wieght workout

[-FIGJAM-]

Hey Guys,

Im not to sure how beneficial this workout is to MMA and kickboxing but here goes. Also note, im not trying to get bigger or anything, this is to look better and gain strength.

Chest:
Push ups
Bench press
Incline press
Flys

Back:
Chin ups
Seated rows
T-bar rows

Shoulders:
Military press
Lateral raises
Front lat raises

Arms:
Curls
Barbell curls
Hammer curls
tricep pushdowns
Close grip bench press

Legs:
Incline leg press
Leg press
Lunges
Calf Raises

Thanks for the in put.

[Filero]

Hey Guys,

Im not to sure how beneficial this workout is to MMA and kickboxing but here goes. Also note, im not trying to get bigger or anything, this is to look better and gain strength.

Could you clarify what your goals are? For "gain strength", do you mean just general strength, or the strength and power attributes that will enhance your martial arts? When you say "look better", but also say you're not trying to get bigger, what is it exactly you're trying to do? If you're not trying to get bigger I assume you're trying to lose fat, so diet and cardio will be at least as important parts of the equation.

My first assumption is that you want enhanced peformance specifically for MMA. Do you want a critique based on that?

[-FIGJAM-]

Could you clarify what your goals are? For "gain strength", do you mean just general strength, or the strength and power attributes that will enhance your martial arts? When you say "look better", but also say you're not trying to get bigger, what is it exactly you're trying to do? If you're not trying to get bigger I assume you're trying to lose fat, so diet and cardio will be at least as important parts of the equation.

My first assumption is that you want enhanced peformance specifically for MMA. Do you want a critique based on that?

Sorry i should have been more specific. I want to enhance my attributes that i will use in MMA competition. Im guessing strength and explosive power play part. The look thing, isnt a main concern, more i want to be taken serious from first sight of me, if you understand.

So to answer your question, yes i would like to enhance my performance for MMA, looking at a workout to help achieve that.

Thanks,

[Filero]

Okay, that helps. Here's my suggestions. First, I'm going to assume you're spending a few days a week at your MMA classes, plus spending a day or two a week doing conditioning work to enhance your cardio and muscular endurance. So this is for strength day, which given that you'll be doing MMA and conditioning a few days a week, is probably 2-3x/week max. There are a few simple concepts I follow for this:

1. When you use your strength/power in MMA, you'll be using many muscles all at once. You'll need them in balance to get the most out of your strength, and you need all the little stabilizers developed to keep you from hurting yourself. As a result, you want to stay away from isolation lifts (like leg curls) and stick with big compound lifts that work many muscles at once (like squats). Isolation lifts and bodypart splits are for bodybuilders. You want your muscles in balance, working together, with the stabilizers well-developed, so target exercises that work will get you there.

2. You need to work both strength and power. As a raw beginner, all of your strength work will increase your power, but once you get past the beginner stage, doing power work specific will greatly increase both your power and strength.

3. Old saying: "Everything works for 6 weeks, nothing works for 12". In other words, the longer you do an exercise, the less results you see -- that is, you'll plateau. This is unacceptable, it means you're working just as hard in the gym, but not seeing gains. To keep the strength gains moving forward, cycle out exercises when you plateau.

4. Keep effort high and volume low, to maximize strength and power gains, and minimize muscle growth. 5x5 is one of many fine protocols. If you're a fighter, you'll have a hard enough time getting to your weight class without being swole.

So, here's an example of what might be a better approach for MMA, done twice a week. It uses the principles above, but there are many other ways to put together a good workout. I'm mixing one or two power exercises in with strength exercises, but I'll add in a third workout that focuses on power using the static/dynamic principles.

Workout one:

Push press
Squats
One-arm dumbell bench press
Pullups
Deadlift twists
Finisher (core focus): ab wheel rollouts, L-sits, Russian twists, saxon side bends: pick 2


Workout two:

Dumbell snatches
Squat jumps
Deadlifts
Bent-over row
Dips
Finisher (grip focus): Farmer's Walk

Workout Three (static/dynamic): Exercise A & B are done one after the other with less than 30 seconds rest.

Complex 1: A. Benchpress B. Clapping pushups
Complex 2: A. Dumbell military press B. Dumbell push press
Complex 3: A. Pullups B. Clapping pullups
Complex 4: A. Squats B. Squat jumps


Anyway, you can throw all that out if you hate it, but I do think you should re-evaluate in light of the principles above. If you want a lot more detail, the finest MMA S&C manual I've ever read is: RossTraining - Infinite Intensity

[Scott Bolinger]

on your lunges are you doing front, back and side lunges

[Middleweight]

Combination dumbell lat raise immediately followed by shoulder barbell press. 2 supersets. In between, max out on 2 sets of chinups.

Then Legs. Warmup then 4 sets of 15-20 reps on Heavy Squats. 3 sets of 3-5 heavy. Leg curls while catching your wind.

one set of calf raises, then Deadlifts: 5 x 3-4 reps. Now the killer. After a min rest: one set of about 20. Shrug the shoulders. knuckles up grip and make it wide. Legs fairly straight. I do this wtih 205 and it is a bear. Technique very important

Phase 3: Either Bench press or weighted dips. 3 x 8 to 12. Biceps curls 2 x 10. Do everything slowly. Breathing techn so important too

Quick rest... then 5 rounds skip rope/Heavy bag. Cool down on the X trainer 5 mins. Then stretch, shower and go home. 2 workouts a week and you get stronger. eg: boxing Mon-Wed. Weights Thurs-Sat. Also on the off days: REST. A brisk 15 min walk is all you need

Anyone done a routine like this? What happened in 3 months?