The short answer is yes. It doesn’t really matter how fat you are if you want to start training. Whilst it’s never a good idea to be overweight (for reasons we shall discuss later), at least when you start training – it doesn’t really matter.
The main reason for this is that BJJ is quite welcoming to everybody. There will be some things you can’t do due to your body size, but a lot of beginners won’t be able to do specific movements since they have no athletic background or experience. This has not much to do with the size of your waistline, but more the knowledge of movements within your brain and natural athleticism.
Over time, if you train consistently and properly, you will lose weight. BJJ is a very intense exercise. Whilst you aren’t going to be thrown in at the deep end of your first lesson. After a few weeks, you will likely be doing several rounds of sparring. You may find this exhausting at first, but if you keep it up, you will lose weight and get better cardiovascular fitness. Your mental and physical health will both improve and your bad habits will begin to stop. More on the calories burned in a typical BJJ session can be found here.
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Why It’s Not Good To Stay Overweight
If you’re heavier than everyone else, then there is a greater chance of you injuring a partner. This is because your bodyweight is bigger and any mistake made will be amplified. During your first few months and weeks, this will be less of an issue since your movements are not dynamic and stiffer. However, after months of training you will be able to move quickly and intelligently. If an accident happens then it will be amplified by more bodyweight.
The good thing about BJJ is that it’s very difficult to train properly and also be overweight. Even if you wanted to maintain your bodyweight. If you are training 3 times a week this would be very difficult. If you didn’t make a single change to your diet, you would likely still lose weight throughout your first few months training.
My Instructor Is Overweight, Is This OK?
Overall this is not a good thing since your instructor should ideally be training or competing. However, as BJJ practitioners become older, some of them become out of shape.
It might be worrying to see a 25 year old black belt who is overweight and this would raise a few eyebrows since they are meant to be in peak physical condition. However, for an ex-seasoned competitor who now has a wife and 3 kids, it now isn’t too unusual to be a bit overweight.
This is especially true if BJJ is not (or no longer) is your main profession. If you’re working in an office 40 hours a week, nobody is expecting you to be a supreme athlete anymore. Not only this but if their role is primarily teaching rather than competing then it is quite acceptable.
When Being Overweight Becomes Dangerous
Despite the fact that you can start BJJ being overweight, if you are too heavy, you will not be able to train in exactly the same way as your training partners. If you are 140kg with a 65kg guy on top of you, this is a very different situation to being 65kg with 140kg on your chest.
The weight difference should not stop or deter you from training. There are a lot of men who begin BJJ weighing 100kg+ and lose weight through BJJ. However, if you are 100kg+ for a long amount of time, you must adapt the way in which you train.
Some of your training partners will be fast and explosive. If you are very heavy, you will not be able to imitate this style. It will also be dangerous for your partners if you are throwing your weight around in the way they do. Instead you will have to develop your own style. This is not necessarily a bad or good thing, but it should be noted that you will never roll in the same style as a person who is half your bodyweight.
Taking Things Slowly
Slow and steady wins the race. As a big guy, your movement will already be slower than everybody else. However, you may want to slow things down even more so that you don’t hurt yourself or others.
If you don’t know how to perform a technique correctly and then speed up this motion, it won’t make it any better. Doing things faster and harder will not make techniques work and will actually hinder you in the long run.
Standing Out And Being Criticized
Being the biggest guy in the class is probably not a position you want to be in, but someone has to do it. Also in all honesty, nobody really cares how you look. People come to the gym, not to think how silly you look in an oversize gi.
There will be times when people are critical of your game “this only works because you are big”. “You are stronger and heavier than everyone else”. Whilst this may be true, this is pretty much what you’ve got to do as a big guy.
There isn’t much use in you trying to invert underneath everybody and perform a berimbolo. Whilst you ideally never want to rely on your weight and strength to dominate people. You must try and play to your strengths. Never forget your technique, but do not shy away from “big man” moves just because other people don’t like them.
A more specific example of this would be the particular moves usually performed by bigger practitioners. Often they play passing rather than guard on the bottom. They also focus on pressure rather than speed and focus on low-energy moves that aren’t flashy.
Can I get the correct fitting clothing if I’m overweight?
Being new to BJJ in general can be overwhelming. However, with added weight you may be extra self conscious or unsure of how things will fit. In short, your problems can be solved by checking out the sizing system that is universal throughout BJJ. For instance, the smallest gi for an adult is an A1. Generally, very few men will fit in this size and most small men are an A2. The ‘A’ system goes all the way up to A8 in some cases and an A8 would fit practically anyone, no matter how big you are.
Thankfully, most gyms will sell their own gi’s in-house. This means you can do a try before you buy before spending your money. In other words, you don’t need to gamble on something fitting in case it’s too small or too big. This should put some of your nerves at ease. Further, you can buy gi’s online and usually these will have the exact measurements and sizing to make sure you get the correct fit.
Whilst on the subject of BJJ clothing, it’s not just gi’s either. The same ‘A’ system applies for rashguards and shorts too so there’s no reason to worry. With no gi clothing it’s a little easier as most gyms will also allow plain t-shirts. In extreme cases if you couldn’t fit into a rash guard (which is highly unlikely) you could just wear a plain t-shirt. This also helps save your budget as some rash guards can be quite expensive. For a list of the best gi brands, you can find out more here.
How can I accelerate fat loss?
As mentioned earlier, if you train BJJ regularly you will naturally lose weight and fat anyway. Even people in relatively good shape will find after a year that their body becomes more muscular and athletic. Obviously, BJJ can be exhausting so this makes sense. This also works on a spectrum so if you’re very big to begin with then the weight should fall off.
However, if you find yourself truly embracing the BJJ lifestyle, then you may want to go one further. This could mean a change in diet, providing it’s nothing too extreme. We’re not talking about low calories or forcing yourself to eat stuff you hate either.
In many cases, it simply means substituting snacks for healthier food groups. Examples of this include swapping cola with water or chips with fruit. The result is a far healthier diet and on a daily basis this will add up. If you do this, combined with enough training, your fat loss will be massively accelerated.
For those thinking about an extreme or unhealthy diet based on low calories, this isn’t a good idea. As BJJ is so tiring, you need energy to refuel so it’s good to eat with a healthy appetite. Further, eating groups such as protein will also aid recovery and help protect against injuries. For a more detailed breakdown of calories, dieting and BJJ – we have an article here.
