MMA
training program
Strike, wrestle and scramble for five rounds — explosive power, a relentless grappling engine and a vice-grip on everything.
Your first month is free, with nothing to pay today. Then A$24.99/month, cancel any time. On the App Store and Google Play.
Train Smart’s MMA program is a complete weekly strength and conditioning plan periodised around your camp or competition block rather than a month of the year. It trains explosive striking and takedown power, scramble and grappling engine and grip and clinch strength, fits around your technical training, prescribes a weight in kilos for every working set, and retests you every four weeks on Max push-ups and Standing vertical jump, plus the conditioning benchmark your running plan is built around.
Why this program exists
Three disciplines, five rounds, and a strength program that has to fit around the skill sessions that actually matter — without leaving you flat for them.
Explosive striking and takedown power on one side, a scramble engine that does not empty on the other, and grip that holds a clinch at the end of round three. Grappling asks for deep hip positions and a neck that can be cranked, so the prehab is built for that rather than for a barbell.
A default MMA week
This is the sport’s own template — the starting point before it is fitted to your days, your equipment and your season. Team nights and game day are protected; everything else moves to the days you are free.
What MMA is won with
These are the qualities the program is built to develop, in priority order. They come from the sport, not from a generic template.
- Explosive striking + takedown power
- Scramble + grappling engine
- Grip + clinch strength
- Rotational + anti-rotation core
- Neck + full-body durability
| Session | Type | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explosive Power + Posterior | Gym | 55–65 min | Takedown + striking power |
| Scramble Conditioning | Conditioning | 35–45 min | Repeat all-out grappling efforts |
| Sparring / Rolls | Skills | — | Mat + cage work |
| Grip, Pull + Trunk | Gym | 50–60 min | Clinch control + grappling durability |
| Aerobic Engine | Conditioning | 40–50 min | Back up rounds + recover between sessions |
The season changes the program
- Pre-season
- Fight camp — set volume ×1.2. Build the engine and the strength base.
- In-season
- Competing — set volume ×0.7, prescribed weights hold. Maintain, don’t drain.
- Off-season
- Between camps — baseline volume. Rebuild general strength and fix the niggles.
- Block structure
- Four-week blocks: three weeks accumulating, one week deload. The block’s character changes across the year rather than repeating.
- Game day
- Protected. The day before gets a 20-minute explosive primer with no running, no heavy legs and no prehab block bolted on.
The MMA testing battery
Five numbers, re-run every four weeks. Chosen to match what MMA programs actually measure — and the results re-price your training weights and reset your conditioning paces.
| Test | Measures | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 2km time trial | The aerobic benchmark your program is built around. | mm:ss |
| Max push-ups | Pressing endurance and trunk control with no kit required. | reps |
| Weighted chin-up 3RM | Pulling strength once bodyweight has stopped being a challenge. | kg added |
| Standing vertical jump | Lower-body power in its purest form, and the cheapest fatigue check you own. | cm |
| Back squat 1RM | The base of every lower-body quality you have. | kg |
What is actually in an MMA program
Every movement below appears in the sessions above, with the coaching cues the app shows you, the sets and reps it is prescribed at, and ranked alternatives if you cannot do it. The weight is calculated from your own last top set.
| Movement | Appears in | Why it is there | Trains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad Jump | Explosive Power + Posterior | Horizontal shot power on the double-leg | Quads · Glutes · Calves |
| Bulgarian Split Squat | Explosive Power + Posterior | Single-leg power + change of direction | Quads · Glutes |
| Front Squat | Explosive Power + Posterior | Quad and trunk strength in the upright posture sport actually loads | Quads · Glutes |
| Hang Power Clean | Explosive Power + Posterior | Triple extension = sprint acceleration | Quads · Glutes · Hamstrings · Traps |
| KB Windmill — bottom hold | Explosive Power + Posterior | Hip hinge, thoracic rotation and an overhead shoulder held in one shape | Abs / Core · Glutes · Shoulders |
| Loaded 90/90 — hold each side | Explosive Power + Posterior | Internal and external hip rotation held at end range — the range that runs out first in cutting sports | Glutes |
| Neck Harness Eccentric Lower | Explosive Power + Posterior | Eccentric neck strength, which is what actually resists the head being moved for you — the collision-code version of a Nordic | Neck |
| Nordic Curl | Explosive Power + Posterior | Hamstring injury prevention — the #1 AFL injury | Hamstrings |
| Romanian Deadlift | Explosive Power + Posterior | Posterior chain for driving legs | Hamstrings · Glutes · Back |
| Trap Bar Jump | Explosive Power + Posterior | A loaded jump — peak power output with no barbell skill to learn first | Quads · Glutes · Calves |
| Farmer Carry | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Grip and a braced trunk under a load that is genuinely heavy | Traps · Back · Abs / Core |
| Gi / Towel Row | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Grip + back endurance specific to grappling | Back · Biceps |
| Incline DB Press | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Upper strength for shielding the ball | Chest · Triceps |
| Plate Neck Iso Hold (4-way) | Grip, Pull + Trunk | A stronger neck reduces the head acceleration behind contact injuries, and an isometric hold is how it is safely loaded | Neck |
| Seated DB Shoulder Press | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Overhead strength for contests, marks and intercepts | Shoulders |
| Weighted Chin-Up | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Contested marking + tackle strength | Back · Biceps |
| Weighted Dip | Grip, Pull + Trunk | Heavy pressing that loads the triceps and lower chest together | Chest · Triceps |
| Wrist Extensor Eccentric — end-range hold | Grip, Pull + Trunk | The wrist and forearm loaded eccentrically — the only thing shown to fix a stubborn tennis elbow, and the joint every hand-plant and stick sport punishes | Forearms |
Staying available
The prehab block is matched to the region of the session it sits in and to the tissue this sport actually punishes — not a generic mobility flow bolted to the front.
Prehab only works if it happens, and the reason it usually does not is that it has nothing to do with the session it is attached to. Rotating a pool by session number puts shoulder work before a squat day and Copenhagen planks before a bench press. Technically covered; nobody does it.
In Train Smart each movement is classified by the region it protects and matched to the session, and the pool rotates across the week so you cover all of it rather than doing the same three moves three times.
More on prehab that people actually do →
What the free month covers, and what comes after
The first month is one complete four-week block — three building weeks and a deload. The first retest comes after that block, and it is the first time the program measures what your training did.
- Week 1
- Testing session on the MMA battery. Your starting weights and paces come from it.
- Weeks 1–3
- The first block builds. Hit your reps and the weight goes up on its own.
- Week 4
- Deload — the week the previous three become fitness.
- Week 5
- Retest. The results re-price your weights and reset your conditioning paces.
- Weeks 5–8
- Block two changes shape, priced from the top sets you just did and the numbers you just tested.
MMA training questions
What does the Train Smart MMA program include?
When is MMA pre-season?
Can I follow this program if I only train twice a week?
What tests does the MMA program use?
Do I need a full gym?
Get your MMA program
Pick MMA, answer eight questions, and your week is built — around your team nights, your game and the days you can actually train.
Your first month is free, with nothing to pay today. Then A$24.99/month, cancel any time. On the App Store and Google Play.
- Install itFree to download on iPhone and Android.
- Tell it how you playYour sport, your season, the nights you train and the kit you have. No account needed.
- See your week, then start freeYour program is built before you pay anything. Start the free month to unlock it, and cancel any time in your store settings.