strength and conditioning for bjj Archives

Martial Artists Don’t Get It

Brazilian Jiujitsu is a sport which demands a lot of energy. Some adapt extremely well to the demands and their bodies become better able to express energy – both in the short term (strength) as well as the long term (endurance). Others adapt less well. Poor adaptation can stem from many causes. Oftentimes, the demands of ordinary sport participation ((practice and competition) are insufficient. These “deficiencies in demand” can be corrected by adding “supplemental” forms of training. Strength and conditioning is not a sport. It is a special form of supplemental training that targets deficiencies in demand for the purpose of fulfilling an athlete’s potential to express energy.

To maximize the benefits of strength and conditioning, it is useful to understand that strength and conditioning is supplemental and it is meant to correct deficiencies. This mental reference should encourage the careful addition of training stress. Some parts of an athlete’s body will be severely overtrained (short-term potential fulfilled) while others may be significantly undertrained (short-term potential unfulfilled). Most often, I see martial artists being smashed by extensive whole-body programs that simply wreck recovery and discourage participation. If an athlete’s stress tolerance only has room for additional grip and neck strengthening why are they doing squats, deadlifts, box jumps, HIIT, bench presses, kettlebell snatches and monkey contortions? Most programs for martial artists have zero benefits – only drawbacks. A weight room and strength equipment are a massive benefit as they allow training to be precise and predictable. For example, it is possible to measurably increase an athlete’s grip strength while completely avoiding stress to areas that may be vulnerable (such as their lower back, neck, knees shoulders etc.).

Exercises which bear no resemblance to BJJ abilities simply amount to more soreness and injuries with zero benefit

The whole point of strength and conditioning is to improve performance via increasing the potential to express energy. You want more energy at your disposal when you execute BJJ specific abilities like arm bars, grip breaking, chokes, framing, over-hooking, under-hooking, escapes, takedowns etc. etc. Always keep in mind our bodies will only enhance the energy expression capabilities of the systems that receive the demand. Clearly, strengthening your butt will not result in an improved ability to finish a rear naked choke. Strength and conditioning exercises must match abilities in terms of posture, muscle use, speed, duration and force output. This requirement for “specificity” is very nuanced – few athletes and coaches get it! For now, please consider that if the exercise you are performing (or contemplating performing) doesn’t look or feel very similar to the ability you want to enhance it is likely worthless. Consider as well that anyone teaching strength and conditioning for BJJ must be an expert in BJJ techniques. If they can’t demonstrate the techniques how can their exercises be relevant? BTW specificity also applies to flexibility as well – primal movement classes are a whole lot of work which will never improve BJJ abilities such as re-guarding.

The ability to meat hook, the ability to overhook and the ability to keep locked ankles are examples of BJJ abilities that use specific muscles and energy systems

If you are an experienced, hard-training athlete that wants to increase the amount of energy that is backing your martial arts skills consider supplemental strength and conditioning. One or two exercises are fine – you don’t need to commit to “buckshot” workouts. Determine which abilities you want to work on and look for exercises that match. At the very least do not participate in completely unrelated sports like Crossfit, gymnastics, olympic lifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting or acrobatics.

Time to get it

By taro

The Most Overlooked Muscles in MMA

All the glorified MMA conditioning videos and articles have one thing in common – none of them make an in depth attempt to properly train the hamstrings or calves. The knee flexors are crucial for striking and grappling performance as well as career longevity. Consider the following muscular functions:

– Drives the hips and propels the body forward
– Provides the mass necessary for impact and knockouts
– Powers the legs ability to clamp and squeeze opponents in a wide variety of grappling situations
– Lowers the centre of gravity
– Reinforces and aligns the knee

Every striker I have ever spoken to repeats “you hit with your hips”. Despite this mantra no one considers what is responsible for snapping the hips forward. Enlightenment only occurs after a fighter suffers an injury to either a calf or hamstring. Pain at the back of the leg completely inhibits hip drive and punches as well as kicks become anemic. Fighters often lament how increased muscular bodyweight makes them feel slow and sluggish. This perception won’t occur with appropriate ankle training. Powerful, well conditioned calves will make you feel light on your feet.

Strikers rely on the weight of muscles as much as they rely on their ability to generate strength and power. Would you rather get hit by a eight ounce bat or a thirty eight ounce bat? Calf mass provides the momentum that converts head kicks into knockouts and leg kicks into shock. Leg mass also serves as an anchor from which it becomes possible to accelerate the hip. Momentum and inertia are terms from fundamental biomechanics that should be familiar to all fighters.

In grappling, the legs are an awesome tool for controlling opponents. The hamstrings and calves are heavily relied upon to squeeze out any space behind the knee and clamp down on legs, necks, hips and torsos. Imagine trying to take and maintain back control without knee flexors. Attempts at arm-bars and triangles would be fruitless! For Judokas, hamstring and calf development is a major asset. If your uchimata is impotent, training the back of your legs provides an edge.

