MMA Strength Workout Tips

A MMA fighters gym workout needs to be different then the typical bodybuilders workout. A MMA fighter's body needs to work as a whole and requires different types of strength from different groupings of muscle.

First, an MMA fighter needs to be able to explode and needs POWER. So a good portion of the exercises that the MMA fighter must perform needs to focus on raw explosive powerful strength. The best exercises for this are Push Presses, Deadlifts, Squats, Chest Presses, High Pulls, Cleans, Snatches and the variations of these exercises.

Bodyweight training and incorportating bodyweight training into your MMA workout routine is a perfect compliment to a MMA fighters already rigourous training schedule. The difference in bodyweight training is that you focus more on using your own body-"weight" compared to using weights or machines. Some obvious exercises are pushups, situps, dips, pullups, etc.

Personally, I think Bodyweight training should be incorporated into your workout routine, instead of replacing it. There are many routines out there that are pure bodyweight exercises, and those work. But MMA fighters need a little "something" else that increases their overall strength. These exercises may include kettlebell exercises, heavy squats and deadlifts, grip strength exercises, explosive pressing and snatching, sandbag exercises, etc.

MMA fighters need to incorporate all types of training methods. They need to hit the weights, focus on combat specific exercises, build core strength, and build strength endurance. There are many ways top fighters go about training and preparing their bodies to fight. Many fighters each have a different philosophy on what works for them and how to be in the best shape to fight.

You'll see many fighters are starting to get away from traditional gym lifting, to incorporating a variety of training methods. Including Bodyweight exercises, unconventional exercises, combat specific exercises, strongman training and more. These following videos show you some of the top fighters training and the types of workouts and fight preparation they use.

The common misconception that many new MMA Fighters and Athletes have is that just having the ability and endurance to run 5 miles a day will somehow translate in the MMA fighter's ability to shave the proper MMA conditioning they will need to fight in the ring.

In order for the MMA Fighter to perform at a high level, during the whole fight they are going to need to train in multiple "levels" of endurance training. These types or levels of endurance relate to the muscles and their ability to perform with and without oxygen. The types of endurance training an MMA fighter most focus on is...

Are you building muscle the wrong way?

I remember when I first started lifting and training with weights. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. One of my main reasons for lifting was that I was skinny-fat kid who was very weak. You know the guy I'm talking about, he doesn't weigh a lot, but he's just "soft". That was me.

I wanted to be strong and fit; and was also starting to take my martial arts training much more seriously. I knew that lifting weights would help me get stronger and be a better fighter.

When I first joined the gym and started lifting, I tried to mimic what everyone else was doing in the gym: biceps curls and bench press (but of course the WRONG way). Think about how many guys you see doing that everyday. How many of them do you actually want to look like? How many of them actually look like they are strong and muscular?

I had no idea what lifts to do, how to do those lifts properly, how to organize my lifting routine, and how this so-called routine would effect me.

Nothing says power like a big set of traps and a thick neck. Think about it. When you’re out somewhere and you see a guy with massive traps and huge neck you automatically know he’s the last guy in the joint that you’d ever want to mess with. Maybe he’s an ex wrestler. Maybe he competes in MMA. Or maybe he played football. You don’t know but you definitely don’t want to find out.

No other muscle groups instill fear in and command respect from all those around you like the traps and neck do.

Plenty of pumped up pretty boys walk around with decent sized arms weighing all of 169 pounds. An equal amount of guys have built up a pretty good sized chest since it’s the only muscle they ever train. But big arms and a big set of pecs do nothing to command respect. In fact, if all you have going for you are big arms you are more likely to get laughed at then be looked at in fear.
“Look at the pencil neck pretty boy showing off his guns.”

If you really want to look powerful, athletic and intimidating you need to develop the traps and neck aka “the yoke.”

When it comes to achieving the power look the first exercise you need to be concerned with is the deadlift. The deadlift packs size on the traps like nothing else. You are going to want to deadlift at least once per week for 1-3 sets of 3-12 reps. Be sure to use the heaviest weights you can handle with good form and don’t be afraid to use straps if your grip is weak.

Next on the list come Olympic lifting variations such as hang cleans, power cleans, high pulls, and shrug pulls. These Olympic lifts build up huge traps and can be done more frequently than deadlifts. If you are really trying to build up the traps rapidly I recommend that you do some sort of Olympic lift variation at least once per week, if not three times for 3-5 sets of 1-6 reps.

