This goes out to all of you cyber-friends who have done some sort of martial arts FIGHTING before. I’m not talking about just practice kata, but rather real fighting. I’m going to start joining no Gi jiu-jitsu/grappling tournies because I’m excelling at a very rapid pace and am nearly the best guy in my class, sans a collegiate wrestler who will be helping me with takedowns, etc.
My question is this: How should I train for fat loss/strength gains that would translate to better gains on the mat? Here’s my training schedule.
Mon - back (cleans, deads, rows)
Tue - MMA training
Wed - off
Thu - MMA training
Fri - Legs (back and front squats, db stiff deads, leg curls/extensions, limited equipment in gym)
Sat - Chest/Arms (flat bench, pushups as I’m just starting to train chest again, tri pushdowns superset with straight bar curls, overhead extensions with db curls)
Sun - off
Should I do cleans again on Friday, followed by squats? Should I do speed squats where I don’t go near my max but rather shoot for explosion? I’m doing cardio on T and Th, due to the fact that kickboxing is basically tons of cardio. I also skip rope on Saturday. Should I start doing HIIT instead of rope? Or should I keep the rope and add HIIT on another day of the week?
This schedule can easily be changed per everyone’s suggestions, and so can the lifts. I don’t know how to do snatches, as I’ve never known anyone that does them. Also, my MMA training takes 2.5 hours, as I do karate, followed by kickboxing (not cardio, but it still has the cardio element) followed by submission grappling, so lifting that day is not an option. After talking with my instructor, I think I’m going to start grappling 2 more days/week at least, and I’d do that after lifting.
Do as much 5x5 training as you possible so that you are only gaining functional hypertrophy. Plus, I’m assuming you want to stay below a certain weight so the hypertrophy should be minimal.
Definately add pull-ups to your back day and maybe you won’t have to do bicep isolation movements.
Try to incorporate some workouts for the core like saxon side bends, twists, windmills, and Waterbury’s DB figure eights.
Do you think you could lift once more a week and do two upper body and two lower body days? ME/DE days.
Lastly, make sure you eat like a horse and sleep a lot because your CNS is going to need all the help it can get with that schedule.
Josh - I think 3 lifting days/week is puuuhlenty. I get so damn sore from the MMA sessions that I need the day off in between. It’s nice to have 2 break days so my body doesn’t explode, know what I mean?
I know the ME/DE days can be put into 3 days/week, just alternate and never have a set day of what you are doing, like day 1 is ME squat/deads, day 2 ME bench, day 3 is DE squats/deads and those are all done in the same week. Then you start the 2nd week with DE bench, and just restart the 4 day cycle. My only problem with doing a lot of benching is that I just got cleared to do bench due to an old shoulder injury. When I do bench, I’m not supposed to let my elbows go down past my body, like doing half reps. I’m kinda easing back into benching, as my shoulder still hurts sometimes.
Also, I don’t know how to do saxon side twists. Care to elaborate?
Need some objectives (fat loss or strenght gains). You were’nt too precise on those. Keep in mind that having two precise objectives for only one routine would not be ideal.
need a time table : 3months, 6 months…
Both aerobic and anaerobic training are needed for mixed martial arts comps.
Hey Jwright
a: fat loss - coach davies, staley and others reccomend using skill work for fat loss and not bothering on aerobics when your sport involves aerobic/ anaerobic energy systems (i.e if your a basketball player, its better to have a shootaround then do a light aerobic session, its better to have a basketball practice then a HIIT aerobic session). this idea will suit you too.
b: strength training - for functional speed and strength, tstatsuline, staley, siff and others recommend not to go for more then one day without a certain movement pattern for those who want to excell in speed strength. this means that if youre training 3 times a week, each session should include some form of quad dominant compound move, hip dominant, pressing and pulling.
