# Weight training and martial arts question



## machine (Feb 26, 2006)

Hi all. Great forums you have here. I stumbled across this site yesterday and I'm very happy I did. I think I'll be coming here regularly to take advantage of the wealth of helpful information. 

Ok, now to my question about weight training in conjunction with martial arts training...

I was training in mixed martial arts 2-3 times a week but decided to suspend my training for the short term to work on gaining muscle mass. I'm currently weight training 3 times a week and am making great gains but I am eager to get back to my martial arts training and I'm wondering whether adding 1-2 sessions a week of martial arts will have a negative impact on my body building? Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can still achieve muscle gain and get back to fight training? 

I'm thinking that my options are to either just focus on weight training exclusively for around 6 months to a year to gain the muscle mass I desire, OR, slow the development of my muscle gain by weight training only twice a week and doing martial arts training once each week. What are peoples thoughts on this? Has anyone had success with other training regimes? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Hannya (Feb 26, 2006)

Couple questions. How limited is your free time? Do you do a full body workout both those days or hows your routine look? 2 days a week would be okay for gettin into shape, but I would do a minimum of 3 for building mass. I guess it all depends on what kinda results you want.


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## machine (Feb 26, 2006)

I have plenty of free time at the moment. I generally do 3 training sessions a week it's just the odd occassion that I don't. Each session is full body. I'm happy with the results I've been getting but my concern is that if I add 2 sessions of martial arts to my week I will I start to lose my current rate of muscle growth? I'm thinking yes to that question because I won't be allowing my body time to recover. I'd be glad to hear any success stories from anyone that succesfully married the two training routines together and still achieved muscle gain.


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## Laborn (Feb 26, 2006)

I donno i train in tkd 7 days a week, and i go to the gym mon/wed/fri. I dont think it will render your wanting to get muscle mass.


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## Drac (Feb 26, 2006)

I used to perform kata holding Olympic plates and wearing ankle weights..


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## machine (Feb 26, 2006)

Yeah, but did you guys achieve muscle mass from doing this? Most likely not right? Because you were performing an aerobic cardio workout rather than a body building style, high intensity workout. No doubt your overall fitness would have increased and you would have gained some tone and power but I'm not trying to achieve that. I'm not talking about just gaining a little tone and a bit more muscle I'm talking about gaining enough muscle to go up an entire weight division. 

Are there any boxing trainers here that have done this or have helped there students achieve this goal? 

Thanks.


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## beau_safken (Feb 26, 2006)

Depends MAchine...

You gain more lean muscle mass from the constant movement and drills and stuff.  But lean out a good amount from all the movement, not to mention more flexability.

As for gaining muscle mass, a good regiment short reps and large weight will do the best to do that.  Combined with a BCAA(branched chain amino acid) before and after lifting, protein drink with other aminos, and a mild creatine will do the trick.  Just make sure to give your muscles a little break.

beau


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## Shirt Ripper (Feb 26, 2006)

The only issue is recovery time.  If your general physical preparedness (GPP) is up to the task you will be fine.  Perhaps back off on one slightly for a time to allow the body a chance to adjust to the increase training volume.

I train in Strongman (like the world's strongest man on ESPN) and currently study in Aikido.  My lifting is done 3 times a week with a high intensity-lower volume-abbreviated style of training.  Big movements, low reps, under an hour. I also do some "cardio" like training a few other days of the week (bear crawling, general "core" stuff, plyos a bit).  My Aikido is twice a week for an hour each day.

My GPP and SPP is pretty high, though.  Just read you body and build as it adapts.

Doing some type of "cardio" type training as you might run into in certain martial arts practices will not greatly inhibit your bodies ability to build muscle.  It can screw with your recovery time but as long as you have carefully considered your capacity for training you should be fine.  Like I said above, just start adding stuff, slowly, and eventually you will be where you want.  The greatest tool most of us have is time.


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## Marginal (Feb 26, 2006)

Why not ask your MMA coach?

Kata practice tends to be anareobic in nature for what it's worth. That aside, you'd probably have better results asking in the health and fitness forum. There are some knowledgeable people who tend to float around that area who don't hit the general area as much.


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## MJS (Feb 27, 2006)

machine said:
			
		

> Hi all. Great forums you have here. I stumbled across this site yesterday and I'm very happy I did. I think I'll be coming here regularly to take advantage of the wealth of helpful information.
> 
> Ok, now to my question about weight training in conjunction with martial arts training...
> 
> ...


 
If you wanted to, you could add 2 extra days to your workout.  I'd still take at least 2 days off to allow your body to rest.  In addition to the physical workout, a good diet will also play a big part in the picture.

Mike


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## Flatlander (Feb 28, 2006)

Mod note: Thread moved to Health Tips.

-Dan


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