IS BJJ GOOD CARDIO?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an extremely dynamic form of grappling combat. Training within the art involves athletes using an extensive amount of energy in order to achieve technical proficiency. Jiu Jitsu can be extremely demanding on an athlete's body, as the rigorous grind can leave athletes feeling physically drained, and in need of rest and recuperation. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can offer students an all inclusive workout, as they train amongst other like minded people with the same goals of fitness, fun, self defense, and competitive sports components. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is like the all rounder of Martial Arts, as it can offer students a great way to build significant strength, push their cardio beyond a students limitations, help with increased flexibility, dexterity, and agility, all while offering insight into various mobility techniques.
What this article covers:
- Does BJJ Offer Cardio Workouts
- Supporting BJJ with Extra Cardio
- The Benefits of Cardio Based Workouts in BJJ
- The Best Cardio Workouts for BJJ
Doing the work on the mats is only half the job, as students that begin training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu need to think about other variables in order to achieve their fitness goals. Students will need to make sure they are physically, and mentally prepared for training, and this includes using injury prevention methods to make sure their bodies are ready for the high impact of Jiu Jitsu. They also need to be fueled properly, and the only way to do this correctly is to create a bjj meal plan, because the rigors of combat sport will require an athlete to eat additional calories, compared to an everyday person. Staying hydrated is another important aspect if students want to succeed in getting fitter, and stronger for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
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DOES BJJ OFFER CARDIO WORKOUTS
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not specifically a cardio based workout, instead it is more of an all round exercise component. Training in Jiu Jitsu gives a student a comprehensive workout plan that does involve increased strength, and a higher component of cardiovascular ability. All Jiu Jitsu training sessions start off with extensive warm ups, which involve running, and other cardio based movements, although they may not fatigue an athlete, it does have a significant cardio element attached. At the end of most Jiu Jitsu training sessions, all the students engage in real life simulated rolling sessions, and this can be a great opportunity to push an athlete's cardiovascular abilities. To achieve this type of cardio workout the athlete needs to put in extensive rolling time, without having many breaks.
Training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be whatever an athlete wants it to be, meaning if they want more of a cardio workout then all they have to do is push their own pace to a higher limit. If a student wants to ensure that their bjj weight loss goals are achieved, they need to put in a tremendous amount of work. Rolling in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be done in many different ways, and some students will move slowly, and methodically, playing more of a pressure control game. Other students will use extremely fast transitions, as they move around the mats with intensity, and purpose. To ensure that an athlete's cardio has been worked out to its full potential, they should be doing multiple rounds with the higher belts in the academy. During their rounds they should look to constantly pass their opponents guard, or continuously attempt to sweep, and move their opponent around the mats. This is how they will ensure their training partners put them under more intense pressure, and therefore leading to a much higher cardio based workout.
SUPPORTING BJJ WITH EXTRA CARDIO
Sometimes training in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy is not enough to push an athlete's cardio to the limit. Some athletes have a greater capacity for cardiovascular fitness, and therefore need much more extensive workouts in order to push their pace. All Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athletes can support their Jiu Jitsu by doing extra cardio based workouts. Exercises like sprinting up hills is a great workout, and will increase an athlete's overall cardio fitness. If explosive running training doesn't fit the bill for an athlete, they can also try long distance endurance running. All forms of running are great for an athlete but another aspect that should be considered is the surface they are running on. Training on hard surfaces can cause wear and tear in an athlete's knee, and hip joints, or can even cause calf problems, and shin splints. Wearing really good running shoes will help with this aspect, otherwise an athlete can run barefoot on the grass, or the sand.
Another good form of cardio is swimming, as a few laps swam every couple of days will be sufficient in building up extra cardio for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athletes. Swimming has a low impact on an athlete's body, which means they are not at risk of injury, as they attempt to heighten their cardio ability. Practising road cycling, or using exercise bikes like an airdyne assault bike can also push an athlete's pace, and help affect their overall cardio. Using the rowing machine at high intensity is another great way to support an athlete's Jiu Jitsu with cardio. Setting up a boxing bag, and doing interval rounds of sparring into the bag is another great way to build up significant cardio within a combat athlete. The best part about this training is that it will also keep the athlete sharp with their punches, which is great for self defense, and it will help exponentially with their footwork, which can be a tremendous help with how an athlete will take on their opponents in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
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THE BENEFITS OF CARDIO BASED WORKOUTS IN BJJ
There is a tremendous range of benefits that athletes can achieve by using cardio based workouts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Amping up a student's cardio is a sure fire way to become a more successful competitor, and a more seasoned training partner. Students can often wonder will bjj get you in shape, and after a short amount of time training in the art, they will realise just how beneficial this Martial Art can be. Becoming fitter and faster will always help athletes to move better, and transition cleaner. Having better all round fitness will also allow them to last longer during competitive matches, and this can be a huge benefit when they are competing in a stacked division at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament. Having a high threshold of cardio ability will allow a student to recover quicker, and compete at a much higher level. This will also allow a student to compete in multiple divisions, because their cardio is not just good enough to last the distance, but it is good enough to recover in short periods of time.
