Why do so many people in bjj not lift weights

[CUAPO]

I ain no expert but I think mobility and flexibility could be the reason since you give up a bit of it when you bulk up. Of course, that might be solved by extra stretching etc.

 

[Foppa21]

Like most have said already, it's the number of minutes you have in a day and what you want to get out of it.

Yeah it would most definitely be beneficial to get on a S&C program to supplement one's jiu jitsu. But it's just that, supplementation. I personally don't bother unless I'm preparing for a tournament or something. I'd rather in that time do something else (be it just relax and take time out and do other things, or drill/learn new techniques).

At the end of the day, if a guy has got let's say 2-3 hours a week (so that's 2 or 3 classes a week depending on the traditional class lengths) they'd be crazy to take one of those sessions out off ht mat to lift weights. That old adage "If you want to get better at jiu jitsu, do more jiu jitsu" is way more applicable if you don't really have time to do other things

 

[nefti]

It does help but I think that things like kettlebell helps more than lifts such as benching.

 

[closequarters]

Damn bro that sucks, I seem to be holding up pretty well but I'm not even 25, I get some tendonitis in my wrist that flares up after grappling however it's pretty minor and goes away quickly.

I’m super jealous of grapplers who can still lift heavy. I don’t know how you guys do it. If I wanna lift, I have to let my joints heal up for like 4-5 days just to go lift lightly.

 

[imarayda]

It has to already be something you enjoy. I know a lot of bjj guys who talk about trying to lift weights and they just don't like it. For me its easy to work out and train often, but I was already working out consistently before I started training bjj.

 

[Bubblun]

Strong glutes/legs crucial for bridging and creating space against a heavier opponent if you're stuck.

Using your reasoning strong glutes are important for basically every movement in every sport, but in practice you could be world champion in many sport without touching a barbell in your life, including jiu jitsu.

 

[anaconda]

Are you assuming any increase in the size of Twin B due to lifting? If so, how much weight gain ralative to Twin A?

I'm assuming he'll gain strength and some weight, but nothing crazy. Again, we're talking 3x a week of lifting. Training 2x as much as someone makes a world of difference.

 

[anaconda]

Strong glutes/legs crucial for bridging and creating space against a heavier opponent if you're stuck.

Actually it's completely debatable considering your whole analogy is opinionated.
More bjj will make you more technically proficient at bjj but it won't make you the better overall grappler, proof is the girls or skinny guys that been doing bjj for years longer than me (brown belts), are you telling me you never rolled with someone who wasn't very physical and purposely tonned it down a notch but in the back of your head you know you could explode out of everything?
Strength is a massive part of bjj, people talk about grip strength (rope climbs, rope pullups) feel the grip of someone who deadlifts over 400lbs no straps.

Bjj like any other sport athletes will do better and learn faster, just because Charlie has been playing basketball for 4 years doesn't mean he has a better jumpshot than David, who became more proficient in the jumpshot in two years.
It all depends on the person but everyone would benefit from being strong.

There's too many bjj hipsters greasing their beards, riding longboards claiming lifting weights holds no benefit that's my point, obviously bjj should be first, but strength is crucial that's not debatable

I agree however I have rolled with 155lbs guys that are weak and 155lbs guys that are strong and the difference is massive, those guys would be in the same weight class.
Training like I do a modified 5x5 dropping down to heavy sets of 3 will yeild very little mass gain more so strength.

"In the back of your head you know you could explode out of everything"

lol.

How long have you been training? They way you apply your lifting "expertise" to how you think it will benefit bjj demonstrates your lack of knowledge.

And no, my analogy is not "opinionated." What does that even mean? My analogy relies on a set of assumptions to make a point. I tried to remove as many variables as possible.

Let me ask you a question, clearly: Two genetically identical individuals start training on day 1. One guy lifts 5x5 3x a week and does bjj 3x a week. One guy does bjj 6x a week.

After 5 years, who is the better grappler? Assume diet, life, sleep habits, etc, are all exactly the same between the two guys. The only variable is time on the mat.

