Any BJJ / Wrestlers / Grapplers on here?

RhysL5982
RhysL5982 Posts: 32 Member
in Fitness and Exercise

Just seeing if there are any other grappler on here. Do you do any other strength and conditioning outside of grappling?

Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 2,124 Member
    edited August 27

    I don't, but from what very little I know about it, resistance training is recommended. Ofc it's recommended in general anyway, but specifically for BJJ to help with injury prevention and extra strength will help there too.

  • RhysL5982
    RhysL5982 Posts: 32 Member

    Yes was just curious what other grapplers do, I lift full body 3x a week and have started using the rower 2x a week.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,559 Community Helper
    edited August 27

    I used to do Chinese martial arts - late husband was an instructor - and did cross-train including some lifting at the time. My seriousness factor was only middling, though, admittedly. Lifting improves performance at pretty much any other sport. For the grappling parts of the martial arts I studied, some flexibility/mobility work was also helpful.

    Rower can be great for cross-training, with a caveat: Most rowing machines don't have resistance settings, though often people mistake one of the settings they do have for resistance. Generally, a flywheel or water-tank rower will make the workout harder the more effort the user puts into the flywheel/tank. A hard stroke makes the next stroke harder, in effect.

    That also means that long-run, getting a good workout depends on having at least moderately good technique, and rowing is more technical than most other machines. On top of that, the majority of gym trainers don't actually know good technique or teach it properly. It's rare to see someone in a gym who's using even reasonable technique.

    You may be doing just fine, but if you find that you're setting the "resistance" at max, eventually flying up and down at 30ish or more strokes per minute, and feeling like it's not strenuous enough . . . that's an indication of technique problems. It's possible to get a strenuous workout on a good flywheel-style rowing machine at under 20 strokes per minute with the damper setting mid-range. That may not be the way to do every strenuous workout, but if a person can't get intensity that way, something is wrong.

    There are decent beginner videos online from outfits like Concept 2 and Dark Horse Rowing.

    I'm saying this as someone who's been rowing for 20+ years, water and machine; has gotten USrowing coaching education and coaching certifications; and more.

    These days, I mostly row. 😉 Lots.

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