chipotle said:

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Started running to keep my cardio going. I used to hate running. Now I only strongly dislike it.

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Burpees are pretty good for bjj

So how's everyone quarantine BJJ training going? Found any specific solo workouts, routines, drills that are working?

I've just been doing cardio and parking lot (dumbbells, ropes, etc) stuff to stay somewhat fit. My instructor offers online classes 6 days a week, but with no mat or opponent to practice with I haven't gotten into it. I'll probably get demoted when things return to normal!!

I'm curious to see when BJJ schools will reopen and what the student population will look like going forward. I think all the 'big sports' will come out of this unscathed, but worry about whether less popular sports (like BJJ) will resume pre-Covid popularity.

To keep learning I've been slowly digesting and taking notes on two instructionals- Gordon Ryan's guard attacking series and Tom DeBlass's Kimura series.

My gym has been doing daily technique videos, match breakdowns, and hosting video chats just to talk about jiu jitsu or anything really. That has been nice to just at least stay in touch with people.

Other than that, I've been doing body weight/calisthenics workouts as the Dallas weather has allowed to try and stay in some sort of shape. Maybe getting in 2-3 workouts a week so far, hoping to increase that as the weather warms up/is less rainy.

I think as long as the gym owners can survive, the sport will be fine. BJJ is unique in that the majority of the fans of the sport also participate in the sport as hobbyists. They will always be looking to get back on a mat as soon as allowable.

I think there will have to be some format changes for the near term, such as restrictions on visitors, temp checking/reporting, strict hygiene practices at gyms, and format changes such as reduced class sizes, single training partner for either entire class or week even, etc. But I can't wait to get back at it, and use some of the guard passing and kimura tools on my training partners.

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I'll probably get demoted when things return to normal!!

I'm curious to see when BJJ schools will reopen and what the student population will look like going forward.

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Well as a white belt the good thing is they can't take that away from me!

BJJ is about as high risk activity as you can get for transferring this disease. As someone in good health but on the backside of 40, I have to admit I'm a little leery about it. Probably not enough to stop going, but I could see others dropping out.

Yeah, I agree. I will definitely return but am not sure when. There's a small group of us that will likely take it 'old school' (garage sessions, no a/c, etc) soon before running back to large class format.

But I've known my instructor for over 12 years and feel a sense of loyalty/obligation to be on the mats soon coaching, training, etc to help him get things going. I don't know. I'll probably just play it by ear.

I've seen a few gyms already getting creative with their re-opening. The Renzo Gracie in Sugarland is having multiple small classes through the day by reservation only. No rolling or contact, all practice done on student-provided grappling dummies. Lots of things in place to maintain cleanliness.

I was skeptical but came to a couple conclusions. 1. It's not ideal but it's better than nothing and 2. The instructor using it is a strong black belt competitor who trained only with a dummy for months while on deployment and came back to win a major tournament shortly after.

As soon as they open, I'll be there. I hope it's business as usual, but can understand if they delay that a few weeks and have a instructional program for a while. But we will eventually have to all get back to normal life and let people choose the risk they want to take themselves.

So that's why you tap for the inside heel hook
https://instagr.am/p/B_d8AakH8iM

Ouch. That is painful looking! Up until that match he had a lot of success against leg lockers, even beating the best in the game (Gordon Ryan).

One of my friends competed against Garry Tonon and lasted 7-8 minutes before tapping to a deep outside heel hook. His foot was basically upside down when he finally tapped. Looked just like Vinny's....

And he was back in the mats training for his next tournament immediately after....which I found baffling.

So what's the word on everyone's gym reopening? Who's been "speakeasy rolling" the last couple months? Who all is moving up a weight class?

My gym opened up today with limited class size and no contact. Using dummies only for now and still broadcasting class via Zoom.

I'm waiting to see how crowded classes are. If they are filled up I'll stay out to let the newer students train. If not crowded, I'm ready to get back to training.

Been doing a ton of park training and running during the shutdown . But nobody tries to kneebar or choke me at the park. So I'm gonna be rusty!!

OaklandAg06 said:

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So what's the word on everyone's gym reopening? Who's been "speakeasy rolling" the last couple months? Who all is moving up a weight class?

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I've been "speakeasy rolling" at my school for most of quarantine. Great term for it. Had to park around back and everything. The owner opened up for business about three weeks ago and just risked it, but he never got messed with. Half his school is LE, so that probably helped. Anyways, I'm back full time rolling. Just got back this morning actually.

Will probably go back in June. I get the stink eye from the wife regarding the subject. Been doing virtual workouts since the beginning of march so this crap has to stop.

