1st taste of BJJ, and a question

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
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I’ve been thinking about taking BJJ classes after a few years layoff from MA, since it’s something different than what I used to do.

Just took an intro class last night. This is my first experience into BJJ or grappling so I didn’t really know what to expect.
After or rather during the intro class I thought I was gonna puke…

A helluva lot of conditioning by way of cardio (running, bunny hops etc.) and bodyweight work (variations of ab work, upa’s (?), push ups etc.). Then onto some throwing skills and onto ground work. First the teacher showed us a couple of techniques and we worked on them for about 15 minutes. Then he made all the beginners grapple with the blue belts starting from various positions (sorry don’t know the terminology… yet) for about 3 minutes at a time. That’s pretty much when I broke… :o This exercise pretty much went on for about an hour… I was so tired at the end I could barely walk out of the school. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great experience and the guys were cool, but holy sh*t, I don’t think I’ve been that tired in my life! And I’m am sore as hell today, but it was fun. :smiley:

Anyway, my question is how can I prepare myself physically for training in BJJ (or any grappling type school for that matter)? I’m thinking that I should do some conditioning before I step back on the mat…? I’d appreciate any insights into how I can prepare for these classes.

Also, I’d be interested in hearing about your 1st experience in BJJ…

BTW, I’m 31 years old (not totally out of shape) at about 195lbs. I think I could stand losing a few pounds as well.

Later,

Loke

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bjj

if you lack the fitness required then running, swimming and weights will help. Dont go overboard! Your muscle needs a week rest to grow!

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Thanks SS.

Another question as well, what do you guys recommend in terms of sessions per week?

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Loke

Best way to condition yourself for class is to goto class.
Roll, then roll then roll some more.

Do upas and other drills that they show you at home.

Practice grappling and joint locks on your friends.

“Hey man let me show you something”

Then grab his elbow and hip throw him.

Also practice putting on the gi and tying the belt, as that is the 1st lesson in the Royler and Royce book on BJJ.

:smiley:

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Loke,

What sunstylin said displays a complete ignorance of conditioning for fighting. Running, swimming and weights will do next to nothing for your cardio in BJJ. The reason for this is that Running and swimming are sustained low intensity activities. Weights will make you stronger but don’t have much to do with the sort of stuff you are doing in BJJ.

Now, if he’d said to run 200 meter intervals, wind sprints and such, or do sprint laps in the pool, then we’d be getting closer.

Right now, just do what Yenhoi said. Go to class. That’s the best way to get in shape for BJJ.

As far as my first experience, I used to wrestle. So I knew what to expect. Extreme soreness for a few days and several weeks to really bring my cardio up. My wrestling background kept me from getting swept, but I made a lot of mistakes that wound up getting me submitted. I knew immediately that this place was for me! Wonderful fun moves all openly tested and tested and retested by YOU and FOR YOU, constantly checking your progress against previous experiences with training partners, and the fantastic openness of everybody trying to HELP YOU BEAT THEM.

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Merry!

You did’nt say "Actively resisting opponent" once!..:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: Yeah! But what you are describing is surely a dynamic environment! :wink:

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Merry, I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. The increase in lung capacity you get from running carries over to all physical activities. Otherwise, it’s pretty much like saying the strength you get from weight training doesn’t carry over to BJJ.

Wind sprints are great to. They do a good job at stimulating the sourt-rest-spurt activity in BJJ. I do think that’s more mental than physical though.

Loke, I’d reccomend a half mile to a mile jog as a warm up, than do about 5 minutes of jumping rope. Do walking exercises (bear walk, duck walk, crab walk, alligator walk, crippled man’s walk, etc) Do a ****load of different push ups and ab work. I can get you a .pdf file full of exercises if you’d like.

Go to class as many times as will fit into your lifestyle. I only make it once a week, so it’ll take me longer than most to progress. If you can get 2-3 classes a week, you’ll be OK.

Also, don’t over do it. BJJ, like all martial arts is a time-in-service deal. So you wont see results overnite. If you overdo it, you run the risk of stopping altogether due to over-zealousness.

Where are you training? I’m working with a Rickson rep and you just described our class structure to a “T”.

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Water, you’re not right.

The type of fitness gained from being able to run a marathon has next to nothing at all to do with being able to roll for 30 minutes straight.

