Training frequency: less is more?

[SumOfmyActions]

2 months training. 2 weeks hiatus. Works wonders.

I agree with this. I am 35 and I do five weeks on and one week off. 6 to 10 sessions of bjj per week with varying levels of intensity. Recovery is key for me so I can rarely afford to further tax myself with weight lifting. I played football all the way through college so I am super familiar with the wieght room, but for the last few years I have been testing to see what my natural optimum functional weight is. My first cpl years of BJJ I was still lifting and it really helped me overwhelm people, but now that I am further along in my journey, it is quite difficult to overwhelm people who are more savvy and skilled. I find that although my weight lifting maxes might be lower than ever, I still feel functionally powerful for BJJ. I occassionally run into a freakishly strong guy who is relentless with pressure, but unless he is more experienced than me, I can usually weather the storm. I have been considering replacing two BJJ sessions with weights from a lifetime health perspective, but not necessarily to improve my BJJ.

 

[SumOfmyActions]

One last note. I highly recommend pullups as a daily routine. I usually do about 100 throughout each day to maintain a baseline level of power.

 

[LLoydIrvinED]

I'm on the side of "more BJJ is better than less BJJ", but weightlifting can certainly help your game. If two people have the same level of technique, the stronger person will have the advantage.

This is a fallacy. The two identically skilled people do not exist. And you will sacrifice skill training for strength training or vice-versa.

 

[GMathewsMMA]

Man, it's great to see some of you guys train like this and not late age hold you back! Very inspiring! I'm 37, and believe it or not, I have been training 7-9x/week for 19 months straight, NO breaks at all. I've only been training for about 27 months total, and when I first started, I was training about 4x/week and was lifting 4x/week. I kept hearing people say "if you wanna get better at grappling, you must train more grappling." So I cut out the lifting and replaced it with more grappling.

I'm really starting to feel it though, as I'm no spring chicken, and have been hovering around 7-8x for the past few months now. One of my goals was to try and keep this pace for 2 years straight, and August 3rd will be that day. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it and it's definitely tricky when you get older, but I'm going to give it my best.

 

[anaconda]

I haven't read through all the comments but here is my take:

It depends on how you define "better." Maybe you are rolling better because you have more energy. And if all you care about is doing well in the gym then yeah - rolling a couple times less per week is "better." But your game will grow stagnant and eventually everyone will figure out what you are doing and you will not progress.

In the big picture, if you want to get better you need to train more. The more you are training the more "bad days" you will have but in the long run you will learn a lot more and be much better than if you trained less.

 

[DiscipleOfPog]

I find I improve the most when I decrease my training frequency after a few months of having an intense training frequency.
For example, if I have a lot of free time over the summer, I may train 6 days a week. By the end of August I feel beat up and plateaued. However, once I start a new semester and am forced to decrease my training back to 3-4 days a week, THEN I feel like I am beginning to improve again, as if the 3 months cram is now settling in and showing itself.

 

[soda_popinski]

The more you train BJJ the better you are going to get. Its really that simple. Sometimes taking a break can help you because you are overtraining your body and mind. I have come back off a week or two break and been better than ever. You need to find that balance. But no way is 2-3 training sessions per week better than 6-8 if your goal is to get better at bjj. I am 34, train 5x per week and lift 1x per week. I could probably do more if I wanted because I run, bike, surf, etc all week too. I take a week off as soon as i feel myself overtraining.

 

[Aprentice]

Less is bore

 

[SquatMoar]

I haven't read through all the comments but here is my take:

It depends on how you define "better." Maybe you are rolling better because you have more energy. And if all you care about is doing well in the gym then yeah - rolling a couple times less per week is "better."

But in the big picture, if you want to get better you need to train more. The mroe you are training the mroe "bad days you will have but in the long run you will learn a lot more and be much better than if you trained less.

I could not agree more with this

 

[genkisudo69]

I haven't read through all the comments but here is my take:

It depends on how you define "better." Maybe you are rolling better because you have more energy. And if all you care about is doing well in the gym then yeah - rolling a couple times less per week is "better." But your game will grow stagnant and eventually everyone will figure out what you are doing and you will not progress.

