Strength training for a mixed martial arts beginner

Question

I am starting MMA. Which excersises would be best to get my physical strength up to the levels of people doing MMA for years or experienced in MMA?

Answer 1

This answer has all the technical information you need, but recognize the following:

• You will not and cannot replicate the strength and conditioning of an experienced MMA fighter, since those athletes have a tremendous amount of sport-specific strength, conditioning, and skill that allows them to apply their general physical attributes efficiently and correctly to combat movements
• The best method for getting good at MMA is to train MMA or one of its component arts seriously
• The best way to improve conditioning for an activity is to do that activity, unless you are exceptionally efficient at the sport

Basically, as a novice to strength training, you should do the kind of strength training any beginner should do:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Chin-ups or pull-ups
• Presses, like dips or overhead press
• Eventually, explosive movements like the Olympic lifts

It's quite straightforward. There's no special MMA-style weightlifting; you just get strong and then get explosive and the whole time train your butt off in the sport. There are other ways to get there--you could do lunges, Pendlay rows, and clean-and-presses instead, for instance--but the basic movements are constant.