If you train in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, submission grappling or some other mixed martial art training, the most important factor besides knowing how to fighting is of course conditioning.

MMA conditioning is so very important because there are so many factors when you are fighting. Your body has to be conditioned to strike and fight standing up which is completely different from training for just a ground jujitsu fight. To be a complete mixed martial arts fighter you do a training regiment that goes beyond the normal so you can mimic what your body goes through in a mixed martial arts fight. Even if you are not a pro fighter, varying your daily workouts and training routine make life much pleasant than doing the regular routine. By varying your training it will make life more challenging and fun.

This week Stephan Kesting has found some great MMA training and work out video clips for you to try out so you can build up you strength and conditioning.

Circuits and More Conditioning

When people think of conditioning they often imagine people doing cardio and strength training separately. In this paradigm you might run in the morning and then lift weights in the afternoon, or go lift weights for 45 minutes and then finish up with 15 minutes on the stairmaster. In today's newsletter I want to point you in the direction of some interesting conditioning videos to give you some ideas you can use to spice up your workouts.

This separation of cardio and strength training IS a valid approach, and many grapplers have benefitted from it. The trend in recent years, however, has been to combine the two areas into a single workout, especially as one is getting closer to peaking for a specific event. Periodization means not doing the same training all the time, and most high level athletes periodize their training.

Periodization also means having a plan, and this has to be tailored to the athlete's strengths, weaknesses and goals, as well as the availability of time, energy and equipment.

A very simple periodization routine might be as follows. Assuming that you're already in half-decent shape, spend one month powerlifting for hypertrophy and overall strength development usingl basic lifts (e.g. squats, bench, weighted pullups, etc.) done for fairly low repetitions (e.g. 4 to 8) with perhaps 2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets. During this phase you might also be doing a couple of longer runs for cardio each week. Following this you might spend a month concentrating on the more explosive lifts (cleans, jerks, snatches), plyometric movements (box jumps, clapping pushups, etc.) and sprint workouts. The final stage would be a month of whole-body endurance training using a lot of supersetting and circuit training. Now you would taper your training over about a week and prepare for your competition.

Most of the routines below would fall into the final category (whole body endurance training). Longtime readers of this newsletter will recall that I value endurance over strength when it comes to grappling, so it is perhaps predictable that I would find these types of circuits fascinating. I hope you enjoy them too:

MMA Conditioning Circuit: I don't know who this guy is, but he's in good shape and has put together a tough conditioning circuit

Rich Franklin's Workout: It's interesting how Rich's circuit, unlike many other pro MMA fighters, incorporates a lot of machine work.

Mirko Cro Cop Training: - I particularly like exercise which combines sprawls, lateral jumps and strikes, forcing Mirko to produce explosive power while fatigued, just like in a real fight.

Pablo Popovitch Preparing for the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships: I like how they use the monkey bars for different whole-body exercises!

More Conditioning Videos

The next videos I'm listing aren't exactly circuits, but they are too cool to be left out of discussion of grappling conditioning.

There are many useful grappling-specific exercises and variations in these videos.

Sambo Conditioning: This is just a class warmup, but the exercises they do are significantly harder than would be done at the average recreational club.

Ginastica Natural: I have to include this video: It's not really circuit training in the strict sense, but it is applicable to grappling. Ginastica Natural is a movement and exercise system developed in Brazil, resembling a combination of yoga, gymnastics, contact improvisation dance and animal kung-fu. It has influenced many top Brazilian grapplers.

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

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