do you guys ever use a deload week? or something alike?
[quote]tokon wrote:
"Bodyweight Limit: 180lbs
Overall Strength Goals:
Power Clean and Press 315#
Deadlift 600#… break powerlifting top 100 for BW
20 Overhead squats with Bodyweight
Back Squat (a2g) at least 2.5xBW (425) 10reps
Front Squat at least 2x BW(340) x10reps
Power Snatch Max at least 1.5xBW
Overhead squat Max at least 1.5xbw (255@ 170#)"
Seriously?!
[/quote]
These are goals for like a year from now and more than likely two because I have to put them on pause for when I have fights.
I can power clean and push press 275 so not too far from off that one. I don’t train it directly though very often. If my snatch pull goes up my power clean goes up so I just train that instead. I can usually powerclean ~50lbs more than I can snatch pull…and I can snatch pull w/ more frequency.
Back squat, front squat… that is all a 1rep max now. and my DL isn’t anywhere near that anymore.
I accomplished close to these lifts (squat was actually higher but it was wide stance powerlifter style not ass 2 grass) previously but my bodyweight was somewhere around 180-185 and I really didn’t do anything except wrestle 2-3x a week and lift, eat, fuck girls, and occasionally go to class (college life ROCKED).
I’ve only been lifting 1-2x a week for the past 2-3weeks so we’ll see where I start out again…
Strength goals are extremely secondary though, I really don’t care if i ever reach them. Its just something I like to keep in mind to shoot for. These are just things that when I notice they go up, my technical abilities increase as well.
Imo thats what is important. Figure out what works for you and train those movements.
Fyi, something i noticed, front squats & deadlifts tend to increase EVERYONE’s striking strength. Singles and widowmaker sets are where its at.
[quote]JD430 wrote:
Very well done Xen.
Your strength goals are quite lofty, especially for a fighter. I
have a decent amount of experience in the business and have not really known any fighter or grappler with that level of strength.
10 deep reps in the squat with 425 for a guy that fights at 155? Im guessing you are a freak to even have any kind of realistic expectation of accomplishing that.
I don’t follow everything that goes on here but I would be interested in learning a little more about your training history.
I tried to piece it together from this article, but couldnt manage to figure out what your training weeks look like in a total sense(types and frequency of skill practices/sparring/conditioning and strength training). If you wouldnt mind, it may help me with
some of my guys. [/quote]
Gymnastics: 10-14
Kung Fu San Soo, Shotokan Karate, Ninjitsu, Bagua, Escrima, Some boxing from about: 8-17
Track: 2 yrs in high school
millenia jiujitsu (striking, ground): around the same time as I ran track
jujitsu, wrestling (club team), chuteboxe vale tudo: 4yrs in college
did some miscellaneous JKD for a semester
And got to train with a NAGA champ from Gene Lebell’s gym for about a year as well.
I’ve had a lot of exposure to different things.
Training week, This is the thing that I guess is hard to get across.
For ME and this is NOT a typical, and its only for certain times that I do shit like this… But I have a large work capacity, yet I don’t train like this 100% of the time anyway. But from the above snapshot of what I was doing.
Sunday:
Lift
Monday:
Train 9-11am
Train 7-10pm
Tues:
Lift (am, early ~6 or 7)
Train 7-10pm
Wed:
Train 9-11am
Train 7-10pm
Thurs:
Lift (am, early ~6 or 7)
Train 7-10pm
Fri:
Track Work
heavy Sparring, or whatever tickles my fancy, nothing really heavy.
Saturday:
kind of off, i might shadowbox, etc.
anyway this level of training 2x a day etc with very little break was built up systematically (as i noted earlier in the thread). So it’s not something I"m saying to just jump into.
Really… Truthfully… you don’t need a tremendous amount of strength to fight. And unless you can manage to NOT use your strength as an advantage a lot of the times you just depend on it and use your natural attributes to make up for a lack of technique which will bite you in the ass later when you go against someone faster/stronger/etc.
which is why its better to train GI first, yes you kind of learn bad gi habits (not using under/over hooks etc) but you learn to slow down and get technical not use speed and slippery skin to make up for your lack of technical ability. I didnt know how to get out of a triangle for the longest, but I could just scramble and figure my way out no gi…then i put on a gi and realized how much i depended on being black-letic.