In the big picture, if you want to get better you need to train more. The more you are training the more "bad days" you will have but in the long run you will learn a lot more and be much better than if you trained less.

I believe this is the right answer

 

[trianglegrrl]

2 months training. 2 weeks hiatus. Works wonders.

Something like this. Seriously, the breaks seem to be when my technical skill advances. 42-year-old brown belt.

 

[Luke Leasure]

I understand what your saying, but i think the way you are saying it is incorrect.

Obviously more training will lead to quicker improvement, but if your getting burned out, sometimes taking time away can reinvigorate your passion for training.

There have also been points for me where i've taken time off of training (short amounts) and i've come back and things have meshed really well. This is due to a fresh perspective though, not due to less training.

 

[Dirty Holt]

I'm on the side of "more BJJ is better than less BJJ", but weightlifting can certainly help your game. If two people have the same level of technique, the stronger person will have the advantage.

I would disagree. I would take speed over strength any day. I would also take a large flexibility advantage over a small strength advantage. A significant conditioning advantage will also negate a strength advantage in many cases.

 

[ElKarlo]

I would disagree. I would take speed over strength any day. I would also take a large flexibility advantage over a small strength advantage. A significant conditioning advantage will also negate a strength advantage in many cases.

I'm pretty strong for my weight and I'd say cardio is far more important than strength.

 

[claytongray]

I would disagree. I would take speed over strength any day. I would also take a large flexibility advantage over a small strength advantage. A significant conditioning advantage will also negate a strength advantage in many cases.

I agree with all of that. We were just discussing strength, and in a vacuum, more strength is better than less.

 

[JohnSouth]

Thread is a little old but I'm having same experience.

My problem is being older and having good motor skills I don't need half as much repetition as others but my body can't take the same beatings.

So I started training like 2 or 3 times a week instead of 5 or 6 and I'm getting better. Every time I take a couple days off people comment on my progress, when I train every day I'm like an old man with no cardio and poor mobility. Only problem is my coach seems pissed off because he has the old school mentality that it's just repetition but I think that discounts innate ability and physiological differences.

Do you think you will play piano like Mozart if you practice more? He never practiced much so good luck. Some people are just better and that is not a popular viewpoint in BJJ. To me, I either have it or I don't so there is no point killing myself. Some people coming every day started same time but I can beat them and have a bigger game. Show me the technique a couple times or watch it on youtube and I'll use it in sparring. People always ask me about some technique and I say "YouTube".

Not to mention I am very strong from lifting weights all my life and follow a bodybuilding paradigm of letting damage repair.

What this boils down to is "I like your progress but you need a kick in the ass".

Naturally I'm stubborn and realize I'll never succeed by outworking people half my age, I have to use my strengths.

 

[Dirty Holt]

Thread is a little old but I'm having same experience.

My problem is being older and having good motor skills I don't need half as much repetition as others but my body can't take the same beatings.

So I started training like 2 or 3 times a week instead of 5 or 6 and I'm getting better. Every time I take a couple days off people comment on my progress, when I train every day I'm like an old man with no cardio and poor mobility. Only problem is my coach seems pissed off because he has the old school mentality that it's just repetition but I think that discounts innate ability and physiological differences.

Do you think you will play piano like Mozart if you practice more? He never practiced much so good luck. Some people are just better and that is not a popular viewpoint in BJJ. To me, I either have it or I don't so there is no point killing myself. Some people coming every day started same time but I can beat them and have a bigger game. Show me the technique a couple times or watch it on youtube and I'll use it in sparring. People always ask me about some technique and I say "YouTube".

Not to mention I am very strong from lifting weights all my life and follow a bodybuilding paradigm of letting damage repair.

What this boils down to is "I like your progress but you need a kick in the ass".

Naturally I'm stubborn and realize I'll never succeed by outworking people half my age, I have to use my strengths.

