Can You Move Your Body?

How well can you throw your weight around?

Yeah, sounds like kind of a dumb question, but bear with me for a minute.

MMA (like most combat sports) is a game of weight classes. That means that on fight night, when you climb into the cage, you're gonna be going up against somebody roughly your own size. Even if you cut a lot to make weight, chances are that so does your opponent.

(Does anybody really think that GSP walks into the cage at 170, or that Tito walks in at 205?)

When putting together your MMA workouts, this should be a major consideration - how much you weigh. You see, you want to be as strong, powerful, conditioned, etc. as you can at your weight - that's a given.

But a truly overlooked factor is a fighter being able to truly manhandle his own bodyweight. Because that's what you're going up against, right?

Somebody that weighs roughly the same as you. If you're a LHW, being able to toss around a 155-pounder won't do you a whole lotta good. At the same time, a WW doesn't (necessarily) need to be able to handle a dude like Roy "Big Country" Nelson, either.

Think of it this way: if you have the power and conditioning to dominate your bodyweight – to manhandle anything that weighs as much as you do, isn't that just another tool you've got in your favor?

We've all seen highlight-reel slams by Rampage, Matt Hughes, and Sean Sherk. They get stuck in a bad position, and somehow, they just pick their opponent up like a bag of laundry. They walk across the cage, and SLAM them down to the mat. They have this weird kind of power that makes them ALWAYS a threat to pick you up and throw you into next week.

Now, when I say “bodyweight,” I'm not necessarily talking about your body. This isn't about a regular bodyweight workout (i.e. - calisthenics...though they make up a big part of the programs I design). This is about taking any object that weighs as much as you do – a barbell, two dumbbells or kettlebells, a sandbag, a barrel, a grappling dummy, a training partner, etc. - and being able to inflict your will upon it as you see fit.


Take that object and pick it up. Hold it. Slam it. Flip it. Knock it into the 2nd row.

You get the idea...

There's another element to this, though. Having the power to dominate your bodyweight is one thing, but what about your conditioning? You've just fought for a good, hard 12 minutes. Do you still have the power to do it then? Are you sucking too much wind because your cardiovascular system isn't in as good of shape as it needs to be?

What about your body itself? How is your muscular conditioning? Have you spent a bunch of time jockeying for position on the ground, and now your muscles burn and ache so bad that even if you had the wind, you couldn't move your opponent?

Here's a little test for you. Next time you're at the gym or dojo, find a partner that weighs roughly the same as you. See what you can do with him (or her). I don't mean just simple take downs or grappling drills. Pick him (or her) up. Throw them over your shoulder. Heck, even see if you can put them over your head.

Now go do some heavy metabolic conditioning work – do some sprints, run a hard couple miles, or grapple/spar a few hard rounds. What can you do with your partner now?

And remember, when you're in the cage or ring, you won't be up against a limp body. You'll be up against not only somebody who weighs as much as you do, but somebody who is resisting against and trying to counter everything you do. So, now you have that to contend with...

This is the kind of power conditioning I'm talking about. Once you get to the point that you can dominate bodyweight is any way imaginable, and do it regardless of how tired you are, you'll have a decided advantage over any opponent you come up against.

That's why I designed "Working Class Fitness - The Programs" - to help you dominate your bodyweight. There are six different MMA workouts included, and the very last one - the one you really want to build up to, is all about testing (and building) the power conditioning needed in MMA to manhandle anything that weighs as much as you do.

(And it's cheap as heck!)

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt "Wiggy" Wiggins
http://www.workingclassfitness.com

PS - That link again was HERE.