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4 Ways To Sabotage Yourself While Training For An Upcoming Fight


There are few athletes who push their bodies to the extremes that MMA fighters do for even the slightest competitive edge. That’s why it’s so demoralizing to see some fighters sabotaging themselves in simple yet destructive ways after working so hard to improve. In the competitive world of combat sports it’s not enough to help yourself it’s also important to focus on how to not hurt yourself while you’re at it. This isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. You can start by avoiding…

4. Pre-workouts that contain DMAA

The FDA doesn’t have a reputation for doing their job well. So when the FDA decides that something is actually dangerous for public consumption, you should probably listen. Eleven large companies where allotted time to prove to the FDA that DMAA was safe and not a single one managed to demonstrate that their product wasn’t dangerous for human consumption. This is what the FDA has to say about DMAA


We don’t have Freddy Roach to analyze our claims but we feel confident that shortness of breath, heart attacks, and seizures are counterproductive to any fighters training regimen. Skip the pre-workouts, if you aren’t violating number 3 on the list you shouldn’t need them anyway. Unfortunately a lot of you are….


3. Not getting enough sleep

Fighters push their bodies harder than any other type of athlete out there and taking the muscles to these extremes causes them to break down and eventually hypertrophy (get bigger and stronger). However without restorative sleep this process is slowed down or completely halted. You can actually atrophy (get smaller and weaker) from breaking down muscles and not getting the sleep you need to heal. During the REM portion of sleep our bodies release growth hormone and a lack of sleep leads to cognitive dysfunction. React faster and get stronger by getting plenty of sleep at night or you could be wasting your workouts.

2. Crossfit

Crossfit is a magnificent training regimen if you are training to get better at crossfit. However if you are training to punch people in the face until they lose consciousness, crossfit is not for you. Your body gets stronger and develops stamina so that it can endure more of whatever it is you have been making it endure. This is why long distance runners aren’t necessarily great swimmers and vice versa, they are training different muscle groups to accomplish different joint motions under different circumstances. So if you are looking to up your cardio for an upcoming fight, get on the mat and roll or try some intense thai pad work.  The only way to get ready for a fight is to fight. I’m not saying don’t do anything else to improve your cardio, just make sure the majority of your training is specifically MMA focused. It doesn’t mean you can’t get creative it just means that no one is currently giving out title belts for bear crawls and cheat pull ups.

1. Stop worrying

Cortisol is popularly known as the stress hormone but it has a purpose. It’s original function was to prepare the body for a fight or flight situation and it also helps regulate  blood sugar levels. However when we stress out our body begins to produce too much of the hormone flooding your system with Cortisol. Chronic stress is like being chased by a saber toothed tiger all day everyday to the primitive endocrine system.  The consequences of a superfluous amount of cortisol coursing through your veins are decreased protein synthesis, lower bone density, and generalized inflammation. Find a way to relax everyday so that you aren’t worrying away the benefits of your hard work.