Mariusz Pudzianowski has won the world's strongest man contest 5 times, making him the most dominant strongman of all time. Some guys at the gym were telling me that he is now doing mma! I didn't believe them at first, seeing as he is a very successful pro-strongman, I wondered what a man like this had to gain by switching sports. Well, it's true, he has made his mma debut.
Watching this made me think about martial arts and lifting weights as means of self defense. I used to do boxing and thai boxing, but would always lose a lot of muscle mass and strength when I took my training to the competitve level, dropping to just under 200 lbs at my lightest. When I got back into powerlifting my weight went up by 30 lbs withouth much increase in fat. Obviously my strength increased tremendously during this time.
So the question is, would I be better off in a street fight at 198 lbs, lean and skilled or 225 lbs big and strong as a bull? To be honest, I feel safer at 225 lbs because I know if a fight turns to grappling I pick up and throw almost any regular dude. At that lighter weight, my striking is better for sure, but a big fat guy might be able to handle me on the ground.
Anyways, it's just food for thought. What impresses me about Pudzianowski is that he is massive, lean, fit and even appears to have some skill (he used to be an amateur boxer as a youth). Now that is a dangerous man! It is the huge amount of strength he posses that makes him so much more dangerous than your average heavyweight. Just like Brock Lesnar, incredible strength can make up for a lack of skill against most opponents.
So all you scrawny wanna be ninja's out there, start squatting, pressing and deadlifting or you might find yourself pinned down school boy style in a fight unable to use all your sweet moves!
If you are a competitve mma/boxer/wrestler and require a tremendous amount of time devoted to your sport I understand that, I have been there. I would recommend following Pavel's Power to the People regime. It is an abreviated strength training routine designed for the busy athlete. In summary, 5-6 days a week do 2 sets of 5 reps of deadlifts and over head pressing. Each workout increase the weight until you are maxing, then drop the weight some and start working your way up in an attempt to blow past your old max. It is a slow, steady and effective method of training.
For the recreational ninja, I like a 3 days of lifting, and 3 days of sports training is great. You will have a good balance of both strength, fitness and skill. Keep in mind though, a general routine like this will not make you great at anything. You could probably do full body workouts each time, or do a squat workout, a pressing workout and a deadlift workout once you are more advanced.
Now, if you just want to get so big nobody will ever try you out, just park yourself in the squat rack. Train, eat, sleep, repeat. To get strong do a lot of heavy lifting, for size do some high volume work with high reps, and some conditioning work with very high reps like complexes or kettlebell drills.
A get huge weekly routine might look like this:
Day One, Heavy Squats or Deadlifts with some higher rep assistance work done afterwards
Day Two, Heavy Pressing with some higher rep assistance work done afterwards
Day Three, Metabolic Work, kettlebells, complexes, body weight circuits, etc. But use weight instead of jogging or "cardio"
Day Four, Lower Body Hypertrophy, moderately heavy squats or deads for high sets and reps, 7 x 5, 4 x 10, maybe even one set of 20 reps to death! Plus assistance work afterwards
Day Five, Upper Body Hypertrophy, moderately heavy pushing an pulling work, same as day four.
Day 6, Metabolic Work, same as day three.
Day 7, Nothing! Eat, sleep, talk to a nice girl instead of your smelly gym buddies!
Whichever path you choose, train hard and be sure to eat and sleep enough to acheive your goals. And most importantly, have fun!
Watching this made me think about martial arts and lifting weights as means of self defense. I used to do boxing and thai boxing, but would always lose a lot of muscle mass and strength when I took my training to the competitve level, dropping to just under 200 lbs at my lightest. When I got back into powerlifting my weight went up by 30 lbs withouth much increase in fat. Obviously my strength increased tremendously during this time.
So the question is, would I be better off in a street fight at 198 lbs, lean and skilled or 225 lbs big and strong as a bull? To be honest, I feel safer at 225 lbs because I know if a fight turns to grappling I pick up and throw almost any regular dude. At that lighter weight, my striking is better for sure, but a big fat guy might be able to handle me on the ground.
Anyways, it's just food for thought. What impresses me about Pudzianowski is that he is massive, lean, fit and even appears to have some skill (he used to be an amateur boxer as a youth). Now that is a dangerous man! It is the huge amount of strength he posses that makes him so much more dangerous than your average heavyweight. Just like Brock Lesnar, incredible strength can make up for a lack of skill against most opponents.
So all you scrawny wanna be ninja's out there, start squatting, pressing and deadlifting or you might find yourself pinned down school boy style in a fight unable to use all your sweet moves!
If you are a competitve mma/boxer/wrestler and require a tremendous amount of time devoted to your sport I understand that, I have been there. I would recommend following Pavel's Power to the People regime. It is an abreviated strength training routine designed for the busy athlete. In summary, 5-6 days a week do 2 sets of 5 reps of deadlifts and over head pressing. Each workout increase the weight until you are maxing, then drop the weight some and start working your way up in an attempt to blow past your old max. It is a slow, steady and effective method of training.
For the recreational ninja, I like a 3 days of lifting, and 3 days of sports training is great. You will have a good balance of both strength, fitness and skill. Keep in mind though, a general routine like this will not make you great at anything. You could probably do full body workouts each time, or do a squat workout, a pressing workout and a deadlift workout once you are more advanced.
Now, if you just want to get so big nobody will ever try you out, just park yourself in the squat rack. Train, eat, sleep, repeat. To get strong do a lot of heavy lifting, for size do some high volume work with high reps, and some conditioning work with very high reps like complexes or kettlebell drills.
A get huge weekly routine might look like this:
- Day One, Heavy Squats or Deadlifts with some higher rep assistance work done afterwards
- Day Two, Heavy Pressing with some higher rep assistance work done afterwards
- Day Three, Metabolic Work, kettlebells, complexes, body weight circuits, etc. But use weight instead of jogging or "cardio"
- Day Four, Lower Body Hypertrophy, moderately heavy squats or deads for high sets and reps, 7 x 5, 4 x 10, maybe even one set of 20 reps to death! Plus assistance work afterwards
- Day Five, Upper Body Hypertrophy, moderately heavy pushing an pulling work, same as day four.
- Day 6, Metabolic Work, same as day three.
- Day 7, Nothing! Eat, sleep, talk to a nice girl instead of your smelly gym buddies!
Whichever path you choose, train hard and be sure to eat and sleep enough to acheive your goals. And most importantly, have fun!