How Wrestling and Judo will improve your BJJ

Wrestling and Judo are some of the best things you can work to improve your bjj.  Wrestling and Judo are extremely similar to bjj and many of the same components that make a good bjj practitioner translate to wrestling and Judo.  They are the other pure forms of grappling.  Many people actually refer to bjj as “lazy wrestling.”  This is because there is typically a slower pace when it comes to bjj. 

Judo and wrestling both implement far more stand up than bjj.  In the majority of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies much of the sparring starts from the knees to emphasize more ground grappling as opposed to stand up.  This is one of the fundamental characteristics of bjj. Starting from the knees is not bad because it does encourage bjj practitioners to become extremely good at passing and guard work, but neglecting the standing aspect of bjj is not good.

Wrestling for BJJ

Wrestling is one of the best things you can implement in your bjj game.  Wrestling is all about takedowns, control and pins.  Learning how to wrestle can be a game changing thing for your bjj.  Many bjj sweeps actually end up in traditional wrestling positions like the single leg and double leg.  If you want to hear us elaborate on the single leg and double leg check out our articles “Single Leg Takedown” and “Double Leg Takedown.”

Why is wrestling so good for bjj? Wrestling incorporates explosiveness which is an enormous component of bjj.  Not only does it have explosiveness but wrestling teaches unbelievable pinning positions, takedowns, and increases balance, coordination, timing, and tenacity exponentially.  Wrestling is one of the best things you can do to improve cardio and tenaciousness.  In bjj being tenacious is an extremely important element that goes a long way. Check out this video below on the finishing details of a single leg takedown.  The single leg is arguably the most popular takedown in bjj.

Judo for BJJ

Judo is another excellent sport/martial art to cross train.  Some argue it is more beneficial to train Judo than it is wrestling given the fact that Judo practitioners use the gi.  This is up to speculation because many bjj practitioners also practice NoGi.  That being said, one of the biggest benefits of doing Judo is that Judo does incorporate the gi.

Much like wrestling, Judo will help you enhance your cardio, tenacity, explosiveness, balance, coordination, and most of all grip strength.  Judo players have the most unbelievable grip strength.  Combine all of these things along with the techniques, grips, submissions, and pins that Judo can teach you and it is easy to see why your bjj will improve drastically from cross training Judo. Judo is also notorious for having the best pins because you can win a Judo match with a 30 second pin.  Judo is obviously known for their throws, so we need not say much, but your takedown game WILL improve with some Judo.  Check out this video below of Olympic Judo Silver Medalist, Travis Stevens showing some Judo throws for bjj.

So after reading this you want to start training Judo and wrestling don’t you?  Well we have some good news for you;we have an excellent resource to learn world class Judo and wrestling from.  Check out Judo Olympic Silver Medalist and BJJ Black Belt, Travis Stevens DVD Set, “The Take Down Blueprint.”