Issue 101

May 2013

Sports scientist, TUF 14 cast member and full-time coach Paul McVeigh presents his best conditioning tips. This month, how 20-minute bursts of iron slinging can up your power gains all year long, and without damaging your day in the cage.

If you are a fan of early 20th-century Italian economists you may have heard of the ‘Pareto principle.’ The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Applying this principle to strength and conditioning we could also say that 80% of your performance gains come from 20% of the work you do. 

This got me thinking about my own programming philosophy. If I had only 20 minutes of strength time with an athlete what would their workout look like? I’ve decided to call this program ‘efficient strength training’ (EST) because the dictionary definition of efficient is “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” That and because someone had already taken the ‘super-awesome jacked-up ninja workout.’ 

Obviously I design programs with the individual in mind but there are certain trends that emerge. For EST, we would undoubtedly be using compound movements to elicit a training effect. There would be some form of squat, a dead lift variation and an upper-body push and pull movement. 

Day One – Squat

  • Front squat
  • Back squat
  • Bulgarian split squat

Day Two – Push/pull super set

  • Bench press, neutral-grip pull-up
  • Incline bench press, pronated grip pull-up with three-second isometric hold
  • Alternating dumbbell press, bent-over row

Day Three – Dead lift

  • Trap bar dead lift
  • Conventional dead lift
  • Rack pulls

With the emphasis on efficiency, the program would call for focusing on a single movement on lower-body days and super-setting the push and the pull on the upper-body days. 

Warm-ups would be drastically reduced and limited to building up to the working weight, starting with an empty barbell. For athletes with particular limitations, mobility, and activation 

exercises can be added between the warm-ups and working sets to make the most of rest time. 

We will have two weeks focusing on strength development in the lower rep ranges and one week with a higher rep range. If after these three weeks you feel good start back on week one. If you feel like you’ve been mauled by a bear, take a week off. 

  • WEEK ONE: Four sets, three reps
  • WEEK TWO: Three sets, five reps
  • WEEK THREE: Two sets, eight reps
  • WEEK FOUR: Rest week, or back to week one

When doing this program it is important to stay away from failure. Nothing tends to burn out a nervous system quite like missing reps. Always try to keep at least one or two reps in the tank. We are playing the long game here, so emphasize small improvements over the weeks and months. 

Why combat athletes will love ‘EST’

I love putting together programs. Programs that cover all the individual’s weaknesses and limitations, while simultaneously aiming to turn them into the Terminator. Unfortunately, when it comes to combat athletes, compromises must be made. Typically you guys do a ton of skill training and sparring, as well as being constantly fatigued and/or injured in some way. 

If you destroy yourself in the weights room and cannot hold up your hands in sparring you would be forgiven for feeling that strength training decreases your MMA performance based on the amount of fist to face contact. Strength training is one of the most beneficial things you can do to get better faster in the majority of sports. But for most of the year skill training and sparring should be your priority. If your supplemental strength training drastically affects your ability to do either then your programming is at fault. 

The system outlined above will produce noticeable performance improvements while not causing huge amounts of central nervous system fatigue and muscle soreness that many athletes feel comes as par for the course when throwing metal around. 

You will also benefit from spending less time in the weights room. Forget about the two-hour gun-sculpting workout from the muscle mags. You will be in and out in 20 minutes or less. This makes it possible to tag your workout onto the end of one of your skill sessions. 

Although this is not ideal physiologically, as I mentioned earlier, compromises must be made. This system will allow you to strength train year round and can even be used up until the last few weeks of a fight camp. 

As a strength coach and skills coach I have noticed that consistency tends to trump everything else in terms of progress. The guys who train the most tend to end up being better than those who initially showed a natural flair. As this system allows year-round lifting, with correct manipulation of the training variables (exercises, time under tension, rest) you can expect to make progress for a long time. 

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