Recently, two top professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters were banned for using Nandrolone Metabolite and Drostanolone. This news brought to light what many in the MMA world knew already – performance-enhancing drugs are very prevalent in the fighting ring.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) emerged in the 1990s as an underground sport, which integrated fighting styles from striking to grappling, into one unique sport. Originally considered barbaric and dangerous, it was banned in many circles. By the early 2000s, the underground sport began to gain more and more visibility, and therefore, credibility. New standards for fighting were introduced to improve viewing pleasure and ensure fighters were protected from unnecessary injuries. The sport gained corporate interest, took on sponsors, and soon began staging pay-Per-View television events.

As with most sports, the moment a great deal of money is infused, two things happen. First, the level of performance increases greatly as many new athletes join the sport. Second, drug use becomes more prevalent as no longer are fighters fighting for a $2k check and a trophy. Suddenly, fighters are competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars. With that kind of money on the line, and the level of competition, performance-enhancing drugs quickly made their mark on the sport.

Most MMA fighters who do use choose Halotesten and/or Mibolerone. These substances create feelings of aggression and strength increases, without water retention or weight gain. Strikers often prefer Winstrol and Trenbolone. Testosterone and human growth hormone are beginning to get a foothold in the sport. These two compounds are very expensive, tightly controlled, and often only available to top athletes in sports like football and baseball. A physician typically prescribes testosterone, and human growth hormone is hard to obtain, even from a doctor.

As with other sports, the decision of a fighter to use or not use is a personal decision. The rules of every major professional fighting organization forbid the use of steroids, as well as many stimulants. Testing is very expensive and often only implemented at the top levels, where prize money and sponsorship dollars allow for this option. Are steroids cheating if many of the top competitors are using them? That’s a tough question to answer. What we do know is that with continued success of the sport – worldwide television coverage and millions of sponsorship dollars – the level of competition, and subsequent steroid use to compete, will continue to rise.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit http://www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

The stigmas associated with mixed martial arts are hard to shake but quite easy to dispel. Many ask how could anyone want to watch, much less regulate, a sport that allows men to punch, kick, elbow, knee and incapacitate their opponents. Moreover, you often hear detractors claim that this spectacle shouldn’t even be considered a sport and should be forced to cease to exist. Much like many other events and issues in our society, the media isn’t doing their part to educate us consumers. The majority of the opinions and ill will harbored by people towards mixed martial arts, honestly comes from simply being uninformed.

One can only imagine the amount of deaths that there have been in a sport that allows such violence. Any sport that allows you to knock or choke out your opponent must have the highest death toll and critical injury rate of all sports. I hate to break it to all the sceptics but the fact is, there has never been a death in a sanctioned mixed martial arts fight. There has in fact been one death in all of mixed martial arts but this occurred many years ago in an unsanctioned fight. You may be wondering what the difference is. A sanctioning body is an organization that is responsible for the proper implementation of weight limits, rules and medical examinations. They make sure that the 2 fighters are within their weight limits and that they’re physically fit to fight. The event where the participant died did not have a sanctioning body, which in turn means it didn’t have a proper weigh in or physical. The opponent died of a blood clot they had sustained from a fight in an earlier event. The fact is if the event had been sanctioned, this fighter would have had to have a physical which includes a brain scan. This would have resulted in the fighter not being cleared to fight. Mixed martial arts actually uses the same sanctioning bodies that boxing does.

Why is it that boxing, which is much more of a brutal sport, is universally more accepted then mixed martial arts? The fact is again there are many myths and false information out there that cloud society’s vision. Mixed martial arts draws a lot of negative attention due to the size of the gloves the fighters use. The gloves in mixed martial arts are 4 ounces while the average gloves in boxing are 8 ounces. The misconception is the larger the glove the more it protects the fighter. This is partially correct. A larger glove (more padding) will allow a fighter to absorb more punches without causing any cuts. What most people don’t understand is that gloves were not invented to protect the fighter’s faces they were in fact invented for protection of the hands! The impact of a larger glove is much more traumatic then that of a smaller one due to the increased surface. Boxing matches consist of two men repeatedly hitting each other for as much as twelve three minute rounds. Mixed martial arts, on the other hand allows a fighter to hold or take their opponent to the ground where the power in a blow is drastically reduced. Boxing also allows a fighter who has been knocked down, the opportunity to recoup and continue fighting once they can beat the 10 count. Mixed martial arts on the other hand, end a fight when a fighter has been knocked down. The significance of this is the fact that the most damage done to the brain of a fighter is after they suffer the initial concussion. Every blow after this point is highly detrimental and extremely dangerous.

