Our MMA trainer, Dan Favela, provided us with exercises that will complement your MMA training when used appropriately and frequently.

Sprint Drills:
Doing these help to simulate the multiple rounds in a fight, while also increasing your speed. Aim for at least 2 times a week.

Road work: The prolonged cardiovascular activity that is done when performing your road work will help you to last through an entire fight. Remember a fight is not a sprint, it’s more like a half marathon. Keeping up with your road work will help you to not lose energy midway through.

Skip rope: 
This teaches you how to be in sync with your body by forcing you to use your whole body to perform the exercise. In addition to this, it will increase your cardiovascular endurance and explosiveness.

Weight Training: 
For this, you’ll want to use higher repetitions and lighter weights. Aim to strength train your entire body at least 3 times a week. Here are some good sample exercises to try:

• Kettlebell Deadlift High Pulls – these will utilize and tone your entire body and help you learn how to coordinate your bodily motion into one fluid movement.
• Jumping pushups – these will tone your chest, arms, and back in addition to working on your explosiveness.
• Hanging Leg Raises w/ arm straps – In order to keep your muscles balanced and core stable, you’ll need to incorporate ab exercises like these.
• Duck walks – tone your legs and increase hip & ankle mobility

Sparring:
This is especially important if you have a fight coming up. Not only will this simulate the same conditions, but you can also use it as an opportunity to focus on your weak points. Go into each sparring session with a plan and have something to work on (ex. slips, counter-punching, etc.).

Have questions regarding any of these workouts? Ask your trainer the next time you come in!