In a typical MMA workout routine that focus’s on using body-weight, most people think of exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, bear crawls, etc.

Though these are indeed excellent bodyweight exercises, another method fighters should include in their mma strength and conditioning workouts are doing resistance exercises, such as with dumbbells or barbells, using actual bodyweight as the resistance.

Though it’s key to condition your body to get comfortable moving it’s own weight, it’s important not to forget that when you’re in a MMA fight, you’re not just battling your own resistance, but that of your opponents.

That being said, it is equally important that you include this type of resistance training in your mma workout routine.

Here are some of the most important exercises you should be doing in your mma workouts with your bodyweight as the resistance:

- Bench press’s

- Squats

- Deadlifts (both regular and stiff-legged)

- Lunges (both forward and reverse)

- Bent-Over Barbell Rows

- Shoulder Press’s

A good measure of relative strength, which is your strength to bodyweight ratio, is to be able to perform at least a couple reps of each of these exercises with your bodyweight in good form.

If you find yourself not able to do at least 3 -5 reps with any of these exercises with your bodyweight in good form, then you know a good place to start.

For exercises that you find relatively lighter, such as with squats and deadlifts, you can work on your strength endurance with these exercises through various mma workout routines.

Most people struggle with the lunges and the shoulder presses at this weight, so you may want to build up your levels of strength with these exercises first before working them into your mma workout routines for strength endurance.

After all, it’s called strength endurance, if you have no strength to begin with, what the hell are you trying to endure – weakness?

Next time, before one of your mma workouts, record the amount of reps you can do for each exercise above (remember to have a spotter) in good form, and make it a goal to increase these numbers every several months.

Don’t forget to share your results below!

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Workout Routine

MMA Strength Training with Death Sets

When most people think of training with heavy weight, they follow the mindset that it must be done with low reps. Same kind of thinking goes with the reverse: light weight, a lot more reps.

When it comes to MMA strenght training however, mma fighters are the rare type of athletes that need not only raw strength, but strength endurance as well, or the ability to exert maximum or near maximum effort over and over for a long period of time.

One way you can incorporate this into your MMA strength training routine is through power complexes, where you superset a compound exercise with heavy weight and low reps immediately with a light or body weight exercise for a lot of reps.

This is a very effective way of developing both strength and strength enduranace, and you can do this to develop your power and power endurance as well.

Death Sets

Another but much less known method fighters can incorporate into their mma strength training routine is called “Death Sets,” and by their name you’ll get a glimpse of how grueling they are.

The concept of death sets is simple: heavy weight for a lot of reps.

Huh? Isn’t that a paradox?

Maybe, but this can be done with a few exercises, mainly compound exercises for the bigger muscles.

The most grueling exercise you can do, but also perhaps the most beneficial as a mma fighter and complete athlete overall, are death sets with squats.

Here’s how you do them. Load up the barbell with weight you would normally do 10 reps with. How do you make this into a death set? Do 20 reps with it instead.

On paper, this may sound illogical and even impossible, but most people underestimate their capacity with certain exercises.

You can’t do this with every exercise, such as isolation exercises, but with the major compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bent-over barbell rows, you can definitely give it hell.

Try incorporating these into your mma strength training workouts a couple times a year. I usually don’t suggest doing them more then 2 to 3 times a year, 6 or so weeks at a time, as it’s too exhausting to do in conjuction with regular MMA conditioning and skills training and requires a lot of rest in between each workout (3- 4 days in between each).

You’ll not just discover it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do physically, but you’ll be developing strength, strength endurance, conditioning, cardio, and mental toughness all in one.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Strength Training

This is going to be a bench mark year for me. Why should you care? Because I’ve already started creating what I believe is going to be the most comprehensive MMA strength and conditioning program to date – and I want YOUR help to complete it!

I have been studying the sport of mixed martial arts as well as the strength and conditioning side of things for well over 10 years now, and believe there is a WHOLE lot of room for growth for effective and efficient training.

How would you like to achieve elite levels of strength and conditioning, specifically for the sport of mixed martial arts in the most efficient (more results for time put in) and effective (highest value of results) way possible? This is what I’m working on, and will keep you updated with the progress.

In the meanwhile, I’m going to need YOUR help.

In the comments section below, leave your comments, questions, and suggestions on what YOU would like to learn most about improving your strength, conditioning, fitness, and overall performance in MMA.

