Combat sports, physical preparation

High-level sports, national or regional competitions, necessarily require athletes to prepare seriously in terms of strength and endurance. Indeed, physical preparation is essential to the success of a competition; for combat sports, it is paramount. Depending on the combat sport practiced, your physical preparation can be completely different. Indeed, it seems impossible to outline a single type of physical preparation for combat sports in a generalizing way. There are so many combat sports different that it is impossible to generalize. However, we can isolate some general criteria on the sporting and martial level.

Each combat sport relies on different techniques and physical qualities

Every combat sport of strikes and percussion (like the different types of boxing or martial arts) or grappling (judo, grappling, Ju Jitsu, etc.) are based on completely different sports preparation. Even if there are certain common points in terms of physical condition, combat sports are similar for some, but the common points they share differ greatly. The fighting techniques are different for each sport. For example, Thai boxing shares few points in common with judo, but it shares some with karate or English boxing... But in all cases, the intensity of training and competitive fights is particularly intense.

Physical preparation, striking and percussion phases, active recovery...

Percussion combat sports such as boxing (French, English, Thai, etc.), karate or MMA are primarily based on repetitions of strikes, the explosiveness of which must be optimized as well as the strength. It is also necessary to take into account the duration of the rounds and the recovery times. active recovery (movements and footwork). The preparation of attacks and defensive phases also depend on careful preparation. All the phases that punctuate the rounds must be prepared, according to the physical capacity of the fighter to move towards an improvement of his performances (explosiveness and strength , coordination of movements, dodging work, etc.). Each discipline will be based on specific combat and preparation techniques depending on its specificities: foot-fist techniques, coordination of attacks and explosiveness of kicks and punches, muscular endurance and cardio training, etc.

Muscle strengthening is essential to physical preparation for all combat disciples.

One common point that we tend to emphasize when it comes to combat sports obviously concerns the muscular condition of the athletes. Effective physical preparation on the explosiveness of strikes necessarily requires an improvement in the instantaneous force arms, biceps and triceps, as well as thighs and hamstrings for kicks. Strength-speed training for the arms and thighs can be considered. In this case, it is a question of selecting a few specific exercises to perform such as barbell curls with a positive phase of the load (contraction of the biceps) and a progressive hold in the negative phase of the movement. This same type of exercise can also be performed with the free or weighted squat. In this case the lowering phase should be held while the ascent phase will be performed with maximum explosiveness. A plyometric version of this exercise can also be performed. Also take care to leave enough time for recovery between your weight training and fight training sessions.

Body recomposition allows fighters to gain significant muscle

Depending on the fighter's weight class, general bodybuilding and strength training could also be added to the boxer's or karateka's training. This would involve stimulating body recomposition. That is, losing fat (if significant) while gaining lean muscle. In this case, a bodybuilding work and strength gain can be carried out by the fighter. If, for example, a fighter can afford to lose half a kilo of body fat and can gain two kilos compared to his weight class, this means that a gain of 2.5 kilos is possible. This figure may seem small but in reality, it could make all the difference between a fight won or lost. In addition, body recomposition also makes sense on a biological level because certain natural molecules such as ursolic acid , act in this direction. Scientific research has shown that ursolic acid acts on the metabolism by reducing fat mass while promoting the gain of lean muscle. A molecule found in rosemary or thyme, we have concentrated it in a food supplement, the Naturabolic . To date, YAM Nutrition is still the only French brand of food supplements to offer you this type of natural product, targeting increased synthesis of dry muscle and fat loss.

A tailored bodybuilding workout with an optimized diet to gain muscle...

To stimulate body recomposition, the fighter's diet must provide sufficient protein (25 to 30%), carbohydrates but also good fats (15 to 20%) in order to stimulate the synthesis of hormones that encourage muscle gain. An intake of magnesium and vitamin D will also be recommended. Here, creatine can be taken for gain strength and lean muscle. This is especially true since creatine does not create water retention outside of muscle cells, contrary to unfounded beliefs. On the contrary, it stimulates water retention in the muscles, which increases their strength. Better hydrated, your cells are also stronger. Remember, however, that good physical preparation must also take into account physical recovery after training or after fights.