Sparring Aftercare Tips: Recover Yourself Fast And Perfectly

Sparring is the most important element of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training. Its importance can be realized from the fact that you cannot escape from it. You have to do it anyway. It does not matter which martial art you choose, whether as a career or not, you need to do it. You can join boxing, MMA, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but you have to include sparring in your daily routine. This is the only way to get better at the martial art over time. But the most important issue the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners face is the recovery issue, which is very important after sparring. You need to recover yourself both mentally and physically so that you can do BJJ sparring and training next. But how do you do that? As a beginner, this question keeps you confused all the time. Let’s clear this confusion for you forever. The article dives into the details of recovery tips after sparring, which will help you stay fit, healthy, recovered, and ready to do it again the next day.

• BJJ sparring, or simply sparring, is a form of training in the martial art in which two practitioners train in such a way that they are grappling in a real or professional Jiu Jitsu match. It is also known as the rolling. It is considered the best form of training because in it, you are experiencing a real match experience. You are executing all the strategies as you can, and you have in your learning.

• At the same time, your opponent acts as the fully resisting grappler, trying to block all your moves and techniques, therefore learning the defense. So at one time, you are learning how to execute perfectly, and your opponent is learning how to defend perfectly. After some time, you can change roles with each other. Perfect learning and implementation of techniques. Isn't it?

• Now at the right question. Why should you even care about the sparring aftercare? A question straight from the beginner. The one word answer for this common question is the ‘recovery’. That’s it? No! Let’s go deep.

• All BJJ practitioners need to learn techniques, train them by practicing again and again, and then ultimately implement them in sparring against a fully resisting opponent grappler. So you are doing all of these things, and most of the time you are doing all these steps on the same day. So you definitely need a way to take care of yourself.

You will not be able to go to the sparring the next day. So you eventually need to do this to continue your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu journey safely and smoothly while improving yourself all the time, each day and every day.

While training and sparring, you are not only involving yourself physically but also mentally. In most cases, you are more involved mentally than physically, which obviously depends on your learning level, experience, and intensity of the training.

No. You won’t be able to focus on the new technique the next day. You need proper focus and concentration to learn the new technique and then implement it in your training and sparring.

Obviously no. You should recover your body too. Otherwise, you will not be able to move your body and execute the technique properly.

So the thing is, you have to focus on recovering both your body and mind. Both need rest and recovery. Taking care of your body does not mean that you should take rest only. It also means that you should take care of your health and diet. Take foods for fast recovery. Prioritize proper hydration throughout your day. All of these are necessary for your recovery, and all of these are improved with proper Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sparring aftercare.

Now, as you know, what you should recover after sparring, we can divide the post sparring care into two categories:

In this category, the tips about how you can recover yourself mentally in the best way are discussed.

In this category, the tips about how you can recover yourself physically in the best way are discussed.

There are a lot of ways that you can utilize to optimize your physical recovery process. But the following are the best ones you should definitely consider and implement in your daily practices:

• You might have observed that whenever someone talks or discusses recovery, health, or improvement in your physique or body, the one thing you always hear is hydration. With hydration, we mean drinking water in required quantities throughout your day so that your body has adequate water for its daily needs. It is the maintenance of the balance of water in your body.

• Obviously, you should focus on drinking more water because if you have an excess of water in your body, it will simply be removed from your body and will not cause any harmful effects. That is the unique quality of water. But on the other hand, if you have less water in your body than your total body water daily requirements, then surely over time, you will start feeling a lot of side effects.

• Water does not affect only your physique or physical activity; it is beneficial in many of your body functions. So keeping the water in a proper balance, which your body needs, is a way to keep your body functions optimized.

• It is recommended that a man should intake almost 14 litres of water daily to meet all his body's needs. But this is not the limit that you should take seriously at all costs. The thing is that when you are doing a lot of physical activity, such as intense BJJ training in a day, you need more water than on other days because your body is continuously working and it needs water to continue functioning properly.