Are you claiming to be a grappling savant of some sort? Mozart was trained by a composer and around music composition since his birth (his dad was a composer.) Further, his entire childhood was spent composing,

Now, you are a 30 year old blue belt. Just like Mozart, I see kids get put in the same situation in the grappling world, and it is drastically different from yours. Even though they might not be formally practicing, engaging in grappling for many hours a day for their entire childhood while their brain's plasticity is at its highest gives them a level of competence that a 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week for a few hours could never, ever attain.

More time training makes better grapplers. Period. Because you can beat other local training partners who spend more time at practice than you do only means that at this point in time, your best is better than their best. Who is getting closer to their potential: The 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week, or the 21 year old blue belt who is training 8 times a week?

 

[JohnSouth]

Are you claiming to be a grappling savant of some sort? Mozart was trained by a composer and around music composition since his birth (his dad was a composer.) Further, his entire childhood was spent composing,

Now, you are a 30 year old blue belt. Just like Mozart, I see kids get put in the same situation in the grappling world, and it is drastically different from yours. Even though they might not be formally practicing, engaging in grappling for many hours a day for their entire childhood while their brain's plasticity is at its highest gives them a level of competence that a 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week for a few hours could never, ever attain.

More time training makes better grapplers. Period. Because you can beat other local training partners who spend more time at practice than you do only means that at this point in time, your best is better than their best. Who is getting closer to their potential: The 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week, or the 21 year old blue belt who is training 8 times a week?

Composing in his mind AWAY from the keyboard, yes. 8 hours a day wiggling his fingers and getting injured permanently like Robert Schumann who was a middling pianist? Not a chance.

Glenn Gould often when months without touching a keyboard until it was time to record, then he learned everything from sheet music without the keyboard. He didn't understand why pianists felt they needed to practice all day.

I can't answer those other questions, I only see what's working for me.

It doesn't really matter how long you been practicing, you max out pretty quick on potential anyway. I think most people in this sport are destroying their bodies for nothing.

That 21 year old will be physically wrecked by 30 due to byzantine training methods so it's irrelevant. OTOH I'll be 50 still in the game and accomplish other things.

Life ain't a sprint, it's a marathon.

 

[SquatMoar]

Are you claiming to be a grappling savant of some sort? Mozart was trained by a composer and around music composition since his birth (his dad was a composer.) Further, his entire childhood was spent composing,

Now, you are a 30 year old blue belt. Just like Mozart, I see kids get put in the same situation in the grappling world, and it is drastically different from yours. Even though they might not be formally practicing, engaging in grappling for many hours a day for their entire childhood while their brain's plasticity is at its highest gives them a level of competence that a 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week for a few hours could never, ever attain.

More time training makes better grapplers. Period. Because you can beat other local training partners who spend more time at practice than you do only means that at this point in time, your best is better than their best. Who is getting closer to their potential: The 30 year old blue belt who trains 3x a week, or the 21 year old blue belt who is training 8 times a week?

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I'm a big fan of most of your posts.

I'm 34 and train between 12 and 18 sessions a week. My body breaks down as the week goes on and by Friday and Saturday sometimes in training I am getting beat by bigger/younger guys that I am better than but at that moment I "lose" a roll. I have to agree that in the long term getting better is largely determined by how much you train.

 

[magick]

For me, dropping the frequency and picking up some weights has created a noticeable improvement. I wasn't necessarily "breaking down so badly" - more like the extra rest has added a zip in my step so I'm hitting stuff much more crisply and have the energy to finish things I previously couldn't. I'm also able to work new techniques more because I can deal with the extra energy a new technique necessarily requires (given it will most likely be inefficient at first).

No, what means is that your GPP (general physical preparedness) wasn't good enough for the sports training you're doing.

Lifting improved your GPP. Therefore you do better in BJJ.

The issue I see with a lot of sports guys is that they completely ignore the fact that many people are out of shape skinny-fat guys who can't shrimp or hold a bridge for anymore than 5 seconds. For these people a basic strength program along with sports work 3+ times a week is great and preferable.

But when it comes to combat sports, the more the better. If you can handle training everyday and you want to seriously improve, then you should train everyday.

Combat sport is quite a bit about memorizing and internalizing the movements. The more you practice the movements, the better you'll get at it.