Fighters Only

Issue 081

November 2011

A grueling ‘fight day’ workout that will not only blast your conditioning but your title chances also

Barry Gibson

Strength & conditioning trainer

Barry Gibson BSc and MMA-CSCC is the owner/founder of GrappleFit Training, and an S&C coach focusing on combat sports

This article has come about as a response to numerous emails and questions regarding the grueling sessions known simply as ‘Fight Day’ at my facility, Grapplefit. Whether my athletes are fighting in the UFC or local promotions these sessions are brutal.

Regardless of if you call it fight fitness, power endurance or just conditioning, it’s possibly the sickest stage of any training camp – especially at Grapplefit Towers. And, as I am so frequently informed by the prizefighters I train, I am not very pleasant on these days either!

The drills outlined above are used for MMA fighters, but I used a similar one to prepare for the Sambo Wrestling Championships recently – when I won gold – with some gi gripping-specific movements thrown in instead of ground ‘n’ pound.

This is the stage where we try to build up a tolerance to the dreaded hydrogen build-up that is known as ‘lactic acid.’ The body has an ability to buffer this by-product away, but depending on fitness levels of the athletes this can vary. Before we get to the meat of this though it’s important to understand a little more about the term “muscular endurance.” This is where it gets a little scientific.

It is believed there are three basic types of muscular endurance: alactic endurance: (alactic means the absence of lactate), where explosive bursts of activity occur for approx 10–20 seconds; lactic endurance: which is the awful burning feeling in your muscles as the hydrogen levels, and therefore acidity levels, build. This occurs over periods of 60–90 seconds. And finally we have aerobic endurance: which is lower intensity over a protracted period. The one most commonly associated with MMA and other combat sports is the second one – lactic endurance.

This is why the archaic notion of distance running for fighters does little to condition them for the rigors of the sport. By running long, slow distance cardio all you end up with is sore joints from all the senseless pounding on your feet, along with a skinny-fat physique. Let’s say for instance you run one mile at a steady pace, it may take 1200 steps. With each and every one of those steps, approximately two to four times your body weight is forced through your ankle, knee and hip structures. And all for around 100–150 calories burned. Is that really a healthy trade-off?

Sprinting or interval-type workouts, especially coupled with strength movements, will maximize your fat-burning furnace and allow your metabolism to stay elevated after your workout, plus they’ll get you into great fight shape.

Above is one example of a typical power circuit, known as ‘Fight Day,’ for MMA conditioning and power endurance. Some of my fighters go through this session performing five rounds of this with 45 seconds rest each interval.

The circuit is designed to fill the muscles with lactic acid and force the fighters to raise their threshold or tolerance level. The more exposure to this type of training the athlete has, the better their ability to cope with the ‘heavy legs’ feeling or the arm and shoulder ‘pump’ that can severely inhibit performance.

These workouts are an awesome way to get into kick-ass shape too. Your metabolism is cranked to the max after these routines, so you’re maximizing the ‘afterburn’ effect known as the EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), where your body works hard to recover and effectively ‘catch up’ and recover from the oxygen debt. This causes the body to continue to burn calories after the workout.

This can last for anywhere up to 48 hours. A massive bonus when you think about it. It doesn’t mean though, that you can eat your body weight in McDonalds; you have to be conscious of your diet too. As the saying goes: “You can’t out-train a bad diet.”

Give the workouts above a try and let me know how you get on. Train hard fight easy.

Fight day workout

Sled push - 20 meters

Leg blaster* - 24 reps

Med ball push-ups - 10 reps

Clap push-ups - 10 reps

Burpee push-ups - 10 reps

Resistance band arm drags - 50 reps

Alternate squat thrusts - 50 reps

Resistance band GnR - 50 reps

Rope climb - 3 trips

Keg burpee clean & press - 10 reps