Various people prepare in various ways for their fights…
But back when Royce Gracie did it for his UFC 1 preparation, he pushed it to the extreme.
During his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, Gracie explained that he was focused on endurance over strength & power.
So, he went for long distance runs, endurance-based swims, mountain hikes, and other similar conditioning exercises.
For instance, at one point he covered 41 miles in a single running session and swam across Tampa Bay, which is a 3-hour endurance feat in cold water conditions.
He also tackled the challenging “Cactus to Clouds” hike, where he covered 21 miles and over 10,000 feet of elevation change.
Royce explains that these challenges helped him in developing mental and physical fortitude.
Furthermore, he even shared what his roll with Gordon Ryan was like…
And how easy he was going on him:
Gordon Ryan came up like, man can we roll a little bit? Like sure, let’s roll…
We were going very light and he’s going easy on me.I was giving him the arm and he was giving me the neck.
We both give each other very respectfully.
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