BJJ/MMA & GST

Hi All,

I've been taking BJJ/MMA classes at a gym near my house for roughly 5 months now. The sessions run for 1.5 to 2 hours at a time, and are mainly all geared towards technique as opposed to strength/flexibility/conditioning. Because of this, I want to implement GST into my routine to supplement my BJJ training. I currently have Foundation courses 1-3, Handstand course 1 & the three stretch series. I'm also interested in hearing about peoples own experiences training in both of these disciplines.

My questions are:

• Are there many people training BJJ/MMA & GST simultaneously on here? If so, what does your routine look like? (i.e. days you're working GST, BJJ/MMA, both or neither. Also let me know which courses you are finding most useful )
• Is there a particular sequence of workouts that worked well for you?
• To fit both into my day (and work), I'll likely be doing GST in the morning 3 days per week (~6:30 am), then BJJ 3 - 4 nights per week (7:30 - 9:30 pm). Has anyone had experience with a similar routine? How did you find it? i.e. was it too much? What did you do to rectify it? (feel free to give input even if you have experience with a different sport) 
• Did your ability to recover after sport-specific training improve after starting GST?

From what I know of both disciplines, they look like they will synergise very well, and I'm very keen to kick off my GST. Above all, I want to make sure that I don't go too hard too early, so I'm starting from square 1 with GST, i.e. Foundation PE1's and the stretch programs. If you have any other words of wisdom or tidbits of information that I might find useful while creating my new routine, please feel free to share them here. Any advice will be muchly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Anthony!

Thanks for reaching out to us and great questions!

I think GST will be a great complement to your training! I don't have background from martial arts myself, but I know many athletes who've implemented GST to their training to improve performance and reduce risk of injuries. @Luke Searraand @Mikey Cunananhave both done BJJ, maybe you guys have some advices here? 

11 hours ago, Anthony Clyne said:

Hi All,

I've been taking BJJ/MMA classes at a gym near my house for roughly 5 months now. The sessions run for 1.5 to 2 hours at a time, and are mainly all geared towards technique as opposed to strength/flexibility/conditioning. Because of this, I want to implement GST into my routine to supplement my BJJ training. I currently have Foundation courses 1-3, Handstand course 1 & the three stretch series. I'm also interested in hearing about peoples own experiences training in both of these disciplines.

My questions are:

• Are there many people training BJJ/MMA & GST simultaneously on here? If so, what does your routine look like? (i.e. days you're working GST, BJJ/MMA, both or neither. Also let me know which courses you are finding most useful )
• Is there a particular sequence of workouts that worked well for you?
• To fit both into my day (and work), I'll likely be doing GST in the morning 3 days per week (~6:30 am), then BJJ 3 - 4 nights per week (7:30 - 9:30 pm). Has anyone had experience with a similar routine? How did you find it? i.e. was it too much? What did you do to rectify it? (feel free to give input even if you have experience with a different sport) 
• Did your ability to recover after sport-specific training improve after starting GST?

From what I know of both disciplines, they look like they will synergise very well, and I'm very keen to kick off my GST. Above all, I want to make sure that I don't go too hard too early, so I'm starting from square 1 with GST, i.e. Foundation PE1's and the stretch programs. If you have any other words of wisdom or tidbits of information that I might find useful while creating my new routine, please feel free to share them here. Any advice will be muchly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

4

Hey Anthony,

GST definitely has a strong carry-over into BJJ. I find that blending the two can be a little tricky as both sports are taxing on the joints and connective tissue. GST is good for the joints. And BJJ is usually the opposite. With that said, recovery is an important factor when it comes to selecting an appropriate training schedule. 

I find that after 8 years of Jiu-Jitsu, my joints don't feel well after a BJJ training session. However, they feel great after doing a GST workout. Does this mean that BJJ is bad for you? Absolutely not! 

What it does mean is that you have to structure your GST to account for the imbalanced from BJJ. For example, a lot of BJJ practitioners have tight shoulders and hip flexors. In this scenario, your training should be intensive in shoulder strengthening (Foundation- Upper body) and Hip mobility (Front split and middle split stretch series).

I personally train BJJ 2x per week and my GST workouts are 3-4x per week. But I'm not afraid to take a much-needed rest day to heal an injury. For Jiu-Jitsu, the key is to stay healthy so that you can drill and spar more. Injuries kind of get in the way.

