Circuit Training for Muaythai & MMA

November 23rd, 2007 · 19 Comments

Written by Mark Mian of AlterCenter

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans on MMT. While the rest of the nation kicks off the holiday season by eating everything within reach, I figure now’s a good time to give y’all a gut-busting antidote to all the holiday cheer and beer…

CIRCUITS FOR MUAYTHAI & MMA - ROUND 1
I’ve put together a video (page bottom) with a nonstop circuit of 5 functional exercises to condition your entire body for Muaythai, MMA, and other striking-based combat forms. You might recognize some from my previous postings, linked on this page.

Each exercise can be done on its own to build your strength & power. However, doing them without rest in a circuit will develop killer stamina by challenging your ability to maintain your intensity over a longer duration and changing conditions… just like fighting. Circuits like this are especially good for the last month of training before competition - when refining your strength with adaptive endurance is key. It’s hard. It hurts. It works. No crying.

Instructions
Basic instructions are included in the video below - but here are some additional notes. Feel free to ask questions.

Program: 3-4x/week for 6-8 weeks
It will take a few weeks for your body to change. As always, we strongly recommend developing control and fluidity before increasing power and intensity. The reason is to avoid over-stressing your body, which decreases development, performance, and potential.

Preparation: Nourish & Warmup
This workout is a high-energy investment: you get what you give. Nourish yourself by eating properly beforehand. Warm-up with 10 minutes of rope-jumping/cardio & then some stretching.

Duration: 30-60 seconds per exercise (goal is 60)
Your goal is to (eventually) perform each exercise for 60 seconds without resting between, for a total of 5 minutes of nonstop work.

Volume: 3-5 Circuits
As mentioned previously, do each circuit without stopping between exercises. After completing all 5, rest for 30-60secs before doing 2-4 more, in the same manner.

Resistance: 5-15 lb Medicine Ball
Start with a light med ball to learn the movement properly: fast & controlled . Work your way up slowly in weight to avoid straining your back.

Attitude: Go hard but don’t get wild, killer. Keep track of your performance from one workout to the next, counting how many reps you do.

Remember that you are training to develop strength, not demonstrate it.

*Wai*

Mark

Tags: Muay Thai

19 responses so far ↓

1 fight geek // Nov 23, 2007 at 5:45 pm

This is great. I’ve been looking for a circuit to put in my next training block.
2 Gusnark // Nov 23, 2007 at 5:54 pm

Hi,
good exercises for power, endurance and explosion.
Which reminds me of Ross Enamait. Do you guys know him?
This guy is awesome, his exercises for power and endurance are really great. Check his site.
3 nopstar // Nov 23, 2007 at 6:38 pm

Mark as always great post, this will be great for my non Muay Thai days.

Just watching Neungsiam work, makes me want to hurl…

Nice.
Nopstar
4 ironmanyawyan // Nov 23, 2007 at 11:38 pm

That’s a great workout…
5 Gusnark // Nov 24, 2007 at 5:54 am

Mark, what do you consider to be the best strength exercise excluding weight lifting and a ball?
Burpees seem to be the best. Is it true and why?
Thank you!
6 Spydaman // Nov 24, 2007 at 4:11 pm

WOW!….dude…dat’s a wicked workout.
7 Mark Alter // Nov 25, 2007 at 11:18 am

Gusnark - good question.

The short answer is: the best strength exercise for you is the one you’re not good at.

That would be any one you can’t do for more than 8-10 reps, let’s say.

The long answer involves some explanation.

1]
First, as always, I can’t really say there’s a “best” exercise for anything — it really depends on what the athlete has been doing previously. Generally, your body will stop getting much stronger/better at an exercise after about 6-8 weeks, and will need something need to develop it. So, an exercise that is “best” for you at one point, will no longer be so after a couple of months.

2]
Burpees: aka “Squat Thrusts” — the first exercise in the video above is a modified form of it. I guess I wouldn’t really consider Burpees a strength exercise for most athletes who can do more than 10 pushups. Except for those who find pushups really hard at first, squat thrusts are more about general conditioning and endurance - because they involve two exercises in one.

