In one of my earlier articles for FCF, Introduction to Sport-Specific Training, I wrote (citing Tudor Bompa): “Since it is difficult to mimic the technical skill of a given sport in strength training, one must try to imitate the dynamic structure of the skill as well as the spatial orientation, the position of the body in relation to the surroundings. The direction of the exercise should closely match the direction of the sport movement.”
I got to thinking – How to make other standard weight training exercises more MMA specific?
Like most guys, I like training my arms (t-shirt muscles, right?), but my more practical side tells me that one needn’t spend a lot of time, or recovery ability on non-essential exercises like bicep curls. If I could make arm exercises more applicable to the ring, I could justify spending more time on them, without feeling like some inflated bodybuilder.
In most MMA movements the biceps work together with the back and rear delts when pulling an opponent towards you, or when retracting a punch, so in most cases (except early preparatory training, correcting imbalances, etc.) they are adequately trained with compound movements like pull-ups and rows. However when resisting an armbar, the biceps is contracted eccentrically, and without the assistance of the larger back muscles. Therefore doing bicep curls with a slow lowering phase could help defend against an armbar. It’s unlikely that you’d ever gain enough strength to overcome it, but a biceps strengthened in this way could buy an extra second or two (or help to prevent a resulting injury), which may be enough.
As mentioned above, strength gains tend to be posture specific, so better to do bicep curls in the position you’re likely to find yourself during an attempted armbar, not at the preacher bench, or standing erect, but on your back with your arm out to the side. This could be done with dumbbells, but then the biceps would only be under tension from 180° to 90°. A better alternative would be to do them using a low cable-pulley system (set it as low as possible).
Start by lying on your back with the working arm stretched out perpendicular to the body, you can use the other arm to hold onto something immobile, (I usually don’t advise bracing oneself during an exercise, but in the case of an armbar, a guy would be sitting on your chest, and you’d be pretty well braced anyway). Take the handle and (after warming up) curl the weight as powerfully as possible, and then lower it slowly, taking 2-3 seconds. You may be surprised to find the pectorals contracting powerfully as well during the movement.
Concentration curls (a quintessential bodybuilder’s exercise) could also be modified to develop strength for resisting an arm bar from the opponents guard. While standing with feet a little wider than shoulder width, grip a dumbbell in one hand, bend forward at the waist, slightly crouching, and let the dumbbell hang between your legs. You can brace the free hand on the knee, and then curl the weight towards your chest.
What about triceps? When punching, or during thrusting movements, the triceps work in synchronization with the pectorals and anterior delts, and like biceps, are usually adequately trained with compound movements. However, when resisting certain submissions attempts like a shoulder crank, the triceps works together with the lats and the internal rotators of the shoulder. Doing lying triceps extensions (skull crushers) with dumbbells instead of a barbell (hammer extensions) will help in this regard, but an even better way would be to combine a pullover with a hammer extension. Start by lying on a bench, with the feet up; hold the dumbbells over your chest with your arms straight. Start the movement by bending your arms and letting your elbows flare out and, at the same time start rotating the shoulder externally. When your hands reach about the same level as the bench, reverse the movement, driving the dumbbells back to the starting position.
A more advanced, and more realistic way to do the above exercises would be to perform the same exercises doing only negatives (using a heavier weight than your 1 rep maximum). For this you would use both arms to lift the weight, and then lower it over 5 seconds with only one arm. Start by doing one set of negatives, using 110-120% of 1RM, after your conventional sets, but if you cannot lower the weight in a controlled manner, and the descent is less than 5-6 seconds, the weight is too heavy. Later on you could (after a sufficient warm up) advance to 2-3 sets of 5 straight negatives
Negatives are extremely taxing, and the potential for injury is greater, so inexperienced lifters who haven’t built a solid foundation should not practice them. For experienced lifters and athletes however, negatives can be useful for overcoming plateaus, and the more experienced the athlete, the more he can potentially benefit from the use of negatives. Even so, I wouldn’t recommend using them for more than 2-3 weeks consecutively.
The second triceps variation causes a degree of shoulder compression, and therefore the risk of injury is greater, so it is inadvisable to perform heavy negatives when doing it. Limit your negatives to the hammer extensions (and lying biceps curls).
There are many ways to modify exercises to make them more specific, chins performed with a towel looped over the bar would help build grip strength and be particularly useful for judoka or BJJ practitioners who fight wearing a gi. If you’ve a good imagination, the variations are virtually limitless.
Since any exercise is only effective until the body adapts to it, instead of replacing all exercises with more sport-specific ones, rotate standard exercise with more specific ones, using the specific exercises as competition nears.
References:
Colgan M, The New Power Program, Vancouver BC, Apple Publishing Company, Ltd., 2001
Bompa, Tudor O., Periodization Training for Sports, Champagne IL, Human Kinetics, 1999
King I, Get Buffed, Toowong, Qld, KSI, 2000
Zatsiorsky V, Science and Practice of Strength Training, Champagne IL, Human Kinetics, 1995
About the author: Mark Ginther has over 20 years experience in sports, martial arts, and strength training. He has worked with numerous athletes including Michael Hawkins (formerly of the Boston Celtics), as well as several pro and amateur boxers. In 1999 he became the Strength & Conditioning Coach for AMC Kickboxing & Pankration.
He's recently returned from 6 years in Tokyo, where he was highly respected in both the fitness and martial arts industries. He trained K-1 Champion Nicholas Pettas for his comeback, and has written for, or been featured in several of the industry’s top publications. His monthly strength & conditioning column has appeared in Full Contact Fighter for 4 years, and ran for 2 years in IRONMAN Japan. He was featured in a cover story in Tokyo city magazine, Metropolis, and interviewed for the Japanese bodybuilding magazine, BODYPOWER. His fitness column ran in Tokyo’s Player for 6 months.
