Weight training for MMA

Realize that weight training is a little like dieting. In the sense that you'll hear many different and sometimes totally conflicting things. What you have to keep in mind is the goal of your workout routine: not to be chiseled and not to only be strong. I would suggest looking up any type of Circuit training, Super sets, and any exercise routine that focuses on muscular endurance and explosion (as opposed to traditional pyramid exercises that focus more on one-shot strength). The goal being to increase power but keep your flexibility and endurance. We have all seen the effects of too much weight lifting--requires too much energy to keep an over-muscular body in motion, reduces mobility, requires too much time in the weight gym, wears away at your joints and connective tissue.

In the end, some fighters don't even lift weights and instead stick to calisthenics and plyometrics. In other cases, some fighters choose to reduce their weight lifting in order to go to a lighter weight class with their natural strength. That said, here are a few words to start you off:

Basically keep the reps higher, the pace high, and the weight relatively lower (aim for 10-15 reps). Go from one muscle group to the other with very littler rest (less than a minute) until you complete your entire body or the groups you mean to hit that day (circuits). Or do different exercises that stick to one muscle group but hit it different ways, i.e. grouping different type of chest exercises together in a row (super sets). There is room for olympic and power lifting exercises in a fighter's routine, but be sure that you have someone help you with proper technique--incorrect technique can lead to some of the worst injuries in all of sports. In all cases, you're going to need to start slow and work up to it. Strength and conditioning exercises are meant to burn you out, and they WILL. Until your body is capable of recovering from those exercises they will put you at risk of overtraining. One last tip: stop maxing out. It serves no purpose in our sport. It takes time for you to recover before and after in order to truly max out.

You'll be in fighting shape soon enough