Le cross-training pour les sports de combat : Quelle est son importance ? | Charlie Tango Fitness

Cross-training for combat sports: How important is it?

Modern combat sports – including MMA, BJJ, boxing and wrestling – often neglect the weight room in favor of more endurance conditioning or skill work. But these athletes leave too much potential on the table for coaches to continue to ignore.
So how important is bodybuilding to martial arts and combat sports?

As a kid, we cuddled up on the couch and were in awe of Rocky's inspirational jog through the streets of Philadelphia...

We sat starry eyed as Kurt Sloane stretched himself through the cracks with total concentration and serenity...

And while these words may be exaggerated by Hollywood, they helped set a precedent in today's modern combat sports industry - the idea that combat athletes should focus on flexibility and endurance. This precedent only serves to hinder the performance of athletes. For what ?

Because these athletes begin to neglect strength in favor of flexibility or endurance. We see martial artists, boxers, and other fighters turning away from the weight room with these fears in mind:

If I gain too much muscle, I will become slower and less powerful.


Weight reduction is a common practice in many, if not all, combat sports. And in the minds of athletes, adding bulky muscle mass makes them less fluid in the ring and more likely to outgrow their weight class.

Strength training is simply the use of resistance to get stronger. This does not necessarily mean adding massive muscle mass. Resistance can take many forms, including free weights, dumbbells, resistance bands, TRX, and bodyweight.


Lifting heavy things will make me stronger and less flexible


Flexibility is passive. It makes no difference whether an athlete can stretch in a certain position if they cannot perform a full range of motion with resistance.

With proper range of motion and training of antagonistic muscle groups, an athlete can optimize mobility and performance.


Having bodybuilding performance is useless in my sport


Many people believe that traditional strength exercises don't translate well to improved performance because they don't use the same movements as the skill.

As a combat athlete, you want to be strong and powerful, and muscles are (partly) responsible for that. Being stronger than your opponent is a crucial advantage for fighters in all aspects of combat. From grappling, to striking, to grappling, increased strength and power increase your ability to fight.


Training in the weight room carries too much risk of injury


Many sports-related injuries are due to muscle imbalances. These differences in strength between opposing muscle groups are due to repetitive stress. Without proper martial arts strength training, athletes are constantly overloading the same movement patterns and muscles...not to mention the importance of structural balance.

However, if you have two athletes with the same technical abilities and the same knowledge of the sport, who will win? Whoever is stronger and better conditioned not only has a greater chance of winning the fight... but also a greater chance of receiving less punishment.

BUT if you neglect the principles of proper strength and conditioning, these all-too-common fears among combat athletes will become reality.

Keep. THE. Sessions. Simple.


A fighter's discipline and mental toughness often lead to counterproductive training methods.

More is not better. Excessive volumes and complicated modalities not only lead to improved performance, but can also cause injury.

This type of training mentality stems from the previously mentioned fear: "Having a solid training bench will not translate into my sport." OR, the need for sport-specific training.

This misguided training philosophy attempts to replicate sport-specific motor patterns and skills, adding some element of resistance or instability.

This is what boxing strength trainer Moritz Klatten explains about using tape to simulate punching movements:


Rather, keep it simple. Choose movements, intensities and volumes that improve athletes' strength and endurance. Yes, while it's good to make an athlete strong...a strong injured athlete is an athlete who plays less of their sport...and therefore makes suboptimal progress.

So the priority of a strength program for combat athletes – and, frankly, any athlete – is to prevent (bulletproof) injuries first… to improve strength second.

Fortunately, these priorities go hand in hand. The basics of learning tension, applying proper body structure, and absorbing load not only help athletes gain strength but also prevent future injury. Additionally, the feeling of heavy lifting is what promotes confidence while in the cage, ring, or mat, provided the technical skills are in place. Use these six pillars of strength when incorporating strength training into your next regimen:

Pressing motion: Pressing motions are powerful internal rotators of the humerus (as well as the Lats!) and are necessary for developing punching power and assisting in defensive movements.


Military presses, heavy duty pushes


Pulling Motion : Pulling motions are important when trying to control an opponent as the Lats are used to pull and pass guard.



Resistant pulls, rows, drawdowns


Squat movement : each time you extend your hips or knees, you use a certain percentage of what you can squat - The hips extend to apply force to the elbow in an armbar, for example.


Back squats, front squats, split squats


Lifting Movement: Preferably working the muscles of the posterior chain, hinge movements develop the power of the athlete.


Earth levees


Abs : Absorbs blows and avoids knockdowns. Additionally, athletes begin to understand the importance and skill of training and breathing.


Planks, Medball Spin


Loading : Heavy loads require the body to move under the load while standing. This movement forces strength adaptations in the lower back and core musculature which results in maintaining position on the mat or in the cage.

farmer walk


All athletes can benefit from a proper strength and conditioning program – even combat athletes. However, finding the right weight training program for martial arts depends on the natural abilities of the athlete.

Some are better suited to power and strength training, while others have great endurance but take time to build strength. Training should be tailored specifically to each athlete, but the goal is the same.

We want strong, mobile, injury-proof and resilient fighters who not only show off their ability to be fast and powerful, but can also withstand and absorb blows. And that's where bodybuilding comes in.

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