Thats how this Croatian born, former Croatian Special Forces member and current Mixed Martial Arts fighter descrbes his legendary leg kicks.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovik (Cro Cop is his nickname, short for Croatian Cop) is one of the most feared heavyweights in mixed martial arts. It only takes one strike, whether it be from a right hook or a left kick the head, for Mirko to put his opponents to sleep. Mirko is a former Pride fighting Championship champion, as well as a K-1 kickboxing legend.

Whats interesting about Mirko is not his current fighting career, but how he got to where he is now.

Mirko started his career in law enforcement in his home country of Croatia. Not only was he an outstanding officer, he spent 7 years in an elite anti-terrorism group known as ATJ lucko(Later on, also serving on the Croatian Parliament, where he lobbied for a higher law enforcement budget). It was during his career in law enforcement that he got started in Kick boxing, where he had an outstanding amateur record of 40-5 with an unheard of 33 wins via knock out.

His transfer to professional status in 1996 was seemless as could be, winning 6 of his 8 first fights in less than 3 years. His kick boxing career culminated in 2003 with an 86 second, 1st round knock out of fighting giant, Bob Sapp.

Crop Cop then diverted his full training attention to MMA, where he’d already fought several times while simultaneously training for K-1 Kickboxing. Pride fighting championship was his new home and the fans loved his style. After several successful years in Pride, an up and coming fighting company out of the USA purchased the rights to Pride and disbanded the league. You may know this company as the UFC.  UFC president, Dana White, invited Cro Cop to fight in the UFC and even signed him to a 2 year, 6 fight contract. Unfortunatly, his second fight in the UFC was devastating to his career as he was defeated, Ironically, by a strong right leg kick to the neck by Gabriel Gonzaga.

After another unscuccessful fight in the UFC, Mirko returned to his self proclaimed “second home”, Japan, to fight for an up and coming company known as Dream. Mirko eventually successfully returned to the UFC cage and is currently in the process of working out a 2 fight deal with the UFC.

Mirko’s story is one of hard work, self sacrefice and dedication to not only the sport of fighting, but love of country as well. Heros like Mirko are all around us and should be celebrated for their talent and selfless service to country and community.

Keep checking back for more Spotlights on Athletic Heros.

PS. If you want to train like the best, be sure to check out the controversial Ebook Maximize Your PT

Unfortunately for you, after tonight it goes back to full price of $19.97. This is my way to thank you for supporting me throughout the last year and a half.

Dont wait, though. Im not sure when ill feel this generous again, if ever

Hell, most Americans get tired just DRIVING 10 miles.

But we do it, and do it DAMN good too.  On my first post back from the summer break, im introducing you to someone who you probably already know.

Derek Poundstone. 

You may know that hes America strongest man, runner up for the 2008 WORLDS strongest man and just an all around animal when it comes to training. You may NOT know something thats just as important to him as strongman and strength training.

In his home town, Hes known as OFFICER Derek Poundstone.

Yes thats right, Derek, Standing at a svelte 6′1″ 315lbs, is an active police officer in Naugatuck, CT. Not only does he train constantly to become THE best in his respective sport, he spends countless hours a week keeping the streets safe from criminals. The respect he gets in the strength world should be nothing in comparison to the respect he should receive for answering the call to duty. 

Derek is training for the 2009 Worlds Strongest Man competition, held this year in Malta this year. He is a heavy favorite to finally take the crown from 5 time champion, Polands Mariusz Pudzianowski(who was featured in July). Enjoy this video of Poundstone pulling a local firetruck, training for the “Airplane Pull” he has in this years competition.

Ive taken a little vacation from posting here after my show. I was a little disappointed with my standings in the last show… not my performance. I had the best performance of my career in july. Unfortunately, somethings which were out of my control factored in. If nothing, it was a great experience and a life lesson for the future.

I will be returning to regular postings in the next few weeks, so get ready for regular content and guest posters in the military and general fitness industry.

See you guys soon,
Donnie

On a side note, if anyone has ever done the Army’s CLS class, leave me a message and let me know your experiences with being IV’d by amateur military members. Im interested in hearing some good stuff!

In honor of the great sport of strongman, Im posting up this phenomenally edited video of the greatest strongman ever, Mariousz Pudzianowski. Enjoy, and ill talk to you after the show!

July 18th….

Your military meathead has been training for his next strongman competition and I thought you should see what kind of training Ive killing.. 

(Note, this is not very beneficial for military physical fitness, as you can see by my elevated weight, but I can drop and add weight pretty easily. Dont worry, ill be back into combat shape in no time.)

Before I post the training, Here is the show’s events and specifics, If anyone happens to be in the Ft Myers, Fla area.

Log press for reps (for competition’s sake, the weight is not told just yet)

Atlas Stone Loading… weights also kept private(for now)

Ill Keep you updated as I get closer and closer to the show. Im shooting for that First place trophy!

-Donnie

PS, dont forget to check out the great unconventional training book on the planet. If you want to get involved in odd object loading and overhead pressing along with so much more, then check out my highly acclaimed book Maximize Your PT

Its been a long time since i’ve had an article published by the good people at EliteFTS.com but thats not because I havent been writting them. 

Im guess im not the only schmuck trying to get my message across via a VERY large audience, such as Elite. 

But the wait is over. This morning, my article “Release your inner masochist” was published and is on display. Go check it out at Release your inner masochist on EliteFTS.com

For all my new readers, Welcome and I hope you go ahead and sign up for my FREE newsletter. I have a couple free pieces of knowledge i’ll give you right away and In just a short while, ill have a big item to give to you, for FREE of course. Just put your name and Email in the box to the right and i’ll do the rest. 

Thanks again for visiting. Im humbled and very grateful for your constant support!

“Weak is for the lower end of the food chain”

-Donnie

PS Be sure to follow me on my social networking as well. This way you get to know the real me.
Http://www.twitter.com/Donniekiernan
Http://www.facebook.com/DonnieKiernan
Http://www.myspace.com/traintostandard

So bodyweight training is great for conditioning and overall fitness, but if you want to gain the size and freaky strength that guys like myself and other big time strength athletes possess, you need some tools to help you out.

But you cant afford to buy up every bar and rack on EliteFTS.com?

Not a Problem, check out this video Ryan made to help you get started getting strong as hell in your own garage, front yard or even your living room (And for under 100 bucks, for the most part)

If you want more badass home ideas, Check out Ryan’s free ideas he’s giving away! Free Home workout ideas

Of course I had my camera on for it!

Stability/block push-ups
Flutter Kicks(alternating leg lifts)
Reverse Bodyweight rows

30-45 seconds/station X 3-4 rounds. 1-2 minutes rest in between rounds.

Check it out guys. Ill have another video up for you tomorrow!

In the Military, you rarely have to lift heavy things by yourself. Hell most of the skinny fucks in the military couldn’t lift a rubber rafts if it fell in top of them, but thats ok. Thats why we have battle buddies. The one thing you MUST have though, is relative body strength, meaning your strength to bodyweight ratio. You must be able to push your body off of the ground and back down at least 45-50 times consecutively. You must be able to pull your upper torso off the ground and back down at least 50-55 times consecutively as well. 

That is all relative bodyweight strength. It doesn’t matter if you can bench a house. If you cant move your body out of the way quickly, huge power means nothing(in a combat situation).

Today is video #1. The alternating single arm elevated plyometric pushup.. wheew, that’s a mouthful. Today’s guest exerciser is NPC heavyweight bodybuilder Ryan Watson. Ill be posting a new video every day this week, so make sure you keep coming back.

PS: Ryans Bodyweight at time of filming was 290lbs!