MMA Workout Routines

Former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is a modest fighter, despite his dominant win over Brock Lesner to take the heavyweight championship in October of 2010. He does not talk badly about his opponents, and he shows grace and modesty, even after his loss of the title to Junior dos Santos at the first UFC on Fox in November of 2011. Despite this setback, which many attribute to a bad shoulder due to a torn rotator cuff, he continues to strive to a rematch for the heavyweight championship, with an announced fight with Antonio Silva at an unspecified date.

Velasquez is one of the newer generations of UFC fighters with an emphasis on overall conditioning that tones his entire body. Coined ‘super athletes’ by Rogan when talking about Johnny ‘Bones’ Jones, this new generation of fighters pushes the physical envelope of their training to tone their bodies to the extreme. These athletes make training their number one job between their fights, and push their bodies to extremes that even regular sports athletes are hard pressed to match. Many times you can find guides to these athlete’s extreme workouts, but Cain Velasquez has been reluctant to talk about the specifics of his workout.

He reveals his general schedule easily enough. He keeps a regimented schedule, that alternates slightly as he works out five days a week. On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, Velasquez does weight training from 8-9:30 am. He follows this with breakfast, hits the gym to do wrestling and he follows that with hard sparring sessions from noon to 2 pm. He spoke with Askmen.com and noted that “the noon workouts on Monday, Wednesday, Friday are the hardest because I’m going in against multiple training partners and fighting each one. Each fighter that comes at me is fresh and that really takes a toll on you and your body — it gets you tired and it really makes you dig deep and work hard to get through the workout. It’s the worst and sometimes I hate going through it, but it is the most beneficial part of my training.” After his massive sparring workout he does three rounds of jiu-jitsu, eats dinner so he can give his body gets a chance to relax, and then returns to the gym so he can finish his day out with cardio and striking workouts. His workout on Tuesday and Thursday is very similar, but he trades out his sparring for additional wrestling and jiu-jitsu practice so he can work on his technique.

He keeps this training intensity up with only short breaks after fights to recover and recuperate. The former heavyweight champion was asked about working out for new people, and for young fighters trying to break into the industry. He said, “You need good training partners — because you’re only as good as your training partners — and a strong desire to always get better. Know what your strengths are, but also keep in mind what your weaknesses are; always work on your weaknesses.” It is good advice for anyone that looks for a workout that will improve their game. Find something that forces an improvement in your conditioning and skills and shores up the weaknesses in your developing skills.