For those of you who used to lift

[J Storm**]

did you stop once you started grappling?

back at school i would lift at least 3 times a week, but when i started my job that turned into once a week, then more recently once every 2 weeks. now that i've started taking bjj again consistently i haven't hit the weights at all.

has anyone else nixed weights completely? have you found that your "strength" relatively remains the same since you are exerting yourself when rolling and etc? i really should try to go at least once a week again, but time is a scarce commodity.

 

[Elliotedge]

I did that for a bit, about 6 months. Personally, I turn in to a bean pole if I stop lifting, but many people at my academy have stopped lifting and claim to have lost no functional strength. For strictly BJJ, strength should be less important.

 

[Zankou]

I quit. I find it's too hard on my joints to lift and do BJJ at the same time. I do zero lifting now. I've definitely lost max strength, but I don't miss it at all.

 

[Sherdog_Mutt]

I lifted consistently for about 7 years. Once I started BJJ, I stopped lifting almost completely. I have lost a bit of my bulk (arms seem a lot skinnier) however I haven't lost as much functional strength as I thought I would. The few times that I've made it back into the weight room I'm lifting at about 90% of my peak.

 

[Rayrobinson#1]

No I keep lifting and primarily powerlifiting. Although lifting is also because I also do amatuer sumo wrestling. I think lifting helps my style. I think it is common though. I imagine a guy like Jeff Monzon uses strength training to help his strategic way of grappling.

 

[Elliotedge]

I find that there is a psychological component to combining lifting with BJJ. I personally feel more mentally tough when im combining lifting and bjj. I know that you can build mental toughness other ways, but for me it feels better to lift.

 

[Mike O'Neil]

I train 3 days a week and lift plus do cardio 3days with one day off. I have been doing this for about 2.5years now. If your a healthy person there is no reason you cant find balance. Try different things and see what works best for you

 

[DogTag]

I go to a kick boxing club a BJJ club I roll no gi with some amy fighters 2 times a week and lift 4 times a week... All that and I have a job an Im not falling apart.

 

[Deloitte]

I've lowered it to 3 days a week, it's very doable. I also find it very useful in BJJ, especially squats (front/back).

 

[J Storm**]

when i was lifting once a week, i would basically only do 2 exercises.

1. overhead press/pushpress/splitjerk - heavy sets of 1-2 reps

2. back squat - heavy sets of 1-2 reps

then i'd do some pullups or dips once in a while.

when i used to lift body building style (oh those foolish days), i wouldn't even dream of missing one day for fear of losing any strength gains.

oddly enough, when i did the once a week thing, i actually got stronger. i think it's b/c i get free breakfast and lunch at work and i chow down.

 

[Shemhazai]

While I'm fairly new to grappling, I don't think I'll ever give up on lifting. I just love it too much, and I'd like to think that it makes me less injury-prone.

 

[DogTag]

if you do hit the gym make sure you hit the essentials Deadlifts, squats, benchpress, powercleans, and dips.

 

[Zankou]

I think it depends on the individual person how beneficial it is. My build is hard gainer, hard loser. I can do nothing, for months, and barely lose any strength. I can lift my ass off, and barely gain any strength. The only thing that has ever worked well for me in terms of strength gains is going huge with squats. But my leg strength is already so high that I have no interest in adding more. And I don't want to add more weight overall. So really I just don't feel I get much benefit from lifting. Combine that with the fact that my joints are always strained and hurting from BJJ, and I don't like to put any more stress on them than they are already under.

If your strength varies more, however, and you recover faster, then it's probably a better choice for you. Obviously a lot of people have no problems doing both.

 

[Rayrobinson#1]

when i was lifting once a week, i would basically only do 2 exercises.



oddly enough, when i did the once a week thing, i actually got stronger. i think it's b/c i get free breakfast and lunch at work and i chow down.

When you do very heavy lifting it takes 7 to 10 days for your body to fully recuperate.

I always wanted to bench press 400 lbs. I had a guy who knows alot about lifting put me on a program in which I basically only did 3 sets of 5 work sets 1 time a week. In less than six months my bench went to all time high and I nearly hit 400. Then I found grappling and stopped caring too much about bench press.

 

[Elliotedge]

if you do hit the gym make sure you hit the essentials Deadlifts, squats, benchpress, powercleans, and dips.

That routine isn't very appropriate for someone who is short on time, and training for BJJ specifically.
The deads and sqauts are key for sure. But bench press, powercleans and dips are second to heavy pulling movements like chins and rows if BJJ is your sport.

 

[Deloitte]

That routine isn't very appropriate for someone who is short on time, and training for BJJ specifically.
The deads and sqauts are key for sure. But bench press, powercleans and dips are second to heavy pulling movements like chins and rows if BJJ is your sport.

I'd take our powercleans and dips, add in rows and pulls. I wouldn't take out bench press though. I'd narrow the grip slightly, as it is a great pushing exercise, which is essential to good defense in BJJ/Grappling.

 

[Elliotedge]

I can't think of a single technique with proper form, that requires explosive pushing with arms. Upa escape is (or should be) mostly hips. And in most other positions, pushing straight up and extending your arms rewards you with an armbar.

Not saying bench isnt a good excersise, just saying that a BJJ specific weight training program that is short on time, wouldnt consider it essential.

 

[Deloitte]

I can't think of a single technique with proper form, that requires explosive pushing with arms. Upa escape is (or should be) mostly hips. And in most other positions, pushing straight up and extending your arms rewards you with an armbar.

Not saying bench isnt a good excersise, just saying that a BJJ specific weight training program that is short on time, wouldnt consider it essential.

There are many examples of the use of good pushing muscles, including a powerful shrimp away from a guard pass which is a combination of all muscles. You will also notice you need some pushing muscles to keep good posture, if he sits up in no-gi for a hip bump, kimura, guillotine or breaks your posture you will have to regain posture. You will notice that you need good pushing muscles to defend a single leg (Stuff the head down during single). Do not neglect any muscle part, you will feel most mobile/strong with a proportional build.

 

[Elliotedge]

Yeah, I guess so. But I maintain that many of those movements are related to hip strength as much as they are chest/shoulder strength.

 

[Zankou]

There are many examples of the use of good pushing muscles, including a powerful shrimp away from a guard pass which is a combination of all muscles. You will also notice you need some pushing muscles to keep good posture, if he sits up in no-gi for a hip bump, kimura, guillotine or breaks your posture you will have to regain posture. You will notice that you need good pushing muscles to defend a single leg (Stuff the head down during single). Do not neglect any muscle part, you will feel most mobile/strong with a proportional build.

I'm not sure how much I'd agree with that ... if you do all of these things with proper technical form, they require almost no pushing strength. When you shrimp, you usually want to either place a brace of your elbows, without pushing, or a straightarm against the hip. If the person sits up in no-gi, we are taught to just clamp around his body and drive him back down, no arm strength. Single leg is closest, but even there you usually want to straight arm the guy, rather than using pushing muscles.

I read somewhere that Alberto Crane's physical trainer found that he had tremendous pulling strength, but that his pushing strength was terrible because it is so underutilized in BJJ. So for MMA, the main thing they worked on was to try to develop pushing strength. Myself, I just about never use pushing strength. I just brace and use my hips instead.