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MMA and martial arts are pretty much the same thing....only the MMA lacks teachings in character development, ethics, the Way, etc. I practice and teach martial arts and have been doing it for almost 30 years. I have no desire to participate in any sanctioned matches with rules. I strictly train for the love of it and for the self defense (and other) abilities I get from martial arts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valhallian
Do you combine that with weight training?
Yes. My weight training is a totally separate program that consists of usually 2 workouts per day - Morning cardio 5 days per week; Strength training 3-4 times per week with Crossfit being done 2-3 times per week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valhallian
Do you pursue strength goals in addition to your martial arts training? Thanks in advance.
As far as strength/size goals I have none. Not at all interested in pursuing crazy numbers on bench press, squat, deadlift, etc. I do have some workouts in my routine/rotation that I DO work on achieving some goals but they are more geared towards FITNESS levels instead of STRENGTH levels. For example, Once every couple of weeks or so I do a workout for time where I see how fast I can do 100 pushups, or 100 squats, or 100 pullups, etc. Or, I always time my 5k and 10k runs. The closest thing that may have to actual strength/size goals are on my squats. I think this is the most important exercise there is for me and my goals. I do occasionally go for my one-rep max, just to see where it is, but I dont specifically train to get size/strength.
Training for explosiveness and stamina are much more important than training for size/strength when it comes to being serious about any form of martial arts training. I consider myself first a foremost a Martial Artist. That means that being proficient in my chosen Art(s) are much more important to me than building a bigger body with lots of muscles (which usually negatively affects martial arts). But, with that being said, fitness/health is something I take very very seriously as well.
MMA and martial arts are pretty much the same thing....only the MMA lacks teachings in character development, ethics, the Way, etc. I practice and teach martial arts and have been doing it for almost 30 years. I have no desire to participate in any sanctioned matches with rules. I strictly train for the love of it and for the self defense (and other) abilities I get from martial arts.
Yes. My weight training is a totally separate program that consists of usually 2 workouts per day - Morning cardio 5 days per week; Strength training 3-4 times per week with Crossfit being done 2-3 times per week.
As far as strength/size goals I have none. Not at all interested in pursuing crazy numbers on bench press, squat, deadlift, etc. I do have some workouts in my routine/rotation that I DO work on achieving some goals but they are more geared towards FITNESS levels instead of STRENGTH levels. For example, Once every couple of weeks or so I do a workout for time where I see how fast I can do 100 pushups, or 100 squats, or 100 pullups, etc. Or, I always time my 5k and 10k runs. The closest thing that may have to actual strength/size goals are on my squats. I think this is the most important exercise there is for me and my goals. I do occasionally go for my one-rep max, just to see where it is, but I dont specifically train to get size/strength.
Training for explosiveness and stamina are much more important than training for size/strength when it comes to being serious about any form of martial arts training. I consider myself first a foremost a Martial Artist. That means that being proficient in my chosen Art(s) are much more important to me than building a bigger body with lots of muscles (which usually negatively affects martial arts). But, with that being said, fitness/health is something I take very very seriously as well.
Thanks for the feedback. My question was meant to be do you train MMA and/or any type of martial art, I thought it was pretty self evident what I was asking. However, I appreciate you taking the time to respond even though I didn't need that explanation. Just out of personal curiosity, what styles do you train in? By the way... damn that's a lot of exercising! Good for you though for getting that all in.
The head coach at the gym I'm going to train at isn't a big fan of it, but I still intend to pursue strength goals on the big lifts. (For example, he'd rather see me do pushups with a weighted vest rather than bench press). However, I know it will be more difficult than it otherwise would be. For me I just don't see any reason not to train to get stronger alongside learning martial arts. I just love the pursuit of strength. The amount of grappling I'm going to be doing will be enough conditioning for my purposes that I'm not worried about training any extra cardio on the side.
