MMA and body building

I have been training in Muay Thai and Brazilia JJ for about 3 years now, in the past year i have been competing in quite a few MMA events because i just love that sport, its the best fighting sport out there for sure and requires the most skill and well rounded athletes. In the past years i never had time to lift weights because all the training was cardio-based and core strength (push ups and sit ups). In the past 6months though i started to lift weights, i lift in the morning so that i get plenty of time before i train MMA late in the evening, this gives me enough time to eat and rest so that i'm not doing both trainings close to eachother.
In the 6months of training i got very defined and ripped, and i am much stronger grappling and striking, i havent lost any flexibility or speed because i am still training in MMA very hard 5days a week. The only problem i have is that although i am increasing weights and getting stronger....i am not getting bigger at all!!! The reason is because i am doing a lot of cardio to stay in shape because i compete almost every month in either kickboxin, grappling. MMA fights are harder to find but i always stay in shape because anyone that ever faught knows you dont want to gas out in the ring!!!
If anyone trains the same way, please give me advice on gaining lean muscle while still being able to train hard.

Well I probably don't have to tell you that the increase in muscle mass will most likely put you into a different weight catagory, are you reay for that?. If you want to go up the weight and not sacrifice your cardio your going to have to get in more calories, its as simple as that I'm afraid. Do a search for some threads by a past member, sadly he's stopped posting, he's 'tapout'. he had some posts about competing in MMA events and bodybuilding.

yes i know about the weight division change...i am actually one of those 'in-betweeners' who arent at a fixed weight division but are having trouble getting to one, i dont want to drop to the lower division because i am already very lean i cnt loose any more weight so i need a lean 6pounds or so that are keepable fo me to make an actual weight division. Thank though i will search the forums for his posts.

how much do you wiegh?

try competing in the openwieght bouts

No way man, i am in between light and welterweight....competing in open weight will be suicide for me if i face someone thats 200lbs+

Being a tweener may work for you and as you know it's not the size it's the skill! Hell my instructor was atleast 20lbs less than me and I'm stronger but he'd choke me in a few moves or just be able to toy with you.
You're key obviously is to to stay lean and gain as well as you can...with your situation I wouldn't worry, as I'm sure you've fought middle weights. Just keep pressing your workouts, at day and night, I' especially concentrate on speed and power moves...deads, cleans, squats...anything that will help you with the bursts you need..hell those three will help you with your speed in take downs you'll be able to drive someone through a wall.

SID

Deads and squats improved my takedowns so much,I cant believe I was grappling without them before.

Bro,
When I fought I did best when I would set my calender up to show and "ON" season and and "OFF" season. That way I could try to add size during my off season workouts and while in season I would lift only to maintain!

Try to get a calender and set up all your competition to fall within a certain time frame! It works bro!

I gave myself 3 months off a year! Thats 12 weeks to add some serious size!!!

Good Luck, MJ

simple, eat more calories than you burn and you will go up in weight, try Meal replacements or something :lift:

you will have to eat a **** load of calories to gain natural weight while training mma. Do you realize how many calories we burn training. 1 round in the ring has to be as exhausting as running a mile. So if you are burning that many calories, you will need to up your intake like a mofo in order to gain weight. Like eat 5000 cals a day. My advice would be to stick to the lightweight division because you will be quicker here and will probably feel more natural to you.

billy-ba- ya i do realise how much calories are burnt during MMA training, i was training like 2 or 3 times a day when i was living on Holland :banana: my body felt like it was falling to bits!!!

I don't really lift anymore to gain mass since I am 240#'s @ 12%b.f., it's all about cardio for me, once I gassed during a practice going round robin and since then cardio is my life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KAEW44

In the 6months of training i got very defined and ripped, and i am much stronger grappling and striking, i havent lost any flexibility or speed because i am still training in MMA very hard 5days a week. The only problem i have is that although i am increasing weights and getting stronger....i am not getting bigger at all!!! The reason is because i am doing a lot of cardio to stay in shape because i compete almost every month in either kickboxin, grappling. MMA fights are harder to find but i always stay in shape because anyone that ever faught knows you dont want to gas out in the ring!!!
If anyone trains the same way, please give me advice on gaining lean muscle while still being able to train hard.

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I think I can answer your question.

