To be honest, I’ve never really been a big fan of circuit training. Sure, it has its place, but if you are simply picking 5-6 exercises and performing them in a :30 on, :30 off fashion, you’re probably missing the boat.
Will you be tired if you exercise this way? Yes, you will. If you equate being exhausted with being fit, just wait ‘til you have a newborn. You’ll be exhausted for damn sure, but will you be more fit? Nope.
Anybody can design a circuit. Pick some exercises, choose a work to rest ratio, set the timer and off you go. I’ve done some of these brutal workouts in my day and most of the time this type of training leaves you tired and incredibly sore.
Now, I’m not saying that you should never be sore or tired from your training sessions, but there is a difference between a session where you do a few sets of heavy squats versus one where you perform 100 bodyweight squats with, 100 pull ups and 200 push-ups. One will leave your legs tired for a day or so and the other will leave you feeling destroyed for 3-5 days.
Here’s the problem. If my fighters cannot train for 3-5 days because I decided to destroy them in a training session, I’m not doing my job. They aren’t going to improve their BJJ if they can’t even lift their arms above their heads and they sure as hell won’t be able to shoot for a takedown if they can’t get out of a chair.
When it comes to circuit training (and many things in life), if you design it properly, it should work.
So what type of circuits do I think would be beneficial for MMA?
The two that I currently use are alactic capacity circuits and aerobic circuits.
I’m not going dive into each one in depth, but I will give you a quick template on how to design each one.
Alactic Capacity Circuit Template
There are several exercises that work well for an alactic capacity circuit, but here are my favorites:
- Bike sprint
- Rower sprints
- Ski erg sprints
- Battling ropes
- KB swings
- Treadmill sprints
- Bungee sprint repeats
- Sled pushes
- Ground and pound on the bag
- Hill sprints
Here’s a secret to exercise selection when performing this type of circuit: you’ll want to do your best to avoid local muscular fatigue. For example, if an athlete performs sled pushes, bungee sprints, treadmill sprints and hill sprints all in the same circuit, his lower body will fatigue incredibly fast.
If your goal is to increase lower body muscular endurance, you could possibly pair some of these drills together, but since here the goal is alactic capacity, “spreading the load out” is a good idea.
To avoid this muscular fatigue, you could choose treadmill sprints, battling rope slams, bike sprints and ground and pound on the bag. This way, you’ll tax the whole body, while doing your best to avoid localized muscular fatigue.
Here’s a quick template to consider:
Treadmill sprint :12
Rest :80
Battling Rope slams :12
Rest :80
Bike sprints :80
Rest :80
Ground and pound :12
* Repeat for 3-5 rounds.
As you can see, the template above is pretty simple. The risk of injury is low and managing fatigue while performing these exercises does not require a high level of skill. Using alactic capacity circuits, like the one above, is one of my favorite ways to train my fighters and we’ve had very good luck using this template.
The Aerobic Circuit Template
Another way to utilize circuit training is via Aerobic circuit training. There are a few simple guidelines.
- Try to keep your heart rate in the aerobic zone. Anywhere from 120 to 150 beats per minute works fairly well for most people.
- If possible, keep the exercises low impact. Aerobic circuits are not the time to train elasticity!
- Focus on nasal breathing for the duration of these circuits.
- Incorporate BJJ, wrestling and grappling drills into the circuit when possible.
Aerobic circuits don’t have to be boring! These circuits are a perfect opportunity to incorporate fun drills, practice new techniques and move your body in various planes. I like to incorporate ropes, sandbags, medballs, slamballs, ladder drills and more to change it up and have some fun.
You shouldn’t dread your training and every session doesn’t always have to be an ass-kicking.
Feel free to change things up and bit and be creative when doing MMA circuit training. As long as your training stays principle-based, you should be good to go.
As always, train smart and train hard!!
Great article Mike…manipulate those variables to get the results you want. Those are examples. Do you use heart rate monitors or an app to monitor recovery?
Corey- on my alactic work, not too much. The way I program, I have a pretty good idea of their power output from the initial assessment and 1st few workouts. On my Lactic work, yes 100%. As you know lactic work is pretty miserable and improper recovery is a recipe for a nap in the corner !
Great stuff, all your articles are spot on and really help people get a grasp on smart training
Thanks Scott! I try!! I’m still learning myself 🙂
Mike,
Interesting to find someone who is actually adopting the aerobic/alactic approach in practice.
Can I ask that in a future article you address how much lactic training you are actually doing and precisely how you integrate that with aerobic/alactic training generally and in the period leading up to a fight?
I have two issues in mind.
The first is that lactic tolerance on some accounts can be fully developed in 5-6 weeks so it may not make much sense to continually test or tax that system.
The second ( and possibly in contradiction to the first point ) is that, especially at the lower levels, MMA fights may have to be undertaken at short notice and not permit a periodised block approach about which you have written.
Thanks for your time.
Peter- I can write an article on that for you.
Here’s the quick answer, While I purposefully aim to train the lactic system once a week, it might be slightly more. For example, true alactic power is around :8 and the main fuel is ATP. Once I get to :10 and up to :30, I am using ATP and fast glycolysis. I’m not very worried about performing repeats in the :10 to :15 range, my athletes usually recover ok from that. When you start training in the :30 to 2 min range, that is where I need to be careful when prescribing volume.
In a perfect world, I would love to follow an exact periodization model but its really not possible. I will prescribe lactic work once a week to all my fighters but with 2 exceptions. 1. They just started with me and are untrained. 2. If the’ve just finished a fight and they need time to recover.
It’s a slipperly slope and each athlete is different. If we just use the term “lactic” in regards to training, its a very generic term. I always train power and capacity on different days. Lactic work can be anywhere from :10 to 3 minutes, so specificity is imperative.
I hope this helps!!
Thank you Mike.
Just to clarify are you saying that you pretty much prescribe one lactic session weekly (power or capacity) throughout the year because it is difficult to periodise and you may be required to fight at short notice or do you just believe in training all systems at the same time in some form of “conjugate” system?
My sense at the moment is that aerobic/alactic work can be well tolerated and also reflects the main
MMA energy demands so perhaps can be a year round endeavour whereas lactic work is draining and long term not well tolerated. However it may be that the nature of the sport is such that you need some lactic work most of the time.
I look forward to the article.