“How hard/intense should I go when I train in my gym?” You’ve probably asked yourself this question numerous times – especially when you really want to go harder at it, but are unsure if you should.

When it comes to questions like this one, it is often good advice to, well, listen to the advice of people who have been in the sport for longer.
Who have been coaching for a long time as well. Such as John Danaher.

Danaher shared his thoughts on the topic in a recent social media post:

I’ve seen some great champions train with great intensity.
I’ve seen others train in a very relaxed fashion.

I believe that, in general, excessive physical tension is detrimental to athletic performance.
My general advice is to train at something close to the minimum physical tension/intensity to perform the task you’re working on – no more, no less.

He went on to explain in more detail:

This means that sometimes you’ll be using a LOT of physical intensity because sometimes the task at hand is a big one.
The problem is that most people have a hard time dialing back the intensity once they’ve accessed it.

As a result, they tend to keep the intensity higher than it needs to be and quickly become fatigued.
So at all times in match, keep an eye on your intensity level and ask yourself if your current level of intensity is well matched to the task at hand.

Danaher concludes with additional note on intensity of rolling:

Most times for most people it’s usually higher than necessary.
Learn to monitor it well and you’ll be much more efficient in your expression of Jiu-Jitsu.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by John Danaher (@danaherjohn)