Strengh & Conditioning for BJJ

[tf]

The first installment of a new column starting up on InsideBJJ is available. The column is written by S&C coach Leo Morton. Leo has coached BJJ athletes Robert Drysdale and Abmar Barbosa.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Strength & Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu by Leo Morton : Inside BJJ

 

[JRT6]

I'll withhold judgement until the actual workouts are submitted.

 

[CAnklerank]

Interesting piece.

Conditioning1 = Prowler 10mins followed by fifteen minute workblock *2
Conditioning2 = C2 Rower 250 * 10 intervals with 1 min rest *2
Conditioning3 = Spider Drill followed by fifteen minute workblock *2

Strength1 = Back & legs push/pull
Strength2 = Chest & shoulders push/pull

BJJ1 = Technique
BJJ2 = Drilling
BJJ3 = RollingA (with less experienced, not at 100%)
BJJ4 = RollingB (competitive, at 100%)

* Plenty of mobility and stability work as part of warmups and cooldowns.

Simples

Invariably ordinary people dont have time for all of this so one C, one S and as much mat time per week will still lead to gains.

 

[tf]

Thanks guys. It's a new series and Leo is donating his time. I'm really appreciative of any advice in the S&C area as it pertains to BJJ - especially coming from an experienced coach.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

wow. this actually looks somewhat decent. as far as i'm concerned, the whole 'just rolling' for your s/c doesn't carry you past purple belt for 99% of the population.

 

[Luther]

a quick and dirty method for assessing your current attributes and determining where your immediate focus should be

Really looking forward the next installments. Be sure to link them in this thread too, so we can follow.

 

[cooltoon999]

It's brazilian jiujitsu, you shouldn't need S&C.

Marcelo Garcia doesn't do it, and he's Marcelo Garcia.

 

[DevinTheDewd]

It's brazilian jiujitsu, you shouldn't need S&C.

Marcelo Garcia doesn't do it, and he's Marcelo Garcia.

Shouldn't need S&C? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There is a reason why pretty much every professional athlete does strength and conditioning and that reason is IT WORKS. If Marcelo were to apply it in some fashion to his routine he would be whooping even more ass. Jiu Jitsu is in its infancy and there are a lot of non-athletes who have become involved in the sport that dont actually understand what it takes to become elite at any sport.

 

[wOg]

Shouldn't need S&C? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There is a reason why pretty much every professional athlete does strength and conditioning and that reason is IT WORKS. If Marcelo were to apply it in some fashion to his routine he would be whooping even more ass. Jiu Jitsu is in its infancy and there are a lot of non-athletes who have become involved in the sport that dont actually understand what it takes to become elite at any sport.

It's also true that a lot of the S&C people coming into BJJ are relatively new, as well. I'm seeing a lot of biases and misconceptions from other sports creep into the growing field of BJJ conditioning.

It will still be a few years before we have anything really definitive about the kind of conditioning that is optimal for BJJ.

 

[tf]

Agreed. BJJ is still relatively new on a broad scale. S&C coaches run the spectrum from quacks to real deal scientists. I think Leo will contribute some positive information and help some folks -- especially those with no access to a coach.

 

[fiftysvn]

Shouldn't need S&C? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There is a reason why pretty much every professional athlete does strength and conditioning and that reason is IT WORKS. If Marcelo were to apply it in some fashion to his routine he would be whooping even more ass. Jiu Jitsu is in its infancy and there are a lot of non-athletes who have become involved in the sport that dont actually understand what it takes to become elite at any sport.

Completely agree. Mat time is obviously a crucial component in improving your jiu jitsu, but I fail to see how working to improve your strength and conditioning can do anything but help your game.

Maybe for the average competitor, who might be a student or has a full time job and thus has limited time constraints, he might be limited to either choosing between being on the mats or S&C. I'm guessing that most individuals with limited time constraints would probably choose to be on the mats, which is reasonable.

But assuming that a top level competitor has more time than your average person to train, it's silly to think that S&C training is irrelevant to his improvement. It seems like bjj is one of the few sports where players look down or find S&C training to be unimportant.

In wrestling, mma, football and basically every other sport out there, the athletes in those sports take their S&C just as seriously as their technique training. Yes, I'm sure there are many bjj players who have found success with little focus on their S&C, but I believe S&C can only help to make them better than they already are and all else being equal, it can make the difference between winning and losing.

 

[pretzelguard]

i recently started doing s and c classes. it hasnt improved my strength as such but my cardio has gone up significantly. im sure most top level bjj artists do have some sort of routine for their game. pull ups with gi, kettlebells, balance training, yoga etc

 

[MMAR15]

Shouldn't need S&C? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There is a reason why pretty much every professional athlete does strength and conditioning and that reason is IT WORKS. If Marcelo were to apply it in some fashion to his routine he would be whooping even more ass. Jiu Jitsu is in its infancy and there are a lot of non-athletes who have become involved in the sport that dont actually understand what it takes to become elite at any sport.

