Uriah Hall credits crazy training methods for courageous win
Uriah Hall: “I was training at the Nike headquarters center and we had these glasses that would flash… , I had the noodles coming at me, and I was in a dark room.”
Martial arts are renowned for crazy training methods, as exemplified in the celebrated documentary “Kickboxer.”
In a recent interview with Steven Marrocco for MMAJunkie, Uriah Hall related some modern training methods that rival JCVD’s for uniqueness. Further, Hal credits them for his decision win over Thiago Santos at UFC 175 on July 5. Hall won with a mangled toe, and a lesser known ankle injury that was so severe it has still not been cleared by doctors.
My coach would put me in these situations, said Hall. I was training at the Nike headquarters center and we had these glasses that would flash. It’s almost like you’re blinking, and you can speed it up, and you can slow it down, and you can pause it, and you can take away one of your eyes. He was throwing (stick-like pads) at me like in boxing, so I had that, I had the noodles coming at me, and I was in a dark room. So it taught me to be poised no matter what.
And then to do a little extra, he started asking me questions. ‘Who’s the president?’ Or ‘Is Michael Jackson Puerto Rican?’ And I couldn’t even think, and the second you stop to think is the second you get caught, so I think it really helped me. As soon as the toe was broken, I looked down at it: ‘Oh, the toe’s broken. I’m cool.’ I just kind of blocked it out.
I blanked out. After I looked at it, I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ I just remember when I kept moving, I felt the bone and the bone kept moving in and out. I kept trying to keep my balance to where it didn’t hurt me as much and where I could strike. But the whole time I was trying to figure out how to move properly. I was trying to move: ‘Nope. That hurt.’ ‘Nope, that’s not working.’ ‘Oh, that’s good.’
It was a process, and I did the ‘f–- it’ system I’ve been working on — you just say ‘f–- everything’ and just go out there and do it.
It was a gruesome experience, but it felt good to overcome that adversity and just being in that moment; I’ve been there before. A lot of my training is like that. You put yourself in uncomfortable spots, so when it really happens — not that I break my toe often — you just say, ‘I’ve been here before. It’s cool.’ I just kind of sucked it up.
I like stuff like that, because it’s being completely out of my comfort zone.”
Hall anticipates a return in 2015.
The glasses Hall referenced are Nike SPARQ Vapor Strobe glasses, that the company brought out, and the discontinued. There was some tantalizing research that there was a significant training effect from the their use, but the glasses are now only available sporadically on EBay, for up to two or three times their original selling price of $300, or more. They are however still available in Japan.