Interview with Phase IV CEO and Founder Robert Forster, PT

with Ari Baquet, Physical Therapy Aide

Joe Warren, 37, rode superior conditioning to overcome a 10-year age handicap and all that Rafael Silva could throw at him. Photo courtesy Bellator.

Ari Baquet, Physical Therapy Aide: I know you and the staff at Phase IV have trained many athletes to world championships, what was different about your work with Joe Warren in preparation for his MMA title fight last week in Atlantic City?

Robert Forster, PT: This was the first of those previous world champions where we designed all of the training, including strength and conditioning, injury prevention, nutrition, weight cut, and recovery techniques. (His talented coach, Marc Montoya of FactoryX Mauy Tai, covers all the technique training and implements the workouts in his gym in Colorado). In the past we typically executed the strength and flexibility training, injury prevention, and of course rehab if they suffered an injury, but the coach would dictate the day-to-day workouts in terms of intensity and volume.

AB: How do you go about determining how much an athlete should train? How hard, how long, when to rest, when to progress the training, and when to taper training to peak an athlete's fitness?

Forster: For all our clients, from elite athletes to age-group competitors and those who just need to lose weight, training programs are tailored to their physiology based on clinical metabolic testing. This "finger print" approach allows us to unlock the puzzle that is each individual's personal physiology. For instance, VO2 testing determines what heart rate zone an athlete has to train to improve metabolic conditioning. Resting metabolic rate testing tells us exactly how many calories any individual needs to maintain, lose or gain weight. Similarly, structural examination determines which muscles are weak, which are tight, and how to best improve physical performance.

AB: What adjustments were made for Joe considering he is 37 years old and he was set to fight a man nearly 10 years his junior?

Forster: An athlete's absolute age is not as important as his or her age in their sport. For instance, Joe has been wrestling since he was 7 years old and went on to become a Greco Roman wrestling world champion. Considering all those years of training, he needs to do less fitness training than a 25-year-old newbie who has yet to develop so many of the physical characteristics Joe has already attained. However, because Joe has only been fighting in MMA for 5 years, he needs a robust program of technique training to develop the skills for striking, kicking, and using his elbows as weapons because in wrestling these skills are not allowed. In terms of his chronological age, older athletes need more recovery. As an athlete ages, their natural levels of anabolic hormones decline and so does their recovery rate compared to when they were younger. In the last month of training before the fight, we had Joe Training just seven hours a week; the rest of his time was spent focusing on active recovery techniques, including stretching, foam roller, icing, and the use of compression clothing to help him recover and adapt faster to the stress of the workouts. Joe did not use the testosterone replacement techniques that are so common in this sport and most professional sports today so his recovery efforts were vital to his health and fitness. Joe Warren did it naturally, which is a point of pride for us.

AB: What does this world championship mean to you personally?

Forster: This is one of the most satisfying wins of my 33-year career. I have helped some of the all-time greatest athletes win world championships and Olympic gold medals and set world records (Jackie Joyner Kersee, Flo-Jo, Pete Sampras, Kobe Bryant, and Maria Sharapova among others), but this one was all Phase IV. Aishea Maas, Phase IV Director of Science, and I began working in MMA just over a year ago and we have now achieved the highest accolades in the sport. This proves that Phase IV science works across all sports because it is based on how the human body responds to the stress of exercise. We are never swayed by trendy fitness fads, always ethical, and we always have our athlete's best interest in mind. Joe's performance last Friday was among the most courageous and focused I have ever witnessed, he is a true champion!