- How to build an MMA body, Training like an MMA fighter, How to train to be an MMA fighter.
Mixed Martial Arts is an absolute sport who requires a variety of skills and a complex training program (I’ll call it “all around training”). Beside the fact that you need a solid background in wrestling, grappling and striking you also need training regiments to strengthen all the muscle groups, speed and power of reaction.
As a fighter you need to allocate enough time to all types of fighting, putting accent in areas that you think you might need more improvements. Having all this side of training covered, involving wrestling, boxing and jiu jitsu (just to mention a few), you also need to pay a significant attention to your strength and conditioning training specific MMA. Last but not the least, strategic and psychological training before the fight is also a big factor.
What is Strength and Conditioning Training specific Mixed Martial Arts? Well… I will need probably a week to write about all the aspects of training, however, I will write about what I believe is the most important ones.
- Power training – A fighter needs to be strong and able to overcome his opponent strength. That involves weight training, improving and maintaining the muscle mass;
- Speed training – An MMA athlete needs spend and power of reaction. Been able to react before his opponent increase his chances of scoring or winning the fight;
- Conditioning training – Is one of the most important qualities in an MMA fighter. Going all the way to end of the fight without getting exhausted, give you the opportunity to make the right decisions during fight, think rationally and respond immediately in critical situations.
Now the question is… How do you incorporate all this in a training program?
A “Training Program” means a plan of attack, or a period of time before the fight date, giving you the necessary time to get ready or get in shape; that might be weeks or even months. Also recovery is as important as training itself, some athletes (mostly inexperienced ones) tend to over train, worrying about not being in shape enough or ready for the fight and taking their bodies beyond exhaustion.
A training program is individually designed for each fighter based on their needs and it consists in more than one training session. It consists in specific MMA training (jiu-jitsu, wrestling, grappling, boxing, etc), strength/power, conditioning/cardiovascular and reaction training.
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