Are Kettlebells Crucial for BJJ Success?

In the corner of your gym or BJJ academy there lies the key to an endless gas tank, hip mobility, and overall strength that will make your training partners and opponents tremble, knowing that you are immune to the deep waters of fatigue and ready to bring the heat to all of your rounds.  This tool sits mat-side watching you train and go home for months, patiently waiting for you to come over and introduce yourself.  This tool looks very much like a cannonball with a handle on it.  It is not shiny, nor does it look like something that would guarantee results in 30 days on a late night infomercial.

Where did the kettlebell come from? 

Instead, the kettlebell is something much more archaic, something much simpler.  The roots of the kettlebell go back hundreds of years and it was never intended to be a tool of fitness.  Instead, it was born of utility, in a time when measuring crops required a simple and precise way to establish the weights and measures.  First and foremost, the kettlebell had a serious purpose.  It wasn't until old time strong men and circus performers began throwing them around to show off their strength that someone got the idea that this tool of measurement could be used to develop one's fitness.

 If you're not doing any additional conditioning outside of your BJJ training, picking up a kettlebell could be the fastest and most efficient way to develop functional strength, make your core stronger, and also build an unstoppable gas tank.

In the video below, kettlebell Master instructor and jiu jitsu black belt Phil Ross shows two different styles of workout utilizing kettlebells.  

 Complex or Chain?

The Complex

The kettlebell complex is made up of a group of exercises, done in a precise order, with a number of reps of each done consecutively before moving to the next exercises and it's respective reps.

The Chain

The kettlebell chain on the other hand is the performance of single reps of an exercise before moving to another rep of a completely different exercise.

The complex is typically used to create strength because of the ability to utilize a heavier kettlebell during the performance of a complex.  While the chain is typically a methodology that is recommended when increased endurance is the goal.

To learn more about how you can insert kettlebell training into your BJJ and grappling training, check out the BJJ Fanatics article on the topic here. 

 Most of us are used to working conditioning exercises as a warm up to BJJ class.  The flexibility and simplicity of the kettlebell allows it to be inserted into a classic warm up or conditioning exercise like Bear Crawls.  Just when you thought bear crawls were already fun enough, let's add some kettlebell resistance to the movement.  Check it out in the video below.

 If jiu jitsu training teaches anything, it's that nothing worthwhile comes easy.  All of us want to maximize our BJJ training and spend as much time as we can on the mats.  But if you're looking for a tool that will yield incredible results with a relatively small time investment, kettlebells may be the equipment to check out.

Now's the time to grab the 104 workouts and over 20 hours of DVD materials from Master Kettlebell instructor Phil Ross.  There is enough conditioning guidance to last a lifetime!  Check it out here!