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TOM TOM - Coach to the Stars © Marc Wickert www.knucklepit.com Photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC Tom Fries, better known in health and fitness circles as Tom Tom, was born in Fresno, California, and has helped some of the world’s most elite athletes to reach their levels of international success. Tom Tom’s father was a track coach for the United States, so Tom Tom naturally became immersed in such traditionally American sports as gridiron, baseball, basketball, water polo, swimming and track events. "I played water polo at college and then I took up coaching track, cross-country, water polo and swimming with my father, before meeting a fellow named Steve Sobonya. Steve was the strength coach at Fresno State for 12 years. We got a good relationship going and I helped him out at the college there for three or four years. Then we left that and did our own personal stuff, where we train professional American football, basketball, baseball …We had 14 American athletes in the 2000 Olympics. And we had 60 kids either get drafted by professional sports or get scholarships last year." Tom Tom has a similar number of athletes he has coached who are heading off to Athens for the 2004 Olympics. However, Fries is best known in MMA for being Chuck Liddell’s strength and stamina trainer. And right now, Fries is allocating all his attention to Liddell, who will be fighting Vernon White at UFC 49: Unfinished Business on August 21.
Chuck’s old strength coach left, and a friend of a friend recommended Liddell call Tom Tom. Fries was living 150 miles from Chuck at the time he took over, and used to make the trek to Chuck’s place every weekend to train him in strength and conditioning. Today, so he can be hands-on with Chuck’s training, Tom Tom lives at Liddell’s home in San Luis Obispo. "I’m here at Chuck’s, burning ribs (smoke detector ringing in background) as we speak. But for the Tito fight I drove 150 miles every day: two-and-a half-hours every day, and was still running my own business. So after the Tito fight, Chuck said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come over and live here with me and help run my gym?’ He’s got his SLO Kickboxing Gym here, so that’s what I did." Tom Tom says he approaches every athlete he trains on an individual basis, depending on the sport they are involved in, and the condition of their bodies at the time. "With Chuck, every fight is different. It just depends on how he is. You know, these fighters get a lot of injuries just in training. For the Tito fight, we did a lot of swimming just because he had two injuries about a month before the fight. He hurt two different spots on his leg. So we basically didn’t do any running for the whole month of March. "And my being an ex-swim coach, we did plenty of swimming and weight work. But each fight is different, and going into this fight, he’s great right now. He hasn’t been hurt at all and he’s doing great. With Tito’s fight, Chuck had to rehab one injury before training for Tito, so he was actually rehabbing during the first seven weeks. And then he injured something else. You gotta change as you go. You can’t just write out a six week program and say, ‘Okay, here we go.’"
With the Vernon White bout approaching, Fries is taking Chuck through beach runs three to four days per week, and through what Tom Tom calls "functional weight training". He says Liddell has done 500-lb squats, and is incredibly powerful in the legs, but he no longer does standard weight training. "We don’t do your basic bodybuilding stuff, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. We do more practical stuff that’s going to help Chuck in the Octagon. We do a lot of stuff that’s unconventional, but he’s much stronger than people think. Power comes from the legs, and he’s got strong legs. And he’s got really, really strong hands. He has unbelievable grip strength. So we’ve been doing a great amount of work for quickness. Hopefully that will come out in the fight." The preparation for Liddell’s next fight will go for three months. When Chuck fights Vernon at UFC 49, it will also mark a 20-month relationship since he commenced his strength and stamina training with Tom Tom. "It’s been a great partnership, except that Chuck hates his strength and conditioning coach. We have a hate-hate relationship, so hopefully he won’t read this article and see I’ve said anything good about him," laughs Fries. Tom Tom agrees Liddell and other elite athletes he has trained are not your average people. And while Chuck says he has inherited much of his physical strength, Fries believes the mental powers far outweigh the genetic strengths.
"The great athletes I’ve coached - gold medallists, Super Bowl champions, whatever – number one, they’re competitive more than any person on the planet. Number two, they have a mental toughness that is so far beyond that of normal people. Number three, they’re really coachable. Chuck will do anything. If I tell him to go swim in shark-infested waters, basically he’ll do it. They trust you with their bodies, with their lives, or whatever, and they’ll do it. And number four, they have this high standard of pride in what they do. Chuck’s a professional. He trains six days a week, and he does between thirteen and sixteen workouts in that period. "But they’re mentally tough, they’re coachable, and they’re competitive more than any person on the planet. They hate to lose more than anything. It’s not so much a desire to win - it’s their hatred of failure. That’s why Chuck is such a great fighter: He will fight anybody, any day. Whether he’s hurt or not, he will fight. And he won’t tell anybody when he is hurt, because he loves the competition. I watch Chuck, and I can tell when something’s not right. But he will never tell you if he’s injured. He doesn’t make any excuses. All these UFC fighters get injuries, but if Chuck gets in the Octagon, he’s there to fight. And he’s there to win." Liddell has tunnel vision, and he’s definitely focused for the Vernon fight. His eyes tell it all. When Chuck’s eyes take on that cold-steel, ball-bearing stare, fans know the Iceman is ready. "That’s another thing about the great ones. But with Chuck, just look in his eyes; just look in his eyes. There are times when he has his focus, and I don’t want to be around him, because he’s a terror. He scares the hell out of me with that look." And yet, as successful as Liddell has been in MMA, Fries agrees Chuck is even better as a person. "He’s very honest. He’ll never lie to you. He hates liars more than anything in the world. He’s just a good guy, and he’ll do anything for anybody. And that’s why he has such a big following. If you see him out signing autographs, he will take his time to sign those autographs or to take a picture. He feels bad when he can’t. If we have to get somewhere, and people want autographs, he feels bad, and he’ll yell out, ‘Hey, meet me here later, at such a time.’ But he’s down-to-earth, he’s grounded, and he’s a good man. But don’t tell him I said that.
"Hey, I was going to tell you: You know the fan who threw Tito’s hat back in the Octagon at UFC 47? That was one of Chuck’s high school friends who caught it. His name is Troy Brown, and he actually does a line of clothing for Chuck. So the one guy Tito threw his hat to in the audience happened to be one of Chuck’s best friends." For more on Chuck Liddell - www.iceman.tv For more on UFC 49: Unfinished Business – www.ufc.tv |