It simply isn’t the same. Running long distances increases your ability to sustain moderately intense activity for periods of time. It does almost NOTHING to help you in a situation where you are trying to increase your ability to perform at peak out output for greater and greater periods of time. That’s what interval work is for. He is far better served by wind sprints and jumping rope at a hardish pace for rounds than running 10 miles.

And I said the weight training will make you stronger, but it won’t really help your “conditioning.”

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Squat thurst will help yeah, running yeah, lifting yeah, wind sprints yeah, but you want the one true thing to help your cardio for grappling its grappling.
The only other exercise the does both aerobic and anaerobic muscle use like grappling is swimming, and even swimming doesn’t give you the resistance a live partner does.
Merry look for me @ Grapplers Quest if your there. I’ll be in UFC hat and watching to see the Saulo vs Monson rematch. Plus i wouldn’t mind shooting the **** (hick talk) with Lloyd. Got a couple guys wanting to come down to DC and train including myself.

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Man bro, you must be smoking crack :smiley: Who’s advocating 10 mile runs? Go back and read my post. I DO feel you can get benefit from up to 3 miles. Running gives you an increase in lung capacity, that allows you to take in more air and process oxygen more efficiently however you choose to use it. When you overdue it, you take away time from other things you should be doing. It’s the law of diminishing returns.

I think the wind sprints as well as body walks and body weight exercises are invaluable for ANY martial arts practitioner, but they give different results. But I do agree that rolling is the best way. Not only because of the direct conditioning, but because the more time you put on that mat, the more efficiently you begin to move. Then you waste less energy per minute on the mat.

In other news, using Shuai Chiao technique Saturday, I took out four guys in a row on a free form takedown drill. Then I gassed and got double legged by the fifth cause I gassed <– On topic reference, LOL

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i hate grappling, well, i don’t hate it, but i have never seen anything that needed nearly as much cardio as that. i am built, but **** when you can’t breath, you become a useless pile of meat. i symposthise with you.

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Congrats on the beginning of a new journey in MA. Sounds like a good class! For conditioning, the best thing to do is to just keep going to class and keep rolling. It’ll get easier. As for supplemental stuff, running will build up your cardiovascular health (which won’t necessarily make a huge difference on the mat, but it is still important to be in good physical condition…and to lose a few extra pounds if you have any). One thing I like to do is when I’m running I’ll alternate between distances of paced running and intervals of sprinting. That will relate more to your fighting endurance, since it involves bursts of intensity. For improving your physical ability specifically for jiu jitsu, I’d do a lot of ab exercises (all varieties of crunches, leg lifts, etc), stretching to increase flexibility, and also do all those interesting warm up drills on your own time. As for training sessions, if your classes last only an hour, i’d go at least three times a week. If they are 1.5 to 2 hours then twice a week should be sufficient. But i’m just talking about the adequate number to keep up and gradually progress. Remember, the more you train the faster you get better and the stronger you’ll be. good luck

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Any kind of aerobic activity will be beneficial if you are out of shape. Doesn’t matter what it is. If you are out of shape it probably isn’t a good idea to start ripping off sprints and all that. That’s a recipe for injuries.

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Nobody put their first experience in BJJ?

Well I count my first real experience with it when I joined a BJJ school. I had done seminars and stuff with Rickson and Fabio Santos prior to that, and had trained no gi grappling with friends during my last two years of high school, but it still was different from the actual school environment.

I had already grappled for a long time, and had a small wrestling background as well. :slight_smile: I went into the BJJ school, and the first time I rolled I flipped a guy over, held him in side control, and threw a foot lock on him. For the next few days I did very well with just my wrestling experience, and could take down most of them, and ride their guard and even submit some beginning students with neck cranks, etc.

Then came the upper belts and longer practitioners. :smiley:
“Well,” I said to myself, “I’ve been doing pretty good. I’ll just take em down and pin them.” So I took a guy down.
“There,” I said to myself. “This isn’t so hard. My wrestling skills are enough to let me just…GAAAAAK!!!”

