MMA Conditioning Part 1
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is becoming pretty popular these days, its following has grown from a small cult of wacknut wingjobs interspersed with some genuine sporting-connoisseurs, to a full-blown teeming horde of avid and knowledgeable fans. Instead of just the badly-covered and poorly-attended events, the UFC now hold massive events for tens of thousands of spectators in places like the MGM Grand, and Canada’s Bell Centre. The UFC isn’t even the only gig in town as far as professional MMA goes, organisations like Bellator and World Series of Fighting, even grappling-based Metamoris, are now doing very well for themselves alongside their major competitor in the UFC.
In addition to the sport getting more of a following in
terms of spectators, it also has more of following in terms of participants. I
myself even did some MMA training for a fairly long period of time, around
18-24 months or so, and I absolutely loved it. One thing I really found was
that, no matter what weight I could lift in the gym, or however ‘swole’ I
thought I was (I wasn’t), ultimately my performance hinged on how well
conditioned I was.
Fighters such as Cain Velasquez, Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, Nick Diaz, all have one thing in common – their conditioning is top-notch, and they do not flag once in any of the 5 rounds they’re forced (or not) to fight.
So in this series, we’re going to be looking at the different types of training necessary for those who are training MMA. In this first instalment, we’ll be looking at improving the oxygen delivery to muscles, thus being able to maintain output capacity.
Fighters such as Cain Velasquez, Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, Nick Diaz, all have one thing in common – their conditioning is top-notch, and they do not flag once in any of the 5 rounds they’re forced (or not) to fight.
So in this series, we’re going to be looking at the different types of training necessary for those who are training MMA. In this first instalment, we’ll be looking at improving the oxygen delivery to muscles, thus being able to maintain output capacity.
