Five Training Tips for Fighters and Combat Athletes.

There are many different physical qualities required for combat athletes to achieve optimal levels of development for their sport. Strength and power training are one of the most underrated, but that is changing.

For a long time the idea was technique not strength was the most important factor for a fighter or grappler. Technique, without a doubt, is incredibly important for athletes from all sports, but why does it have to be one or the other?

It's like my good friend Brian said when we were discussing the importance of strength for fighters and combat athletes. He said, "If strength wasn't important then why are so many fighters getting popped for steroids?" Great point. Another observation I made recently was looking at the absolute results for the IBJJF Master World Championships. The majority of the winners were from the ultra heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions. Technique not being an issue the bigger and stronger athletes tend to prevail.

I have always felt that developing the highest levels of strength and power, while keeping the athlete in their respective weight class, was extremely important. Here are five training tips that I have found to be extremely beneficial for all of the combat athletes I've trained at EPTS across the board.

#1 - Jump

BJJ athlete Chris jumping onto a 30" box with an extra 50lbs of weight.

Jumping is one of the most important exercises and all athletes should do them. Jumping is absolute power. You are able to create and display a huge amount of force without the deceleration associated with the traditional barbell lifts. Use a wide variety of jumps done mostly onto a box. Doing box jumps minimizes the impact forces created when landing a vertical, broad, or depth jump. Depth jumps should be used in small cycles and only when the athlete is physically prepared to handle them. We do many different types of jumps from seated jumps, jumps from the knees, jumps with extra weights (holding weights, wearing weight vest, ankle weights, etc.), double leg jumps, single leg jumps, bounding, and many others. Most of our athletes do 40 jumps per workout twice per week. I got this from Louie Simmons' book, "Explosive Strength Development for Jumping" - a must read.

#2 - Sumo Deadlifts

9th grade 138 lb. wrestler Cam pulling 300 lbs in a rack deadlift.

Strong powerful hips are essential for fighters and grapplers and the sumo deadlift is one of the best exercises to build the hips, back, legs and grip. For strength we use the maximal effort method where we work up to a 1 rep max in a variation of the deadlift each week. For speed strength we use 50-60% of a max deadlift with an additional 25% band tension usually for 10 sets of 2 reps on our weekly dynamic effort training session. The deadlift variations we rotate through are rack deadlifts from 3 different positions all below the knee, deadlifts with the plates on 2" or 4" blocks, deficit deadlifts standing on 2" or 4" blocks, deadlifts in the belt squat, zercher lifts, and a variety of good mornings. 

BJJ athlete and 2017 IBJJF Master World Champion Chris pulling 295 lbs in the Zercher lift from the ground.

We use bands or chains attached to the bar for accommodating resistance always on speed work and sometimes on max effort work.

BJJ athlete Jesse doing speed deadlifts with 315 lbs and 220 lbs of band tension.

#3 - Don't Neglect the Lower Back, Neck or Grip

High school wrestler Cam doing neck bridges.

Louie Simmons' has said numerous times that football players and football strength coaches are afraid to train both ends of the spine - the neck and the low back. I recently spent a summer working with a Division 2 defensive lineman and confirmed this. His back shut down doing deadlifts with 50% his max and couldn't manage a set of 10 with 50% of his best squat in the reverse hyper. That is ridiculous, especially since a strong low back and hips are required to explode off the line.

BJJ athlete Noah doing 4-way neck exercises with the neck harness and light band.

A strong low back, neck and grip are critical for combat athletes. We use a ton of different exercises to build these areas and some of our favorites are the reverse hyper (developed and patented by Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell), kettlebell swings, cleans and snatches (great for the torso, lower and upper back, grip and general physical preparation-GPP), neck bridges and neck harness lifts, grip strength tools like the Rolling Thunder revolving handle, hub lift, pinch gripping plates and hex dumbbell heads, and doing chin up and rowing exercises using a GI jacket which develops tremendous grip strength while training the lats and upper back.

MMA fighter Ryan doing reverse hypers.

The keys for these areas are high repetitions and isometric holds. The high reps encourage blood flow which for an area like the lower back is critical since it is comprised of a large amount of connective tissue which has a poor blood supply compared to muscle tissue. 

BJJ athlete Pete doing kettlebell cleans.

The high reps and isometrics build strength endurance which is critical in these areas as well. Spend some time developing these three typically overlooked areas of the body - it pays to be bulletproof!

BJJ athlete Chris doing gi pull ups.

