MMA Conditioning Part 5

MMA Conditioning Part 5

In the previous instalment of our MMA conditioning series we looked at rest & recovery. In this instalment we’re finally tying it all together to create a schedule you can apply to your training!

So we’ve discussed increasing Vo2 max through interval training, improving muscular endurance through manipulation of training variables (such as time worked, rep scheme, energy system, etc), improving power production through heavy weights with plyometric training, and finally ensuring appropriate rest & recovery to avoid injury. Now we come to the big finish – pulling everything together to create a workout schedule!
Now, I’m obviously not going to create a whole Issurin (2008) influenced periodized 12-month programme, complete with nutrition guide and video tutorials (unless you want me to, I’ll totally do it for a client if they wish) – this is just a short set of articles for the average joe training MMA who’s seeking to improve their athletic performance.

So let’s take a look at the predominant workouts you’ll be doing in classes:

• ·         Jiu-Jitsu (or some form of groundwork, such as Judo)
• ·         Boxing/Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Some other variance of stand-up
• ·         Wrestling/Clinching (Greco-Roman/Thai)
• ·         MMA Sparring (or some form of mixed sparring)

Side note: In the actual schedule I’ll refer to these sessions as ‘Ground’, ‘Stand-Up’, ‘Grappling’, and ‘Mixed’.

Now this isn’t everything you’ll be doing in classes, most places I’ve been to or practised at will implement cardio sessions, conditioning sessions, that sort of thing, into each individual class-type. Since not every gym will schedule these sessions, or even schedule them regularly, I can’t plan those sorts of sessions into the weekly schedule, you’ll have to do that bit yourself (unfortunately).

Now consider the workouts I have previously recommended throughout this series:

• ·         Vo2 Intervals
• ·         Muscular Endurance Circuits
• ·         Power & Plyometric Training
• ·         Active Rest

If you want to diversify these then you can always break down the training into sub-divisions, so instead of just working on muscular endurance you could do slow-twitch endurance sessions and fast-twitch endurance sessions. That’s quite an advanced split though, so I don’t believe you need to implement that sort of thing at a basic-intermediate level, just a consideration for you. We’ll just stick with these basics for now, if you have questions concerning a more advanced training schedule, or more specific plans, then feel free to e-mail me here.

So let’s finally construct that weekly schedule we’ve spent these last articles preparing for, then we can spend a bit of time considering its construction and how you can adapt it, or implement it, to ensure your future MMA progression. We’ll begin by stating that you’ll be doing a max of 5 days training per week, I wouldn’t recommend more, and we’ll discuss how to get that down to 4 if you need.

Day	AM Session	PM Session
Monday	Stand-Up	Power
Tuesday	Rest	Vo2 Intervals
Wednesday	Rest	Ground
Thursday	Active Rest	Rest
Friday	Grappling	Muscular Endurance
Saturday	Mixed	Power
Sunday	Rest	Rest

       Example 1

Now look, I understand that not many people have the time to train in the morning and the evening, and I have already edited out the predominance of the AM sessions I would prescribe for more advanced athletes to cater for those who won’t be able to get morning sessions in (or whose gyms don’t do morning training). I’ll change it further for those who simply cannot get to mid-week morning sessions at all:

Day	AM Session	PM Session
Monday	Rest	Power
Tuesday	Rest	Ground
Wednesday	Rest	Vo2 Intervals
Thursday	Active Rest	Stand-Up
Friday	Rest	Muscular Endurance
Saturday	Mixed	Grappling
Sunday	Rest	Rest

       Example 2

Let’s take a look at this: you have all of the various types of conditioning training we have discussed in this series (power, Vo2 and endurance), and you also have all of the components of MMA (ground, grappling, stand-up) in addition to a session that blends them all (mixed), with largely adequate rest periods. This is enough to go with for now as this is all the depth we can realistically go into in a small set of articles like this.

A few notes:

• 1.       Some form of periodization will be necessary for this, I would not suggest just doing this, flat out, for months and months on end. As we discussed last time, rest & recovery is an absolute necessity for your long-term health. A really basic cycle would be 5 weeks of this schedule, followed by a week of either complete deload or much lessened training volume.
• 2.       If you want to start taking your training really seriously then you will need to adapt this training schedule to include proper periodization. I, personally, would utilise block periodization to work on specific areas of weakness as and when appropriate (for instance, a 3-4 week focus on Vo2 max, followed by 3-4 weeks of power, etc).
• 3.       In Example 2 – although I personally recommend having at least one day of complete rest (Sunday in this example), if you felt inclined to supplement the schedule you could replace one of the Sunday ‘Rest’ blocks with a martial arts session (Ground/Grappling/Stand-Up).

I guess that will do for this very short, hopefully quite informative, set of articles. I hope you enjoyed my small hints & tips on how to prepare a workout schedule for your MMA goals and development!
Please leave a comment below, or e-mail me here, if you have a question!

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