MMA Conditioning Workout

Author: Derek Manuel

One of the most intense pieces of training equipment you can use in your mma workouts is the heavy sandbag. Just the other day I decided to defer from my regular leg training day and just do circuits with the heavy sandbag.



As I mentioned before, one of the greatest parts about mma workouts is that you can vary your training often enough to never get bored with your workouts - and there are all kinds of ways to train with the sandbag.



One of the best overall mma conditioning workouts you can do with the heavy sandbag is to perform circuits with it in the same amount of time as the rounds in a fight. Here is an example of 1 circuit in the mma workout I performed the other day. Take note that each circuit requires that you don't put the sandbag down the whole five minutes



MMA Workout w/ Heavy Sandbag Circuit (Round 1): 5 Minutes



1) Bear hug sandbag and walk for 1 minute



2) Shoulder sandbag and do 10 squats



3) Place sandbag across right shoulder and do 10 squats



4) Place sandbag across left shoulder and do 10 squats



5) Cradle sandbag in front of you and do 10 squats



6) Hold sandbag at arms length in front of you and walk for 30 seconds



7) Keeping same grip from previous exercise, do 20 stiff-legged deadlifts



8) Shoulder sandbag and walk for remainder of the time



Performing this circuit or one like it is a VERY good mma workout that carries over to the type of conditioning needed in a mixed martial arts fight, especially for grappling.



The reason being is that a heavy sandbag simulates an opponent because it is a heavy, awkward, unbalanced, and constantly shifting weight. Doing quick and explosive squats with the weight in different positions simulates the different positions and resistance when attempting to pick up your opponent and/or take him down.



By never putting the sandbag down, you train your stabilizer muscles as well as tax your isometric strength, strength endurance, and grip strength endurance (the fatigue you feel after a heavy sandbag workout is very similar to the fatigue you feel after an intense grappling match).



In terms of aerobic/anaerobic conditioning, heavy sandbag workouts can train both forms of endurance that transfers over very well to mma. If you wanted strictly an anaerobic workout, you can do interval training with the sandbags, such as quick sprints or as many squats as you can in a 30 second period followed by short rests periods. By doing circuits like the example I gave above - doing several circuits in 5 minute rounds with a 1 minute rest in-between them - your aerobic conditioning will come into play as you get into the fourth, fifth, and later circuits.



So if you want to change up your mma workout routine and get an intense full body strength and conditioning workout, incorporate some heavy sandbag training in your mma workouts.

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Home MMA Workout - MMA training from your house

MMA gym membership is expensive and will usually run you about 100 bucks a month, although it can be more or less. Most MMA gyms don't contain freeweights, so you'll have to shell out another 40-80 dollars a month to join a conventional gym that contains freeweights. This adds up, but don't fret - it is impossible to do your MMA workouts from home. There are a lot of good bodyweight exercises that'll increase your strength and conditioning, especially when applied to MMA.

Before you decide to jump into this exercise plan, you'll need a few items. The most important item that you can have in any home gym is a pull up bar. You can get a pull up bar that you can mount in your door frame, which is what I recommend. Pull ups are a fantastic exercise for MMA and one of the best home workouts ever. You'll also want some short wooden boxes, like the type you see people use when doing plyometrics, since you'll be doing a lot of those too. Dumbbells are also pretty cheap and are worth investing in, since they'll allow you to do a lot of lifts that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. A nice alternative to dumbbells are kettle balls, but it's very difficult to do snatches with them.

Now that you know what equipment you need, here are some of my favorite home MMA workout techniques.

For anaerobic endurance, I prefer to do a large number of pull ups or power straights. Both of these exercises require a ton of energy to do, although power straights are significantly harder. If you want to build good core strength for MMA from home, this is the way to do it. You can also do leg raises from the pull up bar, which'll further increase your core strength. I can't stress how important your hip and abdominal muscles are for MMA.

You'll also want to do plenty of depth and lateral jumps. I recommend at least 100 jumps a day when training for MMA at home. You can mix it up, but make sure you use proper form especially in the lateral jumps. It's pretty easy to hurt your knees when doing these. Depth push-ups are another great exercise you can do with plyometrics boxes.

If you managed to obtain some dumbbells or kettle balls, you can do dumbbell squats, deadlifts, and snatches. All of these exercises will build fantastic core strength and will increase your anaerobic capacity. Remember that most of an MMA fight uses anaerobic metabolism, so you'll need plenty of it! Another great home exercise that you can use is the shoulder press. This is particularly useful when grappling because you'll be able to more effectively control your opponent's limbs with your strong shoulders.

For aerobic exercise, you should run two to three miles every day and spend at least 30 minutes each day on the heavy bad at a moderate intensity. This'll ensure that you can recover quickly while in the corner and pace yourself in the stand up. The best thing is that these MMA exercises are relatively easy to do from home.

About the Author:

Check out Eric Wong's Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Guide for more ways to increase your conditioning for MMA. This guide is great for anyone that is serious about their MMA workouts.

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Author: James

The Best Muscle Workout May Not be what you think

There are so many programs out there that claim to be the best muscle workout that it is easy to be misled, or confused. How is it possible to determine what is the very best muscle building workout for you?

