5 Factors That Help You Organize Your Strength and Conditioning, While Avoiding Burnout and Increasing Performance

by Corey Beasley

This is one of the biggest mistakes that we see in strength and conditioning.

Coaches and athletes have a limited amount of time each day to get their work in.

Because of this time crunch, most think that they simply need to work hard and go home.

This crunch for time, combined with recent fitness trends, have created an ego based style of training that is hurting more people than it is helping.

We see stuff all the time on Facebook and Instagram like this:

"No Days OFF"

"Go Hard or Go Home"

"Train Insane"

"My Warm Up is Harder Than Your Workout"

Don't get me wrong, I like to work hard and require a lot from my athletes, but it is one piece of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle.

As much as we would like to think that we are invincible, the truth is that most of us cannot go hard all day, everyday, without falling apart.

In order to perform at our best, our training schedule needs to have some ups and downs.

In this article, Joel explains how he splits up his training, using high and low intensity days to develop high performance athletes.

Read the full article here:  NSCA MMA Training

The important point here is to listen to your body, understand how you recover and learn what works best for you.

If you are constantly hammering your system, it will not perform.

Way too many coaches and athletes think that more is better, but we have seen many athletes fall apart during these types of camps.   It’s important to remember that ego shouldn’t drive your workouts. Ego is from the mind, don’t listen to that. The mind tells you all kinds of crazy things “Lift More”, “You can’t do this”, “You’re tired”, etc… Your body is a better judge of that. Listen to your body. It knows better than your mind does. Listen to it and it will help guide you through.

Here's a 5 Tips to Better Performance:

1.  Set a schedule and stick to it.

If you created a well rounded plan of attack, then you will not need to do extra.  In my opinion, no one needs more than two workouts a day.  Simply determine the athletic quality that you want to improve and develop a plan to make it happen.

2.  Do not let Ego, nervous energy or peer pressure lead you away from your plan.

We see and hear about this one all the time.  Once again, it comes down to the confidence that you have in your coaches and your plan.

Get your coaches together, discuss a plan of attack, get it on paper and then execute the plan.  If you can do that, you will fly past the competition.

3.  Take time off.

I know that Dan Gable and other famous athletes have inspired you with their work ethics, but everyone needs time off.  Everyone.  Schedule one to two days completely off every week.  Go out and do stuff that has nothing to do with your sport, the gym or anything related.  Go visit family, go to the beach, get a massage, hike or whatever takes your mind off training.  You will come back fresh and ready to work hard.

4.  Eat better quality food

Nutrition habits slow a lot of fighters down.  They struggle to make weight, have no energy, can't recover and fall apart.  Food is fuel, period.  I know that you become a rabid tweaker during your weight cut and have dreams of pumpkin pie, but food is the fuel that helps us perform and recover.  

5.  Sleep

Drop the late night plans, energy drinks, chasing tail and other distractions.  If you want to perform at your best, avoid injury and have energy, then you have to get good sleep.  Sleep is our bodies way to repair and regenerate.  Miss some sleep and you will notice that you are more sore, will develop aches and pains and will not be able to perform.

MMA and other combat sports have a high enough injury rate, their is no need for the strength and conditioning part of your program to make things worse.

Most Combat sports are tough enough on the mind and body.  Wins, losses, tournaments, weight cuts, teammates, workouts, and all of the other aspects can add up and be stressful.  Hopefully some of the points in this article will help you develop a more efficient, effective training schedule that will allow you to compete, win and enjoy your journey for years to come.