One of my big flaws has been the use of force or speed where technique is needed. I did this a lot for the first two years I trained strength and conditioning. Despite better coaching, I always concentrated on reps; how quickly and explosively I could do a movement. Because I hadn't done much of this training before, any type of exercise gave me massive gains. But, after a couple years past my gain from constant practices was clearly less noticeable.
It was good to get myself to a point where I was exhausted and learn to break through it, but regardless the feeling was different than the feeling of intensity and overwhelming exhaustion that I experienced in a tournament setting or even a rough gym match. A lot of the strength and conditioning stuff was physically more painful, worse in that way. But, there was something else, maybe an underlying psychological dynamic I did not fully understand that made tournament matches or tournament style matches against good players far rougher.
I mean, writing it down its pretty clear why. One is exercising really hard, and the other is fucking fighting. Completely different thing.
Jiu Jitsu is definitely a sport, but its got its roots in a fight. Even today with worm guard and all that shit, its still about imposing your will on someone.
But, anywayyyyyy. This realization wasn't clear enough to me that I could put it into words, but I found myself focusing my exercise on form and saving the cardio portion where I would really feel it-sparring in the gym. My actual workout away from Jiu Jitsu goes something like this-
20 minutes stretching, stability ball.
I stretch a ton. I'm really big on the butterfly stretch and the full split. I think both are awesome for jits, especially guard retention. I do all the normal yoga stuff you can learn in a few classes, and a variety of stretches I've picked up from trainers and Jiu Jitsu players. I do a lot of static and active stretching. With the amount of Jits I'm doing, I would not feel anywhere near as good as I do without heavy static stretching.
Stability ball is probably the most fun thing ever. There's a ton of exercises you can youtube or whatnot. Basically I get on the ball, and I never get off. Not even if it rolls off the mat or whatever, I always stay on the ball. I do a ton of hip breaks, and I do work a lot on speed and raising my heartrate, but its always form over anything. I play a lot here. Its clearly made my guard passing and base much better.
After I'm done with this I head upstairs and do weight lifting.
2 exercises, barbell
I mostly did kettlebell and sandbag training when I started out, which gave me a different feeling than barbells. I feel a lot stronger when I'm doing squat, press, deadlift...I just think they are better for me at this point for overall strength gains. Had I started with the barbell, I might feel differently now and prefer the kettlebell, sandbag, bulgarian bag approach.
Mostly I don't lift very heavy or high reps. I just lift consistently with the focus that my lifting is for injury prevention more than anything. Because I'm using a barbell, I'm going to get stronger (the gains are quick). My job is just to lift consistently.
When I'm done with two basic barbell lifts, I'll head down and swim for twenty minutes.
Jiu Jitsu is definitely a skill based sport, but swimming might be the best example of this. It doesn't matter how much power or speed you exert, if your stroke sucks you aren't going to go anywhere in the water. In Jiu Jitsu, you can definitely get away with just being a good athlete and rough sometimes, but in my experience you'll never beat the best guys that way. The technique gap widens tremendously as you advance; it becomes very apparent how precise the best guys are when you roll with them.
They understand their positions and how to get to them. Their technique is battle forged through unique high stress environments you cannot recreate with circuits. Like swimming, if you just try to be a fucking animal and rip through their grips, you won't go far.
I write this having seen how tremendous a tool athleticism, will, and aggression can be for Jiu Jitsu. It can often be the deciding factor, especially if technique is equal or relatively close. But, I really feel Jiu Jitsu is a skill based sport first. So, doing something like swimming that forces me to concentrate on my form in order to get results is forging good training habits. At least that's part of my rational for it being the final piece of my workout.
It also loosens me up after lifting. Its a different type of relaxation and fatigue then any exercise, and I'm not really hurting when I'm done with it.
20-Stretch/Ball
20-Weights
20-Swimming
Not really hard, but fun and refreshing.
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