For a world champion, Marcelo Garcia has a physical structure that seems relatively unremarkable – until you see his calves. It looks as if fifty percent of his bodyweight is below the knee! Like those punching bags which right themselves (thanks to a heavy base of sand), Professor Garcia’s low centre of gravity makes him hard to sweep. Marcelo always returns feet to floor. Muscle provides more than strength and power, it can be used to strategically distribute weight.

Both the hamstrings and calves have muscular heads which cross the knee joint. These muscles directly influence the strength and alignment of the leg. To minimize the chance of knee injury it is imperative to have a high strength to length ratio. Long legs which are narrow and weak will be prone to injury. Physics favours those with strong, thick and short legs. Size and strength, however, do not guarantee good knee alignment. Good alignment helps prevent the occurrence of injuries by evenly distributing stress. Poor alignment concentrates stress and structures that bear the greatest burden become vulnerable. If you want your knees to support a long martial art career you had better learn how to manage (stretch and strengthen) your hamstrings and calves!

Haphazard performance of deadlifts, hamstring curls or kettlebell and sled exercises will not improve your martial art performance. Proper hamstring and calf training demands an in-depth analysis of movement and muscle function. The right muscle fibres have to be targeted with effective exercises and programs. Any errors and your efforts will be fruitless. Hopefully this brief discourse inspires more coaches and athletes to comprehensively contemplate the calves and hamstrings!

Workshop! Strength and Conditioning for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

Bodybuilding, powerlifting, crossfit and gymnastic programs do not improve BJJ performance. The physical demands of these programs do not match the demands of BJJ practice or competition. Such non-specific training results in decreased energy output, increased incidence of injury and diminished confidence. Customized strength and conditioning programs, on the other hand, target muscles and energy systems that are relevant to BJJ performance. Specific training increases energy output, reduces the incidence of injury and improves confidence! Take your first step to developing a successful strength and conditioning program for BJJ and attend this three hour workshop.

Attendees will learn:

Why BJJ specific muscles are untrained by most generic exercise programs

What type of energy metabolism is BJJ specific

How to perform key exercises

How to perform key stretches

What type of training heals injury and improves resilience

High level BJJ performance relies on energy. Strength and conditioning is the ultimate tool for developing energy-producing systems capable of victory.

Where: Openmat MMA, 593 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON

When: Saturday Dec. 19th 2015

2:00pm to 5:00pm

Cost: 60.00$

Spaces are limited! Please register at tarodomuscle@gmail.com

By taro

Six Revelations About Neck Pain

A great scourge has descended upon the athletic and sedentary people of the land. Many people are being seen roaming the fields and streets with cockeyed posture. Closer inspection reveals the issue – the people cannot hold their heads high! At first, a widespread lack of self-esteem was blamed for this affliction. Now, after much fruitless introspection, it has become apparent the cause is physical. Men and women of all types are suffering from neck pain! The short-term solution economy is thriving on neck pain. Pain-killing pills, lotions and potions are selling at an all-time high. None address the root cause. Read the following revelations and take a (upright) step toward a neck pain solution.

1. Neck pain has a mechanical basis

The structure of the neck is formed by hard bone and elastic muscle. The alignment of bone and the state of muscle depends upon imposed physical demands. The neck will not change without mechanical stimuli! Drugs and other force-less therapies are not long-term solutions for neck pain. Stretching and other soft tissue mangement techniques combined with exercise are the best weapons available for battling neck pain.

2. Blame your balance!

The body alters bone alignment to keep its mass evenly distributed. If the head moves forward of the body’s centre of mass the thoracic spine moves back to compensate (causing characteristic rounding of the shoulders). Fat on the stomach also shifts weight ahead of the centre of mass. To balance itself, the body pushes the sacrum out towards the rear (causing the glutes to stick out or “duck butt”).

3. The curves tell the tale

Spinal curvature often dictates the health of bone and surrounding tissue. For example, the inside part of a curve (where the edges of the vertebrae are compressed together) can feature arthritis, pinched nerves and shortened (tight) muscles. The outside part of the curve (where the edges are spread apart) can feature inter-vertebral hernias, strained ligaments and lengthened muscles.

4. In general, you should be trying to reduce excessive spinal curvature

Keep in mind that the spine can bend front to back as well as sideways. When addressing pain, sideways curvature often takes priority! Curve management can be accomplished by strengthening lengthened muscle tissue and stretching shortened tissue. Also, balance your spine’s exposure to off-centre loads.

5. You can’t do the same thing on both sides of the body!

To straighten a bend the status quo must change! In simple terms, the inside of a bent spine must be stretched and the outside must be strengthened. Symmetical exercise won’t change anything! The most effective therapies treat the left and right side of the body differently.

6. Maintenance is required!

The body always gravitates toward the same tendencies. Lifetime pain management requires a lifetime committment to appropriate strength training and stretching. Luckily, this approach to pain management is painless, straightforward and devoid of the side effects of invasive therapies!

Neck pain can cause a lot of frustration and anxiety. Logical, anatomy-based solutions absolutely exist. If you want to learn more you must attend a tarodo seminar! The empowering effects of knowledge will have you holding your head high!