Strength and Movement for Combat Sports – T.O.D Combat

Here at Fight Talk Scotland we are keen to help promote intelligent, diverse and effective training. We are looking to bring you articles from a number of respected Scottish experts on as many areas of training as we can.

In our first piece, Brian Fernie of T.O.D Combat writes about strength and movement for combat sports.

Brian works with a number of BJJ, MMA and kickboxing practitioners in Scotland and we are delighted to have him on board! Check out T.O.D Combat on Facebook by clicking HERE and be sure to visit their website at todcombat.com

The word strength sends panic and fear into many an athlete and conjures up the stereotypical pumped up steroid junkie or strongman athlete. This is far from what strength and conditioning really means and various people have quoted what it means, however lets break each of the two elements down.

Strength or absolute strength is the greatest amount of total force anyone individual can generate

Conditioning can best be described as the specific demands of the sport which in turn refers to the S.A.I.D. principal; Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands.

So what is movement? Quite simply: movement is the ability to move the body through the pillars of movement in a multi directional plane. It is important that you as a fighter understand the needs of strength in your movement patterns, this will ensure that you are prepared for any situation thrown at you.

Let’s have a quick look at the five pillars of functional human movement:

Pull – the ability to pull something towards yourself

Push – the ability to push something away from you

Level Change – squats, get ups, get downs, drop,

Locomotion – crawl, walk, run, swim

Rotation – swing, strike (any form of twisting action)

In order to achieve greater strength in movement of any type we need to add a variable such as a weight to ensure that we have some form of resistance to work against.

We have found a sandbag is one of the best counter balance for promoting strength and movement functionally.

Sandbags come in various forms and have a variety of names and range in prices and weights.

Try the exercises below along with a power matrix set which will add in power endurance to the workout. A power matrix set is quite simple to implement; every time you do the circuit or any workout start on a different exercise each time so the body tires at different points during the set.

Power matrix is simple pick an exercise and complete the following work to rest ratios

For example; Exercise 1 Clean and Press

Work 40seconds. 30 seconds. 20 seconds. Rest. 20 seconds. 30 seconds. 40 seconds Then move onto the next exercise.

Clean and press
Over head squat
Rotational lunges
Snatches
Slams
Squat jumps
Bent over row
Anyhow get ups

Sandbags will add power, dynamics and functionality to any workout.