The MMA Workout You Can Do at Home

1. The MMA Workout You Can Do at Home

3. You don't have to bea professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter to go a few rounds at home, but you mightbenefit from trying an MMA workout designed by a professional fighter. Chris Camozzi, an 18-time UFC veteran who is constantly training for his next big fight, designed a program that gives you the MMA workout experience at home. All you need is a heavy bag, boxing gloves, hand wraps, and a jump ropeto kick your conditioning routine into high gear.

4. Jump Rope Jumping rope is an excellent way to raise your heart rate (which is important to do at the beginning of your workout) because it combines cardiovascular exercise with agility, speed, and coordination.2 However, Camozzi admits that it can be tough for beginners. If you're new to jumping rope, he suggests starting with five, 1-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest between sets.

5. Shadowbox The shadowboxing portion of your workout is optional, depending on how much time you have. Shadowboxing is pretty straightforward: You're sparring with an imaginary partner, throwing punches and moving around an imaginary ring. However, just because it's a straightforward workout doesn't mean you should take it lightly. Camozzi stresses that you should push yourself, working at a quick pace with fast punches and lots of footwork.

6. Camozzi typically completes two to three 5-minute rounds of fast-paced shadowboxing and moving. If you're short on time, you can opt for a single, 5-minute round. If you want to, you can even cut it from your routine completely and skip straight to the heavy bag workout.

7. Heavy Bag Work You can do heavy bag work alone or with a partner. Camozzi's heavy bag routine consists of three 5-minute rounds, each followed by 1 minute of rest. Each round focuses on a different aspect of training. The second, 5-minute round is similar in function to the first, but focused solely on kneeing and kicking movements instead of boxing.

8. The point is to keep the pace fast and high-volume for the entire 5-minute round, but you're welcome to get creative as you go. The third 5-minute round puts everything together, combining punching and kicking. This will exhaust you, but do your best to keep your intensity up—it's only 5 total minutes of work.

9. In between each of the 5-minute rounds, give yourself a minute to rest. You can take this as total rest or active rest, depending on how you're feeling. Camozzi uses his minute-long "breaks" to do core work: "I do crunches, or I sit down, wrap my legs around the bag and do situps with two light punches at the top of each situp.

10. The Burn Out Round The burn out round is like a final, high-intensity battle between yourself and the bag. You can do this alone or with a partner, although most workouts are more fun (and challenging) when you have a partner there to push you. "If you do it alone, you really have to challenge yourself," Camozzi explains.

11. Core Work and Pushups If you have time, complete two to three sets of push-ups, doing as many as you can for each set while maintaining good form, then finish your workout with a series of ab exercises, including planks, sit-ups, medicine ball oblique twists, and leg lifts. Use this as an opportunity to target the chest and abs. Adding just 5 to 10 minutes is a great way to finish.