I’m not trying to discount boxing as a sport. I’m merely trying to show you how safe a sport mixed martial arts is. Boxing has had three deaths alone this year. If that makes you wonder how anyone could allow any of these combative sports to exist, I guess you haven’t heard that high school football averages four deaths per year and that doesn’t include the number of paralysis victims per year. Mixed martial arts is far safer then it looks and statistically safer then football, which is a sport that we not only embrace, but often sign our children up for. If mixed martial arts isn’t safe how do we feel about football?

For the last few years, you might have thought that the sport of boxing had gone into hiding, or simply retired altogether to be replaced by MMA De La Hoya and Merryweather came along to try to breathe new life into their sport; while I can’t yet say what this will mean for the future of boxing, I do know that my generation and the generations which will follow will certainly prefer MMA over boxing.

The question of the popularity of the two sports as compared to each other is largely generational. Younger generations prefer MMA, while the older set is in favor of boxing. The following generations are also going to prefer MMA – because to put it simply, it is a better sport and has more to offer the fans.

So why is MMA better than boxing? I’ll explain by starting with the negatives of both sports – the negatives are actually the same for each, so it’s simple.

Those who prefer boxing to MMA call MMA barbaric. This perception comes largely from not knowing about the sport and being unaware of the rules of MMA. Just like boxing, low blows, gouges, pokes and other dirty moves are disallowed. I ask you is MMA really so barbaric? Boxers punch each other in the face too – the difference is that MMA adds wrestling moves to the equation; is that really what pushes it over the edge, or is it just a matter of taste? This is specious reasoning for sure. If MMA is barbaric, then so is boxing.

Another argument made is that the promotional tactics used by MMA are ludicrous. True, there is plenty of pre-game trash talk between the fighters. Many compare these promos to those used for professional wrestling matches. However, exactly this kind of promotion is done for boxing as well. Remember Muhammad Ali? He had a trash talking game which would put any pro wrestler to shame. It’s hard to make the claim that MMA is silly when boxers do just the same as MMA fighters.

Some boxing fans will also tell you that like professional wrestling, MMA matches are staged. I answer this claim with these two questions – Do you have proof that MMA matches are staged? Do you have any proof that boxing matches are not staged? These people have exactly as much proof as I do that the sport in question is a sham (none!). This argument gets no one anywhere.

Having gone over the downsides, let’s move on to the positives. The positives are also easy enough to explain. As a way to illustrate the question of boxing versus MMA, consider the analogy of pizza. Someone decided to do something very smart by adding tomato sauce and cheese to bread. However, there is always someone smart enough to improve on your idea, no matter how good it may be. So someone came along later and added onions and olives to this pizza, making a good thing even better.

If boxing is like the pizza, MMA is like that next step – this is a sport which can offer everything which boxing can and much more besides. MMA takes boxing as a starting off point and adds elements from jujitsu, kickboxing and wrestling. While boxing is a sport which needs a lot of strategy, MMA is even more so. With so many different fighting styles in play in any given match, fighters have even more to consider and to anticipate. Is their opponent a master of the takedown? Are they weak in the boxing department? How is their defense? While boxers need to know the boxing style, MMA fighters need to know how their opponent employs many different fighting styles.

The cards for MMA events are also superior to those offered by most boxing events. A boxing card may only have one match of interest (this is usually the case) – the main event itself. The price is also far higher than is an MMA event. A ticket for a big boxing event can run as high as $2,500 r $55 on PPV. By contrast, even the most expensive seats at a MMA event are no more than $750 and usually $40 or less on PPV. There will also be three or four good matches per event.

MMA takes boxing a step further and offers much more entertainment value to fans, With its lower price, bigger number of stars and greater thrills, it is sure to continue its popularity over boxing with future generations.

Although mixed martial arts has existed before the launch of the first Ultimate Fighting Championship card in 1993, many regard the UFC 1 as the start of what is now commonly known as MMA. The idea behind the competition was simple, which fighting style is the most effective. There were no weight classes, no time limits, and no rules ( with the exception of poking your opponents eye and biting ). Fights would end in either knockout, technical knockout ( referee stoppage ), submission, or the towel being thrown in.

Over the course of time, the most dominant fighting styles seen in the early days of the UFC begun to merge one another. Styles such as, Muay Thai Boxing, Kickboxing, Boxing, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, emerged as the strongest fighting styles. Fighters begun cross training between different styles in order to prepare themselves for the many possible scenarios in a mixed martial art fight. Muay thai was commonly used for the clinch, Boxing and Kickboxing for stand up, Wrestling for taking the opponent down, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for ground fighting and submissions.

In the present time, it would be foolish to enter an MMA match without having been disciplined at least the slightest bit, in all the aspects of mixed martial arts. Fighters would no longer ‘Stand and Bang’ but would rather plan strategically against their opponent. If their opponent were better than them in stand up, they would take the fight to the ground by wrestling for a takedown. If their opponent has better ground game than them, they would aim to keep the fighting standing at all costs. The rules have changed a lot since 1993 as well. There were now weight classes, time limits, and much more strict rules. Kicking a downed opponent, groin shots, head stomps, hits to the back of the head, are examples one of the many new modifications of the old rules. Moreover, fighters would now have to be licensed, drug tested, undergo medical checkup, before they can fight.

