Raw Strength

Arthur Saxon performing a bent press.

Nearly all MMA athletes understand the importance of strength training in addition to all the other arts and cardiovascular training they undergo. But there are only 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so how do you get the most out of your training? How can you develop strength and power whilst not bulking up and keeping you light enough to make weight?

Benefits of low rep strength and power training:

Develops raw strength and power needed for MMA.

Strengthens tendons – which connect muscle to bone. This reduces likely hood of them detaching through hard competition.

Increased strength with small increase in actual muscle size.

Denser muscles

Stronger tendons means less likely hood of injuries including those from submissions.

Quick guide rep ranges in weight training:

When it comes to getting down the gym to lift some weights, exactly how many reps should you be doing per set? Below is a guide to the number of reps you do and the benefits.

1-3 reps: Power

3-6 reps: Strength

6-12 reps: Hypertrophy

12+ : Muscular endurance

Of course the above is only a guide. But in general, working in the 6-12 rep range is the stage where you will develop the biggest gains in muscle mass as this rep range recruits large numbers of muscle fibres and forces a lot of blood into the muscles and is where you will experience a good pump.

Power lifting:

As a fighter, in addition to muscular endurance which will largely be gained through sparring and training itself, you need to develop power and strength which will help you when out grappling opponents. The best way to go about developing this strength and power is to focus on lifts that use a large number of muscles. Power lifting exercises include:

Deadlift

Back squat

Bench press

(Shoulder presses are another good one to add in there)

Since there is probably only time to fit in one session of power training into your training regime per week, here’s a good way to go about making the most of it.

1. Start with a warm up set (10 reps on a light weight).

2. For each of the above exercises, complete 1 sets of 5 and 3 repetitions followed by 2 sets of 1 repetition, making sure to increase the weight as you move down the rep range.

Do this for each of the above exercises.

Alternatively, you could do 3 sets of 5 reps for each exercise one week, then move onto 3 sets of 3 reps at a heavier weight next week. It’s upto you. These exercises make up the foundations of the sport of power lifting and will help you develop raw strength to be able to perform much better in MMA.

Olympic lifting:

In addition to your power lifting, it is worth spending some time and effort into learning the 2 major Olympic lifting exercises:

The Clean and Jerk

The Snatch

Both moves essentially involve picking the weight up from the floor and getting it above your head in an explosive manner using your whole body to achieve this. These explosive moves are perfect for gaining the strength needed for big throws and slams. Caution: These moves are very technical and need to be taught by an Olympic lifting coach before trying these.

Below are some useful links to strength and power training: