Strenght training for fighters

[Ivica Truscek]

If you are a serious fighter then you know that you cant lift weights every day or even every other day.
The reason for this is:
1. You have to spend 90% of your training time on technique and conditioning.
2. You cant recover fast enough after weight training to optimaly train skill the next day.

After many months of experimenting, I found what works best for me, and maybe for you too.
You have all the big movments in one day, but it is not too much because you have for example: normal squat (main) + sldl (asistance), and you have 36 hours for rest and recovery (if you do it on saturday night, and the next training session is on monday morning).
I usualy do a few quick sets of bodyweight exercises (pullups, pushups, pistols, etc) after the morning conditioning, but they are easy on the body and dont wear you down.

So here it goes:

Alternate
week 1------------------week 2

Squat ------------------Deadlift-----------------------5x5
Stiff Leg DL------------Front Squat--------------------4x6
Military Press----------Incline Bench Press------------5x5
Bench Press-------------Dips --------------------------4x6
Bent Ower Row BB--------Bent Ower Row DB---------------5x5
Shrugs BB---------------Shrugs DB----------------------4x6

It usually takes me about 60 minutes for entire routine.
If it feels like too much, you can do 4x6 for main lifts and 3x8 on assistance.
You may also find that its better skip on hard conditioning like intervals and do some aerobic run instead, so your not dead in the gym.
If you want, you can try it, its nothing new, just another one day a week program.
Someone may not like it, but I had good progress on it, without ruining the rest of my training.

 

[Brando]

Looks good man. A lot of guys on here will point you to the stickies right away when a fighter comes looking for a routine, it's nice to see someone be realistic and see that lifting for max strength 3x per week just isn't going to fit with a busy fighters schedule. This may not be true for everyone but it certainly is for me. I only lift once per week because of time constraints, energy and my skill training priorities, and I find that a distance run or some GPP drills later in the evening or early the next day really help speed recovery (i.e. some 3-minute drills with burpees, mountain climbers, etc or a 3-4 mile run.

Max strength is only one piece of the puzzle, I'm just now realizing that "strength training" doesn't mean lifting necessarily; I do some "strength training" 3-5x per week, such as short, max effort punch-out drills to target explosive strength, heavybag drills for strength endurance, etc

 

[jerrylundergard]

I agree with your philosophy that less is more in regards to lifting and its effective incorporation into grappling and fighting. Its why I could bark all damn day long about the reason that people who fight need only benchpress, dl and squat. The idea is to do the most effective lifts possible while keeping the amount of time your body is stressed to an absolute minimum. The reason for this should be obvious to anyone who has lifted and grappled.

Everyone knows that performing the big 3 increases your strength in the big 3. Assistance isnt neccessary to increase or maintain good big 3 numbers. Maybe assistance is neccessary to become a world class powerlifter but it aint neccessary to become stronger than most if not all grapplers. Adding in more volume takes on the risk of injury, moreso if one is also grapplin or fighten. The reward of increasing your assistance lift numbers by performing assistance lifts isnt worth risking injury over. Who gives a fuck what you can sldl or BOR if you got a good dl? Whats it matter what your front squat or shrug or lunges are if you got a big squat? If you got a good bench press your upperbody is already covered and thus military press and incline bench become redundant.

Nobody argues with the fact that the wilks score is a great indicator of strength. So fighters who only do dl, squat and bench that have good wilks scores are obviously strong. More volume equals increased chance of injury via overtrainng. With this logic it seems painfully obvious what should be done. Carefully calculate the risk/reward factor for each and every fuckin set you do. Dont just mindlessly do sets and add in shit that sounds or looks cool.

Although im not a very strong powerlifter im pretty strong for a grappler in the gyms ive been to around the world. Even though the big 3 have awesome sports carryover, I think everyone knows that powerlifters would breakdown fast with grapplin and its why I think some alterations should be made to a traditional pl plan for grapplers.

My current plan and most likely the best lifting plan in the world for grapplers. Dont worry im not looking for testers, all the vacancies were filled......

Day 1. Deadlift or squat on alternating weekly basis or if you wanna do both in same day 4 sets of dl and 3 sets of squats or visaversa. Keep total sets to a minimum, seven or less feels good to me. Total time in gym is 35 minutes.

Day 2. Bench press 5 sets or so. Total time in gym is 35 minutes.

Since bench press puts little stress on core, the area most stressed during grappling, it can be trained on a second day without clogging up or totally ruining your training week. Bench can even be performed after rollin or at night or in the morning as a split same day grapllin occurs.

When its offseason you can get back to a more proper 3xper week lifting plan and add in a bit more volume cause you wont be stressing your system as much without the fighten or grapplin.

PS. This plan may suck for the rest of you folks but it works for me and if your wondering why im not world champ yet its cause I still got a few kinks to iron out in the technique department. LOL.

 

[graedy]

Another idea might be the one lift per day approach. You do one main lift 5 days per week. Like that your body is never really drained from the lifting but you still get your lifting in.

 

[ouboxer]

curcuit training and plyo's, its really rare that ive ever heard of fighters getting ready for a fight doing 5x5 lifting. I think thats really good for getting bigger and stronger when you have time off, but its a different type of strength. Watch rich franklin or randy coutures weight training routines they are great examples of curcuit training for fighters

 

[jerrylundergard]

Any rep range can be used for bench, dl, squat. Simply because these are the same lifts powerlifters use doesnt mean you have to use the same reps they do. In most rep ranges the big 3 will be a more effective strength builder than anyother excercise possible. Just because someone is doing dl, squat and bench doesnt mean they should confine themselves to a 5x5 set/rep scheme. You can maintain and even increase strength with higher reps. Higher reps will be especially significant during season.