Another great trap building exercise is the shrug. Shrugs can be done with barbells or dumbbells and with heavy weight for low reps and a partial range of motion or lighter reps for high reps with a full range of motion. I recommend that you use both approaches for full trap development once or twice a week after your deadlifts or Olympic lifts.

With the traps taken care of you need to move on to your neck. You simply can’t beat an old school neck harness with a plate attached to it for neck development. Other great neck exercises are manual resistance flexion and extension exercises with a partner or isometric supports against a stability ball. To do the partner resisted exercises simply lie down on a flat bench with your head hanging off and have a partner drape a towel over your head and provide resistance as you move up and down. Be sure not to use extreme ranges of motion on neck work or you could put yourself at risk for injury.

The neck should be trained two or three days per week for 1-3 sets of 10-25 reps. Personally I like to train flexion one day, extension another day and rotation or lateral flexion on the third day.

Stick with the yoke building plan for the next eight weeks and get ready for guys to start stepping aside when they see you coming.

Learn to how to develop big traps and a thick neck here

Ever since I first discussed the importance of “the power look” and how important it is to earn respect and separate you from the pencil neck, I am repeatedly asked about how to build big traps. The best trap building exercise in existence is the deadlift. One need look no further than the massive trap development of elite powerfliters to see how effective this exercise is at building these intimidating muscles. But pussyfooting around with light weights will never get the job done. You need to deadlift heavy weights (with picture perfect form) for sets of 3-10 reps. A good goal for most lifters is to be able to pull double bodyweight for five reps. If you want traps like Brock Lesnar aim for 2.5 times your bodyweight for a set of five. Deadlifts should be performed once a week for 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps.

Any discussion about how to build big traps would not be complete without discussing the Olympic lifts and their various pull variations. Utilizing Olympic lifts and their pull variations such as snatches, cleans, high pulls and clean pulls are another great way to build huge traps. A great advanced trap building routine involves working from the top down and combining Olympic pulls and deadlifts into one workout. Below is an advanced workout that will build enormous traps on just about anyone.

1. Hang Clean (video) - 4 x 3-5 x 90sec rest
2. High Pull (video) l- 3 x 5-6 x 60sec
3. Deadlift (video) – 1 x 6-8, 1 x 10-12 x 120sec
4. Neck Extensions with Harness (video) - 2-3 x 12-20 x 90sec

Finish up the workout with some calves, abs and grip work. Do this workout once per week and do no other back work, besides a few sets of chin ups one other day per week. Follow this program for 4-6 weeks and add weight as often as you can, as long as you maintain perfect form.

If you can’t deadlift perfectly from the floor with pristine technique, it is recommended to pull from rubber mats, blocks or pins in order to prevent lower back injuries.

Now you know how to build big traps. So go get after it.

PS. If you want even more routines for the traps and every other body part, check out Muscle Gaining Secrets now. Summer is HERE. Don’t waste time…

Ronnie Coleman 800 Deadlifts - In...freaking...sane.

You want to build huge traps and neck? Do Deadlifts.

315 pounds Hang Clean for 8 Reps - PURE FIGHTER POWER!!!.

Hang Cleans build strong, aggresive, big boy traps

VERY Effective Exercise for Developing POWER and Big Traps

High Pulls are an excellent dymanic movement to develop strong, big, and scary looking traps

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more How to Build Muscle Fast tips, check out Muscle Gaining Secrets

The top MMA athletes are far and away the best-conditioned athletes in the world. Second place is so far behind that it is not even worth mentioning. These men and women work hard and need a great strength and conditioning program to enhance their efforts. While no strength and conditioning program can make up for tireless hours sparring and working hard on the mat, a properly executed program will help hard working MMA athletes increase explosive power, ramp up cardio and muscular endurance, and make the body more durable.

The Kettlebell MMA Strength And Conditioning Training

By Mike Mahler

There are many effective training tools to choose from for a killer strength and conditioning training. However, the tool that we are going to focus on in this article is the kettlebell. Before we get into why the kettlebell is a great training tool for MMA athletes and how to use it, lets go over what the hell a kettlebell actually is!

A kettlebell looks like a cannon ball with a suitcase handle and is a relative of the dumbbell. Many of the old-time strongman in the US and overseas used kettlebells as part of their overall regimen for building incredible levels of strength and power. In Russia and more recently in the US, kettlebell training is actually a sport in which athletes focus on three kettlebell exercises: The Jerk, The Clean and Jerk, and The Snatch for time.

