Build Muscle While Doing MMA

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

I am 18 years old. 6’2 about 180lb. I have always been a skinny kid. I do 2 hours of MMA everyday so I get a lot of cardio work. MMA takes a lot of energy which makes working out with weights very hard since I also go to school and work. I do have about 2 hours in the morning that are free but theres no chance of me being able to get to a gym then.

The closes thing I have to a gym is the pull up bar on the board walk. I need to build mucle because even though my mma skills are improving my body doesnt look like what i want it too. Is there any workout that doest require weights that anyone can recommend that will help me build muscle and strength.

2

So, basically you’re just asking for a bodyweight routine. I hear Chad Waterbury’s articles are good for that sort of thing. Honestly though, if you’re doing that much work every single day, putting on the muscle is going to be a trial. Good luck.

3

Atleast up your calories, if you have always been the skinny kid that probably means you are eating nowhere near to what you should be eating when looking to gain weight. Before you get that in order your recovery is not going to improve and you won’t be putting on any beachmuscles.

I suppose you are already doing a bunch of situps, pushups and suchs in your MMA classes, so before upping the volume by doing 2 hours of chinups in the morning get in a shitload of quality food and see where that takes you. You won’t be looking like a bodybuilder but if you train 2 hours a day and have fast metabolism you probably won’t get fat either and might put on a few pounds of muscle with very minimal weights.

If MMA is your priority number 1 right now there is no point in getting in 5 weightlifting sessions every week, in the end you might end up doing more harm than good. Number one thing on putting muscle is the food, because if you spend more calories than you feed your machine its not going to grow no matter how hard you hammer it with weights, so the first thing you should do is look at your diet and post it here if you need any help with figuring out where you can get those extra calories.

4

You’re 18. Train skills. You’ll grow into your body.

And the short answer to your question is probably not.

5

6’2 at 180 lbs should look pretty muscular if you’re lean enough to fight. In any case, you said you have 2 hours per day to train; there’s 52 weeks in a year - prioritize strength training for a period of 10 weeks when you don’t have any fights, and then check the mirror. If not happy, repeat.

And yeah, if you can do less than 20 pull ups, work the bar often until you can.

6

[quote]Fistiecuffs wrote:
Atleast up your calories, if you have always been the skinny kid that probably means you are eating nowhere near to what you should be eating when looking to gain weight. Before you get that in order your recovery is not going to improve and you won’t be putting on any beachmuscles.

I suppose you are already doing a bunch of situps, pushups and suchs in your MMA classes, so before upping the volume by doing 2 hours of chinups in the morning get in a shitload of quality food and see where that takes you. You won’t be looking like a bodybuilder but if you train 2 hours a day and have fast metabolism you probably won’t get fat either and might put on a few pounds of muscle with very minimal weights.

If MMA is your priority number 1 right now there is no point in getting in 5 weightlifting sessions every week, in the end you might end up doing more harm than good. Number one thing on putting muscle is the food, because if you spend more calories than you feed your machine its not going to grow no matter how hard you hammer it with weights, so the first thing you should do is look at your diet and post it here if you need any help with figuring out where you can get those extra calories.[/quote]

Making his weight class is his first priority if he’s a fighter.

Adding calories is the quickest way to lift yourself out of your weight class and then get your ass handed to you.

7

My diet is:
breakfast- 3 slices of whole wheat bread with 4 whole eggs
snack- protein shake
lunch- Large plate( half mashed potatoes and half canned chicken)
snack- protein shake
dinner- Large plate ( half rice and 3 chicken wings)
I do not know how to measure food and i do not own a food scale, money is tight when you 18. What i do know is that the plate is large!! Also there is always a lot of food on the plate. I force myself to finish very often. Its a lot of food.

8

body weight culture .com

your 18 you can fap and grow muscle

9

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Fistiecuffs wrote:
Atleast up your calories, if you have always been the skinny kid that probably means you are eating nowhere near to what you should be eating when looking to gain weight. Before you get that in order your recovery is not going to improve and you won’t be putting on any beachmuscles.

I suppose you are already doing a bunch of situps, pushups and suchs in your MMA classes, so before upping the volume by doing 2 hours of chinups in the morning get in a shitload of quality food and see where that takes you. You won’t be looking like a bodybuilder but if you train 2 hours a day and have fast metabolism you probably won’t get fat either and might put on a few pounds of muscle with very minimal weights.

