So finally decided to begin with MMA but dont wanna drop the weights

[Who Dares Win]

So as planned few weeks ago Ill be starting MMA, attended a couple of lessons to check out the environment and decided its worth.

Its not an "hardcore" gym, only few guys there are into competition and mostly train only in grabbling to keep it safe, I will also mostly train wrestling and grappling and limit myself just to have a grasp of striking...or at least thats the plan till now.

Anyway I really like to lift weights, I like the body it gives me in the long term and the satisfactiona and relax it gives me in the short term.

The plan is to lift weights mon-wed-fri get a post-workout shake, rest an hour than go for the MMA, this way I'll have 3 heavy days but also free days midweek.

Now the point is, given I have no interest in competion (so no need to weight or care about power/weight ratio), can I still train for hypertrophy and get agreeable result?

I was thinking about going for chest-bi on monday, legs-shoulders on wednesday and back and tri and friday.

3 exercises per group (starting with a compound one ofc) for big muscles and 2 for smaller muscles, 3 sets for 8-10 reps.

Abs would be done with mma warmup.

What do you think?

 

[AttackFormation]

Here's my advice to make it work. Make sure you've dropped any tough guy act. When you get caught in a lock, tap immediately unless you're already getting out of it as he applies it or you can neutralise it immediately (like tucking your chin against a choke hold). Don't lay in an arm bar and try to "resist" submitting by letting your joints get destroyed. It not only won't work, it's really stupid and leaves you with short and possibly long term consequences. When you get caught in a lock your reaction should be "fvck, he got the superior position, I'll tap and restart" not "I'm gonna beat him! I'm the baddest mutha in this-ARGH *snap*". Get an MRI after a while to see how your body is doing, even if you feel fine.

And don't think that just because something isn't hurting now that it's in perfect shape and cannot be damaged or is not already on its way to an inflammation etc. One dumb move, like overworking in the gym and then trying to muscle a lock, and it could be over for that joint. The elbow joint especially is vulnerable to this, it will already be handling heavy loads in the gym and grappling is immensely taxing on the arms not only by default but also because arm locks are more common than leg locks since they're easier to get. Watch out for forearm inflammations.

Try to heat your joints and muscles up intermittently by something like a sauna or heat pad, this will improve blood flow - this is especially important for your joints, which have sh!t circulation because they aren't supposed to break and primarily because they are made to handle loads that make it problematic for blood vessels not to get pulverized (that's why the body tries to dissuade you from doing stuff like lifting and fighting too much and heavily, the damage you can receive is a reality). This is part of what a physical therapist will recommend you to start doing for your joints (like ultrasound therapy), good idea to see one.

I would say the schedule you've put up should be great, as long as you mind the advice above - if you don't, you can train one day a week and still get your @ss in a wheelchair. In fact if you train intelligently, you could do more days a week if you wanted to.

Sources: first hand experience. Don't do the stupid stuff I did, and do the smart things I do.

 

[Huffman]

Good point AttackFormation. One thing about martial arts is that it often invites you to go over your limits. Hitting as hard as you can, muscling something etc. I really love that, but if your joints and tendons are already kinda sensitive, better back off early. I ruptured my rotator cuff because I was too "motivated" after a shoulder accident. Had horrible surgery + 1 year recovery, got completely out of shape. Hell I'm happy that the shoulder is not disabled for life (which the doctor said was a possibility).

 

[Who Dares Win]

@Attack

Did submission wrestling few years ago so kinda familiar with the "dont be a badass" mindset but its good that you reminded it since its a mistake everyone can do, even those with experience.

Also very informative the part about the joints, I already got supplements for joints and tendons in my supplement plan.

Just wondering if you ever tried weights right before mma? did you find out something that helps to make the process more smooth?

I still have some doubt about what to take after the weights and right before the mma, I plan 1 hour break between the two and considering either some whey with water or a bcaa/glutamine mix.

 

[AttackFormation]

They're not anti-inflammation supplements right?

I do weights before MAs regularly as part of my schedule. I don't take any supplement in between (except drinking water I guess) so can't speak on that, and I rest for around half an hour (the time it takes from finishing in the gym to stepping on the dojo mat). But I do think you need a minimum amount of rest in between to regain focus and energy since you're supposed to actually learn and perform and not just do a cardio session, so even if I had no travel time I'd still rest until I was ready.

 

[Who Dares Win]

Its a multi-joint support supplement

• Glucosamine HCL:1200mg
• MSM:450mg
• Copper:1000mcg (100%)
• Vitamin D3:600IU (300%)
• Hyaluronic Acid:50mg

• Marine Chodroitin Sulphate:450mg
• Vitamin C:80mg (100%)
• Manganese:2mg (100%)
• Rose Hip:500mg

 

[Armourhead]

Whatever your top priority is it needs to be trained first in the day. Otherwise you'll be spent before your top priority.
3 days a week is pretty good if you're gonna go all out hardcore on those days. The other 4 you'll need for rest and recovery.

You might want to try a morning workout and then immediately follow it up with some rapidly absorbing carbs. Glycogen replenishment is highest immediately following exercise. After that ideally I'd say take 8 hours off before going to MMA training. Glycogen will be back to good levels then and you'll be able to get a good workout in. If you go hardcore on weights then immediately mma you will be totally dead for your mma training. If your mma training is still good then you didn't have a good workout. I'd grab some dextrose (corn sugar) and mix about 50 grams worth into your water bottle for right after your weights. Dextrose has an almost even mix of glucose/fructose, so it'll refill both liver and muscle glycogen, which is essential for recovery.