There’s a LOT that i do intuitively…but basically
Cycling volume:
usually to get back into fight condition what I do is raise my volume with my time and rounds. So while I might fight 2 min rounds, I’ll do 3 or 4, and I’ll keep my one minute rests but I’ll have 20+ rounds per session. The goal here is to improve my overall work capacity, mental fortitude (it gets boring), and to work on technique while still fatiguing myself.
Start to increase intensity:
After I’ve acclimated to performing that kind of workload I begin to condense that fury into the length of my fight 3-5min rounds of 2min. So putting that same volume of punches/kicks/knees/elbows into a few 2min rounds.
The key here is to make sure you don’t get sloppy, and that each strike is full power. Basically so that even if you’re facing a more skilled opponent you can just outwork them through sheer volume, until they make a mistake that you can capitalize on.
So you can see from my list of drills how i start to increase intensity. 30s intervals within the 2min structure, etc.
What I’ve done lately is I’ll either video camera or have a training partner count punches and stuff.
Have one guy hold thai pads… another watching then do
5kicks (right)
clinch- 10 knees
step, spin, release, quick switch (thats like 1 second)
5 kicks (left)
and keep doing that…with the goal of beating how many I did the next session in.
also 3 hooks, clinch- 3 knees… and do that for 2min recording how many times i did it and beating it next session.
Its all about PROGRESSION.
you need something to viably measure not just go “oh i feel like I’m doing better” fuck that noise I can grab my logbook and say “from may 11th to july 7th i’ve increased my punching volume by 165%”
Anyway with lifting its a little different… here it requires progression and I like to start from the beginning with everybody till they prove otherwise.
IMO the weight room is a right to be earned not a privilege and I’d like to see (AGAIN PROGRESSION) someone eventually have the strength, mobility, and coordination to be able to do a few pistols and a few one arm pushups (if you’re under 200lbs).
Anyway moving on imo everything BUT fighting is just GPP basically. and there’s really not much you can do to prepare for a fight other than fighting.
The big mistake i see lately is trying to improve skilsets with weight training… like doing 1 arm rows on a swiss ball to improve your knee on belly position.
If you want to improve your knee on belly position work on that in your skill training…
Weight room is to improve athletic attributes.
Speed, power, speed-strength, absolute strength, relative strength, etc.
So for each person its going to be HIGHLY individualized, and its often best to work with intermediate lifters because they have an idea of what their body responds to.
Unfortunately we assume that absolute strength is the end all be-all to most issues when its really not. BUT it does happen to be the key to a lot of doors and it is usually what most people are weak on AND it tends to be the one attribute that effects all others.
But in the fight game its more-so your expression of power endurance that’s important.
Just like in basketball if you have a 40inch vertical that doesn’t mean dick if you can only use it once and then you’re done. The leap you have consistently is what makes you a dunking/rebounding machine.
While i think absolute strength movments are pretty much straight forward… weighted chins, presses, full range squats and deads.
Movements for the expression of power endurance should replicate in some form or the other the movements you’re trying to improve power endurance on.
For striking this would be things that utilize the lower body to generate power, and a whole chain of kinetic linking to express it through your limbs (preferably ONE) for example: sledghammer strikes, 1 arm snatches, 1 arm push presses, etc.
But as “sport specific” as you’d like to get, I would stop it about there. Doing things like punching with bands or weights just fucks up your form and changes your motor unit control.
Thats why I like integrating the two, do 10 hook punches full power, both sides, then 1 arm snatches…continue for 2 rounds or something similar.
That kind of assistance work will cause hypertrophy (if you eat right) in the proper muscle groups, and the right kind of endurance. I dont care if i have a shallow chest I just want to hit hard. Fight first lift later. Also it helps provide a bridge so that you can make your strength gains applicable to the ring.
in my mind people tend to work backwards… they say
“I need to improve my punching strength, well bench pressing is in the same plane so if i improve my bench i’ll improve my striking”.
When in reality it should be broken down a lot further
are you generating power in your punches and its an endurance issue?
are you just not technically sound?
are you technically sound but lack mobility?
if its really a strength issue, where are you weak?
99% of the time its a technique issue and can be resolved as such… which is why imo a lot of old time boxing instructors don’t have their guys lift weights.
