Danaher & Askren on Jiu-Jitsu Training Styles

John Danaher and Ben Askren talk about the differences between training for jiu-jitsu and training for wrestling and how the former can benefit from adopting aspects of the latter.

"It's my personal belief that jiu-jitsu sees enormous technical change year-by-year. Every year there are new techniques coming in, there's fascinating, new stuff coming in all the time. But jiu-jitsu almost never sees innovation in training methodology. You see massive innovations in technique. Zero innovations in training. And that's got to change. If jiu-jitsu is going to mature as a sport, that's got to change."

--Danaher on building a jiu-jitsu program in the image of amateur wrestling.

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O Minotinho

With the 2017-2018 season just ended a little while ago, I'll have to post some updates on what training has been like this year.

My workout log is now at the T-Nation forums, for folks who like to follow that sort of thing. I'm big into weightlifting these days, both in and of itself as well as a supplement to my jiu-jitsu training. I'm learning a lot - in addition to trying to get a little bit bigger, and a lot stronger.

Burien Top Team Training Log: Making the Minotaur

I'm following a seasonal approach to weight training right now. From now until late December, I am in Autumn or Hypertrophy phase. Emphasis here is on getting bigger and stronger (in that order, more or less). At a maximum, I don't want to get above the IBJJF lightweight no-gi max of 162 (about 12-15 pounds more than my current weight). But I'm not trying to be a "walk around featherweight" any more.

The program I'm following is one I've done before: Boring But Big #2 by Jim Wendler. I'm weight training 4x/week for three weeks, then taking the fourth week off as a deload (and also because I've got to travel for work).

Here's the short version on my thinking. There's no point in getting significantly smaller - and staying that way - if I'm not competing (and maybe not even if I were). The guys I train with at the gym who are my toughest partners are (almost) all above 150 - most above 160. And every now and then, especially when I'm teaching, I end up matched with a 185+ pound white or blue belt.

I've got no problem dialing it down on the strength side when training with smaller folks. But for longevity's sake, being as big and strong as I can be while staying within "cutting range" of 148 (the IBJJF featherweight no-gi limit) should be a much a better plan going forward.

I'm estimating that means a top side weight max of 162. That's no target. But if I like the strength and body composition changes, I'll allow myself to gain up to that point.

See you on the mat and in the gym!

Image By Marsyas - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1524909