THE BEST CARDIO WORKOUTS FOR BJJ
There are many different cardio workouts that will help a student with their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At the top of the list is swimming, and this is because of the low impact swimming has on an athlete's muscles, and bones. Swimming is a full body workout that involves an athlete to build up significant muscle endurance, and a greater lung capacity. During Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training sessions combat athletes will use breathing techniques that have been practiced during the swimming process. What makes swimming so good is the long distance aerobic workout that an athlete will get, as well as the mobility of the whole body, especially their shoulders while they are in movement. Athletes that are injured will struggle to do any form of high intensity exercise, and this is why swimming is one of the best cardio workouts. Athletes will discover the non resistance on their body systems, while still being able to lift their cardio rate to keep the fitness going towards a greater goal.
Running is one of the best forms of fitness, especially to help with the art of grappling. Many world class athletes will use running exercises as a way to bolster their cardio in preparation for many of their tournament matches. Using interval sprinting is a great way to simulate competition matches in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as the practise will predominantly help an athlete with their rest periods. Interval running requires an athlete to sprint for a certain amount of time, and then take a small thirty second break, and sprint again repeating the process over, and over. This practise will ensure an athlete's fitness can hold up amongst the rigorous competition setting of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Long distance running can also be beneficial to an athlete, as well as other styles of running like high knee running, side to side running, and goose step running, as these will not only work on aspects of cardio fitness, but can help students with their agility too. When an athlete is fatigued it is their strength, and agility that will suffer, so forming good habits by utilising different styles of running will be extremely beneficial in the long term for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete.
Exercises like burpees, lunges, and squats are great sources of cardio workouts. What makes these exercises even better is that they are all functional for the art of BJJ, as they are all common positions that athletes may find themselves in. These types of exercises are also good for injury prevention, as they can help an athlete bulletproof their body in preparation for the high intensity of Jiu Jitsu. Furthermore they are also used to rehabilitate, and strengthen core muscles after an injury has already taken place. Doing high intensity repetition of these types of movements, can be a great cardio workout, and extremely beneficial for an athlete's cardiovascular endurance. Other forms of cardio like skipping is another great exercise, which is predominantly used in the art of boxing. Skipping can be extremely tough, especially for a student that has little to no experience with training, as the rope can be grueling on the body systems of an athlete. Maintaining a hard level of skipping is a great core strengthening exercise for an athlete's whole body, and will help with coordination, agility, dexterity, strength and cardio. These are all extremely important aspects for a student that wishes to be light on their feet, and have the ability to use lightning fast takedown maneuvers, or becoming capable of moving past the guard with a high intensity.
MAXIMISING BJJ WORKOUTS
Training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu needs to be taken seriously in order to maximise the efficiency of the art. Anyone can walk into an academy, and go through the motions, and by the end of the training session have barely even raised a sweat. Doing this is basically cheating yourself, and is not maximising an athlete's time on the training mats. An athlete needs to maximise their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu workout, so they can become fitter, stronger, and have the ability to last longer periods of time during training, and competition matches. This means that an athlete should take the warm up seriously, and make sure to practise every technique extensively. This will also mean that sometimes an athlete may do extra work, so they can get the best out of their training sessions. There are many calories burned doing jiu jitsu, so an athlete needs to be prepared by taking in the right nutrition, which will keep them fueled up for longer, and will give them a better output efficiency during their training sessions.
Too often white belts are seen sitting around talking, or mucking around, rather than putting more time into their training. This is a common beginner mistake, as they will practise the technique once or twice, and feel like that is all they need to do. To get the best potential out of a student they should continuously practise techniques until their instructor tells them otherwise. Becoming good at Jiu Jitsu takes an extremely long time, and involves thousands of repetitions, especially if they want to improve up to the world class level. Maximising training sessions needs to happen every time, so that the student gets rid of any bad habits, and stays motivated to train at a higher level of efficiency. The same goes for rolling, as a student must put in the hard work, and this is the only way to achieve the rewards. The more a student can roll, the better they will become, and if they constantly choose high level training partners, then they will benefit exponentially, and become the best version of themselves.
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