Here are some examples to get your idea’s flowing:

• What is your biggest challenge in strength and conditioning for MMA? (what, why, how, when, etc)
• What would you like to increase more of: your strength or cardiovascular conditioning?
• Do you find yourself gassing out more, being out-muscled, or both?
• What are your goals when it comes to strength and conditioning for MMA?
• In what format would you like to learn more about strength and conditioning for MMA? (eBook, hardcover, online training, video, etc)

Any question or suggestion you have regarding MMA strength and conditioning, leave them below.

My goal is to create the ultimate and ongoing strength and conditioning program specifically for MMA that will be a MUST HAVE for all serious MMA fighters, fan’s, and fitness enthusiasts, and I want YOUR input in its creation!

Thanks a million guys and gals,

Derek Manuel
MMA Strength and Conditioning

It’s not only the start of a New Year, but a new decade. If you’ve read my last post on how to ACTUALLY set and achieve your New Years Resolution goals, then you’re on the right track, assuming you’ve begun applying the first 3 steps.

Check out the blog post here if you havn’t read it yet.

If one of your goals for the new year will be to improve your performance for mixed martial arts, fitness, or both, you’ve come to the right place.

This year one of MY New Year’s resolutions is to really help you guys out in getting in better overall shape, specifically strength and conditioning for MMA.

That being said, this blog will hopefully be a much bigger help to you and your goals moving forward. So let’s say you want to start off the New Year with a bang. You want to get in elite fighters shape, whether to fight, compete, or just look and know you damn well could if you needed to.

One of the first places to look is at your current MMA strength and conditioning routine. Do you have one? Or do you just wing it? For most people, they either construct their own mma workout programs each day as they feel, or they think they are getting a good enough workout in the regular MMA skills training.

The problem with these two approaches is that you’ll never really improve your strength and conditioning for MMA to the point where you’ll have an advantage over your competitors.

Sure, you might (and should) be progressing nicely in your MMA technique and skills training with your instructor or class, but if you’re not putting in the same deliberate practice in your MMA strength and conditioning workouts you’re giving up a huge advantage.

So where to begin? The first place to begin is to learn from the experts. Since most people either can’t find or afford a specialized trainer specifically for mma strength and conditioning, the next best thing is to follow a proven program.

I have broken down and reviewed the top three MMA strength and conditioning programs out today, where everything from exercises, diet and nutrition, full on programs, and more are covered. All you have to do is follow instructions.

1) Eric Wong’s Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program
(Best overall MMA strength and conditioning program out today)

2) Jim Smith’s Combat Core Training
(All about training the core muscles most used for combat athletes)

3) Eric Wong’s MMA Ripped
(Best program for fan’s and fitness enthusiasts who want to train like a fighter without being one)

By starting off with one of these programs in the new year, you will be well on your way to making 2011 THE year to really step up your MMA strength and conditioning goals.

Not only will you get results after completing one of these programs, but you will have the knowledge and experience to THEN start experimenting with your own workouts and exercises since you’ll have a hell of a lot more knowledge the before. Start building your mental and physical momentum now, and make 2011 your year.

Hope this helps,

Derek Manuel

MMA Strength and Conditioning

There is a big myth out there that unless every one of your mma conditioning sessions makes you puke or get near this point, you’ll never achieve top levels of mma conditioning. This is not only untrue but just plain stupid if you look at the logic.

Though it’s true that in order to grow and develop your conditioning you do indeed have to overload your cardiovascular system with more work consistently so that it continues to develop, this doesn’t mean you have to take your body to the limit physically every single workout.

The key, like anything else worthwhile in life, is progression and persistence. If you’re persistent with your training in the long term in that you train consistently and improve bit by bit over the course of weeks, months, and even years, you’re much further ahead then someone who trains until they puke their guts out for three weeks then takes a week or two off, and does it again.

Plus, if every one of your mma conditioning sessions is like a day in Hell, how long are you going to stay motivated to do this again and again and again? You are more likely to get burned out either physically, mentally, or both if you keep up this pace.

Instead, approach your mma conditioning with a more long term goal, keeping the main focus of continuous progression over time. This is not only healthy for you and actually a smarter approach physically, but is the right ingredient mentally because you’ll always stay sharp and hungry as you make progress a long term habit.

Now, this isn’t an excuse for lazy workouts. If you take this as and excuse to not pushing yourself in your training and taking a bunch of “easy days” thinking that as long as your staying persistent, you’re missing the point.

