Following on from yesterdays blog post celebrating the success of the two girls in Las Vegas, and letting you know that I'm available should you need a solid strength and conditioning program as we're coming up for 12 weeks to the European Championships in Rome.
I figured I'd talk about the staple principles I use when looking at the BJJ player and their supplemental training needs.
There are certain things that we can just take for granted.
These would be:
Upper Back / Pulling Strength
Hip Strength and Mobility
Aerobic Fitness
High Lactate Threshold
After that, we look at things like Grip , joint integrity, explosive vs grinding strength and so on.
So we build the training based around a warm up that builds joint integrity and mobility. Joint integrity essentially means that each joint has it's best range of motion accessible, and that all the joints are interacting with good timing.
Upper Back and Pulling strength should be a no brainer for BJJ. But one thing I've observed over the years in the Grapplers (Judo, BJJ, Wrestling) is that much of the pulling in the game happens with the shoulder blades protracted. ie, rounded forwards somewhat.
Yes, I know, I'm painting with broad strokes here, but in general the grappling community needs to ensure they have the fullest range of movement in the shoulders with the strength through that whole range.
So all pulling exercises must be coached to include good scapula control.
I've blogged previously on Scap Push Ups, Hanging Scap Pulls and Corkscrew rows, these are all staples in building good scapula control.
Same can be said for Windmills and Turkish Get Ups. Same can be said for Swinging lifts, now we're talking about Kettlebell Swings, Bulgarian Bag Spins, Mace and Indian Clubs, Halo type exercises.
The list is getting longer, so lets wrap up with how we put it all together.
It's really quite simple.
Warm Up: Lots of joint mobility, joint integrity and agility movements, address any rehab concerns, guage today's readiness.
Weeks 1-4(ish): Strength and control, especially through the scaps, hips and core. Weeks 5-8 (ish): Strength and Power, all of the same stuff, just with a power focus.
Weeks 9-12: Push the lactate threshold up, have the athlete work in that pain cave of suck. Less strength focus, but lots of focus on pushing the heart rate up and then recovering it back down again.
It's not rocket science. It's a simple needs analysis, some observation and understanding of both the sport and the athlete.
Once that's done. the precise exercise selection is easy, and the set/rep schemes are dictated by the particular attributes this block of training is aimed at developing.
Now, Monday 22nd November marks the 12 weeks to the Euro's. If you want my help, get in touch before Monday.
Chat soon
Dave Hedges
segdeH Dave
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