And please stop arguing against a strawman - I never claimed lifting isn't beneficial. It's hugely beneficial for a myriad of reasons and just about everyone that trains would be better off lifting in addition to grappling. However it comes back to priorities - if my priority is simply to get better at grappling, and time is a limited commodity where I have to make a tradeoff, I'm going to say training more, especially for people training only a few years, will be far more beneficial.

 

[Balto]

I'm assuming he'll gain strength and some weight, but nothing crazy. Again, we're talking 3x a week of lifting. Training 2x as much as someone makes a world of difference.

Yep. I see this scenario all the time.

One of the funny things I see is students come up to me and say "Hey coach I feel like I'm stuck in a plateau. I think I need to do something different." Then I ask them what they think they should do differently.

The answer is almost always something like "I need to start rock climbing for my grips" or "I need to do more hill sprints to up my cardio" or "I need to take up Yoga so I can play guard better."

I have to remind them that the best answer is usually to just get more out of their BJJ training. It's rarely even adding additional hours of training. Most of the time they would do better just by taking their same existing hours of BJJ training and using them more efficiently.

Physical attributes certainly make a difference. But especially in a weight class sport like BJJ, skill is by far the dominant factor in matches. It is different in an Absolute division but within a 10-15 lb weight class, it's almost always coming down to skill for a typical match.

That doesn't mean never do any outside S&C, but things need to be kept in perspective if the goal is to win more BJJ matches.

 

[shortlefthook]

"In the back of your head you know you could explode out of everything"

lol.

How long have you been training? They way you apply your lifting "expertise" to how you think it will benefit bjj demonstrates your lack of knowledge.

And no, my analogy is not "opinionated." What does that even mean? My analogy relies on a set of assumptions to make a point. I tried to remove as many variables as possible.

Let me ask you a question, clearly: Two genetically identical individuals start training on day 1. One guy lifts 5x5 3x a week and does bjj 3x a week. One guy does bjj 6x a week.

After 5 years, who is the better grappler? Assume diet, life, sleep habits, etc, are all exactly the same between the two guys. The only variable is time on the mat.

And please stop arguing against a strawman - I never claimed lifting isn't beneficial. It's hugely beneficial for a myriad of reasons and just about everyone that trains would be better off lifting in addition to grappling. However it comes back to priorities - if my priority is simply to get better at grappling, and time is a limited commodity where I have to make a tradeoff, I'm going to say training more, especially for people training only a few years, will be far more beneficial.

life isn't fair, in a fair world the more time you put into bjj the better you are than your peers.
that's not reality and never will be, if you create a unrealistic scenario where two identically beings exist by those specific standards, than yeah whoever does more bjj is going to be better at bjj hands down, that was never my argument.
My point is for the REAL world you know the unfair world, where there's not identical people living identical sleep and eating schedules.

Athletes pick up things faster than people who aren't naturally atheletic/coordinated, Eddie bravo spoke on this about some break dancers he was training, their ability to control their body's and flexibility had them extremely dangerous within a couple weeks. someone without that level of strength, mobility could spend twice as long doing bjj and not get the same out of it, that's a fact about anything in life wheather you want to admit it or not.

Guy A and guy B aren't on a level playing feild cause everybody is different, if guy A is naturally more flexible, stronger ect He could easily be far less bjj and gain more because he won't be facing a uphill battle everytime he hits that mats



And what you never rolled with someone who was significantly weaker than you?
Yeah I hold back so I can I get the most out the training.
Yea me holding back so I can remain technical makes no sense?
Have you ever competed? You realize all the gentle art bullshit goes out the window when your chest is getting bruised from guys smashing their elbow's into your chest, pure raw strength on can openers ect.

Yep. I see this scenario all the time.

One of the funny things I see is students come up to me and say "Hey coach I feel like I'm stuck in a plateau. I think I need to do something different." Then I ask them what they think they should do differently.

The answer is almost always something like "I need to start rock climbing for my grips" or "I need to do more hill sprints to up my cardio" or "I need to take up Yoga so I can play guard better."

I have to remind them that the best answer is usually to just get more out of their BJJ training. It's rarely even adding additional hours of training. Most of the time they would do better just by taking their same existing hours of BJJ training and using them more efficiently.

Physical attributes certainly make a difference. But especially in a weight class sport like BJJ, skill is by far the dominant factor in matches. It is different in an Absolute division but within a 10-15 lb weight class, it's almost always coming down to skill for a typical match.

