The Best (and Worst) Exercises for Fighters
By Leroy Saunders | Strength & Conditioning Coach, Fight by Design
Strength and conditioning isn’t just about jetting jacked or pushing limits, its preparing yourself as a fighter to perform at your highest level, under pressure, under fatigue, and under fire.
Whether you're a Muay Thai athlete, boxer, kickboxer, or MMA fighter, one truth remains:
Your S&C should serve your fight. Not just your muscles.
And yet, in gyms all over the world, fighters still waste hours doing movements that look good, feel hard, or seem "functional", but have little to no carryover to striking, grappling, clinching, or energy systems under real fight stress.
As a coach who’s trained fighters at every level, from world champs to first-time amateurs, I build programs around what matters most:
- Does the exercise build qualities that show up in the ring?
- Does it increase durability, power, control, and capacity?
- Does it improve movement under fatigue, or just build ego?
- Does it help you take harder hits, redirect force, and recover?
Below I cover:
- The best movements for fighter performance
- What to avoid if you're serious about carryover
- A special list of exercises that should be completely cut for fighters
- The underlying principles that separate useful S&C from wasted effort
✅ Exercises That Transfer Directly to Fight Performance
These are mainstays in my coaching system. They build the patterns, power, and resilience that fighters need to win exchanges, dominate pace, and stay composed under fire.
Sled Pushes & Pulls
What it builds:
- Explosive leg drive
- Forward force application (clinches, takedowns, pressure)
- Low-soreness conditioning
Why it works:
No eccentric load means you can use it often, even mid-camp, to build work capacity without trashing your legs. It mimics combat pressure and directional drive.
Medicine Ball Throws
What it builds:
- Rotational speed and power
- Core to limb force transfer
- CNS firing under intent
Why it works:
Fighting is rotational. These throws develop power in the same vector and with the same timing used in strikes, clinch breaks, and sprawls.
Trap Bar Deadlifts
What it builds:
- Posterior chain strength
- Grip and brace under load
- Explosive drive from the floor
Why it works:
It’s a hinge, without the spinal load risk of a straight bar. More accessible, more stable, and more useful for athletes who already have high impact skills to train.
Landmine Rotations & Presses
What it builds:
- Core control through rotation
- Shoulder stability in fight positions
- Movement in split stance
Why it works:
Fighters need strength when pivoted, twisted, and off axis. Landmine drills train this in a smart, scalable, shoulder safe way.
Kettlebell Swings
What it builds:
- Hip explosiveness
- Posterior endurance
- Aerobic power
Why it works:
Powerful hips win fights. Swings train that hinge pop pattern fighters use in sprawls, kicks, and level changes, while also spiking the heart rate without over fatiguing.
Reactive Jumps (Depth, Seated, Kneeling)
What they build:
- Rate of force development
- CNS reactivity
- Explosive reversal ability
Why they work:
Fighting is reaction based. These jumps teach your nervous system to load, explode, and redirect, fast. Perfect for scrambles, counters, and sudden level changes.
Use these 1–2x/week early in the session or in contrast sets.
Landmine Cleans & Split Jerk
What it builds:
- Total-body explosive coordination
- Split-stance strength and timing
- Rotational drive through hips and shoulders
Why it works:
This hybrid lift is one of the most fight specific barbell movements I use. It mimics the force pattern of punching off your rear hip, lunging in, or scrambling up off the ground, all under load.
Overrated or Low Transfer Exercises
These aren’t completely useless, but they’re not where most fighters should spend their limited S&C time.
❌ Bicep Curls
- Isolated movement with zero carryover to fight mechanics
- Time better spent on compound pulling or grip work
What to do instead: Rope climbs, chin ups, or iso farmer carries
❌ Leg Extensions
- Shears the knee joint in a non-natural movement
- Doesn’t replicate any actual fight pattern or compound lift
What to do instead: Split squats, sled drags, or step ups
❌ Smith Machine Squats
- Fixed bar path limits hip and ankle mobility
- Removes stabilizer recruitment and natural bar path adaptation
What to do instead: Front squats, landmine squats, or goblet squats with controlled tempo
❌ Long Distance Jogging (as primary conditioning)
- Doesn’t match fight energy systems
- Trains slow twitch dominance and can blunt explosiveness
What to do instead:
- Zone 2 nasal breathing runs (for aerobic base)
- Sprint intervals, threshold bike efforts, or repeat effort circuits
Exercises to Completely Avoid as a Fighter
These are movements I rarely, if ever, use. They offer minimal value and often cause more harm than good.
🚫 Leg Press Machines
- Lock hips in a fixed angle
- Remove stabilizers
- Promote force production in a seated position, not transferable to standing or moving
🚫 Behind the Neck Presses
- Forces the shoulder into a vulnerable, externally rotated position
- High risk of impingement, low payoff
🚫 Crunches & standard Sit Ups
- Overemphasize spinal flexion
- Don’t build bracing strength or anti-rotation capacity
- Often lead to hip flexor dominance and low back issues
What to do instead: Butterfly sit ups, Deadbugs, planks, banded pallof holds, and rotational med ball drills
🚫 Seated Calf Raises (as a primary movement)
- Trains small muscles in a fixed position
- Doesn’t replicate how fighters use their feet explosively or under pressure
What to do instead: Pogo jumps, sprint mechanics, and sled pushes train the calves in a fight specific context
🚫 Barbell Upright Rows
- Internally rotates the shoulder under load
- High risk of shoulder pain with little benefit for fighters
Better choice: Landmine presses or banded face pulls
Principles Before Movements
1. Function Over Aesthetic
You should not be chasing physique goals here. You want to be building performance. Movements are selected based on transfer, not appearance. Aesthetics is a by product.
2. Specific variety
Train the qualities that show up in the ring:
- Speed under fatigue
- Core control under rotation
- Strength in asymmetry and chaos
- Explosiveness in small windows
If the movement doesn’t support that, skip it.
3. Control > Chaos
If you can’t control it slow, it won’t serve you fast. That’s why we slow things down, use tempo, pause at weak points, and sharpen mechanics before loading heavy.
4. Recovery Is Training
A good S&C program doesn’t beat you up as a fighter. It elevates performance and keeps you durable. Low soreness tools like sleds, isometrics, and med ball throws should outnumber slow eccentrics and forced hypertrophy.
Every Rep Should Serve the Fight
You only have so much time, so much energy, and so much capacity to recover.
The best fighters don’t waste it on random exercises, YouTube fads, or bodybuilder fluff. They train with clarity.
Your strength and conditioning should build the stuff that actually shows up when you're in the fight:
- The power to explode when the opening’s there.
- The stability to stay on point when you throw.
- The durability to keep pushing when it gets ugly.
- The energy to dig deep when it really matters.
So before your next session, ask this:
“Does this movement serve my fight, or just my ego?”
Train for the real thing. Build systems, not just pumped pecs and aesthetics.
