Best MMA Training Tips

It's common knowledge that you have to do reps of progressively heavier weight if you want to increase your strength. The same wisdom applies here. To increase the speed of your punches, you have to continuously punch as fast as you can over and over.

This is the reality-if you want to sprint faster, you have to go sprint, day after day, with the goal of increasing your sprint speed each time. Advanced sprinters may add resistance such sprinting uphill, and mma fighters can progressively add resistance to their exercises and drills as well to further increase speed and explosiveness.

Remember to also develop your retraction speed, such as pulling your hand or foot back after you delivered a punch or kick. This not only gives the visual appearance of faster strikes, but it will remind you not to drop your hands or feet after a punch or kick, inviting your opponent for an easy counter.

Shadowboxing: Sparring an imaginary opponent is one of the best exercises you can do to increase your footwork, punches, and kicks. You have a lot of freedom in this drill; you can practice just one punch or kick at a time, practice combinations, or act as if you were facing a real opponent. Practice shadowboxing in rounds. You can also add boxing gloves or very light dumbbells - no more then 2-3 lbs-to help develop that snap at the end of you punches.

Red Line Drill: This is a 4 part drill. For example, if you are looking to develop speed in your leg kicks, follow this structure. In part 1, do 10 reps of slow and controlled leg kicks, working mainly on warming up and using perfect form. Part 2, after a minute rest, do 10 more reps at a little bit faster speed, still trying to maintain perfect form. Take another minute rest, and in part 3 you are to kick as fast as you possibly can with good form for 10 reps. In part 4, after your minutes rest, you are now to do 10 reps even faster - without any regard to keeping perfect form. The key is to really push your speed on this last one, attempting to make each kick faster then the last one.

Hanging Paper Drill: You simply hang a piece of paper by a heavy string or light chain so that the paper is hanging just above shoulder level. Get in your fighting stance about arms length from the paper, and practice snapping your jabs as fast as you can at the paper. Take your time between each punch - you're not looking to throw punches as fast as you can consecutively like the previous drill, but rather working on really staying loose and developing quick and snappy individual punches. The key is to try to make every punch faster then the last; this is a mental exercise as much as it is a physical one. Work up to 100 punches each hand.

Focus Pads: If you've been involved in martial arts for any length of time, you know what these are. They are some of the best tools in the sport to developing all four types of speed.

Increase Relative Strength: Relative strength is your strength to weight ratio. In mma terms, someone who can squat 275 pounds but only weighs 155 pounds will have more potential for quicker takedowns then someone who can squat the same but weighs 185 pounds. You can increase your relative strength by either maintaining your current level of strength and losing weight, or increasing your strength and maintaining your current body weight.

Plyometrics: This is perhaps your best form of exercise when it comes to developing speed and power. Plyometrics are designed specifically to produce fast and powerful movements, so after you develop a good foundation of relative strength, it is a good idea to begin incorporating plyometric exercises to take that new raw strength and train your muscles to move those muscles quickly and explosively.

Medicine Ball Power Exercises: Medicine ball training is actually a form of plyometrics, but in the form of adding additional resistance instead of just using your body weight. Medicine ball power exercises, such as medicine ball chest passes, allow you to exert maximum power in a full range of motion.

Uphill Sprinting: This is one of the best exercises you can do to develop the speed and power in your legs for shooting in for takedowns. Practice quick 10 second sets of uphill sprints for several sets. If you want, you can make it into a hardcore cardio workout as well by training them in intervals.