Issue 036
April 2008
BY ALEX GOLD
Many fighters tend to copy what other people are doing in the gym,
following a bodybuilding-style split training-program. This is not an optimal
approach for various reasons, some of which I will explore here.
1 The body works as one unit
In traditional bodybuilding training, the body is generally split into parts. For instance, you may train chest and triceps one day, back and biceps the next and legs on the final day. This may be a good way to train for size – as it allows you to do much more work for each muscle and target specific muscles – but is not a good thing to do for a fighter. When fighting, the body is not used in separate parts. For instance, a punch is not an arm movement, but starts with the feet and uses the whole body. Teaching the body to transmit and produce force as one unit is going to carry over better than splitting it up into parts.
2 Slow movements do not carry over
At a certain level of development, carry over from one type of movement to another starts to become more specific. Therefore the slow steady movements that are generally used in bodybuilding will not help you to increase your speed or power as much as doing faster, more explosive work. Even if you are in a strength phase you should try to lift the weight as fast as possible, as this will teach the nervous system to fire explosively.
3 Additional size can be a handicap
It probably goes without saying, but the goal of bodybuilding is to add muscle size, without regard for performance. Additional muscle may be beneficial to some fighters, but it is more useful to maximise relative strength. Bodybuilding often leads to increases in muscle size that are not matched by relative increases in strength, therefore this will
make your body work harder, in a similar manner to wearing a weighted vest.
4 Bodybuilding may cause needless soreness
Training with a bodybuilding split as mentioned above means that each muscle gets more work than if you were to work the whole body in one gym session. This also means that the muscle may be extremely sore for a few days. This soreness can interfere with technical work and make it difficult to move smoothly, which will take away from your skill training. Remember that as a fighter you are always looking for any
additional training to improve you, so being so sore you can’t walk is not something you should try to achieve on a regular basis.
5 Bodybuilding requires too much time
Bodybuilding training generally requires a lot of volume – lots of reps and lots of sets. Add to this the fact that the body is usually split into parts, and soon you will find it easily possible to be spending five to eight hours a week in the gym lifting weights. If you are already training regularly to fight you will find that you never have time to rest, which is when you repair. Try and spend the minimum time needed to make progress in
the weight room.
Ask Alex
Each month our resident strength and conditioning expert Alex will answer your
training-related queries. If you’re struggling with your strength training or unable to kickstart your cardio, email us at [email protected] (making sure to put ‘Ask Alex’ in the subject header) and he will help.
Alex, I would like to know the difference between ‘conditioning’ and the sort of cardio you get from say, Muay Thai and BJJ classes?
Ephraim, via email.
This depends on your definition of conditioning, a term that could mean many things! If you are referring to long steady-state cardio training such as a half-hour jog, etc, you will find that during classes your heart rate goes much higher, therefore if you only do jogging you may be unprepared to work at those higher heart rates. The answer therefore, is to mix up your cardio training so that all energy systems are trained, for instance alternating between long slow-running and sprinting.
Hi Alex,
Couple of quick questions - do you have an opinion on tabatas over other interval training splits? Do you think it has to be a specific four minutes?
Name withheld
The usefulness of tabata style training depends on where you are in the plan and how specific it needs to be, but the glaring question I would ask is: If you are always doing this interval regime, which lasts four minutes, how long is it likely you’ll last in
a fight?’ Also, it will present a huge strain on the body (I seem to remember that in the study they did only this training, and only for two weeks) and when combined with weights, tech work, sparring etc, will cause most people to burn out sooner rather than.later.
Alex, I am an amateur MMA-fi ghter and am looking to build lean muscle and lower my body fat percentage. What product or supplement would you recommend for me?
Name withheld
This one is fairly simple – get a good protein supplement, either whey protein or a protein blend, some glutamine and take fish oil with every meal.
Alex, I have been going to the gym regularly for about 18 months now, and am trying different exercises every time. I only go three times per week, as I have a six month old son and I work full-time. What are your opinions about drop sets and pyramid sets, as I am trying to bulk myself up.
Mark via email.
Drop sets and pyramid sets are things I would put in the category of ‘stuff to do to stop yourself getting bored’. Another way to put it would be that they may be nice to do from time to time, but are not necessary to bulk up. Another thing I noticed is that you are
doing different exercises each time you go to the gym. This may work well, however it makes it difficult to track your progress from week to week.
Alex Gold is a personal trainer and sports therapist from London who works with athletes and fighters. To ask Alex a question email [email protected] and include ‘Ask Alex’ in the subject header. You can find out more about Alex and his services by visiting his website, www.hardcoresportstraining.co.uk.
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