If MMA is your priority number 1 right now there is no point in getting in 5 weightlifting sessions every week, in the end you might end up doing more harm than good. Number one thing on putting muscle is the food, because if you spend more calories than you feed your machine its not going to grow no matter how hard you hammer it with weights, so the first thing you should do is look at your diet and post it here if you need any help with figuring out where you can get those extra calories.[/quote]

Making his weight class is his first priority if he’s a fighter.

Adding calories is the quickest way to lift yourself out of your weight class and then get your ass handed to you.

[/quote]
He didn’t mention if he fought or not so I went ahead and asumed he didn’t because he probably would’ve mentioned it. So yea, if you fight, you probably shouldn’t worry too much about putting on muscle because it might do more harm to you like Irish said, due to getting your ass handed to you by guys bigger than you.

On your diet, I’m 18, around 6 feet and walking a bit under 190lbs, when I’m doing 2 hours of training a day (usually 1-2hrs of muay thai and rest is roadwork/weights, I don’t fight) what you are eating probably wouldn’t be nearly enough for maintenance. Start by replacing chicken with ground beef and making your shakes with milk instead of water. Add some nuts and bananas with every shake if you still ain’t putting on any meat.

10

I dont fight yet. I will eventually tho. and thank you for all the advice

11

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Fistiecuffs wrote:
Atleast up your calories, if you have always been the skinny kid that probably means you are eating nowhere near to what you should be eating when looking to gain weight. Before you get that in order your recovery is not going to improve and you won’t be putting on any beachmuscles.

I suppose you are already doing a bunch of situps, pushups and suchs in your MMA classes, so before upping the volume by doing 2 hours of chinups in the morning get in a shitload of quality food and see where that takes you. You won’t be looking like a bodybuilder but if you train 2 hours a day and have fast metabolism you probably won’t get fat either and might put on a few pounds of muscle with very minimal weights.

If MMA is your priority number 1 right now there is no point in getting in 5 weightlifting sessions every week, in the end you might end up doing more harm than good. Number one thing on putting muscle is the food, because if you spend more calories than you feed your machine its not going to grow no matter how hard you hammer it with weights, so the first thing you should do is look at your diet and post it here if you need any help with figuring out where you can get those extra calories.[/quote]

Making his weight class is his first priority if he’s a fighter.

Adding calories is the quickest way to lift yourself out of your weight class and then get your ass handed to you.

[/quote]

Definitely true. On the other hand, it’s been my experience that nearly all “skinny guys” whether fighters or not are undereating for recovery, let alone mass gains. So even if recovery is the only thing (as opposed to gaining a weight class or some such), he’s probably going to need more food.

Part two to that first observation is that with the increased energy expenditure you won’t put on weight as fast as you would think with increased food intake when doing weights + MMA. The other consideration is whether he’s competitive yet or just doing it for the skills (also I think if he is 180 fighting at 170, then that’s really not much of a drop. You can add a good amount of muscle and lean up while staying within reach of your class as long as you’re intelligent about it).

Bottom line I pretty much agree with you, but just throwing it out there.

12

look up jeff cavalier’s youtube channel, best exercises, best circuits, best everything, no one even comes close, and he emphasizes that you dont need equipment. listen the the guys that went to school for 8 years to learn how to lift weights properly. his channel is jdcav24

13

[quote]therickuss wrote:
look up jeff cavalier’s youtube channel, best exercises, best circuits, best everything, no one even comes close, and he emphasizes that you dont need equipment. listen the the guys that went to school for 8 years to learn how to lift weights properly. his channel is jdcav24[/quote]

Yup. Definitely don’t listen to guys that are fighting/have fought/been training for decades.

Why are you even on this board?

14

Martin Rooney’s book, Warrior Cardio, has a section with just bodyweight circuit routines. And dietary advice as well. It’s worth the $20-30, and the man is legit. Just check out his credentials. It’s not a mass building routine, but bodyweight exercises don’t build much mass…but honestly, strength and speed is more important in our sport. When you get access to a gym I would look into Wendler 5/3/1 routine, it’s simple, easy and effective. Hope this helps!

15

[quote]Aragorn wrote:

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Fistiecuffs wrote:
Atleast up your calories, if you have always been the skinny kid that probably means you are eating nowhere near to what you should be eating when looking to gain weight. Before you get that in order your recovery is not going to improve and you won’t be putting on any beachmuscles.

I suppose you are already doing a bunch of situps, pushups and suchs in your MMA classes, so before upping the volume by doing 2 hours of chinups in the morning get in a shitload of quality food and see where that takes you. You won’t be looking like a bodybuilder but if you train 2 hours a day and have fast metabolism you probably won’t get fat either and might put on a few pounds of muscle with very minimal weights.