That doesn't mean never do any outside S&C, but things need to be kept in perspective if the goal is to win more BJJ matches.

If someone takes the time to actually build mobility, and strength they may be able to be more efficient in their training sessions instead of running a uphill battle Everytime they hit the mat.

You agreed with my point though that someone could do less bjj than another person and be better, cause obviously like anything in life not everybody is on the same learning curve and atheletic ability/strength plays a huge factor in your starting point and your rate in which you improve.

 

[Lenny7]

Why do so many people who lift weights not train JJ?

 

[anaconda]

life isn't fair, in a fair world the more time you put into bjj the better you are than your peers.
that's not reality and never will be, if you create a unrealistic scenario where two identically beings exist by those specific standards, than yeah whoever does more bjj is going to be better at bjj hands down, that was never my argument.
My point is for the REAL world you know the unfair world, where there's not identical people living identical sleep and eating schedules.

Athletes pick up things faster than people who aren't naturally atheletic/coordinated, Eddie bravo spoke on this about some break dancers he was training, their ability to control their body's and flexibility had them extremely dangerous within a couple weeks. someone without that level of strength, mobility could spend twice as long doing bjj and not get the same out of it, that's a fact about anything in life wheather you want to admit it or not.

Guy A and guy B aren't on a level playing feild cause everybody is different, if guy A is naturally more flexible, stronger ect He could easily be far less bjj and gain more because he won't be facing a uphill battle everytime he hits that mats



And what you never rolled with someone who was significantly weaker than you?
Yeah I hold back so I can I get the most out the training.
Yea me holding back so I can remain technical makes no sense?
Have you ever competed? You realize all the gentle art bullshit goes out the window when your chest is getting bruised from guys smashing their elbow's into your chest, pure raw strength on can openers ect.


If someone takes the time to actually build mobility, and strength they may be able to be more efficient in their training sessions instead of running a uphill battle Everytime they hit the mat.

You agreed with my point though that someone could do less bjj than another person and be better, cause obviously like anything in life not everybody is on the same learning curve and atheletic ability/strength plays a huge factor in your starting point and your rate in which you improve.

Are you being serious now? I'm not sure if you just don't understand the arguments or just haven't trained very long. How long have you trained? How many competitions have you done?

Guys bruising your chest with elbows? Muscling can openers? Who are you training with?????

I guess in your gym it's either lift or die

Most good gyms aren't like that. If you are super athletic and you want to be better at grappling, spend more time grappling.

If you are unathletic and want to be better at grappling, guess what? Spend more time grappling.

The whole point of comparing two similar individuals is to remove as many variables possible. Theoretically that's how you would conduct an experiment.

If one guy is a super athlete and the other isn't, unathletic guy might train 5x as much and never be as good. So what? Lifting wouldn't make him better, either.

I'm not sure if you are wilfully ignoring the actual argument or just can't help moving the goalposts and creating strawmen.

Let me make it clear: all things being equal, adding a strength and conditioning routine would be beneficial to anyone training any sort of sport. Even people who don't do a physical activity but require more mental focus would benefit.

But in reality people have constraints on their time. And if someone has a limited schedule, and their number one priority is to get better at grappling, their best use of time is to grapple.

 

[shortlefthook]

Are you being serious now? I'm not sure if you just don't understand the arguments or just haven't trained very long. How long have you trained? How many competitions have you done?

Guys bruising your chest with elbows? Muscling can openers? Who are you training with?????

I guess in your gym it's either lift or die

Most good gyms aren't like that. If you are super athletic and you want to be better at grappling, spend more time grappling.

If you are unathletic and want to be better at grappling, guess what? Spend more time grappling.

The whole point of comparing two similar individuals is to remove as many variables possible. Theoretically that's how you would conduct an experiment.

If one guy is a super athlete and the other isn't, unathletic guy might train 5x as much and never be as good. So what? Lifting wouldn't make him better, either.

I'm not sure if you are wilfully ignoring the actual argument or just can't help moving the goalposts and creating strawmen.

Let me make it clear: all things being equal, adding a strength and conditioning routine would be beneficial to anyone training any sort of sport. Even people who don't do a physical activity but require more mental focus would benefit.

