How to Get Better Faster
By Coach Justin Konwinski
Introduction
So, you want to get better faster. Well at the end of the day there is no substitute for time. However first we have to plot our course. Like any ship you need a plan and path otherwise you can get lost at sea. Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art that breaks down to a positional based fighting system with the goal of submission.
Submissions include (other than lifting and slamming someone on their head) to choke our opponent unconscious or execute an armlock or leg lock and catastrophically break your opponent’s limb so they are incapable of continuing to fight. Now that pretty much sums it up.
If you break that down you need to learn submissions. But fights start standing so add takedowns, and how to control someone when you’re on top of them to even get the submission in the first place.
Flip that and you have takedown defense, submission defense, and how to escape those controls. Where do escapes lead? Well, you could go MMA and just (Turtle) then stand up. Or you could go Jiu-Jitsu and go to Guard. Guard is the secret weapon of Jiu-Jitsu and supposedly the Gracie’s Creation and Addition to Jiu-Jitsu. So, there you have it. That’s it. Escape, Control, Submission, Submission Escape. Then the secret weapon of fighting, the Guard which adds sweeps, passing, and legs.
“ Jiu-Jitsu is a positional based fighting system”
Positions
1. Mount
2. Back Mount
3. Side Mount (subjectively Knee on Belly too)
4. Turtle
5. Guard
6. Ashi Garami – Leg Entanglements (also labeled as a Guard: Straight Ashi, Outside Ashi, 50-50, Backside 50-50, 411/Saddle
Within Pins: Mount, Side Mount, and Rear Mount/Turtle
We have Escapes, Controls, Submissions, and Submission Escapes.
1. Escapes/Reversals
2. Controls - Pins
3. Submissions
4. Submission Escapes
Within the Guard
We have: Controls/Retention, Sweeps, Submissions, Submission Escapes, and Passing the Guard.
1. Controls and Guard Retention
2. Sweeps from Standing and Kneeling
3. Submissions as Chokes and Armlocks and Leg Locks
4. Submission Escapes from those Chokes and Armlocks and Leg Locks
5. Guard Passing from Standing and Kneeling (Standing is really the only way unless you’re a ninja
Ashi Garami – Leg Entanglements
These could technically be labeled as a Guard; however the effort is to break everything down. Leg locks aren’t really focused on until the upper belts as you have so much more to focus on. But hey, leg locks are the ultimate equalizer so, get after it.
Leg Entanglements we have: Straight Ashi, Outside Ashi, 50-50 and Backside 50-50, 411, and the Reap.
1. Straight Ashi Garami – Usually the Entry Position into the systems
2. Outside Ashi Garami – Great for a Straight Ankle Lock, Belly Down, or Heel Hook
3. 50-50 – that’s not good odds..
4. Backside 50-50: get your heel hooks and knee bars and how to enter the other positions from here. Do you play K Guard bro?
5. 411 – This is the Checkmate Position. Isolate their secondary leg and smash that inside heel hook or transfer to the Reap.
So we can attack the upper and lower body of our opponents, and them to us. Remember at the end of the day a good old slam could end the fight. But let’s dive into the ground-based fighting system and butt scoot our way to victory.
Positions and their Phases
First and foremost, you have to understand the positions, and then the categories within the positions. From there you should try to get just One option from everywhere, and then add more options from there. Really each category such as escape or control or submission or sweep, will likely only really have 10 to 20 options at most, however those options will have variations. You could potentially have say 50 submissions from mount. But remember they are simply just chokes and armlocks. And within that, I bet its still just an armbar, you just set it up with gift wraps or americanas etc to add layers and combinations of attacks.
Simply, just keep it simple until you’re ready to add all the low percentage stuff.
Note: If you add the Gi you get a bunch more as well as the chokes including using the skirt of the lapel. Or even their belt… Jk. But you will notice the lapel is essentially a belt. Who would have thought. The number one BJJ murder weapon in the world, the “belt” i.e. Lapel.
