Agility defines a person's healthy lifestyle. Agility is proportional to fitness, it brings in weight loss as well as muscle gain. No other workout can make you limber other than MMA. Not only MMA techniques but warm-ups required to learn those techniques are vital for keeping an individual fit. Learn about these MMA warm-up workouts to become more supple.
1. Warmups
MMA classes begin with warm-up exercises, firstly starting with running, then other warm-up exercises like the heel to butt kicks, jumping rope, walkouts, lunges, arm circles, foam rolling, etc are performed. All these warm-ups will prepare your body to learn different MMA techniques. The warmups performed for 15-20 minutes will fortify your confidence to learn MMA and will make you more supple.
2. Dynamic stretching
Flexibility is a crucial part of MMA. A highly flexible MMA fighter can perform prolific skills and techniques (both offensive and defensive) than a non-flexible fighter. Hence, stretching exercises are essential to improve flexibility. Some of the dynamic stretching exercises include lunge with a twist, knee to chest, high kicks, jump squats, jump lunges, etc.
3. Sprints
MMA fighters need to possess brawny legs to deliver ravaged kicks and meliorate their grapples. Sprint training is one of the best workouts for people learning MMA. The intensity of burning fat and gaining muscle is very high with this workout. Moreover, it optimizes a person's endurance and works rapidly than other workouts.
4. Alligator walk
This is an outstanding exercise to increase hip mobility and to build core strength. MMA fighters should be able to make their hips heavy or light, which is a key to success in the mat.
5. Bridges
This is an excellent workout that parodies the movements that are done to escape bad positions in BJJ. These are very explosive movements and requires a lot of resistance training to overcome the load of another person.
6. 180 Drill
This is a very vital drill used to develop skills used in wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This drill is applied in very complex movements, where a person maintains the control of other person and the person moves exactly in a semi-circular motion from a starting point.
7. Stand up in Guard
This workout builds up an individual's leg strength, coordination, and balance. This is a BJJ workout, wherein a person ends up in a squat position, escaping from the guard (legs wrapped around a person) by standing up.
8. Shoot and Sprawl
Sprawl is used as a defensive technique in BJJ and wrestling. It requires both upper body and lower body strengths and should be performed rapidly. As it involves complete body movements, the workout develops endurance and cardiovascular conditioning, in turn developing agility.
9. Roll up to feet and jump
This exercise brings in the feel for balance, momentum and also increases the leg strength as well as endurance.
10. Technical stand up
This is an important component of the various techniques used in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, also a vital self-defense application which allows you to get back to your feet while blocking an attack. This accelerates hip movement and increases coordination.
MMA workouts are very unique and involve complete body to perform, hence it has a major impact on keeping a person fit and active. Learn MMA to live a healthy life.