These are full body exercises that teach your body how to work as one unit. While novices can get away with muscling the kettlebell for these exercises, kettlebell athletes on the professional level have to be efficient and use as many muscle groups as possible to get the job done. The sport involves doing the designated exercises for ten minutes! If you put the bells down at any point it is over similar. Just lasting ten minutes alone with a light kettlebells takes a great deal of mental toughness and conditioning. Imagine using two 70lb kettlebells for the clean and jerk (an exercise in which you take the bells from the floor to the upper body and then overhead) for ten minutes and you get an idea of the incredible strength and conditioning that these athletes have and how such training will carry over very well to the needs of MMA athletes.

While simply working on the kettlebell competition lifts will go a long way for developing incredible levels of strength and conditioning for MMA athletes, it requires professional instruction and a lot of dedication to get really good at (working up to ten minute sets). While I do think that this is worth your time, in this article we are going

To work on some other kettlebell exercises that have a very direct application to MMA. In addition we are going to go over a sample program on how to put the exercises into play for serious explosive power, strength, and conditioning. Lets get started.

The Exercises

The Double Kettlebell Clean and Push Press

If you ignore the rest of this article and only focus on this exercise you will go a long way to getting a lot out of kettlebell training. This is a full body exercise that teaches your body how to work as one unit. It is not as technical as the clean and jerk and is relatively easy to learn. If you have ever done a military press than you have probably done a push press. 99% of the clips I see for the military press on youtube.com are in fact push presses in which you use the legs to help drive the weight overhead.

The Double Clean and Push Press is a combination of two kettlebell exercises. The Double Clean and the Double Push Press. Lets cover the clean first.

Double Kettlebell Clean

Place two kettlebell between your feet aligned with your toes. Sit back as if you are trying to sit in a chair behind you and grab the kettlebells. Looking at the floor slighting in front, swing the kettlebells between your legs as if you are trying to pass a football behind you. Quickly reverse the direction and drive through with your hips, pop your pelvis up and drive the kettlebells to the rack position (Nope, the rack position is not referring to the ring girl’s chest). The rack position is where the bells are resting against your upper body below chin level.

Performance Tips

• Focus on getting your hands around the kettlebells rather then letting the kettlebells flip over your hands and bang your wrists.
• Breathe into your stomach as you drive the kettlbells to the rack
• Stand up straight at the end of the move. Your legs should be locked out.
• Hold the bells in tight and close to the body at the top.
• Breathe out as you swing the bells between your legs

Now lets cover the push press portion of the lift

Double Kettlebell Push Press

Clean two kettlebells to your shoulders. Squat down a few inches and reverse the motion rapidly. Use the momentum from the legs to drive the kettlebells overhead. Once the kettlebells are locked out, lower the kettlebells to your shoulders and the back to the starting position. Stay loose upon cleaning the kettlebells and when you squat down a few inches to power up the leg drive.

Performance Tips

• Push the kettlebells off of your upper body.
• Do not squat down too far.
• Breathe in as your lower the weights and breathe out forcefully as you push press the kettlebells overhead.
• Look straight ahead or slightly up when driving the bells off of the rack position.

One-Arm Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is a great exercise for developing explosive hamstrings and when done in high reps incredible cardio and muscular endurance. Best of all it is pretty easy to learn and apply safely. It has many of the benefits of the kettlebell snatch without the technical demands of the snatch. No doubt the snatch is worth your time to learn, but the swing is the best exercise to put into play immediately while you work on snatches for down the road.

Performance

Place one kettlebell between your feet. Push your butt back and bend your knees slightly to get into the starting position. Make sure that your back is flat and look down or at the floor slightly ahead. Swing the kettlebell between your legs forcefully as if you are passing a football to someone behind you. Quickly reverse the direction and drive though with your hips explosively taking the kettlebell straight out. Let the kettlebell swing back between your legs and repeat. Switch arms with each set. Remember that the swing is primarily a hamstring exercise and that is where all of the power is generated from. It is not a front raise so do not use a crush grip on the kettlebell and keep the arm loose.

