Introduction to My New Blog

April 19th, 2012 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian

For the first time since I can remember I am not training for something and its made me really think about how I want to spend my time. I started to focus on the themes that motivate me and the ideals that dictate my life. There are literally countless benefits that I have received through the practice and competition of MMA. It has molded and shaped who I am and who I aim to be.

The many lessons I’ve learned through the practice and competition of Martial Arts have taught me so much. Perhaps the greatest lesson I’ve learned is how constant evolution is absolutely necessary, not only for the fighter competing in the high stakes world of MMA but for each of us as humans trying to make our mark in the world.

MMA and the extensions of health, spirit and lifestyle are at the core of life. I hope to share my take on these things with you on my blog. MMA truly is a metaphor for life, and cliché or not, we are all fighting everyday in some way shape or form.

So this is my official welcome to the new KennyFlorian.com.

The fighter is in all of us.

The Perfection Puzzle

April 18th, 2012 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian

Being a perfectionist can be both a blessing and a curse. Throughout my career it has driven me to the extremes in technique and precision, but it has also caused me to be overly critical and easily frustrated. The nature of fighting and life is that ultimately you are not in control. Accepting this has been a fundamental element of my growth as a fighter and person.

For me, that realization came in the first round of the Gray Maynard fight. I had conditioned myself to think there was no way I was going to be taken down at all. When it happened I was so distracted by this that I lost all focus for pretty much the rest of the fight. It’s not that I hadn’t been taken down before. My brain stayed in that moment of being taken down instead of adjusting. There are technical mistakes that can be adjusted of course, but really it was the mental mistake that killed me.

Never was I more aware of the importance of not demanding perfection. The ultimate lesson learned was, don’t demand unattainable results, demand one hundred percent focus and effort.

Food Fuels High Performance

April 5th, 2012 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian

Food is most certainly fuel and we often make that analogy. However why don’t we make that same analogy to our bodies comparing them to a high performance sports car? Our bodies are infinitely more complex than one, yet we are at satisfied “filling” it with the lowest grades of fuel.

I remember how ignorant I was about food back on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter”. I was literally putting cookies into my protein shakes to gain weight. I was trying to put on fat in my attempt to get close to 180lbs while I was fighting muscular 205lbers cutting down to the 185lbs weight class. Not good!

Since then I have done my best to slowly educate myself about how to gain the right weight and how to lose weight properly as well. More importantly, I have educated myself on the importance of eating real whole foods that are healthy, will aid in my performance and will make me look and feel good. I stopped thinking about what was just convenient and what tasted good and really started thinking about what foods were going to help me achieve my goals.

Anything that brought me further away from achieving my goals was deleted. Cookies taste great, but they weren’t going to get me to train better or longer. Instead, I traded that in for healthy fruits and vegetables that were gonna help me recover better, feel better and look better. I traded in the occasional soda with only drinking water or juicing actual fruits. I increased my consumption of water and just that alone gave me more energy for my two to three sessions of training per day. I started looking in to not only the foods that were going to help me but the timing of foods and how that will aid in my recovery and performance for the rigors of MMA training.

Like most things in life, you can’t cut corners with your nutrition if you want the good results. It comes down to consistency and getting a good balance of fats, proteins and high complex carbohydrates. Supplements and “diet bars” are not going cut it. You need real food as it is grown in nature to get the results you want. Don’t get caught up in fads, quick diets or taking medication to lose weight.

Everything you need to feel better and look better is offered to you in nature. Commit to it and you will not only feel and look better but it will have dramatic effects on your overall well being and life. Here on my blog I will offer recipes, nutrition tips and specific information on foods that have helped me tremendously.

MMA – Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

April 5th, 2012 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian

The following quote rings very true in the fight game. “We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.” You can hope for the best all you want, but at some point the truth will always find you in combat.

This is why it is absolutely imperative to explore every nook and cranny of MMA. There is one reality in the fight game, you never know how a fight will play out. You have to be fully prepared for every eventuality. You have to be ready for a high level of wrestling, striking or submission. Furthermore, you have to be ready for an opponent’s explosiveness, speed, endurance, strategy etc. . .

It’s no surprise that we often make mistakes when we see something for the first time. Driving down a new road, being asked an uncomfortable question or being spooked in the dark. All these things get us to react in ways we are not used to. Doing this in the fight game leads to mistakes that are often responsible for losing you the fight.

It is rare that you will respond correctly the first time you encounter something so all these “encounters” must be experienced many times in training. To do this, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone and train in situations that are new, unfamiliar and difficult. Essentially, you must get comfortable with the uncomfortable. If you understand the boundaries of your comfort zone and explore them thoroughly you will create discomfort for your opponent. This exercise allows you to respond correctly when you experience a specific challenge in the cage.

I’ve always enjoyed training with different sparring partners and going to new locations. These experiences recreate that feeling of having butterflies before a fight. When I would train with the same people day in and day out, I would get comfortable training with them, because I understood their style of fighting. I would figure out their strengths and weaknesses.

When going with someone for the first time, you don’t have that luxury. Even training in an unfamiliar environment has it’s advantages. You have different mat surfaces to deal with, new faces watching, new training rules etc… All these things that are uncomfortable to you at first, but they allow you to evolve mentally, physically and technically.

My Parent’s Anniversay

June 15th, 2011 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian

Today is my parents’ anniversary & my mom’s birthday. I hope they like the signed autograph pic I sent them. #KenFloCares.

My parents thanked me for their anniversary gift with a kind letter.

Not My Birthday, but My Official Birthday Cake

November 22nd, 2010 in Kenny's Blog by Kenny Florian