Strength Training for Fighters - It's Going in the Wrong Direction

I've had the pleasure of working with fighters from different disciplines including boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai and one thing I've found is none of them were "strong enough".

I hear so often that strength training isn't important and that fighters should just focus on technique. This is bad.

A fighter, just like any other athlete, needs to be concerned with strength, power, speed, agility, mobility, flexibility and specific skill work. 

Of course the levels of each depend on the requirements of the sport and what the athlete's current level of preparation is.

What a lot of fighters don't realize is that there are essentially two types of physical preparation for their sport - general physical preparation (GPP)-which constitutes strength training, power training, speed training, agility training, flexibility training, etc-and specific physical preparation (SPP)-which is essentially fight training, technique work, sparring, etc.

Kettlebell training is great supplementary work for fighters, just make sure to do it AFTER you've done your squats, presses and deadlifts!

It seems lately that when fighters spend their time in the weight room it revolves around more "conditioning" work - i.e. light weight / high rep circuits and CrossFit type stuff - not dedicated and progressive strength training. Obviously this does not allow for maximal strength development. Unfortunately fighters are becoming "over-conditioning" and do not possess very high levels of strength. The typical argument here is that fighters don't need strength work, just technique. I say, why limit yourself?

When you say strength training, people automatically assume you mean a super fat, highly immobile powerlifter. No. That's not the case. I say that if you have two fighters squaring off, both of equal skill levels, and one of them spends a bit of time getting stronger while the other only focuses on technique development, I'm putting my money on the guy who's lifted some weight.


I remember a couple years ago talking to my friend Brian Gausman during one of our training sessions about fighters and strength training. Brian is a pretty damn strong guy himself and knows a thing or twelve about MMA and fight preparation so this comment from him was absolute gold-he said, "If strength isn't important to fighters then why the hell are so many of them getting popped for steroids and performance enhancers?" Logic at its finest. That's Brian for you.


It's also important to note that increased strength has a positive impact on speed. Doubt that statement? I remember reading an old squat training article by the great Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in which he made the comment that sprinter Ben Johnson had made a 620 lb squat at under 200 lbs bodyweight. I'm sure if you checked the training logs of many other good sprinters you'd see some impressive squat numbers.

Think of strength training as one tool in the tool box - don't make it the ONLY tool, but why wouldn't you spend some time developing that physical quality, just as you would spend developing the cardiovascular system, specific skills, etc.?

The best cure for this is to lift barbells. Heavy ones.

Please understand I am not suggesting fighters start killing themselves under 1-rep max loads like a powerlifter-but I am suggesting that adding more weight to basic movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows, etc. is a great thing for all fighters to do.

Granted, most fighters don't need to be as strong as Derrick - but adding a plate or two in an awesome lift like the deadlift would be time well spent for ANY fighter!

Also - keep in mind, strength training is only one spoke in the physical preparation wheel, there is mobility / flexibility, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, speed, power, agility and specific physical development.

Thus a fighter's time spent lifting weights should accomplish his or her goals with the fewest number of exercises and not interfere with the other physical qualities that need attention.

BJJ purple belt Jason Gaskill doing a little technique work with kettlebells. Heavy kettlebell clean and presses can make a great tool in a fighter's strength & conditioning tool box.

I recently helped a BJJ purple belt prepare for his first appearance at Pan-Ams and his strength workouts consisted of two days. One day of squats & deadlifts, supplementary work was box jumps, glute/ham raises, heavy ab work and reverse hypers followed by kettlebell work and sled dragging for the duration of his matches. The second day consisted of bench press, supplementary work was plyo push-ups, chins, rows, arm and shoulder work followed by kettlebell drills and sled dragging, again for the duration of his matches.

That's all. Two days a week. Why so little? Because he had four days of BJJ training, 2-3 days of low intensity cardio (cardiac development work) and 1-2 days of anaerobic work (various types of sprints).

Results? He dropped about 40 lbs, got a lot stronger, and into the best shape of his life. He also had the best showing out of everyone from his BJJ team that participated at Pan-Ams.

Keep in mind that you don't need to go in the gym and spend hours and hours doing every exercise or machine under the sun. A basic program of squats, deadlifts, bench presses, chins, rows, overhead press, some jumps and heavy ab work will do wonders for most fighters.

How strong do you need to be? Who cares. Just strive to add more weight to the lifts-whether it's for 1 rep, 3 reps, 5 reps-I don't care. More weight and / or more reps mean you've gotten stronger. Leave the fancy formulas to the Exercise Physiology geeks. Just use good technique and common sense and you should be fine.

There is no reason to turn your weight room time into another conditioning session - you should be getting plenty of that from your road work and your sparring and skill training - save the weight room time for what it is intended for - to get stronger!

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott