T Nation

Bodybuilding and Kickboxing/Muay Thai

Combat
#1

Recent articles (G-Flux articles by Berardi) about how one can eat excess surplus calories and still gain muscle whilst performing sports etc. made me wonder whether i could do it with kickboxing and bodybuilding.

Im beginning kickboxing in 3 weeks, 3 times a week and was wondering if anyone had success in gaining muscle (bodybuilding) whilst competing or training for fighting? Overtraining tends to be a myth so why not? I currently eat about 4000cals to gain and am hoping to continue to gain muscle whilst starting to fight.

What i wanna know?

  • Has anyone had success doing this?
  • What pre-conditioning should i do for the next couple of weeks to get my fitness up to scratch (i know it wont take only 3 weeks)?
  • Can anyone recommend a routine they do for the gym whilst fighting 3 days a week?

Cheers in advance

#2

Not if you want to be any good at kickboxing.

#3

check this then

#4

hahhahahahahah

#5

that is free style karate ,not muay thai,i have competed in both, muay thai is much more intense and difficult sport in my opinion,.i have also been a competive body builder and i have to be honest i dont believe a whole lot of muscle helps in either sport ,muscle uses a lot of oxygen to function and i always noticed the big guns gass out very early ,

that being said explosive power is defineitly an asset in any combat sport ,my advice would be train in kick boxing and do a little bodybuilding as long as your enjoying it.

#6

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

check this then[/quote]

Come on,playboy…are you serious? That is post-prime Flex(physique still impressive though)…AND that is not kickboxing…its point karate. Was he fighting Cedric The Entertainer??

#7

I’m honestly not trying to make fun of you, but I hope you were joking when you posted that link. Like all other sports kickboxing requires flexibility and muscular endurance, both of which bodybuilding lacks. I don’t think you can be a bodybuilder and complete successfully in kickboxing. Now if you just want to kickbox for fun, go to it. Just don’t tear any muscles.

#8

sorry mate ,to answere your questions
1,its possible but extremely hard,bodybuilding is hard enough with out sweating your bollocks off 3 times a week lol.
2,if its muay thai your doin start kickin extremely heavy bags with your shins just dont go kickin palm trees leave that fo the movies,and do plenty of running as all martial arts need optimal cardio .

3,hhmm thsi is diffuct to answere with all the cardio involved in 3 sessions a week you could run the risk of over training by doing any thing more than 1 heavy full body work out once a week,and this would only benefit explosive power not bodybuilding so you may wanna ask sum 1 else about that mate ,good luck.=]

#9

All jokes aside, its really two different kinds of training.

for fighting its skills, conditioning , iron in that order and really they you don’t want your weight training to impair your recovery or affect your skill work , but your a hobbyist so that probably wont be in issue.

Body building the polar opposite
it does not promote, any kind of training to generate power, get faster, or be in better condition.
Arguably it might not promote the kind of training to getting stronger either.

Your a beginner at fighting, consider it your cardio, body building style splits usually go hand in hand with
fighting, but your not a fighter, your just taking some classes, keep that in perspective and
you’ll probably be fine.

as far as some conditioning work prior to classes , what are you doing now, your not going to get much different results in three weeks.
Try a jump rope.

kmc
kmc

#10

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

check this then[/quote]

You just proved my point.

#11

You know I posted before he fixed the video link…

uhmmm Im gonna pass.

#12

I do a 5x5 type routine with dumbells once a week and hill sprints twice in adition to muay thai 5 times per week and it doesn’t seem to effect my performance in class.

#13

Anyone who tells you that you cannot is wrong

I’m doing it. Lifting on top of MMA - two workouts a day
I’m not going to be a ‘bodybuilder’ but I am definitely heading in the right direction

I think your limitation is how much you actually can

to work out on top of kickboxing (assuming your instructor is strict/difficult) it is going to take a lot more than 4k cal if you want any reasonable gains

However, keep your cardio up… or else like they said, you’ll gas far too easily

#14

How good do you want to be as a kickboxer? How big do you want to get?

#15

nikiforos - wanna be bout 220 with reasonable BF% in about 4 years.
- wanna train as a kickboxer for a year, see where it takes me, and just fight when im ready and see where i stand

#16

[quote]HangerBaby wrote:
Anyone who tells you that you cannot is wrong

I’m doing it. Lifting on top of MMA - two workouts a day
I’m not going to be a ‘bodybuilder’ but I am definitely heading in the right direction

I think your limitation is how much you actually can

to work out on top of kickboxing (assuming your instructor is strict/difficult) it is going to take a lot more than 4k cal if you want any reasonable gains

However, keep your cardio up… or else like they said, you’ll gas far too easily[/quote]

I really hate KMC, but the OP should read his post he’s dead on and I’m not going to waste my precious saturday night on correcting you (the quouted retard of the day). You’ve had very little time training and very few fights, when you fight someone who’s been weight training like a PL/strongman and he bends you over you’ll know why.

Back to the OP, do some yoga, find a group of strength guys PL or Strongman guys, they’ll both have alot of knowledge for you and find a KRU instructor or a prior Thai MT fighter that’s moved to the US to train (most thai fighters start training others at 30-40 years old and have 300-400 fights by the time they start), its the equivalent of a black belt in Muay Thai.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJAR1vjgJAU , Flex vs this little Thai guy, Thai guy for the win lol.