The world of mixed martial arts is a strange one in its position of sports. MMA requires a wide variety of different training, including strength and conditioning, being a rather important step in the process to becoming a modern day elite martial artist. Today, we’ll be taking a look at five barbell movements that are excellent for building explosive strength.

1.      Back Squat

Ah, the old classic. The phrase, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”, really applies in this situation. The barbell squat has been around for quite some time in the fitness community, but is a stable for a lot of reasons, the main reason being it is amazing for building strength.

However, to get the full effect of the back squat, make sure your depth in the squat is at least parallel with your knees. Many stop before this spot, limiting the growth you’ll see in your explosiveness from the exercise.

2.      Deadlift

Another OG in the fitness community, the deadlift is the “base” for many of the other lifts you’ll see on this list. It will improve your lower body and back strength, as well as even working your core. Engaging your core is important for all lifts, which is something to keep in mind on this lift.

Again, despite this being a simple lift, it is still done wrong quite often. Make sure to keep your core tight, back straight, and have everything lock at the top all at once, and you should have a pretty successful deadlift.

3.      Power Clean

The power clean is a step up in terms of advancement from the deadlift. It is also a much more explosive movement, having to now engage your hips into performing the exercise. When going up in weight as well, you’ll find yourself performing a partial, or even full front squat as well to complete the movement.

4.      Snatch

The snatch, as all of these lifts, can have many different variants, so its important to mix it up as well to improve your strength and overall explosiveness, especially with the snatch. The snatch however, will always consist of throwing the bar overhead from the ground, which engages not only parts such as your hips, but also requires a good balance to keep the bar straight as your arms are fully extended with the bar overhead.

5.      Jerk/Push Press

The Jerk is simply pushing the bar overhead from a position usually either from the rack itself, or from performing a previous movement, such as a power clean. This is really the final component on this list to hit for your total body with a barbell. These lifts will increase your explosiveness and strength.

If you have little or no compound lifts in your program currently, include these 5 barbell exercises and you’ll see fast results in just a few weeks.

Links to Picture References:

http://www.snoridgecrossfit.com/back-squat-4-4-4-4-4-ft-rows-back-squats-and-lateral-burpee-over-barbell/
 
https://www.advancedhumanperformance.com/the-best-way-to-deadlift-squat-stance-deadlift/
 
https://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-tips/how-power-clean
 
http://www.tabatatimes.com/why-we-snatch/
 
https://wodstar.com/movements/push-jerk/