More On Supplemental Conditioning With Kettlebells

Considering a supplemental conditioning program many of you might ask, why would I need to train for conditioning apart from BJJ training itself?

This is a good question.

Well although your main training on the mat is going to be one of the primary and direct sources of your conditioning as you're working specifically on the movements, resistance and energy you'll need to perform on the mats.

The truth is though that if you rely solely on your BJJ training and sparring for conditioning, then you'll be opening the door to an inevitable injury.

Why?

Simply put, you will never be able to properly condition yourself against an injury through this process for the simple reason that you'll never be able to push your joints and muscles past the point needed to train BJJ.

Think about it, although you'll be conditioning your body to perform and through the performance of the specific activity, BJJ.
You won't be conditioning your body to perform past the activity and the moment your body is forced to go beyond the limits of your training be it in competition or going hard, be it range of motion, strength, etc,... this is the moment you open yourself up to an injury. Not to mention you also are limiting your performance in terms of strength and endurance, to the limits of your grappling training.

Makes sense?

This is exactly why you need a supplemental conditioning program that takes you past the usual resistance you experience during rolling on the mat and conditions you to withstand greater stress than you would normally experience during BJJ especially stress that could lead to injury.

Now when it comes to deciding on what conditioning program and tools to use, be it bodyweight barbells, kettlebells, etc,... You'll want to choose one that has a proven track record for producing results.

You can also use a combination of tools, like, kettlebells and bodyweight.
Ideally you'll want to use a tool and approach that works well around your BJJ training and doesn't detract your time and energy from it.

This is where kettlebell training really shines through.

There is very little time needed to get in effective workouts, 20 minutes 3-5 times a week. The workouts can be extremely intense, with minimum time needed for recovery and minimum chance of injury if performed properly.

When performed properly and with the right amount of intensity kettlebell training will condition your muscles, joints, bones, and cardiovascular system, safely beyond what grappling training can.

Now, I want to go over two critical points I've mentioned when deciding on and beginning a conditioning program for BJJ.

The first point is that you'll want to make sure the program doesn't take away from or detract from your time and energy that you can spend on the mats. It's got to be something you can do for under an hour (preferably less) a few times a week that will bring you results and the second is that it has to involve very little chance of causing an injury or needing alot of recovery time.
This is why traditional weight training or a general weight lifting program is not ideal.
It not only takes too much time but will leave you with spending too much time recovering as well as opening the door to potential injuries from overuse through overtraining.

Don't make the same mistakes that countless BJJ players and mixed martial artists I've met have made in getting an injury that is either career ending or debilitating to the point of either having to quit training or being seriously sidelined for months.

Trust me, you'll want to do everything you can to prevent this from ever happening.

There are several programs available that are great for BJJ conditioning that meet the criteria I talked about.

The one that I recommend as one of the best in terms of effectiveness and cost is Jason's Kettlebell Training For BJJ 2.0 system.

Check out another great example of his system on the blog by clicking the link.

Take the system for a test drive and see for yourself the difference it will make. If you're not convinced there is a full money back refund. But that's not what's going to happen, you will be so blown away by the results as you'll have made a solid investment in your long term BJJ career that you'll know for yourself that these are effective conditioning tools.

Supplemental Training For BJJ

Continuing where we left off last post I'd like to share this video with everyone on combining Kettlebell training with bodyweight training for peak conditioning.

Just click on the link to watch the video.



Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments, I'll be back with some comments on supplemental conditioning in the next post.

Conditioning For BJJ And MMA.

When it comes to conditioning programs for both BJJ and MMA, grapplers and mixed martial artists have many options available for getting in functional shape and improving everything from the flexibility to explosive power. endurance, strength and mental toughness needed to perform at the highest level in their sport.

Ideally the conditioning program should take little time so it doesn't get in the way of your mat time.

You'll want something you can do on your days off the mat or in the case of endurance training, something you can do after your BJJ training to help increase your cardiovascular and muscular endurance.

Another quick tip that I can suggest is you'll want the training to help prevent injuries and not something that can aggravate or cause an injury that can keep you off the mat so you'll want to stay away from any high stress or impact activities other than BJJ or MMA, as other high impact or stress activities only increase your chances of getting injured either during those activities or through overuse which can then lead to an injury happening while you're grappling.

The ideal components of such a program could include Bodyweight training or calisthenics, properly performed weight training with your specific goals and grappling game in mind and Kettlebell training, again specifically geared to your goals and game.

The key point is that any conditioning program should be geared specifically for your game and should focus and be effective at improving your game.

Here is a great example of kettlebell training geared specifically for grappling and MMA.



Next post I'll be going over more details on the specifics of customizing your conditioning program to your game.

For more great conditioning videos make sure to join me on facebook using the link on the right. I'll be updating the facebook page daily this week with more videos.