Gassing out. Not peaking. Conditioning that doesn't show up on the night.
I've seen fighters do everything that was asked of them and still not peak when it mattered. It's rarely one thing. It's how the whole preparation fits together.
How hard you train, and when. Whether you're recovering from it. Whether your strength and conditioning builds what your fights demand, or just takes energy from the training that matters most.
In Olympic sport, a team of specialists manages all of that. Fighters rarely get that support: the funding, the staffing and the schedule of the sport make it close to impossible. That's what this system is built to change.
It was never your work ethic.
Through camp the training keeps building. When your recovery can't keep up, it slides, quietly, weeks before anyone notices.
Training is the stimulus. Recovery is where you adapt.
When fatigue builds faster than you adapt, you keep training hard but stop getting better, and the first things to suffer are the ones fights are decided on: your reactions, your timing and your decisions under pressure.
S&C should make you a better fighter, not a tired one.
The wrong strength and conditioning leaves you slow, bulky and tired, and it takes energy away from the fight training that matters most.
The right strength and conditioning is built for your body and for what MMA demands. You feel strong where you need it, sharp and fast, and more resilient to injury, so you spend more time in the training room and less time sitting out.
Conditioning has to be built for what your fights actually demand, so the fitness shows up in the fight, not just in training. And all of it has to fit around your fight training, not sit on top of it.
- City KickboxingDirector of Performance, preparing UFC fighters, including world champions
- High Performance Sport New Zealand9 years preparing Olympic athletes, including medallists
- Master of ScienceHuman Performance
Why I built this.
For nine years I worked in New Zealand's Olympic system. Athletes there don't prepare alone. A coach, a sports scientist and a strength and conditioning coach plan each phase together, set targets for each point in the build, and check recovery every day.
When I moved into combat sport, I saw the opposite. Training was unstructured and almost impossible to keep on top of day to day. Fighters were struggling to get through the week and turning up to sessions fatigued, unable to get what they needed out of them. Fighters in that state often ended up sick or injured, or performing below their best when it mattered most.
Are we on track for the event, and what do we change? Olympic preparation asks that every week. Most fighters never get the chance to.
My ambition is to build the best performance system in the world for MMA, and to make that standard of preparation available to more fighters, without the cost of a full support team.
I've worked with combat athletes for more than a decade. Today I prepare UFC fighters at City Kickboxing, and that work is where this system has been built and refined, camp after camp. The app is what makes it manageable: the plan, the training you complete and how you're recovering, in one place.
Bill Smart
In their words.
UFC fighters I've prepared, and the head coach I work alongside.
I feel like a professional athlete for the first time in my life.
“Before, there was no structure and no consistency. I was copying people off YouTube and Instagram. There was no real science behind it: a lot of fatigue, a lot of unnecessary injuries. Now everything we do is in blocks, a power block, a speed block, and I don't have to worry about any of it. Bill's looking at the numbers and telling me what to do, and I can just focus on the training session. I'm strong, I'm fit, I'm fast now. When I came to the fight, I knew I was ready.”
“When Bill came in, I started to feel like I was peaking for fights.”
Full quote
“Before working with Bill, we had a very general program. Everyone did the same sessions regardless of how they were feeling on the day, and it led to a lot of burnout, injuries and niggles. When Bill came in, we turned the program into a more individualized approach. All of a sudden my injuries started to disappear, my weight started to stop yo-yoing and I got a lot better sleep. Instead of going into a fight being like, ‘All right, sweet, I've survived eight weeks,’ I started to feel like I was peaking for fights.”
“Everything is done with a fight in mind.”
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“All the S&C I've done has been different, but I take comfort in knowing I'm working with Bill. He has quite a deep understanding of mixed martial arts, he's in the gym every day with these guys, and everything is formulated towards performance in the octagon. The testing put numbers behind [my fitness], so we had clear-cut direction on where we needed to head. I've been noticing differences in my cardio, things falling into place. I have complete faith and confidence that everything is going to come together at the end if I just follow the path.”
“Working with Bill has been awesome: a complete change to the way I've trained in S&C.”
