In mixed martial arts, explosiveness can mean the difference between delivering a knockout blow or merely making your opponent madder. Harnessing the ability to apply your strength quickly will lead to rapid muscle gains and a leaner physique.

These workouts give new meaning to the expression "get your hips into it." Most of your body's power comes from your hips, and along with your core, they're the epicenter of a fighter's punching, kicking, and grappling arsenal. Moves like the dumbbell snatch, cable suplex, and push press teach you to extend your hips forcefully, increasing your ability to coordinate muscle actions fast.
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These are the kinds of exercises that fighters train with, as well as wrestlers and football players—anyone who needs to move like a cheetah and hit like a bull. In addition, lifting weights with maximum velocity burns calories, and forces the central nervous system to recruit the maximum number of muscle fibers. One look at the bodies of the kind of power athletes mentioned above, and you know that explosive training yields aesthetic results too.

Directions
Frequency: Perform each workout listed below (I, II, and III) once a week, resting at least a day between each session.
How to Do It: Perform the exercises as straight sets, completing all the recommended sets for one exercise before moving on to the next.

Exercises that say to work up to a certain repetition maximum (RM) mean to gradually warm up to the heaviest weight that allows you to complete all the prescribed reps with perfect form. For example, if you planned to perform a box squat for a 3RM with 315 pounds, you could do it like this: Complete 10 reps with just the bar, then place a 25-pound plate on each side (95 pounds total) and perform three reps. Then do one rep with 155 pounds, 195, and 265, respectively.

Then load 315—you should be able to complete only three reps giving your best effort. Conservatively estimate how much weight your RM will be in an exercise and determine the warm-up weights you use accordingly. Keep your reps low and rest as needed between warm-up sets—these warm-ups should not be fatiguing. Once you've arrived at the correct weight for your RM, perform two to four sets with it.

Exercises that call for 30 or 40 reps should be done as follows: Do as many reps as you can at a time with good form, and then rest. Repeat until you complete all the prescribed reps. It's OK if you get 10 reps on your first set and then only one or two reps at a time for most of your remaining sets. You will improve over time. Each week, complete 10 more reps than you did the week before. So in your second week on this program, you'll work until you've done 40 or 50 reps (as prescribed), and so forth.

When a rep range is given, such as 8-12, choose a weight that allows you to get the higher number of reps on the first set and then increase the weight on the following sets, thereby forcing you to move toward the lower end of the rep range. So, for example, by the third set, you would be using a weight that cuts you off at eight reps.

Weight: Unless otherwise noted, use the heaviest weight that allows you to complete all the prescribed reps for a given set.


Workout 1
Workout 2
Workout 3

1. FUEL UP
Start reading food labels to get a sense of how many calories you're already eating. Then add 500 to that number and start eating that many calories every day. Aim to take in about one gram of protein per pound of body weight each day.

2. LIMIT CARDIO
You can do up to two days of light jogging on the treadmill, but keep it to around 30 minutes per session. To lose fat while sparing muscle, you'd do even better to perform sprint intervals—for instance, running all-out for a minute and then backing off to a light jog for two minutes. Do this for 30 minutes, three times a week.

3. DO LESS
Do no more than 20 sets per muscle group—closer to 12 is even better. Your reps should be between six and 12 per set for the most muscle growth, and your workouts should never last much longer than 45 minutes. In lieu of more volume, use heavier weights and move through each rep at a controlled speed. Your sets should last between 40 and 70 seconds—any less, and you're not tensing your muscles long enough to shock them into growth.

4. USE FULL-BODY WORKOUTS OR A SPLIT ROUTINE
You'll get the best results from your workout by either training the whole body in a single workout or concentrating only on the upper body in one session and the lower body in another. There are advantages to each setup, but both are better than trying to iso- late one muscle group in a single session. Concentrate on lifts that involve lots of muscles at once, such as squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, and pullups.

5. STRETCH
Stretching of any kind (getting into a stretched position and holding it, or moving fluidly in and out of position), using a foam roller (see page 28 for a description), and getting massages will all help keep you flexible, prevent injury, and improve recovery between workouts.

6. EAT REGULARLY
You should be wolfing down five to six small meals a day. As long as good-quality fuel keeps coming into your body—particularly protein and carbs—you'll have the calories to build muscle and the metabolism boost to lose fat.

7. CHANGE EVERYTHING
Every four to six weeks, you need to alter some part of your rou- tine, whether it's the number of reps you do, the amount of time you rest, the exercises you perform, or any other training variable. Keep a journal of your workouts to record your progress.

8. TRAIN THE WHOLE BODY
The more muscles you involve—either in one exercise or one training session—the greater the hormone release you'll get from your training, and that stimulates muscle growth all day long. Hit- ting each muscle group with roughly the same volume (such as five sets of rows after five sets of bench presses) will ensure balanced training, allowing you to grow quickly and safely, avoiding injuries and preserving flexibility.

9. DRINK SHAKES
Surround your workout with nutrition, starting with a high protein- and-carbohydrate meal about an hour beforehand. Mix up a pro- tein shake that has a ratio of about two grams of carbs for every one gram of protein, and sip that throughout your workout. After- ward, finish the drink or mix a new one and drink that quickly. Believe it or not, whole foods are not the best option post workout—they take too long to digest.

10. RECOVER
The ideal amount of sleep is seven to eight hours per night. You can let loose a night or two each week, but when you do, try to make up for it ASAP. Train no more than four times a week. As for your job, do whatever you can to avoid excess stress—chronic nervousness elevates cortisol, a hormone that makes your body store fat and burn muscle.