In conclusion, the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has faced a lot of changes since its emergence in 1993. Once known as the most violent and barbaric sport in existence, has slowly emerged as an acceptable sport to the masses. The sport of mixed martial arts is slowly become one of the most popular sports of our time.

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When selecting MMA equipment it is always recommended to research the brands that are available for that MMA equipment before you buy. This is true whether the MMA equipment you are buying is boxing gloves, MMA sparring gloves, MMA boardshorts, kick shields, rash guards and so on. The fightwear brands you may be most familiar with from other sports – and this is especially true if you are new to the sport – may not offer the best MMA equipment for you to buy.

General sports brands such a Fairtex, Addidas and Twins offer a good range of mixed martial arts equipment and fightwear which is of a high standard and quality. However specialist brands for MMA include Tapout who you may have seen advertised on the UFC. MMA fighters often wear MMA boardshorts and MMA clothing advertising this brand.

Granite and Affliction are also excellent manufacturers of MMA equipment and fight clothing, if not yet as high profile It should be possible for you to find all the different types of mixed martial arts equipment and fightwear on one website, for example, specialist stores.

If you are just starting out in the sport of MMA, maybe you got your interest peeked by watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), or have just starting taking lessons and have already decided to start purchasing your mixed martial arts equipment. You have probably decided to start buying your MMA clothing and MMA equipment with either a pair of boxing gloves or a pair of MMA sparring gloves.

When you start out in a sport like mixed martial arts it is important to purchase a gumguard, although you are probably more interested in buying your MMA sparring gloves or boxing gloves. Once you have bought this you can then examine the many different suppliers of MMA gloves and boxing gloves such as Fairtex, Twins and Granite.

Most good mixed martial arts instructors will have already advised you that the most important article of mixed martial arts equipment is your gumguard. Your boxing gloves, your MMA sparring gloves, your kneepads, your thai pads and your groinguard although useful are nowhere near as important an article of mixed martial arts equipment as this. If your instructor has not advised you of this you may want to consider how safety conscious your club really is.

Granite make good quality MMA gloves so this would be a good range of MMA fightwear for you to consider. These MMA gloves are 4oz as is standard and are made of black leather.

Alternatively, if you fancy buying from a brand featured on the Ultimate Fighting Championship you could try Tapout MMA gloves.

You will often see these on the hands of UFC fighters because they have a sponsorship deal with the UFC. Although this is good marketing and some people prefer to wear endorsed fightwear, these articles of mixed martial arts equipment are of just as good quality when bought from brands such as Granite and Affliction as when bought from the Tapout brand.

You’ve seen them fighting in the ring. Those fighters are solid muscle–maybe twice your weight–but they can still jump higher and move faster than you can, somehow. That footwork and endurance is not an accident; it’s a result of a type of exercise called plyometrics. The thing about a sport like MMA (mixed martial arts) is that there is no aspect that can really be ignored if you want to be the best. You can be better at one aspect than another, but if you really want to be better than all the rest, you have to at least have a solid foundation in every possible skill, technique, and factor in the performance of an MMA fighter.

Plyometrics in MMA starts where power, strength, and endurance end. Once you’re strong and can last a long time without getting too tired, your work isn’t done. You need speed, and you need to be able to pull punch after punch in rapid succession. You’ll also need a lightning-fast reaction time that can help you dodge oncoming blows and strike whenever your opponent has revealed a weakness. If you can move quickly, both in terms of footwork and in terms of the speed of your blows, and you can also react quickly, you’ll be miles ahead of the other MMA fighters.

Modern MMA fighters are now getting trained in plyometrics so that they can improve their reaction time and speed. You might not have realized that you can actually train yourself to have a faster reaction time, but that’s exactly what plyometrics is. Not only will you get super fast reactions, but you will also learn how to channel your strength in one blow at a rapid speed. This means that you can have punches that are both strong and fast. There is nothing better than being able to knockout your opponent quickly due to a sudden, sharp blow to the head.

If power and strength are the payload, then plyometrics is the targeting and delivery system. No matter how strong and powerful you are, you can see that the job won’t get done if you aren’t fast enough to dodge your opponent’s blows. The job won’t get done if you can’t spot an opponent’s weakness and take advantage of it in a split second. And best of all, you don’t have to be the strongest or have the most endurance if you’ve mastered speed. Your goal is to strike where it hurts as quickly as possible. If you get good at that, then strength and endurance can be secondary (still important, but not as critical as if you didn’t master plyometrics in MMA).

