Mixed martial arts
(MMA) is another name for ultimate
fighting. MMA first emerged in the early 1990’s as a sort of
free-for-all attempt to determine what fighting styles worked the best
in non-regulated situations. It’s not a brand new sport, however. MMA
has roots in ancient martial arts and this mixed form of the practice
of combative martial arts may have been present in the early twentieth
century.
The premise of MMA is that competitors use different fighting styles
against one another. MMA, like other martial arts forms use full body
techniques such as striking moves and grappling moves. The competition
is fierce and even seen as brutal, so the competitors feel the need to
be in top conditioning to make sure they are able to fully participate
in the competition. Because of this, MMA athletes have evolved through
the years from people specialized in one or two forms of martial arts
to those specialized in and trained for MMA specifically. This means
that the most successful MMA competitors are well rounded in both
striking and grappling techniques. MMA athletes now go through very
specific training including practice, nutrition and even some use
performance enhancing drugs to reach the levels they need to be
competitive.
Originally, the modern MMA had very few rules, but as the sport as
evolved some rules have been implemented in an attempt to help the
safety of the competitors. There isn’t one governing body for MMA,
however, so there isn’t an all-around set of rules for MMA
participants. The laws and rules of the sport vary based on the each
individual organization and where it’s located. One of the common
rules, however, is against the use of steroids and other performance
enhancing drugs. For example, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC),
one of the most popular MMA organizations, tests its competitors for
steroids and other illegal performance enhancers before competitions.
As with other sports, however, it’s still out there and it is still
being used regardless of the rules.
Most people who help athletes (including MMA competitors) are anonymous
to the general public and aren’t willing to let their identities be
known to the general public for fear of legal repercussions. Chris
Shugart from T-Nation was able to break that silence, however. He was
able to interview one of these trainers and found out some interesting
information about the use of steroids in MMA.
Fist of all, this trainer commented on what many MMA athletes are doing
wrong. He said that many focus on their strengths but recommends when
they have a lot of time before their next fight they should focus on
their weaknesses – both muscular and techniques. He also explained that
many athletes come to him with questions about what drugs to use but
they don’t do the first step which is making sure that their nutrition
is up there – compensating poor nutrition with drugs isn’t the answer.
Basically, his main point is that there isn’t one nutrition, drug and
supplement plan that will work for everyone, so it’s best to get
reliable advice from someone who knows what he or she is doing before
jumping into a program that has worked successfully for someone else.
Additionally, it’s important for people to be careful and not jump into
any sort of new training scheme before a fight because they won’t know
how it will affect them in the ring. Steroids and other performance
enhancers can cause weight gain in the form of muscle and fat and that
can greatly affect performance. Other MMA athletes look for steroids
that will help them increase their aggression before a fight, but
again, steroids affect each person differently so they should be used
with caution until the athlete knows how it will affect him so that he
doesn’t have too much aggression at the wrong times.
Because MMA attracts such a wide variety of athletes – from martial
artists who want to move up to the next step and who rely mostly one
technique to bodybuilders and weight lifters who want to try something
different and who rely mostly on strength and bulk – there are many
different types of training regimens that can be successful. These
regimens include strength training, nutrition, supplements even drugs,
but they need to highly specialized to each individual’s needs to be
successful.