Bodyweight Exercises Vs. Olympic Lifting MMA

The Olympic lifts are among the most technically challenging weightlifting exercises known. In the clean and jerk, you lift the weight from the ground to chest height, drop your body under it, then push the weight overhead. In the snatch, you lift the weight overhead in one movement. In many ways, bodyweight exercises are their antithesis – simple and safe, they require no equipment and little technical ability. Yet both of these have their place in a MMA training routine.

  1. Explosive Power

    • Although some bodyweight exercises can help build power, such as plyometrics, Olympic lifts are superior in this regard. MMA trainer Eric Wong notes that Olympic lifts require explosive acceleration to lift the weight, quick relaxation to drop the body under the bar and then explosive power again to catch the weight. This ability to quickly go from being relaxed to moving explosively is critical to many elements of MMA, including punches, take-downs and sweeps.

    Accessibility

    • The great advantage of bodyweight exercises is that they cost nothing and can be performed almost anywhere. Olympic lifts require a barbell and very sturdy ground for when you drop the weight from overhead. They are not something you can typically do in your living room. Olympic lifts are also very technical maneuvers, and you'll need a lot of training and practice before you can do them with high weights safely.

    Versatility

    • In Olympic lifts almost the whole body is brought into play. The back chain of muscles pull the weight off the ground, particularly the hamstrings, while the front chain and shoulders decelerate and stabilize the weight. However, there are many movements that Olympic lifts ignore that bodyweight exercises target. For example, push-ups and chin-ups work the movements used in punching and clinching. Also, “windshield wipers,” where you hang from a bar, lift your legs to perpendicular with the floor and rotate them to the left and right, help develop the core muscles.

    Olympic Lift Recommendations

    • Nick Tumminello, writing for T Nation, recommends that you use Olympic lifts to maintain your power whilst tired. Lift your own bodyweight in the Olympic lifts, and instead of increasing the weight as you progress, increase the number of sets and reps you perform. It's more important to maintain your power over longer periods than it is to develop a higher maximal-explosive power.

    Bodyweight Exercise Recommendations

    • Former Navy Seal Marcus Colburn recommends metabolic resistance training for your MMA bodyweight routine. Perform 20 bodyweight squats, 15 close-grip push ups, eight single-leg squats on each side, a set of pull-ups one rep short of failure, 20 squats with the legs as far apart as possible, 12 push-ups with your legs raised and then 15 bodyweight rows, using a bar across two chairs. Complete the circuit three to four times, with 2 minutes rest at the end of each completed circuit.