Powerlifting rouitnie for the Martial Artist/Combat Fighter

[Vaines]

Hey, im a strait up martial artist.

Im wondering if anyone of you knowledgable Powerlifters could give me a routine that would benefit my power.

I am looking for Fierce Dominating Power.

Thanks.

[matt_T]

You should probably focus your routine around olympic lifts and squats, in my humble opinion. The O-lifts will greatly increase your explosive strentgh, while at the same time increasing your flexibility and stressing speed. Hope this helps. Shoot me a PM, if you would like me to expound further.

[ballast]

I would focus on a power development based routine with a few conditioning exercises thrown in.By power I mean speed-strength not powerlifting.I was a hard-core martial artist for about 10 years and I tried to implemet almost every training style you could think of into my overall program.HIT,powerlifting,bodybuilding,german volume training,etc.What worked best for me(and I stress me as everyone responds differently to training) was a few core weightlifting exercises focusing primarily on compensatory acceleration, occasionally hitting the heavier weights.
The first thing you need to consider is what type of martial art style you are training in.If you are a boxer or a kickboxer, your martial art training extensively recruits the pushing muscles of the body which are the chest,shoulders,tris, and quadriceps.If you are throwing hundreds of jabs,straight rear hands,front kicks and side kicks every session, then going into the gym and doing a bunch of sets of bench presses, militaries and squats is just going to contribute to overtraining those muscles groups and opening the door for injury.You should still do a few of these basic exercises, but IMO, the bulk of your weight work should focus on the pulling muscles like the lats,traps,biceps,low back and hamstrings.Alternatively, if you are a wrestler or are involved in some type of martial art that emphasizes grappling, you are heavily recruiting the pulling muscles, so you should focus more on exercises that hit the pushing muscles.This is just my take on injury prevention as it relates to martial arts AND weight training.I'm sure there are those who would disagree with me on this point, but IMO, injury prevention is the key aspect of any physical training endeavor.
Following this logic, once you have established what type of weight training exercises would best help even out your particular martial art style, then you can start laying out your program.
Once you have the exercises covered, you can move on to what rep range to use.From experience, I have found that almost anything over 8 reps isn't very productive.No point in doing a bunch of 20 rep sets, as all you are really doing is building muscular endurance.Your actual skills training covers this as jabbibg a heavy bag, throwing side kicks into a blocking shield, or executing throw after throw with a sparring partner builds this same type of strength.Better to keep your reps low on the weight work and emphasize strength or acceleration.If you want to add a conditioning aspect to your weight work, simply reduce your rest intervals between sets or set your exercises up into a circuit routine.
One last thing I would do is to perform some type of GPP exercise using odd objects.Sandbag training with exercises like bearhug walks or lift and load drills not only build raw strength and endurance, but they can be very beneficial to grapplers as it simulates in a way the demands placed upon them when wrestling with an opponent.The heavy sandbag is very awkward to manuever and very unwieldy.It's also a test of mental fortitude to push yourself to carry a 150ib bag of sand for a full 100 meters.
In short:
1)Assess the demands imposed upon you by your current martial art and let that dictate the types of exercises you choose
2)Stick to the big, basic, multi-joint exercises.Throw out the isolation stuff unless it is necessary to bring up a specific weakness.Don't waste your energy in the weight room when it can be better spent practicing the skills of your particular martial art
3)8 reps or less per set.Emphasize speed-strength over brute strength or endurance.High reps are redundent if you are already doing lots of skills work.Also takes longer to recover from in most cases.
4)Try to throw in some type of gpp/odd object training for a different kind of strength and conditioning."Functional strength building, if you will.

Sorry about the long post and these are my opinions based on personal experience.Everyone is different.

[Sonny]

Good post ballast! I agree that too many martial artists spend too much time on multiple set/high rep, pump lifting rather than working on speed lifts and functional strength lifts.

But it also depends on what kind of martial artist you are! Overall, I think leg, back, and shoulder work is a must for all martial artists!

[Vaines]

Im in Tae Kwon Do

Need to be VERY Powerful and Strong in the Sparring ring.

[Sonny]

Originally posted by Vaines
Im in Tae Kwon Do

Need to be VERY Powerful and Strong in the Sparring ring.

Then I think leg training would be great for you. Obviously your flexibility is top notch so the addition of leg training would make you even more effective, just be careful and stay away from potential injuries!