MMA Training Schedule for Beginners

In the last decade or so, MMA has gained amazing popularity with popular fighters like Brock Lesnar or Ronda Rousey before their moves to WWE. Even the best start out as beginners too so how did they train?

Edmond Tarverdyan (controversial trainer of Ronda Rousey which you can read more) explained,

In fact, Rousey finishes her workout with ab work up to 2,000 crunches per session.

But that might be too much for a beginner end up getting injured in the training. For example, there are many controversies on Edmond Tarverdyan on his training focus and inability to level up the MMA fighters.

Nevertheless, so here are some basics instead.

Three Basics for MMA Training for Beginners (Endurance, Grappling, Striking)

You can’t be an expert in any sport without learning skills and practicing them. Before entering into any sport, it is important to learn the basics of that sport. If you are looking to get into MMA for fitness, then it can be beneficial for you. If you want to become a competitive fighter, then you must have to live by these basics. 

It depends on your interest in the sport of MMA, but one thing is for sure, you need good endurance. You need to build your stamina to endure punishment and physicality. You can build endurance for MMA at home. To do this at home, you will have to build these reserves:

• Those people who have an average fitness level should run 2-miles every other day.
• For the rest of the days prefer cardio exercises.
• After a few weeks, you can add sprint drills into your workout routine. 
• Do sprints for 5-seconds at full speed. Rest for 2-minutes and repeat this for 6 to 8 rounds. 
• People who have a lower fitness level must start jogging for 30 minutes every other day. 
• Maintain a balance between jogging and walking to maintain your heart rate at an optimum level. 

You should follow all these steps otherwise it would be difficult for you to start training in the MMA gym. 

You can’t consider yourself a good MMA fighter until you don’t have a strong grappling game. It has been seen that most of the MMA fight ends when one opponent is on the ground and others take advantage of it. The most important thing in grappling is to learn positional grappling. For a submission hold, you must be in a dominant position or continuously deliver hits to stop the match. 

You have to learn the art of the takedown before you can successfully learn grappling. You can learn takedown from Judo and BJJ. When you enter in a gym you will have to learn Judo, BJJ, and Wrestling through drills. You can practice some moves at home as well if you have grappling gloves and bag. Trainers will fully guide you so don’t worry about how you will learn different fighting styles. 

The most fun part of MMA that you will enjoy the most is hitting. You will learn how to throw punches, knees, elbows, and kicks throughout your training session. You will have to develop speed and force in kicks and punches. Flexibility in the limbs is the key to high kicks. When it comes to critical striking, MMA is a mixture of Boxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and Karate. You will be spending most of your time with a punching bag to develop useful combinations. 

Trainers will start you off with some basic techniques and as the training progresses; you will be trained about combos. Some basic strikes are punches, hooks, jabs, round kicks, elbow strikes, and leg kicks. Along with these basic strikes, you will also have to learn how to defend against these strikes and how to deliver counter strikes. When you enter a gym, never think that you can become the greatest fighter in just one month. The process of learning MMA will be slow because you will have to learn lots of different martial arts. So patience is the key. 

MMA Training Schedule for Beginners

When someone wants to enter into the world of MMA, he/she does not know where to start their training. So follow the below given MMA training schedule for beginners:

AM – Drilling Technique

PM – Mitt/Pad/Bag Intervals

AM – Live Situations, Sparring or Rolling

PM – Strength and Conditioning

1. Foam Roller, Trigger Point Work – 5 to 10 minutes
2. Dynamic Warm-Up – 10 minutes
3. Strength Work – 30 to 40 minutes

However, work nature can be changed depending on the fitness level of each athlete. During training, the main focus of the trainer is to make trainees as strong as possible. 

AM – Wrestling or Drilling Jiu-Jitsu

PM – Mitt/Bag/Pad intervals or OFF

AM – Live situations, sparring or Rolling

PM – Strength and Conditioning

Activities to be performed are the same that should be done on Tuesday. 

AM – Drilling or Cardio at low intensity such as swim, bike, jog, or similar

PM – OFF

AM – Live situations, sparring or Rolling

PM – OFF 

OFF

This is just an example of how the MMA training schedule for beginners should be layout. Different teaching schools have different schedules. The most important thing to know is how each training session taxes your body. 

Conclusion

To become a professional MMA fighter, one thing is for sure that it isn’t easy. Your life revolves around training sessions, workouts to keep your body in shape and healthy diet. The most important thing is to take your MMA training as a full-time job. To win fights at the international level, a fighter must possess a huge range of abilities and skills.

To be a successful martial artist, you need to have strength and endurance along with skills. One day you will have to step into the cage so you must have an idea what it takes to train for it. So follow the above-given basics of MMA training and MMA training schedule for beginners to become a good mixed martial artist. 

UFC has gained popularity very quickly, so the interest of people in this sport is increasing day by day. The great fighters in the history of MMA have inspired people to learn skills, endurance, and techniques that are much needed for MMA.t