It is proven through research that increased strength through short term training (less than 1 year) are due to neural adaptions, not hypertrophy and hyperlasia. That could be part of the explanation. --since you are new to weights.
Also could be from the way you lift, I.E. the fiber trpes you are training.
If I am not mistaken, (Havent checked this in a while) but the body has 3 fiber types for muscles. Slow, fast, intermediate.
Genetics predetermines the amount of fast and slow you can have and it will never change, thats why you have good long distance runners that cant sprint and vice versa.
The intermediate, however, can change. Because of the training we do, the intermeiate favors fast twitch. Bodybuilders have perdominantly fast twitch.

From your description of yourself it sounds like you wont get that much bigger, naturally. You will get there, if 6 pounds is all you need it will take some time cuz of your body type. Just increase calories in a good way like maybe after training take like 30g of protien and 90g carbs in the 1st 15 min after training. Then within an hour take another 30g protien. That might help to. and I would advise not to do AS to get just a little bigger, It can be done with the right type of powerlifting and good nutrition.

and when you do get bigger it will not affect your endurance, It will probably help it. That is also proven in studies, gains in lean muscle are always good no matter what.
(I know all this stuff cuz I am a Kines grad working with my prof on research)

That is what I have been trying to do forever. For the longest time all I did was push-ups pull-ups, rope climbing, core work, yoga, stretching, plyos, sprints, and MMA.
Before I hurt my neck I was 195 and doing 33 pull-ups in a row(the hard way)
120 push-ups in a row all that stuff. The only weights I did was power clean, deadlift, clean and jerk, military press, incline bench, lunges, and squats.
Basically big power movements. I couldnt lift near as much weight as the huge dudes but I found that I could match functional strenght with them.
I know where you are comming from dude its hard to do it but you just have to experiment.
Be carefull though. I found myself overtraining a lot. I used to train so hard that I would go to bed so tired that I was too tired to sleep. It sounds weird but if you know what hard training is then you know what I am talking about.

On another note; It has been proven in research that overtraining DOES NOT lead to muscle waseing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is very hard to waste muscle guys. Only starving people (ethiopians, somolians) and ultra marathon runners waste significant muscle.
That is why people often associate endurance with small physique. NOT true, the reason those super endurance athletes look like twigs is because of how they train. They burn so many calories that they can not keep up with it. Lots of them eat between 5000-7000 calories a day. But the fact of the matter is, they burn way more than that, so their body has to use its own muscle protien for fuel.

Putting on muscle and doing endurance training is harder but it can be done.
If you think about it its just a numbers game.
At first, your body will need to adapt to the sudden increase in weight(if on AS) but once it does, then you should be good to go.

Here are some tidbits of info:
Many athletes experience heat induced illnesses;
If your body over heats, the protien in your body can start to denaturize at a certian temp (over 102 I think). So dont leave your protien suplements in the car on HOT days.
(for those of you who dont know already)(not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, just trying to help) calcium is an extremely important mineral. Not only is it important for your bones and teeth but it is also responsible for initiating muscle contraction. Hmmm..think about it!!

Hope I helped you out bros

Peace

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KAEW44

I have been training in Muay Thai and Brazilia JJ for about 3 years now, in the past year i have been competing in quite a few MMA events because i just love that sport, its the best fighting sport out there for sure and requires the most skill and well rounded athletes. In the past years i never had time to lift weights because all the training was cardio-based and core strength (push ups and sit ups). In the past 6months though i started to lift weights, i lift in the morning so that i get plenty of time before i train MMA late in the evening, this gives me enough time to eat and rest so that i'm not doing both trainings close to eachother.
In the 6months of training i got very defined and ripped, and i am much stronger grappling and striking, i havent lost any flexibility or speed because i am still training in MMA very hard 5days a week. The only problem i have is that although i am increasing weights and getting stronger....i am not getting bigger at all!!! The reason is because i am doing a lot of cardio to stay in shape because i compete almost every month in either kickboxin, grappling. MMA fights are harder to find but i always stay in shape because anyone that ever faught knows you dont want to gas out in the ring!!!
If anyone trains the same way, please give me advice on gaining lean muscle while still being able to train hard.

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i train the same as you, 3 days MMA & 3 days weights. i stick to heavy compound excercises to build up mass. maybe drop the cardio from your gym days as your thai box and bjj will give you enough cardio training, i find that fight cardio is completely differnt is say doing cardio on a running machine. if doing cardio @ the gym then do interval training rather than constant as this'll be like the cardio you use for fighting. i also use meal replacements to try and add on some lean weight. :banana:

IMO it is hard to be dedicated to BB when you are also doing MMA, burns too many calories and alot of times hard earned muscle.