I was considering joining a powerlifting or Olympic lifting club, because I need more of a focus for my training and a drive to get in the gym.
My primary focus is MMA training, but I find it very hard to motivate myself to stick to a lifting program unless I have some commitment to it (like a class or club).
I know that my training would probably change drastically (more lactic threshold, plyometric, etc. training) when I start preparing for a competition. But right now, I just want to improve my general strength. I was thinking with all of the hip power needed for combat sports, PLing and Oly lifting would be helpful.
Thought I’d see what you guys had to say first though.
If you have a club in your area go for it. Lifting with a club filled with motivated individuals is always a good thing. The more serious the atmosphere the more you can get done.
i’ve always held the opinion (and mike mahler echo’d it in a recent article) that most people should get involved in some lifting sport. PL or Oly or even bodybuilding but they NEED to compete and train with people who have an intention to compete otherwise you’re just “working out” and not TRAINING. You get more done when you have a goal.
My question is what are your goals for MMA. Do you want to fight? Amateur? Pro? Do you want to be a champion? Or do you just want to be able to say you did it? Do you just want the experience as part of your personal journey? Or do you want it to define you?
All are respectable but the paths towards each are slightly different.
if you have very serious MMA intentions then learn how to fucking motivate yourself NOW. And you may want to skip the oly/pl at least for now… and just work on your conditioning and skill set.
If MMA is more of a recreational thing, go ahead and join the club, but recognize that your MMA training will suffer slightly at first because of multiple reasons all related to recovery.
My goals in MMA are mainly just to enjoy it. I wrestled for 8 years (two at a colligiate level) and I realized just this year (after a three year hiatus) that I deeply miss sports such as these.
I would really like to compete in some amateur competitions, though I have no desire to go pro. I would say it is more than recreational, indeed–I could make it a lifestyle. I hope to continue to do it well into my old age, and I want to actually improve my skill set, not just dick around and make buddies in the gym.
with your athletic background and such you can do both… but it’ll be a while before your work capacity adjusts and you can handle them simultaneously w/o being too tired from one or the other.
Though if you have a good oly coach, let them know immediately your intentions and they’ll adjust the workload for you.
and good luck you really sound like you know what you want, i wish you the best.
I would actually like to compete. I would be happy to do MMA hard for six months, and just maintain my lifting, then do weightlifting for six months, and just spar and light technique train to keep my skills up during that time.
As usual Xen is right on the money with his recommendations. Before you begin any of that I would suggest you take a honest hard look at your present physical condition and structure to determine the right type of lifting to suit your goals and levers as your lifting will influence your MMA training.
Although you can’t go wrong with either Olympic lifting or powerlifting the strength developed by either activity will manifest itself differently once you get in the ring or hit the mat,try to bridge the gap between the 2 lifting styles and maybe find a gym in your area that has a emphasis on modified strongman training or “odd” lifting as it has great carryover into the ring,you’ll train both explosive and max strength attributes with grip strength and strength endurance to boot…
Diesel crew has done a great job with their products and strength philosophy bridging the gap between the gym and the ring…and read everything Ross Enamait has to say.