Just like hydration, adequate nutrition is also necessary for post sparring recovery. For this, you must ensure the intake of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. But the intake must be in balance, not exceeding the recommended amounts. Carbohydrates provide fuel and energy, proteins help in muscle repair, and fats are involved in hormone production and energy. Try to eat during the training, such as lighter snacks, which will keep you energetic throughout the training process. Ensure the intake of recommended electrolytes.

People tend to forget sleep and try to focus on other difficult things for their sparring after care in BJJ. Sleep is one of the greatest tools for recovering from yourself after a long, hectic day of BJJ training, both mentally and physically. So you should prioritize your sleep for recovery and try to sleep for at least seven hours.

You can also add a warm and cold shower to your recovery methods. Both have their own benefits. With a cold shower, you refresh yourself, and it is particularly helpful for training or sparring. Whereas with a hot shower, you can relax your muscles by loosening them from being tight and contracted all day due to sparring.

This is probably the most neglected part of the recovery process. Practitioners don’t try to cool down and start doing rest just after a long, intense training day. Ideally, just after doing BJJ sparring, you should go for light exercises or movements. For example, try light mobility and stretching exercises or yoga. This will improve your BJJ recovery processes after sparring.

There are a lot of ways that you can utilize to optimize your mental recovery process. But the following are the best ones you should definitely consider and implement in your daily practices:

To recover yourself mentally, you should try to start writing a training journal. Always keep it with you. In it, write your progress, list the movements you are strong at and those in which you are weak. Write daily about any step of a particular technique that you find difficult to do. Also, write anything else that you think is important for you.

This is also an important step you need to take daily. You must reflect on your training daily. Think about what you have done well and badly. Thoroughly review each and every detail of training in your mind, and this will improve your next day a lot, both in terms of execution and learning.

Yet another important consideration. Most people bring their ego into their training, and this restricts their learning and takes them behind their fellow practitioners. It is an important aspect of mental recovery. If you have a lot of ego, you will keep thinking and stressing yourself about a loss to anyone. So don't bring it with you and focus only on learning. You are there for learning, not for competing.

The BJJ sparring is very important for every practitioner to do, and even more important than this is the sparring aftercare. Because without this care and recovery, you will not be able to do it for a long time. So you should adopt methods for the recovery of both your mind and body. There are many ways to do that, but some of the best methods are given in this article. Start with these methods, and you can add any other method you think is giving you benefits in terms of recovery. While doing the sparring and focusing on your BJJ career or journey, don’t forget that your health is the most important element for you to be successful in anything.

BJJ sparring is a form of training in which two practitioners train in such a way that they are grappling in a real or professional Jiu Jitsu match. It is also known as the rolling. You are executing all the strategies as you can, and you have in your learning. At the same time, your opponent acts as the fully resisting grappler, trying to block all your moves and techniques, therefore learning the defense.

The one word answer for this common question is the ‘recovery’. All BJJ practitioners need to learn techniques, train them by practicing again and again, and then ultimately implement them in sparring against a fully resisting opponent grappler. So you are doing all of these things, and most of the time you are doing all these steps on the same day. So you definitely need a way to take care of yourself. You need mental and physical recovery.

• While training and sparring, you are not only involving yourself physically but also mentally. In most cases, you are more involved mentally than physically, which obviously depends on your learning level, experience, and intensity of the training. So both your mind and body get improved and recovered.

• Both need rest and recovery. Taking care of your body does not mean that you should take rest only. It also means that you should take care of your health and diet. Take foods for fast recovery. Prioritize proper hydration throughout your day. All of these are necessary for your recovery, and all of these are improved with proper Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sparring aftercare.

The following are the best ones you should definitely consider and implement in your daily practices:

• Adequate hydration

• Proper nutrition

• Sleep or rest

• Warm and cold showers

• Cool down yourself after sparring

The following are the best ones you should definitely consider and implement in your daily practices:

• Start a bjj training journal

• Reflect on your day daily

• Leave your ego outside the academy

No. You will not be able to do the sparring properly the next day because you have not recovered properly. You need both things. You need proper focus and concentration to learn the new technique and then implement it in your training and sparring. You should recover your body too. Otherwise, you will not be able to move your body and execute the technique properly.