I get what you’re saying here,I think. How strong is strong enuf? I really don’t know…I am not sure how to quantify that type of thing. Don’t forget what I was saying about mastering technique. Any of those strong guys you mentioned would smash us. They are being stopped by top level technicians,who are more skilled than them. I don’t think these are the best comparisons to base an conclusion on. Its only part of an overall picture. For example,how many times has strength beaten skill(tank abbot vs hugh duarte),and how strong and skilled is the average opponent/attacker you would likely face in combat. I like the topic and wish I could have better input. I know in my own experience,as I got more muscular and stronger,I got better. I kept my mobility and speed by working on them a lot. I hit harder,could take people down easier,could power thru attempted holds,and could more easily put holds and chokes on opponents. I wouldn’t go back to being skinnier and weaker. These of course are my opinions and someone elses experience could be entirely different. Pil sung. Confusion
The thing is that there are just too many factors involved to really isolate strength as an individual attribute and determine it’s significance. At a certain point it becomes an insurmountable advantage (in an unarmed fight), but so does reach, speed, stamina, or any of the other classic advantages. Weight classes are designed to somewhat mitigate the potential disparities in physicality though and due to this things like stamina, technique, and strategy become generally more focused on.
What you generally need is:
The best technique that you can develop
The best strategy you can deploy
The best stamina that you can develop so you can continue to utilize your technique and deploy your strategy
Enough speed so you don’t get overwhelmed
Enough strength so you don’t get rag dolled
Enough reach so you can hit your opponent back
How much of those last 3 things you actually need is going to depend on who you are fighting and how good you are with the first 3 things.
When i took time off training (BJJ/submission grappling) and first really started working on getting bigger and stronger, it made a big difference when i got back to training about a year later.
Lots of people told me that while my technique may not have improved through practice during that time, i became a better grappler by adding significant size and strength. It definitely helped.
4 years after starting to take weight lifting seriously, all the mass i had added and all the little injuries and muscle tightness resulted in a loss of flexibilty that definitely put me at a disadvantage when grappling off my back.
Make sure you keep up with your conditioning and stretching. I used to be one of the most flexible guys at my gym without even stretching, and at 6’3 that flexibility and leverage came in extremely handy.
I lost some of that, im still very strong when im on top but there are a lot of tricky things i used to be able to do off my back that im just not limber enough for anymore, and thats a direct result of weight training.
I took Sentoguy’s advice and started reading a book by Bud Jeffries. In his book he says that a 2x bodyweight squat/deadlift, a 1.5x bodyweight bench press and a 1x bodyweight overhead press are the strength levels that are optimal for any fighter. I am inclined to agree with him.
[quote]Loftearmen wrote:
I took Sentoguy’s advice and started reading a book by Bud Jeffries. In his book he says that a 2x bodyweight squat/deadlift, a 1.5x bodyweight bench press and a 1x bodyweight overhead press are the strength levels that are optimal for any fighter. I am inclined to agree with him.[/quote]
I think that if you’re in MMA, this is a pretty fair level of strength, and building it won’t likely interfere with your skill training.