Combining lifting and Combat Sports

latinasonly · 2018-10-04T18:06:34+00:00

Fighting ability heavily boosts social confidence. I’m hoping to get into jiu jitsu soon . (Waiting to recover from an injury )

fuggetboutit · 2018-10-04T13:12:39+00:00

It will boost your confidence, no doubt.

Imarobot2 · 2018-10-04T17:29:31+00:00

Definitely doable. Just be smart w your routine. Rest and eat. I lift in the morning 3x/wk and do bjj in the evening 4x/wk (was mma before I moved). Bjj is on lifting days at least twice for me.

Rest when you need too, take care of injuries when they happen, but don’t let it become an excuse not to go.

Good luck

r_u_a_badfish2 · 2018-10-04T20:59:05+00:00

Yes, you can combine combat sports and lifting. Well known MMA S&C coach Joel Jamieson advises that while training martial arts about 3x week, you can fit in two lifting sessions per week and still see strength gains without losing MMA conditioning.

However, sessions should be focused on strength, not hypertrophy. That means heavy weights, low volume. And don’t trash yourself. Maybe 3-4 exercises total. Make sure they are compound movements.

Hypertrophy work and dedicated martial arts generally don’t mix very well. You try and focus on both, and you won’t see progress on either discipline.

Highly recommend you check out Joel Jamieson’s book “MMA conditioning blueprint,” zas well as his website and forum, “8 weeks out.”

JakarrSlamson · 2018-10-04T14:10:36+00:00

I think you can balance it just fine as long as you listen to your body at first. I like to workout a lot, but also love playing basketball to the point where I'll spend 2 hours maybe twice a week playing fullcourt 5v5s. This absolutely kills my legs, so I make sure I only have arm routines for the days after. Getting exercise through a sport is the best 2for1 though. I'm always in a great mood after sports and enjoy the social aspect. I actually met a majority of my friends in college just by going to the park or gym and getting next with other random dudes. I also run harder than i would on a treadmill because of my competitive nature.

I work out 5 days a week and then play sports the other two days. I made my own routine where monday is shoulders, tuesday squats, Wednesday chest, thursday plyos, and saturday is bench, squat, ohp, and deadlift.

Pascolino · 2018-10-04T21:20:34+00:00

My kung fu master tells me I'm too jacked to be very good at kung fu. My muscles get in the way of my tendons being used as whips. I still do both and I'm improving at both. Good enough for me. I think bjj and boxing /kick boxing might be better matches for lifters. I love kung fu so I don't care.

r_u_a_badfish2 · 2018-10-05T11:48:26+00:00

4-day split sounds like too much but you can always give it a try.

Depends on a lot of factors: how seasoned of an athlete you are, genetics, diet and recovery, and how hard you train during MMA practice.

Looks like you’re lifting for hypertrophy. Nothing wrong with that. With MMA only 2x a week, you might be able to pull it off. Give it a try and see if you make gainz over a period of a month. Overtraining is definitely real, especially if you are mixing these two disciplines.

However, if you are serious about MMA (meaning, you want to compete) eventually hypertrophy will have to take back seat to just raw strength. And don’t forget other fitness attributes, like endurance, muscular endurance etc.

If you are serious about MMA, and find that training hypertrophy is detracting from fighting performance, then I recommend this. Focus solely on MMA, set a goal to fight In say, 6-8 months. During this period focus on MMA strength and conditioning, train like a beast.

After the fight, you can do a dedicated 2-3 month hypertrophy focus while you do light skill maintenance for MMA.

Elite athletes don’t train everything at once. They go in cycles lasting 3-8 weeks at a time.

Skuggasveinn · 2018-10-05T15:21:17+00:00

In these situations: Explosive movements. For example the squat or bench press, you go sloooowly down and then explode up.

Hip hinge excericises are your friend.

Flintblood · 2018-10-08T02:09:23+00:00

I was going to make a separate post to ask specifically about the training of guys like Khabib. How can this guy be 5'10 and 155 lbs yet look much stockier and solid than other guys in his division? Conor McGregor of course is muscular, but looks more gaunt at 155 than Khabib.

Anthony Ferguson is 5'11 and only 155-166, but Ferguson looks very lean and kind of wiry, so it makes sense. I just look at Khabib and think there's no way he only weighs 155-160 even if he just lost water weight to make the weigh in.

Does Khabib just look more solid because of where he has developed? Does he prioritize certain muscle groups so as to max those without adding bulk elsewhere that might throw him out of weight?

Does bone density either add to his frame or make other just as heavy even though their frames may be less stocky in skeletal frame? Does that mean other fighters in the 155 lbs group just won't have the same pound for pound muscle power because they also have to sacrifice muscle weight to weigh in?

BTW - Huge Conor fan, but was worried and unfortunately it was not to be. I don't think going up in weight and then coming back down was a good idea for Conor. I also don't think he was taking this match as seriously. Khabib seemed like he was cold serious almost like he was out to kill. Conor was more fun and treating it like a game.

plinkbum · 2018-10-04T21:05:59+00:00

I do bjj and lift. I’m likely older than you, in my 40’s, and currently on TRT with test levels on the high side. I’m 5’11” 187lbs 10-12% body fat. I’m also not really trying to add any mass, just keep what gains I have.

Everything hinges on how you recover. Eating properly is key (can’t stress this enough). You will need to eat past your maintenance calories, which is somewhat difficult to do if eating cleanly. Getting enough sleep is super important too. I lift in the morning 4x a week and do bjj 3-5x a week in the evenings. I typically don’t train on Sunday but Instead do something light like bike riding or kayaking.

It took me some time to figure out how to do both and not constantly injure myself. It’s super easy to overstrain if you roll or spar too much.

Title	Combining lifting and Combat Sports
Author	Andorli
Upvotes	4
Comments	14
Date	October 4, 2018 12:59 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/9lbntb/combining_lifting_and_combat_sports/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/combining-lifting-and-combat-sports.1102 https://theredarchive.com/post/1102

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