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Two times to maintain, Three times to get better...

Ever since I started training, BJJ has been a top priority in my life. Throughout my life I've always felt that I've never stuck to things I've started and I wanted to change that so I committed myself to training. The downside of this was sacrificing a social life and money. It may have even cast a role in my last relationship with my long term girlfriend.

I do see where Bill is coming from and I've realized it myself. Jiujitsu is not the end all be all to life. Balance and moderation are everything. Jiujitsu does make me happy, but if I don't concentrate on maintaining the relationships I have in the "real world" my training suffers and so does my regular life. It's easy to escape your problems when you're on the mat, but you can only train for so long before you have to go back to reality.

That said, I usually train 6 days a week and try to compete fairly regularly, all while maintaining a healthy social life. I've also picked up other activities so that I don't become dependant on BJJ to feel productive.
 
My time at the gym varies, sometimes 3-4 sometimes just once. My job sometimes doesn't give me the time to get there some nights. I very rarely don't make it to the gym in a week though.
 
Cash Bill 52 said:
These days it seems that if you aren't training two times per day you are falling behind.
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Falling behind what exactly? The general Mixed Martial Arts skill level curve? Your class' teaching schedule? Your upcoming opponent? There will always certainly be someone who can one up you in one way or another, so to say that you're "falling behind" if you're not training is kind of nonsense, IMO. The only person you should worry about "falling behind" of is yourself, because in all actuality, that is your biggest and strongest opponent.

I train grappling in class once week and go over moves on my dummy every other evening. When I show up to roll once a week with my peers, I still do quite well (sometimes making people tap, other times getting tapped).

A good example of time invested=/= skill level is Eddie Bravo not even beginning grappling training until he was like 19 and then going out and beating guys who have been rolling since before they could walk.

Just my .02

-Cody
 
I've always thought this was a very fluid dynamic. In general three to four days a week is ideal for me. I train judo one day a week. That's all I can handle because it's a lot more physical. The other three days are BJJ, and I find it's just enough to keep me interested and also slowly improving. For as much as I admire all of the top fighters in our sport, the guys who really resonate with me are the ones who train well into their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Those are the people I admire the most because they are patient and willing to invest in the long haul. I compete a few times a year and enjoy it. It's a personal journey for each practitioner and all training is good training no matter how frequent it is.
 
I think your training schedule and progression these days depends on how much you want BJJ to be part of your life.

Last few months I have taken time off work mainly due to the current work and political climate I faced in my home country. BJJ was a big part of those three months keeping me out of the house and active. I competed 2 tournaments and did very well submitted everybody I faced in tournaments. Amazing considering that in my first 3 tournaments a total of 8 fights I went the full 5 minutes in each. I noticed I got better. But I did 2x a day plus conditioning. I DL videos bought books made a flow chart.

Now work is back in the mix and pretty soon I have to decided how much time I can truly dedicate to the art. Unlike some people in US and europe that have 3 or more classes a day. I only have 1 class a day 4x a week and it comes during normal work hours. (Class starts a 330 ends at 6, I get out of work at those times.) During those months I really focused hard on improving now I am wondering how important is my progression to me. My next job is pretty much going to consist of 70 hour work weeks and little to no time for training.

Personally each person has their own issues whether family, work or finances. To some one with kids, 40-45 hour work week and expenses mastering a martial art isn't probably top priority.

Personally for me and only me. I will try to keep bjj part of my daily life. But I know that right now accomplishing my dreams in work and life are more important then being a full time BJJ student. i think I will be happy being a part time student of jiu jitsu. I don't know until I try. In the end it depends on you, is jiu jitsu something your willing to part with for a time or is it something that keeps you sane and happy.

If my job wasn't a dream job or personal goal of mine, I probably wouldnt take so much time off. But it is. I know that right now at my age I should aim high with goals and I also know that I can always continue bjj again full time later if things dont go well or when they slow down. Honestly being a blackbelt in 10 years or under isn't very important to me.

Again this is just me.
 
I train once a week. It works for me. I train BJJ for fun, and I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that I traded time with my family, friends and other loved ones for a hobby that, in the long run, means very little.
 
Maybe Purples, Browns and Blacks don't learn on only twice a week but I am pretty sure everyone else will still be learning.


I personally go between 2 and 4 times a week, but I do that for fun not to rule the world.

I would train more, cause I friggin love it, but work study GF family and friends all need to see me at some point.
 
When I first started, I was lucky to go twice a week. Then a school opened up in my own town and I managed 4 to 6 times a week.

I recently moved and both my kids started school, allowing me to get there up to 10 different times a week.....I manage perhaps 7 to 9 regularly.

I think that that much attendance is helping me make up for the long period of time where I was struggling to improve due to a very relaxed schedule. I plan on backing down before I get burned out.
 
I've been training 0 times a week for the past month or so after moving to a new city. I miss it of course, but I'm working out by myself every day, and it's nice to take a break and let the body recover sometimes.

But yeah, ideally I would train 3-5 times a week.
 
I see a lot of people saying they train many times a week just wondering how many hours per week or session that would be , I'm doing 2x a week 3hr class I feel I'm slowly improving
 
I train once a week, the place where I train has only 2 gi classes a week currently and those are on sunday morning and monday evening and I can almost never make it on sunday.
 
Ideally 6-8 times a week.

Current class times allow 6

Current work/girlfiend/personal commitments mean about 4
 
killacasey said:
I see a lot of people saying they train many times a week just wondering how many hours per week or session that would be , I'm doing 2x a week 3hr class I feel I'm slowly improving
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Right now it works out to about 10+ hours a week.

When I'm off of school its 13.5+.

More time is added depending if I stay after class to do solo drills. I used to spend up to an hour after class drilling by myself.
 
My training has fluctuated throughout the 7 years Ive been at it. When I first started I trained twice a week, then moved to San Diego and trained twice a day, then moved back home, etc. Now I can only train once or twice a week, but I also teach basic BJJ at work so I believe that helps me stay sharp. Honestly with my schedule and other things in my life Im happy with once or twice a week. Any more than that and i start to take away from things that are probably more important. Im at the level now where Ive got all I need for self defense and Im just slowly working towards black. It happens when it happens...
 
killacasey said:
I see a lot of people saying they train many times a week just wondering how many hours per week or session that would be , I'm doing 2x a week 3hr class I feel I'm slowly improving
Click to expand...

1-2x/wk, meaning I get 1.5-2.5 hrs/wk most of the time. lol

The average F12'er is pretty intense by the looks of things... can't believe how many training sessions they can afford to get in a week.
 
I think it all depends A LOT on how far away your academy is..

I train 3 x a day and I work a lot and have a busy schedule.

Due to everything being so close (work, academy, home) all I had to give up in order to train 3 x a day was a few hours of sleep in the morning. Also, i have to eat lunch fast and in the office, instead of calmly at home.

I tell to myself that the early morning is my guarantee.. No matter how busy i get, even if one day my company is so huge and i have to work until midnight, I will get up at 5 AM no matter what and give up a few hours of sleep.....
 
I think it's ok to give up certain things to train...I train 3-4 times a week and the main thing I've given up really is watching sports on tv. It sucks watching them on dvr and I'd rather train so I only watch like 10% of what I used to.

I do think it's important to keep in mind that although bjj is really fun and addicting, it is important to devote time to other things in life just for balance. In the end, to me, it's just a game.
 
lol, I can't only think of a couple of things I like enough to want to do it 3 times a day... and BJJ isn't one of them.
 
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