Fighters Only

Issue 059

February 2010

These routines are often characterized by multiple sets per body part, slow movement speeds, the use of machine weights, the use of single-joint isolation exercises and lots of workouts (up to five or six per week). Due to the popularity and media coverage of bodybuilding and its methods, in the past these body-part split routines are still the most common form of supplementary resistance training utilized by the average Joe practicing combat sports.

The Pros of Bodybuilding for MMA

If you are a novice lifter it is really a case of anything is better than nothing. Any form of resistance training will bring about strength and power increases in the novice lifter.

I am pretty sure the phenomenon of ‘dad strength’ (increase in strength post-reproduction, not a classified scientific phenomenon but observed by myself in many of the breeders I have trained with) comes from untrained guys having to carry around their very own, progressively-resisting, offspring for hours at a time.

If you have never done any strength training before, will a bodybuilding routine improve your strength and athletic performance? Yes it will.

There is also the possibility that you are stuck in the middle of a weight class and do not want to cut weight (shame on you). In this instance certain bodybuilding methods may be applicable. Skill training and cardio (combined with a solid dietary approach) are equally as important as the method of resistance training.

Machine weights allow you to sit down while moving a load, or move a load along an unnatural plane. This has a detrimental effect on balance, proprioception, coordination, skill development and the condition of the stabilizing musculature. It sounds like a great way to train to increase the likelihood of injury.

Oh, and they having big guns; chicks dig big guns. Bodybuilders have bitchin’ guns.

The Cons of Bodybuilding in MMA

Depending on the nature of the split it is not uncommon to see a small muscle group like the elbow flexors (bicep day, bro) be given an equal amount of time in the form of sets as the entire lower body (damn it, leg day). There is a huge amount of musculature surrounding the ankle, hip and knee complexes, muscles that are involved in many different and varied movements within combat sports. Allocating the same number of sets and exercises to the entire lower body and the muscles involved in elbow flexion is not a productive use of time.

The average guy involved in combat sports has a 9–5 job and likely trains three to five times a week, and might do some weights to help improve his performance and look a bit more jacked. This guy rarely has the time or recuperative ability to regularly train with anything more than 6–15 sets per workout. Following ‘Flex McMassive’s Super High-Volume Giant Chest OR Die Program’ might not be the most productive use of limited training-time.

One of the most important physical qualities to have in combat sports is a high ‘rate-of-force-development’ (RFD). This is the ability to utilize your strength quickly. Training with the slow tempos common in bodybuilding is great for developing structural hypertrophy [increase in muscle cell size] but is a real kick in the nuts for RFD. If you train slowly you will become slow.

Moving on to the exercises themselves, we can find more problems. Single-joint isolation exercises and machine weights affect significantly less muscle fibers and motor units than their free-weight alternatives, making them inferior for athletic development in most cases. The human body rarely moves in isolation. Think about throwing a right cross. Practically every muscle in your body plays a role in executing the right cross and recovering back to your stance, with massive contributions coming from the muscles of the lower body such as the rectus femoris, gastrocnemius and biceps femoris. Most people have never thought about training their legs to hit harder. The ability to transmit force through the kinetic chain across numerous joints is integral to most of the techniques and movements in combat sports. Training with large compound multi-joint movements (deadlifts, squats, etc) makes more sense.

Bodybuilding methods may have a place in MMA in certain circumstances, and these methods are certainly better than doing nothing, but training theory has moved on and we can now do better than emulating the strength sports to improve our sporting performance.

Alternatives to Bodybuilding Exercises

Don’t get stuck training like a bodybuilder. Ditch the muscle-sculpting exercises for moves that will make you stronger and help your MMA.

Bodybuilding exercise

Bicep preacher curl

Leg press

Barbell bent over row

Leg extension

Lateral raise

Calf raise

Alternative for Strength Training

Weighted chin-up

Front squat