HIIT Vs. Skill-Drill Workout: Should You Do Both For BJJ?

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you need to have perfect technique execution. The technique is the king in BJJ, without which you can do nothing against your opponent and cannot win. There is no doubt that you need technique, but for the execution of the technique, you also need to have at least some strength and power. So you need to focus on both developing your strength and improving your technique execution. This means that you need to focus on exercises that develop your physical strength and cardiovascular strength, and also the exercises that improve the execution of your techniques. So we have a conclusion that both HIIT and skill drills are important for you as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner.

High intensity interval training is a unique form of training or exercise in which you do very intense exercise, but the duration is short, unlike other forms of exercise. After a short duration of intense exercise, you take some time to recover. That time is also very brief, after which you start doing the intense exercise again. There are many exercises that claim to give a lot of benefits in a short time, but HIIT is considered the most time efficient exercise to date. It produces a lot of beneficial effects on your physical health.

• The skill drills are a form of training that is done for the improvement in the execution of techniques. It can be done in any martial art, such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In skill drills, you learn how you can execute the technique correctly with accuracy and precision and perfect timing. This is basically done in a series of training exercises. You break the technique that you need to learn into parts of movement.

• One complete movement constitutes one part of the technique. So, according to the order of the parts of the technique, you execute the parts one by one. You typically start with one part and then continue repeating that part until you have learned the execution of that particular part. After this, you continue learning the other part. This goes on until you have mastered the complete technique. It is very beneficial for you because you learn the timing, accuracy, precision, and movements of the technique, all of which are necessary for the perfect execution.

High intensity interval training works for many things. Whatever the sport you are playing, the martial art you are training, or if you are doing just the exercises, you will find HIIT in your routine very helpful. It improves many things in your body, all of which collectively contribute to your stamina, physical strength, cardiovascular strength, and your body’s ability to do daily tasks, which is the functional strength. Besides these, HIIT improves many other things, such as:

The first and most important benefit you can get from high intensity interval training is that you can easily take out some time for the workout. You just need 20 minutes to do the workout. If you are a person with a very busy life schedule and it is very difficult for you to take out 2 to three hours for a traditional workout routine, then HIIT is for you. Just spare 20 minutes a day, and you will be able to experience numerous benefits in your life. But this does not mean that HIIT is perfect only for busy professionals. It is perfect for everyone doing anything in their lives. It is even better than the traditional workout.

The second benefit among numerous benefits of HIIT is the improvement in your VO2 max. VO2 max indicates how fit you are aerobically. It is very crucial for you. How long you can exercise and with what intensity depends on VO2 max. Oxygen is very important for you in your exercise. VO2 max indicates how much oxygen is present in your blood that you can utilize while doing the exercise. The larger the VO2 max, the more oxygen you can use and the more efficiently you can do your workout or any other physical activity. HIIT improves your VO2 max to a major extent.

• Well, you might think that if you are doing exercise for such a short duration of time, then the amount of calories that are burned is also much less than compared to the traditional workout. But fortunately, this is not true. When you do HIIT, your oxygen consumption increases to a great extent. But does that mean oxygen consumption falls to zero after the high intensity interval training? No!
• Your body keeps on consuming the oxygen in high amounts long after you stop doing the HIIT. So you are not only burning calories during HIIT but also after the workout. Hence, the short and rapid effort yields numerous and long lasting results. Hence, it increases your metabolism and gives it a rapid boost for a long time. If you are suffering from metabolic problems, then try HIIT, and your problem will be like it never existed.

HIIT not only focuses on your physical health but also on your mental health benefits and saves you from a number of diseases. The Mental health benefits include improving your mental strength. Mental strength means that you do not get panicked in stressful situations. You know how to keep calm under pressure and stressful situations. You can make the right decisions in tough and challenging situations, and you don’t react abruptly to anything; rather, you think and then act. Besides this, HIIT also plays an important role in saving you from mental diseases such as dementia by keeping your mind healthy.

The following are some important considerations for high intensity interval training, which you should keep in mind:

• When doing HIIT for the very first time in your life, you should build a base first. Start with 15 - 20 seconds of high intensity exercise and then give the remaining time of a minute for your recovery.

• Do not start doing HIIT straight after coming to the gym. Instead, do some warm up exercises and then at the end, do some exercises to cool down your body. This will help you in a better and faster recovery.

• Don’t do HIIT more than thrice a week.

• Reflect on your progress and try to go at the maximum intensity that you can.

Skill drills are very important in making your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu better. Let’s discuss its impact on your BJJ performance as a whole:

In skill drills, you repeat a particular step over and over again. Repeating a step ensures that you are doing it correctly. You resolve the mistakes you make during the step. And eventually, you do the step without any errors. So you are continuously doing the step until you become error free.

While grappling in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu professional match, you are under a lot of pressure. You cannot do anything correctly unless you are giving your full focus to your game and know how to deal with pressure. In such a pressure situation, you execute both techniques, which are your muscle memory and those that are not. You only perform such techniques correctly that are in your muscle memory. So it is very important for you to repeat the steps again and again until it becomes your muscle memory.

In the execution of a technique, three things are very important, and these are accuracy, precision, and timing. But how can you learn these things? This is by repeating a technique over and over again, and that in steps. When you repeat a step again and again, you become perfect with time in its accuracy, precision, and timing.

If you are thinking of implementing one thing in your daily routine, then you should think again because both are important for you in your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu journey. You cannot choose one, and it is wise advice that you should not choose one and try to implement both in your daily BJJ training routine. Skills drills help to improve your technique, execution, timing, precision, and accuracy, and these are the main pillars of your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game. On the other hand, HIIT improves your physical and mental strength, and you need the strength to execute the techniques. So you cannot choose one. Both are important, and it is very important for you to implement both things in your game if you want to excel in your BJJ career.

HIIT or skill drills are a common question that is asked by practitioners in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. They know they should do skill drills to improve their execution, but they get confused after knowing the benefits of HIIT on their technique's execution. But there is no need to get confused because both are important and both have numerous benefits, and can take your BJJ career to high levels if you implement them in your game.

The following are the benefits of skill drills:

• You Correct The Errors You Make in the Execution of Techniques

• It Becomes Your Muscle Memory

• Accuracy, Precision, and Timing

High intensity interval training is a unique form of training or exercise in which you do very intense exercise, but the duration is short, unlike other forms of exercise. After a short duration of intense exercise, you take some time to recover. That time is also very brief, after which you start doing the intense exercise again.

The following are the benefits of HIIT workout:

• Time Efficient Workout

• Improves VO2 Max of Your Body

• Calories Keep Burning

• Potential Health Benefits

The skill drills are a form of training that is done for the improvement in the execution of techniques. It can be done in any martial art, such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In skill drills, you learn how you can execute the technique correctly with accuracy and precision and perfect timing. This is basically done in a series of training exercises. You break the technique that you need to learn into parts of movement.