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Originally Posted by boxus
My current thing going is I training BJJ 4-5 times a week, and I lift twice a week on the non-BJJ days. This of course is influenced by life and other things, lol, but it is a good guide. There is plenty of info on the Internet with people doing this same, two day split, like a 5/3/1 or something.
Does your gym offer striking and BJJ? They are both great though I would advance into the fundamental BJJ class first before I would take up striking.
It's pretty cool, the gym I'm going to train at has a very structured approach. Their philosophy is to first develop your grappling skills before moving into striking. So to start it's going to be all no-gi combat jiu jitsu (in the style of eddie bravo), with some Judo and wrestling incorporated. Basically, the training schedule you described is how I'm going to start off. The striking they teach is "Shoot-boxing", which combines elements of boxing and muay thai, but you also defend against throws. From my understanding you're not allowed to train in it though until you've demonstrated a certain level of proficiency in jiu jitsu and takedown sparring.
Last edited by Valhallian; 05-12-2018 at 07:49 AM..
Thanks for the feedback. My question was meant to be do you train MMA and/or any type of martial art, I thought it was pretty self evident what I was asking.
And my answer was pretty self evident that I was answering your question. Why the hostility?
And my answer was pretty self evident that I was answering your question. Why the hostility?
No hostility, we're all good. I just point it out when people give extraneous answers. Perhaps dickish on my part, since you gave a great reply overall.
This was a great contribution. I'm impressed you're able to lift 5 times a week with the judo. I just cancelled my gym membership and will be starting at an MMA gym next months, so I'll check back into this thread once I get my workout schedule lined up. At the outset, I'll say it's likely I'll probably only lift 2x/week, and train 6x/week.
Part of why I am able to lift so much is I am in the Marines. Fitness is a job requirement and it’s acceptable to workout for 90-120 minutes a day during the regular work day. This is a benefit that doesn’t ever seem to make it onto the recruiting brochures (its sort of an earned privilege with time and seniority) but has become something I value more than anything else about the daily routine in the service. This means I have time for other activities outside of normal working hours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valhallian
I hope I can continue to get stronger, It's mainly been the last year and three quarters or so that i've been relatively consistent with weight training and I'm still nowhere near I want to be strengthwise. But martial arts is something I've wanted to pursue for a long time so why wait.
Do you find you can still get stronger with all the Judo? My hope is to one day reach a 200/300/400/500 split (from my understanding very doable for naturals and doesn't even scratch the surface for competing in strength sports), even if i reach it very slowly. Hopeful that I can get there. Right now it's probably: 150/280/330/350.
This is a tricky question to answer. I hit my heaviest lifts on the squat and deadlift a couple months after starting judo. Since then I’ve retooled my training. I never was a pure power lifter but I’m even less so now and wouldn’t be able to reach the levels in the weight room I did a year ago. With that said, if I wanted to it would likely take me only a short time of refocused effort to reach those levels again. Secondly and more importantly than new PRs in the weight room is I have a venue for applying my strength. Judo is not necessarily a strength based sport but it certainly helps. You’re not going to find too many opponents who are total weaklings. I’ve found even with a slightly different approach in the weight room I am usually stronger than my opponents. I fight at 161 pounds. I’m short (5’7) and somewhat light framed, lean.
How big are you? Those splits are pretty ambitious, but attainable. The hard part will be balancing your schedule between training toward those goals and your new MMA training. Don’t forget recovery time is critical. I found at my size it was challenging to maintain a heavy lifting schedule when I’d be sore from class the night prior. Or pulling 400+ on the deadlift would require more recovery time when I’d factor in class that night. And of course age is probably a factor too. I’m not old but I’m not 25 anymore!
I used to do both but now only do weight training. IMO, the weight training will interfere more with your MMA training than vice versa.
OP I agree with this. Both weight training and martial arts are very technique driven. Both take an immense amount of mental focus. Capacity for mental focus is limited and what I found for me personally was the mental focus for both was not necessarily in alignment with the other. When I reprogrammed my weight lifting I started going to the weight room with judo techniques in mind, which helped my focus while lifting. Since I compete in judo but not weight lifting the decision was simple: weight training became a supporting effort. It has definitely helped.
Worth noting: this applies to me but is by no means universal.YMMV!
Part of why I am able to lift so much is I am in the Marines. Fitness is a job requirement and it’s acceptable to workout for 90-120 minutes a day during the regular work day. This is a benefit that doesn’t ever seem to make it onto the recruiting brochures (its sort of an earned privilege with time and seniority) but has become something I value more than anything else about the daily routine in the service. This means I have time for other activities outside of normal working hours.
This is a tricky question to answer. I hit my heaviest lifts on the squat and deadlift a couple months after starting judo. Since then I’ve retooled my training. I never was a pure power lifter but I’m even less so now and wouldn’t be able to reach the levels in the weight room I did a year ago. With that said, if I wanted to it would likely take me only a short time of refocused effort to reach those levels again. Secondly and more importantly than new PRs in the weight room is I have a venue for applying my strength. Judo is not necessarily a strength based sport but it certainly helps. You’re not going to find too many opponents who are total weaklings. I’ve found even with a slightly different approach in the weight room I am usually stronger than my opponents. I fight at 161 pounds. I’m short (5’7) and somewhat light framed, lean.
How big are you? Those splits are pretty ambitious, but attainable. The hard part will be balancing your schedule between training toward those goals and your new MMA training. Don’t forget recovery time is critical. I found at my size it was challenging to maintain a heavy lifting schedule when I’d be sore from class the night prior. Or pulling 400+ on the deadlift would require more recovery time when I’d factor in class that night. And of course age is probably a factor too. I’m not old but I’m not 25 anymore!
You remind me of a coworker of mine, who's been practicing martial arts (started Kyokushin Karate but has trained at MMA facilities as well) and weight training for 20-30 years (can't remember which of the two 20 or 30 haha). He was also a Marine and is mid-40s. He said that he's just been training for so long so he's able to still make progress and be fairly muscular and strong while training differently. He doesn't intensely pursue numbers in the big lifts anymore. He felt like he didn't really have advice to give because his physique and strength have just come from years of training.
I definitely hear what you're saying. I think in the beginning it's going to be very tough for me in the beginning, because grappling is very new to my body and I don't have a conditioning base. So I'm sure I'm going to be incredibly sore to start. Where i'm going to be training I'm starting off training combat jiu jitsu, in the model of Eddie Bravo's system, with some judo and wrestling as well. I realize that strength goals are going to have to take a secondary supporting role for me and my training, as my primary concern will be to become a fighter. However, I still love the idea of being a strong brute, and it's hard for me to just stall out on those goals and give up. I'm envisioning keeping my weight training to twice a week, very sparse, strictly limited to the big lifts (OHP, Bench, Squat, Dead) mixed with some pullups, rows and core training.
To answer question re: my size and body stats. I'm 30 years old, 5'8" (technically 5'8.5", but let's say 5'8" cuz maybe my hair adds it haha) and 176 lbs. I have a fairly stocky frame. However, I anticipate dropping 15-20 lbs and leaning out a bit (which will also impact weight room gains in the short term). I'm hopeful that over the years I can find a way to continue to make progress in the weight room.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iknowftbll
OP I agree with this. Both weight training and martial arts are very technique driven. Both take an immense amount of mental focus. Capacity for mental focus is limited and what I found for me personally was the mental focus for both was not necessarily in alignment with the other. When I reprogrammed my weight lifting I started going to the weight room with judo techniques in mind, which helped my focus while lifting. Since I compete in judo but not weight lifting the decision was simple: weight training became a supporting effort. It has definitely helped.
Worth noting: this applies to me but is by no means universal.YMMV!
Curious what differences in your training resulted from changing your mindset to weight lifting with a judo focus? Did it mean dropping certain lifts? Or perhaps the effort exerted, and in terms of sets/reps scheme.
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