Hey, long-time lurker making my first post here. I'm 19 and I plan to train MMA soon, but first I wanna improve my workout routine. Now that I'm done with school for the semester, I'm going to have more time on my hands, and I want to make the most of it. I feel my workout routine probably has problems and could use improvement, so thats why I'm here posting this. I'm still relatively new to this (been only working out consistently for a year) and realize I still have a lot to learn. For starters, my work out routine is split into two different work outs, one that's mainly for cardio and the other for strength-endurance. For example, I'll do the cardio one one day and the strength one the other day and rotate like that. Both of them are circuit-training, so on the cardio day I'll do different cardio exercises (like burpees, jogging, mountain climbers, etc) at high intensity with little rest in between. I also mix in abdominal exercises on that day. Then for the strength day, I use weights and circuit-train by doing squats, arm curls, pull ups, bench press, barbell lunges, stuff like that. I also do them at a high intensity- fast speed with more reps but not max weights. This is where things start getting sketchy for me. I've been doing this workout routine for about a year, I'm in much better shape then when I started and I've added more reps/more weight to the exercises as time has gone by but I'm not sure if this is the ideal workout routine. For example, I don't do dead lifts and I've recently read here that they're integral for a work out routine. Should I add them to my circuit training day for strength? And as you've probably already noticed, I don't really lift weights for strength, I use them more to build endurance and stamina. Is that a mistake? Do I need to add in another day of workouts for strength training at heavier weights? Or do I need to completely re-work how I'm doing things? Is my workout just complete trash and making me come off as smart as my amount of posts? Seriously though.. I wanna improve what I'm doing, I'm still new to this and I want to hear your thoughts.
Yeah, I would devote at least two days a week to pure strength training. Try the two day program in the FAQ. Space them out like Monday and Thursday, or Tuesday and Friday, or Wednesday and Saturday, etc. Do your cardio/conditioning on 2 or 3 other days. Day 1 Squat Bench Press Bent Row Day 2 Deadlift Overhead Press Chinup Do a few warmup sets, then 3 sets of 5 with the same working weight. Add weight when you get all 3 sets of 5. If you want to buy the best strength training book for beginners, Google Starting Strength, second edition, by Mark Rippitoe and Lon Kilgore. No better coaching on how to perform the exercises.
I think many would argue that your strength day isn't a strength day at all. The FAQ would be a nice place to start out for you. It's quite long, but a good read.