Check out examine.com for any supplement research or information. Hands down the most scientific reference available and all supplements have hundreds of studies cited.

As for hypertrophy, how long have you been training for? Had good results already? After 3 years of proper training most guys will have achieved most of their "gainz" and will have to fight tooth and nail for any extra added mass. If you decide to throw in MMA right after your workout then you can pretty much wave goodbye to any future hypertrophy gains in the gym unless you are a genetic freak. Cardio/MMA and mass gains do not mix well in general. You can still do them both if you like but don't expect to excel at both. You can excel at one or the other, or be moderate in both but not exceptional in both.

 

[Bible_Belt]

You can be buff weight lifter guy, but that works against you in mma, because you have to be flexible. Muscle mass and flexibility tend to vary inversely. If you don't want to compete, though, it doesn't matter. So just tap out quickly, as was said earlier.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

You can be buff weight lifter guy, but that works against you in mma, because you have to be flexible. Muscle mass and flexibility tend to vary inversely. If you don't want to compete, though, it doesn't matter. So just tap out quickly, as was said earlier.

What martial arts would be better for someone who needs to defend themselves, but not take too much damages to joints and things during training? You know we gotta go to work and pay bills and some of us don't want broken elbows joints, knees and the such.

 

[AttackFormation]

Whatever your top priority is it needs to be trained first in the day. Otherwise you'll be spent before your top priority.
3 days a week is pretty good if you're gonna go all out hardcore on those days. The other 4 you'll need for rest and recovery.

You might want to try a morning workout and then immediately follow it up with some rapidly absorbing carbs. Glycogen replenishment is highest immediately following exercise. After that ideally I'd say take 8 hours off before going to MMA training. Glycogen will be back to good levels then and you'll be able to get a good workout in. If you go hardcore on weights then immediately mma you will be totally dead for your mma training. If your mma training is still good then you didn't have a good workout. I'd grab some dextrose (corn sugar) and mix about 50 grams worth into your water bottle for right after your weights. Dextrose has an almost even mix of glucose/fructose, so it'll refill both liver and muscle glycogen, which is essential for recovery.

Check out examine.com for any supplement research or information. Hands down the most scientific reference available and all supplements have hundreds of studies cited.

As for hypertrophy, how long have you been training for? Had good results already? After 3 years of proper training most guys will have achieved most of their "gainz" and will have to fight tooth and nail for any extra added mass. If you decide to throw in MMA right after your workout then you can pretty much wave goodbye to any future hypertrophy gains in the gym unless you are a genetic freak. Cardio/MMA and mass gains do not mix well in general. You can still do them both if you like but don't expect to excel at both. You can excel at one or the other, or be moderate in both but not exceptional in both.

Ime you don't need to wait hours after lifting to do MAs. Between 30-60 minutes should be enough. I do agree with adding some quick energy after your workout. Don't really buy that stuff about cardio and muscle mass not mixing well, because we know HIIT - which is exactly the kind of cardio you do most of the time in MAs and is not steady state - does mix well with lifting. All that happened to me when I started with MAs is I started going down in BF.

 

[Armourhead]

Ime you don't need to wait hours after lifting to do MAs. Between 30-60 minutes should be enough. I do agree with adding some quick energy after your workout. Don't really buy that stuff about cardio and muscle mass not mixing well, because we know HIIT - which is exactly the kind of cardio you do most of the time in MAs and is not steady state - does mix well with lifting. All that happened to me when I started with MAs is I started going down in BF.

You don't have to wait as long as I suggested, but a good weightlifting workout will burn through most of your glycogen. It can't be replenished after just 1 hour. If he goes straight into mma right after he's going to be very low on energy and won't be able to put in 100% to his mma training after.

 

[AttackFormation]

You don't have to wait as long as I suggested, but a good weightlifting workout will burn through most of your glycogen. It can't be replenished after just 1 hour. If he goes straight into mma right after he's going to be very low on energy and won't be able to put in 100% to his mma training after.

If he rests for a while after it shouldn't be a problem despite his glycogen being lower. At least it isn't to me, I completely agree that going straight to the next session after you're done lifting will leave you with no energy but if you take 30-60 minutes off in between it'll work out in my experience. The body gets better at lasting longer with training to do so just like it gets better at the other physical aspects and it gets better psychologically too, when you do it and get through you won't think it's too exhaustive anymore and then it gets easier. That's how it started for me lol... I couldn't wait more than half an hour or so in between my sessions one time rather than my normal hour, I wasn't sure I'd get through in one piece but I did fine and it became my new standard.

 

[Bible_Belt]

What martial arts would be better for someone who needs to defend themselves, but not take too much damages to joints and things during training? You know we gotta go to work and pay bills and some of us don't want broken elbows joints, knees and the such.

I never had a serious injury in four years of training. You just have to train with people who know what they are doing. Ignorance is what causes injuries. Morons tend to hurt each other for fun. Train in a place with quality supervision.

 

[AttackFormation]

I never had a serious injury in four years of training. You just have to train with people who know what they are doing. Ignorance is what causes injuries. Morons tend to hurt each other for fun. Train in a place with quality supervision.

Pretty much this. The people you want to avoid training with are the same ones you want to avoid associating with in everyday life - those low on empathy and intellect.