With the popularity of the UFC surging and the fitness industry’s never-ending journey to seek out the “next big thing,” it’s no wonder that “MMA workouts” are popping up everywhere. Check out any fitness or nutrition magazine these days and there’s almost guaranteed to be at least one MMA reference. Who could blame them though? Sage Northcutt and Paige Van Zant have some pretty smokin bods, I don’t care what your orientation is. So before you go buying any sledge hammers or kettle bells, here’s a look at 5 techniques some MMA fighters don’t use to look shredded.
Ronda Rousey – Sit ups
You’d be hard pressed to find a video on the internet of Ronda Rousey doing just sit ups. Now that’s not to say she doesn’t do them, but they aren’t exactly a big part of her ab routine. So how does Ronda Rousey get those tight abs? By getting jacked in the stomach with a medicine ball by her trainer til she’s ready to puke, that’s how. Plus all kinds of wacky exercise ball stuff and things that make my stomach hurt just from watching.
Bobby Lashley – Body Building
This one is a little hard to believe but yes, I am telling you that the dude that looks like he came out of a comic book doesn’t lift heavy. Feel free to let him know what you think about dudes who don’t lift heavy and let me know how it works out for you. You’d probably be fine, Bobby Lashley seems really nice actually. Anyway, in a recent Q&A, Lashley said he avoids body building workouts and instead opts for “lactic threshold building, cardio, circuit training” workouts. Whatever that is, it looks like it works.
Frank Mir – Bicep curls and cable machines
Do you do bicep curls? Well Frank Mir thinks you’re a dummy. I didn’t ask him, I’m just guessing. Frank Mir says the natural way to train your biceps is by pulling things. Pulling also more closely resembles the movements you’re going to make in a fight. Also when training, Frank Mir only uses free weights because he believes that cable machines don’t work the stabilizing muscles well enough. So who are you going to trust, the guy with the ripped t-shirt that screams while he does cable crossovers or the two-time heavyweight champ of the UFC?
Georges St Pierre – Treadmill
You and I are not Georges St Pierre, let’s just get that out of the way first. So a couple miles on the treadmill to work off Thirsty Thursday may not be the worst thing in the world. If you want to train like one of the most dominant champs in UFC history though, you should skip the treadmill (and probably Thirsty Thursday too.) GSP believes that endurance comes from live sparring and grappling, not from cardio specific training.
Conor McGregor – Schedule
Do you have a training schedule? Do you have a calendar up on the wall that says “monday = chest tris and BJJ” then “tuesday = back bis and muay thai” and so on? Well if you ask me, that’s not a bad routine at all. Then again, I am not featherweight UFC champion Conor McGregor. The champ instead follows his instincts and does whatever feels natural to him at the time. If he’s tired, he takes a nap. If he feels like throwing some kicks, he does a session of taekwondo. “For me, regimen doesn’t work,” says the champ.