After waking from the gi choke I vowed never to get put in one again… After waking up a second time from a gi choke I decided to really watch it this time.
After waking up from a triangle choke… :smiley:

(I got a little better :smiley: Really. But I’ve always hated gis! Even in judo! :smiley: )

Ryu

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Loke: Next time you roll with the BJJ guys try to RELAX. I have been training BJJ for a while now and it wasn’t until I started to relax that I felt I could keep up with the belts.

Think of positioning and leverage. Don’t commite until you have an opening (btw, the belts are going to give you the openings on purpose).

/Cheers

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I know what you mean bro! The first time I trained I threw up. I wondered why everyone was laughing until a couple of months later the “new guy” threw up too!
Its only in the beginning. Just make sure to have plenty of water and concentrate on your breathing at all times. I like to do meditation with deep breathing every chance I get to have it come naturally.
Also a very good thing that got me in the game a little faster is strengthening the parts of the body that you use the most to prepare them for the workload. If you notice, your cardio runs out sometime right after your muscles fatigue. Im sure you guys do pushups, etc, but if you isolate certain parts and work them a little extra, youll be surprised with the quick benefits.
A few peaple already gave good suggestions. Lifting weights IMO is very good. You really dont have to do more than 3 sets of 6-7 reps for any major muscle to see benefits. Work on your shoulders, tricepts, and trunk the most!
For the trunk leglifts are very important. Spend extra effort with these and youll see good results.
Also free squats(no wheigts). Do 2 sets to failure to start out.
Situps, crunches with the guard closed(elbow to knee) and open, and squat thrusts.
Good luck, Train hard!

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Hey, water!

I want to apologize for the way I came off. That was more abrupt than I meant to be. I also think I was working from a different definition. When somebody says “go running,” to me, I’m thinking of a 7 mile type deal–wholly unsuitable, IMO for developing your cardio for combat sports.

You are right–running will carry over, but the longer the distance and the lower the intensity, the less good it will do you.

How’s that for an apology without backing off? :smiley:

And Paul, you are absolutely right–I was looking at this from the point of view of somebody with a base level of fitness. If he’s out of shape–like normal walking around type out of shape, then running, swimming, etc, will be great.

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This is too funny. Half way through my first BJJ class I was outside projectile vomiting my guts out. After a few minutes my instructor comes outside, sees what I’m doing, then calmly tells me to wash my mouth out and get back onto the mat.
Maybe we should form a club.

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And this, folks, is why BJJers and MMAers are the way we are… I’m not saying that there aren’t SOME ‘TMA’ schools out there that train this way, but this is the type of training you can expect in 99% of the BJJ schools out there.

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Hi Guys!
Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it.

WaterDragon,
If you could email me some of the exercises you mention to loke_3@lycos.com I’d appreciate it.

The classes are 2 hours long (man, it was the longest two hours of my life :smiley: ), so I’ve been thinking about attending 2 classes a week. Like you mention, I don’t want to over do it but it’s difficult when you get enthusiastic about something. :slight_smile: Of course, my body probably won’t be able to handle more than twice a week.

The school is affiliated with the Ralph Gracie schools. Is that a good thing? Sorry, don’t know much about these things.

Nichiren,
Thanks for the good advice. One thing I did notice during practice was that I was tensing and using a lot of strength to hold the guys down etc. I’ll have to figure out exactly how I’m going to relax though.
The upper belts did give me some openings, the problem is I didn’t know exactly what to do in order to take advantage of it.
:confused: The instructor get yelling do a leg lock etc. but I’ve never done one before so… I guess it’ll take time to learn those things.

Fightfan,
When you say do the crunches with the guard closed and open, what does that mean??

So far my workouts have been primarily bodyweight exercises. I didn’t have problems following the calisthenics portion of class, but my abs and my hands were killing me at the end of class.
So, would pullups, pushups, ab work and pistols be sufficient? Are there other bodyweight exercises I should follow?
In terms of cardio, well, that’s were I fail. I started cycling and rowing (machine), and will probably start jogging per your recommendations.

Another question, do most BJJ schools compete? Am I too old to start competing (I’m 31). From the few BJJ classes I’ve seen, there’s not been much focus on throwing. Why is that? I actually managed to throw some of the blue belts (fairly easily) when doing the stand up portions of class (primarily because of previous MA experience). The problem of course is once I’m on the ground I have no clue.
Oh, one final question, do they teach you to fight without a gi?

Loke