Some questions about Greasing the Groove

CM24

So I'm trying to get my lower body as strong/explosive as possible without adding size. Mostly because I want to have some kickboxing or MMA matches in the coming months and want to get into the lowest weight class possible.

At the moment, I just do a heavy trap bar deadlift once a week, on a Saturday. (About 180kg x 3 @ 79kg BW) Followed by a small bit of Leg Press and RDL's. Low volume, high intensity. This has worked to maintain my strength with minimal interference with my MMA training. (My legs and lower back do have some DOMS but it's usually gone after I train on Monday)

However, I do find it pretty hard to get myself psyched up for heavy lifting every week, especially after doing 4-7 MMA sessions from Mon-Sat. Also, I don't really make any strength gains this way, just maintenance.

What would happen if I just did greasing the groove with pistol squats, instead of deadlifts (I'm not going to be able to get to the gym 5 times a day to do deadlifts!) I have some adjustable dumbbells at home so can add weight if necessary.

I can do about 5 reps per leg with 10kg added weight.

If I just do sets of 2 reps, several times a day, 5 days a week, would I be able to make strength gains?

Does this method avoid causing DOMS or muscular hypertrophy?

Anyone with experience want to comment?

arybvtcw0eolkf

Have you fought before?.

Have you sought the advice of your coach/coaches, and does your club have a strength & conditioning coach? (not always available to amateurs).

If you haven't had these questions answered in your club and you have a serious intention to fight you should consider changing clubs.

CM24

Nah I haven't fought before. Been training about 4 times a week on average for 16 months or so now.

The coaches at my gym don't really seem to promote strength training at all, at least for the lower level guys. Mostly, it's just circuits of squats, pushups and sit ups thrown into the striking sessions. There is a personal trainer on site who does strength training with the pro guys but I haven't talked to him yet.

I did mention it to one of my striking coaches about thinking about fighting and he said you'd need to just up the amount of conditioning you do for about 6 weeks ahead of the fight. I'd be prepared to do this.

A couple of the guys I train with have had a few novice fights and based on our sparring sessions I'd say I'm about on par with most of them. As far as I know, in k1 and muay thai, there are novice, amateur and then pro fights. So I'd be matched up with a fellow novice with none or maybe just 1 fight under their belt. I've sparred with a couple of more experienced guys who are clearly better than me also, so I've no illusions about my ability.

To be honest I haven't been consistent with grappling training so I wouldn't be ready for an MMA fight yet. Getting as light as possible wouldn't be such an issue in MMA because height/reach can be negated when there's grappling involved.

Anyway, I don't think it's a huge deal anyway. I think at my current level of strength I'm going to be a fair bit stronger than the average novice, who it seems, doesn't do much more than bodyweight stuff.

However, If I could continue to get stronger without interfering with my MMA training and only lifting at submaximal intensity, a la Greasing the Groove, that would be ideal.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Well your coach is right when he tells you to up the amount of conditioning you do for the six weeks prior to the fight, but he should be encouraging you a little more too.

But tbh he's probably between a 'rock and a hard place'.. He's likely put a lot of time into novices who say they want to compete who pull out due to injury/ill health or if I'm to be honest about it, they get windy.. This leaves the coach and the club looking a little silly, so although no one would say its the right thing to do (for the coach) sometimes experience has shown him this is how things go and he'll wait for you to start proving yourself.

Conditioning & strength training for a fight, well it would be impossible for me to give you too much guidance since its a very individual thing and a coach would be looking at all aspects of your training, including your strengths and weaknesses in sparring.

Staying injury free is probably one of the most important things to do since you can neither train or compete injuried.

A lots of hard sparring, lots of rolling and clinch work (if you're going to fight MMA).

And while people say 'listen to your body', its a little different when its in battle.

To quote Gen Patton ~ "Now if you want to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is strong."

A strong, determined mind is very important. Its said that you can't beat a man who refuses to stop fighting!.

CM24

I see.Generally, in our gym the emphasis is on light sparring. One coach did say he'd like to see me do a few hard proper sparring sessions before committing to a fight. He said that when he wanted to do his first fight, his coach watched him do some hard sparring and after seeing how he reacted to being hit properly, told him ''You're not ready for another 6 months'' and that he was glad of this advice in the end.

I guess some people just forget about their training and start swinging wildly when they get their bell rung a few times, and forget to control their breathing etc. That said, there's a couple of coaches involved and the main coach seems to let you fight if you feel you're ready. You're wearing big gloves and shin pads and optional headgear at the novice level anyway, and the ref's are quick to step in, so I've never seen anybody get properly hurt.

I'm in no rush anyway. However, I'm 28 now and would like to have a couple of fights while I'm injury free and before age starts slowing me down! No aspirations of making it as a pro or anything.

Agree about staying injury free being the main thing. I think my mind is fairly strong but I won't really know until I'm in the ring in front of a big crowd I suppose! Have played in some big games at a decent level in other sports and always held my nerve.

I'll give the GTG method a go for a month anyway and report back with the results. At the very least, it shouldn't lead to any injuries since the emphasis is on perfect technique.