Written for BJJEE.com by the awesome BJJ Athlete Strength & Conditioning – BredaS&C, Check out their facebook page

Armour, chain-mail a bulletproof vest. That’s what your body is.

Comprised of muscles, nerves, bones, ligaments. It’s the only body you’ll ever have.

Some people use it as a temple, some people use it as an amusement park. 

When a chain is under stress, it won’t break where the chain is the thickest and strongest. The chain will break where it is weakest.

That little plastic, flimsy looking link in the chain (the one you have been neglecting), that’s where it’s going to break. You knew it has always been there, but you where to lazy or inefficient to do anything about it. The chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. If you feel your performance is lacking and you want to improve, here are a few pointers in getting rid of the holes in your armour.

I SUCK AT …. (PICK ONE):

1) Flexibility

One of my mentors said: “Either you put your body in a position, or your opponent will put your body in that position”

Do yoga. “But I don’t want to do Yoga, because Yoga is for pansies”

Yoga classes are usually free the first couple of times. Pick a Yoga form that suits you.

Don’t have a preferred form of Yoga? Take the class with the hottest looking guys/girls, get your freak on.

Power Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga Flow, meditation, pick a flavour. Stop being such a stiff. A stiff muscle is a weak muscle (because it can’t contract). Which means you’re weak. Men like girls who are flexible and girls like men who are flexible. Enough said.

2) Strength

You can’t do a regular push up or a strict pull up? Ghastly! Heinous! Heresy! Get that weak shit out of here!

Guess what fat boy, start incorporating some strength exercises into your workout routine. Short on cash? Fine, bodyweight exercises are a great way to get stronger and are very relevant to BJJ. Pull ups / Chin ups, Push ups, Air squats, Dips, Burpees, Bear Crawl. Find a soccer pitch or playground, have at it. Have some cash left from buying overpriced Shoyoroll gi’s on Ebay? (I know right?) Invest in a heavy (set of) Kettlebell, make your own sandbag, buy some Club bells, join a gym, get in touch with us for online coaching.

3) Conditioning

You’re strong but you gas out real quick? Too bad BJJ matches take at least 5 minutes (white belt trash) up to 10 minutes (Jedi Knight level).

Like we mentioned before, technique conquers all, but both men are equally (non)technical, the guy with the biggest gas tank wins. I have been in plenty of matches where the deciding factor was my ability to handle all the built up lactic acid and being a cardio machine. If you keep up your pressure and attacks, you can beat this guy/girl. If you gas out and you start doubting yourself, you are done.

Congrats, you’re tired. You just got;

-Passed / Swept.

-Mounted.

-Submitted.

And now you don’t even have enough energy to crawl of the mat after your defeat.

Shameful, go cry in the corner and eat something, which brings us to…

4) Nutrition

Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnomnomnivore ( Emotional eater)? What should I eat, when do I eat it, what not to eat? All people are not created equal. Some can get away with eating tons of sugary crap and others can’t even look at candy and get fat. Here’s some things that help everybody; eat your fruits and veggies. Stop eating when you’re 80% full. Drink enough water. Have good quality protein from eggs, fish, meat. Eat healthy fats. If you’re a dude, easy on the soy. If you’re a chick, you might get away with soy.

Have a cheat meal once in a while. Don’t overdo it though.

5) Everything

You suck, you need help, luckily we specialise in helpless cases like you. We like to take you out back, take your money and shoot you in the back of the head. Just joking. No for reals. We specialise in designing your entire program. But, making sure the orchestra is playing a beautiful symphony is not easy. We dial in your nutrition and supplement program around your training, BJJ and you will get your personal-tailor made Strength & Conditioning program. Congrats, Jedi Knight level, here we come.

CONCLUSION:

You have only been training what you like doing, not what you needed.

“Cherry picking” For the win. In this case, cherry picking for the loss.

You have created a hole in your armour the size of a doormat.

And when you’re two minutes into a fight/workout/evolution you start gassing out.

Your technique goes south and so does your motivation.

You end up laying there on the floor, just like that doormat we discussed.

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For more information on training, nutrition and online coaching, get in touch with us!

www.BredaSC.com | Breda Strength & Conditioning | The Unfair Advantage