This article covers the 8 push exercises that I have found beneficial for me. While I was in school at the time, I was able to add some strength and conditioning exercise days to my schedule. One of the days that I have added to a part of my regiment would be a push exercise day.
Doing a push day exercise session is very important for conditioning for MMA. There is a lot of wrestling and combat jiu-jitsu scenarios where there is a lot of pushing involved. Therefore, developing and maintaining that push strength is essential.
I had a training partner that I train with who is stronger than I am at one point. His push strength is ridiculously strong from whenever we grappled during practice. But since I had the opportunity to work on my push strength, I was able to increase it to the point where I was able to match up with his own.
Since the exercise I have done worked successfully for me, it came to my mind of wanting to share with you all what these 8 push exercises are.
Table of Contents
8 Push Exercises To Help You Stay In Shape For MMA
1. Barbell Bench Press (Moderate Weight)
Whenever I do the barbell bench press exercise, I would only do five repetitions while using moderate weight to push. The reason why I only do five repetitions because the goal is to build strength, not doing it to develop a bigger chest.
2. Resistant Band Push-Ups
I love this exercise because it has allowed me to work more on being explosive with my push strength. The amount of explosiveness that I have gained out from this exercise has been so beneficial.
Whenever it came to wrestling scenarios, I could feel a difference in how much more explosive I became.
3. TRX Push-Ups
I liked how beneficial this exercise is because it allows me to use my fast-twitch muscles to build strength, speed, and endurance. Developing this is essential in MMA because of the fast twitching that is involved in striking situations.
Not only for that, but it is involved in wrestling & jiu-jitsu scenarios as well.
4. Barbell Shoulder Press (Light/Moderate Weight)
I believe that doing this shoulder exercise is very important! Since multiple punches are involved in boxing and kickboxing, it is essential to strengthen & condition the shoulder muscles.
If you don’t, then you could lead myself to have injuries or shoulder problems easily. Therefore, it is best to build the endurance of your shoulder muscles so that you can last longer during training sessions.
5. Kettlebell Shoulder Press (Light/Moderate Weight)
The Kettlebell Shoulder Press is another good exercise that I found beneficial for building strength, endurance, and explosiveness. Whenever I throw punches, the power comes from my hips, core, legs, and shoulders.
When it comes to doing this exercise, the muscles involved are the same as a punch. So, I feel that doing this has helped me with building up the endurance for it.
6. Kettlebell Bridge Floor Press
While performing the Kettlebell Bridge Floor Press, you are maintaining a glute bridge position while pushing the two kettlebells from each hand up. This exercise has helped me to develop my push strength for both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA combat Jiu-Jitsu scenarios.
With the development of strength, I can use it for escaping positions such as side control. When it comes to escaping side control, you can use both your push & hip strength to create space to get your frames in.
Once the frames are in place, shrimping out and get into either a butterfly guard or full guard becomes an option.
7. Dips (High Repetitions)
Dips is an excellent calisthenics based exercise for building strength & endurance for both the fast twitch chest & tricep muscles. When it comes to this exercise, I suggest doing up to 10 to 15 fast repetitions.
8. Sprawling Medicine Ball Throws
Medicine ball throws have been very beneficial towards me in being able to develop up my fast-twitch muscles & explosiveness. The development of explosiveness gives me the ability to perform solid strikes.
Since a sprawl is involved in this exercise, it’s excellent for working on my wrestling takedown defense. Double leg & single leg takedowns can occur during MMA practice.
Therefore, having this exercise as a part of your regimen can help work on that reaction & defense.
Conclusion
Push strength is essential to develop for MMA. When you grapple in this discipline, there will be scenarios that involve you applying your push strength. Everybody has a different level of resistance strength in this type of discipline.
Therefore, it is essential to do a push exercise day to prepare yourself to grapple with your training partners of different strength levels. Push exercises are beneficial towards your striking too since it involves the use of fast-twitch muscle fibers.
So, if you want to develop speed & power for your strikes, working the fast-twitch muscles is a must.
If you have anymore questions about push exercises for MMA, please leave a comment or send a message.
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Hi there! I’m Austin Hoang, an editor & writer focusing on Martial Arts. I am also a martial artist who has spent most of my life learning different disciplines and also have competed in Amateur Boxing and a Muay Thai tournament-based competition. Based on the experiences I have gone through, I would like to share with you all the cool ideas I have. Thanks for visiting my page and I hope I get the most out of educating you all about what martial arts brings in life.
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