The answer to this question lies in what your goal is. The best muscle building program is different for a person who is looking to just get into shape versus a guy who is looking to become the next Mr Olympia. There are programs that show you how to "get ripped" and some that show you how to pick up a car (strength). But all of them have one thing in commen, the best muscle workout is one where you actually get off your butt and do something.

There is no simple pill that you take that will get you to develop the physique that you are looking for, at least not a legal one. Even with the use of illegal steroids or stimulants, you cannot get the body that you desire by just sitting there. The key to creating the body that you desire is in action and sweat....yes, sweat.

One of the key ways to set your goal is to determine exactly who, or what you want your new body to look like. By doing that, you can visualize exactly what you want to look like. Do you want to look like an athlete or Arnold? For me, I would rather have a healthy, strong body than a body builder physique.

The good thing is that the internet is full of solutions when it comes to creating the best muscle building workout for your specific goals. There is no doubt that having a lean, muscular physique will not only make you look good, but it will also allow you to move around (not like that huge body builder). There is no doubt that in comparing who you may want to have your body look like, a UFC fighter has to come into the mix.

UFC fighters have extremely strong, healthy bodies. They have created one of the best muscle workouts around. Their MMA workouts are built around increasing strength without bulk, increasing explosiveness and quickness and of course creating endurance and stamina. There is possible way in looking at some of these guys that you would beleive they dont have a body that you would like to have. The good news is, you actually can.

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Author: Alexander Travis

Get Washboard Abs with an MMA Workout

You can get washboard abs by doing an MMA workout just like the UFC fighters do. UFC fighters have to build a solid core in order to not only be able to handle a punch or kick to the midsection, but also their core muscles are what can help them to torque their body in many of the holds that they put on their opponents. Now you can learn the same techniques that they know in order to get washboard abs like they do.

In order to get washboard abs, you don't need to spend hours upon hours doing sit ups. In fact, sit ups are not the best exercise to get that six pack that you desire. In order to get the best looking six pack possible, you need to do isometric core exercises.

Isometric core exercises are those that are not built around movement of the body, but rather the tightening or contracting of the muscle. Many people who do yoga understand the meaning of isometric exercises (although this is not about yoga.) One of the best ways to do iseometric exercises for your abs is with a plank.

By doing a plank, you are tightening your core ab muscles without "building" your ab muscles. To do a proper plank, you place your elbows and forearms on the ground with your toes on the ground (as if you were doing a push up). If you tighten your abs and your glutes (butt), you will feel the tension in your core muscles. Keep that position for 30 - 45 seconds and you will start to feel the burn.

With this exercise, you will notice that there are no movements done to build muscle, which makes the ab muscle group tighten up in order to get washboard abs. There are also many other variations that go along with doing planks that also will help to build your core muscle groups.

But don't be mistaken, you cannot get washboard abs if you do not also make sure that you are eating the right foods and dieting correctly. The midsection area of a body has the most fat content and so it must be free of that fat layer in order to see the results of your hard work.

All of these exercises to get washboard abs as well as ripped biceps and chest are all in Eric Wong's MMA Ripped program. In this program, you will learn the very best exercises that the UFC fighters are doing to get their bodies to be absolute machines.

Click Here for Eric Wong's MMA Ripped Fat Loss Program

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MMA Conditioning Program for a Mean Body

Author: Alexander Travis

Doing an MMA Conditioning program does not mean just running around the block or on a treadmill. A good MMA conditioning program is one where you push your body to limits of endurance in order to push through the barriers to get to the next level.

When people hear the word conditioning, they often think about a marathon runner or someone who has the physical capacity to go long distances. That is not the case when you are talking about MMA conditioning. For an MMA workout to be successful, the fighter needs to push not only the cardio portion of the workout, but the total exhaustion of the fighters muscles. Only then will he be able to increase his stamina and be ready to fight in the octagon.

So, what does an MMA conditioning program look like?

Well, it is about as unorthodox as a workout could be. Running or jogging is only good for warming up your muscles when it comes to one of these intense workouts. Short distance sprints are used to build not only the legs' muscle endurance, but also get the fighters lungs to full capacity. Sprints are an effective way to add explosive power and quickness to your legs. This will also give a fighter the ability to shoot for his opponent and take them down.

Of course, muscle endurance and MMA conditioning is about blending speed and stamina. When you mix in speed, you create that explosiveness with any type of movement that is done. For instance, boxers are known for punching the speed bag for both hand eye coordination and to increase the speed and rhythm of their jabs. For an MMA fighter, especially in a kickboxing discipline, the heavy bag is used to kick on. Not slowly and methodically, but quickly and powerful. Again, this delivers a powerful kick to the opponent, but also increased the muscle endurance of the fighter. Continuous, quick kicks to a heavy bag conditions the fighter to have the stamina to perform those kicks late in the fight.

All over You Tube, you can find videos of UFC fighters workout out by slamming a sledgehammer into a big tire. This is not to show how tough they are and how hard they can swing a hammer, it is to increase the muscular endurance of their back and shoulder muscles. Continuously chopping down on that tire with a heavy sledgehammer until the point of exhaustion, gives the fighter the edge he needs to continue to ground and pound his opponent.

So, MMA conditioning is not about just being able to run long distances without breathing heavy. It is more about the anaerobic conditioning of the muscle and building endurance that will keep the fighter strong and powerful into the late rounds of a fight. For they know, if they can't go the distance, they probably wont win.

Click Here for a great MMA Conditioning and Strength program!

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