Although mma workouts weren’t the first to include odd shaped objects with various strength and conditioning exercises, the sport is certainly helping it grow in popularity.

Outside of being an exciting way to add spice to your mma workouts rather then the same old push and pull exercises with barbells and dumbbells, their should be a method to the madness.

Just because your flipping tires and throwing medicine balls and carrying around a sandbag doesn’t necessarily mean your optimizing your mma workouts if there’s no formula for progression to it.

The easiest way to make sure you’r still getting the best out of your mma training workouts with these various pieces of equipment is to follow a progressive program the same way you would with a barbell/dumbbell mma strength and conditioning workout.

If one of your exercises, such as deadlifts, in your traditional mma workouts requires you to either increase the weight, reps, sets, or decrease the rest periods as you progress every week, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t keep this same formula in mind when deadlifting a heavy sandbag, or keg, or railroad tracks, or whatever the hell you decide to get your hands on.

If after a few workouts you can perform a desired amount of reps with the sandbag, instead of using that same weight, changing the exercise, or pointlessly doing more reps…. ADD MORE WEIGHT IN THE BAG!

The same goes with any other exercise outside of the standard iron. If you’re doing an mma conditioning workout that involves tire-flipping, then make a goal to decrease the time it takes to complete a set or circuit.

In summary, don’t just think that since you’re working out with sandbags and tires and any other awkward piece of equipment that you’re getting a good workout.

You certainly wouldn’t let yourself bench press the same weight day after day, week after week, month after month, with no progression be it in weight, reps, sets, or shorter rest periods – so it doesn’t make any sense to forget this important key when training with any other form of resistance in your mma training workouts.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Training Workouts

In the post fight interviews after the explosive and wild UFC 115 card, Mirko Cro Crop confirmed a great point regarding mma conditioning that I wrote about a few months back.

When asked about his training coming up to the fight, the Croatian native talked about how in the past he would be able to do 5 -10 minutes of high intensity rounds on the punching bag. But then, 3 – 5 minutes into a fight, he would still find himself gassed out.

This is when he stated a very important point when it comes to mma conditioning that I think few mma fighters realize when he said…

“a punching bag is one thing, sparring is another.” – Mirko Cro Crop

He admitted that he didn’t use to have sparring partners in the past, and in his latest fight he brought in 3 professionals in which they trained hard with an emphasis on sparring.

He went on to say after this change that his conditioning was much better in his latest fight against Pat Barry, where even in the third round he felt great and that this was the best he’s ever felt conditioning wise.

Bruce Lee once said that the best way to condition for an event is repetition of the actual performance of the event. A while back I wrote about how sparring is the absolute best way to mimic the mma conditioning of a real fight. Read it here

As simple and obvious as it is, not enough mma fighters actually spend enough time sparring.

MMA conditioning workouts of all sorts are great supplemental workouts to increase your strength and conditioning for mma, and they are also great to isolate and focus on a particular attribute, such as anaerobic endurance, power endurance, maximum strength, etc.

However, when it comes training your body to condition itself for a fight, there’s no substitute to the closest thing to the actual event, sparring.

But there’s no longer a need to take my word for it, a legend in the sport and still every improving mma fighter, Mirko Cro Crop said it himself.

I’ve always been told to only take advice from those who have the results you want, and what better advice about mma conditioning can you get from a living legend in the sport who’s been fighting for over a decade.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning

When conditioning for MMA, every second of exercises AND rest count

If you’ve been training with mma conditioning workouts for a while but you still find yourself gassing out in your training or competition, you may be making a mistake in your training  that can be fixed in 60 seconds or less.

One of the biggest but perhaps unnoticed mistakes that I’ve seen mma fighters or combat athletes make in their training is not enough attention to the time they “rest” in between sets, reps, intervals, or rounds in their mma conditioning workouts.

For example, have you ever followed someone’s mma conditioning workout, whether it be out of a book, video, coach, or magazine, and you see instructions on how long to perform each exercise as well as how long to rest in between?

Do you pay as strict attention to the time instructed to rest as you do for the time instructed to perform an exercise?

If you can honestly say yes, then pat yourself on the back. However, are you SURE you ACTUALLY rest for ONLY the time instructed in between exercises?

Next time you are performing your mma conditioning workout, (and if you need one check out the reviews of the top mma conditioning workouts here), I want you to pay strict attention on the rest periods between each exercise or round.

More often then not, unless you are training with a coach, athletes who do their mma conditioning workouts on their own will take a little extra time, whether it’s conscious or unconscious, in their rest intervals.

For mma fighters, this can literally make all the difference, in a negative way, in your conditioning.

Allow me to get a little scientific on you for a second. I’m not an advocate of using big words and I hate people who use them just to sound professional, so I’ll do my best to keep it as simple and down to earth as possible.

For any science freaks out their, I know I’m not using the scientific names for these systems, but the point is to educate the reader, not confuse them .

The 3 Energy Systems

There are three energy systems the body depends upon when it comes to cardiovascular conditioning. There is the ATP system, which is used for up to about 10 or so seconds of maximal output in energy, such as a set of lifting heavy weights, or an explosive movement such as shooting in for a take down and driving your opponent to the mat.

Then there is the anaerobic system, which is energy produced in the absence of oxygen, which usually lasts around 2 minutes. This is when you are using near maximal output for a relatively long period of time, such as sprinting or a fast paced grappling match.

Finally, there is the aerobic system, which is when your body uses oxygen to produce energy for lower energy outputs for longer periods of time.

When you’re training using well put together mma conditioning workouts, the rest periods are just as important as the exercise periods. Often times when doing high intensity exercises such as sprinting, rest periods can seem to go by extremely fast.

The mistake you don’t want to make is lose control of time during rest periods and end up resting 60 seconds when you’re supposed to be resting 20. Or resting 30 seconds when you supposed to rest for 10.

A lot of times athletes wait to catch their breath to move onto the next exercise or set, resting twice or three times as much as their supposed to. By making this mistake you may be failing to develop one of the the energy systems.

By not properly developing all three energy systems, especially the ATP system and the anaerobic system, you’re going to find yourself still gassing out in high intensity events, such as an mma fight or grappling match.

I’ve been known to ramble, so the moral of the story is this: If you are following a mma conditioning workout that specifically states to rest for 30 seconds in between intervals, make sure you ONLY REST FOR 30 SECONDS, and NO MORE, and so on for all of the rest of the rest period instructions.

Otherwise you may be cutting your mma conditioning potential short by just a few seconds.

Train hard (and rest hard), fellow fighters and fans,

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning Workouts

Bear crawls is a great mma conditioning exercise

Circuit training has been around for a long time. It is a staple in exercise routines for developing cardiovascular endurance and muscular conditioning.

As the sport of mma becomes more and more popular and the standards for mma fighters strength and conditioning continues to increase, mma conditioning workouts need to be more refined and sport specific then ever.

Traditional circuit training had trainee’s doing typical “old school” exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups.

Although these will continue to be staple exercises for any athlete, fighters and combat athletes need more sport specific mma conditioning workouts and exercises.

One limitation in traditional circuits is that typical bodyweight exercises do not overload the muscular system sufficiently enough to increase strength and power.

Though it is very important for mma conditioning workouts to condition a fighters body to move it’s own weight efficiently, it is also important that they include added resistance to really build tolerance to lactic acid build up that occurs in mma type movements.

Another limitation traditional circuit training has is not enough exercises that stress pulling movements, overhead movements, and side to side or lateral movements.

For a fighter to be in top condition, they must follow mma conditioning workouts that include exercises that work all of these movements.

Pulling is key for grappler’s pulling in the clinch or guard, overhead pressing important for building endurance in the shoulders for striking and other movements, and lateral movements are absolutely vital for developing power in striking along with core strength.

MMA conditioning workouts must include both bodyweight exercises, resistance exercises covering all planes of motion, and some type of power or plyometric exercise to really be complete.

Some examples of good bodyweight exercises to included in a mma conditioning workout circuit are:

• Push-ups
• Handstand push-ups
• Pull-ups
• Bear crawls
• Rope climbing
• Parallel bar dips

Examples of some good resistance exercises in a circuit are:

• Kettle bell swings
• Sandbag exercises (presses, squats, deadlifts, etc)
• Barbell complexes (every heard of the “Randy Couture workout?”
• Tire flipping
• Weighted sled

And finally, a complete mma conditioning workout will also include a few power or plyometric exercises, ususally in the beginning of the circuit and with just a few reps to focus on explosiveness and technique rather then fatigue.

Some examples of good power/plyometric exercises are:

• Box jumps
• Hurdle jumps
• plyo-push-ups
• Medicine ball throws (front slams, side toss’s, chest pass’s, etc)

Circuit training, like many other forms of physical fitness is constantly evolving. With the UFC and other big mma fight promotions becoming more and more popular, mma conditioning workouts are helping with this evolution to create the perfect athlete, whether in combat sports or otherwise.

For mma conditioning workouts that include the above exercises and more in complete and comprehensive programs specific for mma fighters, be sure to check out reviews of the top mma conditioning workouts here.

Train hard, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning Workouts

Randy Couture has some of the best conditioning in MMA

Today I realized a very important lesson, and that is why it’s so important that your mma conditioning workouts need to be bad ass. I have been training in MMA for quite some time now, and tonight’s training was one of the most grueling workouts I’ve ever been through.

More importantly, I experienced the importance of the proper development of strength and conditioning if you are going to be able to last several rounds in a tough fight.

