MMA Conditioning or MMA Strength Training?

The difference between MMA strength training and MMA conditioning.

There is a lot of confusion out there about what you need to do to get in shape for mixed martial arts and grappling. Rich Franklin’s physical trainer was able to sum it very quickly. He said “Endurance is the name of the game.” And he was right. You can have all the strength in the world, but without gas in your tank, its useless. So while it’s good to have as much strength as possible, you also have to have a real MMA conditioning routine.

Strength is great. All mixed martial artists need strength. Having more strength than your opponent is always going to be an advantage. But the problem comes from focusing too much on strength, and having your conditioning suffer from it. And that’s what I see happening today. The people who don’t understand conditioning for mixed martial arts want you to believe that some sort of hard core power lifting routine is the answer.

But if you look at the best fighters in the world, that’s not how they train.

Sure, many fighters have their own strength and power routines. Sean Sherk has one. Tito Ortiz does too. But if you strip away every other aspect of their training, their conditioning routines are far more important than their power lifting routines.

The conditioning routines are like the foundation of a hotel building, whereas the power lifting routine is the penthouse on the top floor. Of course the penthouse is a nice bonus, but without the foundation, it’s worthless.

MMA Conditioning - Your Most Important Training Workout

Your first concern should always be conditioning. You need to have a solid MMA conditioning routine that you perform regularly. This main conditioning workout doesn’t have to last a long time and you only need to perform it two to three times per week. But the results you will gain from the right conditioning routine, will pay off big with much better performance in the gym and in the ring.

Former NFL superstar Herschel Walker believed that his superior conditioning prevented many injuries throughout his career. He said that it was very rare for him to feel beat up and sore after a game. That seems pretty hard to believe, especially with a sport like football, but Walker’s conditioning was second to none. And his conditioning routines didn’t beat up his body like most of the training routines today do. So maybe it was true.

With a brutal sport like mixed martial arts, even if you aren’t training professionally, having tremendous conditioning like Herschel Walker, is the most important aspect of your training.

You Need a Better MMA Conditioning Workout

Let’s get back to the subject of strength versus conditioning. It is not really a question of wanting strength or conditioning. Of course you want both. However, there seems to be a lot of people pushing for heavy strength oriented workouts. And I honestly think a lot of these people just want a workout that looks tough and manly. Afterall, fighting and MMA are hyper-manly sports. But just because something looks tough, or manly, or interesting, doesn’t mean it has any carryover to MMA.

I can easily come up with several examples of mixed martial artists who had scary strength, yet they always under performed in fights. Yet, the fighters and grapplers who always have solid conditioning, out perform their opponents almost every time.

Take for example the fighter who bench presses 500 lbs, yet always runs out of gas when he fights. Or the fighter who is just ripped with loads of muscles bursting from every part of his body. Even though he looks like the physically superior fighter, his gas tanks runs out very quickly and his softer looking opponent comes out victorious.

Some of strongest and most physically gifted athletes in the sport struggle their entire career with poor conditioning because they don’t understand how that strength and power don’t equal conditioning in a fight. Training for conditioning is the only thing that will give you the necessary conditioning for MMA, grappling or whatever combat sport you are involved in.

Hopefully you now understand why MMA conditioning is so important and you’ll be able to avoid falling into the trap of just training for strength and power. There are so many fighters who are great without ever doing the power lifting thing, but no fighter has or ever will be great without iron clad conditioning.

More Mixed Martial Arts Conditioning Pages

Ginastica Natural Conditioning for MMA,
MMA Conditioning Part One,
MMA Conditioning Part Two,
Mario Sperry’s MMA Conditioning Routine