Work out routines

[Aodhan]

press. Doing stuff like bicep curls and tricep push downs don't do anything for you functionally. And lat pull downs were mean't purely for looks, not use.

If you want to learn about real fitness, and how to lift weights to gain pure strength to drascically increase kicking and punching power and strength for grappling, go to crossfit.com or do ANY research on pavel tsatsouline.

Sorry, but you have some facts in error. Your triceps cause your lower arm to straighten (Extend). The stronger and faster that is, the stronger and faster your arm will extend, and the stronger and faster a punch/backfist/knifehand will be. The lats draw your arm in close to your body, so any strikes such as vertical hammerfists, downward elbows, etc. will use the lats.

People are under the misconception that the chest provides all the power in a punch, which just isn't so. The function of the chest is to bring the arms towards the chest in a hugging type motion. (This is why a flat bench fly exercise works the chest much more than a bench press).

Competitive bodybuilders are also in excellent shape in all respects as has been pointed out already.

To answer the OP's question, you can do most exercises with a flat bench. I would recommend getting a sturdy model that can also incline and decline. Add an olympic straight bar and an ez curl bar, and you can do most exercises.

I would recommend multiple muscle movements such as the bench press, squat, lunges, and add biceps curls, tricep presses, bent over rows and military presses for general muscle development. If you get really interested and want more specifics, I can outline different programs designed for different goals.

Aodhan

[AnonymousOne]

I have read many scientific tests on body builders and they all say as far as levels of "fitness" goes, most of them are in poor shape.

Body building does not require aerobic capacity. They train their bodies with very heavy weights and very slowly which develops the slow twitch muscle fibres.

Most of them are so bulked up, they are slow and couldnt run very far at all. Running is an excellent measure of actual fitness. Body builders bodies are trained to a point where their capabilities are incompatiable for many fields. They would be no for running, agility type activites, or other long endurance type sports. They get as mad as hell when you point this out to them but when was the last time you saw a body builders win a marathon, win a boxing or karate contest, or gymnastics?

Body building doesnt have a lot of use apart from looking good, assuming you think body builders look good.

As far as martial arts go, body building is incompatiable. I said body building not weight training, there is a difference.

[malanovaus]

I stumbled across an interesting book in a used book store.

"Weight Training for Martial Artists" by Jennifer Lawler

I had to pick it up, I've found it to be a good book.

[CapitalKarate]

Aodhan, in regards to your post;

Lat pull downs are only for looks, not strength. The real way you want to strengthen your lats is by doing pull ups (palms facing away from you) there are bodybuilders a dime a dozen out there with massive lats, but can't do a single proper pull up, not even a chin up.

About triceps and chest, triceps are very important, every muscle in your body is, but where in the world are you going to do a motion similar to a tricep pull down? The triceps get worked the way they're supposed to get worked by doing exercises such as overhead lifting and bench press.

Chest.. the issue about the chest being used to bring the arms into a hugging position is debateable. Bodybuilders use chest flys to get definition and size, I used to want to be a bodybuilders and was a part of a forums called wannabebigforums.com. BBers there even said that flys don't really even do as much, that for definition and size you want to do full body dips and incline DB bench. And for chest strength do flat BB BP.

And again, Bodybuilders are NOT in good shape (generally speaking of course, there are a few out there somewhere that are in decent shape). For the most part Anonymousone got it right about it. But I have to disagree witht he running part. Before a body builder goes PRO or ametuer for competitions, they will use a lot of HIIT to get rid of fat quickly without losing muscle. But they don't have any endurance, only some speed (some), and... hm.. actually thats about it, they have some speed because they do HIIT so often for their cuts.

For martial arts, the most beneficial weight lifting out there are olympic/power lifting and kettlebell lifting. (if you don't count in gymnastic work and other calisthenic work)

[Radok]

I have read many scientific tests on body builders and they all say as far as levels of "fitness" goes, most of them are in poor shape.

Body building does not require aerobic capacity. They train their bodies with very heavy weights and very slowly which develops the slow twitch muscle fibres.

As far as martial arts go, body building is incompatiable. I said body building not weight training, there is a difference.

No, bodybuilders do not develope their endurance muscle, aka slow twitch. They develope their strength muscle, aka fast twitch. They develope their glycolytic fast twitch, or type 2B muscle, because they are the biggest. So they have a ton of fast twitch muscle, almost no slow twitch. Slow twitch muscle has never shown the ability to gain much mass as a response to training.

As far as bodybuilding not helping MA, do you think you could take on Ronnie Coleman if he learned boxing or Muay Thai for a mere 6 months? I think not. He gets up and over 300 pounds of muscle, he would be all but indestructible by strikes.

[usatkdwtf]

I would not go around saying that bodybuilders are not strong, or do it just for looks. Its pretty impossible to gain muscle size without strength. Also, your slow twitch fiber information is incorrect...I would do some research on your own befre you listen to bodybuilding friends. Most people workout too much and dont eat enough to gain anyway...if they would just research.