If MMA is your priority number 1 right now there is no point in getting in 5 weightlifting sessions every week, in the end you might end up doing more harm than good. Number one thing on putting muscle is the food, because if you spend more calories than you feed your machine its not going to grow no matter how hard you hammer it with weights, so the first thing you should do is look at your diet and post it here if you need any help with figuring out where you can get those extra calories.[/quote]

Making his weight class is his first priority if he’s a fighter.

Adding calories is the quickest way to lift yourself out of your weight class and then get your ass handed to you.

[/quote]

Definitely true. On the other hand, it’s been my experience that nearly all “skinny guys” whether fighters or not are undereating for recovery, let alone mass gains. So even if recovery is the only thing (as opposed to gaining a weight class or some such), he’s probably going to need more food.

Part two to that first observation is that with the increased energy expenditure you won’t put on weight as fast as you would think with increased food intake when doing weights + MMA. The other consideration is whether he’s competitive yet or just doing it for the skills (also I think if he is 180 fighting at 170, then that’s really not much of a drop. You can add a good amount of muscle and lean up while staying within reach of your class as long as you’re intelligent about it).

Bottom line I pretty much agree with you, but just throwing it out there. [/quote]

This^

Question: Are you losing weight?

Yes?

  • Eat more till your at maintenance and you’re no longer losing weight and then bump this thread.

No?

-Congrats. Gallon of Milk per day (or just get the extra equivalent macronutrients: protein carbs fat) + lactaid tabs if you’re lactose intolerant.

Gaining muscle on a bodyweight routine is a hard route to go but its not impossible. If you’re looking for a certain number of pounds to put on then you’ll want to lift weights, the route is far more direct. If you just want some general body composition improvements they can be accomplished with BW exercises, just realize there isn’t a WHOLE lot you’ll be doing for your lower body outside of pistols and jumps (so gains on the scale aren’t as forthcoming).

I would buy rings to hang from that pullup bar and get to work on some ring variations. Find a progression on a couple skills (i’d stick to the 3-4 skills at a time range) and performing the one you can do with about 70% effort for 10 sets of 3. So if you could do 5 one arm pushups, then 10x3 or 10x2 till you can do 10x3. Then you can strip down to a lower variation and blow yourself out (regular pushups for 5 sets of 50 or something). Bodyweight training is really skill training (so is lifting weights technically) so you want to PERFECT a variation before moving on and you don’t want to practice them in a fatigued state where you will reinforce bad habits.

If you want to learn damn near everything about bodyweight training I would purchase the book “Overcoming Gravity” by Steven Low. Its a fucking bible, he must be an engineer or something because his attention to detail is astounding at times.

Good luck :slight_smile:

16

I say fuck your weight class.

When I boxed, I was somewhat proud that my coach told me I “had a good weight”[distribution].
Did a lot of roadwork and underfed my body, with grim, idiotic pride that youth sometimes produces.
Endless stamina with no finesse, real power or explosiveness.

No matter how good your coaches are, the decision to put on weight will have to be your own.
Perhaps football coaches will acticely buff their pupils up, martial arts guys probably won’t.
And -mostly muscular- weight gain is for the 80% of all people done way easier when bodyfat is allowed to go up a bit.

So if you want to get more muscular, kudos to you, and also: you have found the right site.

Cut back the MMA drastically and go for two days of fullbody training. Basically just try to maintain your martial capabilites maybe twice a week with easy drills.
Hard rolling or wrestling should be out of question, while light sparring or heavy bag is ok.

Do core exercises only and screw isolation exercises if you have no glaring weaknesses, ie pencilneck, puny 12" arms, bad spinal erectors. Don’t do nonsense beauty-stuff like calf raises.

This is coming from a bodyweight exercise fan:
Definitely screw body exercises, too, right now your sack produces a lot of vitamin T which in combination with heavy barbell training is the winning combination for aquiring fast-twitch-steak onto your bones.
A barbell with some weights is dirt cheap so there is no real excuse to do weighted pushups.

If you are hell-bent on bodyweight exercises (I hope not), then heed Xen’s post.
Particularly one arm pushups were very good to me.

17

fuck this.

I want to here more about the guys who learned to lift weights properly
I mean that has GOT to help you in the ring or mat right?
particularly the 8 years of school that shit has got to be better then competing for 8 years
shit- student loans have really low interest rates.