Conditioning for a mma fight is, unlike many other sports, not black and white. When most people think of the word conditioning, they think of how far and long an athlete can run or perform a certain exercise without sucking wind. This only refers to one aspect of conditioning. The word "conditioning" is often interchanged with the word cardio, which is short for cardiovascular conditioning or endurance, but the two are NOT the same thing.

Let's break down what exactly conditioning is in relation to a mixed martial artist and how we can put it all together so that a fighter can prepare his conditioning to the best of his/her ability.

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance can be broken into two parts: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic, which literally means "in the presence of oxygen," refers to slower but longer paced exercises, such as jogging where oxygen is the main energy pathway. Anaerobic, or "in the absence of oxygen," refers to high intensity training where energy is not derived from oxygen, but rather through alternative energy pathways that call upon an element called "phosphates" that are stored in our skeletal muscles. However, there is a very limited supply and phosphate gets used up very quickly (within a matter of seconds), though all the phosphate will be replenished usually in 5 minutes or less.

In a mma fight, both aerobic and anaerobic endurance are equally important. The better your aerobic endurance, the faster your heart will be able to supply your muscles with oxygen, which means the faster you can recover your wind, or "catch your breath."  The better your anaerobic endurance, the longer you will be able to perform high intensity exercise without slowing down.

However, there is a slight twist here. Although aerobic endurance serves as a good foundation for your overall conditioning, developing your anaerobic endurance is generally more beneficial for mma fighters. This is because studies have shown that aerobic endurance carries over less to anaerobic endurance, meaning that if you do a lot of low-intensity long distance running, you won't see much improvement in, say interval training where you do high intensity sprints for 10 - 30 seconds, rest for a minute, and repeat for a certain amount of times.

However, on the flip side, anaerobic endurance carries over to aerobic endurance very well, so if you do a lot of interval training, this will improve your ability to jog for longer periods of time or for longer distances; in other words, increase your aerobic endurance. Conditioning your anaerobic endurance also carries over to mma more because it better develops your speed, power, muscle mass, and even fat loss then exercises that are mainly aerobic in nature.

As I stated earlier though, cardio is only one aspect of conditioning. If you were to get to the point where you can jog 5 miles or more non-stop without breathing hard and you can do dozens of wind sprints in a short amount of time with minimal rest, and that's ALL the "conditioning" you did, I guarantee you will still run the risk of "gassing out" out in a high intensity mma fight. Why? Because although your cardiovascular endurance may be in great shape, you are still lacking a very important form of conditioning: muscular endurance.

Muscular Endurance

If exercises like jogging or cycling are mainly a form or cardiovascular endurance, then muscular endurance is the capacity of a muscle or a group of muscles to perform repeated contractions against a given load for a relatively long period of time.

However, muscular endurance can even still be broken down into three different types:

1) Muscle endurance - The capacity to contract a muscle or group of muscles regardless of the weight during a relatively long period of time (example: doing 100 pushups or doing as many pushups as you can within a five minute time period)

2) Strength Endurance - The capacity to exert maximum or near maximum strength for a relatively long period of time (think bench pressing your 1-3 rep max for as many reps as you can in a five minute period)

3) Power Endurance - The capacity to exert maximum or near maximum strength quickly (power = strength x speed) for a relatively long period of time (example: doing cleans with your 1-3 rep max for as many reps as you can in a five minute period)

All three of these types of muscular endurance are equally important, on top of your cardiovascular endurance, for a mixed martial arts fight. If you are scheduled for five, 5 minute rounds and you go the distance, your cardiovascular endurance will definitely come into play (more anaerobic in the beginning and more aerobic towards the end).

If the fight is in large a boxing match, where you are throwing dozens and dozens of punches, this will heavily tax your muscle endurance, such as your shoulders.

If the majority of the fight is fought in the clinch, or where you are shooting for takedowns or defending them back and forth, a lot of this requires quick and explosive strength, or power, to take your opponent down. If you plan on being able to continuously use the same or very similar level of maximum strength and power even into the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds, then you're going to need strength and power endurance.