Then if it is a strength issue, front squats/deadlifts will pretty much cure and striking ailment as far as strength but what if it’s just speed strength issues. then you can box squat with bands or (even better) do jump training.
My strength training schedule is an example of how complex you can get if you really wanted to but how even though it is “complex” its still very basic exercises and you don’t need to make up 1 arm bench press on a swiss ball while juggling eggs in your free hand type shit.
Rules of the game:
Technique FIRST.
Keep in mind volume of your combat training and work progressively. It is VERY CNS intensive and can be training.
Strength training is meant to SUPPLEMENT your combat training.
In the weight room TRAIN ATTRIBUTES.
Fighting techniques are some of the most complex movements possible they are almost literally dance/ballet movements. The only way to improve those actual movements is to perform them with more frequency
finally, Recovery & progression. If you can’t train the next day you defeated the entire purpose. Work SMART.
sorry for verbal vomiting again.
Thanks again for sharing, man i agree 100%, i also train 2 times a day, and if i fell pretty beat down, i just skip the A.M. or change for something ligther, Ex:shadow training, and back on the track.
Only one thing, IF you can make the strength training more specific, i DO IT, not doing things one swiis balls. Try to do it on stand position, do chins with the gi or using ropes to grip, i also think that neutral grip more useful, but i rotate that.
I agree for instance if you need to improve your grip for your techniques… Do it.
But for instance in thaiboxing grip strength isn’t much of a use to me.
if you have to do a serious bang for your buck workout then yea standing press is better than seated but when it comes to just gaining strength its about getting STRONG very FAST so however you can do that do it.
[quote]ricardowesley wrote:
do you guys ever use a deload week? or something alike?[/quote]
Wow this thread is getting more awesome!!!
Ricardo I have to de load at least once a week.
I no longer “train” judo or wrestling with any frequency, but do manage 2 to 4 days of strength training- and 2 to 3 days of other stuff a week.
I have to do a stripped down day of say barbell complexes with light weight or
a unilateral day with just single arm movements.
the unilateral day would be
1 arm snatch
Bulgarian split squat
1 legged romanian deadlift
1 arm db press over head
incline bench one arm
1 arm db rows
stuff like that.
If I am doing a barbell complex I would keep it light for conditioning
65 to 95 pounds and do something like this… for 5 to 8 reps as many rounds as possible
Romanial dead lift
bentover row
hang clean to push press
good morning
OH squat
lunges…
this is what works for me as a Deload or to get away from “big” or “heavier” days.
kmc
Xen
this thread is getting really really good,
I actually thought about it while I was in the gym this week!
Have you thought about posting a training log here ?
or is that something you are not into?
I think your numbers are excellent , whether you hit them or not,
(even though you are bloody close)
they are huge bench marks
clean and push pressing 275 is fuggin nice!!
currently I am nursing some serious
tendonitis that is killing me but Im hovering at a 205 or 225 clean on a good day.
Your sidebar about the Gi is so true, the Gi game first will teach all the
positioning for the No-gi game.
kmc
Thanks KMC
I like to deload every 4-6weeks depending how I feel… my deload either means I just dont lift and i spend more time in the gym shadowboxing or just drilling certain techniques. Boring stuff… 500 kicks on the bag, or shadowbox a combination 500x …usually gets my hunger up for the weights.
Or i go into the weight room and bullshit around… do curls and flyes… or calf work… maybe try out a complex or something i saw on youtube. etc.
I still keep busy but its not nearly as structured.
Everynow and then I’ll just veg out if i’m kinda burnt out and I just research stuff. I never get tired of fighting and the fight game but its all the training is really fucking boring (I just had to turn down bowling with these really hot girls to go train shakes head wtf is wrong with me)… so i just use the time to research stuff and think of new ideas
But im in a “deload week” now actually…
I used to keep a log in the “MMA Hub” forum but its kind of a lot to keep up with… I’ll post my ideas and stuff when i develop something i’d like to share though for the most part this is my “system” so far tho and basically what I work within.
