A great all-round body workout that you can do at home.
I train a lot at home, sometimes outside, other times in my daughter’s bedroom!
- Warm up with a brisk walk, a jog, or some bodyweight squats
- Shadow boxing or boxing combination – Jab, cross, hook, cross. Do the combination 10 times with your left hand in front (left lead/orthodox stance) and then 10 times with your right foot in front (southpaw stance)
- Front kicks x 10 with each foot
- Side kicks x 10 each side. Hold the kick for 10 seconds if possible
- Standing knees with ‘dummy’ Thai Clinch x 10 with each knee
- Modified Knee-Lunge x 10 each side – Take a big step back with your right foot, lower down slowly onto your left knee, lean back to stretch hips, then drive of your left foot and onto your left toes, bring right knee through and dummy a knee strike
- Chin ups x 3 sets with shadow boxing in between sets
- Modified Curls for Defending takedown with double underhooks – 3 x 12 reps
- Bridges x 10 each side
- Shrimps x 10 each side
- Stand up technique x 10 each side
- 20 burpees* to finish (or star jumps if this is your first workout for a while!)
Modify the burpees so that you do a star jump and then drop down into a sprawl position.
If fitness levels allow it – add 2 x 3 minute rounds of skipping at the end.
Cool Down
Do these stretches at the end of your workout:
MMA Specific Fitness
Cardio, muscular endurance, core strength, balance and grip strength are all crucial for MMA, so any exercise that builds these aspects of fitness will help you be a better MMA fighter
Explosive hips are also important, kettlebells are great for this if you are training at home.
Jumping squats are also a good basic addition to the workout if you want to build explosive power. Be careful with any power exercises however, make sure you are warm before attempting them or you may get injured.
The World’s Greatest stretch & Leg swings are good for fundamental flexibility.
Neck strength is the only other thing I would consider working on before attending a class. I like to use manual resistance – literally just use my hand to resist my head as I move it up and down, side to side and rotate my chin clockwise and anti-clockwise.
For a general functional training programme that will transfer well to MMA (better than a bodybuilding routine anyway) see this functional training program for beginners.
and for those training at the gym, see this functional chest workout
