DKD
Private Dancer
I'm a bit of a MMA fan and remember a few months back being impressed at the increase in muscle mass that Frank Mir gained for UFC 107 compared to his previous fight. I googled it to try and see how he did it, and came across an article I thought might interest a few.
I've pasted it below for ease of reading, but check the link for a pic of Mir, he looks pretty decent imo, definitely muscled up compared to his previous fights.
On Frank Mir's MMA Workout Routine for Size and Strength | MMA Training Blog
One of the first things you’ll notice when Frank Mir stepped into the Octagon at UFC 107 was his massive increase in size. After learning the hard way with his previous fight with Brock Lesnar that although it is only one of many components in MMA, size DOES matter.
Before bringing in Philippi, Mir admitted that his previous mma workout routine for strength was just basic body building routines that made him look and feel good.
After incorporating many of the Strongman principles into his new mma workout routine, Mir’s whole perspective on strength training changed; along with his physique, strength and power.
In my opinion, a lot more fighters ought to take the same approach that Mir and Philippi have for their mma workout routine.
It still surprises me that serious fighters still lack basic knowledge and think that body building programs are effective mma workout routines for mixed martial artists.
Strongman Training and MMA
Although Strongman workouts are not 100% efficient in terms of carrying over to mma, they are a HELL of a lot better then body building programs.
Philippi knew enough to take many principles of Strongman training and incorporate them with the needs of an mma fighter, and the result was the beast we saw that put away the likes of Check Congo in a matter of seconds.
One of the best principles that we can take away from Philippi is the fact that he had Mir…
ADD WEIGHT TO THE BAR
He had him just focus on squatting, pressing, and pulling heavier weight. In one of their training video clips, you’ll notice that all the exercises he was doing – squats, farmer’s walks, sled dragging – all had HEAVY weight.
We as fighters often tend to over analyze sport specific training and some times forget the basics.
Although lunges, sprints, box jumps, air squats, take-down drills and many other more sport specific exercises for the legs of mma fighters are important, it is equally important to remember that your level of strength is the FOUNDATION for all the various uses of your muscles.
Think about it. Working on strength endurance when you don’t have a lot of strength is a waste and getting ahead of yourself.
Power is extremely vital for mma fighters, and power is simply strength x speed, which means without strength, your just fast, not powerful.
Think of strength as the basis of potential for all of your physical capabilities. More strength equals more potential for strength endurance, power, power endurance, muscle endurance, and so on.
Although a must for mma fighters for developing strength and power endurance and conditioning, things like circuit training, complexes, Tabata, body weight exercises, etc. all have a time and place.
Sometimes a Fighter Just Needs to Build Raw Size and Tire-Iron Bending Strength
I believe at least once a year a fighter should take around 2 to 3 months to focus their mma workout routine on increasing strength. One of the best ways to do this is the 5×5 system with just a few basic compound exercises.
Focus solely on adding weight to exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bent-over rows, and military presses.
In increase of 20 – 50 pounds in strength for each of these lifts is not unrealistic if you do it right and follow a solid routine.
Take the Rocky Approach
Sometimes we need to take the approach Rocky Balboa took in his last epic series. I’ll end it with one of my favorite quotes from Rocky’s trainer when prepping him for his training for his last fight:
“…what we’ll be calling on is good ol’ fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they’ll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it’s gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. Yeah! Let’s start building some hurtin’ bombs!”
Train hard, fellow fighters and fans,
Derek Manuel
I've pasted it below for ease of reading, but check the link for a pic of Mir, he looks pretty decent imo, definitely muscled up compared to his previous fights.
On Frank Mir's MMA Workout Routine for Size and Strength | MMA Training Blog
One of the first things you’ll notice when Frank Mir stepped into the Octagon at UFC 107 was his massive increase in size. After learning the hard way with his previous fight with Brock Lesnar that although it is only one of many components in MMA, size DOES matter.
Before bringing in Philippi, Mir admitted that his previous mma workout routine for strength was just basic body building routines that made him look and feel good.
After incorporating many of the Strongman principles into his new mma workout routine, Mir’s whole perspective on strength training changed; along with his physique, strength and power.
In my opinion, a lot more fighters ought to take the same approach that Mir and Philippi have for their mma workout routine.
It still surprises me that serious fighters still lack basic knowledge and think that body building programs are effective mma workout routines for mixed martial artists.
Strongman Training and MMA
Although Strongman workouts are not 100% efficient in terms of carrying over to mma, they are a HELL of a lot better then body building programs.
Philippi knew enough to take many principles of Strongman training and incorporate them with the needs of an mma fighter, and the result was the beast we saw that put away the likes of Check Congo in a matter of seconds.
One of the best principles that we can take away from Philippi is the fact that he had Mir…
ADD WEIGHT TO THE BAR
He had him just focus on squatting, pressing, and pulling heavier weight. In one of their training video clips, you’ll notice that all the exercises he was doing – squats, farmer’s walks, sled dragging – all had HEAVY weight.
We as fighters often tend to over analyze sport specific training and some times forget the basics.
Although lunges, sprints, box jumps, air squats, take-down drills and many other more sport specific exercises for the legs of mma fighters are important, it is equally important to remember that your level of strength is the FOUNDATION for all the various uses of your muscles.
Think about it. Working on strength endurance when you don’t have a lot of strength is a waste and getting ahead of yourself.
Power is extremely vital for mma fighters, and power is simply strength x speed, which means without strength, your just fast, not powerful.
Think of strength as the basis of potential for all of your physical capabilities. More strength equals more potential for strength endurance, power, power endurance, muscle endurance, and so on.
Although a must for mma fighters for developing strength and power endurance and conditioning, things like circuit training, complexes, Tabata, body weight exercises, etc. all have a time and place.
Sometimes a Fighter Just Needs to Build Raw Size and Tire-Iron Bending Strength
I believe at least once a year a fighter should take around 2 to 3 months to focus their mma workout routine on increasing strength. One of the best ways to do this is the 5×5 system with just a few basic compound exercises.
Focus solely on adding weight to exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bent-over rows, and military presses.
In increase of 20 – 50 pounds in strength for each of these lifts is not unrealistic if you do it right and follow a solid routine.
Take the Rocky Approach
Sometimes we need to take the approach Rocky Balboa took in his last epic series. I’ll end it with one of my favorite quotes from Rocky’s trainer when prepping him for his training for his last fight:
“…what we’ll be calling on is good ol’ fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they’ll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it’s gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. Yeah! Let’s start building some hurtin’ bombs!”
Train hard, fellow fighters and fans,
Derek Manuel
