MMA weight training requires a lot more thought and planning then many other forms of weight training. Bodybuilding is easy to track results simply by measuring your muscle growth or simply by visual tracking, such as before and after pictures.

Strength training is even more straight forward as you can simply keep track of your progress in strength simply by tracking how much more you can lift in a given exercise.

MMA weight training, however, is a little bit more difficult to track in terms of whether or not your training program is effective or not. On top of that, mma fighters don’t have the simplicity of just focusing 100% of their effort on one particular skill, type of strength, or type of conditioning.

Where strength training and power lifter’s main goal is simply to continuously increase the weight of just a few single lifts, mma weight training requires mma fighters to develop their strength, strength endurance, power, power endurance, muscular conditioning, cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, balance, and individual martial arts skills, to name a few.

In order to properly create an efficient AND effective mma weight training program you’re going to have to take at least some of these physical attributes into account. When first starting off with a mma weight training program, unless you are already at a satisfactory level of strength, developing a strong base of strength in the major compound exercises should be your first goal.

Exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, shoulder presses, pull-ups, dips, and bent-over rows should make up the majority of your exercises. Compound exercises should be your focus since you’ll want to develop your muscles to coordinate with each other in strength movements early, which will have a much better carry over for mma.

After you develop a base level of strength, you’ll want to begin adding power exercises in your mma weight training program, such as cleans, high-pulls, and push presses. A lot of the beginning in your mma weight training will look similar to that of a strength and power lifter. However, it doesn’t end or stop there.

In order for you to get into a true fighters shape, you’ll want to turn this newly developed strength and power into strength and power endurance. Unless you’re banking on your technique being so good that you plan on finishing your opponent in the first 30 seconds of a fight, strength and power alone will do you no good until you can continue to execute near maximum levels of strength and power again and again.

A great way to develop strength and power endurance is through adding power complexes in your mma weight training routine. An example of a power complex is performing a few reps of a heavy compound exercise followed immediately by a lighter body weight exercise performed explosively.

By following these general guidelines in your mma weight training routine you will be well on your way to developing the strength, power, and conditioning you need to get in fighters shape.