Is CrossFit and MMA at night too much?

M

Mider2009

White Belt
@White
Joined
Dec 17, 2024
Messages
11
Reaction score
7
I’m starting MMA in February but booked a few sessions at a CrossFit, starting to wonder if an hour of CrossFit in the morning then 2 or three hours of MMA is too much?

What do you guys think?
 
How old are you and it also depends what type of crossfit box you are training at? I am under the impression that crossfit scales their workouts now in order to retain membership for normal crowd. MMA as a beginner isn't too crazy but I don't think beginners will workout for 3 hours. Maybe you mean striking + grappling class in a row?
 
Most likely it will be too much.

Even if we pretend you're 20, in peak condition, have no other obligations like work or family, it is still quite a lot.

You may be able to do it for a short period of time. However you are increasing odds of burnout, injury, etc.

I would pick one and see how you adjust. Then I'd maybe try adding the second and see how it goes. Gradual gains and improvement is the key.
 
Yes, BJJ, striking, and Wrestling
NoSmilez said:
How old are you and it also depends what type of crossfit box you are training at? I am under the impression that crossfit scales their workouts now in order to retain membership for normal crowd. MMA as a beginner isn't too crazy but I don't think beginners will workout for 3 hours. Maybe you mean striking + grappling class in a row?
Click to expand...
 
DEVILsSON said:
Most likely it will be too much.

Even if we pretend you're 20, in peak condition, have no other obligations like work or family, it is still quite a lot.

You may be able to do it for a short period of time. However you are increasing odds of burnout, injury, etc.

I would pick one and see how you adjust. Then I'd maybe try adding the second and see how it goes. Gradual gains and improvement is the key.
Click to expand...
Im 39. Thank you for your advice
 
Mider2009 said:
Yes, BJJ, striking, and Wrestling
Click to expand...
I think it's not wise to train 4 hours a day. There are some exceptions like if you are peaking and able to sustain that type of training for a short amount of time. It's not a good daily schedule. Even 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening is a lot for 5-6 days a week.
 
There's a lot of variables here, but generally speaking 3+ hours of moderate to intense training each day is too much for almost everyone, even young pro athletes. Those who do sustain that type of schedule are either doing primarily low-intensity and skill-focused work, not training hard enough (i.e. long rest breaks and tons of downtime during training), or are flat out lying.

I haven't looked at what the Crossfit community has been doing lately, but if they're still doing high-rep olympic lifts or even having beginners do working sets of snatch/clean variants as part of their regular workouts, then I would avoid it entirely. Cleans and snatches require tons of practice to do safely and correctly, so not at all ideal to add into a metabolic circuit or strength workout if you're not already proficient.

If your primary focus is MMA training, then 2x/week doing compound lifts would be enough to start off with IMO. You can see a lot of benefit just from doing a few moderately difficult sets each of squats, hip hinges, vertical/horizontal presses and pulls each week. If you feel great after a couple weeks, you can throw in a few isolation exercises for beach muscles, a few sets of plyos before lifting for power generation, or just go a bit harder with the main lifts for general strength.
 
PaddyO'malley said:
There's a lot of variables here, but generally speaking 3+ hours of moderate to intense training each day is too much for almost everyone, even young pro athletes. Those who do sustain that type of schedule are either doing primarily low-intensity and skill-focused work, not training hard enough (i.e. long rest breaks and tons of downtime during training), or are flat out lying.

I haven't looked at what the Crossfit community has been doing lately, but if they're still doing high-rep olympic lifts or even having beginners do working sets of snatch/clean variants as part of their regular workouts, then I would avoid it entirely. Cleans and snatches require tons of practice to do safely and correctly, so not at all ideal to add into a metabolic circuit or strength workout if you're not already proficient.

If your primary focus is MMA training, then 2x/week doing compound lifts would be enough to start off with IMO. You can see a lot of benefit just from doing a few moderately difficult sets each of squats, hip hinges, vertical/horizontal presses and pulls each week. If you feel great after a couple weeks, you can throw in a few isolation exercises for beach muscles, a few sets of plyos before lifting for power generation, or just go a bit harder with the main lifts for general strength.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
Mider2009 said:
Im 39. Thank you for your advice
Click to expand...
why do you want to train 4 hours a day at 39? thats too old to ever compete as professional and probably at a high level amatuer. The risk of injury is going to be super high, too. You would be better off trying to figure out a program for plyos or strength depending on your goals and make a reasonable split to hit your technique work/ learning in the mma club while also being able to progress on the athletic side in the gym.

at your age you should look at it like a hobbyist. focus on refining technique in the gym on both lifting and martial arts and have fun. if you are a complete beginner you need a while before you can even get the basics down (lifting and martial arts). This can still be a rewarding journey for you that cna help you stay strong healthy and happy later in life but dont be one of those guys who tries to go pro at 50 and gets knocked into a coma by an 0-44-3 26 year old.
 
It reminds me of when I see an out of shape person at the gym doing a hard prowler workout the first week of January. The chance they make it to February is basically zero.
If you start both in Feb, especially if unconditioned with poor lactic threshold and clearance, there is a real good chance you are doing neither by April.
 
zapataxiv said:
why do you want to train 4 hours a day at 39? thats too old to ever compete as professional and probably at a high level amatuer. The risk of injury is going to be super high, too. You would be better off trying to figure out a program for plyos or strength depending on your goals and make a reasonable split to hit your technique work/ learning in the mma club while also being able to progress on the athletic side in the gym.

at your age you should look at it like a hobbyist. focus on refining technique in the gym on both lifting and martial arts and have fun. if you are a complete beginner you need a while before you can even get the basics down (lifting and martial arts). This can still be a rewarding journey for you that cna help you stay strong healthy and happy later in life but dont be one of those guys who tries to go pro at 50 and gets knocked into a coma by an 0-44-3 26 year old.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I’ll stick to the mma at night n skip the CrossFit
 
Mider2009 said:
Thank you, I’ll stick to the mma at night n skip the CrossFit
Click to expand...
if you are also looking to build strength or change body composition there is a lot of great info in the stickies. also I think your gym will also have some intense conditioning as part of the training regime
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,266,725
Messages
57,421,285
Members
175,700
Latest member
xojeny

Share this page

Back
Top