“UFC: The Ultimate Fighter” contestant Bobby Maximus on why recovery is a full-time job
Bobby Maximus is an elite fitness trainer, former UFC fighter and BJJ world champion. At 43 years old, he competed in season 30 of the UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter”. He also made it on “TUF” in 2005. VRB Labs co-founders Chase Hobby & Evan Seale recently interviewed Bobby on Instagram Live to learn more about his approach for his second go round.
Chase Hobby: “You competed in “The Ultimate Fighter” seasons 2 and 30. I mean, that's incredible. Not only doing that twice but doing that with such a gap in between and doing it at the age range that you've done it. I would love to hear more about your experience and the difference in training and recovery required.”
Bobby Maximus: “I actually just want to focus on recovery, and I'll tell you why. Training is crazy. If you look at the best fighters in the world, if you look at the best NBA athletes in the world, the best NFL athletes: 99% of every training program shares a lot of similarities.
For example, there's a guy named Stephen Seiler that did a research report, I think it was in 2007, where he figured out how many hours were required to be an Olympic athlete. So, if you want to be an Olympic Nordic skier you have to do 1100 hours a year, that's it. If you're only willing to do 900, it’s not enough. A swimmer was around 1300. A runner was like 774. My point is we can argue about what’s better eight or ten? But at the end of the day, if you’re trying to compete at the highest level in the world, say the UFC, you must train a certain amount and there's no way around it. But where the change happens is recovery because as we get older, you cannot defeat Father Time. You have more wear and tear on your joints. You have way more testosterone at 20 than you do at 40. That's just a fact of life. You don't recover from injuries as quickly. You get more tired. So, what you really have to do is focus on recovery.
When I was in university, I went to the University of Western Ontario, they had this eighties night at a bar called The Spoke on Monday night. And if you're a college guy looking to have a couple of drinks and have fun, Monday night was the spot. I could train all day, go out Monday night, get home at three or four in the morning, wake up at six and do it all again without skipping a beat.
Man, now at this age if I stay out past 11 and have a little bit too much fun, I'm out of commission for three days. You don't bounce back like you used to. It's just impossible. So, recovery almost becomes a full-time job. If you would have asked 23-year-old me what I did for recovery, I don't even know what I'd tell you. At that time, I did ice baths I guess, just because that's what we did after wrestling practice. But now you look at what I do in a day: I have an ice bath every day, I have a sauna every day, I do some type of meditative practice every day, I do some form of self-care every day. I take supplements. VRB’s Recovery stick is something that I'm using two to three times a day, every day for aches and pains. I'm sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night in a completely blacked out environment.
When I start listing all that stuff out, it sounds like a full-time job and that's because it is. And so, to be able to continue to perform like this, I just have to be hyper, hyper dedicated to recovery.”
