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Norwegian Research Outlines the Average BJJ Athlete

Norwegian Research Outlines the Average BJJ Athlete

 

 

With jiu-jitsu being as young as it is comparative to other grappling sports any bit of information gained from valid scientific research is interesting.

This led a group of Norwegian scientists from the Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway to develop a research titled Anthropometric and Physiological Characteristics of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Athletes.

The locality of the research is interesting because to date majority of bjj relevant researches were mainly tied to the university of Sao Paolo.

So who is the average Norwegian bjj athlete?

42 male athletes were recruited from one of the largest BJJ academies in central Norway. IT determined the following.

The average age of a bjj athlete is 32. With others being mostly upto 6 years older or younger.

Average height of a bjj athlete was 181.9 ± 7.2 cm tall making it a sport for the tall.Average male height in Norway is 179.9 cm.

And as far as body weight goes the result was 85.7 ± 10.6 kg.

When we’re talking about belts and experience the average length of bjj participation was 5.5 years! With majority falling within this range 5.5 ± 3.7 years of BJJ training experience. Sadly belt ranking wasn’t incorporated into this research.

The average body fat percentage  was 12.9 ± 5.3% making the average athlete extremely fit.

Absolute squat 1RM (113.2 ± 20.4 kg) was significantly higher than bench press 1RM (87.6 ± 16.5 kg) (p < 0.001). The mean number of pull-ups achieved was 9 ± 4. These characteristics were generally independent of rank, training experience, weekly training volume, competition volume, and style preference.

And if you’re wondering whether a better strength performance is tied to anything – it is. Additional strength training was associated with improved bench press performance. Beyond that, additional strength and/or conditioning training had no apparent relationship with any variable.

 

How Would An Average BJJ Practitioner Fare Against an NFL Lineman

 

References
Øvretveit, K 2018, ‘Anthropometric and Physiological Characteristics of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Athletes’, Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, 32, 4, pp. 997-1004, MEDLINE, EBSCOhost, viewed 31 March 2018.