bjj drills, lifts, exercises, etc.

[Lozen]

Obviously the best way to kick ass in BJJ is to train BJJ. Barring that, what are your favorite drills, lifts, exercises etc. that transfer over the best to BJJ?

[sean]

Being gay really helps.

 

Just joking.

 

Actually, I know you hate Scott Sonnon but I think Warrior Wellness and Body Flow really helped me out a lot in BJJ.

 

Sean

[Lozen]

Okay, so I'll stretch my hip flexors.

 

Hate's too strong a word!! I think my view of him is sort of like Bob Dylan in that song Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, when he says things such as "you just kind of wasted my precious time" and "Goodbye's too strong a word, so I'll just tell you fare the well" and such.

[sean]

Really cool clip Spectrum posted recently:

 

Sean

[Lozen]

Oh cool. That dude is an SBGi affiliate (Matt Thornton's gym).

[Peregrino]

Besides all the usual training techniques, I would recommend Kurz-style stretching--of course! F'rizzle, if you want to do the Eddie Bravo style "rubber guard," having that extra flexibility (plus some adductor strength) really helps a lot. I recently returned to BJJ training after doing mostly stand-up for the past few years, and I have to say that my crash course in the rubber guard kept me from getting immediately creamed while rolling with the upper belts. Not that I opened up a can of whoop-ass, but it seems to be a great base to work from while adding other techniques that can help you actually, you know, win.

 

Check out the YouTube highlights of Eddie Bravo's match against Royler Gracie, in which Bravo's use of the rubber guard was instrumental in getting Royler to tap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8b8o9h324A

[Christoph]

FlowFit and Intu-Flow had the most carry over benifit for me....especially Flowfit.

Other recomended DVDs that I dont have personal experience with are Stephan Kestings Grappling Drills and Gynastica Natural.

[Lozen]

cool articles here: http://www.grapplearts.com/Articles-And-Interviews.htm

[Peregrino]

For some reason I really geek out on these types of questions. So, here goes my new routine for building the Rubber Guard. Call it "Elastic Steel"--kindalike a Zoolander pose!

 

(Actually, this combination of strength and flexibility training is great for adding power and stability to kicks as well, if you throw in some plyometrics and/or bag work prior to lifting.)

 

1. Warm-up: Joint rotations, light cardio, and dynamic stretches.

 

2. Weighted SQUATS

--Right now I'm doing one light warm-up set followed by four pyramiding sets, though 4 sets of 8-12 (after the warm-up set) works well too.

 

3. Adductor/Abductor training

--Either weighted adductor flyes (i.e., with ankle weights) in 3 sets of 30 reps, or adductor pull-downs in 3 sets of 8-12 (per leg) with weights (standing with ankle tethered to cable machine). (The pull-downs are very intense in their isolating effect.)

--Superset above with side leg raises for the *ab*ductors: Standing (leaning on wall if necessary) with one leg extended in side kick position, 6-8 inches above waist level, and simply lowering to waist level and raising back to starting position. 3 sets of 12-15 reps per leg. Usually I wear ankle weights.

 

4. PNF STRETCHING for BUTT & INNER THIGHS

--Yes, Kurz advocates stretching these muscles right after doing squats and ad/abductor work. They are fresh and especially loose now. It also helps break up the monotony of doing ALL weight work or ALL stretches in a row.

--I include a basic track-and-field butt stretch (30 seconds/side), then go right to the side splits with isometric contractions. For the side split, I do 2-3 reps with 30 second tensions, "gripping" the floor, or I break it down to three grips of increasing intensity for 10 /sec each within each rep. To finish, I do one last rep in the maximally stretched position for that day, "gripping" the floor for about 40-60 seconds.

 

5. DEADLIFT

--I'm not pyramiding right now, but plan to experiment with that later. Currently, I do one warm-up set followed by 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

 

6. Hamstring curls

--3 sets, 8-12 reps. (Hams are already warmed up from deadlifts.)

 

7. Hip flexor cable pulls--if I don't feel my hip flexors have gotten enough work through squats or regular anchored sit-ups, leg-raises, etc.

--Lying on back with weighted cable tethered to ankle. Pull thigh in a straight line to chest, keepin leg as flush as possible.

--2 sets, 8-12 reps (per leg).

 

8. PNF STRETCHING for hamstrings, hip flexors, and lumbars.

--Cobra stretch: 1 rep, 30-60 seconds

--Knee-to-chest iliopsoas stretch: 1 rep, 30 sec/side)

--Any variety of the front fold--single-leg, legs together, or legs opened wide: 2 reps, 30-60 sec.

--FRONT SPLITS: reps are of the same number and duration as those for the side split, but performed on each side.

 

9. Calf/shin lifts.

--(Good for footwork and also stabilizing knee during heavy lifts like the squat.)

--Donkey raises, dumbell raises towards shin (with dumbell held between insteps), etc.

 

10. Final PNF stretches: calves, shins, and upper body if I think it needs it that day.

 

11. Ab training (if it falls on the leg day--I train abs 4-5 days/week). On days I don't deadlift, I add 2-3 sets of hyperextensions (20-25 reps/set). I also do more adductor flyes and side leg raises on the days I don't do adductor pull-downs.

 

12. Kurz also advocates finishing with very LIGHT cardio on these lifting days to improve recovery, if time and circumstances permit. In no way, though, should you do heavy cardio on the same day as heavy lifting, as this would be training at cross-purposes.

 

I only lift for legs once a week, but stretch every day and almost daily do some kind of calisthenic work that includes the lower body (weightless squats or lunges, plyometrics) plus the usual upper body stuff (push-ups and pull-ups).

 

I'm pretty psyched with this routine so far, though I'll have to see how often I can keep it up now that I have yet another schedule change this coming semester.

 

Happy grapplin'!

Peregrino

[Tyciol]

3. Adductor/Abductor training

--Either weighted adductor flyes (i.e., with ankle weights) in 3 sets of 30 reps, or adductor pull-downs in 3 sets of 8-12 (per leg) with weights (standing with ankle tethered to cable machine). (The pull-downs are very intense in their isolating effect.)

--Superset above with side leg raises for the *ab*ductors: Standing (leaning on wall if necessary) with one leg extended in side kick position, 6-8 inches above waist level, and simply lowering to waist level and raising back to starting position. 3 sets of 12-15 reps per leg. Usually I wear ankle weights.

One thing I wonder about doing things like this: the more we increase the height we raise our foot to in the abductor strengthening movement, that muscle is shortening and we deal with over-active insufficiency challenge. Conversely, when we train adductor flies, the lower we bring our feet, the muscle is lengthening and we deal with under-active insufficiency challenge.

 

What it makes me wonder is, should we be doing a movement to stretch the abductors? The problem is that the thighs get in each other's way so it seems that to adduct past neutral position to do a stretched abductor movement, you need to either abduct the other thigh or else splay them (one thigh flexed the other extended) to clear room to go further.

 

Rather than visualizing it this way, another is with hip tilt. Like for example, if we lead a leg raise to the side with our abductors by tilting our kicking leg's up up first (easy way to learn this: keep feet flat and lift 1 leg off the ground) this would pre-stretch the abductor and give a wider range of movement.

 

Conversely, since this is one way the foot gains height, we might get a false sense of how high 1 leg can raise via its own flexibility with both hips are contributing. Best example of this is how for a back kick, most people's motion comes from flexion of the base leg rather than extension of kicking leg.