I have training BJJ for two years and doing well in regional tournaments. I have been going 3 or 4 x a week and recently increased to 6 and sometimes even doing two a day. I have been very sore and not recovering well. It makes it hard for me to train well. Anyone have advice for training hard 6 days a week, making that transition to much higher training frequency? Should I train with less intensity?
One thing that really helped me as I got into my 30's was taking BCAAs. Ideally I make the drink before class, take it, and drink half of the drink sporadically through class. I then drink the rest of it after class. Those have helped me majorly with next day soreness and stiffness.
Another thing I've done is cool down. You may already do this but I used to just walk off the mats right after class and be done. Now I make an actual effort to cool down.
I'm also a fan of rolling hard most of the time, but I do more specific training goals now to mitigate soreness. I love to do some risky things in my game, and I am comfortable working from bad positions, but when I've already trained a few times for the week, or if I'm sore I'll change it up. For example, I may have a goal of staying on top. So normally where I might chase subs to the bottom to finish, or go for rolling kimuras or rolling front headlock sequences, I will have a day to just stay on top and not sacrifice position. Or I'll make sure if I'm rolling with someone that has a good body triangle to make sure to give up the mount instead of the back to them. Or I'll focus on sweeps or guard positions that allow less compression on my body. These are just a few examples.
Another thing I'll do is train no-gi. No-gi can be more explosive and have more movement, but there also is no fabric for people to contort and hold your body in positions like the leg drag, leg weave, or stack pass, that twist your spine and stack you on your neck.
I also do some sessions where I just Ryan Hall or Rafa Mendes style flow drilling where there's a specific goal in mind. I don't do the 10th Planet warmup style flow drilling, that seems more like kata. Another thing I do that I never used to do is take a round off every now and then, and be more selective over training partners.
Making sure I stay very hydrated and get quality sleep is good too. I've also started eating cleaner, and lifting weights a few times per week. Lifting I think is important for helping injury prevention and joint soreness after grappling nights.
I know this is all over the place but I was very sore last year training 3x per week and now I'm training 5-6x per week at a more intense level and I'm feeling healthier and less sore. I think these are some reasons why.