Less is more, when more is less

Jiu-Jitsu is tiring on the body, everyone and their mom who trains knows this...yet, as grapplers we seem to make it 100x harder on ourselves by pushing it to the limit every time we step foot in the gym. What many of us new to the game, and even some of the old schoolers don't realize is that if your body can't stand up to the day in and day out harsh routine that is jiu-jitsu, then your game is  good as dead.

The gym that I attend is very competition oriented, and although there are barely any meatheads there...we go hard. From the little 115lb girl in the pink gi to the 270lb ex-wrestler...that's just how we do it. But after a good class with specifics, nobody but a few have enough gas in them to roll more than 2 rounds (myself included). This is pretty standard at all the gyms I have attended.

So I started to think about what the problem could possibly be and I realized that its not that we train too much, its that we train too hard and never have the chance to recover. The true jiu-jitsu lifestyle does not exist for many Americans, so we end up with a sort of pseudo lifestyle that does not work well for the sport. The average guy/gal in the gym puts in a 40+ hour work week, goes straight to the gym and trains for two hours. Add in kids, weightlifting, wife/girlfriend, and other things and you can see why recovery is so difficult when you're rolling at 100% a few nights a week.

If you have this typical American life, then you should take what I am about to say very seriously "less is more, when more is less!" For some odd reason, this makes sense to me and if it doesn't to you then you will get the gist of it in a few. We all know that more mat time equals better technique right? We also know that jiu-jitsu is based on leverage, and not really strength and speed (although it helps) right? So why in the world do we continue to go in the gym and train at 100%, only to have to take days off because we are burned out????? Let go my ego.

Your goal in jiu-jitsu should be to get your technique solid and that's it. Not to go in the gym and destroy all humans for two hours and then sit at home for two days because your legs and arms feel like noodles and your neck is stuck at 45 degree angle. How will you get better doing that? The solution and best case is to train everyday at 70%. The keyword in there is everyday, because you will be able to do just that. Not only will your technique improve because you are on the mats everyday (remember 10,000 hours), but you are also giving your body a feasible load to recover from. Advice: Training hard does not mean going really fast and abandoning all technique.

The Gist: Training at a lower intensity, consistently will not only make you more resistant to burn outs and fatigue, but also improve your technique.

Don't forget to condition!
Thanks for reading