We did round after round of different “battery drills” with the focus on different grappling situations. One drill was the wall drill, where you have your back up against the wall and you have opponent after opponent try to take you down for a five minute round, then another round of taking your opponent down with his back against the wall, and so on with similar drills.

Let’s stay on the wall drill for the sake of this article. If you’ve never done this drill, you’ll get a test of your strength and conditioning instantly the first time you do it, and here’s why:

This drill requires you to use all three energy systems:

1) ATP-CP System: High energy or explosive movements without oxygen (lasts about 10 seconds)

2) Anaerobic System: High energy or explosive movements without oxygen (usually lasts about 2 minutes)

3) Aerobic System: Low energy over long term using oxygen (15 minutes or more)

Let’s say you’re the one attempting to take-down your opponent(s) for 5 minutes. When you shoot in for a take-down, whether it’s a single leg, double leg, or other, this requires the ATP-CP system.

Now your fighting to pick your opponent up, switching from a single to a double or visa versa, pausing for a quick second, exploding again to take your opponent down, but he’s both strong and has great take-down defense. This requires the anaerobic system.

You finally get your opponent down, and the next opponent is fresh and ready to defend (or a real mma fight example, your opponent immediately pops back up and you’re starting over). After several rounds of this, you begin to tap into the aerobic system.

Here’s the point…

If you don’t have the proper conditioning in ALL THREE of these energy systems, you’re gassing out one way or another.

And THIS is why proper mma conditioning workouts are absolutely critical. You can run around your block for 45 minutes a day for months on end, but that will only develop your anaerobic conditioning, so your ass will still gas out in this drill within seconds.

“But, Derek”, you say,” I don’t just jog, I know I need anaerobic conditioning as well, so I do some sprinting and other interval training as well, so what do you gotta say about that!”

Sorry to burst your bubble, do that all you want, then try this wall drill for 5 minutes – you’re still going to physically wear down within the first couple of minutes, if not seconds.

Why? Because you really haven’t done squat yet to develop your ATP-CP energy system, or any muscular conditioning.

Every time you attempt to pick your opponent up and he stuffs you and stays standing, that few seconds of explosive energy takes a toll not only on your heart and lungs, but now your body needs to provide oxygen to all of your muscles involved in that movement as well.

And since you haven’t developed this type of conditioning yet, your muscles aren’t going to be properly trained for this, thus wear out quickly and leave you gasping for air and your arms and legs feeling like noodles.

The wall drill is only one example of why you need to develop these three energy systems. In any MMA fight, you also need to take into account striking battles, defending take-downs, grappling scrambles and other movements that require a mix and match of all these different energy systems.

Summary

As you can guess by now, a good mma conditioning workout must focus on developing all three of these types of energy systems. If you lack conditioning in just one of these, then you’re still gonna gas out in any one of these scenarios no matter how well developed any one of the other energy systems are.

So if you’re just following a standard general fitness workout, or even worse, a conventional bodybuilding  workout with a few random cardio exercises thrown in, you’re not fully preparing yourself for the type of gas tank you need to go the distance in a grueling mma battle.

For some of the best mma conditioning workouts available today, you can check out some of these reviews here:

===> MMA Strength and Conditioning Program Reviews

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans,

Derek Manuel
MMA Strength and Conditioning

In the bodybuilding world, a big challenge with beginner bodybuilders is overtraining.

For the best and fastest results, bodybuilders must spend a maximum of 60 to 90 minutes in the gym per day developing the appropriate muscles, anywhere from 3 to 6 days a week depending on the volume of their training and their specific body type.

Everything else they do before and after these gym sessions must be very low energy tasks, since getting enough rest and allowing your muscles to rebuild themselves with minimal recreational activity in between is absolutely necessary.

With this concept in mind, outside of actually training in the gym, I’ve seen many bodybuilders (including myself) get lazy, which is actually preferred especially if you are really looking to gain muscle mass.

This mentality simply does not apply when it comes to mma and how you should approach your mma conditioning workouts.

Less Isn’t More in MMA Training

When I first began to study mma strength and conditioning many years back, I carried over the same fear of over-training that I had with bodybuilding. I always thought that for my mma conditioning workouts it is better to under-train then over-train.

After learning about what it means to reach the elite levels of endurance and conditioning of a mma fighter, I realized that actually reversing that principle is true in the sport of mma.

You see, mma fighters are some of if not THE most conditioned athletes in the world of sports. Where other sports only really require certain aspects of strength and conditioning for the athlete to reach optimal performance, it is almost safe to say that mma fighters require virtually EVERY aspect, which means there mma conditioning workouts must reflect this.

Work Capacity

One factor that many people don’t consider is work capacity; which is essentially how much physical exercise of all sorts you can endure with mininal rest. Keep in mind that this is not the same thing as how far or fast you can run for, or how much weight you can lift.

