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With the increased desire for Mixed martial Arts (MMA) as being a sport and method of fitness training strength & conditioning within combat sports has rightfully become more accepted. Gone would be the days where your old school boxing coach will show you to not lift weights as it is going to allow you to bulky and slow. Evidence based strength & conditioning works hand in hand with combat sports performance. Combat sports include boxing, kickboxing, MMA and various traditional martial fighting styles. In this article we merely scratch the outer lining of combat sport strength & conditioning. What is Strength & Conditioning Firstly we should define strength & conditioning. Generally speaking strength & conditioning describes physical training to aid a certain activity, primarily a sport but might be an occupation, as opposed to training for general fitness. Certainly combat sport falls into this category, as strength & conditioning will help your combat sport performance and training. Strength & conditioning can include weight training, other kinds of resistance training, speed and agility, lactic threshold conditioning and required aerobic conditioning. Strength & conditioning programming will be either based on GPP (General Physical Preparedness) or SPP (Specific Physical Preparedness). Bodybuilding vs. Strength & Conditioning An initial misconception which should be abolished may be the confusion between bodybuilding and strength & conditioning training. The goal of a bodybuilder is to increase muscle size (muscular hypertrophy) and definition (low number of body fat) all for the intent behind aesthetics. Whilst there will likely be a certain level of increased strength the big muscles usually do not mean a package of potential terror; all show with out go as it really is said. Whereas strength & conditioning training has a give attention to applied GPP and SPP improvement in regions of strength & conditioning. Athletes would focus more towards increases in neural activity in muscle fiber recruitment, and its application in force production and speed. Athletes would also focus on other areas such as conditioning (energy system -primarily lactic anaerobic), mobility, agility and endurance. MMA is becoming a popular viewing sport. A sidekick to that is the increased fascination with MMA conditioning. MMA style conditioning will primarily focus on - but not limited by - weight bearing exercises over a long period of time which fits that of a competitive bout, either individually or as a circuit. This training is specific on the strength & conditioning requirements associated with an MMA athlete and may include the use of tools such as weights, TRX, bodyweight, prowler sled and implements including tractor tyres and marine rope. Former UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar includes a close working relationship with strength & conditioning coach Luke Richesson, who implemented a functional movement strength program whereby Lesnar will complete tri-sets (3 exercises consecutively) within strength repetition ranges. An example with this can be a 1 Arm Row x 3 (heavy weight, each side) onto Barbell Bench Press x 3 (heavy weight) onto Clap Push Up (pause between each repetition) x 3. All exercises completed with heavy loaded weight (strength range) and aimed to become completed inside a controlled yet explosive movement. A more staple strength workout for athletic performance which can be utilized in MMA conditioning will be the 5 groups of 5 repetitions, completed with heavy weight and long (2-5 minutes) rest periods. An athlete would complete lead in sets gathering to some weight before initial pair of 5. This kind of programming would primarily focus on compound exercise which could carry a large amount of relative weight, for example deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press and pull-up (additional weight if required). On top on this Olympic lifting is additionally a way utilized in MMA conditioning. Old School Methods Many combat sports still use a certain perception of resistance training and conditioning within the use of calisthenics and light weight high repetition weights for strength, and slow long distance roadwork (runs) for conditioning. We have already covered the misconception between bodybuilding and athlete strength training as the main reason many traditionalists will stay away from heavy weights, and utilizing light weights over high repetitions is merely training muscular endurance NOT strength. Though the using traditional roadwork is interesting. Undoubtedly combat sport, and to train towards it, will demand a sizable amount of aerobic conditioning and lower body endurance which will be trained for by long roadwork sessions. Also early morning roadwork (6am not 8am) will instill a particular level discipline. However many MMA athletes have ditched the notion of roadwork and only lactic threshold (LT) conditioning for example prowler sled push and pull, battle ropes, kettlebell circuits and hill or track sprints. It has been proven this kind of training features a direct application in fight situations. A mix of both LT conditioning and roadwork is a logical choice; one built on science, the other punctually tested tradition. In all an athlete who's practicing combat sport can greatly utilize strength & conditioning being a means of improving performance. Most other or even all sports use they and thus should boxers, kickboxers and MMA athletes. MMA fitness trainer certification