February6th

5/3/1 and MMA

Posted in: Articles, Blog, Q&A

5/3/1 and MMA

I’ve been asked numerous times to write a book, article or something on how to use 5/3/1 for MMA fighters.  Unless I colloborate with somone, a book  is probably not going to happen.  I believe that in order for anyone to write intellgently  about a subject, you have to have competed at the sport at a high level.  I mean, if one’s program is that good, that amazing, then why didn’t the ‘expert’ use it himself for success?

So I write this blog post with a huge asterick – I am NOT, nor have been, an MMA fighter.  Just so we are clear on that.

As with any sport, MMA requires that you are strong in the low back, legs, arms, chest, shoulders and abs.  Like all sports, strength is one of many things that need to be trained.  This is unlike the strength sports – thus more abilities must be trained and MORE TIME must be spent on them.  So you can’t spend all day in the weight room.  You have to be efficient in the weight room; you have to choose exercises that mean something and that carry over.

Since there are many abilities that must be trained and much time devoted to practice (and this practice being very difficult), I propose the following.

• Train two days/week
• Assistance work is kept to 2-3 exercises per day
• A third day can be added for additional assistance work (if time and energy allow)

The time spent in the weight room must be devoted to getting stronger, not  running around doing circuits.  You are in the weight room to get stronger, NOT to mimic another practice.  Every time I see someone prescribing conditioning circuits for MMA strength training, I breathe a sigh of relief.  As long as this person is deemed an expert, I will always have a job.  Feel free to do your battling ropes and burpees AFTER you strength train.

Day One

• Squat
• Bench Press
• Assistance Work

Day Two

• Deadlift
• Press
• Assistance Work

Assistance work should be plenty of lat and upper back work, arm work or anything that you need personally for injury prevention.  Like any sport, the role of the weight room is nothing more than GPP – and the time spent in the weight room FOR ANY ATHLETE is terribly easy (despite what people would have you believe).  Get progressively stronger on the basic lifts, don’t lift yourself out of play or practice (i.e. it shouldn’t interfere greatly with practices and definitely not matches).  Being sport specific in the weight room is a fucking gimmick.  Even the people that stroke that flaccid idea know it.  Please don’t fall for that ridiculous notion.  And you don’t need to be strong to be a better athlete, but being stronger than you were is always a good thing.  Especially if done progressively, over time and with patience.  These are the gains that last and that will hurt your opponent the most.

• Get the 2nd Edition 5/3/1 Ebook Here
• 5/3/1 Hard Copy on Amazon

7 Comments

• 

  Comment by Jason — February 6, 2012 @ 1:53 pm

  Every time I see someone prescribing conditioning circuits for MMA strength training, I breathe a sigh of relief. As long as this person is deemed an expert, I will always have a job. Feel free to do your battling ropes and burpees AFTER you strength train. <<< GREATNESS!

• 

  Comment by Dave — February 6, 2012 @ 1:58 pm

  Great article, Jim.

  If you ever do co-write 5/3/1 for MMA, I’ll buy it as soon as it’s released. Until then, there’s enough great information in this article and the 5/3/1 books to help me get stronger.

  Thanks again.

• 

  Comment by Demian — February 6, 2012 @ 3:50 pm

  Very timely, just now coming off some 5/3/1 cycles. Going to try to maintain or continue gains while starting up with kickboxing.

  I bet it’s going to be tough to limit the assistance work.

• 

  Comment by Reggie — February 6, 2012 @ 5:03 pm

  A good point regarding the fact that weight work should be subordinate to other facets of the athlete’s program although it is easier said than done with some athletes in my experience.

  Having worked with a variety of athletes I found three days a week optimal for maintaining and building strength with two days for in season maintenance work. Is the schedule above designed for the latter, I assume?

• 

  Comment by Dylan — February 6, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

  The folks at the TPI forum have 5/3/1 variant that syncs nicely with the 2Day/week you posted.

  Jim, would ya say this checks out okay?

  1. Agile 8 w/ shoulder work
  2. 5/3/1 squat/bench or deadlift/press
  3. submax pullups supersetted w/ mainlifts w/ varying grips
  4. abwork, planks, etc
  5 optional finisher (farmer walks/sledgehammer/tireflips/sled drags/etc) for volume or distance, a set or two.

  The conditioning component focuses on building a solid aerobic base not really the HIIT kinda stuff, and encouraged more *sport specific* work such as heavy bag drills, jumping rope, rolling, etc.

• 

  Comment by Andy Simmons — February 8, 2012 @ 11:10 am

  That last paragraph nails it, and not just relative to MMA. I was in the gym this morning (deadlift day) and was completely entertained by the guy dancing around like he’s doing ballet and wondering what in the FUCK he was doing. There are so many people sold on silly, trendy workouts it’s mind-boggling. Thank God for 5/3/1.

• 

  Comment by Dave — February 11, 2012 @ 9:21 am

  Reggie, with the greatest respect, I disagree. One can build strength just fine on a 2 day split, as long as you train both smart and hard.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website