Think more along the lines of how many hours a day can you train (mma skill training, strength and conditioning, etc) without wearing yourself out.

The reason work capacity is so important to consider when it comes to your mma conditioning workouts is because the fact that mma fighters must develop all levels (at least to a certain degree) of strength and conditioning.

They must spread their different mma training workouts (ie: wrestling, boxing, resistance training, cardio, sparring, etc.) equally throughout the week, and this is simply a lot of work.

If you’re not in great shape and havn’t developed your work capacity, you’ll obviously wear out early in your training and won’t be able to take on your next skills training session or mma conditioning workout.

You may go for a run in the morning, box in the afternoon, but then just be too tired to do your weight training session later that evening. This is expected for beginners, but the only way to combat (excuse the pun) this is develop your work capacity.

If you don’t progressively spend more and more time working on these different levels of skill and conditioning and take the bodybuilding approach where you just train 1 hour a day and then be lazy for the next day or two, you’ll limit your ability to develop work capacity, which will then slow down your growth in all of these neccessary areas.

In Summary

MMA fighters are not bodybuilders where you workout for 1 hour then rest for the remainder of the day and the next. You must develop work capacity, and the way you do that is to progressively add to your mma conditioning workouts, slowly but surely.

An important point to keep in mind is that I am not suggesting you train when you are feeling overly worked or exhausted physically and mentaly.

Although most over-training symptoms come from lack of diet and rest, you CAN train too much to the point where it’s counterproductive. Use your common sense and know when enough is enough, but don’t use the excuse of over-training for being lazy either.

Train hard, fellow fighters and fans,

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning Workouts

One obstacle even the most motivated fighter in world will often face is the inability to realistically sacrifice the time it takes to develop elite levels of mma strength and conditioning.

The average person has a job, a family, school, or some other major obligation that simply cannot be comprised for putting the time it takes to become a mma fighter.

If you aspire to become a fighter with a chance to compete with some of the best, you have to develop a certain level of mastery in three different categories:

Martial Arts Skill

Plain and simple, if you want to be a good fighter, you’re going to have to put in the man hours it takes to learn how to fight.

This includes striking, kicking, the clinch, throws and take-downs, grappling, and everything else in between; not to mention putting these altogether so that you can harmoniously transition from each of these distinctive techniques and their respective styles.

This alone takes YEARS to develop and requires a minimum three to five days a week of consistently improving your technique and skill.

There is no short-cut in regards to time when it comes to developing the skill it takes to become a mma fighter.

Strength and Power

Fortunately, because of the nature of the human body, developing strength and power doesn’t take several hours a day to develop.

On the contrary, it shouldn’t take more than  4 hours a week to constantly improve your strength and power, and in many cases much less.

This is something most people can fit into their schedule without making any major sacrifices of time in their daily life.

Cardiovascular Conditioning

Developing your cardiovascular conditioning, like strength and power, doesn’t have to take too much time out of your day, but still requires consistent effort.

No more then 20 – 60 minutes of cardio 4 to 5 days a week is needed to develop maximum levels of cardio conditioning.

Again, developing your cardio doesn’t take too much time in your day by itself, but once you begin putting all three of these together, it can add up to several hours A DAY that many people simply don’t have.

Saving Time with Circuit Training in your MMA Conditioning Workouts

Once you factor in your strength, power, cardio and overall conditioning in, the hours start to really pile up.

Like I stated above, the average busy person just doesn’t have an extra 2 or more hours a day to dedicate to mma strength and conditioning.

There is a way, however, to save time by combining your mma strength training with your cardio in your mma conditioning workouts. This is through circuit training, also known as complexes.

A circuit is moving from one exercise to another with little to no rest periods in between each exercise, not stopping to rest until one “circuit” is complete.

With each workout, you can either increase the weight you do for each exercise, or decrease the time it takes to complete a circuit.

The great thing about circuit training is that compresses the time it takes to develop strength, power, AND cardiovascular conditioning into one mma conditioning workout; and the best part is that circuit training normally doesn’t take longer than 25 minutes a day to complete.

Don’t assume that with circuit training you’ll work any less hard or get any less of a result.  In fact, this type of training is one of the most physically demanding things you can do if you really push yourself, and is a staple in every fighter’s mma training workouts.

To learn more about circuit training and complexes for mma fighters, or to get started on a proven mma conditioning workout developed specifically for aspiring fighters who have little time but still want the results, the program I would recommend is:

Eric Wong’s Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program

Eric does a great job in covering every aspect of strength and conditioning for mma fighters, and breaks it up into a customizable yet effective workout program for every individual and their unique schedules.

Learn more about his program here

Train hard fellow fighters and fans,

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning Workouts