Benefits An MMA Fighter Gains From Olympic Weight Lifting Part 2

OK, fast twitch muscle fibers: the muscle fibers needed for explosive fast pace movements are type 2B. These fast twitch fibers are targeted during most any anaerobic workout especially Olympic weight lifting. As you explode with any lift coming from the ground up you need to recruit as many muscle fibers as you can to successfully complete the lift. The speed at which you lift will cater to the muscle fibers developed, hence , the slow twitch to fast twitch ratio. Everyone is born with a certain number of each fiber type but you can changes the muscle fiber types by how you work and train them. The target of an MMA artist is to finish fights explosively whether from strikes or submission. To gain victory (by either way) you have to continuously explode through movements or a technique and can’t give up half way through a strike or submission. The harder you can explode or the more efficiently you can recruit fast twitch fibers for a given task the easier it will be to finish the fight or lift. That’s why I introduced Olympic weightlifting to my regimen. The mental game is the most important part I believe of any sport, especially that of Olympic weight lifting and MMA. In order for you to be successful at high stress situations you need to be able to control your adrenaline and central nervous system. To a certain degree as you get more efficient you will gain more control over what stimuli will or will not affect you. And in turn this will make you a better athlete in any circumstance. Olympic Weightlifting helps train your central nervous system by putting added stresses on your mind like more weight that you may believe you can’t lift. Even when you continuously fail at a lift its strengthening your central nervous system immeasurably because its desensitizing you from the feeling of failure and opening your mind up to the possibility of being able to do the heavy lift or your new 1rep max. The new found motivation or desensitizing causes you and forces you to refine your technique and break down every detail you can think of so you can master each small step to achieve your goal. {MY goal is to be able to clean my body weight… almost there}. Take for instance the ritual as you go up to bar: foot placement, hand grips, first pull, second pull, sticking the lift, holding the breath to stabilize core, the list continues. You have to break down techniques, you have to adapt, and you have to explode! Developing through different stages and continue to progress is growth: in both MMA and OL (Olympic lifting). The use of visualization is also a huge part of both sports. You have to be able to envision yourself doing the lift or winning the fight to actually complete it (but that’s another series completely) Next time some of the personal benefits I’ve seen from OL! Till next time- Evan