But even if you don't want to be a professional fighter, you can still exercise like one. The same attributes that a fighter wants in the ring like; strength, endurance, cardio and flexibility, are exactly what most people want from their workouts. So whether you are expecting to compete in the sport of mixed martial arts or any other style of combat - mixed martial arts workouts will improve your physical conditioning in a very useable, functional way.
For non-competitive fighters, a high intensity mixed martial arts style workout is a fun way to whip your body into great shape. Working up a great sweat makes you feel good too! So on those days when you don't have much time to workout, you can use a great fitness routine that will have your sweating like mad in almost no time flat.
If you are a fighter, you're probably wondering what can you do to improve your training when you're not in the gym working on your technique. One of the best training supplements is to use the right fitness program to increase your performance and condition The correct workouts will build strength, muscular endurance, power, better cardio, agility, greater levels of flexibility, and also improved athleticism. You'll quickly move from being out of shape, to being in the best shape of your life.
Organizing Your Mixed Martial Arts Workouts:
You don't need to organize your workouts by body part. Forget about isolating individual muscles groups and organizing your workouts by based on triceps, biceps, shoulders, chest, calves, quadriceps, forearms, back muscles, etc. Instead, view your exercise routines as full-body conditioning. Every movement in a fight involves moving your entire body, not moving isolated muscle groups. This is true of almost any sport or athletic activity, but it is even more important with combative sports. For example, jumping rope is a great full body conditioning exercise that boxers and fighters have been using for many years. Sprinting is another great full body workout. Many people overlook the fact that sprinting works not only your leg muscles and your lower body, but also helps to build upper body stamina and explosiveness.
How often should you rest between exercises?
A work/rest ratio of five to one works great for both mixed martial artists and grapplers. This means you perform a five-minute continuous circuit of exercises without stopping, then you rest for one minute before beginning another exercise circuit. The five minute circuit is not based on some random number like a lot of workouts. Instead, it is based on the round length of most MMA fights. The UFC currently uses five minute rounds with one minute or rest between each round, so it makes sense that you should train your body to perform for those exact work/rest periods. This will condition your body very specifically for a fight. Five minute rounds are very common for grappling matches too.
Following this same line of thinking, it makes sense for you to adjust the length of each circuit for the exact event you are training for. You might be training for a grappling tournament where you will compete in several ten-minute matches. Or a mixed martial arts fight with three five minute rounds. Or a boxing match with ten three-minute rounds. The important thing is to make your workout specific to your training goals.
Different Fighters - Different Workout Routines
Most combat sports require similar workouts. This fitness information you find here is great no matter what style of fighter or martial arts you practice. However, you can increase your performance even more by using exercises and conditioning drills that specifically target your style of fighting. For example, a predominantly striking based fighter can use different drills than a grappler or submission fighter. Workouts need to be effective for striking, grappling, wrestling, and fighting in the clinch. Just like you need to cross train in fighting styles, your workouts should "cross train" your body. So if your fighting style is predominantly striking based, for example Muay Thai, boxing or kickboxing, you want to build your routines around that strategy, but you cannot neglect things like wrestling drills. For example, stand up fighting requires a lot of explosiveness and quickness. All of your movement and speed comes from your legs. Whether its takedowns, throwing a punch or knee. while your striking power comes mostly from your core. Everything needs to be fast, powerful and have good balance.
Former UFC champion Chuck Liddell is a great example of this. He likes to fight standing up, but he also uses a lot of wrestling style conditioning drills. Not because he is planning on taking his opponent down and grappling, but because he knows he has to defend takedowns, work from the clinch, escape from the bottom, etc. So it's important for him to physically condition his body to prepare for those inevitable situations.
So whether you are primarily a striker or grappler, your conditioning will be much better if you combine grappling and striking exercises and drills in your workouts.
Working Out and Training at Home
You've probably been misled to believe that the only way to really get fit and be a competitive athlete is to go to the gym and use expensive equipment or spend a fortune turning your garage into a virtual Gold's Gym. But the fact is that exercises do not have to be expensive to be effective. This has been proved time and time again by numerous highly successful combat athletes. It's a myth that all professional mixed martial artists use fully loaded gyms to train. But on the other hand, that doesn't mean simple calisthenic bodyweight exercises likes pushups and situps are the only other option.
Fighters who don't use expensive exercise equipment definitely do not limit their training to only basic calisthenics. Why would they? It's not about weight lifting vs. bodyweight exercises. It's about how to realistically condition your body for an MMA fight. Or whatever combat sport you compete in.
Here's a small sample of some of the most effective workouts and exercises mixed martial arts fighters can incorporate into their fitness routines:
• Resistance band training
• Plyometrics and other explosive exercises
• Sprinting and hill sprints
• Rope climbing
• Pushing cars
• Sledgehammer training
• Tire flipping
• Yoga ball exercises
• Medicine ball exercises
• Jump roping
• Gymnastic Exercises
Yes, many fighters use weight training, but many others don't. There are many exercises and drills besides weights that are great for combat athletes.
Take UFC fighter Josh Koscheck for example. Proof that you can be a great combat athlete, wrestler or martial artist without lifting weights. But also proof that there is a lot more to nonweight-training based physical conditioning than just regular push-ups, bodyweight squats, situps and others calisthenic drills. Koscheck himself said "I believe lifting weights for mixed martial arts is very overrated."
Koscheck says that instead he uses a lot of wrestling drills as well as running, pushing SUVs and other similar workouts.
Being able to train without a lot of bulky equipment is an important factor in your fitness routine because you're not always going to have a gym to train at or the money to train there. But beyond that, there are many benefits to using an MMA workout as opposed to going to the gym. The obvious benefit is that home workouts are more convenient. You can workout any time and anywhere. It doesn't matter if you are on vacation, in a hotel, at a school yard, at a park or in your garage or basement.
source : The Simple Truth About M.M.A. And Getting In Great Shape
