Muscles for MMA

flobot

flobot

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I've been thinking and am wondering which muscles are most relevant to MMA and which muscles just burden you and sap your cardio.

Anybody have any ideas?

Decision Criteria would be on how much the muscle helps w/ certain actions (Does it have a purpose in any aspect of MMA?) and how large it should be before it uneccesarily becomes a burden on cardio or mobility.
 
Rodja

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Every muscle is important, kinetically speaking. The muscles that will obviously require the most O2 will be the thigh/glute regions. Everything has a pro and con to it, but the most important thing is flexability because of the stretch reflex. The longer you can stretch the muscle, the stronger the reflex will be, thus more power generated. Cardio is a hard thing to say because some people, like myself, are built for cardio (e.g. higher Hb, more dense capillaries, etc) and easily adapt to higher O2 demands. The main thing to focus on is to find a weight that is comfortable and easily maintainable. I float within 3-4 lbs of 185 year-round because I have reached a comfortable amount of mass on my frame. I focus on strength now and have gotten much stronger over the past 3 years without putting on significant LBM (maybe 3-4 lbs with some recomp added).
 
mixedup

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Legs are pretty important arm arms triangles shooting in arms for chokes shoulders for keeping your guard up when standing but overall you need everything to be strong I started fighting in 1999 at 125lbs now I can walk around up to 160-165lbs I feel better when i have more weight on me but ideally I walk around at about 150 and make a cut to feather or bantam
 
flobot

flobot

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I know the lighter I am the more agile I feel BUT the lighter I am the weaker I feel when I'm grappling (Esp. when I'm in the bottom.) I was thinking more of specific muscle groups say the lats and rhomboids. What do they do in MMA? How bout the traps? How bout the front muscle of the shoulder?

Since we all body build here in addition to fight, I want to sort of tamp down on the unecessary muscles and build up the ones that'll contribute directly to a fight.
 
mixedup

mixedup

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I know the lighter I am the more agile I feel BUT the lighter I am the weaker I feel when I'm grappling (Esp. when I'm in the bottom.) I was thinking more of specific muscle groups say the lats and rhomboids. What do they do in MMA? How bout the traps? How bout the front muscle of the shoulder?

Since we all body build here in addition to fight, I want to sort of tamp down on the unecessary muscles and build up the ones that'll contribute directly to a fight.

Yes front delts i feel a very important in keeping your guard up when standing. for grappling especially with GI forearms are important and I find biceps are very important for chokes.
 
Brother

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Lets not leave out core...huge, and grip strength. Strong core is important from bottom for sure. You can have amazing strength everywhere and if your core fails ...its over.
 
flobot

flobot

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This may sound weird but I find the grip master really helps w/ BJJ. My grip is way stronger and my forearms are getting ripped (not big though but they Never get tired.) cuz whenever I'm home I barely drop the damn thing. Too bad there's nothing handy like that for biceps or triceps lol.
 
Rodja

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This may sound weird but I find the grip master really helps w/ BJJ. My grip is way stronger and my forearms are getting ripped (not big though but they Never get tired.) cuz whenever I'm home I barely drop the damn thing. Too bad there's nothing handy like that for biceps or triceps lol.
That's why they created deadlifts and farmers walks. I think the scope of this thread is far too broad because it is completely subjective. When i first started training MMA, I was about 195 lbs, but I was not in good cardio shape or at my current strength level. I have gotten as low as 168 lbs, but I was too weak and did not have my usual "burst" as a result. When I take time off from training and focus solely on getting stronger, I come back much more explosive. The main focus should be not on developing a specific muscle group, but more on applicable strength and letting the size develop as a result. Some can hold much more size and maintain tremendous cardio (e.g. Lesnar), so there is just as much of genetic element to this as there is to BBing.
 
flobot

flobot

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I sort of know what you mean. I was 187 at my heaviest but didn't feel as strong as when I was at an even 175. I started from being a ~120 skinny kid that's lean but mean, let go and grew fat to 165 then to 187. I cut down to 140 and was at my peak at 147 though I didn't feel as strong as I am now, but I felt very light & agile on my feet, not as quick as I was when I was younger but definitely delivering strikes w/ more impact and snap. Somebody even called me "heavy handed" at that time which was a great honor. Now I'm ~180 but am thinking of cutting down to 170. Every pound of weight I lose affects me in a predictable manner (a fraction less strength, much more agility..) as long as I maintain some semblance of MA and bodybuilding training.

It's tempting to go as heavy as you can by using gear but I definitely slow down drastically whenever I'm over 180 lbs.
 
warriorway

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Most important the heart, next the core. You should drop the weight. You will feel weaker at first but when you are used to that weight your strength will come back. With Grappling it takes a while to get used to a change in body weight just because you have less weight to put on people.
 
robdog

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Like Rodja said, every muscle is important. Heavy compound lifts are the way to go imo. A lot of traditional martial artists say that lifting is bad and all you need is technique, stretching and body weight exercises but those are usually the same guys that you can ragdoll all over the gym.
 

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