Mine opened yesterday with limited numbers doing drills/sparring dummies only. Classes are also around 40 minutes long vs. 1-1/2 hr. classes we used to have.
I've done a few Zoom classes but it just isn't the same. My wife has some immune problems so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. This sucks.

Yeah, it sucks not being able to train. But better to be safe than sorry, and BJJ is a long journey anyway. Anyone who trains long enough will miss extended time down the road anyway (for the inevitable injuries).

My school goes back to full contact training on Monday, but only one partner the whole time. A lot of the young purple and brown belts have been training underground the whole time, so i need to do some underground tune up sessions before I get back on the mat with the tough underground crew.

My kids have been training for a little over a year. I have been wanting to get in there with them from the beginning, but I was in the middle of grad school. Well, I finally graduated and started last week. I've been to 6 classes so far and have really enjoyed it. I of course get balled up and tapped 15 times a class, but I'm learning. It's one of the most fun things I've done in a long long time.

I'm 36 and my body is not happy with what I've been doing to it. I've got a few pounds to lose, but think I'm in above average shape. I can handle all the cardio and rolling fine. What can I do flexibility and strength wise to get better? I assume the soreness will go away with time.

Glad to hear that you're enjoying it! The first couple months are the toughest physically, but your body will start to adapt over time as the movement gets more natural.

As far as flexibility, recommend you check out Lachlan Giles on YouTube. High level competitor who has several videos on flexibility for BJJ. Too many folks just say 'I'm not flexible' and don't realize that a little bit of stretching 4 days a week can make a big difference in their BJJ.

Strength is less important than technique and conditioning in my opinion, but always good to have. Most BJJ strength comes from core strength, so I tend to do burpees, ropes, box jumps, and other outdoor body weight exercises. And lots of 200/400 meter interval training.

Have fun with training and happy to answer any other questions. Having been off the mats since February I'm looking for any way to get my BJJ fix haha.

Yeah, I started BJJ in pretty decent shape coming off of powerlifting and ski season prep, but BJJ is a whole different animal. It's taken a few months to actually get through our pretty brutal "warm-up" without losing steam, much less the pain that comes with all of the rolling. Now 4 months in and I can finally go to class 4 times a week without my body breaking down.

Sweep4-2 said:

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Strength is less important than technique and conditioning in my opinion, but always good to have. Most BJJ strength comes from core strength, so I tend to do burpees, ropes, box jumps, and other outdoor body weight exercises. And lots of 200/400 meter interval training.

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like those battle rope things?

Yep. I used to think they were for MMA cheese balls and soccer moms. Until I tried them. Now I have a dedicated day/routine for just ropes and I dread it. Much harder than I thought they would be.

Went back to rolling this week. Supposed to pick a partner and work with them and them only for the next two weeks. Funny thing is though that as soon as class was over we always stay and roll for about another half hour if you want. The guys that stayed (me included) were all rolling with each other anyway. Even the bb who just got done teaching goes "Ok, I can't take this. I gotta get a roll in. Who's got one more left in 'em?"

So good to be back on the mats. If I had to put one more mile on my shoes I was going to lose it.

I bet it felt great to be back on the mat rolling. Are ya sore yet??

How many people were there (compared to normal)? I'm heading back Monday and plan to roll with only one person. I'm confident I'll stick to my plan for at least 5 minutes before I say f' it and go back to normal rolling.

I am a little worried about how I'll feel after having been off for three months. But only one way to find out.

I am sore as hell. I have a lot of elbow problems I attribute to years of weight training, bull riding in my younger days and now arm bars and framing on bottom in side control. Had my first full reconstruction on my right arm last April. (2019)

I put a ton of miles on my shoes during quarantine and hit the gym for weights as soon as they opened back up. I was able to only gain about 4-6 lbs over the course of the lockdown so I was fortunate. It paid off that I didn't exhaust myself after the first class. That being said it's good (in a weird way) to have all the little bruises show up again everywhere and the fingers stiff as hell from making grips. Still didn't miss those drops of sweat that fall right into your eye/mouth/ear.

Classes are also limited to 12. Lost so many people though (60 I believe) due to being out of work that it hasn't been a problem. Guys that are showing up are all the foundation of the gym and a few newbies, which is surprising.

I went 3 times last week, and the gym was at the max "limit". First day I got rocked, but each side subsequent day was better. I'm a 3 strip white belt so the lay-off certainly made me regress. Luckily I have a full home gym and lifted 4 days a week, so no issues there!

I'm ready to make my return tomorrow, even though it'll be painful. I had an MCL issue going on prior to Covid anyway, so I'm going to be far behind others who didn't stop training.

