Training for MMA?

steven.blanc

Hi All

I am only able to train 2 or max 3 times per week MMA for the next few months due to work/college commitments in the evenings.

Any Idea what training I should be doing during the week in the gym? Any tips, what works for you?

cowzerp

If your just training for fitness and not a fight do basic stuff-full body workouts, some cardio etc, nothing to fancy and then focus on skills stuff in MMA class..

Mellor

steven.blanc wrote: »

Hi All

I am only able to train 2 or max 3 times per week MMA for the next few months due to work/college commitments in the evenings.

Any Idea what training I should be doing during the week in the gym? Any tips, what works for you?

Very general, but I'd imaging a mix of cardio stuf and strength and conditioning. How much of each and exactly what would prob total depend on your current weaknesses and areas that you need to work on.

Niall0

Ask your coaches they should be able to tell you what areas you need to work on

steven.blanc

Thanks Lads, will have a chat

00benski

Hey Steven here is a sample workout for you, . You should be getting your cardio and the rest of your practice at mma gym so this might something what your looking for.

If your not used to lifting weights that much and are not experienced i would ask somebody at your weights gym to show you good form on a couple of these exercises as they are pretty tough
Upper Body - Day 1
• Power cleans 4 x 8 reps;
• Dead lifts 3 x 7 reps;
• Bench press 3 x 7 reps;
• Barbell bent over rows 3 x 7 reps;
• Seated barbell press 3 x 7 reps;
• Shrugs 3 x 8 reps
Lower Body - Day 2
• Squats 4 x 7 reps;
• Leg Press 3 x 8 reps;
• Stiff leg dead lifts 4 x 8 reps;
• Lying leg curls 3 x 8 reps;
• Standing calf raises 3 x 20 reps.

Try make sure you give your body plenty of rest after the weight days.

Monday mma
Tue uppr body
Wed -rest
Thursday -Lower body
Fri -rest
Sat- mma

Barry.Oglesby

00benski wrote: »

Hey Steven here is a sample workout for you, . You should be getting your cardio and the rest of your practice at mma gym so this might something what your looking for.

If your not used to lifting weights that much and are not experienced i would ask somebody at your weights gym to show you good form on a couple of these exercises as they are pretty tough
Upper Body - Day 1
• Power cleans 4 x 8 reps;
• Dead lifts 3 x 7 reps;
• Bench press 3 x 7 reps;
• Barbell bent over rows 3 x 7 reps;
• Seated barbell press 3 x 7 reps;
• Shrugs 3 x 8 reps
Lower Body - Day 2
• Squats 4 x 7 reps;
• Leg Press 3 x 8 reps;
• Stiff leg dead lifts 4 x 8 reps;
• Lying leg curls 3 x 8 reps;
• Standing calf raises 3 x 20 reps.

Try make sure you give your body plenty of rest after the weight days.

Monday mma
Tue uppr body
Wed -rest
Thursday -Lower body
Fri -rest
Sat- mma

I'm always wary of being too critical but that's a fairly awful strength programme for anyone never mind someone trying to improve sporting performance.

Mellor

High rep Cleans, followed by mid rep deadlifts, and thats the upper body day????

00benski

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I'm always wary of being too critical but that's a fairly awful strength programme for anyone never mind someone trying to improve sporting performance.

Give me one good valid reason why this workout woudlnt improve overall strength and i will take your point on board. They are good solid compound movements. perfect to incorporate into an mma programe providing your not in trianing camp for a fight and you look after your body nutritionally...

Barry.Oglesby

10 seconds here so quickly:
no core work
too much volume
too many exercises per session
split not suitable for a novice
no prioritising of exercises
lack of functional movements
rep range is just strange

00benski

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

10 seconds here so quickly:
no core work
too much volume
too many exercises per session
split not suitable for a novice
no prioritising of exercises
lack of functional movements
rep range is just strange

Ok well the core work can be done at home easily, or in the mma gym that he trains.

Your next two points there can be an argument made for, he could prob take out dead lifts on one, and leg press on the other.

Split is perfect for a novice.

lack of funtional movements yes, but this is a programme for strenght and muscle gain, the reps range are for this purpose also.

manga_10

leg press should defs be subbed for some kind of unilateral movement such as bulgarian split squats or reverse lunges or something

and maybe perhaps scrap the calf raises

and replace the lying leg curls with glute ham raises

Barry.Oglesby

00benski wrote: »

Ok well the core work can be done at home easily, or in the mma gym that he trains.

Your next two points there can be an argument made for, he could prob take out dead lifts on one, and leg press on the other.

Split is perfect for a novice.

lack of funtional movements yes, but this is a programme for strenght and muscle gain, the reps range are for this purpose also.

Okay this isn't really fair. I do this for a living so this is pointless and I don't want to slate you for trying to help someone. It's a bad programme generally. If you'd like to talk training or the like you can pm me.

cowzerp

Been honest i've designed thousands of programs and would never give out a program based on more or less no knowledge of the individual-where there weak, strong, there style of fighting, what there actual goal is, mma fitness/strenght or both diet etc

Genuinely the most important conditioning any athlete will do is the actual sport itself done intensely.

If dealing with someone on a forum best advise is train full body and make it as balanced as possible, thats totally based on healthy person with no issues.