Putting it All Together

As you can see, doing a bunch of bicep curls and bench presses in your garage and jogging around your block every other day is simply not going to get you in the right condition when training for a fight. You have to keep in mind all of these elements, and train appropriately for them.

So how do you do that? I'd thought you'd never ask.

I will give you an example for a mma fighter who is training for a fight coming up in 12 weeks. Keep in mind that this is just a general example, as each fighter is different and requires a conditioning program that is more geared for their specific needs.

Depending on the fighter, who he/she is fighting, what his/her strength and weakness are, how far out the fight is, and how good of shape the fighter is already in all play a factor on how the strength and conditioning program should be designed. But for sake of example, I'll show you a brief overview of how you might incorporate a full mma conditioning workout into your training.

Let's say the fight is scheduled for 3, five minute rounds. Using Stephen Coveys "Begin with the end in mind" principle out of his phenomenal book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, let's first be clear on where the fighter should be in terms of conditioning at the end of the 12 weeks.

Generally, the conditioning goal for a mma fighter to reach right before a fight is to have maximized his cardio conditioning, starting from a strong aerobic base and ending on a strong anaerobic base that is geared specifically for the length of time in each round, and to have developed his power endurance to the highest level possible.

So first you train strength (though building your strength should be a never ending task, preferably during times when you don't have a fight scheduled for a long time), then your muscle and strength endurance, then transmute this new strength into power, and finally into power endurance when the fight is getting closer.

We can do this by training your conditioning in this specific order in a 12 week pre-fight program:

Phase 1 (Week 1-3) - For the first three weeks, a fighter may want to focus on developing strength with the most basic compound movements (i.e: squats, bench presses, weighted pull-ups, deadlifts, etc.) as well as begin to develop a foundational base for aerobic endurance.

Phase 2 (Week 4 & 5) - In the next two weeks, a fighter may want to continue to work on basic strength, but also work on muscle endurance by adding 1 or 2 extra sets of maximum reps at the end of each exercise (such as doing pushups after finishing the last set of heavy bench presses), as well as begin to shorten the distance while picking up the pace in his/her endurance training (from 45 minute jogs to 25-30 minute faster paced runs)

Phase 3 ( Week 6 - 9) - At this phase, the fighter is going to want to focus on strength and power exercises, and begin to make the focus of his/her cardio anaerobic (interval training, running as fast as you can at a 5 minute round pace, uphill sprints, etc.)

Phase 4 (10 - 12) - The final few weeks, the fighter should combine his strength and endurance training into one, such as using "power complexes" or circuit training. This is where the fighter trains strength, power, muscle endurance, and cardio all into an exercise for a set amount of time (usually the time of each round in a fight)

This is just a general example of how a fighter might want to plan his 12 weeks for an upcoming fight so that his conditioning is developed for optimal performance come fight night.

All the elements of conditioning are included, so instead of just being able to "run for a long time without sucking wind" the fighter will actually have a fully functional and conditioned body to continue to push the pace NO MATTER WHERE THE FIGHT GOES.

Keep in mind that this just a conditioning side of a mma fighters workout, and where it fits into a fighter's regular schedule of skill training, flexibility training, recovery time, and all the other important aspects depends on the each fighter's situation.

Hopefully now you realize that conditioning is not just cardio, but includes all the facets of endurance that is required in mma. Cycle your conditioning workouts similar to the phases that I have provided above based on when your fight is, and you'll be right on track to developing the type of conditioning that will have you pushing the pace for all 5 rounds without slowing down or feeling worn out. As I have always said, strength and conditioning fits right in with boxing, Muy Thai, jujitsu, wrestling, and judo as far as a mandatory "art" you must practice if you are to be a true mixed martial artist.

 

Derek Manuel has been involved in MMA and physical fitness for over 12 years. He is in the process of becoming certified as NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) to train professional fighters and athletes and is the author of the top-selling bodybuilding ebook, How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle for Hardgainers. When he is not training he is discovering the fastest way to both efficiently and effectively improve physical conditioning and overall performance as an MMA fighter. To see Derek's reviews of the top MMA strength and conditioning programs on the market, visit: www.BestMMATrainingWorkouts.com