Beginner strength training questions

[Agully]

I just read an article saying it's not a good idea to do strength training as a beginner,so question is does training for size(muscle mass) have any benefits other than looks? In other words,will putting on muscle mass benefit me in any significant way as far as strength goes or is it just useless weight that's going to slow punches down in boxing and such??

[Packard]

Conventional wisdom in boxing is that weight lifting will slow down hand speed. I don't know of any actual studies that would confirm this.

thinking is that if you continue to work your hand speed training (speed bag, heavy bag, etc.) that there will be no or negliable loss of hand speed. (I have nothing other than personal experience to back this up either.)

Certainly the mixed martial arts practitioners do lift weight. Some are quite massive.

I would lift with weights that I could do 8 to 10 reps with. I would continue with the push-ups and the speed bag and heavy bag. And I would watch weight class. The added muscle weight may make getting to weight class weight difficult, and going up in weight class will put you up against more powerful opponents.

[meli13d]

I do cardio kickboxing about 4 times a week and was wondering if I would need additional strength training and if I do on what days? In between classes every other day? But then wouldn't I need to "rest" muscles or is one day enough rest a week? During the class we do a lot of lunges, situps, pushups as well and these count as strength traning. I just don't want to overtrain and not reap the benefits of a proper workout! Sorry for all the newbie questions... haha

I heard it was not a good idea to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row, that I should focus on upper body one day, bottom the other etc. But if I am working on all these during kickboxing what would I work on the next day during workout? any help is appreciated!!!!!

[swanso5]

can be atricky one boxers, mma etc as you do train very frequently so you need to focus on the big movements only for strtength, as you're in wt classes i suspect

that means deads or squats but probably a single leg exercise for kickboxers, bench variation, a chin up/pull up variation and a row variation each session

3 sets of 6 each short and sweet 2 - 3 a week but probably 5 times every 2 weeks might fit better

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[Packard]

Boxers have disdained weight training for as long as I know. They feel that it slows the hand speed.

Mixed martial artists do lift weights and do other crazy exercises (like coin-flipping truck tires). I think heavy lifts for reps that leave you winded are the best for MMA.

For example, power cleans. Sets of 10 would leave you winded and give you a solid leg/back workout at the same time.