obviously compound movements that mimick best your sport should be emphasized, with an equal emphasis on speed and strength, maybe even leaning toward speed (stone at al 2001 found out that speed training had a better effect on trained athletes in terms of both speed and strength)
sample training program:
a)
rack pulls
speed squats
incline/standing dumbell press
speed pullups
abdominal exercise (heavy)
forearm extensors
b)
squat
power clean/snatch
dumbell rows
speed bench
abdominal exercise (light)
forearm flexors
or anything along these lines, could be splitted 3-ways, these is just simplified, some specific movement pattern that apply to your sport could also apply (one legged stuff, neck work, hevay sandbag work etc).
obviosly training should be periodized, allowing for periods of accumulation and intensification, in a week when sparring heavily, load in the weightroom should be light to avoid overuse injuries (common in athletes seeking in-season strength and overloading the same patteren in their sport and strength training)
I thought my goals were pretty clear, fat loss and strength gain. Obviously fat loss for a lower weight class and improved speed, and strength gain so I can toss those guys around. I’m already pretty strong compared to all of my grappling buddies, but I don’t know anything about the people I’d be facing.
Hey Jwright, PM me your email and I’ll send you a PDF by staley on training for mma. remember, he was mma champion, and champion trainer so he knows what the heck he’s talking about…
While boxing I had a lot of succes from a routine Coach D drew up for me. I know, I was spoiled by coach d, but it was quite simple, not to minimize coach d’s knowledge, but the lifting portion of it was pretty clear. I’d love to help, but feel guilty giving you what coach sells.
Anyways, think dynamic with posterior chain work first, then core and stabilty, with endurance or work threshold last.
Al - true honesty right there man. I’m sure coach D appreciates it.
I think I’m going to do a 3 day split, but complete body, low volume high intensity work. Like pick 4 exercises and do them all for speed. What does everyone think of that?
was it 3 reps or 3 sets? youre workout should consist only low rep stuff at the begining, explosive or grinding, after that maybe work in the 15 rep range, just for recuperation and on slow twitch stabilizers.
you should realy concentrate on movement pattern that mimick your sport, alot of posteror chain stuff, rowing, those done for speed and strength, pushing and squating only for speed. speed work with low intervals would get you a little functional mass, but you need the mass where it counts in the fight - posterior chain.
you also need more specific grappling stuff like grip, neck and sandbag training (try to get wiggy’s “the lost art of singles and doubles”)
as I said, PM me your email and I’ll send you some interesting stuff concerning strength training for MMA.
So you’re saying I should do low weight, strength based work in the beginning of the workout, then recuperative high rep work at the end? Kinda like conjugated periodization? Could you take that workout that I just posted and tell how it should be. Just an FYI: that was my first bench session in a couple of months.
My first tourney will be Oct 25/26 in Chicago. I’m training for strength for that match and beyond.
here’s a sample routine taken from someone who trained with me, he’s won titles here in Judo.
all rest here is 45-60 seconds
A:
pistols 5,4,3,2,1 reps. each rep up the weight, full rom pistols.
speed squats 8-10 sets of 2 reps
speed bench 5-6 sets of 3 reps
snatch grip rack puls 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
renegade rows, 3 set of 20 reps
abs - static drills
biceps OR triceps several 20 rep sets.
B:
power clean 6-8 sets of 2-3 reps work on max power output (i.e 65-70% of max)
wide grip pull-ups 5,4,3,2,1 each rep up the weight
forward medicine ball throws, 6-8 sets of 1 rep
side press, 3 sets of 5 reps
neck work
grip work (dynamic, heavy)
back extension 3 sets of 20 reps
c:
power snatch, 6-8 sets of 2 reps
back squat, 3-5 sets of 3-5
speed bench 5-6 sets of 3 reps
seated backward medicine ball throws 8-10 sets of singles
dumbell rows 6 sets of 6
abs (dynamic) 3-4 sets of 20 reps
rear lateral raises, 3 sets of 25 reps
grip work (static)
as you can see:
-posterior chain work both heavy and for speed.
-bench - speed only (and his max only got better…)
-side presses/pistols for unilateal strength
-end of workout consists of high rep excersize for stabilisers.
speaking about mass:
this guy got to 100Kg from ~90kg and about 6% bf, with ~16 weeks on this routine (he did switch exercise but stayed with the concepts)
as I said - just a sample but the concepts are more important.
