Sprinting, gymnastics, martial arts and vertical jumps

[PDC]

I've been doing a lot of research to try and understand and improve my martial arts in and outside of the classroom. Note: I'm not an experienced martial artist, I'm a beginner..I just happen to like analyzing things and one of the things I've noticed is that the best of the best martial artists typically have a background in other sports and activities and may even include them as part of their training even after achieving a high level in the sport they compete in today(makes sense, Mark Rippetoe covered this - eventually every athlete has to train outside their sport if they want to be the best they can be).

SO here's my question >>>>>>>How does strength training help these 4 activities/sports and what else can I do to improve them<<<<<<<<<

George St. Pierre, one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time uses sprints, gymnastics and has used lifting weights as part of his training(although claims he lifts weights for looks and they don't help his performance). Regardless of my ability to do even half the things GSP can do, I would still like to find a way to improve speed and power in martial arts and more strength if it isn't going to get in the way of all the other stuff I now have to work on. Having read Rippetoe's fantastic books, I would say improving my back squat, power clean and deadlift should help a lot. I think chin-ups/pull-ups should help me a lot with grappling, too. I'm less concerned with my overhead press(already strong) and bench press(I've taken more to dips lately especially after hearing Mike Tyson used to do 500 in a single day and feel like Mike could probably out-bench a lot of people). Also, dips seem a bit closer to what gymnasts do and GSP thinks they're the best athletes in the world. I've seen some gymnastics done in the olympics and have to say they are incredibly explosive athletes with amazing coordination

[John Hanley]

Listed activities benefit from muscle tissue contracting in an optimal sequence, quickly.

Get strong, conditioned & refine competitive motor patterns.

[Murelli]

Don't ditch the pressing. How are you going to increase your punching power and prehab your shoulders?

[Tiburon]

the best martial artists typically have a background in other sports and activities and may even include them as part of their training even after achieving a high level in the sport they compete in today(makes sense, Mark Rippetoe covered this - eventually every athlete has to train outside their sport if they want to be the best they can be).

Are you 100% sure that you understand the difference between exercise and training? And how those two differ from the fight itself?

[PDC]

OP, are you thinking there is some sort of partitioning of these skills?

Hanley said it well. To be a "complete athlete" you have to be completely athletic. You need to be strong, fast, quick, skilled, and intelligent about the sport. Hence my first smart-ass reply.

However, don't rule out the idea that when you see someone like an Olympic-caliber gymnast flipping about that you're seeing a genetic outlier. Chances are that he/she is.

Can you get better by doing what is effectively cross-training? Sure. The only word of caution before you proceed is that recovery mechanisms are limited and you'll have to spread out all dosages accordingly. i.e. If you're doing gymnastics work, speed work, and barbell training, all of them will progress slower than focusing on one at a time, typically.

You're thinking exactly like I am..I'm quite aware I'm looking at a genetic outlier and yes I was thinking that a partitioning of all of the skills I brought up might help me improve best. If I train fairly close to a raw powerlifter when my coaches/sparring partners aren't around, I feel like that could either be good(although not optimal) or it could be like having a recipe and including way too much of one ingredient(a complete mess). I also have to consider time spent learning on my own(I don't have money to hire a gymnastic coach, unfortunately) vs. time actually spent in the gym. Books are much cheaper, and youtube videos/internet articles are free. At 23, however, I know that experience trumps knowledge and having someone with experience take a look at me for just a second and say "go read THIS book" or "do THIS exercise" is a lot more useful than taping the whole story together on my own.

[PDC]

Are you 100% sure that you understand the difference between exercise and training? And how those two differ from the fight itself?

Exercise is doing something for the sole purpose of doing something - there is no system in place for improvement. It's better than doing nothing, but cannot be called training. Training has a methodology to it and is used to improve one or more athletic parameters(speed, power, etc). I also know that running on a treadmill isn't going to prepare me for 5 rounds in an octagon - I'm going to gas very quickly. "The only way to condition for your sport is by doing your sport" - someone much more experienced than me. So any time that I can spar with someone or with my professor or a high-level athlete I view as an optimal use of my training time. After that, it's not so simple

Edit: The main thing on my mind is that by focusing too much on one thing I may not only take my time away from other things, but I may actually hurt myself(maybe there's SOME truth to the mindset of "lifting weights makes you slow for fighting" even though we know that statement isn't true). Maybe I gain 40lbs on my deadlift and back squat but conditioning myself into doing heavy sets of 5 each week does slow me down a little in the ring since I'm training >7 times a week on other stuff. If that's the case, and recovery is a factor, perhaps it is useful to have a list of priorities(i.e. I'm a powerlifter and my bench press isn't progressing and I've been doing a lot of assistance work, let me cut out lying tricep extensions before I cut out chin-ups). Then there's also the whole cardiovascular endurance vs strength problem which is that cardiovascular is gained quickly and lost quickly and strength is gained slowly and lost slowly and I don't exactly have a fight coming up any time soon.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a definitive list of activities outside fighting that helps fighting rated from most important to least important with other considerations included(like cardio vs strength adaption)???

[Frankie]

I'm not sure you belong here my friend, did you get banned from Sherdog or something?

Anyway - as an experiment: Just keep doing exactly what you are doing but also start squatting 3x5. Begin at a sensible weight and add 5 lb per session, after 3 months your squat will have about doubled.
Report back to us on how it has affected your performance.

[PDC]

Don't ditch the pressing. How are you going to increase your punching power and prehab your shoulders?

I agree; i just prefer chins/overhead presses/dips to benching and would probably do one of those 3 before bench if I ran out of time and had to get to work, for example.

[PDC]

I'm not sure you belong here my friend, did you get banned from Sherdog or something?

Anyway - as an experiment: Just keep doing exactly what you are doing but also start squatting 3x5. Begin at a sensible weight and add 5 lb per session, after 3 months your squat will have about doubled.
Report back to us on how it has affected your performance.

I was never a part of Sherdog, but I have a huge amount of respect for Mark Rippetoe and his books. Before fighting I did strength training and Mark's books helped me quite a bit which is why I'm trying to include strength training as part of my routine. My squat isn't going to double because I've already done an LP - I have to program my squats using periodization.

[umairsemail]

did you get banned from Sherdog or something?

I lol'd