The physical needs of MMA – Part 2

Website design By BotEap.comIn Part 1 of this article, we looked at all of the various strength attributes that are needed in MMA. This time, let’s continue from strength to different characteristics of power and resistance, in addition to cardio.

Website design By BotEap.comEnergy

Website design By BotEap.comPower is simply force measured with a time component. Instead of wanting to know how much weight you can lift in a given movement, you want to know how much weight you can lift and how long it takes you to lift it. Power can be increased by lifting more weight in the same amount of time or the same weight in less time.

Website design By BotEap.comExample: a 300lb 1RM squat is a measure of strength. A 1RM squat

Website design By BotEap.com300 pounds done in 2.5 seconds in a measure of power. A 310 lbs 1RM squat performed in 2.5 seconds would be an increase in power. A 300lb 1RM squat performed in 1.8 seconds would also be an increase in power. However, a 310 lbs 1RM squat performed in 2.7 seconds would NOT be an increase in power. It would be an increase in strength, but not in power (more weight was lifted, but it took longer to do it).

Website design By BotEap.comPower is important simply because there is nothing slow in the ring or cage. You can be strong as hell, but if you’re not fast, don’t plan on being able to accomplish anything. And speed can add a lot more than you think to what happens in a fight.

Website design By BotEap.comTry this example: put your fist against a wall and push as hard as you can. I mean actually driving it on the road. Use maximum effort. After a short rest, bring your fist back about 10 inches from the wall and punch the wall with about 50% effort.

Website design By BotEap.comWhich one hurt more? The second did. That’s because of the speed that was introduced. Power can be trained in different ways. The most common way is to use ~40-65% of your 1RM for an exercise and move the weight as fast as you can. 4-6 sets x 4-6 reps is usually the norm for this type of training.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother way can be to follow a near maximal lift, with a much lighter explosive lift. Think of a squat with more than 90% of your 1RM for 2-3 reps, immediately followed by jump squats.

Website design By BotEap.comMost associate Olympic/”quick” lifts with power (cleans, snatches, pulls, etc.), but the truth is that power can be developed with any exercise, just make sure you move the weight as fast as possible.

Website design By BotEap.compower resistance

Website design By BotEap.comOk, this one should also be self explanatory. Take the power description above and apply the strength-endurance “endurance” elements above.

Website design By BotEap.comNow you have the definition and importance of power-endurance.

Website design By BotEap.commuscle hardening

Website design By BotEap.comMuscular endurance is the ability of the musculature to repeatedly contract (regardless of the amount of force being produced) over a given period of time. For example, squatting 85% of your 1RM for 10 repetitions in three minutes would be strength-endurance. Squatting 85% of your 1RM for 10 reps (none of which last longer than 2.1 seconds) for 10 reps in three minutes would be power-endurance. Doing free bodyweight squats (also called “air squats”) for three minutes straight would be muscular endurance.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is important in MMA because before you can have any usable strength/power-endurance elements, you must have muscular endurance.

Website design By BotEap.comMuscular endurance increases either by increasing your 1RM on a given exercise (see the strength-endurance explanation) or simply by performing high-rep sets of a given exercise, usually bodyweight calisthenics.

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Website design By BotEap.com“Cardio” refers to cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory endurance. This is basically the ability of the heart and lungs to pump fresh, oxygenated blood throughout the body. The lungs pump oxygen to the body, which in turn oxygenates the blood. The heart then has to pump that oxygenated blood throughout the body. The more efficient the heart and lungs are, the fewer times they have to “pump” per minute, as they will be pumping more air/blood per “pump”.

Website design By BotEap.comNot to sound redundant, but it should be pretty obvious why this is important. Reducing fatigue (both physical and mental) is the main thing we are trying to avoid. Increased recovery (both localized and systemic, both momentary and long-term) are great benefits.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is, of course, in addition to all the basic long-term health benefits associated with a healthy heart and lungs. There are several ways to increase your cardio. I’m going to briefly go over two of the most common methods for increasing your cardio, as well as two methods that “combine” the two that I came up with and use.

Website design By BotEap.comLSD (long slow distance) – this is a commonly used method of increasing aerobic conditioning (with oxygen). As its name implies, the distance traveled is generally long and the pace is slow. Consider jogging for a few miles. The benefits of LSD can be increased aerobic capacity, increased leg muscle endurance, less CNS drainage, active recovery, and increased work capacity.

Website design By BotEap.comHIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) – Cardio training is made up of two components: time and intensity (how hard you work). The two are inversely proportional. The longer you work, the easier you have to go (like with LSD). With HIIT, we reach the other end of the spectrum, working much harder, but for much shorter periods of time. Think about sprints.

Website design By BotEap.comThere are many methods to do HIIT. One of the most common (and most demanding) is the “Tabata” method. Tabata was a Japanese researcher who first studied and tested the benefits of HIIT. He discovered that they were more beneficial than originally thought.

Website design By BotEap.comLSD increased aerobic capacity (with oxygen), since the rate is slow enough that the body can continue to absorb enough oxygen to produce energy. However, with anaerobic (without oxygen) it means that the body is working so hard that it can’t get enough oxygen, so the body has to produce energy in the absence of oxygen.

Website design By BotEap.comIt was thought that if LSD-style training increased aerobic capacity (with a small increase in anaerobic capacity), then HIIT-style training would do the exact opposite. Tabata discovered that this was not true.

Website design By BotEap.comTabata found that while anaerobic capacity was greatly increased, there was also a corresponding increase in aerobic capacity. Although the increase was not as dramatic as when doing LSD-style training, it was much more than the increase in anaerobic capacity from LSD. It was almost like getting “2 for 1”.

Website design By BotEap.comTabata also found that HIIT was superior for burning fat than LSD. While HIIT didn’t burn as many calories during the workout as LSD did, it caused the metabolism to “rev” so much that it continued to burn calories for hours AFTER the workout was complete. LSD, on the other hand, stopped burning calories once the exercise was done. HIIT burned considerably more total calories (during and after exercise).

Website design By BotEap.com(To find out more about Tabata and its studies, do a Google search—there’s a lot of information on the Internet.) The “Tabata” protocol involved intervals performed at 100% intensity for 20 seconds, followed by a short 10-second rest period. . This was repeated several times, and the common protocol was repeated 8 times.

Website design By BotEap.comWhile HIIT can be much more beneficial than LSD, it also has its drawbacks. The two main ones are that it can be very easy to overtrain while doing HIIT. Doing any activity at 100% intensity can be hard on the body, both physiologically and on the CNS (Central Nervous System). It’s not unusual to burn out doing too much HIIT.

Website design By BotEap.comThe other main drawback is that it requires a real intensity of 100%. It is quite common for people to think that they are putting in 100% intensity, when in fact they are not. That kind of effort is much more difficult than most people realize, and much more difficult than most have ever done. They end up putting much less than 100% intensity.

Website design By BotEap.comThe problem is that they are also doing a very small amount of work. Remember how I said that the two elements of cardio were inversely proportional: they had to be hard and short or easy and long? Well, if HIIT isn’t done right, you end up with the worst of both worlds: easy and short. You get the least amount of benefit from any combination.

Website design By BotEap.comdensity conditioning – Density Conditioning is a method I came up with to take the popular Density Training weight training protocol and apply it to cardio. It involves running a medium distance in increasingly faster time, or sprinting a set distance, and doing more and more in a set time frame.

Website design By BotEap.comMFD (Fast Medium Distance) – MFD is a “happy medium” between LSD and HIIT. It’s not short, and it’s not long. It’s not easy, but it’s not 100% intense either. It’s a medium distance, covered as fast as you can.