With advanced exercises geared towards Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, this High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) routine will challenge the aerobic and anaerobic threshold of even the most hardcore fighter.

Though this HIIT MMA workout routine for endurance is not for the beginner, as many of its exercises require a high level of base strength, its moves can be modified to make them easier. For those of you who want even more of a challenge, the exercises also can be modified to become even harder.

With this HIIT routine we will be using a Tabata style 2:1 work to rest ratio of 20-seconds of work followed by 10-seconds of rest/prep for the next exercise. This routine moves very fast and it often takes your whole ten-second break to transition from one exercise to the next.

We suggest starting out with a 15 to 20 minute round of warm up cardio. This can be anything from a brisk walk for beginners all the way up to medium or high intensity cardio intervals for the more advanced fighters. Once your warm up is done we will start with the first round of the Tabata HIIT routine. Try to set up and get ready to start as quickly as you can after finishing your cardio warm up.

There are a total of four groups of three exercises each that we will be going though. Each group will last three minutes, meaning you will go through the group of three exercises twice. You will have 45 seconds of rest between groups (take more if you need to, just hit the pause button) before starting the next group. This time will be used to set up for the next round of three exercises and what is left over should be used for an “active rest” walking, or jogging in place -whatever you do don’t sit down or stop moving.

Once you have completed all four groups we will start over and run through all four a second time just like the first round. Once done with the second round we suggest adding a light cardio cool down of 5-10 minutes, especially if you are trying to lose fat weight. You will have only small amounts of carbohydrate left in your system so you will feel very tired but this is when you will burn the most fat content as your body will have to switch over to burning fat content to continue doing physical activity.

As mentioned above, each group has three exercises and we have picked each exercise to tax the system in a way that mimics that of the energy and motions used in an MMA training and competition.

Group 1
High Lateral Hops
Plank Jacks
Jumping Lunges

Group 2
Explosion Push Ups
Turkish Get Up
Single Leg Ventral Hops

Group 3
Medicine Ball Jack Knife Crunch
Windshield Wipers
Ball Back Extensions

Group 4
Hanging Leg Raises
Side Push Up
Jump Turns

Calories Burned
This HIIT workout is pretty rough, but it’s worth it in terms of quickly improving your cardiovascular threshold and burning calories; you can burn between 12 and 17 calories a minute. If you do the whole workout, that’s a total of 360-510 in just 30 minutes. That’s not even considering the elevated rate of calories that you will burn throughout the next 24-48 hours as your metabolism is still reeling and trying to recover.

Questions? Speak up below. Do you fight or just like to train like a MMA fighter?