To mostly develop strength on its own, it’s best to repeat multiple sets of one movement that you can only do for about 3-8 reps (for pure strength is 3-5 reps).

Burpees are great for overall conditioning and maintenance of some strength if you’re only going to do one exercise.

3]
There are many challenging bodyweight exercises you can do if you’re in decent shape and don’t have any equipment. Each exercise will tend to build strength in only one area of your body (eg, upper vs lower, front vs back vs sides, etc), so you should do a at least a few to develop everything.

As a basic minimal workout for muaythai, you can do various pushups (eg, on an incline, or one-arms, or clapping), various lunges (eg, forward, reverse, lateral), various chinups (eg, with different grips), and tons of abs - as explained in my first Kick Your Abs posting. All of these involve movements and muscles useful to what you do in Muaythai:
pushups = punching
lunges = moving & dodging
chinups = clinching
various abs = kicking, blocking, balancing

To conclude:
1] build a program of exercises that you suck at, and 2] make sure they make sense for muaythai
3] make sure they hit your whole body
4] work hard and then switch them after 6-8 weeks

*wai*
8 myap // Nov 25, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Ah, two observations:

1) Now I know where Neungsiam was “inspired” to start incorporating the circuit training exercises at the end of Fight and Fitness’ Sat. AM class.

2) Also know now how he has been able to become so ripped this year! Good work.
9 Tong Po // Nov 25, 2007 at 10:19 pm

Very explosive workout! I can see where this type of workout could translate into the explosiveness needed for combat type sports- even when fatigued. Good stuff.
10 I'm just sayin.. // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:56 am

Good Job, Neungsiam!!! He is in pretty good shape.
11 Gusnark // Nov 28, 2007 at 10:31 am

Thank you very much Mark!
One more question. What do you think is a good exercise for developing a big, proportional chest? When it comes to weight lifting, one of the best exercises is a bench press. But what about a training without weights, comparing to bench press, are the various pushups the best exercises for the chest development?
Bye
12 Mark Alter // Nov 28, 2007 at 6:00 pm

Gusnark -

Yeah - if you’re training without weights or other equipment (like elastics), various pushups are the best chest-muscle developers. But if you’re really going for size, you should follow what the bodybuilders do (not that I recommend that for Muaythai).

Otherwise, you can make pushups very challenging and comprehensive by using different hand positions (including one-arm pushups) and body-angles.

I’l be posting an article about pushups in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
13 Gusnark // Nov 28, 2007 at 10:45 pm

Thanks Mark.
I’m pretty familiar with various pushups, but I’m looking forward for your next article.
Bye
14 Mackan // Dec 1, 2007 at 9:04 pm

isnt dips a very good exercise for your chest-muscles aswell as for your triceps ?
15 Mark // Dec 7, 2007 at 2:34 am

Mackan

Yes. “Dips” are essentially “vertical pushups” and mostly work the same muscles as regular pushups do - though in different ratios. Dips done on parallel bars tend to work the lower chest fibers, lats, and triceps more. To fully develop your muscles, it’s always good to use a variety of angles: from vertical (dips), incline pushups, regular pushups, to upside-down (handstand) pushups.

BUT… although dips may be good for working & developing those muscles if you think about it, Muaythai doesn’t really involve any movements like dips (pushing forcefully downwards). Dips are not especially functional (relevant) for muaythai performance.
16 Bruce // Jan 5, 2008 at 1:15 pm

I don’t have the chinup equipment at home. Mark, what do you recommend to substitute for this?

Everything else can be done with just a medicine ball. For now, I’m substituting with 2 thai pads velcroed together, with a 5lb dumbbell sandwiched in between. Yes I know it’s janky, but it’s all stuff I have lying around at home.
17 Mark Alter // Jan 5, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Bruce — can you not get/use a removable doorway-fitting chinup bar? They cost like 10-20 bux…

Nice one with the ghetto thai medicine ball!
18 adam // Jan 11, 2008 at 6:26 pm

those is nice pink shorts they be
19 re // Feb 22, 2008 at 8:33 am

Hi, i have just started out in muay thai and i was wondering if burpees was relevant to this discipline, so many people have told me its no use , is this true i really like burpees, especially the cardio thing you get from it!!!