Issue 111

February 2014

FO highlights the three biggest errors MMA athletes make with their S&C training

While there’s a lot of information written about how to get awesome S&C levels, I believe that whatever training advice you follow should be very much dependent on your circumstances.

PAUL MCVEIGH

Sports scientist, TUF 14 cast member and full-time coach – each issue he presents his best conditioning tips

For instance, the general recommendation that ‘all MMA fighters should lift weights’ would fall flat if you were training an Olympic lifter who didn’t know how to throw a punch. For someone like that their time in the gym would be better served with more skill development than physical preparation.

Having said that, general recommendations which apply to the vast majority of people are incredibly valuable – but only if they apply to you. With that in mind, I’d like to highlight what I believe are the three most common mistakes a lot of MMA athletes fall foul of when training.

DOING TOO MUCH

Without a doubt this is the biggest mistake I see both recreational and professional MMA athletes making. Your body can only endure so much training before it becomes unproductive, which leads to performance decreases.

Combat sports athletes tend to have a ‘more is better’ mind-set. However, this is rarely the case. With experience you tend to figure out the optimum number and the intensity of the training sessions that will make you a better fighter. Throwing a heavy Olympic lifting protocol on top of that optimum number will tend to lead to less productive skill training sessions, getting battered in sparring and a body that hates your antics.

If you are adding tough strength and conditioning training sessions to your schedule make sure you are removing something to ensure you are developing optimally. Every December I tend to drop the amount of sparring I do and really concentrate on getting stronger by lifting more often.

NOT SETTING GOALS

The most productive months I’ve had as an athlete, have always been those where I have set myself a training goal. It can be anything from improving your omoplata, getting stronger in the squat or winning a fight. With this overall intent, your daily training sessions gain more purpose. 

Instead of turning up and going with the flow, you have smaller daily goals that, if achieved, will lead to your overall goal for the month. What the vast majority of athletes do is they adopt too many vague overall goals and rarely get anything of real value achieved.

Telling yourself that you’re going to work on your armbar, half guard passing, jabbing, wrestling and squatting, so you can lift double your own bodyweight by the end of the month might sound achievable but I can assure you it isn’t.

This is particularly relevant when two goals negatively impact each other. For example, trying to nail a deadlift PB while attempting to win an MMA bout with an associated weight-cut is, for most of us, just wishful thinking.

Give each month a specific measurable goal and then work towards achieving it on a daily basis. Over the year you will have seriously improved your ability to compete.

MAKING EVERYTHING A CARDIO WORKOUT

I blame those all-access, primetime, behind-the-scenes shows for this one. I appreciate that watching someone on the battling ropes, sprinting and going through caveman circuits is way more fun than watching someone power cleaning a few times and then sitting down for three minutes to let the old nervous system have a chance to recover.

But this has led to a culture where the majority of MMA athletes try to give every form of training a conditioning emphasis. They lift weights in a circuit format with high reps and little rest; they hit pads like the holder has stolen from their mothers, and they do everything, including sleeping, wearing Bane’s mask from the last Batman movie. 

Conditioning is vitally important for an MMA athlete, but it can be detrimental to focus on it in every session. For most it will lead to eventual burn-out, but some people compensate by adopting a style which allows them to maintain this schedule by training at a lower level of effort. And while they can train for hours at a time without becoming greatly fatigued, they also become plodders

For technical development this sort of style might not be a bad thing: more time on the mat leads to a more skilled combat sports athlete. However, when taken to extremes an athlete is produced that is not there to win fights but to endure the experience.

At the professional level a typical bout lasts 15 minutes and this duration favors those who are explosive. As the sport evolves we see this more and more. Try and name a single UFC fighter who is not a superb athlete. 

By deciding upon the purpose of each of your training sessions you can avoid this trap. When working to get stronger, take sufficient rest to get better. When hitting pads work on your combinations and technique, and when it’s conditioning time, drive that heart rate up as high as you can.