Tag: Progress

BJJ Solo Training

~ drdos

Due to life there are times when the only option for training is solo training.
Free video resources are linked at the bottom of this page

Solo training is far from optimal compared to having partners and it does limit your progress. However, it can greatly improve or speed up your progress in BJJ when you return to partnered or team training. Plus supporting health, mobility and conditioning.

From my experience, both as a white belt and after a few years of training, the main benefit of solo training comes from three sources:

  • Movement training - BJJ specific solo drills
  • Mobility training - BJJ Solo drills, yoga, calisthenics, equipment assisted exercises
  • Cardio training - Running, lots others

Movement training is for both your body and nervous system to perform movements that are useful and common in BJJ rolling but less emphasized or uncommon in other activities. Examples include, shrimping, back-stepping, and technical-stand-ups. By focusing on this aspect of training, beginners will especially see superb improvements in their overall progression in BJJ when they return to partnered training.

Mobility training is for exercising your body to preserve or increase your flexibility while maintaining healthy strength and stability at full range of motion.

Cardio training is for endurance during rolling, which yields both muscular energy to perform for longer, and frees up mental energy to think and apply tactics. The old adage of "Cardio is King" has a lot of truth to it, if you don't have adequate cardio then your other attributes don't matter. Of course, skilled movement and strategy can make you more efficient and help supplement your cardio.

Strength training in moderation gets an honorable mention due to benefits for injury prevention and general health but personally it's not been a point of emphasis. If you are interested in BJJ and strength training then I can at least give some recommendation to Chewies Grappling Power or BJJ Strength.

Free Resources

Movement training:
YouTube Playlist: BJJ Solo
Chewjitsu BJJ Drill Playlist
Little solo drill I made

Solo drilling instructional by John Danaher (free at the time of the COVID-19-virus closing)

Mobility training:
List of YouTube channels which includes Yoga, Calisthenics, and Physical Therapy.

Cardio training:
Go for a run or better yet, interval training (e.g. walk 2min, run 2min, sprint 30sec, repeat, or use different patters or landmarks for distances at different paces).
Do the BJJ Solo drills with less rest and perhaps more intensity for time.
Etc,... etc,... etc,... Endless others of course.

Depression and anxiety

~ drdos

I've dealt with what could probably be called mild undiagnosed depression and anxiety at times. BJJ is about the best thing I've found to fight it, along with the support of my loving wife and family. I never skip a class because I'm feeling depressed or anxious. Or even a tournament, if I've had one on set my calendar, despite crushingly wanting not to go. The main reason being that I've almost always felt MUCH better after. The only exceptions were when I only felt a bit better or at least neutral but more tired in a good way. Those were most likely times where my sleep and or caffeine intake were way out of wack. On my off days I try to also get in at least a little exercise. Something is always better than nothing.

Frame your mind around some activity, any activity, being a success, especially compared to none. Even if it's just a 5-10min neighborhood walk. Maybe when you get back, you feel you might as well swing a kettlebell a few times. Maybe then you can do a few shrimps and bridges. Maybe now you can do some more or not. Now you are all sweaty. You might as well do some stretches, you know your body at least will feel better... And so it goes, chip chip away, little by little, it all adds up.

From what I've heard and read from medical literature, physical activity, even just 20min a day, can work wonders on these phyc issues and help with longevity and cognitive function, even better than drugs for many people. And it only has positive side effects (as long as you remember to warm up and tap early 😉

Big man flexibility

~ drdos

Early in BJJ I noticed the benefits of flexibility for safety and to expand my game. The most helpful advice I received was to be patient with my body when it comes to flexibility. As a bigger person, you are probably used to working on strengthening where you can see significant progress in say 14-30d. Unless you have freak genetics, think about flexibility on about a 120d schedule when setting comparable modest goals or expectations. Be patient. Tendons etc take longer to grow/heal than muscles, that's just nature. And make sure you aren't doing things to/through pain, just mild discomfort, keep your joints safe.

Secondly, because of your goals to improve and expand your BJJ game, make sure you don't just work on extending your flexibility (ability to contort your body further) but also extending mobility (ability to move your body over a larger range). The two don't always go hand in hand.

There are plenty of YouTube videos I've found and instructionals (if you care then I can give some links from my collection). Yoga can be a great source but they don't always include the mobility with the flexibility so I suggest being picky or making sure to mix things up. Try to find instructionals that give you stages and progressions so you don't stagnate.

I'm a bigger guy. Despite being very flexible in some ways (e.g. for high kicks), I had uncomfortable limitations when it came to shoulder and hip flexibility. Over many months I gradually became quite flexible in my hips (went from not liking to cross my legs even to being able to comfortably do a half lotus and am working on a bit more) and my shoulders are now flexible enough to ensure that my training partners need good technique to finish arm/shoulder locks.

One last important specific tip I found helpful. When doing the dove hip stretch or half lotus type hip opening stretches, engage your foot (ancle at 90deg or less). It helps to keep your knees safe. In the dove stretch, if your knee tends to hurt, it's because the stretch isn't coming on correctly, it should be in the hip not the knee. Prop yourself up, try to hold good posture, one leg extends back, and make sure the bent leg is perpendicular to your body with the foot engaged before lowering down. You won't be able to go down as far but your knee will thank you.

Yoga for BJJ?

~ drdos

Check out these YouTube channels, lots of excellent free content. Some of them have specific 14-30d challenges too for beginners or intermediate yoga practicioners (e.g. look at their playlists)

Do yoga with me (specifically the ones with McAlpine)

Bad Yogi

Fightmaster yoga

Yoga with Adrian

Yoga forBJJ

More or less in that order, but depending on what I want to be working on, browse those or follow their playlists.

Should I do “catch and release”?

~ drdos

Personally I usually only do it in two different circumstances:

  1. ⁠During flow rolling

  2. ⁠When there is a huge skill discrepancy or I don't trust the partner to recognize submissions

(particular when using leg locks like the heel hook where the wrong reaction by defender can cause serious injury)

I'd highly recommend it for flow rolling. Helps you focus on developing your movement and transitions. Almost by definition, when flow rolling I'm not focusing on working submissions or a heavy pressure game.