If one was getting ready for a fight doing 5x5 I would say they were nuts. However, if they were getting ready for a tourney or fight using 5 sets with 10-20reps on a 2x per week plan using bench day 1 and squat and or dl day 2, I would say they was right on the freakin money.

 

[graedy]

Well, Brad Morris seesm to have some kind of maxstrength work permanentlly in his schedulde.

 

[jerrylundergard]

One of my pals is in a similar situation to Brad Morris. Hes just a fucking ox. He consistently gets better gains on the same program, can use higher volume, can grapple more and never seems to break down. Some folks are seemingly indestructable and what reps may work for some may be different for others. Efective excercises never change even if the reps used do.

Lifting heavy is optimal for strength gains but when preparing for a fight the biggest thing is to remain injury free. One should do their strength gaining farther away from fight or tourney time. When the tourney or fight nears you gotta be focusing on technique, sparring, cardio and the risk of injury with going heavy, for the majority of the population, is a risk they shouldnt take. Heavier weights put more pressure on your core. Lighter weights with more reps will maintain strength while reducing the load your core must endure. As fight time approachs you need to keep strength but must focus much more time on technique and cardio.

If you did your work on the offseason you should head into the fight with the same strength and injury free. Higher reps provide the solution in this situation.

 

[Barut]

Well, Brad Morris seesm to have some kind of maxstrength work permanentlly in his schedulde.

And Brad kicks SERIOUS ass.

 

[graedy]

And Brad kicks SERIOUS ass.

I would like to see him fight. A guy who squats 100kg for 60+ reps after his squatworkout and knows how to fight fucking scares me :icon_chee

 

[threelions]

curcuit training and plyo's, its really rare that ive ever heard of fighters getting ready for a fight doing 5x5 lifting. I think thats really good for getting bigger and stronger when you have time off, but its a different type of strength. Watch rich franklin or randy coutures weight training routines they are great examples of curcuit training for fighters

I think its all about how they organise things. Ive read both of the fighters you mention doing heavy weights work but they move onto complexes and circuit training as the fight gets nearer. So iwouldnt rule out that fighters dont lift heavy. Randy, Franklin, Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddel have all mentioned that they lift heavy just not close to a fight. Its all about getting preperation organised. Then again they are proffessionals and have all the time in the world to train.

 

[Brad Morris]

Max strength workouts are a big part of my training that being said though once every six to eight weeks I will have a light week or two, or I will just not lift for that period. I still keep up my conditioning training such as intervals and distance running but I either drop my weight numbers down for that one to two week rest period or I won't lift at all depending on how I feel physically! So far that has helped me avoid overtraining and importantly to keep my motivation levels high!

Part of the reason I mix lifting heavy with mma training is that I want to be fatigued when I am sparring/rolling with my training partners because that way I have to rely on skill and conditioning to beat them rather than just strength. There has been occassions that that has backfired on me and I have been injured whilst training due partly to being fatigued. But that is a risk I am willing to take!

I realise everyone is different, and for the way I fight and the way my body reacts to the strength training I think I am on the right track! Thats why I beleive learning as much as you can about strength training is important but even more important than that is learning about and listening to your body, and that can only be done through experience and experimentation with various training principles and methods!

 

[graedy]

Any chance to see a fight of one of your next fights?

 

[Brad Morris]

graedy,

I am going to have a short highlight of my fights put on you tube soon, I'll pm you a link when its done!

 

[SmashiusClay]

I'm with Brad, I spent the last year lifting 3 times a week while training 3-5 times in martial arts (depended on studying workload) and was still able to progress easily in both. Just because your muscles are sore does'nt mean you can't train and learn. Hell, it'll stop you relying on strength to win and mean that when you cycle off weight training to compete you'll feel unstopable. I admit that you can't stand the same volume as say a pure powerlifter but that does'nt mean you can't teain heavy more than once a week.

 

[Mark Limbaga]

Is that an off-season or pre-season training?

Smashius is right about soreness. If the soreness isn't really hindering you from moving, go ahead and train

 

[WaR6986]

i like two full body 5x5 workouts per week to go along with training

 

[Slick_mick]

i was thinking of doing something like this when i get back to lifting after next fight, your right about getting burnt out, training 5 days a week kills me let alone adding another 3 days of strength work.

Ive tried to follow higher volume stuff in the past to no avail, i soon burn out despite good diet, supps, active recovery work, rest, you name it ive done it.

The thing i like about your setup is it does a few things well as opposed to a lot of things badly. I dont really see thre point of fighters using loads of assistance work to improve specific exercises because at the end of the day specific exercise numbers dont really matter, you just neeed a good overall strength base from which to develop other qualities. Its the means not the end.

some people can handle a shit load of volume and still progressm, more power to them but not me.

how long have you lifted like this?

what results have you gotten?

has it impacted at all on your MA training?

just out of interest

 

[Espo]

i like two full body 5x5 workouts per week to go along with training

Exactly! After this lifting cycle I may try the one lift a day program though.

 

[DEVILsSON]

I think twice a week workouts is just right.....seems like upper body strength drops quickest compared with lower body....so if maintaining strength is important, I would train upper body at the expense of lower body if short on time....(ofcourse it's a 1 time thing and not done repeatedly[once a while basically])....

I like doing

Squat/Deadlifts(rotated weekly)
BOR
Hypers

OHP
Chins/Pulls
Dips

training heavy is fine but as matches get closer, dropping weight/volume and increasing reps is a good idea.....


i think OHP+Dips>bench......bench is over rated for MMAers....

I would throw in some grip work....at the end of workouts or when you got free time...