BJJ Longevity Training: How Can Old Practitioners Improve?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art that is beneficial for anyone regardless of their age, color, race, or ethnicity. This is the reason everyone from young to old trains BJJ and tries to get the most out of it. But there is another thing that is necessary to get its beneficial effects, and that is BJJ longevity, i.e., BJJ training longevity. This is very important for everyone to have in their game to ensure that they keep training and getting the best effects from the BJJ for a long time without getting tired, injured, or fed up. The ones who ignore this cannot continue their BJJ training for a long time. If you are a beginner or an old practitioner, you should implement this concept in your training. Let’s dive into this in detail on how you can do this effectively.

BJJ longevity training is a concept in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to adopt measures to continue training for a long time. The measures you need to adopt for BJJ longevity can include prioritizing and optimizing the recovery after injuries, minimizing the time for tap out, and including rest days in your training routine. These measures not only help you to continue training for many years continuously, but also help you to do it effectively and efficiently.

• BJJ longevity training is important for old practitioners to implement in their game. Not only this, but everyone who is doing BJJ should practically execute this concept. But this is more important for old people. The reason behind this is that older people, whenever they do anything like exercise, are more prone to injuries than younger practitioners. They have less resistance, strength, and power. They cannot exert the same force as young people do. Their immune system is weaker than that of young ones, and they are more susceptible to infections and diseases during BJJ training.

• So old BJJ athletes have to take more care of themselves to ensure that they can continue training for a long time in their lives. If they cannot do it, then they will suffer injury, and that injury will be enough for them to take off from their training schedule for months, depending on the extent and depth of damage caused by the injury. One more point to consider for old BJJ athletes is that they take more time to recover, and therefore, they have more need to implement the concept of BJJ longevity training as compared to the young people.

There are many approaches to implementing the BJJ longevity training for old practitioners, some of which are as follows:

The first and most important approach you, as an old practitioner, should adopt is the adjustment in your strategy and mindset for training, sparring, and competition matches. This adjustment will bring a lot of changes to your game. All these changes will have a common purpose to ensure your long career in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because the longer your career is, the better for you it will be.

Most people start BJJ because of its enormous benefits. But soon after, they practically start training it, and they start taking it as a race. They try to move ahead of others and learn techniques one after the other in a rush. In this pace, they only hurt themselves and they will get nothing but injury after a few days. The injury will cause them to rest and leave BJJ training for quite a long time, resulting in they will be getting no beneficial effects for which they had joined BJJ in the first place. So it is always advisable, particularly for the old BJJ practitioners, to take it easy and slowly and not rush into learning and training BJJ.

• Another thing that BJJ practitioners do is that they take loss so seriously that it hurts their ego. Don’t be egotistic. Keep your ego at home. It is not something that you can win all the time. Sometimes you win and other times you lose. It is a part of the game. Tapping out becomes a source for hurting their ego, so even if they should tap out to save themselves from being seriously injured, they do not, and the result is that they become injured and have to quit BJJ training for many months.

• So all of this was just because they did not tap out. In cases when your opponent is executing a technique against you and you are submissive, then you should tap out if you are left with no other option; otherwise, you will get seriously injured. If you have so much ego, then do the hard work, come with a better training and plan, and then defeat your opponent.

• Now, one more important thing that is specific only to you as an old BJJ practitioner is that you should not depend on your physical strength in training, sparring, or any competition match. You are old, and if you are grappling with someone younger, then they will definitely win the match against you if you are depending only on your physical strength. In this case, you should depend on he technique, strategy, and game plan.

• You should outsmart them with your techniques, not with your physical strength. You are old and have many years of experience training in BJJ. On the other hand, you are not as physically strong as you used to be in your younger years. It is a better strategy to utilize your experience and outsmart than to utilize your physical strength.

You should incorporate this strategy into your BJJ training as well. When you are training or learning any technique, you need to prioritize strategy over force and power in the execution of the technique. This will help you continue doing the BJJ training and learning, and practicing the technique for a long time. If you are using too much power and force in the execution of a technique, then you will not be able to do it any longer. You will get tired very soon. It does not matter if you are old or young. But if you are an old practitioner, it is very important for you to do this so that you are able to conserve your energy and utilize it strategically.

