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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
MATT SERRA

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who, like yesterday’s inspiration, put on the performance of his life when the stakes were the highest.

Boxing had Buster Douglas, who took out the seemingly indestructible Mike Tyson, and mixed martial arts has Matt Serra, the man who defied the odds and beat Georges St. Pierre to claim the UFC Welterweight Title, and only after a long road to the title shot.

When the UFC did the casting for Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter, they went with a different philosophy. Instead of young prospects, they filled the roster with 16 supposed has-beens, who would battle down to the last man and the winner would get a title shot. For the middleweights, it was a chance to fight Anderson Silva for the belt. For the welterweights, including Matt Serra, the winner of the tournament would square off against the undisputed boogeyman of the 170-pound class, Georges St. Pierre.

At the time of the title fight, St. Pierre had a 13-1 record, with his lone loss coming to UFC legend Matt Hughes. However, GSP had avenged the loss decisively (and would destroy Hughes a second time in their third fight). St. Pierre also has wins over the best of the best: Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, Jay Hieron, BJ Penn (twice), Josh Koscheck, Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, Thiago Alves and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. He had literally crushed the 170-pound division.

When Serra walked onto the set of TUF 4, on the other hand, held a very Rocky Balboa-like 7-4 record. He had his wins and his losses, but he had faced the best, and was always in the match and a game competitor. He had gone the distance with BJ Penn, Karo Parisyan and Din Thomas.

When the tournament began, Serra emerged as a leader and cornerman for his team, not only putting on strong performances of his own but helping his teammates to victory themselves. He defeated strong opponents in Pete Spratt, Shonie Carter and Chris Lytle and won the show and his title shot.

Considered a prohibitive underdog and heralded only as a submission specialist, Serra walked into the Octagon for his match with St. Pierre and stunned the world. Not only did he win, but he did so with power striking and secured the TKO victory at 3:25 of the first round.

TODAY: LEGS (Fast Tempo, 90 Second Rests)

LEG PRESS (5 sets)
300 x 12
500 x 8
500 x 6
500 x 6
500 x 6

SINGLE LEG SQUATS (per leg) (3 sets)
Body x 10
Body x 10
Body x 10

SEATED HAMSTRING CURLS (5 sets)
120 x 15
210 x 6
210 x 6
210 x 6
210 x 6

SEATED QUAD EXTENSIONS (5 sets)
120 x 12
180 x 8
220 x 4
220 x 4
220 x 3

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Legs): 18

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