Fighters Only

Nov 11, 2019

Looking like a herculean beast may suit heavyweights like Alistair Overeem, yet many athletes would rather be the freight train of their weight division by gaining strength without piling on the muscle.

It’s no secret that having superior strength can give you a huge advantage over your opponent. If both you and your foe are equal in striking and grappling skills, it’s going to come down to whomever possesses the highest levels of strength and conditioning which will determine the winner when the smoke clears.

Even if you’re opposition is more skilled than you, being physically stronger can really balance out the odds in the Octagon, or even sway them in your favor. Just look at Karlos Vemola vs Seth Petruzelli at UFC 122; although the pair were evenly matched on paper, Vemola possessed far more strength and was able to completely dictate the fight, throwing Petruzelli around like a rag doll.

Yet MMA is a weight class sport. Gaining strength can give you the edge, but not at the expense of going up an entire weight division where you will be facing much bigger and stronger opponents.

Luckily for the aspiring warrior, there are ways to gain superhuman strength without piling on the pounds, enabling you to become the ultimate powerhouse of your respective weight division.

There are two ways to get stronger and get in shape without bulking up: physiologically and neurologically.

In this case, physiological strength training involves building muscle whereas neurological strength training involves improving your Central Nervous System (CNS). Most fighters are not taking advantage of the neurological aspect of gaining strength.

Training Your Central Nervous System

You don't have to hold a PhD to understand that your Central Nervous System is in charge of everything your body does.

Your CNS is responsible for fast, explosive actions as well as controlling coordination, balance and agility.

With explosiveness and strength comes power. Your body is made up of muscle fibers, so by training your CNS you'll be able to increase the activation of all these muscle fibers as well as the speed they contract. This will give you speed and strength, bringing more of your muscle power into the game each time you punch, throw a kick or clinch with your opponent.

A simple way of understanding CNS is to think of your body as a computer. Physiological (muscle based/bodybuilding) training improves your hardware (the exterior). Neurological (CNS based/athletic) training improves your software (the interior function).

An athlete that is fast, explosive, coordinated, well balanced and agile has good software, whereas bodybuilders have tremendously developed hardware through huge amounts of muscle mass and connective tissue strength.

If you've got the most advanced software with super-human hardware, you're in a perfect position to build and maintain an amazing body that's incredibly fast and powerful for its size.

You'll be able to hang with everyone from the lighting-quick José Aldos to the bully-boy power-units such as the Brock Lesnars and the Shane Carwins.

Essentially, you will become the ultimate fighter.

Most Fighters Need Better Software, Not Hardware

If you are one of those guys who really struggles to make weight and you don’t have the luxury of training to upgrade your hardware (putting on more muscle mass), instead you must focus solely on training that will get your software working as well as possible. In other words, your focus will be on CNS-dominant training.

But, if you’re one of those guys who’s always on the light side of your weight class or even trying to bump up a weight class, throwing in a few bodybuilding-style training concepts will help you upgrade your hardware and get stronger through physiological means.

Yet regardless of where you stand weight-class wise, all fighters should focus their training primarily on CNS-dominant training since you’re trying to out-perform your opponent, not out-flex them.

Train Movements, Not Muscles

Essentially, athletes need to move better while bodybuilders need to look better. That said, performing a bodybuilding-style workout that's split (chest day, back day, legs, arms/abs, etc.) is not how any athlete should be training, especially a weight-class athlete.

Again, all great athletes have great nervous systems.

Since your CNS does not recognize specific muscles (it only recognizes movement patterns) it makes sense to focus your training on improving your ability to perform the four basic movement patterns: pushing, pulling, level changes (squatting, bending, etc) and rotation.

Training these four movements is sure to craft a well-balanced body that is strong in every aspect of motion, making you much more lethal in the cage.

How to use CNS Dominant Training

When training the CNS you’re really trying to improve motor-unit (muscle fiber) recruitment. As stated earlier, this is simply being able to bring more muscle into each and every movement you perform.

There are two ways to ensure maximum motor-unit recruitment: lift a heavy load and/or move fast.

“When lifting a heavy load, as a gross generalization, you can assume that the load must be 60–100% of your one repetition maximum (1RM) to recruit all your motor units,” according to Chad Waterbury, a neurophysiologist and author of Five Tricks to Burn Abdominal Fat.

