Guest post by Dr Kickass, Mike Piekarski, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Former MMA Fighter, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. Follow him on instagram.
Have you ever rolled with a seemingly unassuming training partner that seemed to have significantly more strength in positions than you anticipated?
“It’s important to realize in MMA a great deal of your strength in sport comes from technique itself. Learning how to use your bodyweight properly, to manipulate leverage as if it were a weapon, to use your opponent’s momentum against him, has the ability to exponentially increase how strong you feel to your opponent in MMA. This is why someone can appear relatively weak if you ever watch them lift weights or workout but feel very strong and overpowering on the mat.”
– @coachjoeljamieson
Mat strength is often high levels of isometric strength. An isometric contraction is where a muscle produces force however there is no change in length.
Traditional resistance training is external training, ie manipulating a weight or resistance via concentric / eccentric contraction to appropriately stress muscles for adaption.
Internal training would be by using isometric contractions, self imposed to create adaptions. Internal training is extremely beneficial for training range of motion specific movements.
Also read:
BJJ Isometric Strength Training: Fastest & Easiest Way to Strength Train for BJJ
“Isometrics should occur predominantly at LML (long muscle length) as there is a clear advantage for improving muscle volumes and strength throughout a range of motion, Large increases in tendon stiffness following LML have been reported and may have beneficial effects on the length‐tension relationship (Oranchuk 2019).” .
“Isometrics transfer extremely well to positional retention on the mats and are the biggest part of the feeling of “mat strength”. Top grapplers frequently feel like statues that are impossible to move, and improving isometric strength is our #1 goal for nearly any BJJ athlete that we train.” @electrum_performance
Reference:
1️⃣Jamieson, Joel. Ultimate MMA conditioning (2009) Performance Sports Incorporated.
2️⃣D. J., Storey, A. G., Nelson, A. R., & Cronin, J. B. (2019). Isometric training and long‐term adaptations: Effects of muscle length, intensity, and intent: A systematic review.
