Effective ground and pound is an essential part of the skill set required by mixed martial artists who are serious about being the best as well as for the average person who may need it in the street. In MMA, ground and pound refers to when your open is on the ground and you get on top of them and pummel them with all you’ve got in an effort to finish the fight.
Grounding your opponent is often a great feat just by it’s self, however it is an opportunity you cannot waste to end the situation and come out the victor. Giving your attacker or competitor the chance to fight back or get to their feet can quickly turn the fight back in their favor. So when the window of opportunity is open to ground and pound your opponent you must give it all you have.
Interestingly enough, for how important good ground and pound is, it is something that receives very little attention in most martial arts classes. No wonder it is sometimes almost embarrassing to watch how pathetically weakly some of the contestants in the UFC flail on their grounded opponents. In fact is often looks less effective than two school girls playing patty cake. So how can you improve your ground and pound, do some serious damage and save your reputation on camera?

1. Weight Training

Build up strength specifically for dropping big bombs on your competitors by using weight and resistance training.  Use cables and resistance cords to practice downward strikes including punches and hammer fists.  Also another fantastic piece of MMA training equipment is The Burn Machine which has been used by the likes of Brock Lesner and Anderson Silva.

1. Get A Sparring Partner

If your instructors do not allow you enough time to work on your ground and pound in class then sign up for private lessons or train at home with a sparring partner. This will add the realism and difficulty of working a live target that moves and hits back.

1. Get A Grappling Dummy

Now you can easily and cheaply invest in your own grappling dummies like you see the UFC contestants train with on The Ultimate Fighter. There are a number of sources online where you can find deals on them. Then even if your training partner doesn’t show you can work on improving your ground and pound anyway. Use heavy mma gloves during training to add weight and make it more difficult. However make sure to try all possible combinations of hand and elbow strikes so you are ready to take advantage of any opening.