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“I knew my work ethic was there, but it was being put towards the wrong areas of training. Working with Bill has been a complete change to the way I've trained in S&C: checking the numbers, the velocity and the actual speed, not just going off feel. I've always had the mentality that whatever's on the table, I'm going to get it done, whether I'm fatigued or not. Being told I can pull it back on the day has been a huge game changer for my mood. I feel so much more efficient, and I'm able to always make good decisions under pressure.”
“He brings the same level of obsession to the sport as a lot of us do.”
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“Before, our conditioning was general for the whole fight team, and with strength I was just rerunning a program from an old coach, without much progression. Bill specifies the conditioning sessions based on the testing numbers. In terms of strength, it was a lot more structured and specific to our style and our specific game plans. [Going into the last round of my fight,] I still felt as fresh as I was in the first. I was ready to go another round. He brings the same level of obsession to the sport as a lot of us do.”
“Bill's just a man who's A to B to C. He gets it done methodically.”
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“You have to focus on the little things to get the big gains: sleep, stress, environment. Little things like that never used to bother me when I was 24, 25. Now I'm very aware of those things and how they can affect me. Bill's brought them up to me as well, so I actually listen, and it's helped me a lot. He's just a man who's A to B to C. He gets it done methodically. He likes to sit in the background, watch and do his job. He's there for one reason, and he does it really well.”
“I'm a very hard person to hold accountable, but Bill has been the man for the job.”
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“Bill and Smarter Performance have brought me back. For the last few years I'd been training in fight camp because it's a job, and I'd kind of lost the passion for it. The key component I was missing was strength and conditioning. I'm a very hard person to tell what to do and a very hard person to hold accountable, but Bill has been the man for the job. Once I started getting fitter, I was able to enjoy the workload. Then I was able to enjoy my training, and when I was enjoying my training, I enjoyed being in the gym.”
“It's not one size fits all, which I love. It's really detailed, and it's working smarter, not harder.”
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“Bill puts a lot into this, and he's come up with a system that really gets the best out of you. It's not one size fits all, which I love. It's really detailed, and it's working smarter, not harder.”
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I noticed the strength and conditioning side of the team was just fractured. You had two athletes preparing for the same type of event doing almost polar opposite things, and there were no measurable benchmarks for them to strive for. With Bill, everything has to be tangible: if you can't record it, you can't measure it. He brought all of that in and started making them better athletes almost immediately. Now the S&C is integrated with the skill and fight-specific training, we get a bigger overall picture of the athlete, and from that we're able to coach the athlete much better.
What you get, and what you do.
Your coaches keep leading your technical and tactical training. This plans your physical preparation around it.
01
A plan built back from your fight
Your preparation set out in phases from your fight date: off-camp, camp and fight week, each with a clear job. No fight booked? You build between fights instead.
02
S&C that fits your week
Strength, power and conditioning sessions chosen for what you need, and placed around your sparring, wrestling and technical sessions.
03
Your recovery in the picture
A short daily check-in, plus your wearable if you use one (WHOOP, Oura, Garmin or Polar), so how you're recovering sits next to the training you're doing.
04
Better every camp
Each preparation is reviewed against your targets, phase by phase, so the next camp starts from what this one taught you.
A complex system, made simple to use.
- Open the app and see today's session.
- Check in, train, and log it, including your MMA sessions.
- Your plan is reviewed against how you're training and recovering, so changes happen during camp, not after the fight.
The planning and tracking sit behind it. You focus on the work.
Before you sign up.
Straight answers to the questions fighters ask most.
Is this for amateur fighters too?
Yes. It's for competitive fighters, amateur to pro, who want to prepare like professionals. If you're after a quick fix or a general fitness plan, this isn't it.
Do I need a fight booked?
No. Between fights the plan builds your physical base. When a fight is booked, your camp is planned back from that date.
Will it fit with my coaches and gym?
Yes. Your coaches keep leading your technical and tactical training. Your strength and conditioning and recovery are planned around it.
What does early access mean?
You're registering your interest. When access opens you'll get an email with the options and pricing, and you decide then. No payment now.