Issue 055
October 2009
Whether you’re planning on fighting or just want to get fighting fit, circuit training is a great way to get in shape and increase your performance. There are many, many ways of setting up a circuit for MMA. Here are two popular examples used by everyone from average Joe’s to top pro’s.
2 Athletes, 1 Pad Man, 1 Floor Bag
Athlete A begins with the pad man, athlete B begins in a standing position with the bag. When the round commences, athlete A hits the pads according to the instruction of the pad man. The pad man will build-up specific combinations and movements appropriate for the fighter’s next opponent. The pad man will randomly give the instruction to “shoot” or “sprawl”.
Athlete B will throw the bag from a body lock and commence striking and transitioning. If another coach is available they can issue commands for changing position and correct striking technique, or add resistance by attempting to pull the athlete off the floor bag to test their pinning strength.
The pad man will call “clinch” at random intervals, and both athletes will meet in the middle, accepting an over under tie-up. From here both athletes will pummel and respond to commands for “speed”, “power” and / or “motion” from the pad man. Alternatively both athletes will go ‘one for one’, initiating a duck-under, arm drag, single-or double-leg takedown, then allowing the other athlete to execute any technique on them with minimal resistance.
The pad man will call the last 30 seconds of each round and the athletes should go for maximal output during that period, whether they are hitting or throwing the floor bag, hitting the pads, or wrestling.
The athletes should be constantly challenged by the shifting demands of the rounds – some days may involve an almost-exclusively ground-based fight for one athlete, and all stand-up and sprawling for the other. Some days may be an even, 50 / 50 split, or fought mostly in the clinch. The intensity and duration can be varied in order to use this routine as a skills-training exercise, or as a highly-specific conditioning exercise. This simple routine offers great scope for variation and accurately reflects the technical and metabolic demands of a real MMA fight.
Round times are adjusted according to training phase to allow for the athlete’s other training demands.
7 weeks out from fight: 3 x 3-minute rounds with a 1-minute rest period.
3 weeks out from fight: 3 x 5-minute rounds with a 45-second rest period.
1 week out from fight: 3 x 6-minute rounds with a 30-second rest period
Fight Gone Bad
Popularized by fighters such as BJ Penn, CrossFit is more than just a method of training; it’s an ideology and philosophy that espouses ‘elite fitness for all’. Used by everyone from martial artists and elite athletes to military special operations units and tactical police units, Crossfit workouts combine bodyweight exercises, Olympic lifts, gymnastic movements and ‘traditional’ weight-training exercises.
‘Fight Gone Bad’ is one of Crossfit’s most famous workouts. A five-minute round, you work at each of the five stations for a period of one minute, with a one-minute break between rounds before repeating. You can perform the circuit for either three or five rounds in total.
The clock does not stop between exercises. On the call of "rotate", the athletes must move to the next station immediately.
The Exercises:
1. Wall-ball: 20lb ball, 10ft target
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75lb / 35kg
3. Box Jump: 20" box
4. Push-press: 75lb / 35kg
5. Rower
Scoring your workout
To keep track of your performance, have a partner or coach count your reps and score the workout as follows: One point is given for each rep performed, except on the rower where each calorie burned is one point.
Thanks to everyone at The Faktory gym for their help. For more information on Crossfit training go to www.crossfit.com.
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