Top 5 Strength Exercises for MMA

Ok so for those of you who don't know I am the Head S&C coach at Leeds Cage and have been for nearly 2 years now. With this in mind I really wanted to write a few articles that are specifically aimed towards S&C for MMA. I'm going to start by keeping things nice and simple but hopefully I'll get chance to delve into some more of the nitty gritty as time goes on.

So the first article today is all about the top 5 Strength exercises for MMA, these are all exercises that we use extensively in our programmes here at Leeds Cage and in my opinion are essential in developing a good MMA S&C programme.

1. Deadlift

This is hands down my number one exercise for MMA, it really includes everything we want, activation of the glutes and hamstrings, a challenge of lower back strength and posture, as well as being a great test of core and grip strength (grip strength is key in all combat sports). All in all a brilliant exercise no matter what your sport.

2. Chin Ups

Another exercise thats great for hitting a number of areas, pulling strength is key in MMA when it comes to clinching with your opponent or if you take part in BJJ or Gi work. Starting from a full hang chin ups are a challenging exercise, especially when you start adding weight to them.

3. Hang Cleans

Again a full body exercise that is great for developing power, very important in a sport where wrestling and picking up opponents explosively is important. I've chosen a hang clean over a power clean as I feel its slightly easier to learn technique wise.

4. Bulgarian Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat (BRFESS)

Ok this ones a bit of a mouthful but it is a great single leg strength exercise for MMA. The reason for performing a single leg exercise is that they engage muscles of the lateral complex of the leg (glute medius, adductors and quadratus lumborum) that are not used in two legged exercises (e.g. back squat). This is key for MMA as whether it's in boxing, or wrestling the majority of movements occur on one leg (unless you're a master of the suplex).

5. Heavy Farmers Walks

My final exercise is Heavy Farmers Walks, I really like these as when done well they absolutely hammer an athletes core as well as their grip strength, they can also provide a certain conditioning element when done for prolonged periods of time. This is one exercise where form is key however, you must stay upright, keep your core tight and shoulders pulled back, poor form on this exercise will do more harm than good.

This is a video from DeFrancos Gym in America of a guy really hitting some heavy farmers walks

Ok so there you have it, my top 5 strength exercises for MMA, whilst this post isn't exactly re-inventing the wheel I hope you've found it interesting. If you would like some more reading please check out my blog at www.hullstrength.blogspot.com

Do you do all of these exercises? Is there any exercises you would have included in your top 5 that aren't here? Please leave a comment.

Your's in Strength

 Ben



Are crunches really a bad thing?

Hi everyone

I'm writing an article today on a topic that is pretty emotive among S&C coaches and physio's. It has been very widely reported that core exercises that induce spinal flexion (e.g. sit up's, crunches, russian twists etc.) are "bad" for the spine leading to problems such as disc bulges/ herniations in the lumbar spine as well as the shortening of rectus abdominus causing postural, glute and breathing dysfunction.

I have to say that until very recently I would have totally agreed with everything I've said above and would indeed never have programmed crunch type exercise's. It wasn't till I started working with Kevin Till (check out his blog at www.ktconditioning.co.uk by the way) that I questioned this. I was quite shocked to see Kevin using crunching exercises in his programmes, but instead of totally railing against this I decided that i'd be better off to go away and perhaps read more of the science out there before making a judgement.

So thats exactly what I went and did I went away and really tried to read around the area in more detail. But the surprising thing was that having read the research there is actually very little hard scientific evidence to suggest that crunching exercises lead to back pain, or any of the problems mentioned for that matter. The research that does support this is at best highly flawed with the majority of studies being performed on cadavers, the problem with this being that cadavers perform in isolation and in these studies were often exposed to totally unrealistic forces (thousands of repitions in a matter of hours). With this in mind it seems that maybe crunches aren't so bad after all? Further to this when you look at anecdotal evidence from around the world of sport people have been performing crunches for decades (if not centuries) with little or no adverse health affects. Indeed Cristiano Ronaldo performs a reported 3,000 sit ups a day!! With little or no injury problems.

In Summary

Whilst I am playing devils advocate a bit, I think that it is ok to perform some crunching exercises in programmes. Whilst they shouldn't take up the majority of your core training I would say that if roughly 1/5 of your core training is based around Spinal Flexion this is going to be acceptable (1/5 being anterior core training, 1/5 posterior core training, 1/5 rotary core training and 1/5 lateral core training). I certainly think that people need to go out and read the research on the area more as it seems to have been misinterpreted to some extent.

Ben

P.S. If you want to read someone much cleverer than myself explain the whole issue then check out this blog by Bret Contreras on T-Nation, it's long but goes into some serious detail.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/to_crunch_or_not_to_crunch

The Biggest Loser: The positives

Ok, so I thought i'd right a really quick blog today about The Biggest Loser, i'm sure most of us at have some point watched the UK version of the show, and indeed many S&C coaches are very quick to criticise the programme (if you go on any sites like EliteFTS or T-Nation you'll find articles no problem). Today however i've decided to write an article talking about some of the positives of the programme. Initially this blog was going to be titled 5 positives from The Biggest Loser, but to be honest i straight up failed to find 5 so you're going to have to settle for 4.

1. Weight Loss:  Ok it may seem pretty obvious but whatever you may feel about the methods used people who go on the biggest loser undeniably lose weight, with winners of the last 4 UK series losing anywhere between 54kg and 63kg. Whatever you think, this is definitley a big positive for the contestants on the show who are undoubtedly better of both physically and mentally compared to then they started the show.

2. "High Intensity" Interval Training

High intensity interval training is now a popular method of fat loss training (no more hour long sessions plooding on the tradmill) and the trainers on the biggest loser certainly make an attempt to embrace high intensity interval training. Whilst it could be argued the intensity is not high enough for true HIIT it is nice to see the trainers embracing the theory.

3. "Functional" Exercise

Again the trainers really embrace the concept of functional training using a variety of strongman techniques, as well as sandbags, kettlebells and a variety of other equipment. Whilst some of the technique is far from stunning the coaches do attempt to correct some of this and the technique for the large part is acceptable. I particularly like the use of loaded carries in their training.

4. Charlotte Ord: 



Booya!!  Charlotte Ord, you can't help but like her!

Anyway hope you enjoyed the blog. Stay strong people.

Ben