BJJ + Muay Thai! Does it slow down BJJ progress?

[SAMURAI SPIRIT]

I train BJJ 2-3 times / week and I am thinking of signing up for 2 more classes. Wondering if I should sign up for Muay Thai or if I should just increase my BJJ 5 times a week. I remember someone here once saying 3-4 days is the optimum for bjj and adding a day or two does not make you learn faster. Adding supplemental training like weights /Muay Thai/running or any other form of cardio gives you a new level of endurance / conditioning which translates better into BJJ than just more BJJ. Then there are those who say BJJ progress is all about mat time. You train BJJ 3 times a week and you will progress @ half the speed of someone doing 6 times a week. Who is right? Those of you who do Muay Thai with your BJJ, do you guys feel you will progress faster in BJJ if you only did BJJ?

 

[Mikey Triangles]

obviously if you do less bjj you will likely not learn as much in the same time frame, but if you want to learn muay thai do it. or do both 4 days a week, take the other 3 days off.

 

[Guerilla_Radio]

I train BJJ 2-3 times / week and I am thinking of signing up for 2 more classes. Wondering if I should sign up for Muay Thai or if I should just increase my BJJ 5 times a week. I remember someone here once saying 3-4 days is the optimum for bjj and adding a day or two does not make you learn faster. Adding supplemental training like weights /Muay Thai/running or any other form of cardio gives you a new level of endurance / conditioning which translates better into BJJ than just more BJJ. Then there are those who say BJJ progress is all about mat time. You train BJJ 3 times a week and you will progress @ half the speed of someone doing 6 times a week. Who is right? Those of you who do Muay Thai with your BJJ, do you guys feel you will progress faster in BJJ if you only did BJJ?

I do 3-4times of week of bjj followed by 1 day of MMA training; in between I do conditioning (stregenth/cardio).

 

[Boneovski]

I train BJJ 2-3 times / week and I am thinking of signing up for 2 more classes. Wondering if I should sign up for Muay Thai or if I should just increase my BJJ 5 times a week. I remember someone here once saying 3-4 days is the optimum for bjj and adding a day or two does not make you learn faster. Adding supplemental training like weights /Muay Thai/running or any other form of cardio gives you a new level of endurance / conditioning which translates better into BJJ than just more BJJ. Then there are those who say BJJ progress is all about mat time. You train BJJ 3 times a week and you will progress @ half the speed of someone doing 6 times a week. Who is right? Those of you who do Muay Thai with your BJJ, do you guys feel you will progress faster in BJJ if you only did BJJ?

I guess my first question would be - what are you learning Muay Thai for? Is it just to supplement your fitness for grappling / have an interest in the art / looking to do mma one day?

If its to get fitter for BJJ i wouldn't bother at all.. those additional BJJ classes would help you far more.

If you have an interest in the art then go for it, you only live once so do whatever makes you happy.

If your looking to do MMA possibly at some point then its a great idea, the learning curve should be a little more shallow if you do some standup.


I'd probably agree that 3-4 days is a good figure for constant improvement, leaves you some gas left in the weekly tank for additional work (S&C ect.) But it depends on what your class is like (duration, intensity ect) for example mine are 2 - 2 1/2 hours long and have lots of spirited rolling with some skilled boys. For myself i feel 3-4 of those is enough and i don't think my body could handle 6 sessions. If your sessions are 1 hour long with 15 mins of rolling at the end then i certainly think 6 would be fine.

as for the

Those of you who do Muay Thai with your BJJ, do you guys feel you will progress faster in BJJ if you only did BJJ?

By progression i assume we are referring to skill progression, in which case.. yes. Yes you would progress faster technically focusing your efforts on BJJ than splitting between the two. Though as i mentioned above, if your looking for muay thai to improve your grappling then its a poor idea - judo on the other hand.. :wink:

 

[a dead stick]

FWIW muay thai will help your explosiveness overall, but especially in terms of hip movement, the better you get at whipping that muay thai round kick the more you will notice it on the ground and yes it will help your cardio overall as well.

I don't think it would harm your bjj progression at all provided you kept up the same amount of time.

Its grueling but I like doing both in the same night, personally. :icon_twis

 

[Spazzmaster]

If you want to progress faster at BJJ, train more BJJ

It amazes me that so many people can't grasp this simple concept

No one ever thinks taking fewer Muay Thai classes to do BJJ will somehow improve their MT

So why do people constantly wonder if training less BJJ will help their BJJ?

 

[Goat Meal]

Basically, yeah, your progress will slow if you do less BJJ. That being said, if you took up MMA once or twice a week on top of BJJ I think your progress is grappling would stay consistent because obviously MMA has a lot of ground fighting involved.

Depends on your goals. If you want to improve your overall self-defense, don't hesitate to add MT. If you want to be a better grappler, stick with BJJ.

 

[zemanjaski]

if you want to progress faster at bjj, train more bjj

it amazes me that so many people can't grasp this simple concept

no one ever thinks taking fewer muay thai classes to do bjj will somehow improve their mt

so why do people constantly wonder if training less bjj will help their bjj?

+1.