Being a professional athlete demonstrates how individuals who put the functionalities of their bodies into good use would result into. There are more attributes that an athlete should possess beyond strength, speed and stamina. Aside from those three mentioned, an elite athlete must have superior conditioning through power, quickness, muscular and cardiovascular endurance, agility, balance, coordination and flexibility.
There are different types of athletes, based on the sport they excel at. We have football players who have tremendous power, quickness, agility and coordination, but lack conditioning that runners possess. On the other hand, we have marathon runners who have awesome endurance, stamina, balance and speed, but don't put strength and power into play. Basketball players have explosive movements that football players have, plus cardio. But what these top basketball players in general have with power, would lack in agility, and vice versa.
So which sport qualifies as the most complete athlete?
Mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes not only have the mental toughness to get inside a cage and put a serious hurting on their adversary across the cage, but have all the physical attributes to back up their fighting skills. Believe it or not, even the smallest MMA fighters can pack a lot of power with a lanky frame. Plus, there are more factors to consider that makes MMA athletes the best bodies in the world. Here's how.
Let's start with strength. An MMA fighter requires grappling skills, or grappling defense to win. Even if you don't want to get the fight to the ground, sooner or later, somebody's gonna get a hold of you. For you to be able to defend the takedown, you need core and arm strength to aid your technique. If you're the one going for the submission, it's your job to find holes on their ground game, and capitalize with the right technique, plus additional strength, since with that level of fighting almost even, your strength will make the difference.
As far as speed goes, MMA fighters undergo a series of sprints as part of their training, to develop leg power. A slow fighter might be as good as dead of a fighter. And speaking of power, those explosive takedowns, kicks and punches MMA fighters do have the highest amount of power ever recorded. If you don't believe it, ask a heavyweight bodybuilder to punch a heavy bag, and compare his stats to a heavyweight MMA fighter. Not because you bench press more than the other doesn't mean you punch harder.
Stamina is working at the same pace for a long time, while endurance is simply working as long as you can. Without stamina, you will get your ass kicked by your opponent. While you slow down, the other men would probably be trying to hit you with the same volume of punches that he was working on for the past round. And since most fights are a war of attrition, it would best if you could rely on your second wind and try to outlast your opponent, and yourself. And without muscular endurance, your arms will tire out during submission holds wherein your opponent refuses to submit, which makes it a big risk for you once the hold has been released, and your arms are as good as a vegetable.
While speed is measured on how fast you can travel from one point to another, quickness is how fast you can move, period. And with the help of agility, which gives you the ability to move from side to side, forward and back, these factors can make you a blur to your opponent's eyes. MMA fighters have this ability to hit you from the front, move to your side, kick your legs, move back in front, and hit you again, as they move sideways in a circular motion.
Thanks to coordination, they can mix up kicks and punches beautifully, while faking a shot for a takedown, and move away at a possible attack at the same time. Even before you can think of what you want to do to them, they already have 3 to 4 moves already in mind, plus the attacks they anticipate from you. And with flexibility, in case you're grounded, it keeps you from taking damage by contorting you limbs without straining you muscles.
And finally, balance keeps you on your toes during a fight. If you want to avoid getting your face from getting punched from the ground, you'll maintain your balance to keep the fight standing.
I can assure you that being an MMA fighter not only makes you the ultimate fighter, but the ultimate athlete as well. I have tried playing basketball, football, running, and combat sports. And so far, training for MMA was the only sport that I've looked for a puke bucket, and called it a day. There have been lots of professional athletes from different sports who crossed over to MMA, but found themselves gasping for air or couldn't stretch their bodies as far as they want it to be.
If you want, you can see for yourself if you're cut out to be an MMA fighter.
No comments:
Post a Comment