BJJ classes and fitness

ifellover

Can anyone tell me if BJJ classes are intensive for a cardio perspective?

Mr. CooL ICE

From my experience, yes.

I have only taken a few weeks of beginners classes to date. When I started, I was training for a half marathon and was looking for something different to cross train in and I found it to be a great upper body workout (also tough on calves/hamstrings when doing some guard stuff) and was always zapped of energy by the end of a good session. Was pretty much what I was looking for.

arybvtcw0eolkf

ifellover wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if BJJ classes are intensive for a cardio perspective?

In my opinion no they're not, in fact they hardly touch your CV system and most beginners exhaust due to being too tense and thinking strength over technique is a good thing.

But BJJ is fun and unlike a lot of martial arts its easy on the ol' body.

pablohoney87

Bjj is very much an art where you get out whatever you put into it. You can slack off in the warm up and just sit in closed guard against guys training a couple months for the entire night and head home without breaking a sweat.
or you can push yourself. Start in a bad position roll against higher belts and constantly change position rather than hold the guy in side control all night.
it won't take long before you see a change in your body shape and conditioning.

arybvtcw0eolkf

pablohoney87 wrote: »

Bjj is very much an art where you get out whatever you put into it. You can slack off in the warm up and just sit in closed guard against guys training a couple months for the entire night and head home without breaking a sweat.
or you can push yourself. Start in a bad position roll against higher belts and constantly change position rather than hold the guy in side control all night.
it won't take long before you see a change in your body shape and conditioning.

Thats true, but when I want to improve my cardio fitness I run, cycle and swim more.

But thats probably just me, at 46 I'm an ol' fart now and have to be wise when & how I train these days

Doug Cartel

I think it comes down to if the OP is really asking about cardiovascular fitness, or if they want to know if they'll be wrecked tired by the end of the session.

Chris89

It depends on the class, if you are a beginner and attending a suitable class, fitness shouldnt be too much of an issue, unless of course you are seriously unfit and you might tire a little during the technique and drilling.

I think beginners tire quicker because their breathing is erratic and they are using too much energy in positions they will later learn to relax in.

Its like anything, I used to swim 100+ lengths every day, now id be lucky to get 5 without being out of breath, not because i'm any less fit, my incorrect breathing and lack of technique just causes me to tire quicker.

Competition training is a different story though!

Barry.Oglesby

Doug Cartel wrote: »

I think it comes down to if the OP is really asking about cardiovascular fitness, or if they want to know if they'll be wrecked tired by the end of the session.

That probably is what the OP is asking.

The short answer is that everything can be cardiovascular if you do it quick enough and hard enough! As Chris said most beginners feel exhausted in their first few weeks from not breathing, not knowing when to stop or when to go. I played 5 a side football for the first time in about 8 years about 6 months ago there and I was out on my feet by the end of the game while all the other guys were grand because they spent far less energy than me. That's the way you are for the first while and when you train with people much better than you.

EnjoyChoke

Miya Easy Stubbornness wrote: »

In my opinion no they're not, in fact they hardly touch your CV system.

You're doing it wrong

arybvtcw0eolkf

EnjoyChoke wrote: »

You're doing it wrong

Yea probably.

Mellor

Miya Easy Stubbornness wrote: »

In my opinion no they're not, in fact they hardly touch your CV system and most beginners exhaust due to being too tense and thinking strength over technique is a good thing.

That's probably true, at least it is for me. Brute forcing everything.

But I think the OP was simply asking if they break a sweat. Which that most liekly will during a beginners class.

wingnut4

Its a completly different kind of fitness, I guess its like wrestling, you are sure to get very tired and especially at the start when your doing it all wrong! You find that most guys that from from a stand up background, doing BJJ get exhausted as it works the body differently (no idea how so dont ask! lol)

wingnut4

and like a few people said, wasting energy!

Dermighty

I always found that the toughest (cardiovascularly speaking) part was trying to get out of situations I shouldn't have been in :P

An example would be letting someone close their guard, then trying to power out of it, or someone being in half-guard in top and trying to pry them off me.

As you get more experienced you need to use less energy to get the desired results, so in short the worse you are the harder it can be :P

I still get tired if we're doing continuous sparring without a break to be fair.