I would strongly encourage you to read Louie Simmons' and John Quint's articles at https://westside-barbell.com/ and check out their podcasts as well, they dig much deeper into this topic.

#4 - Work in the Belt Squat 

BJJ athlete Braulio doing box squats in the belt squat machine.

The belt squat is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment I have ever used. For combat athletes it allows for a huge amount of exercise variety and training volume. By walking in the belt squat it can be used for conditioning as well. Squatting in the belt squat is great because it allows you to execute a squat without the compressive loading on the spine associated with the barbell squat. Not having the barbell on the back keeps a lot of stress off the shoulders as well. 

BJJ athlete Jesse doing step ups while walking in the belt squat.

The belt squat also tractions the spine some as the weight is loaded onto the hips with a belt. In addition to squats a wide variety of exercises can be performed. 

MMA fighter Ryan doing an isometric hold with the Bandbell Bar while walking in the belt squat.

You can do kettlebell exercises in the belt squat, deadlifts in the belt squat, all varieties of loaded carries and odd object lifts, medicine ball work, walking, shadow boxing, pummeling drills, and the list goes on and on. Walking drills are typically done for timed sets - usually between 1:00 and up to 5:00 or longer. One of our grapplers, Chris, made 8:00 of continuous walking with 205 lbs of weight and 70 lbs of band tension while doing various lifts, carries and isometric exercises! You are only limited by your creativity. 

BJJ athlete Jesse working an isometric choking exercise while walking in the belt squat.

Had it not been for making a trip to Columbus, Ohio to learn from Louie Simmons and Tom Barry at Westside Barbell I would have never realized the true value of this piece of equipment.

MMA fighter Ryan shadow boxing in the belt squat.

#5 - Club Swinging for Shoulder Strength and Health

BJJ athlete Chris performing shoulder strength and health exercises with Indian clubs.

Club swinging as a form of exercise is hundreds of years old but is still incredibly beneficial today. By swinging light and heavy clubs in various patterns you are able to strengthen the muscles of the shoulder in a circular pattern unlike with traditional presses and raises. In addition the club provides a bit of traction on the shoulder joint during various swing exercises. 

BJJ athlete Noah doing mobility work with Indian clubs.

In fighting and grappling the shoulders take a beating and club swinging is one of the best methods of training I have found for strength and restoration.

There are many qualities that need to be developed for a combat athlete's physical preparedness including flexibility, mobility, aerobic and anaerobic energy systems development, strength, speed, power, endurance, etc. These strength and power exercises are not a be all end all by any means. However, they are some of the exercises I have found to have a huge impact for all of the fighters and grapplers I have worked with past and present.

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

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Developing the Athlete: Build Strength in the Gym, not Skill.

Every so often I still see comments about “sport specific training”. This whole idea has led to the creation of many products, programs and facilities dedicated to this niche.

I have trained many athletes, of all levels, from a wide variety of sports in the last 20 years and I can say I’ve never met one that had too much strength, too much speed, too much power, or too much endurance.

There are two types of preparation that apply to athletes, general and specific. For simplicity’s sake, we can say that specific preparation is what the athlete does in the practice of the sport and general preparation is everything else. The trick for the athlete is to ensure that the general preparation enhances the specific skill. Due to this the line between general preparation and physical preparation becomes blurred to the point that strength coaches try to mimic specific skills in the weight-room. This is a big mistake.

I believe it is the sole responsibility of the strength coach to focus on the development of all the physical requirements of the athlete, not specific skill development. There are position coaches and skill coaches to fill those roles. To do this effectively it is imperative the coach has a thorough understanding of all the physical skills required by the athlete, and properly assess where the athlete is currently and where they need to be at the start of the competitive season.

The physical skills required of an athlete, and in what concentration vary sport to sport. They include, but are not limited to, strength, speed, power, endurance, mobility, and flexibility.

Usually the topic of debate centers around strength training, and rightfully so. Since force development is critical for sport performance, the development of strength in all velocities is essential for the athlete. Again, I have yet to see an athlete that is too strong for their sport, yet many strength coaches seem to live in fear of this daily. I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard an industry professional at a conference or seminar say something to the extent of “we are not training weightlifters or powerlifters, we are training athletes”. This is true but unfortunately it has resulted in athletes that do not come close to their strength potential.

