If you are looking for a great way to really develop explosiveness in your legs, such as the type of strength and power you need to shoot in for a quick takedown, then sprinting up stairs or bleachers is a must in your mma workouts.

In order to improve your strength in you legs when shooting and finishing takedowns, you have to develop a high level of relative strength - strength to weight ratio. One way to do this is through increasing your strength in exercises likes squats, deadlifts, and lunges, while maintaining you current body weight level.

In order to improve the speed in your takedowns you have to develop the right technique in your shots and drill them over and over. The better neuromuscular efficiency you develop in all of the muscles used in the range of motion of a take down, the faster you will be able to shoot in.

Finally, to develop power, which is essentially strength x speed, in your takedowns, you have to combine the elements of strength training and speed training in your legs. This is where sprinting up stairs or bleachers come in. By adding stair sprints to your mma workouts, you are developing strength in your legs because of the added resistance as opposed to running on a flat surface, and you are developing speed through sprinting, all in one exercise.

If you have already developed a solid base of both strength, speed, and aerobic endurance through your current mma workout and you want to start developing true power in your legs for takedowns, start adding stair sprints to your mma strength and conditioning routine today.

Start off by doing intervals, such as sprinting to the top of a few flights or stairs or bleachers, jogging down, taking a 10-30 rest at the bottom, then doing it again. Progressively add more and more sets of these as your conditioning improves.

Then, to really develop elite levels of explosiveness, work on timing yourself when sprinting to the top. Every time you set a new record at getting to the top of the stairs you are greatly improving your strength, speed and power in your legs and will transfer over very well into your take downs and shots in mma.

If you really want to challenge yourself and continue improving, later on when you get really good at stair sprints you can add a weight vest and slowly increase the weight as you get faster and faster.

Remember though, if you are just starting out, start off with just building your general level of conditioning, and as your wind increases, slowly and incrementally increase the speed and/or resistance as you get faster. Add this to your mma workouts and you are sure to increase your takedown explosiveness like never before.

 

Derek Manuel has been involved in MMA and physical fitness for over 12 years. He is in the process of becoming certified as NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) to train professional fighters and athletes and is the author of the top-selling bodybuilding ebook, How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle for Hardgainers. When he is not training he is discovering the fastest way to both efficiently and effectively improve physical conditioning and overall performance as an MMA fighter. To see Derek's reviews of the top MMA strength and conditioning programs on the market, visit: www.BestMMATrainingWorkouts.com