UFC's Brad Tavares Strength Training Workout

Brad Tavares is a UFC Middleweight from Hilo, Hawaii who came into the UFC after being on the Ultimate Fighter Season 11. Tavares made a name for himself by fighting his way to the semi-finals before being signed to the UFC.

Brad has since fought UFC veterans such as Phil Baroni, Tim Boetsch, Yoel Romero, and Lorenz Larkin. One of Brad’s biggest wins to date is a victory over Nate Marquardt. He currently trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada and does his strength work with Ian Omalza.

The Workout

This isn’t your stereotypical bodybuilding workout of 5 sets of 10 reps. This strength training program is designed to develop explosiveness while increasing your pound-for-pound strength. Both are key requirements to being successful in the octagon.

Brad trains 2 strength sessions and one conditioning session a week. Clean & squats is one of Brad’s favorite exercises to develop explosive power & strength. He starts his training session with a dynamic warm up consisting of inchworms, lunge & twists, toe touches, and 1000m row before moving on to the form sets.

During the form sets he breaks down the movement of the clean & squat. These sets are strictly for form and are done with lighter weight. The form sets also function as an additional warm up prior to the work sets. In between each movement Brad supersets the movement it with 5 bodyweight pull ups.

After the form sets Brad will move into the core of the training. He’ll start off with 2-3 sets of 5 reps of Clean & Squat before increasing weight into lower rep sets. In between each lift he’ll do 5 bodyweight pull ups. Next he’ll finish the training with ab work. Two of his favorite ab exercises are hanging toe to bar touches and a weighted side plank with dips.

Print out this training session and try it out for yourself. Then tell us how it goes by tweeting @athorganics and @bradtavares.

1. WARM UP

• Inch Worms
• Lunge & Twist
• Toe Touches
• 1000m Row for Time

2. Form Sets

• RDL x 10
• Pull Ups x 5

• Explosive Shrug x 10
• Pull Ups x 5

• High Pull x 10
• Pull Ups x 5

• Hang Cleans x 10
• Pull Ups x 5

• Front Squat x 10
• Pull Ups x 5

2. Work Sets

• Clean & Squat 2-3 sets @ 5 then lower to 3/2/1
• Super Set Pull Ups x 5

3. Ab Work

• Toes to Bar Hanging 3x10
• Side Plank w/ Dips @ 45lb 3x20