Jiu-Jitsu Conditioning: What I Do

I've decided to focus on conditioning during the summer months and leave strength training to the fall and winter. Right now, I'm training jiu-jitsu three days a week, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and doing conditioning work before and after training on Tuesday and Thursday, with full conditioning sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

So what does this mean? My before training conditioning/warmup consists of what I've been doing for a decade now: my matwork series. I try to get in three reps (3:30 min each for a total of 10 minutes work) before class. If I've got time left, I love to do neural charge jumps to rev up my nerve system after what is usually eight hours of sitting at a desk.

My after training conditioning on Tuesdays and Thursdays is a complex of squats and deadlifts, eight sets of five reps each as shown in this great video from TFW founder Martin Rooney.

After that, I'm working on this pull-up series from Russian trainer Pavel Tsatsouline. Note that I do this routine Tuesdays and Thursdays rather than every day. I'll be doing the 65443 routine on Tuesday evening. In between each set of pullups, I do 20 hipscapes down the mat. It works out to five sets or 100 total hipscapes.

On Saturday and Sunday, I do a Martin Rooney-inspired, DB complex with active rest.

Saturday

1/4 mile at 3.7 mph
5 sets: 5 reps upright row, 5 reps bench press
5 sets: 5 reps overhead press, 5 reps Kroc row
one mile at 3.8 mph
3 sets: 5 reps upright row, 5 reps bench press
3 sets: 5 reps overhead press, 5 reps Kroc row
1/2 mile at 3.9 mph
3 sets: 5 reps upright row, 5 reps bench press
3 sets: 5 reps overhead press, 5 reps Kroc row
1/2 mile at 4.0 mph

Sunday

1/4 mile at 3.7 mph
8 sets: 5 reps squat, 5 reps deadlift
one mile at 3.8 mph
4 sets: 5 reps squat, 5 reps deadlift
1/2 mile at 3.9 mph
4 sets: 5 reps squat, 5 reps deadlift
1/2 mile at 4.0 mph

I'm looking to switch this up a little in a few weeks, replacing the squat and deadlift with glute bridges and heavy KB swings, respectively, for a little variation. But this is the basic template for now through mid-July or so.

Acid Tuesday

Berardi complex / LSD 30+

Acid Saturday: "Shadows Run from Themselves"

LSD (long slow distance) / 45+ minutes

Acid Thursday: Meeting of the Spirits

LSD (long slow distance) / 45+ minutes

Acid Tuesday: "These Are the Answers"

LSD (long slow distance) / 45+ minutes

On the Minute Monday

6 single-arm db snatch / 6 minutes

6 thrusters / 6 upright rows / 6 minutes

Acid Weekend: "It is Not Dying"

LSD 30+ / 45+ / 45+

On the Minute Monday

10 single-arm db snatch / 5 minutes

5 thrusters / 5 upright rows / 5 minutes

matwork  /  20 reps

On the Minute Monday

10 thrusters / 10 db upright rows / 5 minutes

10 single-arm db snatch / 5 minutes

3 rounds matwork

Conditioning Day: Threshold Training

matwork / 20 reps / 3 sets / 168 abpm 

Training Day: Thursday

All technique and drilling tonight. That, and focusing on a number of basic movements like the sit-out to set up guard replacement from the turtle, or the 4-square "sit-to-one knee" maneuver to execute a one-hand, outside-to-inside elbow tap to break a knee grip when in sitting guard. Just like on Saturday, when we worked on the armdrag attack from sitting guard that uses what I call the "hip split" to throw your legs to the outside and drive up into the guard passer. I'm actually thinking now of replacing the old-fashioned armdrag from my matwork solo drill with that 4-square movement (Kid Peligro also demonstrates it in The Essential Guard.

So excellent on that score - especially since I'm a big sitting guard guy these days and constantly have to defend very aggressive toreano, knee-grip type passing (Chaim in particular has been especially effective against me with this kind of passing, as has Professor Doug and Brian).

Ran the Live Training session tonight, so I didn't get any rolling of my own tonight. Fortunately, I got in an overdue conditioning workout this morning (50 pound eccentric-less rows, presses, tri ext., and bicep curls + two, 12-minute rounds of box step HICT), so the requisite daily activity was met. This was the second time in the past week that I've been tasked to do black belt-like things around the academy, and I have to admit it is nice to have a little extra responsibility matside.

161.2 on the scale post-train. Given the lack of sparring, I'm not going to complain about that mark.

PreWeek 1: Conditioning/Threshold Training/Matwork

3 of 10s

alt upas
hipscapes
sit-outs
hip splits
backrolls
crossovers
arm drags
hook sweeps
triangles
tech lifts

three sets/ten reps = duration

(4 min duration) 36/26
3 min rest
(3 1/2 min) 40/31
2 min rest
(3 1/4 min) 39/31

I'm going to mix in some of the more explosive cardio conditioning work as part of the PreWeek conditioning insofar as I think explosiveness is a lagging area neurologically, especially since I'm not doing any max strength, alactic work. So the next three weeks will include a mix of early stage aerobic conditioning (cardiac output and tempo method) as well as late stage aerobic conditioning like matwork.

I'd also like to work my way up to 20 rep matwork by mid-February, and doing some of this work early in the training camp should hopefully make that more likely. (BTW, best Nick Diaz line ever, "I don't know why they call it a training camp. I don't see any tents.")