There is a trend with many of the programs in the strength & conditioning (S&C) world that I’m starting to see more and more, and that’s of the program that “does it all.”

I think we’ve been around enough by now that there is no “magic program.” (If you’ve been reading my articles, you darn sure ought to know that!) There is no one program that will add 3 inches to your arms in a month, 50 lbs. to your bench press in 6 weeks, or take 4 inches off your waist in 60 days. There just is no such thing.

Well, something I’m seeing more and more of these days is not necessarily the “magic program” (per se), but the program that “does it all.” This program is the one that will take your 1RMs (one repetition maximums) through the roof, greatly increase your muscular conditioning, and give you cardio that will let you work all day long. Well, guess what – if you’re looking for a program that “does it all,” you’re out of luck. There is none of those, either.

Let’s take a look at MMA as a sport for a minute. MMA is a sort of “do it all” type of activity. You have to be able to kick, punch, elbow, knee, take down, wrestle, submit….and know defense to all of the above. And this is just a skill set – this doesn’t take physical capability (i.e. – S&C) into the equation.

Now let’s look at a lot of MMA fighter – especially the successful ones. Given the above listed set of skills, how many guys out there can you say are “great” at all of them? Very few, if any. Why not? Because it’s just too freakin’ much. Many of today’s top fighters started out with one type of training, and got into MMA after that. Mark Coleman, Tito Ortiz, and Randy Couture are examples of wrestlers turned MMA fighters. The entire Gracie clan is examples of grapplers/submission experts turned MMA fighters. Mo Smith, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Chuck Liddell are examples of strikers turned MMA fighters.

Now that there are more complete MMA gyms popping up all over the country, on down the road, we might see fighters that grow to be great in everything, simply because they’ve been training in everything for so long. But, in my humble opinion, that day is a while off.

Successful fighters now are (mainly) one of two types – the ones who aren’t great at everything, but very good. They can get into just about any situation and “hang.” They aren’t the best striker, nor the best wrestler, nor the best at submissions, but they are good enough to hold their own.

Or, you see fighters that are great at one thing, and “good enough” at everything else. They keep the fight at what they’re great at, and while they might not be able to win (necessarily) much with the other elements, they are good enough to keep the fight from going to these other elements so that they can keep it where they want. Chuck Liddell is a perfect example of this. He’s a phenomenal striker, but not necessarily an expert on the ground. But, he has this uncanny ability on the ground to not be kept there – he can find a way to get to his feet, where he is usually the formidable force. Even look at his last three losses (Jardine, Rampage, and his first fight with Randy) – even though he lost, it wasn’t because he was taken to the mat and was “out of his element.” Those fights were lost primarily on his feet (before anything ever went to the ground).

Bottom line is that most fighters aren’t going to be great at everything – they’re either going to be great at one or two things, and good enough at the rest, or very good at everything.

S&C is the same way.

There are a lot of programs out there that are promising to do everything – and that’s a load of BS. No one single program will simultaneously increase your 1RM strength, 1RM power, strength-endurance, power-endurance, cardiovascular conditioning, muscular conditioning, etc. It just ain’t gonna happen. You can, however, do programs that focus on increasing on or two of these things, while doing enough work on the rest to maintain them.

That is how you pick your programs. Determine what your major weak points are – and that doesn’t necessarily mean what your worst S&C qualities are, but what holds your fighting back the most. I’ll be doing another article on this later, but depending on your fighting style, certain elements of S&C, while beneficial, might not give you the most bang for your buck. For example, increased strength/power-endurance and muscular conditioning could have much more profound effects on a grappler’s or wrestler’s game than increased 1RM strength or power. Figure out what you need the most work in for your fighting style, and use a program that helps you bring up that weak point.

I’ve probably said this before, but that is the reason why when I put together “Working Class Fitness – The Programs,” I designed six different programs – each caters to different S&C/athletic needs. It’s not one quasi “all-encompassing” program that supposedly does everything. Do one, bring up those weak points while maintaining everything else. Then pick another to bring up other weak points, while maintaining everything else. Keep rotating this through your different weak points, until all your weak points have been raised, and you are at a higher level overall.

As for these programs (and there are some VERY popular ones out there – I’m not naming any names, but look around – you’ll find them) that promise to make you strong as a powerlifter, as powerful as an Olympic lifter, as fast as a sprinter, etc., well….you know the old saying about “If they say it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.