I’m juggling these ideas (pretty much what I’d do for the next 6 months unless something comes up)
A) working on this conjugate gymnastics thing i’ve been toying of the ideas with. But using parallettes cause I can’t get my hands on all the stuff I want for rings yet. This is going to take a lot of time. I can already perform 1 arm chins, but the things I would LIKE to do (press to handstand from a v sit, planche pushups)
B) just putting some weight on and seeing how fast i can do it while staying at a low bodyfat. Staying at around 10-11% bf will be easy with my current work capacity and how much conditioning I’m used to doing. So unlike a bodybuilder that dreds carb cutoffs and cardio. Hell thats all I’m used to. If i just go to thaiboxing every day I’m good. And I can gain weight just by eating and lifting a lot. I’d also work my flexibility A LOT which would prepare me for when i train at 10th planet
advantages of (a):
Getting SUPER strong
fucking cool to show off with (hah)
A lot stronger for when i do hypertrophy work therefore i’ll perhaps get bigger/faster
still will have some hypertrophy
cons:
maybe less time training technique or at least lower intensity because I’ll need the time to recoup my cns (very intensive)
easier at a lower bodyweight
in theory, not as much hypertrophy, and even if it is, gaining weight isn’t helping me improve those skills.
Advantages of (b):
Stronger
Aesthetics (my ego/nookie/etc)
size advantage in weight class
flexibility will go up (work on it 2x a day)
Might take LESS time than the 6months im estimating for (a)…
cons:
less “specific” strength, tho I’ll be getting stronger. period. so that should still apply, just that my relative strength vs my absolute strength and my size might get out of whack.
size gains impede progress for when i eventually do get around to doing A
i wonder how it will effect my conditioning, if its a negative im just going to scrap it. But I will HAVE to because i"ll be focused on eating and just getting my lifts up.
Eventually I’m going to need to do both but A might need to come first, its just that it takes soooooo much time and I’m impatient.
[quote]kmcnyc wrote:
Your sidebar about the Gi is so true, the Gi game first will teach all the
positioning for the No-gi game.
[/quote]
thing is you can do it no gi, but EVERYONE wants to bullshit around and go 100% no one wants to just chill the fuck out and put the reps in and drill technique. or be very technical. They put their rash guard on and their board shorts and they just whip through shit.
If you take the same patience from gi, and apply it to your no-gi game, you can skip the gi really. But RARELY can someone do that because everyone around them doesn’t have that mindset.
It’s like guys that go balls to the wall EVERY time they spar… I mean shit there’s a heavy bag in the corner if you want to bang on something… work on your timing, your distance, make sure you’re in proper stance/balance/position, work on seeing things not just RAWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRR and swing for the fences.
While there’s a time and a place for that, just like there is for full out wrestling intensity grappling… most just need to slow the fuck down and DRILL.
put the reps in…
whats that TMA saying?
1000x to know a technique, 10,000x to master it?
throwing up shitty sloppy armbars isn’t going to teach you how to do anything but throw up shitty sloppy armbars. So drill with perfection and at LEAST reach proficiency.
oh and you’ll be injured less.
I agree about keeping a log, I try to blog it in my profile…
and that minimal typing is work.
One arm chins… and some other crazy games like bar muscle-ups
are what jacked up my right arm with tendonitis
I see these guys all the time, they are doing this right by my apartment, in two different parks, one on the FDR drive,
and one in the east village.
we used the stall bars and parallel bars in college allot-
everyday… I wish we did more I prefer the hanging leg raise, and pikes, V on the stall bars.
I like allot of the crossfit shit,for gymnastics and Olifts
but I have issues with drinking the koolaid or kicking out the 200$ a month that it costs here in NYC
so I settle for doing it in the park, and getting to watch freaks like in the links.
do you lack some thing to attach rings too?
or do you want a full crash pad set up?
I take lots of time off of weights too , if I need a break.
and yes training does get boring as hell.
One coach I had said Its our job to train.
training is the 9to5 of fighting/competing, corny but true.
I like the A vs B break down, post season I was able to focus on strength , new techniques and rehab- improving specific weakness and during season- focus on technique and conditioning.
ok on to the Gi
I love the Gi- so many more possibilities with the Gi.
and yest you can gt Quality time with no gi, but most people are not into , every one loves Randori, no one likes drills.
Until you are at the top, or the elite there is much much more technical small, unobservable things going on with the gi.
the biggest change for me
training with an adult body.
even post college I still had a preteen body-
flexible, fast, strong- and really prepubescent.
not uncommon in wrestling, or gymnastics I imagine.
kmc
More good stuff Xen.
