Take your training up a level with Jorge Blanco’s MMA-style moves

When Centr’s own Elsa Pataky needs a sparring partner to take her training to the next level, there’s one name on her speed-dial: Jorge Blanco, aka The Spaniard, whose mixed martial arts (MMA) workouts have to be experienced to be believed. Elsa’s not alone, either. UFC Light Heavyweight champ Rashad Evans and Team Canada captain and Olympic gold medallist Sidney Crosby have also stepped into Blanco’s ring.

A former member of Spain’s national boxing team and a Spanish National Kickboxing Champion, Blanco believes that the art of fighting is to conquer your opponent, although who that opponent is might surprise you. “Your biggest opponent is yourself. All the time,” he says. “If you are able to control yourself, then there's nothing that can stop you.”

Blanco’s life has taken him all over the world, with character-building stopovers in careers such as law, which means he’s well placed to provide training knowledge to a wide range of boxers, from superstars looking to shape up for an action role to everyday people who long for the strength and mental agility to do their jobs.

“To me, it's extremely rewarding,” Blanco says of his training practice. “At times, in a session, I find myself being as – if not more – excited than the person or the student that I'm coaching.”

It might seem a surprise that someone engaged in such swift and brutal combat has such a big smile on his face, but Blanco hopes his love of fighting will come across to those trying his workouts for the first time. “I want to be able to inspire people and help them to be better and healthier and try to just overall just better themselves.” So how does he do that?