But in reality people have constraints on their time. And if someone has a limited schedule, and their number one priority is to get better at grappling, their best use of time is to grapple.

So What argument are you even making?
My whole point Is that strength gained through lifting weights is applicable to bjj and grappling in general.
My original post litterally says you should grapple first and strength and conditioning as a strong secondary so what words are you trying to put in my mouth.
But I guess you didn't even read it considering you say my gym is "lift or die" when my og post also says ''3:1 ratio of people who don't lift''

Are you trying to argue that grappling 7 days a week is better for a competitive grappler??
Cause that's dumb as hell, look at the best submission grapplers, they all take rest days, they all have strength training, the proof is in the pudding.

Doing bjj and riding your Longboard won't stop a greener stronger guy from controlling you, especially if they have a wrestling background, I have done it myself.

 

[knees_n_elbows]

Maybe they don't have time? They don't feel like it? BJJ is a hobby and not everyone cares about optimizing their performance?

Comparing it to wrestling is also pretty dumb - a team sport where everyone is competing vs a hobby that people already count as their workout?

Plus, for the vast majority of those training, more time on the mat should take priority to any sort of strength or conditioning routine.

Im a father of two and this is lines up with my perspective. Whenever I have the extra time I'm working on my jiu jitsu. Strength and conditioning isn't a huge factor for me since I'm not competing regular or trying to win any major tournaments. My goal is efficiency with minimal energy expenditure at a high work rate. I personally just don't have a goal of trying to be stronger than my opponents, if i am though that's great.

 

[560ti]

Part of the reason is people really over complicate weight lifting.

Most people whine about time and think you need at least 3 one hour session a week to get strong. You could literally do pull ups/pushups at home and go to the gym once a week for maybe 30 or 40 minutes and focus on the other strength exercises (squat, dips, row) and that's really all you need......

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Why do so many people who lift weights not train JJ?

So What argument are you even making?
My whole point Is that strength gained through lifting weights is applicable to bjj and grappling in general.
My original post litterally says you should grapple first and strength and conditioning as a strong secondary so what words are you trying to put in my mouth.
But I guess you didn't even read it considering you say my gym is "lift or die" when my og post also says ''3:1 ratio of people who don't lift''

Are you trying to argue that grappling 7 days a week is better for a competitive grappler??
Cause that's dumb as hell, look at the best submission grapplers, they all take rest days, they all have strength training, the proof is in the pudding.

Doing bjj and riding your Longboard won't stop a greener stronger guy from controlling you, especially if they have a wrestling background, I have done it myself.

- Yes. Its is better. The more you grapple the better you get at it!
Btw, why your hippie attitude? Why you dont grapple more?
Looks like you got a little hippie attitude with you!

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I think it's partly a cultural thing - for lack of a better term. In my sambo gym everyone does strength and conditioning and quite a few of them are big lifters, at 10th Planet London there's more a mixed bag, there's quite a few big dudes that lift but most of them are at the very least 'sleek' if not slim.

 

[Ice 9 Cobra]

Doing bjj and riding your Longboard won't stop a greener stronger guy from controlling you, especially if they have a wrestling background, I have done it myself.

Well if you wrestled, then most likely you have more grappling experience so it makes sense your better. The way you worded that, seems like you are saying that strength matters more than wrestling experience for the control?

 

[shortlefthook]

I think it's partly a cultural thing - for lack of a better term. In my sambo gym everyone does strength and conditioning and quite a few of them are big lifters, at 10th Planet London there's more a mixed bag, there's quite a few big dudes that lift but most of them are at the very least 'sleek' if not slim.

This is Definitely it, I got no issue if someone just wants to grapple, but don't come in the gym claiming they should get rid of the weight section because it's useless for bjj..
Moronic

 

[georgegreece]

Part of the reason is people really over complicate weight lifting.

Most people whine about time and think you need at least 3 one hour session a week to get strong. You could literally do pull ups/pushups at home and go to the gym once a week for maybe 30 or 40 minutes and focus on the other strength exercises (squat, dips, row) and that's really all you need......

But you do, you need to also build stamina, you need it for fighting, this is the secret weapon of lightweight people, lol.