If you’ve ever had any kind of MMA Training, then you may know that it takes a lot of discipline, preparation, and determination to compete at the level of an MMA fighter. However, you are about to learn 5 critical mistakes that most fighters make, that can actually sabotage them before they ever enter a cage. Many of them follow training methods that, while are great in some aspects, offer minimal contribution to an actual MMA training routine.

#1: Overtraining – Many fighters try to train strength and conditioning for 2-3 hours every single day. There are several problems with this. First, after extensive weight training, you have very little strength left in your MMA Training for techniques like kickboxing or BJJ. Your muscles won’t be recruited properly since they are so drained, and you can develop poor muscle memory and bad habits in your training. Also, you don’t build muscle when you’re training. You build muscle when you’re recovering; when you’re eating, sleeping, and resting. If you never let your muscles rest, then you never give them space to grow. #2: Bodybuilding – Many fighters try and follow a bodybuilder regimen. They work a different muscle group each day of the week and they blast the hell out of those muscles. However, these workouts are designed for making you explode and put on pounds and pounds of body mass, but they don’t actually provide any functional strength for MMA Training. They also drain you completely, (see #1) leaving you too sore or tired to properly work technique. MMA Training should be based on movement patterns, and each and every exercise you do should complement your techniques for the cage.

#3: Lack of Base Strength – There are so many different MMA Training programs like flipping tires, or sledgehammer routines, or HIIT training. These all look awesome, and they are great drills. However, they are not complete, and they do not contribute directly to any of your MMA Training. Base strength ensures that you will have long lasting muscular endurance that will last you through the entire 15-25 minute battle inside the cage. Also, without a proper base level of strength, intense MMA Training for explosive power too early can end in a very nasty injury to your ligaments and tendons. That will end your training before you ever get to see any results.

#4: Training too much at one time – If you’re training strength more than 2-3 days a week, you’re basically wasting energy, and maybe even sabotaging your gains in your MMA Training. The body can only learn and adapt so much at a time. So if you’re focusing all of this time overtraining, your body will be focusing on adapting to these workouts, rather than committing your technical skills and MMA Training to muscle memory. Also, it’s best to focus on one type of conditioning at a time. Some fighters try and train muscular endurance, explosive power, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, all in the same workout. Quite simply, you have to focus sufficient energy on a specific goal until you have accomplished it. Spreading yourself too thin and trying to accomplish too many things at one time will get you nowhere and just confuse your body.

#5: Not following a structured program or progression – Most fighters don’t have an exact plan to get where they want to be and just kind of work out where they feel like it for the day. Following a plan and knowing where you are going is crucial for your MMA Training. Before you step foot in the gym, you should know exactly what exercises you will be doing: what exercises you will be doing, what weights to use, and how many sets and reps. Tracking your MMA Training is necessary as you need to measure your progress. Every single workout should be tracked and logged. Then you know how you should add on to any particular goal. For example, if you are bench pressing 145 pounds, and your goal is 3 sets of 12 reps, then each workout you should focus on getting in 1 or 2 more reps until you can reach that number. Once you have reached 3 sets of 12, then you can raise the weight. The best MMA Training is that which you can track to ensure that you are making consistent gains.

It’s very important to know exactly what you are doing when you enter the arena of MMA Training. If you don’t know how to get there, then you need to research MMA Training and learn how exactly you can meet your goals. To get started with a free MMA Conditioning Workout and 12 Day Meal Plan, visit http://martialartswellness.com