I’ve gone back and forth about the gi thing throughout my training career and have come to the conclusion that if you want to learn jiujitsu, it has to be done with a gi. More than anything, your hips won’t be right without it. The gi also allows for much less room for error.
If you want a strong grip, forget all the other grip training stuff out there(not really, but Im making a point) and train with a gi. Ive rolled with hundreds of people in my life(maybe thousands) and the ones with the strongest hands were always judo or higher level BJJ guys.
Your video taping the striking training is an interesting idea. However, counting sheer numbers of strikes or combos is not a real gauge of intensity either.(Some guys may hit more often, but lessen the intensity of the shots). If you have the luxury of having a trainer watch and push you, that is the most surefire way to insure you are ramping up the intensity. Any more thoughts on this?
Also, I have never heard the term “widowmaker set”. What does that refer to?
Good point about the frequency vs intensity thing… my personal problem isn’t hitting it hard everytime its hitting it hard more often so for me i just need to count strikes but very valid point… NO HALF ASSING.
What really would help is when you’re fatigued to have a trainer w/ a good eye point out things to you so you can work in a fatigued state but still stay in good form. “hands up, weight on your back leg, chin down, etc”
widowmaker set: kind of like 20rep squats… basically grab a weight you’re sure you can do for 10 and do it for 20-50
And yea, sometimes when I’m just fucking around if I do my trackwork at a park i try to do fun stuff like in those videos.
Obviously I can’t do half of that shit lol but it has a great deal of potential. I think in the future thats going to be the shit where they have “fitness classes” kinda like crossfit and people will just go out and run and then do freestyle bar work.
I find it hard to believe this guy got built like this doing handstand pushups and pullups though haha : FREESTYLIN ON THE PULL-BAR - YouTube
That said…need to get me some reciever gloves. :-p
This shit needs a BUMP
blast from the past… my ideas have changed a little bit, especially in reference to power endurance they developed a little more in that area. also i’ve been working on some stuff lately. I think gymnastics conditioning is going to make up the bulk of my training from now on i’ll post more when I have some stuff settled. And I finally got a camera so i’ll work on some vids
FRAT (fuck reading all that) Synopsis for the thread/system/theory/mentalmasturbation:
* Technique is your foremost concern.
EVERYTHING else is secondary. Proper technique makes you more efficient which means you’ll need even less conditioning (Yea I said it). The sport is FIGHTING…COMBAT. While it can be enhanced via S&C you have so much other shit to dial in first that you need to take a step back and ask yourself what you’re really trying to accomplish… your big bench or your punching power.
* Healthy Body (mobility, flexibility, stability, supple muscle fascia, etc) before strength.
In combat sports the most important thing is that you’re body is fucking working. If you can’t do an overhead squat because your shoulders are wrecked, your hips are tight, ankles are like violin strings and your torso is looser than Sarah Palin’s daughter… then you’re going to have one helluva time getting stacked in the guard, or throwing proper elbows, or shooting a low outside single.
There’s a reason the “greats” often didn’t lift weights. And guys like Rickson chose to do yoga instead. And things like doing Box squats (JUST AN EXAMPLE) because you’re too inflexible to Oly squats is curing a symptom but not the problem. Naturally it’s a good way to get your strength up (and useful for a hoarde of other stuff, perhaps even moreso than oly squats but i digress) while you’re training, but you can’t ignore the main issue.
Get yourself working at 100%… Having a 700hp engine doesn’t mean dick if you don’t have a transmission.
* Work Capacity
Common rule is that newbies love overkill. Frankly it’s not just a newbie thing. Anyone that has the lust for combat, the desire to be the best is going to want to do as much as they can to reach that goal if they’re actually serious about it. So it’s a good thing. But a good coach should temper that fire a bit and put it to work efficiently.
You can’t just jump into training 2-3x a day unless you’re one helluva physical specimen and even then you’ll have a learning curve.
I detailed above how I think you should segue into multiple training sessions.
* General Conditioning & Strength
Everyone wants to skip to the big badass program first. But you have to pay your dues. IMO get your aerobic base set first (honestly shouldn’t take that long, but this is a topic for another thread), work on your anaerobic stuff and begin bodyweight training… Imo the weight room is a privilege not a right.
If you can’t handle your own bodyweight to at least a reasonable level then you need work on that before you even walk towards the iron.
If someone is extremely weak (or their bodyweight turns it into a one rep max) then certain adjustments obviously are to be made. So they might HAVE to bench press with 10lbs dumbbels or something first but generally speaking… I’ve seen 300lb + guys who can still rep out some good pushup numbers and even a few pullups. If you’re weak admit it, but don’t let a weak MIND be your downfall either.
Train Attributes:
I should have gone into that enough. Basically maximal strength can have huge benefits for everything but it’s very low on the totem pole of attributes for fighters. Fighting is basically an expression of power endurance. Back to back singles every 15-20s is a better example. Javorek complexes are better examples. Even for grapplers it is rarely ONE dynamic movement that accomplishes the goal it’s several… and in addition to this they require grip and great isometric strength as well. We haven’t even touched speed strength yet.
Brass tacks is you just need to be HONEST to yourself about what you’re trying to accomplish. You’re not lifting weights to lift more weight … though I am a HUGE proponent of keeping a logbook, and imo that is how you track your progress… you’re lifting weights so you can FIGHT BETTER. So what if your #'s increase slow as molasses, if it shows up in the ring/ on the mat/ in the cage that is all that matters.
Pick exercises that encourage the other modalities previously mentioned, but make sure it meets the standards of what you’re trying to do. Overhead squat is better than a dumbbell curl, but a box squat is more applicable to maximal leg strength.
* FOCUS ON RECOVERY!
the one thing most fighters probably hate is not doing SOMETHING. The psychology of a fighter is very testosterone driven. Most have an 100% attitude. Everything is balls to the wall… It’s why the “RAWWRR XYIENCE! MANERGY! MADE WITH REAL KITTENS AND TEARS!!” type of marketing works, and (my theory) why porn chicks are so attracted to MMA. It’s the ultimate form of competition. It’s raw, it’s unbridled, it’s what society tells us is bad yet it is EXACTLY what every societal nice-ity is substituting for. There is no higher form of dominating someone than single combat. What the hell do you think Dunks in basketball are?
That said… getting the kind of person drawn to combat to rest is fucking hard. Hell it’s 1:30am, I have to work then train at 11 then go back to work, and train at 6:30… but I’m still up. 
Recovery is fucking HUGE though. I’m pretty sure I’ve went into it on this thread. If not it’s echoed all over the damn site.
Brass tacks… training is destruction.
Rest is where you actually rebuild into a weapon.
So uber quick synopsis in order of what i kinda stumbled on while training is:
TECHNIQUE
Mobility
Work Capacity
General conditioning & General strength
Train Athletic Attributes
[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
FRAT (fuck reading all that) Synopsis for the thread/system/theory/mentalmasturbation:
* Technique is your foremost concern.
EVERYTHING else is secondary. Proper technique makes you more efficient which means you’ll need even less conditioning (Yea I said it). The sport is FIGHTING…COMBAT. While it can be enhanced via S&C you have so much other shit to dial in first that you need to take a step back and ask yourself what you’re really trying to accomplish… your big bench or your punching power.
* Healthy Body (mobility, flexibility, stability, supple muscle fascia, etc) before strength.
In combat sports the most important thing is that you’re body is fucking working. If you can’t do an overhead squat because your shoulders are wrecked, your hips are tight, ankles are like violin strings and your torso is looser than Sarah Palin’s daughter… then you’re going to have one helluva time getting stacked in the guard, or throwing proper elbows, or shooting a low outside single.
There’s a reason the “greats” often didn’t lift weights. And guys like Rickson chose to do yoga instead. And things like doing Box squats (JUST AN EXAMPLE) because you’re too inflexible to Oly squats is curing a symptom but not the problem. Naturally it’s a good way to get your strength up (and useful for a hoarde of other stuff, perhaps even moreso than oly squats but i digress) while you’re training, but you can’t ignore the main issue.
Get yourself working at 100%… Having a 700hp engine doesn’t mean dick if you don’t have a transmission.
* Work Capacity
Common rule is that newbies love overkill. Frankly it’s not just a newbie thing. Anyone that has the lust for combat, the desire to be the best is going to want to do as much as they can to reach that goal if they’re actually serious about it. So it’s a good thing. But a good coach should temper that fire a bit and put it to work efficiently.
