Sunday Scripture: Christian Thibaudeau

I can't help but find a lot of inspiration in listening to some of my favorite strength and conditioning folks, among them Christian Thibaudeau of T-Nation. A lot of what he has to say about weight-training in this passage reminds me of what I think to be true when it comes to jiu-jitsu training.

In the simplest terms, the key to maximum gains lies with increased training frequency and volume. Frequency and volume are obviously tied together, but of the two, frequency is by far the most important factor.

I can accomplish everything I need to maximize gains through increased frequency, which in effect equates to also increasing volume. It's far more effective, at the extreme level, to perform three 30-minute workouts per day than to do the same volume in one 90-minute workout.

Likewise, it's more effective to spread the amount of time per week you devote to training over more days than fewer. For example, let's say that you're currently training four days per week for an hour each workout, a total of four hours per week.

I'm telling you, from my experience, you'd make a lot better progress performing six 40-minute workouts per week. You'd make even greater progress training 35 minutes per day, seven days a week.