I am obsessed with Ultimate Fighting. I love the dedication, intensity and brutality. If I was younger, and a man, me thinks it is how I would make my living. But I'm not. So I will settle for brutalizing my reflection in the mirror and the heavy bag in the garage for 30 - 40 minutes a couple of times a week. It makes me feel like a badass and it is a crazy good workout. Being as though there is no grappling, wrestling, or jiu-jitsu style ground game in this workout, it isn't really Ultimate Fighting. It is basically just punching and kicking. Still, for me, this idea was born of Ultimate Fighting.

Punching and kicking as a workout is fun and engaging. It is also intense. Don't overdo it. The first couple of weeks keep your workouts relatively short. A lot of muscles you use will be muscles you might not work regularly. If you get too sore, it will be a few days before you can pulverize your opponent again.

Let's get started...

Good form is important. Let me tell you up front, do not fully extend your arms or legs when you are punching and kicking. Especially in the beginning when you don't have the form down perfectly, full extension easily becomes hyperextension, which sucks. Keep your extension at 95%. Do movements slowly until you get them down. Keep kicks low in the beginning and move them higher as your fitness, form, balance and posture improves. As far as basic posture, head is up, shoulders back and down, core muscles isometrically contracted. When bobbing and weaving, remember to bend from your knees and not your back. Now some more specifics...

Your Stance

Stand almost sideways to your opponent. This makes you a smaller target. Keep your feet more than shoulder-width apart for balance. If you're right-handed, put your left foot forward. If you're left-handed, right foot goes up front. Your weight should be equally distributed on the balls of each foot and your knees should be slightly flexed. This will keep you ready to move in any direction quickly.

Hands and Arms

Set yourself up to be protected and simultaneously deliver the pain. Keep your hands up in front of your mouth and chin, with the lead hand about six to eight inches ahead of the rear. Tucking the elbows in protects your ribs and recruits your hips into your punches for more power. Your rear elbow should be near your ribs.

Punches

Properly thrown punches snap straight out from the chin, then return right back to starting position where they can protect you from the possible retaliatory barrage they may inspire.

If you are throwing your punches properly, the bag should not sway wildly when it is hit. You should feel the quick thud of impact and the bag should shake and shudder as the force moves through it. A common mistake when hitting the bag is to follow through too deeply and push, rather than hit, it. A punch or kick accelerates from the time you initiate it until it's fully extended. The further a limb moves, the faster and the more powerful it will be. Strike the bag at a point near (remember, 95%) full extension. Penetrate the bag no more than a few inches beyond it's surface and try to generate a clean "popping" sound on impact.

The main punches are the jab, cross, hook and uppercut.

Jab: Fire your front fist straight out, twisting your thumb inward about ¼ turn at full extension. Your feet should stay stationary and your balance should stay evenly distributed between your feet. Recoil quickly, bringing your fist back to starting position where it can deliver more pain or prevent your own.

Cross: Starting with your rear fist almost touching your chin, and your elbow tucked into your ribs, explode your rear arm straight forward. Try to keep your back leg straight and pivot on the ball of your rear foot (heel will lift). Your torso twists, squaring up with your target, your rear hip rotates forward, and your rear shoulder rotates slightly as your fist moves toward your opponent's bony/squishy face parts. After impact, return your fist quickly to normal starting position.

Hook: Your fist starts in the same place as with a jab. However, instead of keeping your elbow angled down, pivot it outward so your forearm is parallel to the ground. Then snap your front hip so that your upper body twists and your punch slams sideways into an imaginary cheekbone. Snap back to starting position.

Upper Cut: Starting position is same as for jab, except fists face in towards body instead of palms facing each other. Circling from shoulder, bring fist out, around and up in a clockwise motion close to body. Punch should come up and under target (such as chin). Impact is with first two knuckles.

Kicks

A proper kick is a four-step move--chamber (hip flexion & knee bend and lift), extension (knee extension & hip flexion, aka the kick), re-chamber, and set (or return to the fighting stance).

The main kicks are the front snap kick, front thrust kick, side kick, back thrust kick and roundhouse kick.

Front Snap Kick: Stand with feet hip distance apart, abs tight, back straight, hands home up by your chin. One foot will be in front of the other (feet will be on a diagonal). Lead toe will be pointed towards target. This kick can be executed from either foot. Whether it is a lead leg or rear leg front snap kick, just shift the weight to the opposite foot when beginning the kick. Bend knee and bring up to hip height (called the chamber part of the move). Thrusting hips slightly forward, extend lower leg and snap pointed foot forward so you can contact your target with the top of your foot, where your laces are if you are wearing shoes, or where they would be if your were. Picture, if you will, a swift punt to the groin. Not too zealous though. Keep the kick low, no higher than hip level. Return to chamber position. Lower your foot to the floor, back into ready stance. Don't neglect the hamstring curl/re-chamber part of the move. Keep it controlled.

Front Thrust Kick: This kick follows the same mechanics as the Front Snap Kick with the exception of keeping the foot flexed instead of pointed. Contact should be made with the heel. This kick will come from the rear leg.

Side Kick: Start in the same position as Front Snap Kick, but as your front knee is brought up to chamber position, pivot on the ball of your rear foot, so that your toes (and heel) end up pointing directly out to the sides of your body. Your eyes should still be forward on your target. Keep your supporting knee slightly bent. Using momentum from the turning motion, extend your front leg. You should aim to strike your target with the heel of your foot (heel should be higher than toes which should be pointed slightly downwards). Your torso will naturally lean back away from your target during the kick. Keep your kick low. Re-chamber and lower leg.

Back Thrust Kick: Start in the same position as Front Snap Kick. Bring knee up to chamber position in front of you, foot flexed. Kick back with heel of lifted foot, as if striking something behind body with heel. Your torso will naturally lean slightly forward (away from your target) during execution of the kick. Keep the kick low, never higher than waist level. Re-chamber and lower foot to the floor.

Roundhouse Kick: This kick can be done with your front or rear foot. As the leg chambers, the knee is bent with the heel very close to the your hamstring. Throw your foot with the full twist of your hip and the snap of your knee. Feel as though you are actually throwing your hip rather than your foot. The hip movement is vital to the power generation of this kick. At the moment of impact, your body and kicking leg should be almost in a straight line (your body should be sideways to your target and your torso will be leaned back away from them). Still, make sure that you start out covering your face with outside of the arm on the same side as the kicking leg. That arm will naturally move out with kicking leg to help with balance. Usually you kick with your instep, but you can also learn to use your shin, which usually packs a bigger dose of pain.

Other stuff

Don't think about hitting hard. This sets you up to develop bad form because you will compromise form for perceived power. Think about your form and the power will come naturally without the injuries that you will get by flipping your priorities.

Always protect yourself and don't let your opponent know what is coming by giving a sign, such as dropping a hand, or cocking your arm back. The bag doesn't hit back, but don't develop bad habits that would set you up for failure if your opponent were a living, breathing bag of blood.

Now you are ready to get started. You can make up your own workouts using these punches and kicks. Feel free to throw in some elbows and knees as well. I use Ultimate Fighting round intervals (5 minutes), but you can use whatever time intervals you like. Or, instead of using time, you can throw a set number of punches or kicks. With time intervals, you can either do a particular punch or kick for the length of the interval (normally this would be a short time interval such as a minute) or mix it up and use the time interval as an imaginary round (usually a longer time interval such as 3 minutes or 5 minutes). With reps, you would normally complete the selected number of reps doing a particular move, and then at the end of the interval switch hands or feet if you did all the reps on one side, or switch moves if you alternated between sides.