I’m the first person to get excited when I’m pit with a challenging mma conditioning workout that pushes me near my limits physically and mentally, and I believe every so often these workouts are necessary to not only take your conditioning to the next level but for shear mental toughness as well.

You see, it’s all about a balance. It’s unrealistic to expect yourself to go through one of these near-limit workouts every single training session. You’ll eventually get burnt out, lose motivation and start missing days which doesn’t do you any good.

However, on the other hand, if you’re still doing the same mma conditioning workout every week to the point where you can do it without breaking a sweat while doing it in your sleep, you’re spinning your wheels here too.

Remember, mma conditioning is about progression AND persistence. But you’re not going to double your lung capacity or muscle endurance overnight, so don’t judge your workouts so much by each individual effort, but rather the sum of all your efforts over time.

Train hard, train smart fellow fighters and fans,

Derek Manuel
MMA Conditioning Workouts

As the above image of the heavyweight enigma Fedor Emelianenko suggests, looks can be deceiving. At first glance you wouldn’t think he’s a very physically strong or conditioned human being, but anyone who’s seen him fight would attest otherwise.

Have you ever rolled with an opponent who, before clashing, you thought you were going to be able to manhandle – only to discover he’s freakishly more strong then you anticipated?

What about the other way around? If you train in MMA or some kind of grappling art long enough, I’m sure once you were intimidated by the muscle size of your opponent, and then realizing right after you start grappling that he isn’t nearly as strong as you thought.

Some people naturally have better looking builds then others, and some people are naturally strong but don’t look it. And then there are those gifted with both, such as the case with Georges St. Pierre.

However, there are some people who can train as hard as GSP and for as long as he has (though I seriously doubt that many do) but will never have the physique of the Canadian welterweight.

Again, everybody’s born with different physical genetics, and everybody develops at a different pace then each other both looks wise and strength wise.

The point is this: for combat athletes, it is much more important to develop one’s strength and conditioning in your mma workouts and not gauge you progress on how you look.

Of course, any athlete who follows a solid mma workout and has a good diet will most definitely develop a better physique then if they sat around on their asses all day eating Twinkie’s, but this should just be a by-product of your training, and not the end goal.

If you’ve read any of my past stuff, you’ll know how I emphasize power endurance as the main physical attribute mma fighters want to develop to be in optimal fighters shape.

Power exercises means moving resistance quickly. When you are moving resistance quickly, you are not necessarily building the muscle fibers that are ideal for muscle mass and definition.

This means you can be very powerful, but not look physically imposing (i.e. Fedor).

Now, I’m a guy, and I like having a fit and muscular and lean looking body just like the next guy, so I’m not saying that working out with the goal of looking good from your mma workouts is necessarily a bad thing.

What I’m saying is that if you are planning on fighting or competing in some kind of martial art competition, remember to follow the advice of Pat Riley, “the main this is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

And the main thing in a mma strength and conditioning workout is to further develop your strength and conditioning.

If you want to throw in an extra set of curls every once in a while or do a couple ab exercises that have absolutely no use other then building a thick muscular six pack, go ahead, especially if it’s the beginning of your “training camp” and your fight isn’t for a while.

But the closer it gets to your fight or competition, you’d better be focusing on your performance in your coach’s eyes rather then how you look in the mirror.

Hope this helps,

Derek Manuel
MMA Training Workouts

In the last post, I went over some things that don’t work when trying to develop your punching power. Today, I want to go over 3 exercise’s you can fit into your mma training workouts that simply kick-ass if you really want to develop that knockout power every mma fighter desires.

The following exercises should be trained together, no more then 2 to 3 days a week. Start off doing about 5 to 15 reps, 2 to 4 sets each exercise, with about 60 – 90 seconds rest between each set and exercise.

Remember that the key is to focus on technique and power in each rep, this isn’t your typical mma strength and conditioning routine where you’re trying to exhaust your muscles or test your endurance.

In fact, if you find yourself slowing down or getting tired then you’re not developing power at all, but performing a half ass conditioning workout. You need to either lower the resistance in each exercise, rest longer between sets, or perform less reps/sets.

Here are the exercises below:

1) Medicine Ball Side Tosses

Medicine Ball Side Toss

Start Position: Start standing perpendicular to a sturdy wall with your feet roughly shoulder width apart, holding the medicine ball in front of you at arms length.

Movement: With your arms nearly straightened out and your feet firmly planted in front of you, cock the medicine ball to the side slightly before you use your core and hips to rotate as fast as possible to throw the ball across to your other side.