I'm going to probably roll with a dummy for the first couple weeks just to make sure everything is functioning as intended. Going to be upset if I get subbed by the dummy. At this point anything is possible!

I'm halfway through what I have dubbed "June Jitsu" - thirty hours of jiu jitsu in thirty days. So far I'm right on track. I've done thirteen one-hour long classes and two one-hour long open mats. the extra mileage took its toll on me early in the month, but I feel like I'm cruising now. I think it was just a mental thing.

anways, keep on rollin boys.

I'm headed back in tomorrow... prepared to get rocked.
Owner is supposed to put me with a dedicated partner.... hopefully someone who has been slacking during the down time like I have.

I've been back to three classes last week and one underground garage session. The classes were a mix of dummy training and live training with a dedicated training partner. Pretty low key.

The garage session was ROUGH. Only four of us, but with no a/c and the TX afternoon heat the rolling got hot fast. Felt great to be back but paying for it now.

Sweep4-2 said:

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I've been back to three classes last week and one underground garage session. The classes were a mix of dummy training and live training with a dedicated training partner. Pretty low key.

The garage session was ROUGH. Only four of us, but with no a/c and the TX afternoon heat the rolling got hot fast. Felt great to be back but paying for it now.

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the way the Brazilians intended

Had my first roll in several months in a packed 5 person garage session last night. Yeah...went from brown belt back to white real quick.

I've been going strong for 3 weeks now. Really loving every minute of it. I tapped out another white belt that had 40 pounds on me last week and felt like I had won a gold medal. My kids go to the same gym and they love getting to see Dad roll after their class is over. This is definitely something I think I could do for the rest of my life.

My main issue right now is just the physical toll on my body. I've been going 5+ days a week, but am only going to do 4 this week. I broke a toe the first week, jammed my thumb SUPER bad last night, and have aggravated an old USMC shoulder injury. My body is covered in bruises and I am in a constant state of soreness. I love it so much that I'm embracing the suck and powering through hoping my body will acclimatize to the rolling, but I don't know if I can keep this up if it doesn't get any better by the end of the month. I've been stretching and doing all the proper self-care, I just think I'm older than I thought I was.

Yeah, it's definitely fun training/rolling and to some extent more training will make you better up to a point. Just have to watch for injury and burnout especially early on.

Other thing is to measure the type of training you do. Finding the right balance between rolling hard, rolling light and training technique. Five days a week of balanced training is possible but five days a week of hard training is difficult for most folks over 25.

Other thing I'd recommend if you're rolling a lot or rolling injured is to find a way to roll with upper belts (purple or above). You won't 'win' the roll unless they want you to but you'll stay healthy and feel much less beat up than rolling with spazzing white belts and blue belts. (Disclaimer, not saying all white/blue are spazzes, but many are and they just don't know it lol).

Man I can't imagine going 5 nights a week, especially just starting out. I roll mostly with other white belts, including some young 18-20 guys & I'm 46. 2-3 times a week & I'm toast! The young bucks love to try and submit an old man who trash talks them. I love to tell them how soft kids are these days & they can pick up their participation trophy on the way out. Gets them all worked up even though I'm kidding with them.

My first night back went pretty good, just did training w/dedicated partner & didn't roll. Felt great to get back in the gym & sweat.

Speaking of rolling with young, tough folks. I got invited to roll nogi next week at a wrestling school that has a beginner BJJ class. Although it's a beginner class, I'm expecting it to be young and to have a handful of wrestlers.

Going nogi, against wrestlers half my age, in a gym with no AC (with almost 4 months off) is going to be rough for me.

I had my ribs pretty bruised up after a takedown class last week. I haven't been able to train since.

Sweep4-2 said:

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Yeah, it's definitely fun training/rolling and to some extent more training will make you better up to a point. Just have to watch for injury and burnout especially early on.

Other thing is to measure the type of training you do. Finding the right balance between rolling hard, rolling light and training technique. Five days a week of balanced training is possible but five days a week of hard training is difficult for most folks over 25.

Other thing I'd recommend if you're rolling a lot or rolling injured is to find a way to roll with upper belts (purple or above). You won't 'win' the roll unless they want you to but you'll stay healthy and feel much less beat up than rolling with spazzing white belts and blue belts. (Disclaimer, not saying all white/blue are spazzes, but many are and they just don't know it lol).

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Yeah I haven't quite mastered the "rolling light" part of it yet. I'm one of the white belt spaz dudes! I'll try to grab a couple higher belts tonight and see how that goes.