As an MMA Performance Coach, I often get asked, "How often should I do strength and conditioning workouts?"
This answer truly depends on your schedule and your goals.
Let's talk about your goals first.
If you fight or you want to have your first fight, you MUST be doing strength and conditioning workouts on top of your regular MMA training.
There will be absolutely nothing worse than gassing out in a fight.
Plus, if you're not in top shape, you won't get as much out of your MMA classes since you'll be more focused on sucking wind than learning and applying new techniques.
Now, if you're just doing MMA to stay in shape and you think it's fun, then it's not necessary that you do strength and conditioning as well, as long as you're getting in the kind of shape you want to be in doing your regular classes.
If MMA is a hobby for you, then it doesn't matter if you're a beast and you can last with the best of them, you just like to go to the club, learn some skills, break a sweat, and maybe even spar.
But, even if it is a hobby, maybe you're the type of person who wants to keep improving, or maybe you're just sick of getting beat by less-skilled but better conditioned training partners.
So now, whether you're a fighter or a hobbyist, if you've decided that you want to be in better shape than you are now, let's figure out how often to train.
There will be 2 situations:
The first one is if you're a pro fighter and you train and fight full-time, meaning you don't have a job. If this is you, then you can do strength and conditioning workouts 3-4 days per week and avoid overtraining and make great gains, provided that your recovery strategies and nutrition are up to par.
But most guys will likely fall into the second situation - having to balance a job and train MMA in the evenings and on weekends.
If this is you, then you'd be best served doing strength and conditioning workouts 2-3 days per week at most.
This is so you can still do your MMA classes and avoid overtraining and getting burned out, which can easily lead to injury.
So, ask yourself, "Can I commit to 2-3 days a week of workouts to get in top shape?"
If you said yes, then the next step is to learn exactly what you need to be doing in these workouts to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness.
Because your time is limited, you've gotta make the most of it.
Check out this other article to make sure you're getting the most out of your MMA workouts:
