puma/......how does one increase muscle size/ weight whilst training in mma/boxing. Say said athelete is 195 pounds 20 per cent bodyfat, his goal is to be 220 with ten per cent bodyfat, how would he go about this.
I'd say first just simply eat less than you use, eat clean and drop some of your extra fat. When you're closer to the 10 percent bf% than 20%, start bulking up by increasing your food portion sizes (you're already eating clean remember?) You could also try a zero carb ketogenic diet with a carb load up phase for 2 days every weekend, but it's a very demanding and restricting diet that most people find difficult to hold up for long periods of time.
I was on a keto diet for two months while training six days a week (total of 8-10 training sessions per week) and I was fine. I felt like the only hard part was the first 48 hours or so when your body is not yet in ketosis. Extra weight dropped off like a charm and I was surprised how much energy I had in training. I think that when you're on a ketogenic diet, it becomes much more important to time your pre-workout meal right and you need to eat plenty of healthy fats (for example, nuts) before a workout to ensure you have enough fuel to train. When I finally had cut off the extra weight and I found out that I didn't get an opponent in my weight class, I started to load up on carbs every weekend to put on weight. I felt absolutely rejuvenated every monday after the load up and I had no problem "surviving" the approx. 48 hours required before your body goes to ketosis. There's also different type of a keto diet that some people use, where they load up on carbs before a workout then go zero carb again until their next pre-workout meal, but can't say much about it because I haven't tried. I have to say though, that eating a basic meal and making sure you hit your macronutrient goals is an easier and simpler way to manage your diet. Atleast for me the keto diet was very demanding to keep up and allows no room for mistakes or cheating, because once you drop out of ketosis, youre out of energy to train. My definition of a clean diet is pretty much like the one on the "nutrition for boxing"-sticky: - Plenty of water - Avoid refined sugar and fast food - Try to keep the processed food to a minimum and eat natural, whole foods instead - Plenty of vegetables, some fruit and berries - especially deeper green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and asparagus - If/when you need filler carbohydrates, try to eat the lower gi-variations, such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta and the likes and avoid things such as white rice, french fries and processed wheat flour pastas etc. I think that pretty much sums up how a clean diet looks like imo.
Fullbody workouts with some of them focusing on plyometric movements and some with just free weights. What's important to know when you are training fullbody workouts is that your overall volume of the workout should be quite low in order to recover well. Also it's not need to go to failure in every set. Just stop when 1-2 reps before your absolut last rep. Workout A : 3 set per exercise Benchpress / dumbell press ( incline or regular) Chins / rowing exercise Dips / skullcrusher Barbell / dumbell curl Squats / deadlifts / Calf presses Workout B Pushups with a clap Medicineball throw Jump squats, long jumps and frog jumps Cable punches Calf jumps Same here around 3 sets per exercise. Work on maximazing each rep to the fullest ( exploding up when jumping, throwing as hard as you can etc.)
What a great great thread here. I am intrigued by conditioning through kettle bell swings. I will give it a try. Thank you Puma.
Puma, I don't know if you're still around here, but you've given one helluva great sticky to follow and learn from. Thanks for all of this. Right now I'm just doing what my trainer has me doing as far as warmup, bag work, ring work, jumping rope and pushups/situps. We end each day with 3 sets of pushups (30, 40, 30) and then 4 sets of 100 reps (crunches, leg raised crunches, bicycles and leg raised hands to ankles). After reading what you've put up I'm thinking that after our bag work, ring work and jump roping that his pushups portion maybe hindering my ability for strength gains. I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking, lol! I'm wondering if the link you provided above would be a good addition to my 4-days a week with the trainer? I'm really interested in gaining more strength, but staying at my 148lb frame. (Mind you when we finish I always take a few extra minutes to add in 3X10 pullups after our workout with a 1minute rest between sets). Thanks for any and all helpful input! :good
Upon further review, the link would indeed provide you with good results but you would have to cut down your volume in the other areas you mentioned. I also highly recommend clapping push ups 3-4 times a week. More to come...
Thanks, Puma! It's much appreciated for you looking at this and taking the time to respond with some info. I'll definitely put in the clapping push ups (rep/set recommendations?) and cut down a bit on the other areas after the trainer/mitt and bag work at the gym. :good
delete/edit... I have been struggling to create and stick to a strength training routine for a couple years now to supplement my boxing... As long as Ive been on my forum I dont know why I have not visited this post yet... I will begin to go through the workouts posted here, thank you all very much, I will check in with how I feel about some of them upon completion! I believe I wil start with the link jboogaloo referred to just to get the juices flowing! So thank you all in advance for this. Edit: Is that program alone enough for a strength training program for an amateur fighter? I am hurting for time with boxing and work(full time, 1 1/2 hour each way commute) as it is. Is there something I could add to this routine to make it more suitable, or should I just do something else? (I did strength training in school about 4 years ago before boxing, chest, back and bis on even days, legs shoulders, tris on odd days, then for about 2 years(during boxing) I would do a deck of card full of push ups and crunches each night...Since then I will think of some over complicated routine, do it for a week, forget about it, rinse and repeat...) Thats about all the strength training experience I have... So basically I have gotten by on just roadwork and boxing specific training, lol. (13-3 in ams, won VA/NC GG as a novice last year, I am far from the best but I work hard)
I didn't really read the prior posts but if you're scrapped for time, maybe consider looking into some modified quasi powerlifting programs like Starting Strength, all the 5x5 variations, or Wendler's 531. And just alter the schedule for 2 strength training workouts per week. The programs I mentioned tend to stick with just the basic movements at a bare minimum. Also, I think it's a mistake to adopt a body part split when it comes to strength training. They tend to require too many workout days or too much volume, hence they take up too much of your precious time. So stick with compound lifts, and drop the isolation exercises altogether. A simple workout with just the basics (Squats, Deadlifts, Presses, Rows, Power Cleans/Snatches, Push/Pull ups) and some ab work can go a long way. It won't necessarily make you a better boxer (that's what your boxing trainer and training partners are for) but it'll provide you with ****** strength without ******ation as a requisite.
First of all do simple fullbody workout. You don't need a bodybuilder split. Do alot of excercises that give you alot of "bang" for your buck. Benchpress Millitarypress Chins Squats Calf raises Dumbell curl Pushdowns Crunches Do this workout a couple of times a week. 2 set each excercise.