My advice is to try a moderate training load at first. After 4-6 weeks, you can up it if you are recovering well. But remember it's all about staying away from pain so you can play more.

BJJ blue belt and GB aficionado here! I've been training BJJ for the last 2.5 years and GST seriously for the last 1.5 (suffered from some serious fuckarounditis before that)

Courses I'm finding most useful: all of them,  for different reasons:

• Foundations helped me strengthen and mobilize my joints and muscles and improved my mobility by leaps and bounds.
• The Handstand series has majorly improved my proprioception and mobility in the prime movers (shoulders and hips), as well as helping me safeguard my elbows and wrists.
• The Movement/Tumbling series has helped me developed way better hand-eye coordination through animal movements. The actual tumbling has very clear carryovers to BJJ by helping me fall and roll safely. 
• I use the Stretch Series as an active recovery. They've helped me increase flexibility in my shoulders, hips, and hamstrings, all of which were laughably tight in the past. I'm not Superman by any means, but I'm far more mobile than I was a year ago!
• And of course, Fundamentals gave me the beautiful gift of the GST Daily Limber, which I perform daily whether I'm training or not.

Sequencing: I train GST 5-6 days per week and BJJ 4-5x/week. My schedule looks like this

For GST, I perform each workout once per week. I find that I feel better doing a little bit each day like this. Keeps me moving and feeling good. 

• Monday: Core
• Tuesday: H1 + Middle Split
• Wednesday: Upper Body
• Thursday: Lower Body
• Friday: H2 + Front Split
• Saturday: Movement
• Sunday: Thoracic Bridge

More often than not, I'll only hit 2 of the stretch courses each week, but I try to hit 3 as often as possible. 

I honestly keep the GST on the less intense side. I don't push super hard and I don't do bad reps. Doesn't mean I don't work hard, it just means I don't go crazy and treat it as a "workout." If form starts to fall apart or I'm grinding super hard to get a rep, I'll stop/slow down. Like @Coach Sommer says in the Stretch series, consistency trumps intensity. I'm training for longevity and movement moreso than anything else. That might make my strength gains slower, but I'm in no rush - I'd rather ratchet down the intensity and focus on the quality. The progression will come in time!

For BJJ, I try to keep a good mix of light days focused on technique and hard days focused on sparring and conditioning. Usually looks like:

• Monday/Thursday/Saturday: Intense/Conditioning
• Tuesday/Friday: Light/Technique

I keep the same mentality for BJJ that I do for GST - I'm training for skill, movement, longevity, and above all, fun! I stay reserved even on my "intense" days unless I'm doing competition prep. I focus on technique, form, and leverage over brute strength, and I try not to force any attacks, positions, etc. 

Daily Scheduling: I do GST in the mornings and BJJ in the evenings. GB Stretch series in the evenings as well.

Performance/Recovery: My performance and recovery have never been great since I began to focus on GST as my primary source of S&C. I used to lift weights too, but stopped when I lost consistent gym access. That said, I feel better now than I did when I was focused on heavy lifting. GST has helped me move my body way better, strengthened my joints/muscles/connective tissue,  and increased my overall flexibility/mobility. The stretch series in particular has been hugely beneficial for my recovery. It's a great way to calm myself physically and mentally, and feels great after a night of hard training. Overall, I've found GST to be an absolutely perfect complement to BJJ.

Remember, your mileage may vary! I feel good with this particular schedule and distribution of work/intensity. You might need something different. Like Mikey said above, try a light to moderate training load at first, keep it up for 4-6 weeks, evaluate how you feel, and make the appropriate modifications from there. 

I hope this word-vomit has been helpful! Keep training hard!

Thank you for the feedback all. I’ll definitely be taking your advice about taking it slow to start. @Benjamin Nutt it looks as though your programming is almost identical to mine as well, that’s good to hear 

I havent got the fundamentals course, I might need to look into that — feels like I’m missing a daily limber.

Hi everyone,

I've trained  BJJ sporadically for around 2 years. I'm using the shadow jujitsu videos from onnit right now. I completed the GB Fundamentals and really appreciate the improvements I've gained in my overall movement. I think the quadrupedal work has the best general applications to my training. I'm mostly experimenting with different movement practices. I'm doing some bouldering, parkour, kettlebell stuff, with the GB perspective the past few months.