This article was written by leading MMA conditioning coach Eric Wong. I hope you find it as useful and informative as I do.
I just love how MMA fighters train. They train with full intensity and are some of the best athletes out there. They need to have combination of a lot of different aspects to become the best in their sports.
MMA fighters need to be strong, powerful, and must have an incredible level of stamina. They also need to have a high tolerance for pain. Over the years, I’ve incorporated MMA style training into my training routine.
The following are my favorite forms of MMA-style training:
“NO REST” Workouts
All my workouts right now involve no rest. For a long time, I trained with supersets, where I would perform 2 exercises back to back with no rest, then rest for 1 minute straight. This form of training gave me great results.
However, after seeing a lot of MMA fight videos, I noticed how little they rest between sets. So that’s when I began to really go all out and see how long I could keep going. At first, I had to reduce the weight on all my movements.
But eventually, I was lifting more than I used to, and feeling better than ever. “NO REST” doesn’t really mean no rest. It means that you keep going for as long as you can, through a variety of movements.
If you need to take a rest, then take a rest, but don’t rest any longer than you actually need to. So right now, I don’t count my rest periods. But they usually are less than a minute, and they’re certainly not planned.
Variety of Implements
I would rotate between bodyweight training, kettlebell training, and barbell training. However, one other thing I realized about MMA fighters is that they incorporate a wide range of exercise implements WITHIN the same workout.
Hence, I began to experiment with combining kettlebell and barbell moves in the same workout. Then barbell and bodyweight. Eventually, my workouts became a mish mash of resistance band, bodyweight, medicine ball, barbell, and kettlebell training.
I try to make my workouts as unique and as different as possible each time. This involves a lot of creativity and research. YouTube is great for coming up with new ideas. But, done for you workouts from a variety of strength coaches online, where you can see a list of unique movements and their descriptions, along with workouts you can use as samples, really helps.
Specific Warm ups
Most trainees have a warm up that they do each and every time. This is the same warm up they do, regardless of the workout they’re doing at the time. This will work for you, but eventually you will need to make your warm ups more specific.
Specific warm ups are important for any athlete, because every single day, you have a different part of your body that hurts more or requires more stretching than the others. In essence, my stretching routines and warm ups have become just as random as my workouts.
It’s a good idea to learn and study as many different stretches and warm up methods as possible. However, the most important thing is to listen to your body. Right when you wake up in the morning, take a mental note of what muscle are sore.
As you walk around the house, take a mental note of what needs to be worked on that day. Do your hips feel tight? Is your back feeling a bit funny? Maybe your lower back is extremely sore from those dead lifts you did the day before.
Bottom line is that you need to adapt your warm ups and stretching routines based on your workouts.
Heavy Strength Days
Because MMA fighting requires so many abilities, fighters train with both light weights and heavy weights. Most have a specific day in the week where they work on their strength. This routine closely resembles a Olympic Lifting or Power Lifting workout.
This is because multi joint lifts such as the snatch, clean, jerk, bench press, squat, and dead lift will help build strength throughout your body. Fighters don’t have time to isolate every single muscle group.
That is why most fighters focus on lifts that will give them the most for their results. However, I have seen a few fighters, such as Matt Hughes, perform isolation movements. You must realize that MMA fighters need to work on different things and different times.
Shadow Boxing
Fighters do a lot of work on heavy bags, focus mitts, and speed bags. They also spar with other partners. However, shadow boxing is another form of training that most people don’t recognize as being important.
Shadow boxing is preferred by many MMA fighters because it allows them to work on speed and coordination without having to hit a stationary target or worry about hurting someone. It’s almost like a lower intensity version of sparring.
I personally love shadowboxing because it’s great cardio. It’s certainly not as boring as running or cycling. You can pretend you’re beating up someone you’re angry at while you shadowbox. Turn up some loud music and go crazy!
Sledgehammer Swinging
Another form of cardio I’ve come to appreciate is sledgehammer swings. Sledgehammer swings are surprisingly fun and intense.
You can get a tire from your local mechanic. Don’t go to a chain tire store because they need to account for all their tires. On the other hand, a local privately owned garage will gladly give you a tire for free.
Sledgehammer’s cost around $30 at your local hardware store. You may need to place something to prevent the tire from bouncing around. I usually like to place a 35lbs weight plate in the center.
Perform your sledgehammer workouts as sets and reps or as timed sets. For example, you can do a 100 swing on one side, then switch to the other side. Or you can do a minute continuous swinging on one side, then switch to the other side.
Either way, you’ll get a great cardio workout. For more on this amazing coach click below
