TGIF: Electric Light Orchestra

What a ten-year old burientopteam was rocking in the second half of the Seventies.

Five Grappling PPV This Weekend - Discount Ends Thursday

If you are thinking about watching the Super League event sponsored by Five Grappling this weekend, then you've got about 24 hours to save 20% on the PPV fee of $25.

The event features two tournaments - women's and men's - as well as a pair of superfights that should be very entertaining. Keenan and Otavio have never competed against one another (check out this preview of their upcoming contest). But Joao Miyao and Gary Tonon participated in a closely contested match as brown belts a few years ago. Here's a preview of their upcomintg Five Grappling match. And here are links to the pair's first contest (Part 1 and Part 2).

Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu: Generally Speaking

Question: Which off-mat, general conditioning technique is best for the jiu-jitsu artist?  

A. Running
B. Cycling
C. Rowing
D. Climbing
E. Other

Answer: A few years ago, a teammate and fellow black belt talked about how his BMX cycling was helping his guard work, and I've been intrigued ever since.

Now that I've joined a commercial gym and have access to a few resources, I'm going to start doing more of my general aerobic work on the bike instead of the treadmill or box step.

The "why" here is straightforward.  Pedaling doesn't exactly mimic the kind of extending and contracting with the legs that takes place in the guard (especially the open guard).  But it is impressively close - especially when we remember that we are talking about general rather than specific conditioning in this instance.

I'm also a big fan of rowing. In fact, I'm thinking that a combination of cycling and rowing might be optimal forms of general conditioning for jiu-jitsu artists. Both provide opportunities to improve aerobic capacity/output and power through LSD and intervals. And even though it's hard to advocate additional sitting in anyone's life, there's a strong argument that cycling might trump running for jiu-jitsu artists looking for conditioning techniques that are both effective and mimic as much as possible jiu-jitsu movements.

Rowing involves a great degree of upper body, horizontal pulling - which also has especially guard-friendly applications in terms of general conditioning. Like cycling, rowing has the "sitting down problem", but insofar as we're focused on which general conditioning activities are most supportive of jiu-jitsu, the benefits of 20-30 minutes cycling or rowing likely outweigh the downside of further improving the weight-bearing ability of your backside.

As for climbing, I think climbing as a conditioning strategy for jiu-jitsu is a perfect example of the "jiu-jitsu is isometric" fallacy that you still hear from some folks from time to time.

And with regard to the "Other" category, there are general conditioning strategies and resources, the most interesting to me being tools like the Versaclimber. And while the VersaClimber is a very attractive piece of equipment, most people have a much harder time accessing one compared to a bike or even a rowing machine - to say nothing of a treadmill, track, or trail.

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Read previous installments of my Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu series:

• Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu
• Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu: Programming

Metrics: July 13 - 18

Training Days: Tue / Thu 

Four Week training average: 2.25

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 12

Strength & Conditioning

HICT (100 hipscapes) - Tue

HICT (100 hipscapes) - Thu

Weight

156.6 lbs - Tue

157.4 lbs - Thu

Live Training

none

McGregor v. Duffy: Katagatame

All I Want for Christmas is Roger Gracie's Guard

Why I Fight: Conor McGregor

“I didn’t get into this game because of the sport, or because of sport. I was never interested in sport fighting. When I started training for combat sports, for self- defense, it was never to win a national title or never to win anything like that. I don’t give a shit about that. 

I done it to be able to defend myself in any situation that I found myself in. Because I felt if I was finding myself in any situation, I wanted to be able to be comfortable in them. 

That’s why I began doing this: to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”

Metrics: June 28 - July 4

Training Days: Tue / Thu 

Four Week training average: 2.25

Techniques of the Week

GB Curriculum Week 10

Strength & Conditioning

HICT (100 hipscapes) - Tue

HICT (100 hipscapes) - Thu

Weight

157.8 lbs - Tue

155.8 lbs - Thu

Live Training
none