Effects of an eight week strength intervention on mixed martial arts techniques

Abstract

The research for this dissertation investigated the relationships between power, strength, components of the NSCA performance index and peak power in 3 commonly used mixed martial arts (MMA) techniques: cross, rear knee and the double leg takedown. Two studies were completed. In each study, participants’ peak power was measured in the 3 MMA techniques. In study 1, participants performed an eight week strength training intervention and was tested in peak power in each technique, strength in the upper body (bench press) and lower body (deadlift) and power in the upper body (60% of 1RM bench press) and lower body (vertical jump) at week 1, week 4, and week 8. Strength and power were found to increase as a result of the strength training intervention. Peak power also increased in each MMA technique. The strength and power assessments that were responsible for each increase in peak power differed for each technique. The peak power of the cross increased as a result of an increase in the deadlift (p=0.05) and the tandem of the increase in deadlift and bench press strength (p=0.09). The peak power of the rear knee increased as a result of the increase in deadlift strength (p=0.002), the tandem of deadlift and bench press strength (p=0.06) and increase in vertical jump (p=0.04). The peak power of the double leg takedown increased as a result of an increase in the tandem of vertical jump and bench press for power. In study 2, the components of the NSCA performance index were used to try and predict the peak power in the MMA techniques. Only the vertical jump was found to be significant (p=0.09) in predicting the peak power of the cross. SAS 9.5 (Cary, NC) was used to analyze all data. The results of the investigation led us to believe that the components of the NSCA performance index were designed for more lateral and longitudinal sports such as football and soccer; therefore, another type of performance index consisting of shorter and more compact movements would need to be developed in order to predict performance in MMA.