So if you can normally bench 100kg for one rep maximum, to make sure you're recruiting all your motor units, you'd need to be lifting a minimum of 60kg with reps.

Also, to develop explosive power rather than just pure strength you need to rep the weights as fast as possible. When moving as fast as possible, you are recruiting all available motor units because you are stimulating your muscles to their highest potential.

Sets and Reps for Gaining Strength without Weight

In this workout program (right) you’ll see the rep ranges are at no more than five. This means that you’ll be using weights that will feel quite heavy for you to move.

Lifting weight at 80%-plus of your 1RM with reps in the three to eight range with two to four minutes rest produce the largest changes in myofibrillar volume and density (muscle gain), found research in Science and Practice of Strength Training.

This means that if you lift weights at six reps or above, you’re likely to gain some muscle size as well as strength. If you don't want to gain muscle mass but you want to gain strength, keep the reps at five or less. Doing this will ensure that all adaptations are neuromuscular and improve your software (CNS) rather than physiological, improving your hardware by building muscle.

Not all the exercises included in the workout right are done for reps. Some are actually performed for time.

The time frame provided right is eight to12 seconds of moving as fast as possible. Like lifting weights over six reps, when you get beyond 15 seconds, you’re likely to cause physiological change (i.e. muscle mass gain, which leads to weight gain).

Load/Explode Strength Program

This workout consists of two types of exercises: loaded exercises and unloaded, explosive exercises. On the loaded exercises, you lift a weight load that allows you to achieve five reps with perfect form.

On each rep, control the eccentric (lowering) portion and explode into the weight on the concentric aspect (raising). Since the weight load is quite heavy, you may not actually move fast.

Regardless, as long as you’re physically trying to move the weight up as fast a possible, you’ll be training maximum motor units.

On the unloaded explosive exercises, you’ll either be using a lighter external load or just your own body weight.

You’ll perform each rep with maximum speed, in good form of course.

Try to move as fast as possible in the time frame given.

Since you won’t be holding a heavy load, the action here will be much faster than the high load exercises described above.

How to Use the Load/explode Workout Program

Perform this workout two to three times per week. Allow at least two days between workouts. All exercises labeled with 'a & b' should be performed as a paired set.

Perform exercise 'a', rest 45–60 seconds, and then perform exercise 'b'. Rest another 45–60 seconds, then repeat the exercises again. Do so for the amount of sets indicated right.

Perform each exercise with maximum intensity. Move as fast as you possibly can and explode into the weight with as much effort as possible.

Never sacrifice movement quality for movement quantity; never use bad form. If your form becomes poor, stop the exercise immediately.

You may have to reduce the weight load or time frame of the exercise on the next set to accommodate your level of ability.

On the loaded day (Day 1) you’ll use enough weight to challenge yourself for the reps indicated. The weight should feel quite heavy.

That said, it should not be so heavy that you cannot perform each rep with perfect form and consistent lifting speed.

On the explode day (Day 2) your focus is on one thing: speed.

Move as fast as possible for the reps or time frame given.

Six Weeks to a Stronger, more Powerful Body!

Power = strength x speed. The Load/Explode Workout provided will improve both your strength and your speed.

Use this workout for six weeks and, in that time frame, you’ll have a much stronger and more powerful body that will surpass any opponent who dares lock horns with you in the cage.

Box Jumps

The box jump, and its closely related cousin the squat jump, provide a near total-body workout and boost your ability to explode through your opponent in the ring.

Although a box jump a simple exercise (leap upon a surface, return to the ground) add variables to spice it up.

Try using a weighted vest, dumbbells or a higher platform.

Speed For Strength

While conventional weight-lifting wisdom dictates you should be lifting the iron slowly for maximum gains, that has to be adjusted when you're seeking to jack up strength without amping mass.

To destroy your weight class without turning the scales back to nuts and bolts, keep the rep count low with fast lifts done in under 12 seconds.

The load/explode workout program

Day 1 - load

1a. Barbell cleans (5 x 5)

1b. Any kind of abs workout (for 90 seconds x 4 sets)

2a. Romanian dead lift (5 x 5)

2b. Dumbbell incline chest press (4 x 4–6)

3a. Barbell squat (4 x 4–6)

3b. Single-arm dumbbell row (4 x 4–6)

4. Cable torso rotations (3 x 6 each side)

Day 2 – explode

1a. Kettlebell swing (5 x 12 seconds)