Yoga for BJJ: Interview with Sebastian Brosche

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SisyphusMyth

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I first saw Sebastian Brosche beat Joao Miyao in 2013 Worlds not by playing the double guard pull game but by relentless guard passing. Here's the match if you haven't seen it:



I just did a podcast interview with him where he talk about how his judo and yoga influenced his jiu jitsu. It really opened up my eyes on the importance of yoga. For the first time I actually started practicing it. Subscribe on iTunes to "Take It Uneasy" or just listen here: http://takeituneasy.com/16

 
His accent sounded more Finnish than Swedish so I googled him and turns out he's from the Lapland area, which is near the border. The dialect resembles Finnish and a lot of people speak a mix of Finnish and Swedish.

Anyway, back to the topic. Very interesting podcast. I've been meaning to try Yoga, but it seems every yoga group around here is geared towards menopausal women :D I may just try it on my own.
 
I like yoga a lot and I wish I did it more often. What sort of bugs me, though, is when it's marketed in the MMA/BJJ community as yoga for fighters. There's no such thing. Yoga is yoga, and it can help fighters, non-fighters, menopausal women etc.
 
kjg1672 said:
I like yoga a lot and I wish I did it more often. What sort of bugs me, though, is when it's marketed in the MMA/BJJ community as yoga for fighters. There's no such thing. Yoga is yoga, and it can help fighters, non-fighters, menopausal women etc.
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Yoga is yoga, you're absolutely right, but it helps to see other top level competitors doing yoga, because otherwise the fact it can help anyone besides "menopausal women" is not immediately clear.
 
I practice Yoga on my days off from BJJ. I find it to be the perfect form of active recovery from JuJitsu.
 
How much yoga do you need to do to get benefits? I could maybe squeeze one day a week in, it's something I've always thought about doing but never really had the time.
 
FinBJJ said:
His accent sounded more Finnish than Swedish so I googled him and turns out he's from the Lapland area, which is near the border. The dialect resembles Finnish and a lot of people speak a mix of Finnish and Swedish.
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Maybe he's descended from skogfinner?
 
My body is very grateful to me whenever I do ~30 minutes of yoga at least 3 times a week. I've never been to a yoga class, just use the Yoga for Regular Guys book by Diamond Dallas Page. I usually have trouble learning physical movement from books but I greatly prefer the book to the videos and once you've done the routine (which is a bunch of sun salutations and warrior poses, pretty similar to some of the stuff I watched on the Yoga for BJJ FB page) several times it becomes pretty easy to memorize.

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Regular-Guys-Workout-Planet/dp/1594740798
 
Take a couple of classes to get the sun salutations a and b right, then focus on doing them in the mornings. For a couple of months it will do
 
This, and the one with Niko Dax were my favorite interviews on the podcast so far! including even the ones that I was on :)

Kind of motivated me to start doing more Yoga again. I've kind of slacked off on it for the last year or so.
 
Uchi Mata said:
How much yoga do you need to do to get benefits? I could maybe squeeze one day a week in, it's something I've always thought about doing but never really had the time.
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Do it! Any amount is beneficial.

I started the same way and got so much benefit that 1 day a week became 2 then 3, which is where I'm at now.
 
kjg1672 said:
I like yoga a lot and I wish I did it more often. What sort of bugs me, though, is when it's marketed in the MMA/BJJ community as yoga for fighters. There's no such thing. Yoga is yoga, and it can help fighters, non-fighters, menopausal women etc.
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Thank you!

I roll my eyes whenever I see any advertisement of "Yoga for Fighters"....

Uchi Mata said:
How much yoga do you need to do to get benefits? I could maybe squeeze one day a week in, it's something I've always thought about doing but never really had the time.
Click to expand...

After a few months of yoga (class 1x a week, mini-yoga session before every BJJ/judo class 2-5x a week), my balance got to the point where training partners would use me as the go-to guy to work on live sweeps with.

Just a couple weeks ago, a rolling partner goes "Goddamn it your center of gravity is at your calves!".

It's also very very good for regulating your breathing. After a hard 9 minute round, huffing and puffing, I can get my breath under control in seconds, and be ready to roll again immediately. Also my hip flexibility is ridiculous for someone with legs this size.
 
I was never the most flexible guy, far from it, but since doing yoga I can retain guard so much better with the weird angles I can get my legs into. That and hit triangles from more angles too.

And as previously mentioned, it's also great for pro-actively preventing injuries/soreness. And the concious breathing aspect of it will certainly help with making you less prone to gassing out earlier.

Personally, I have a penchant towards hot yoga. And if you go solidly for a few weeks you'll notice a notable difference in your flexibility.
 
Taichou said:
After a few months of yoga (class 1x a week, mini-yoga session before every BJJ/judo class 2-5x a week), my balance got to the point where training partners would use me as the go-to guy to work on live sweeps with.

Just a couple weeks ago, a rolling partner goes "Goddamn it your center of gravity is at your calves!".

It's also very very good for regulating your breathing. After a hard 9 minute round, huffing and puffing, I can get my breath under control in seconds, and be ready to roll again immediately. Also my hip flexibility is ridiculous for someone with legs this size.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I found I'm very similar after years of Tai Chi. Especially the parts about hip flexibility and balance.
 
Ashtanga, or if possible Ashtanga Vinyasa (flow yoga) is the best choice for bjj
 
Ezekial attempts from inside Miyao's closed guard.



I like this dude.
 
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