Strength and Conditioning for MMA

Strength and Conditioning for MMA, Boxing or any of the component martial arts that commonly make up the MMA disciplines has become very much a focus area for many involved in the sport. James Murray the Director of purpose built strength and conditioning facility “UrbanFit” has spent the last decade aiding top level athletes achieve a peak level of performance in their given fields, Famous teams such as Newcastle Falcons, Newcastle United and School house MX have all employed James to increase the performance of their athletes in both competition and in rehabilitation after injury. After meeting up and coming Tyneside MMA Star Alex Enlund, James realised a major need for UK Combat Athletes to gain a higher level of performance via specific programs designed for their needs. Cross Fit ™ and similar programs have become widely used by combat athletes in the last few years however James approach is specifically supports higher level performance required of a competitive athlete. So Introducing Urban Fit Combat; A program specific to the movements, athletic conditioning and recovery of todays modern combat athlete with variations to cover the individual needs of strength and conditioning for MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing , Judo, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu. ‘UrbanFit Combat’ centres around Neuromuscular training which is at the core of everything we do at Urbanfit and is underpinned by solid sports science principals which can often be somewhat lacking in the latest branded fitness regime pumped out by major leisure chains whose main target is to make money not necessarily give optimum athletic performance. Neuromuscular training has been shown to be the key factor affecting higher level performance when compared to a range of other strength training methods. This type of strength training improves skeletal muscle strength and more importantly for combat athletes, the ability to generate power, associated with increased functional capacity and performance whether it is for striking, grappling or mixed martial arts competition. Urbanfit Combat targets performance gains by specifically increasing several key areas namely; Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength Flexibility Power, Speed Coordination Agility Balance Accuracy All these target gains are built into a safe, effective & varied workout involving only functional movements. Olympic Weightlifng movements such as a ‘snatch’ or ‘clean and jerk’ have been shown to increase muscular strength and power significantly as well as reduce the risk of injury to lower limb in athletes which makes them particularly relevant to combat athletes and a core part of Urbanfit Combat. The distinct advantage that the UF system gives the Combat Athlete over more generic fitness programs is that it uses only relevant movements to allow all round development of a subject centring on the requirements of the sport, making the athlete physically ‘the complete fighter’ and giving him the type of competitive advantage only a few top athletes usually enjoy. In this series we will be showing everyone the core basics of the Urban Fit strength and conditioning program and sharing some routines that if followed correctly will improve your performance no matter which combat sport you are involved in. Urban Fit – Change the Way You Train If you would like to check out the official Urban Fit website goto www.urbanfitgym.co.uk