i have been thinking of starting MMA for a long time, i know a lot about it and have really good explosive power and strength,
but my endurance and cardio is poor and im fairly over weight,
in backyard brawls i useually knock out my opponent before i get sloppy and out of breath,
but against a trained fighter it would be much different,
i was wondering does any one know a good way to improve my muscular and cardio endurance without losing to much strength or muscle mass,
i am 6 ft tall 15 - 16 stone ( i drop and gain weight all the time) i can bench 170 kg dead lift 220, cannot squat for jack
thanks guys need any more info just ask . forgive the spelling and grammar
I practise MMA/BJJ and I use is to get the heartrate going.
Also swimming helps for me but some other guys at my club don’t like it because the don’t feel like their cardio is being improved. Running is also a good way to get in shape, just be sure to hydrate enough and you should not lose to much weight.
Just my advice, maybe ask some more experienced members on the forums for more advice.
[quote]frankyboy7 wrote:
i was wondering does any one know a good way to improve my muscular and cardio endurance without losing to much strength or muscle mass[/quote]
Try Randy Couture’s workout, though I haven’t tried it, but it seems to do exactly what you want it to. I am going to give it a try one of these days though…
Do all of this MMA workout without letting go of the bar for the best conditioning effect:
Bent rows x8
Upright rows x8
Military press x8
Good morning x8
Lunges x8 (each leg)
Squat push press x8
Deadlift x8
You do the circuit and rest a minute then do it again 3-5 times or however much you feel you can handle.
I think the best way to get in better “fighting” shape is to spar and roll. When I started training I had just gotten off of running a marathon, so I thought I was in good cardio shape. Wrong. I was in good running shape. Once I started sparring and rolling (jiu Jitsu) I realized that this type of exertion is completely different from all others, even the weight lifting described above (although it can’t hurt).
Let me ask you this, can you roll for 5 minutes straight? Can you kickbox spar for 2 minutes? Those are great milestones to surpass. Once you can exert that amount of effort doing those things for that amount of time, you’ll know you are on your way. Grab some pads and go to work with a buddy first doing 2 minute rounds of pretty constant punching and kicking combos.
Develop some ground drills that will enable you and a partner to trade off a move again and again for a set time period. Also, drilling takedowns and takedown defense is a real cardio killer, I hate doing them so they must be good.
Cheers and good luck
By the way, anyone seen that retarded video for Randy’s door training machine? WTF? Crap movies and now this? He should think about changing his PR firm.
Jump rope regularly and with fervor. Use it as your wake up exercise in the morning, your warmup before lifting, your warmup before a fight, your warmup before heavybag work, your warmup before damn near anything. Next time you’re about to go at your girl do a few minutes of jumping rope as warmup, sweaty sex is great sex and you’ll be more limber and fit than ever. Itll also give you increased rhythm and balance.
Aside from that bodyweight training is a fighters best friend. Skip rope then do pushups then skip rope then do pull ups then skip rope and do some dips then skip rope and do some bridges then skip rope then do v-ups then skip then do starjumps then repeat. Once you feel faint do it one more time for good measure.
This is no substitute for the aforementioned heavy bag, pad work, or sparring. You need those more than this. But skip rope before hand. Seriously.
Agree with above: the best way to get in shape to fight is to fight. If you can stay overweight while training in BJJ and Muay Thai on a regular basis (assuming you don’t live on twinkies and cheetos), you’re not doing it right.
while i agree with many of the previous posts about actual fighting being the most important for fighting, my opinion has changed a little in the past few years…
i think a lot of people that start MMA don’t realize how challenging it is, and are waayyy too out of shape. another issue is people coming in with a nagging injury from another sport…
if you’re just starting out, or coming off an extended lay off, i think showing up in shape can do wonders for your training. if you’re dead-ass tired the whole time, you won’t learn a whole lot, and if you used to be an in-shape trained fighter and now are a fatty, your motivation will suffer (kinda like me).
if you have the time, i’d suggest doing rehab for any injuries you already have. also, a bodyweight circuit will do a lot for overall conditioning while maintianing strength. i’d also have a day of sprints, and another of the Couture complex, and another with a long-ass run. also, do exercises specific to fighting…knuckle pushups, neck conditioning, rotational exercises, etc.
focus on stretching after the workouts, and getting hydrated. after a few “break’in” weeks, then i’d cut some of the conditioning, and start some basic MMA/muay thai/BJJ classes…
thats really good advice warpig thank you very much, i see why obviously thats the best form of cardio i should be doing as its the most specific, im going to start right away along side going to the gym,
i cant leave my weight lifitng out haha, although i will obviously have to tailor my weight lifting program to better suit cage fighting,
thanks for all the advice everyone i appreciate it (Y)
When I advocated using sparring as the main method of getting in fighting shape, I guess I should’ve mentioned that there are different levels of sparring. You can do many sparring “drills” that focus on blocking and slipping that you can limit contact but still receive the benefit of having to spend a good 3 minutes punching, kicking and moving your feet.
I guess the main problem many people run into (I know I have) is finding a training partner that understands how to go 50% or 25%. There are quite a few guys out there that whenever they feel the least bit stressed it’s back to 100% which leads to injury.
Maybe starting out, (absolute beginners mind you) would be best served shadowboxing in a mirror for long stretches. It’s been mentioned in this forum before, but Bas Rutton has a DVD set that has some shadowboxing workouts that can be moved to the heavy bag and then, to challenge yourself more, to a partner with some Thai pads. If anyone has done this let me know what you think, I found it very challenging.
In deed cycobush, some new younger guys coming into practice are a bit overweight and have very limited conditioning and they forget the things they learned because they are too exhausted to really pay attention sometimes.
I don’t want to say that I have a super condition but I don’t get gassed quick and can go for a really long time but choosing my moments to be explosive and stuff. And I will still pick up some things those guys miss who are axhausted…