The way plyometrics works is by learning how to contract muscles more quickly. It also develops the functioning of your nervous system. This might sound intimidating, but a proper MMA trainer can give you the right guidance to master plyometrics in MMA, along with all those techniques and physical goals that you should be striving for too.

Imagine, being in the ring, your backs to the fence, suddenly you remember all your training, and you wrap it up with three complex moves! Standing triumphant, you raise your head now blinded by the flashing lights of cameras. Your arms shoot up, you’ve won an MMA fight.

This was always a dream of mine, I’d trained for years, but due to an injury I was no longer able to even consider fighting at this level. But I can give you free tips to train like a fighter.

After this article you’ll feel confidence that you can have the training and get the mindset you need to fight the best.

1. Train for endurance

It can be deceiving, you are seeing fighters in 5 minute rounds, and it seems like they are training for short periods of time. But do you know it takes hours of preparation to be able to put on a 5 minute fight?

This is why after a few minutes it looks like the fighter starts slowing down a lot of the time. Put together a training work out to do this 3 to 5 times a week.

2. Intervals are critical

An excellent way to build up this endurance is by interval training. This means alternating between weights and cardiovascular training to increase the capacity of the lungs and the strength of the heart, and muscles. It is one of the best workouts to get you in shape to fight.

3. Partner

Believe it or not I’ve actually had some say to me that they can train to fight without a partner. Well you can to an extent, but if you are going to learn how to have the ability to fight in the ring then you’ll have to find a partner.

Things to look for:

• Similar physical shape or better than yourself

• A fighter you can lean from

• One who is disciplined

• A great coach who will work well with both of you.

Have you ever thought of just how powerful your mind is?

4. The unbeatable power of your mind.

Your strongest weapon when you can get to the point of being so laser focused that you only are aware of the fight and the many dynamics of the fight then you’ll be ready.

Important, write this down!

Don’t be fooled, the mind is your strongest asset, but the trickiest to understand. This is why a lot of time is spent watching your opponent train, understanding how he thinks, this is where the battle is fought.

Listen closely; this will make or break the fight for you

The ability to lead them to what you want them to think is where the battle is won.

Fact:Fighting is a great physical game and an even greater mental game.

“Although most fighters believe that the fight is 90 percent mental and ten percent physical, they train 90 percent physical and ten percent mental. That is going to have to change as MMA continues to evolve or those fighters will be left behind.” – Randy Couture, Former UFC (Ultimate Fighter Champion) Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight

Mixed martial arts is a unique sport.

You could say that it is one of the few… if not the ONLY one (in martial arts) that requires a great deal of cross training. The MMA fighter must not only possess skill in various disciplines but he or she must also have stamina, flexibility, strength and intelligence.

Just being able to throw a powerful punch and being able to toss your opponent around is not enough. Strength training for an MMA fight involves working out to produce the ability to exert effort and pressure in an extreme environment.

Surprisingly enough… everyone can benefit from an MMA workout!

The correct mixed martial arts workout will not only have you looking good but will allow you to take care of yourself in any situation. For example, having great cardio can easily enhance your sex life.

The mixed martial arts workout that I’m going to recommend will allow you to push yourself beyond your normal exercise limits.

This MMA workout is designed to target all your major muscle groups. This training should be completed– 3 to 4 times per week.

You will have one full day of recovery between each workout.

This will condition your muscles to work longer through high levels of lactic acid. This workout consists of three circuits with two minutes of rest in between each circuit.

Each of the movements is timed and your objective is to do as many repetitions as possible within the allotted time. Unfortunately, there will be no rest in between exercises. After you have completed the movement you must move on to the next until you complete the entire series or circuit.

It is important then to find a resistance or weight that you can use without a great deal of difficulty.

Bear in mind this is an MMA workout designed to give you additional strength– so using a light weight or light resistance will not help you!

This price you pay now — in this MMA workout — will pay off in the ring or on the mat!

It’s a good idea to keep track of your workouts — the number of repetitions for each exercise. (You don’t need anything expensive you can go down to your local Rite Aid or CVS and purchase a composition notebook for about a dollar.)

The exercises that you will be given are considered… compound movements.

Here is your MMA workout and training program:

1. Half Squats — 1.5 minutes (remember do as many repetitions as you can within the allotted 1.5 minutes — then move onto the next exercise.)

2. Flat Bench Press — for 1.5 minutes

3. Overhead Press (standing) — 1.5 minutes

4. The Clean and Jerk — 1.5 minutes

After you complete this one round or circuit rest for approximately 2 minutes (this is your target.)

In the beginning don’t push yourself too much if you have not completely recovered at the end of the two minutes — then rest for an additional minute — for maximum total of three minutes of rest.

As I indicated to you earlier — the price you pay in this workout will pay you dividends in the ring or on the mat. After two weeks of doing this workout you should see dramatic improvements not only in your strength, stamina but also in your muscular endurance!