Benefits An MMA Fighter Gains From Olympic Weight Lifting PART 3

PART 3: My own personal experiences. Some of the benefits I’ve received through Olympic weight lifting (MMA and personally): one major difference I’ve noticed is that my posture is actually correct now! Before I was slightly hunched over, a common issue for both grapplers and strikers due to the posture requirements of our sports and unbalanced muscle development that comes with there regular practice, and it would cause me to lose my balance during lifts or strain too much. As I started to correct my posture, I started to understand how to use my hips and explode from the ground up. This did not happen overnight and took many months to develop. As I experienced the new posture and use of my hips, my striking in MMA drastically improved. The reason for this is because my new found balance from correct posture helped me launch faster punches from the ground to my hips and finally to my hand, exactly the same path that that power is generated in the OL’s! I also started to understand more principles and techniques that I had been told a million times before; but now with the correct posture they were working. Being that I’m tall 6’1” without proper posture it’s a lot easier for me to be off balance and slower than a shorter fighter. After training in Olympic weight lifting I could better control my center of mass which in turn helped me strengthen my core. I thought I had a strong core going into this type of lifting but found out rather fast I was wrong. After developing my core through proper lifting technique and use of the Valsalva maneuver, I had another epiphany if you will. I thought that if I can snatch all this weight and stabilize my core by just holding my breath, I should try to implement this into my fighting: and I did. I started using the Valsalva maneuver during my take down attempts: as I’d shoot in and grab a leg I would hold my breath then explode with individual into air completing take down. Once the take down was completed I would recover faster than before because I used less energy from proper technique.