00benski

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Okay this isn't really fair. I do this for a living so this is pointless and I don't want to slate you for trying to help someone. It's a bad programme generally. If you'd like to talk training or the like you can pm me.

what isnt really fair, you beliving you have a far superior knowledge of weight training over me.

Im just struggling to understand why you dont think them excersices are not good for a workout. They will most certainly build mass and improve strenght.

00benski

cowzerp wrote: »

Been honest i've designed thousands of programs and would never give out a program based on more or less no knowledge of the individual-where there weak, strong, there style of fighting, what there actual goal is, mma fitness/strenght or both diet etc

Genuinely the most important conditioning any athlete will do is the actual sport itself done intensely.

If dealing with someone on a forum best advise is train full body and make it as balanced as possible, thats totally based on healthy person with no issues.

Ok cowzerp this is a fair point. All im saying is the guy got on to say he can only train mma 2-3 times per week at a push. Yes the best training he can do is mma itself, but he cant do this.

The programme that i put up is to build strenght and muscle, which i find nothing wrong with if you can only get to your mma gym twice a week (for technique, sparring ect ) and weights gym the rest of the time. I find nothing wrong with the excercises in the programme( squats and power cleans are two of the best things you can do with weights and help unbelievably with natural testosterone production ) .

paulmclaughlin

00benski wrote: »

lack of funtional movements yes, but this is a programme for strenght and muscle gain, the reps range are for this purpose also.

00benski wrote: »

They will most certainly build mass and improve strenght.

00benski wrote: »

The programme that i put up is to build strenght and muscle

Please please please, spell it "Strength".

theboxingclinic

where does it say that the guy needs to build mass?
building more mass and size may make his weight cut too difficult.
The program is haphazard to say the least but thats not a big problem as once as you are willing to learn. at least you show interest which is a great start.

00benski

ok ok, at the start of the first post i put up i said "SAMPLE workout" . I was trying to help him understand a Sample workout that i have used over the years when i used to weight train an awful lot and that certainly worked for me and other athletes that i have come across over the years.

If someone could modify it for me to become better well go ahead i would love to hear what exactly is wrong with it, and how it could be made better for strength and muscle mass gains

Barry.Oglesby

If you're looking for a genuinely constructive post, I would scrap the whole template for a start and assume the following.
Every session should include either bench press, pull up, squat, deadlift or variations on these exercises.
Every session should include some core work
Other exercises should be assistance or (p)rehab based.
Every session should include mobility work.

You don't need 8 different ways of working the same muscle group unless you're bodybuilding.

fightireland

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

If you're looking for a genuinely constructive post, I would scrap the whole template for a start and assume the following.
Every session should include either bench press, pull up, squat, deadlift or variations on these exercises.
Every session should include some core work
Other exercises should be assistance or (p)rehab based.
Every session should include mobility work.

You don't need 8 different ways of working the same muscle group unless you're bodybuilding.

...print this post out and stick it to your gym bag out folks - it's the no bull****, no fad, no app or magazine needed summary of how a proper fitness session should be structured. I'm don't the athleticism of GSP and I'm not Brock Lesnar but I genuinely base all my workouts on the above... fundamentals of strength and conditioning IMO. I won't even eloborate

00benski

ok guys, i will eat some humble pie . I was just basing my programme on building some size and strengTH, i know its totally differant for fitness and conditioning( i know this )it was just a sample weights programme.

There are far to many people on this form willing to get on and critisise people for making stupid spelling mistakes and patting each other on the back when a comment is made and not really having much to say in regards to the problems people are asking about.

Thanks for the help in making me understand that my program was wrong for this guy and i accept now that maybe i put it together wrong, but i still think its good for building size and strengHT lol

Cheers
Bren

p to the e

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

If you're looking for a genuinely constructive post, I would scrap the whole template for a start and assume the following.
Every session should include either bench press, pull up, squat, deadlift or variations on these exercises.
Every session should include some core work
Other exercises should be assistance or (p)rehab based.
Every session should include mobility work.

You don't need 8 different ways of working the same muscle group unless you're bodybuilding.

Sorry to hijack but what do you mean by the statement in bold out of interest?

Mellor

00benski wrote: »

Thanks for the help in making me understand that my program was wrong for this guy and i accept now that maybe i put it together wrong, but i still think its good for building size and strengHT lol

The rep ranges stood out for me. Some 7s, some 8s. Looked a bit random. Building and strength require different ranges. Roughly, 3-5 reps for strength, or 8-10 reps for size. Neither happens in isolation, but you should work with the range that is optimal for your goals.

Bodybuilders train the same muscle, in multiple ways, for high reps. to promote size.
Strength training is normally lower reps at a high % of your max.

p to the e wrote: »

Sorry to hijack but what do you mean by the statement in bold out of interest?

Barry will be able to describe it better than me and expand further.

But assistance excercsies are movements incorporated to improve your main lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, press, etc) or overall strength.
It could be unilateral work (like bulgarian split squats) to correct an imbalance.
Or a miovement to target a weaker muscle to alleviate muscle dominance, like using GHR to target glutes over quads. Or even to just build glute strength.
The rehab stuff would be to slowly get a muscle back in line coming off an injury.