Understanding those Positions and their Phases Can Make us Better Faster
Now that we have the basic premise down. The question is how do we get better faster. Well part of the journey is doing research and watching videos etc but we are here to save you time. First and foremost. You would type on Google, “what is the best… remember: Takedown, Escape, Control, Submission, Sweep, Pass from whatever position and find statistics and data.
Some things work better for certain body types but at the end of the day you want the stuff that works on all levels especially Black Belt level. Plus, really if you ever want to “sell” your Jiu-Jitsu as the best. And you’re a 250lb meat head. Explain to that 110lb girl how she is just going to trap and “throwll” that person off them or easily hit the 5 step armbar because of your amazing gi grip that negates their ability to posture. No no. You want the stuff that works against big strong dudes at all levels and variants of fighting like MMA, Self-Defense, BJJ.
Position before Submission
If the submission should fail, often times you will not only lose the position, but end up on bottom, so put position in higher regard to the submission. Don’t rush into the sub, rather be patient and set it up. The longer you can hold the position, the more likely you are to get the sub anyway.
How to Look at Your Journey
If by purple belt you have seen it all, what’s the principle or basic premise to live by for each belt.
Most agree will Professor Saulo Ribiera with the
1. White Belt: Survival
2. Blue Belt: Escapes
3. Purple Belt: Guards
4. Brown Belt: Passing – Pinning
5. Black Belt: Submission
You will of course learn escapes, passing etc. right away, but you will likely come to this same conclusion in some round about way upon your cycles of life and Jiu-Jitsu.
Alternative Philosophy of the Belts
White Belt: Survival: Escapes and Submission Escapes
meaning, Become hard to submit, get used to being on bottom, being smashed, and believe in the escapes your coach or professor is teaching you.
Blue Belt: Learn most of Jiu-Jitsu or Everything Else: Escapes and Guard and Top Game, as said, it is likely that you will learn most of the systems around this time. This is the belt everyone quits at because it would naturally be the longest. There is a significantly greater skill gap from blue to purple.
Purple Belt: Guards: You will become seduced by the guards and “playing Jiu-Jitsu”
Brown Belt: Game or Style: By now you will likely have your game or style figured out and it’s just tightening everything from here. You probably have your favorite subs, sweeps, move etc.
Black Belt: Give Back: Likely you will have been teaching much earlier in your journey, but this is sort of a big eclipse and now you’re on the home stretch. You will teach and give back to Jiu-Jitsu showing everyone all of the hacks and little details that add so much value to everyone else’s journey.
The Secret Weapon of Jiu-Jitsu - The Guard
At some point we have to address all the talk about the Guard. There are several kinds of Guards and the strengths and weaknesses vary but really we just want to know them all. Likely we wont even use closed guard for 6 years and find out it’s the best thing ever one winter. Here is a list of Guards.
1. Closed Guard
All other Guards are technically just “Open Guard”
2. Butterfly Guard
3. X Guard
4. Single X or Ashi Garami
5. De La Riva
6. Spider
7. Collar Sleeve
8. Sit Up
9. K Guard
10. Williams Guard
11. Worm, Squid all that weird stuff
And possibly one of the best or most important depending on the situation, the Half Guard.
As Danaher says, Half Guard is a dilemma because both the top and bottom guy want to force it. It is a great passing position and a great sweeping position. So both guys actually desire it. Some time in your journey make it a point to get really good at Half Guard Passing and really good at Half Guard Bottom such as how to recover Guard, Back Takes, Wrestle Ups, Z Half etc.
Review: Within this positional based fighting system there is THE GUARD. Which simply breaks down to Closed Guard, Open Guards, and Half Guard. That’s all that it breaks down to, keep it that simple. It will take a while for you to learn all of these guards and likely you will have phases where you switch it up for months at a time.
Note: You may have noticed the Single X Guard or Ashi as a form of Guard that leads to the Leg Locks. Most of your entries will be from Guards.