• Another thing that most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners don’t focus on is listening to their bodies. In a day of BJJ training, you do a lot of things. For example, you can learn the technique, practice it, spar with someone, do training and some form of workout exercises, and play any competition matches. So this is a lot of work you do in a single day. In this scenario, it is important for you to listen to your body and not put a lot of burden or stress on yourself.

• If you are feeling that you cannot do more, then stop or at least have some rest. If you have taken some rest and then you think that you can do more training, then do it; otherwise, don’t do it and go back to your home. The thing is that your stamina will improve with each day, and you will be doing more tasks and training on your 100th day than on the first day. So you will become better with time eventually. Why should you rush and overburden yourself?

• The thing you should always remember, particularly as an old BJJ practitioner, is that you need to prepare yourself for the training before actively doing it. This involves both mental and physical preparation. Mental preparation means that you need to plan out everything you intend to and will do on a specific day. Make a strategy and step by step roadmap for everything you will be doing, and prepare yourself accordingly. The next preparation you should do is the physical preparation. In this phase, you need to do some physical exercise to warm up.

• The logic behind this is that you have to warm yourself up before starting an intense training or workout. Usually, you train BJJ in the morning, and in that case, you are coming to the academy straight after eight hours of sleep. Your bones are at rest, and if you start doing the intense BJJ training, then it will not be good for you. You need to start slowly. First, do some light BJJ exercises and get your body in motion. After this, once you think your body is completely warmed up, you can start the intense BJJ workout. This will also help you to execute your movements properly; otherwise, if you don’t warm up, then you will not be able to do the training and execute the movements effectively. So warm up will allow you to better learn and adapt to the process.

Another important point is that the partner you roll with should be cooperative and friendly with you. There are some BJJ practitioners who do not behave well with others and are very rude to them. They are also not willing to help their partners. So it is better for you to stay away from them. One important aspect of your training partner in BJJ is that they help you in learning and executing the techniques properly. If your partner is not doing such things, you should reconsider your partner and try to change them as soon as possible. It will help you a lot in your BJJ journey.

During the training or sparring, things often get heated up, and you are no longer relaxed. You start trying the explosive movements on your partner, and in such a scenario, you can get yourself injured because you can make some unintended move or technique that you are not supposed to make. So you should also learn to keep yourself relaxed even during the moments when both you and your partner get heated up. One way to do this is by getting your partner to remind you to relax and take it easy. This will prevent you from using any explosive technique and getting yourself injured.

The last but not least thing you need to focus on is to include both the light rolling and situational drilling into your training. This will help you keep focused without getting tired or fed up. In light rolling, you do the training and make moves and techniques at a very light pace. You do not do anything with the high intensity. This helps you keep training for a long time. In situational drilling, you practice the technique from a specific situation to help execute a particular technique from multiple positions and situations to get yourself better at it.

BJJ longevity training is a very important concept in the art of Jiu Jitsu. It does not matter how old you are or at what age you are training in BJJ. If you are training and are serious about it, then you need to implement this concept in your game. It is not a very difficult thing to do. You just need to take everything easy and not rush. Don’t put a burden on yourself that you cannot bear. Do training at the intensity that you can do easily. You should end the day with the thinking and the ability to do it again the next day. This will help you continue your BJJ journey for a long time in your life.

BJJ longevity training is a concept in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to adopt measures to continue training for a long time. The measures you need to adopt for BJJ longevity can include prioritizing and optimizing the recovery after injuries, minimizing the time for tap out, and including rest days in your training routine.

The reason behind this is that older people, whenever they do anything like exercise, are more prone to injuries than younger practitioners. They have less resistance, strength, and power. They cannot exert the same force as young people do. Their immune system is weaker than that of young ones, and they are more susceptible to infections and diseases during BJJ training. So old BJJ athletes have to take more care of themselves to ensure that they can continue training for a long time in their lives.

There are many approaches to implementing the BJJ longevity training for old practitioners, some of which are as follows:

• Strategy And Mindset Adjustments

• Don’t Take it as a Race

• Leave Your Ego At Home

• Don’t Rely on Your Physical Strength

• Prioritize Strategy Over Force During BJJ Training

• Listen to Your Body

• Warm Up Yourself Before The BJJ Training

• Choose Your Training Partner Wisely

• Keep Yourself Relaxed During Training

• Include Both the Light Rolling and Situational Drilling into Your Training