You can’t just jump into training 2-3x a day unless you’re one helluva physical specimen and even then you’ll have a learning curve.
I detailed above how I think you should segue into multiple training sessions.
* General Conditioning & Strength
Everyone wants to skip to the big badass program first. But you have to pay your dues. IMO get your aerobic base set first (honestly shouldn’t take that long, but this is a topic for another thread), work on your anaerobic stuff and begin bodyweight training… Imo the weight room is a privilege not a right.
If you can’t handle your own bodyweight to at least a reasonable level then you need work on that before you even walk towards the iron.
If someone is extremely weak (or their bodyweight turns it into a one rep max) then certain adjustments obviously are to be made. So they might HAVE to bench press with 10lbs dumbbels or something first but generally speaking… I’ve seen 300lb + guys who can still rep out some good pushup numbers and even a few pullups. If you’re weak admit it, but don’t let a weak MIND be your downfall either.
Train Attributes:
I should have gone into that enough. Basically maximal strength can have huge benefits for everything but it’s very low on the totem pole of attributes for fighters. Fighting is basically an expression of power endurance. Back to back singles every 15-20s is a better example. Javorek complexes are better examples. Even for grapplers it is rarely ONE dynamic movement that accomplishes the goal it’s several… and in addition to this they require grip and great isometric strength as well. We haven’t even touched speed strength yet.
Brass tacks is you just need to be HONEST to yourself about what you’re trying to accomplish. You’re not lifting weights to lift more weight … though I am a HUGE proponent of keeping a logbook, and imo that is how you track your progress… you’re lifting weights so you can FIGHT BETTER. So what if your #'s increase slow as molasses, if it shows up in the ring/ on the mat/ in the cage that is all that matters.
Pick exercises that encourage the other modalities previously mentioned, but make sure it meets the standards of what you’re trying to do. Overhead squat is better than a dumbbell curl, but a box squat is more applicable to maximal leg strength.
* FOCUS ON RECOVERY!
the one thing most fighters probably hate is not doing SOMETHING. The psychology of a fighter is very testosterone driven. Most have an 100% attitude. Everything is balls to the wall… It’s why the “RAWWRR XYIENCE! MANERGY! MADE WITH REAL KITTENS AND TEARS!!” type of marketing works, and (my theory) why porn chicks are so attracted to MMA. It’s the ultimate form of competition. It’s raw, it’s unbridled, it’s what society tells us is bad yet it is EXACTLY what every societal nice-ity is substituting for. There is no higher form of dominating someone than single combat. What the hell do you think Dunks in basketball are?
That said… getting the kind of person drawn to combat to rest is fucking hard. Hell it’s 1:30am, I have to work then train at 11 then go back to work, and train at 6:30… but I’m still up.
Recovery is fucking HUGE though. I’m pretty sure I’ve went into it on this thread. If not it’s echoed all over the damn site.
Brass tacks… training is destruction.
Rest is where you actually rebuild into a weapon.
So uber quick synopsis in order of what i kinda stumbled on while training is:
TECHNIQUE
Mobility
Work Capacity
General conditioning & General strength
Train Athletic Attributes
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Good shit…as usual from you. When are you fighting again??
Holy fuck at this thread…how the hell have I not known about it? Shit Xen, tell a guy about this kinda stuff, huh? 
I’ll be going back and re-reading the whole when I have some free time…say an extra week or so, LOL.
In the meantime, Xen - go check your mma.tv email - STAT!
I won’t bother quoting that long thread by Xen, but hot damn, that has a lot of useful info. in it.
I’ve been re-thinking my training strategy as well, especially since I’m going to be delving into a new martial art. Technique will be my No. 1 priority, then it’s mobility, conditioning and finally, strength.
If I’m serious about Kenpo, then that’s what I need to devote my time to; not worrying about whether I can go to class or not because it’s also a lower-body dominant day at the gym for me.
Ideally I’d like to train Kenpo 4 days a week and then work on mobility, conditioning and strength on the other days. I’m also shifting into more bodyweight-only exercises, especially after reading more of Cosgrove’s martial arts articles. I think he has the right idea.
[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
I’m also shifting into more bodyweight-only exercises, especially after reading more of Cosgrove’s martial arts articles. I think he has the right idea.[/quote]
Ditto but not only cosgrove, scott sonnon actually.