How can I make my body stronger and also the ability to to take hits?

Question

Im training for mma now and I want to know what to do to make my body a little stronger. I was throwing leg kicks and for some reason I felt sooooo much pain! It hurt but i dont know why. Dang why does this sport have to be so painful? And I thought boxing was (ive train boxing before)

Answer 1

There are an infinite ammount of simple ways.

For example, clapping as hard as you can when you do jumping jacks. This will build up your palms.

Answer 2

Build your pecs, and abs for body shots.  Build your neck muscles for head shots. Work on overall conditioning. Talk to your coach about it.  Where did it hurt? Build = weight train

Answer 3

The reason you felt that pain it could be either you kicked wrong or you're not flexible , so, you should do some yoga so you can get flexible and try to do some crunched push up every day.  

Answer 4

This is why traditional martial arts work better than MMA.  Have you seen Fight Quest?  Those guys always get their butts kicked.  When they think they're doing good you can see the traditional masters are laughing at them in the background.  

   Traditional Arts do a lot physical conditioning.  The techniques are also designed to minimize injury. you have to say something for centuries of development.

  I practice goju-ryu karate and some nights training consist of standing there being kicked and punched with no gear.

You might want to look into some traditional training, even if it's to subsidize your mma.

Kung-Fu, Chinese Kempo, and Karate are all decendants from the Sholin.

Answer 5

Although I have never been a practicioner, I have stolen some of the toughening exercises from kyokushin karate.  Think of it as taking small bits of poison to make your self immune in the long term.  

Pain is a mental phenomenon, and these old toughening exercises acclimate the mind to the pain in the shins, and thighs.  It is really the best way I have found to work on it.

No matter how anyone feels about the fighting effectiveness of the art, I certainly don't think anyone is gonna put up an argument that the kyokushin guys aren't tough.

Another thing for toughing the shins that I have found is kicking my water bag.  I have the version without foam (just water) and it is about like hitting a side of beef.  Soft filled bags just cannot compare in feel.  Of course it hurts like all h**l in the beginning.

Answer 6

The pain in the shins doesn't go away, at least not in my experience.  I hate shin clashes with a passion.

My instructor says his shins hurts still too, but just not as much.  He told me the best way to toughen your shins is to start slowly and build up the tolerance.

Start by using a heavy bag just do massive reps with your leg kicks.  Build up power over time and eventually you will be hitting it with full power and it won't hurt as much.

Original Muay Thai boxers in Thailand would actually use a (i think) bananna or rubber tree to kick because it was softer than others.  This is how they built up the calices on their shins.

Also, you can look up shaolin monk iron head training if you want to get really serious about it.  Those guys break boards over their rib cages and foreheads.

Hope this helps...

Socalmark

Answer 7

where did it hurt? hips? thighs? shins?

1 make sure your muscles are warmed up before strenuous activity (including stretching) (jogging in place, jumping rope are good ways of doing this)

2 stretch well before you do any further strenuous activity. and stretch quite a long time.. 10-15 minutes at least.

3 if it's your shins or hips hurting, you may have pulled a muscle in you hip, and only time will heal it, rest it. if it's your shin, its normal, just keep kicking the pads, or a heavy bag.

4 the best way to take hits is obviously not to. but...since you have to...do just that. take hits. nothing else will work. not hard. but consistent.

for example swing your heavy bag (if you have one) and let it hit you in the stomache. throw a medicine ball in the air and let it land on your belly...etc ...you can use it to hit yourself in the legs as well.

Answer 8

Grow a pair of big, brass balls. You think MMA is though? Try taking a real martial art.

Answer 9

if you hit a hard object often such as a Makiwara (a two by four with thick rope wrapped around it which would be the target), your body will strengthen.  You have to start slow and hit as much as you can handle day by day, and eventually, you will get used to it.  Many Japanese martial arts have similar training, such as Shorin-Ryu, Kyokushin (shown in fight quest), and Shodu-Khan along with many others originating from okinawa, Japan.

well... good luck!