Double Swing

The Double Swing is one of the most powerful ballistic drills that you can use with kettlebells. There is no way to muscle up two heavy kettlebells. You have to have powerful hamstrings to make double swings happen. On the Double Swing you are going to focus on driving through with the hips as fast and as powerful as possible. Do not worry how high the bells get. In fact, they should not get higher then chest level. Keep the tension and focus on the hamstrings. A large percentage of the lower body explosive power comes from the hamstrings. Keep that in mind when doing Double Swings. If your lower back gets sore then you are not doing the exercise correctly.

Performance Tips

Place two kettlebells between your feet. While you will most likely have to take a wider stance than you would when doing a regular one-arm swing, do not stand too wide. The wider you stand the less hip drive you will have. Only stand as wide as you need to in order to comfortably place two kettlebells between your feet. Push back with your butt and bend your knees to get into the starting position. Make sure that your back is flat and look down or slightly in front. Swing the kettlebells between your legs forcefully. Quickly reverse the direction and drive though with your hips taking the kettlebells forward. Let the kettlebells swing back between your legs and repeat.

Double Kettlebell Squat Shrug

This is a great exercise for developing full body explosive power. You start the power with the lower body and transfer it into the upper body in each repetition. The best part about this exercise is that it is not technically demanding and fairly easy to learn. It does not require the technique of the clean or snatch, yet has many of the benefits. It is also a tremendous trap developer and strengthener.

Performance.

Place a kettlebell on the outside of each foot. Squat down and pick then up as if they are two suitcases. Keep your eyes forward and arch your back in the starting position. Stand up quickly and drive through with the hips and get airborne on each rep. As you get off the floor, push your chest out and pull your shoulders up and try to pinch your shoulder blades together. Let your shoulders go back in the socket as you land back on the ground.

Full Body Attack

This is an incredible exercise that will teach you how to use your body as one unit and build explosive power from the ground up. It is particularly beneficial for combat athletes. Often in a fight you have to get from the floor to your feet explosively against the resistance of an opponent. That is exactly what you are doing with the "Full Body Attack."

Performance

Place two kettlebells shoulder width apart on the ground. Get into the top position of the pushup with both hands on the kettlebells. Jump forward explosively while holding onto the kettlebells. Now you are in the starting position of the clean. Clean both kettlebells and drive through with the hip flexors rapidly.

Your elbows should be tucked in and in line with your stomach at the top of the movement. Bend you knees slightly, reverse the motion quickly and drive the kettlebells overhead. Now reverse the motion and do another rep. For the purpose of building speed and explosive strength, keep the rep range to no more than three. Focus on moving as quickly and as explosively as possible while maintaining solid form.

Full Body Defense

In addition to learning how to go from the ground to your feet explosively, a combat athlete needs to be able to go from the feet to the ground rapidly as well to avoid takedowns. That is precisely what the "Full Body Defense" will assist you with.

Performance

Start the exercise by cleaning two kettlebells to your shoulders. Push your pelvis up at the top of the clean so that that you can press your elbows against your stomach and keep the kettlebells tucked in. Take the kettlebells to the floor so that you are in the starting position of a double clean.

Now jump back while still holding onto the kettlebells and arch your back. When executed properly, you will look like you are doing a yoga stretch or end position of a Hindu Pushup. Immediately jump back into the clean position, clean the kettlebells, and then proceed with another rep.

Alternating Kettlebell Renegade Row

This is an outstanding drill that I picked up from my friend Coach John Davies, author of “Mastery On The Gridiron.” In addition to being an excellent exercise for your upper back and lats, the Renegade Row is a killer core exercise and a great chest exercise. Yes, even the chest is worked with the Renegade row. How is this possible? The chest is activated tremendously to stabilize the body for rowing with the Renegade Row. Don’t be surprised if you notice that your pecs are sorer than your lats the next day after doing Renegade Rows. Because you are off balance with the Renegade Row, the abdominal muscles are also worked tremendously to maintain balance. There are not too many upper body muscles that the Renegade Row does not work.

Performance

Get into the top position of the pushup holding on to two kettlebells that are less than shoulder width apart. Take a shoulder width stance and push one kettlebell into the floor forcefully while you pull the other kettlebell in the working arm. Hold the kettlebell in the working arm in the top position for a second and then lower the kettlebell under control back to the floor. Switch arms after each repetition.

Performance Tips

• Push the kettlebell of the non-working arm into the floor with as much force as possible.
• Breathe in as you pull one kettlebell and out as you lower the kettlebell.
• Flex your butt and stomach for added stability
• Flex the lat of the working arm before pulling each kettlebell off of the floor.

