Mitizaro -

Some exercises you can try out that I like. Like all things these aren't for everybody but give them a shot and you may like a few.

1. Great for core and punches is doing 1-armed dumbbell presses on flat bench, incline, or decline. Now because it's 1 armed doesn't mean to go light. Go as heavy as you can take it and put your non holding hand onto the opposite pec. Focus not just on lifting but lifting towards the solar plexus. This also works the core a good bit for balance.

2. Cable or band pushes standing up. Take a wide stance and again cross the non pushing arm onto your opposite pec. (This can be replaced with a medicine ball if you do get one)

3. Laying cable pull overs. I'm really not sure the correct name but lay down and keeping arms straight pull from behind your head towards your waist. This works your entire upper body including core a good bit.

4. I don't recall which author wrote it on an article here but another good exercise for dynamic strength and building size if you do it before other pushing movements is to do stiff arm push-up jumps. I don't remember the name he gave it but essentially do a push-up but force yourself off the ground. Keep your arms completely straight though and try to focus on getting higher off the ground.

5. Burpees

6. There was a recent article about core exercises that gave 3 good ones, one that was new to me and feels really good. Do Pull-ups focusing on pushing yourself away from the bar as you descend. You should also try to lean back keep straight as if you were developing a front lever, this will really hit your lower abs.

As for the rest of what you're doing it seems to lack focus. If your goal is to being a striker you should focus more on that and less on deadlifts, squats, and power cleans. Even your weight is not as important.

Try for example doing squats and then doing 20 roundhouse kicks as fast as you can then switch legs and do another 20. Then do your next set of squats and repeat. You do enough heavy lifting with a high heart rate and you should have a great core already. One problem may be the milk, butter, and cheese. Should also eat some fish which is very lean protein and healthy fats. If you're not eating fish definitely take fish oil capsules.

kind of a rant.

I think lifting is great for fighting, but alot of people over do it. The number one thing that makes my power and speed increase is repetition in the air and on the bag. You want buakaw like kicks? Throw 1000 round kicks a day on pads/bag for a year and then come back to this thread.

When i started training a long time ago I had a tall wiry friend, naturally built for kicking. Me im a shorter stock kind of guy, i couldnt kick to save my ass. I started working kicks 2 hrs a day for the next 4-6 months and shot past alot of more advanced guys in terms of speed and power.

I dont compete in boxing anymore, but im a much much better boxer now that I do a TON more shadowboxing work. Speed, power, fluidity...everything..

A friend of mine started out at like 5'4 250 lbs. Now he is a 145lb 2-0 mma fighter with numerous grappling titles. Most people in western pa know him. His training is pretty much ALL martial arts, this guy would just grapple for hours a day...for the past few years.. and he is always in great shape and one of the best tacticians I have ever met.

I also think its very en vogue to neglect aerobic training in favor of higher intensity stuff. I have always fought best when I was doing longer runs and really training my aerobic system than when i did pure high intensity drills.

Know the demands of your sport because the energy systems, strength required....etc is going to be different from sport karate, muay thai, mma, boxing , badmiton etc.

I cant count the number of times though i would see threads on sherdog like "how do i improve my punching power" and people would post stuff like turkish getups...plyo routines etc...but really unless you are a pro, and a seasoned one, working endless and endless technique is what will give you that. Most thai boxers in thailand do just that, hours of technique (well, its also conditioning in that)

Long story short, with abilities such as punching, takedowns..kicks..you are going to get out of those techniques what you put in to practicing them in terms of hours...and years...and everything else is ACCESSORY.

Now for some inspiration go read about Mas Oyamas (founder of kyokushin) training and what he did to make himself better. Ditto for Kimura during the heydey of judo..

about the FIND A GOOD SCHOOL THAT TURNS OUT PROS AND START TRAINING THERE.....umm well alot of those schools dont pay attention to most of the students they have. Unless your the next up n comer they wont pay much attention to you and youl prob end up sitting in a group class doing arm bars with a partner while the teacher is on the other side of the room...

and usualy its the assistant or a top level student that teaches the classes at the top gyms....my advice is find a good quality gym that has an instructor with a good resume and that actually cares about all his students learning....

id start there and youll end up building a great relationship and learning alot faster. Then once you get to a certain level you can go to the TOP gyms and spar and take extra training...thats just the way it worked out for me here in Az...

I've searched through some of the thread, but was figuring I'd probably just get a better response if I just posted :P

Anyways, what do you guys recommend as far as scheduling/programming for me? I'm planning on continuing doing my skill work (Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai) MWF (from about 9 or 10 until 12), and trying to do strength/speed work on TThS (about 1 hr of lifting, followed by 30 mins of sprints or plyos).

I was doing a total body program (Chad Waterbury's) but not sure if I should stick with it? Goal wise I'm trying maintain strength (or hopefully even build a little) and lean up about 10 lbs. Right now I'm about 175ish (which is pretty skinny) but I've done really well at tournaments being taller in such light classes. Diet wise I've been about 90% paleo.

you are trying to do too much at once. Gain weight, cardio, speed strength.... Periodize dude. One thing at a time.

Hmm I agree that lifting weights is not entirely important but I would argue that technique is getting a bit too much credit as well.

The key elements are probably in order:
Accuracy
Experience
Technique
Endurance
Speed
Power

That will vary some depending on the art but especially since in competition there are weight brackets your power and speed will only go so far in either direction. But two people of equal size but one has many years more of experience and pinpoint accuracy will usually win.

I spar all of my students and even though many are faster and/or stronger than I am my experience and precision always beats them because they waste too much energy throwing easily blocked or dodged attacks that I can then counter attack them. I can read their body language and know what they're going to do ahead of time AND know what position they are going to land in so I know where my counterattack should occur. To me I take for granted that I understand the principles of fighting and can easily visualize the movements but not everyone can and its extremely difficult to see improvement on those who just don't really understand the concept.

I think its very similar to chess in that respect, you have to be able to see the entire attack and what the outcome will be before it occurs. The quicker you can see all of the possible scenarios and how to react to each the better you will be.