I worked with a D1 football player who, while doing a set of kettlebell swings with a 24kg kettlebell, was hit with a massive back spasm. Here was a college senior who played outside linebacker. He weighed 236lbs, had a 40-yard dash of 4.85 seconds, a vertical jump of 29.5”, and a parallel free squat of 535 lbs. All that and swinging a 53 lb kettlebell made his lower back lock up. This is what a program of front squats, bench presses, power cleans and no direct lower back work resulted in. I see this in virtually every athlete I’ve worked with. Apparently, sumo deadlifts are cheating, wide stance back squats are somehow less athletic than front squats, and direct low back and neck work is to be avoided at all cost. This is also why some of my female powerlifters ran circles around another collegiate football player I worked with recently.

To fix this I switched him to wide stance box squats, sumo deadlifts (both of these exercises are fantastic for developing hip strength) and we attacked his lower back with Louie Simmon’s Reverse Hyper Extension machine for tons of reps, 80-100 per workout with 50% of his squat max were the norm. In addition, we did a ton of glute / ham raises, good mornings, back extensions, and kettlebell swings.

My approach to programming is heavily influenced by the work of Louie Simmons and the Westside Barbell Club. We did maximal effort work one day a week where we worked up to a max single in a squat or deadlift variation, or a 3-5 rep max in a good morning followed by the accessory work listed above, reverse hypers plus 2 or 3 more exercises for hamstrings, low back and abs. We did dynamic effort work one day a week where we did box squats with average bands for 10-12 sets of 2 reps with 50-60% of his squat max and speed pulls with 50% of his deadlift max and doubled mini bands for 10 sets of 2 reps followed by the reverse hypers and other accessory work. We did a lot of walking with the sled, heavy weight for shorter distances and lighter weight for longer distances. Jumps and bounding drills were done on the lower body days as well. Two other days of the week were devoted to a maximal effort upper body and dynamic effort upper body training session.

After only 6 weeks of training like this we had raised his parallel squat from 535 lbs to 600 lbs, his body-weight was up from 236 lbs to 247 lbs and he made these official results at his school’s Pro Day scouting event, his 40-yard dash dropped from 4.85 seconds to 4.60 seconds and his vertical went from 29.5” to 39.5”. Strength and power training lead to these results, not running and agility ladders.

Strength and power training improves force production. People love to say in athletics speed kills. You want to get faster? Increase ground contact force. 

A study done by Weyand titled “Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements” confirms this. All those ladder drills may make it look like you’re moving fast but if you want real speed you may want to “in out, in out” your way to the deadlift platform and squat rack. Click here for Weyand’s study.

This general approach to strength and power development is not just for power athletes. According to a study by Leena Paavilainen titled “Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power” an experimental group of endurance runners who replaced 32% of their running training with a strength training program showed a statistically significant drop in running times when compared to the control group who did their normal running training only. What’s interesting here was the experimental group showed no improvement in VO2 max and their improvement was attributed to increased ground force production and decreased ground contact time. Click here for Paavilainen's study.

This is about that time when many strength coaches love to reiterate “we’re training ATHLETES, not powerlifters and weightlifters. Train athletes like DAMN ATHLETES!” I get lost on this statement. Since when has lifting barbells been the sole right of powerlifters and weightlifters? Just because strength development is most often sorely lacking in athletes, form youth all the way up to professionals, doesn’t mean other physical qualities should be ignored. All athletes require strength, power, endurance, flexibility, mobility, etc. Some are quick but weak, some are strong but slow, some are hyper-mobile and some are wound tighter than a drum. No athlete can get by on a cookie cutter program and it is responsibility of the strength coach, or I guess physical preparation coach is the cool new term, to determine the individual needs based on the sport, the athlete’s position within the sport, and their current level of readiness. I have worked with climbers, football players, baseball players, volleyball players, combat athletes and strength athletes; to name a few; and none of them train the same way. Ever.

Do not waste time on the fads in the sport specific industry. Athletes need to be as strong as they possibly can while at the same time developing the appropriate energy systems and establishing the appropriate range of motion needed for the sporting form. So yes, train athletes like damn athletes but do not neglect strength and strengthen the muscles that they need. This will likely mean deviating from the typical front squat, bench press, and power clean protocol that is easy to plan for a large group, but that’s ok. As trainers and coaches it is our responsibility to program the most effective, efficient and safest means so the athlete is at their strongest, most resilient, and best conditioned state when we turn them over to their skill development coaches for their specificity work. 

P.S. If you haven't read Barry Ross's book, "Underground Secrets to Faster Running" you should fix that. Click here to check it out on Amazon.