What do you do to supplement your grappling training?
You can lift weights, run, go swimming, rock climbing and much more…
If you want to take it one step further and also combine breathing, stretching and strength training, you should seriously consider Yoga. BJJ world champion Sebastian Brosche has a very good online resource Yoga for BJJ .
Why should a grappler incorporate Yoga into his or her training regiment and which are the greatest benefits ?
These are Yoga for BJJ’s Sebastian Brosche’s top 9 benefits for grapplers:
- Lesser injuries.
- Better breathing [huge!]
- Better use of energy, so you can spar more.
- Moving smoother and quicker.
- Increased flexibility, of course.
- More powerful submissions and being able to hold them much longer.
- Improved balance,base and control from top.
- Your core will get much stronger, and this will help all aspects of your game.
- The number one thing for me is the mental calmness (Keeping Cool) you get from yoga, which is paramount and crucial in a big tournament.
Most BJJ players tend to focus mainly on strength and conditioning rather than flexibility.
Flexibility is so important in Jiu-Jitsu because it really makes all the vast number of techniques much easier to do (for ex gogoplata, inverted guard etc..). Increasing flexibility is going to help you in your Jiu-Jitsu, especially your guard, speed recovery and can make you less injury prone.
Think of all the extremely flexible BJJ players: BJ Penn, Nino Schembri, Cobrinha, Keenan Cornelius, Roleta, Eddie Bravo, Royler Gracie, Ryan Hall, Michael Langhi etc…What do they all have in common? They have amazing impassable guards and are all very flexible.
Nino Schembri
You can improve your flexibility by stretching at home or at the gym.
Sebastian stated:
“The more i practice Yoga and BJJ, the more similar they become. The underlying principles for improving in both genres are the exact same, so they improve and boost each other. If you are into BJJ for the long run, then Yoga is your greatest tool to stay healthy and nimble, no matter how old you get.
Here is a basic class.
EVERYONE is encouraged to give it a try and experience what their body feels like after just 20 minutes.
The best time to start prolonging and bettering your BJJ experience is TODAY. ”
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