Weight Training for Fighters

I, like most people, can get a little tired of something if it’s just the same old same old- unless it presents a challenge for me both physically and mentally. I’ve found my best workouts are done when they test me most and force me to perform at a higher level. In fact, fights that I walked away from with the biggest smiles (win or lose) were the ones that were the toughest for me; the ones where the man came at me trying to take my head off! These fights forced me to stay more focused, move faster, hit harder and basically “up my game” more than the other bouts, but, I don’t fight anymore. So the question now becomes “where do I find that level of challenge to keep me going?”

The answer: intensity and diversity. Since I haven’t fought in several years and have no aspirations to do so again anytime soon, these are the two things about training I’ve found extremely important in keeping my interest and providing me the necessary challenge over the past few years.

Intensity: I don’t think I’m that loud at the gym, but Mary tells me different. “I could hear you grunting and screaming across the floor!” Oops! And just a few days ago, a client watched me train and said, “you sounded like a crazy person in a straight jacket talking to themselves in a padded room.” Oops! Don’t know what to say to that, just trying to do my best.

Diversity: Not only does diversity keep things new, fresh and fun, but it is necessary to keep my muscles guessing. By confusing my body and not allowing it to get used to the workout routine, the weight used or the period of rest given, it responds by coming back stronger and ready for nearly anything.

Here is my workout from Saturday: Each Round was 3 minutes long and only 30 seconds were allowed for rest between rounds. The pace was fast and weights were very light. I wanted to push the pace in order to develop my cardio vascular endurance and muscular endurance as well. At 230 pounds my body needs to pump a lot of blood through my muscles for a very long time, and I want to maximize that as much as possible. This way I can go longer and harder and gain better results faster.

Round 1- Shadow Sparring (130 strikes)
Round 2- Heavy Bag (128 strikes)
Round 3- Push-ups (150)
Round 4- Heavy Bag (151 strikes)
Round 5- Standing Military Press (100lbs for 100 reps)
Round 6- Heavy Bag (168 Strikes)
Round 7- Standing Dumbbell Rows (45lb Dumbbells 90 reps)
Round 8- Heavy Bag (147 Strikes)
Round 9- Rest
Round 10- Heavy Bag (167 Strikes)
Round 11- Push-ups (160)
Round 12- Heavy Bag (136 strikes)
Round 13- Standing Dumbbell Rows (45lb dumbbells for 100 reps)
Round 14- Heavy Bag (120 Strikes)
Round 15- Push-ups (140)
Round 16- Heavy Bag (didn’t count)
Round 17- Standing Military Press (100lb for 80 reps)
Round 19- Heavy Bag (didn’t count)
Round 20- Shadow Sparring
Stretch 5 minutes