Take a wider stance to make the exercise easier and a closer stance to make the exercise harder.

The Kettlebell Guard Attack

This is an exercise that suits perfectly the needs of MMA fighters and grapplers. Sports in which you often end up on you’re back called the guard and have to fight off an opponent in the mount position. Learning how to be strong and powerful out of the guard position is a valuable skill. The Guard Attack will help build explosive strength from the guard position. It is also great for building strong and a powerful chest, strong triceps, strong shoulders, and impressive core strength.

Performance

Lie on the floor and position two kettlebells on the floor next to your shoulders. Use two arms to get the bell on the weaker side into place on your chest. While holding on to the bell on your chest, pull the other bell towards your other pec and get it into the starting position on your chest. Lets use the right arm to illustrate the performance of the Guard Attack. Press with your right hand and use your right foot to shift your weight to the left. As you lower the bell, press with the left hand and use your left foot to shift your weight to the right. Use maximum speed when doing this drill. You want to be fast and explosive in the guard position.

Sample Kettlebell Training Program For MMA

Monday And Thursday (Circuit Training for strength endurance)

• Double Kettlebell Clean and Push Press 10 reps
• Double Kettlebell Squat Shrug 10 reps
• Guard Attack 10 reps each side
• Alternating Renegade Row 10 reps each side
• Full Body Attack or Full Body Defense 10 reps
• Double Swing 10 reps

Take 30-second breaks between each exercise and 60-second breaks at the end of each round. Do five rounds per workout I recommend that beginners do five reps per exercise and take one-minute breaks between each exercise and round. Add a rep to each exercise each week until you are up to 10 reps per exercise. Work on getting the breaks down to zero in between each exercise and in between each round. Do this by shaving ten seconds off each break per week until there are no breaks at all. If you get to this point with a relatively heavy set of kettlebells you will be a machine to say the least.

Tuesday and Friday (High Octane Cardio for muscular endurance and cardio)

Ten rounds of

• Squat Thrust 30 reps
• One-arm Kettlebell Swing 15 reps each side

A round is one set of squat thrusts and one-arm kettlebell swings down back to back. In case you do not know what a squat thrust is it is a bodyweight exercise in which you squat down, get into the top position of a pushup, and then get back to the standing position.

Beginners can take on-minute breaks in between each round. Shave ten seconds off each successive workout until you can do ten rounds with no breaks. Once you are there you will never have to blame lack of cardio for losing a fight.

Wrap-up

There you have it an array of killer kettlebell exercises to get you in shape and a sample program to get into action right away. Depending on what else you have going on with regards to training, life, and individual restoration you will most likely have to modify the program to fit your situation. If four workouts is too much, start with two workouts per week or reduce the rounds and go from there.

For more information on kettlebell training check out:

http://www.mikemahler.com

TRX Suspension Training for MMA Atheltes

Sandbag Training for Fighters

Sandbag training offers many benefits that traditional gym lifting and traditional strength training may not offer. This is especially true for combat focused athletes and mixed martial artists.

If you think about martial arts training, fighting, and competive sports - rarely is the strength you are using "linear". You are not pushing, grabbing, holding and gripping at straight angles similar to a barbell or dumbell. You are fighting an opponent who is constantly changing, moving and adapting.

Are you sick and tired of everyone telling you a different way to build muscle? Are you unhappy with how you look in the mirror? Are you frustrated with your slow progress in the gym? Are you ready to learn five simple steps that will teach you how to build muscle safely and effectively?

There is a good chance that you are not maximizing one of these four steps. Your problem and solution lies in correcting these essential steps before you have any chance of building a muscular and lean physique.

Accelerated Muscular Development provides the Combat Athlete (MMA Fighter, Grappling, Boxer, etc) or average Joe with BEAST like strength and power. Not only will AMD increase the strength of the athlete but also put him or her in the best shape of your life.

You'll have a complete guide on how to do new and improved exercises that will increase your strength and power, but also learn how to combine these exercises into strength workout routines that have PROVEN results. Included on some videos and exercises featured in Accelerated Muscular Development. These are just a SAMPLE of what is offered in this program.

“How much can you bench?”

If I had a quarter for every time I heard that damn question, I could quit my job. Virtually any trainee (male trainees, at least) that has ever stepped foot in a gym or even remotely looks like he trains has been asked this question – and probably more than once.