Training over 10 times per week

[johnkreese]

Mentally, I felt great. Physically, I needed some time to repair, and I felt prone to injury. This was 8 times per week for a few months before a tourney. I prefer to train less, but train smarter.

 

[dschinghiskhan1]

It gets old fast, but you definitely improve a lot. I train about 12 times a week. Not all are really intense sessions though.

 

[TrumpetDan]

This may be a surprise to you, but there is much more to life than BJJ.

1. You will overtrain
Your body will become tired and not have enough time and energy to repair itself. Eventually you will get injured, and the layoff will hurt more than if you had just been going half as much (5x/week)

2. You will burnout
What you love will become a chore, and you will hate going. Most likely you will burn completely out and again have a big layoff.

3. You need to focus on other aspects of your life.
Like a Mixed Martial Artist needs to be well rounded, so should be your desire as a person. That much time spent on BJJ, means you aren't spending time on other aspects of your life. Even if you don't have a family, you should have other interests and relationships outside BJJ. Read, educate yourself, take music lessons, join a club, enjoy an outdoor activity, spend time with friends and family outside the dojo.

I train 10-12 times a week not including my time devoted to study of video. Some of my training partners who medal in mundials every year train more than me...and harder. What are these other things to life you speak of? Im not sure im familiar with this concept?

1. Over training is a possibility. You will also get really good technique. While over training will go away, the knowledge wont. A worse threat is injury. I have had 2 knee surgeries and have since learned how to train alot while avoiding injury....atleast I think so.

2. Some will burn out. I personally cant wait to train. Every night after i study i am so excited to train that i can wake up on 4 hours of sleep and go train....its the only thing that can get me up in the morning on little sleep.

3. Real life is what happens in between training. I am a music teacher and play 4 instruments at least the college level. I have 30 private students and teach at 6 schools. I have been smart with finances and own my own condo, i have an awesome wife who i spend at least 3 hours with going on walks, talking ect, and i see my family multiple times each week as I live 5 min away from both my parents and sister/niece/nephew. My passions other than bjj are music, video production and teaching. I work for a cool production company on weekends. My casual interests are physics (reading an Scientific Amercian as I write this), chess, and I am learning portuguese.

It is possible to train like crazy and still have a life!

 

[nohuff]

I was training 10-13 times a week for a while including a tough Saturday Morning Tournament class. Yea... I don't have a GF :icon_lol:

I improved really fast as to be expected. Doing this with a full time job can become grueling. I have a good work environment where I could train at noon and come back to work as long as I made up the time (coming in extra early ).

I did feel tired all the time though... and when I trained I had to be really technical, rolling at prolly ~70% most of the time and less when possible. This is extra tough when folks come in for their 1 or 2 trainings a week and are going 110%.

I've had to cut back to just 1 training a day recently. I have weight training goals that cannot be met with that volume of training. I just needed more recovery time :/

I would like to go back to that schedule at some point though...

 

[MMA junkie]

It depends on the intensity of the training. 10 times a week while is certainly a lot it is not too much at all if you are in shape.

2 - 1 hour classes a day is not THAT much when you consider High School sports devote 2-3 hours each day, 5 days a week of practice; plus tournaments on weekends.

I work 40 hours a week and train/lift/have a gf. You just need to prioritize things in life. I do admit, it does get a bit hectic but with planning it can be done if the classes meet your schedule. My weekends however are pretty much free.

If I had kids on the other hand, that is a totally different story.

 

[DevinTheDewd]

Greatness requires sacrifice. The best way to train 10 times+/week and let your body recover is to train in the AM and have about 10-12 hours before your next PM workout. Yes, soreness and injury is a surefire thing. People on here will say that you are wasting your time, need to get your priorities straight, etc etc. If you want to be good at something you need to put in the time and if being great is your goal then you will have to sacrifice in other areas. Yes, education and career is a priority of course but if you are determined enough, you can make it work out.

Also, you dont have to Roll every practice... having workouts that are strictly flow drill/technique drills are just as effective if not more at increasing your skill in my opinion.

 

[lechien]

It can be done but you might have to miss some of the warm up classes if your club are into heavy conditioning training for warm up.

It could be boring as some clubs repeat the same techniques of the day for several classes.

You would get a greater variety of training partners.

Regarding the burn-out, well just go for it and train as much as you can..you do not know what could happen next year!

 

[MUFC]

I
It could be boring as some clubs repeat the same techniques of the day for several classes.

That can also be a good thing. A few months ago when I was doing 10 a week, we did a sweep afternoon and evening for two days in a row, and just from the amount of drilling, it became one of my go to techniques. I also got to ask a question on small details as I noticed problems over an extended period of time.

 

[MMA junkie]

It can be done but you might have to miss some of the warm up classes if your club are into heavy conditioning training for warm up.

It could be boring as some clubs repeat the same techniques of the day for several classes.

You would get a greater variety of training partners.

Regarding the burn-out, well just go for it and train as much as you can..you do not know what could happen next year!

When people do back to back here they often skip the 2nd warm up and can go in during the 2nd set stretches (or forgo that also).

 

[mtruitt76]

I train BJJ 8 times a week and do 2 weight lifting sessions a week. When larger tournaments come up I also do 2 conditioning sessions a week. I have been keeping this schedule for over a year without any over training effects.

Mentally I don't get worn out since my job is the source of all my stress. I own an electrical contracting business any as you know the housing market has tanked, so BJJ is a great release valve for me.

Personally I would love to work in some more BJJ classes during the week, but my job keeps that from happening and I attend every night and weekend class available.

 

[countlphie]

I train 10-12 times a week not including my time devoted to study of video. Some of my training partners who medal in mundials every year train more than me...and harder. What are these other things to life you speak of? Im not sure im familiar with this concept?


3. Real life is what happens in between training. I am a music teacher and play 4 instruments at least the college level. I have 30 private students and teach at 6 schools. I have been smart with finances and own my own condo, i have an awesome wife who i spend at least 3 hours with going on walks, talking ect, and i see my family multiple times each week as I live 5 min away from both my parents and sister/niece/nephew. My passions other than bjj are music, video production and teaching. I work for a cool production company on weekends. My casual interests are physics (reading an Scientific Amercian as I write this), chess, and I am learning portuguese.

It is possible to train like crazy and still have a life!

I must admit, I'm developing a healthy amount of respect for you trumpetdan.

I put in about 10-12 hours a week, but I vary up the intensity depending on how I feel, and if I have free time I focus on technique drilling rather than sparring.

it's very important to not run around with a "mind over matter" attitude all the time. there's a time and place for that kind of thinking, and if you apply it all the time that's how you'll get burnt out.

 

[Vector_X]

Wow, just mat time? Now overall just training times(lifting, running, BJJ) I guess I do that without an issue, but just straight mat time I wouldn't have the time with my career to even fathom it.

 

[Higher Learning]

i train 6-8 times a week and don't feel like that is excessive at all... if i did not have a wife, full time job + other hobbies & a social life i would train more :icon_chee

 

[bora y]

i did 3X a day for about 2 weeks in the summer.
i had a shitty sleeping pattern, so my body fell behind my exercise.
eventually i'd sleep in til 2 and miss morning and noon.

 

[CyberFreq]

I used to do 7-10x a week (every class offered) for about 2.5 months. It was fantastic. I miss being able to do that.

 

[Freezing Winds**]

I train 10-12 times a week not including my time devoted to study of video. Some of my training partners who medal in mundials every year train more than me...and harder. What are these other things to life you speak of? Im not sure im familiar with this concept?

1. Over training is a possibility. You will also get really good technique. While over training will go away, the knowledge wont. A worse threat is injury. I have had 2 knee surgeries and have since learned how to train alot while avoiding injury....atleast I think so.

2. Some will burn out. I personally cant wait to train. Every night after i study i am so excited to train that i can wake up on 4 hours of sleep and go train....its the only thing that can get me up in the morning on little sleep.

3. Real life is what happens in between training. I am a music teacher and play 4 instruments at least the college level. I have 30 private students and teach at 6 schools. I have been smart with finances and own my own condo, i have an awesome wife who i spend at least 3 hours with going on walks, talking ect, and i see my family multiple times each week as I live 5 min away from both my parents and sister/niece/nephew. My passions other than bjj are music, video production and teaching. I work for a cool production company on weekends. My casual interests are physics (reading an Scientific Amercian as I write this), chess, and I am learning portuguese.

It is possible to train like crazy and still have a life!

i would agree with you.

I am way too lazy to train that much.

but i am sure all the best bjj practitioners in the world train a lot more than this. That is why they are the best.

 

[dwright2]

I can't offer sound advice but I don't do it and wouldn't recommend it unless you're thinking about going pro. Your muscles need recovery time and the extreme fatigue might contribute to a greater risk of injuries.

Conversely, everyone's body is different; heck even in high school football coaches put kids through two a days.

 

[CyberFreq]

Oh oh. Also: half hour power naps during the time between sessions works WONDERS.

 

[genkisudo69]

sometimes i trained 6 x week and his hard.
big risk of injuries.
and there are other things in life.
but if you can and enjoy do it.
still i think its too much

 

[cbtrn]

I tried it for about 2 months. It wasn't a forced thing or anything. I just felt on a great mood and I saw progression at a pretty steady rate and I felt comfortable on the mat. I was averaging about 12 classes per week. I started training for No Gi Pans and I feel that it is easier to get injured training No Gi as it is when training with the gi so I had to slow down the frequency a little bit. I'm 36 y/o.