Interview with Rosi Sexton

With permission from:
TheAcademy.typepad.com

Short Interview - Rosi Sexton

I had the pleasure of meeting Rosi during the filming of the second season of BodogFight in Russia where she fought Carinna Damm from Brazil. Rosi hails from Manchester England and has a 5-1 professional record in MMA (not including this last fight since we can't reveal the result yet). On top of being a mom to a 2 year old son she also has a PhD in Theoretical Computer Science and is now studying to be an osteopath. Enjoy her great insights.

AMMA: Tell us a little of what you would consider to be a solid performance nutrition diet.

RS: I think the most important thing is to eat a really good, balanced diet. I try to include loads of fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables. I used to eat a fair bit of processed food, but when I was pregnant I became much more conscious about what I was eating, and now I do a lot of cooking. This has the advantage that I know exactly what I’m eating. When I’m training hard, I make sure my diet has plenty of carbohydrates, enough protein and is fairly low in fat.

I think timing of meals is important too – a good breakfast is essential, and I make sure I get something as soon as possible after training (either a protein drink or a snack, followed by a full meal). I generally eat every few hours during the day.

AMMA: Excluding the obvious (boxing gloves, wrestling mat, etc), what would you choose if you could only have three pieces of training equipment.

RS: An exercise ball (one of the big inflatable ones), a bungee harness and a foam roller.

AMMA: Tell us about a great conditioning workout you do.

RS: I never seem to do quite the same workout twice…. Karl, my coach, has me doing some great conditioning stuff that actually feels like being in a fight. He’ll really mix things up – floor bag and bungee harness, agility drills, clinch, pad work, shoots and sprawls, intervals, you name it, it’s in there. Three five minute rounds of this, and usually I’m not even sure which way is up. It’s a really fast way to get fight fit though.

AMMA: As someone who only weighs around 130lbs you must have the experience of training with people much bigger than you. Can you give some advice to other people in this position on how to make the most out the training sessions where you may be getting muscled around a bit?

RS: Training with bigger, stronger people can be really useful, especially for getting your basics solid. I know I’m a better fighter for having that pressure – in a way, it’s much easier for us than for heavyweights, who sometimes struggle to find training partners who can push them. It’s important to get a balance, though, otherwise you can end up as quite a defensive fighter.

It’s a frustrating place to be, no doubt about it. I’m the worst for this. I’ll roll with someone who’s 20 kilos heavier than me, well conditioned and with a good level of skill and then wonder why I can’t tap them out.

I think the main thing I try and do is treat it as an exercise in dealing with frustration. There are always going to be times in a fight when things aren’t going your way, and there are always things that are beyond your control – it’s about being able to give it your best performance despite that.

Another thing I find useful is to go into each round with a game plan and an objective. If I’m sparring someone much bigger, I might aim to work on movement and defence, or to avoid getting taken down and ending up on bottom. I find that if I give myself a specific goal to work on, then I get more out of the round.

AMMA: What one sports supplement could you not live without?

RS: Glucosamine sulphate is my biggest must have, closely followed by fish oil (or some other omega 3 oil).

AMMA: Tell us one drill you do in training (any sport)?

RS: One of the most useful drills we do has to be where I’m working a specific objective against a series of fresh opponents for a 3 or 5 minute round. It’s all about making sure I can do what I need to do, getting the technique right and not making mistakes even when I’m really tired.