Yup, pretty much. Just look at how much further Tiger Woods started hitting the ball when he started S&C training after a few years in the PGA.

Good athletes can become great athletes with proper S&C.

 

[MMAR15]

Also wanted to add that I think the best type of training for BJJ is anything that incorporates "Tabata" training.

 

[mtruitt76]

Shouldn't need S&C? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There is a reason why pretty much every professional athlete does strength and conditioning and that reason is IT WORKS. If Marcelo were to apply it in some fashion to his routine he would be whooping even more ass. Jiu Jitsu is in its infancy and there are a lot of non-athletes who have become involved in the sport that dont actually understand what it takes to become elite at any sport.

QFT. The only problem with S&C in BJJ right now is the lack of professional S&C coaches involved in the sport. I believe this will change in the future. If I am not mistaken I believe some of the Lolyd Irvin schools are being to incorporate S&C programs in their training. Personally I would love to have a routine for S&C developed by a professional.

 

[DevinTheDewd]

QFT. The only problem with S&C in BJJ right now is the lack of professional S&C coaches involved in the sport. I believe this will change in the future. If I am not mistaken I believe some of the Lolyd Irvin schools are being to incorporate S&C programs in their training. Personally I would love to have a routine for S&C developed by a professional.

Yea. Lloyd Irving is a perfect example. The problem is running a Gym like Lloyd Irving does seems to scare off anyone who isn't serious about being a competitor. The money is in creating an experience that can appeal to as many people as possible so certain gyms face that dilemma. For Lloyd, creating bad asses is a priority. This, of course, is my opinion.

 

[Leo M]

First, huge thanks to Tim for giving me an outlet for my thoughts. As I told Tim, I hope you guys like what I have to say. At the minimum, I hope it stimulates some discourse on the subject.

I owe Tim the next installments, and have a lot going on, but wanted to address one of the points many of you did, with a funny anecdote.

It's brazilian jiujitsu, you shouldn't need S&C.

Marcelo Garcia doesn't do it, and he's Marcelo Garcia.

I was at a John Berardi nutrition seminar (his stuff is the best out there, imo), when an attendee raised a point like cooltoon did. The attendee had been told conflicting advice by his friend who consistently achieved great results. John said, "we call them 'guywho' statistics". Everyone looked around, and waited for John to explain.

John said, yeah, "We all know a 'guywho' smoked three packs a day and lived to be 100. We all know a 'guywho' eats pizza and ice cream daily but stays ripped. We know a 'guywho' quit school when he was 14 and is now a millionaire". This always stuck with me.

Cooltoon, the last line in your comment is the most important one. He's Marcelo Garcia. I am most decidedly not, as most people on this board are not. If I had the God-given talent and dedication of Marcelo Garcia, I'd possibly have a different perspective. But I don't, so I need every advantage I can get. As do all but Marcelo and maybe 5 other guys on the planet.

This sort of logic ignores a number of quantitative principles, but let's talk about something Nassim Taleb calls the "Survivorship Bias". A ship wrecks on a rocky coast and all but 3 people survive. When asked how they were saved, they all said the same thing, "I prayed to God to save me." Why can't we conclude that this is a valid technique for surviving disasters?

Well, mostly because we don't get the opportunity to interview all of the passengers who died. It's entirely possible they all prayed for safety, as well.

The amount of BJJ practitioners who trained exactly how Marcelo Garcia trained is much higher than the number of World Champions. And none of us has ever heard of them.

Not necessarily concerned with trying to convince you or anyone else that I'm right here, just trying to get you to think about stacking the deck in your favor best you can.

Best Regards,

Leo

 

[MickCollins]

It's brazilian jiujitsu, you shouldn't need S&C.

Marcelo Garcia doesn't do it, and he's Marcelo Garcia.

Marcelo does bodyweight stuff and other BJJ strength drills in his warm ups. He may not lift weights but he does strength work.

 

[Sayian]

It's brazilian jiujitsu, you shouldn't need S&C.

Marcelo Garcia doesn't do it, and he's Marcelo Garcia.

marcelo does conditioning. ALOT of it.. you think he got h00j3 legs like that by holding guard?

 

[Feria]

I was at a John Berardi nutrition seminar (his stuff is the best out there, imo), when an attendee raised a point like cooltoon did. The attendee had been told conflicting advice by his friend who consistently achieved great results. John said, "we call them 'guywho' statistics". Everyone looked around, and waited for John to explain.

John said, yeah, "We all know a 'guywho' smoked three packs a day and lived to be 100. We all know a 'guywho' eats pizza and ice cream daily but stays ripped. We know a 'guywho' quit school when he was 14 and is now a millionaire". This always stuck with me.

I liked the whole post, especially his part. Very insightful.