Notes: The key is to use your core and torso to throw the ball, not your arms, and remember to keep your feet in the same position throughout the movement.  Start off with a light medicine ball, around 6 – 10 pounds depending on your weight and strength level. Remember, the key here is developing a powerful and “snappy” movement, you’re not supposed to be looking like a StrongMan lifting 500 pound Atlas stones.

2) Sledgehammer Slams

Starting Position: Start off with standing in front of a piece of equipment that will give, such as a tire or other strong rubber. Word of Caution: don’t slam it against something that will cause the sledgehammer to bounce back – unless you plan on developing your chin simultaneously (that’s a joke). Stand with one foot forward, and the sledgehammer in front of you as seen in the above picture.

Movement: Slowly raise the sledgehammer in an arcing, half-circle angle vertically, and use your back, shoulders, and core to slam the hammer down on the tire as hard as you can.

Notes: The key is coordinating the movement with all the muscles for maximum speed and power. Really focus on using your core, back, and shoulders to develop the power. Your arms, just like a punch, should only be the delivering mechanism for the force, not the cause of it.

3) Power Push-Ups

Starting Position: Start off in the bottom/finishing position of the push-up.

Movement: With all your power, push with your arms and chest as fast and hard as you can, elevating your body off the ground as high as you can.

Notes: Power push-ups are a good supplemental exercise to develop that extra snap that just doesn’t get developed in the bench press. By starting from the bottom position, and ending the moving as powerful as possible (unlike in the bench press where you actually have to slow down at the end to avoid throwing the weight), you are coordinating the correct muscle movement where your arms, chest, and shoulders are used in a punch.

Summary

Progressively integrate these three exercises in your mma training workouts, and after a few solid months of consistency, you should notice considerable increase in your punching power.

This of course, is assuming you’ll still be working on sharpening your technique as well.

Give them a try, and let me know by commenting below if you have any questions.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Training Workouts

It is said that, just like some people are born naturally stronger, or naturally more athletic,  some people are born with more punching or knockout power then others.

However, just like strength and athleticism, punching power can be developed with the proper mma training workouts. The key is to take what talent you were or weren’t born with and focus on developing it from there – whining about “unfortunate genetics” won’t get you anywhere.

First and foremost, we must understand what constitutes punching power, then we can properly understand how to develop it.

The first thing mma fighters must understand is the fundamentals, which is technique.

In order to generate the most force in your blows, you have to learn and constantly work on mastering the technique behind each punch. Boxing is one of the best style’s of combat to really learn the minute detail in throwing every type of punch in MMA.

Once you learn good technique, then you can work on developing power in your technique.

Power in your punches is essentially coordinating  each muscle involved in the movement of a punch to deliver maximum speed output and maximum strength output harmoniously.

The major muscles involved in punching are your legs, core, chest, back, shoulders, and arms….. yeah, pretty much all the major muscle groups in the body.

What many beginning fighters and athletes aren’t aware of however, is how to properly develop these muscle groups to coordinate these together for strength, speed, and technique.

For example, most people would think that developing a strong bench press is a good exercise to develop your punching power.

However, an exercise like heavy bench presses alone won’t develop punching power for several reasons:

1) The bench press only develops the chest, shoulders, and arms, leaving out many of the major muscle groups involved in throwing a punch.

2) The bench press is a pushing motion, whereas punching is rotating motion (the majority of power in your punch’s comes from your legs and core, and how powerfully you can rotate your hips).

3) Training for a fast and powerful punch by doing heavy bench press’s is like sprinters doing heavy lunges.

Now, what I’m not saying is that the bench press is necessarily a bad exercise for developing punching power.

Increasing your muscle strength in your chest and arms is a good thing, just like having strong legs is a good thing for sprinters.

However, the problem is that the development of your punching power would be very incomplete if these type of basic strength exercises were all you were doing.

Following the example with sprinters, though it’s important to have strong legs, it’s equally important that they learn to move this new strength quickly, and they do this with other supplemental exercises such as sprinting, sprinting with resistance, etc.

Summary

So by learning to develop strength and speed in these muscles, then training your body to develop the coordination between these muscles and the movement with technique training, speed drills, and other strength and power exercises, you’ll be well on your way to developing your punching power.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article, where I go over 3 exercises in detail that will increase your punching power by developing all the major movements and muscles involved in striking.

Train hard, train smart, fellow fighters and fans.

Derek Manuel
MMA Training Workouts

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

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