or 50 pound balls, which you have to deadlift and throw with no handles, and the two he's carrying on his shoulders are about 70 pounds each. It's nothing to sneeze at.

I've been to Hackleman's place and seen his team work out, and every guy at the Pit leaves it all on the mat. Folks can what they will about Chuck, that he's past his prime or whatever, but nobody can say he's not working hard.

[Jujujason]

Well, he might be working out hard at the pit, but I've personally seen him out the night before his last two fights with Couture drinking. Yeah, he won those fights, but those aren't the habits (or shouldn't be) of a professional athlete. Additionally, he like a lot of mma guys aren't technically sound. He got caught with an overhand right after throwing a right uppercut with his left hand below his shoulder (it should've been at his chin). J~

[Britt]

No argument from me that he dropped his left and got caught. He looked like he was eager to get his own KO and not thinking about Rashad's. He made a similar screwup when he went to the body on Rampage without setting it up, and he'd be the first to tell you.

As far as him drinking before a fight, are you certain he was drinking alcohol? I know he goes out the night before a fight to relax, but he's always said he doesn't drink when he does. I don't have any reason to doubt him, but even if he did, I'd be deeply surprised if he had more than one or two the night before a fight. At any rate, if he's going out drinking the night before and then beating up Randy Couture the next day on two separate occasions, shit, give me two of whatever he's having.

[Lotar-4-Life]

I heard from an inside source that he party's pretty hard and I'm not taking just alcohol.

Disipline (and health) don't just happen IN the gym. It's just as much a mental game and one of true fitness of both body and mind. To watch the recent show about him and his rise to fame paints a picture that he (and his promoters) want you to see. After viewing it, one might say, golly gee... that Chuck is one upstanding guy. The truth is, you don't really know about someones personal life from a well edited "documentary" on the boob tube. I personally like Chuck and wish him the best. I certainly don't think he's past his "prime". He just needs to refocus on what it is that brought him to study the "art" as well as the martial.

In the end, it's about passing on what you've learned and the wisdom and knowledge attained during all that time. But hey, to each their own. Some people like to live hard and that's fine. Just don't cry when the chips don't always fall where you want 'em to.