When it comes to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, training levels differ per person. For some, training means twice a day, seven times a week with strength and conditioning thrown in. For others, training means once or twice a week and is viewed differently as a result. Not only this, but whilst training BJJ it also depends on your intensity – for instance, some will train with hard rounds of sparring, whilst others may go at a slower pace.
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Is 2 days enough to progress?
Whether you have a busy schedule or you just don’t train that much – twice a week is definitely enough to improve your BJJ. Whilst you may not become world class, you can still keep up a good pace with other hobbyists in the gym as long as you keep your training consistent. All too often, newcomers start and get overly enthusiastic which leads to burn out due to becoming fascinated with the sport. However, for those who keep a steady pace at twice per week, you will definitely see results and improvements.
Perhaps the main issue with training twice per week is that if someone trains five times per week, they will probably improve quicker than you. This is simply something you will have to accept and let go of your ego in order to advance. Instead, it’s a healthier mindset to focus on your own growth and how you can improve against the version of you in the past. For instance, if you feel progress is slow then think back to when you first began and the wealth of skill and technique you have gained since then. This is a good way to keep track of your improvements.
How to make efficient use of your time
If you break down training scientifically enough, then you can make every second count. For example, instead of talking whilst drilling – make sure you drill as much as possible. If the average person gets in 10 reps per drill, try to do 15. If they focus on their one dominant side, try to focus on each side of your body. As a result, you may train less in terms of hours, but you will also train more efficiently within those hours.
To make training optimal, you can also apply this to sparring. Don’t try and stall in positions and slow things down too much. Whilst going slow can be good when thinking about techniques, the idea is to avoid stalling at all costs. With this in mind, you will get more out of your sparring and make good use of your time spent in the gym.
A similar concept can be said for open mat, often people go to open mat and end up talking. Whilst this is good and it’s fun to socialize, maybe you can do this outside of class and instead focus your energy on getting as many minutes on the mat as possible. In short, try to optimise everything. If you need help, ask questions and get shown positions you struggle on and try to make the most of your time.
Learning outside of class
This doesn’t apply for those who choose not to train as much but instead applies for those who want to train but can’t due to having a busy schedule. If you physically can’t make it to a class but you have a spare 15 minutes, you can use this time to learn through watching footage. The internet is full of videos and instructionals which are made to improve its viewers. With this said, choosing fundamentally solid videos that interest you are a good place to start.
Too often in training, people are taught things they don’t like. For instance, you can have an entire lesson dedicated to Spider guard. However, this may be pointless if your grips and fingers are too damaged to make proper sleeve grips. In brief, there are some things in BJJ which you simply won’t ever use for a number of reasons. Whilst it’s good to add variety to your game – you also have to be realistic and acknowledge that not everything is for you.
With this being said, you can use videos to specifically target what you want to learn. For instance, if you want to learn 50/50 guard then Ryan Hall may be a good option to look at. Try to watch these videos as precisely as possible in a similar way that we previously discussed training in class. If you do this and watch the same moves repeatedly, then your brain should begin to process the information. To add to this, if you can it helps to drill with someone. By physically drilling the moves learned from video – you will be more likely to pull them off during sparring which results in inefficient use of time outside of class.
Stay in shape elsewhere
Again, this is something which some practitioners may choose to ignore. However, if you can add strength or cardio gains elsewhere then this will translate well to the gym. Whilst these methods won’t improve your BJJ technique, they will improve your toughness in sparring. As previously looked at, the idea is to compare yourself to the older you. If you were to fight the same version of yourself who was 10KG heavier, stronger with better cardio and athleticism – then there would only be one winner.
Another way of improving your Jiu Jitsu is by improving grip strength. Grip strength is an easy hack to improve your BJJ as it makes it harder for your opponent to establish dominant grips, whilst you can control the grip battle. Whilst this may be the boring part of BJJ – it’s also essential.
Arguably grip strength is one of the most underrated aspects of the sport in both gi and nogi. It is also one of the many reasons why black belts are so good – because they can get a grip that is near impossible to grip. By improving grip strength you can have grips beyond your rank which can make a huge difference in sparring.
But what if I can’t supplement my Jiu Jitsu outside of class?
As said towards the start, this is ok. If you have a demanding job or home life then it’s fine to train twice a week with nothing else going on in terms of exercise. However, the point remains – you will still improve at this rate, and achieving a black belt is still a realistic possibility. Over the years, you may see this in practice. For example, a regular guy who trains twice per week gets to blue belt after a few years. If you watch them against white belts, they are clearly superior. There is no secret to this other than hard work and practice, much like most of Jiu Jitsu. With this in mind, don’t worry if you can only train twice per week – it is certainly better than nothing and you will improve.
Time off can improve you
The human brain is an interesting mechanism. Sometimes, time off can improve you and this has been scientifically proven. In short, if you have time off it can refresh the memory and make you think more analytically as you have time to stop. This is why top sportsmen have off-seasons and businessmen have holidays. In short, it allows the brain to slow down and piece things together.
An example of this is if you’ve ever had a few weeks or months off due to injury. During this point, you may have an epiphany about a certain move. Some people even experience this in a shower, or hours after training. Basically, your brain is in a relaxed state and realizes your mistakes or gaps in knowledge.
For instance, you may have not finished Triangle chokes very well throughout the past few months. Taking time off and analyzing the situation can fix the problems. You may realize that to finish the choke you needed to underhook the leg or bring your knees together. Often, these subtle micro-adjustments can lead to big leaps whilst training. With this said, taking time off can bring spurts of creativity which leads to improvements.
Twice per week is the average amount
If you look at BJJ online, then the reality is you’re probably more into it than most practitioners. Whilst BJJ culture has a large online presence, it’s still a bubble. Basically, some people will train and then go home and not think about Jiu Jitsu until next time. This is actually quite normal. Of course, every gym will have those that train almost daily and compete. However, if you look around at a typical gym – the average person probably trains about twice per week. Whether a white or black belt, for whatever reason – this is fairly standard.
Again, this is more evidence that training twice a week is not unusual and that you can still improve with this amount of work put in. As the saying goes, there’s more to life than Jiu Jitsu and this is certainly the case for most people.
Summary
Training BJJ twice a week is easily good enough to see improvements. Whilst you may never be the best in the gym, this is fine and is something you will have to learn to accept. At the same time, those who train consistently will see gains. As well as supplementing your training with other methods of enhancement such as weights or diet, you can see even more improvements whilst only training twice per week.
