Issue 042
October 2008
By Steve Maxwell Photos: Gudjon Svansson & Jacob Fortin
In modern MMA there are many skills to master in order to become a successful fighter. The three major disciplines are kickboxing, wrestling (particularly from the clinch) and BJJ on the ground. In each of these three disciplines are a multitude of tricks, manoeuvres and moves to learn, and all of this work is in itself very strenuous.
Kickboxing is a form of power-endurance training, while grappling – both standing and on the ground – involves strength-endurance. Speed and explosiveness are important, though neither are as important as strength-endurance. There are plenty of slower, methodical fighters who enjoy great success. These fighters mainly rely on timing, positioning and strategy. At any rate, all of this skill acquirement is extremely demanding and will leave you with little energy for much else.
Most of the conditioning for MMA comes from practicing these skills, as well as from live sparring sessions. You must be very careful about adding supplementary exercise. The MMA fighter is always walking the fine edge of overtraining, thus any supplementary exercise must be purposeful and add something to the game.
Exercise in itself won’t increase strength or conditioning. Exercise is a purposely induced stress that temporarily decreases your body’s ability to perform. After a bout of exercise (depending upon the severity) your body is in a weakened state, which lasts from one to several days. The benefits of exercise are indirect and come from rest and recuperation, yet the recovery process remains one of the most overlooked and ignored factors in the modern combat athlete’s regimen.
How many times have you seen an MMA star with a stellar work ethic come into the arena looking totally flat? You heard the stories of how hard the guy worked and the amazing routines he went through, only to see him gas out within the first round. Often this poor performance can be blamed on overtraining and improper pre-event tapering.
When you hear the stories or watch the video clips of marathon training sessions, coupled with heavy weight training, then a ménage à trois with running and so on, either the guy is being grossly over-trained and will inevitably suffer a breakdown of some type, or he is on performance-enhancing drugs which work by enhancing recovery (the anabolic state).
Here’s the thing: it’s a well-known fact that those athletes who practice and train the most have the highest skill levels. But how do you train everyday (sometimes twice a day) without breaking down or getting sick or injured. This is the $64,000 question.
First, let’s begin with the symptoms of the over-trained state, which is a consequence of central nervous system (CNS) and adrenal burnout.
1) Impaired immunity
2) Elevated pulse
3) Heavy legs
4) Easily winded
5) Depression, mood swings, temper tantrums
6) Excessive hunger or loss of appetite
7) Fatty deposits in spite of high activity levels, sometimes accompanied by muscle loss
8) Headaches, foggy thinking, indecisiveness
9) Continual body aches and muscle soreness
10) Inflammation and its associated symptoms, e.g. joint pain, skin rashes,swelling
11) Elevated cortisol and its associated symptoms, e.g. difficulty sleeping at night and morning grogginess.
How can you get the most from your training and enhance recovery? One way is to carefully research any supplemental training geared to identify and work your weaknesses. If I have an athlete who possesses great muscular power and strength but poor endurance and flexibility, why in the world would I put him on a power lifting regimen? You’d better believe that as his coach, I’d be working on his endurance and flexibility. I don’t believe it’s necessary to cycle an athlete’s training in a planned-phase, cookie-cutter approach. No, I cycle the athlete’s training around his attributes – those attributes which require improvement and expansion.
Seems like common sense, still, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen athletes going through scheduled power phase, strength phase, endurance phase programmes when half of it is overkill! By the same token, I’ll get athletes with amazing endurance and flexibility who possess relatively little strength. These natural endurance types need to be on a virtually year-round strength programme. But when endurance-types are introduced to strength programmes, the programmes usually resemble the split routine of a competitive bodybuilder – too demanding, too exhausting, too focused on muscular hypertrophy and muscle-spinning exercises.
In truth, the most productive strength programmes for MMA fighters can be had with a few simple compound barbell, kettlebell or body weight exercises – those that give the most bang for the buck.
When properly applied, supplementary training should be brief, infrequent and intense enough to produce a training effect, but not so intense as to create chronic fatigue. As a strength and conditioning coach with over 35 years experience, I consider the field as much art as it is science. Besides the physiological factors involved, I must always look at the psychological profile of my athlete.
That’s why I laugh when I see published conditioning routines organised with arbitrary sets and reps, a sort of mish-mash of one-size-misfits-all. Understand that just because Randy Couture, Georges St Pierre, or even BJ Penn do a particular protocol it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. To get the most from your MMA career, you’ll need a conditioning coach who knows how to assess you as an individual and come up with a winning formula.
Steve Maxwell is a strength and conditioning expert with over 35 years of experience working with athletes. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, he is also a highly regarded kettlebell instructor and teaches workshops in physical conditioning to fighters, grapplers and other athletes around the world. For more information visit www.maxwellsc.com
...