Bodybuilding greatly increases stregth and size all of which are very useful in fighting. If your bigger your strikes will be harder (granted you keep up your speed w/ drills and work) and your ability to take a blow will be much greater.

Bodybuilders are excellent athletes with very strong frames and I would not say otherwise to a dedicated one.

[SevenStar]

you guys aree comparing apples and oranges here. Body builders are in shape - but by their standards. They wouldn't last in a ring because their cardio isn't on the same level. On the other hand, the avg mma will not be as strong overall as the avg body builder - two different focuses in training.

[CapitalKarate]

I would not go around saying that bodybuilders are not strong, or do it just for looks. Its pretty impossible to gain muscle size without strength. Also, your slow twitch fiber information is incorrect...I would do some research on your own befre you listen to bodybuilding friends. Most people workout too much and dont eat enough to gain anyway...if they would just research.

Bodybuilding greatly increases stregth and size all of which are very useful in fighting. If your bigger your strikes will be harder (granted you keep up your speed w/ drills and work) and your ability to take a blow will be much greater.

Bodybuilders are excellent athletes with very strong frames and I would not say otherwise to a dedicated one.

1st Professional bodybuilders lift for looks, not functionality. Just how it is.

2nd I never said body builders aren't strong. In fact the forum I used to be a part of had several pro body builders put together a routine based upon compound movements to gain size and functional strength. It worked wonders for building size and functional strength. But most of them didn't do nearly as much cardio as they should have to get endurance or a healthy heart.

And the kind of strength that it takes to bench press 300 pounds is a different kind of strength from the kind needed to execute a fast and powerful punch. Bodybuilders stress going slow when doing a set of any kind of exercise. It builds muscle better. If you compare a 1st dan in okinawan karate's kick (below belt) to that of a body builder who can deadlift or squat more than 600 pounds, the karateka would have a stronger kick, the karateka trains purely for the ability to kick with power and speed, not to develop slow twitch muscles by lifting incledible weight. Granted though if the body builder were to go into BJJ or wrestling he could definitely use his size and kind of strength to his advantage.

And body builders are not excellent athletes except in their own arena (showing off size, being able to lift a great amount of weight, and being able to get their fat% down to below 5%). They make sure they don't do more cardio than what is required to either get rid of fat, or maintain their fat %. Other than that, all they do fitness wise is lift weights. Ametuer body builders may do other activities such as some sports occasionally, perhaps take up MA also, but if they're serious about body building, they won't. Doing that much cardio gets rid of excess muscle, and they want as much size as possible.

[usatkdwtf]

boybuilders use powerful, explosive repititions to gain size. Thats how you build and tear down fast twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch are the only fibers that grow large. Thus, a bodybuilder works on building bigger muscles through building fast twitch fibers, the same that are used in MA.

I would say most bodybuilders have more muscular endurance than most MA. Thus, the cardio never gets tired if the muscles are not tired.Tired muscles cause you to breath heavy witch causes cardiovascular endurance to com into play. Have large, strong muscles will add to musclar endurance, which helps cardio endurance by keeping it at bay.

That being said, Ive never seen a bodybuilder who just does 8-12 repititions on all the exercises. Most all of them also have the 4-6 rep. range Also, most mass builders are compound movements, so most buiders work largely on compound movements.

Ive never seen any lifter do a lift slowly, unless it was a special "concentration" rep.

To build mass you have to use forceful,explosive movements with compoud exercises, that attack the fast twitch muscle fibers.

[Aodhan]

Aodhan, in regards to your post;

Lat pull downs are only for looks, not strength. The real way you want to strengthen your lats is by doing pull ups (palms facing away from you) there are bodybuilders a dime a dozen out there with massive lats, but can't do a single proper pull up, not even a chin up.

The function of the lats is to draw the upper arm back to the body. Any exercise that does this function will exercise the lats (Rows, pull downs, pullups, etc.)

About triceps and chest, triceps are very important, every muscle in your body is, but where in the world are you going to do a motion similar to a tricep pull down? The triceps get worked the way they're supposed to get worked by doing exercises such as overhead lifting and bench press.

Hammerfist, backfist, knifehands. Vertical strikes duplicate the pulldown exactly, horizontal strikes are in a different plane, but emphasize/use the same parts of the tricep.

Chest.. the issue about the chest being used to bring the arms into a hugging position is debateable. Bodybuilders use chest flys to get definition and size, I used to want to be a bodybuilders and was a part of a forums called wannabebigforums.com. BBers there even said that flys don't really even do as much, that for definition and size you want to do full body dips and incline DB bench. And for chest strength do flat BB BP.

The pecs originate along the sternal border of the mid chest, and insert on the upper part of the humerus. When they tighten, they pull the upper arm up and forward. When you do a dip for chest, you need to lean forward into it, otherwise you are only working your triceps, and at the top of the dip, you are mostly working your triceps anyway. All the chest work comes at the bottom of the dip, if you are leaning forward into it.

Aodhan