The Complexity becomes Simple Eventually
At the end of the day its just the same moves. Like Music it only has so many notes before the scale repeats again. With the human anatomy, there are only so many ways to choke or lock or escape etc. What changes is the variations or the entries.
Variations being if I have an elbow escape, there are different ways to pull it off such as crunching or bridge and rolling first.
With the Armbar or Triangle, it will be things like Entries or combinations adding the Oma Plata and Kimura or grabbing this grip instead of that one.
Note: You will want a bunch of different entries and chains into your submissions. These are the things that will change, but otherwise its still the same old move.
Once you have a few entries, create systems within the move.
Example: if I get the top lock from Guard, I can actually probably get the armbar, triangle, Oma Plata, kimura, cutter and more. Just from that one position. Now label that as a system or sequence or chain or combination. These will be very important as the skill level of your opponent increases. The average person you can just directly attack, boom and done, but advanced opponents will take chains.
Section 2: Training Methodology
Get good at the Best Moves. What are the best moves?
Positions and their categories
Escape
Control
Submission
Sweep
Pass
Mount
Elbow Escape or Kipping
Counters to the Main Escapes
High Mount Armbar or Triangle
Side Mount
Shrimp Escape or High Low Leg
Counters to the main escapes
Armbar
Back Mount
Body Lock Escape
Body Lock
RNC or Armbar
Turtle
Shoulder Roll or Switches
Get Back Mount
Front Headlock – Guillotine/D’arce
Guard
Retention or Punch Defense
Triangle/Armbar
Sumi Gaeshi – Butterfly Sweep
Knee Slice works against most guards
Legs
Push their Hamstring to escape the knee line
Flow between the Ashis – Don’t lose theknee line
Heel Hook
Ashi Garami
Barimbolo
Here is an example of just ONE or TWO moves to keep it simple but really there is likely a couple few.
Make sure to do your own research and come to your own conclusions. That is a part of the fun. Now, if the principle is that time and again these moves are the best and work the most often on all platforms. Then the MAJORITY of your training should be devoted to said moves. This list could vary just slightly but we need to just look at the data from the last 10 years or so of say ADCC or IBJJF or even UFC to try to find the best moves. The armbar is likely the best submission over any other submission because the RNC is only in One position where the armbar is everywhere. It also is your whole-body vs their arm, vs. the RNC is really hard to get on a big dude, again unless you’re a ninja.
It will be harder to find the best control, but you can definitely find data on a most of these categories. The intention is not to sell you one move over another, you will have to find out for yourself. But the seeds are planted.
Homework: Make your chart with takedowns and throws. “what are the best takedowns?”
You will need to get good at All of the positions and phases. Likely a school will have a foundation or all levels program that teaches a lot of these moves ironically, because often the basics at a high level are the best. The secret is in the details and principles.
What About the Lower Percentage Moves?
A lot of the other moves may not be as high percentage, but it is still important and fun to learn them. These are still moves you may hit in live, or you may use them as set ups to your actual move, or you need to know them so that your opponent doesn’t get them against you.
At white belt you will likely learn a lot of these so called best moves because of their basic nature. The basics work on the highest level is a pretty good concept.
With the lower percentage moves it is likely that at Blue Belt level or class you will learn probably most of the other moves in Jiu-Jitsu. By Purple belt the idea is that there are not really “new” moves per say. Its more about perfecting your style and games from there.
Align Yourself with Someone of similar size and Body Type
Who are the world champion at your weight class? Well, you better know it, now watch their matches and see what moves these guys are doing. These are probably the moves you should be practicing too. I know you want to be a guard passer but a lot of these lighter weight classes are pulling guard and butt scooting and Barimboloing, maybe wrestling will give you advantages who knows, either way its important to look at it like this. If those guys are the best, you know what it looks like.
Find or make yourself the perfect training partner. They can be of different weight class but one could argue that similar size is best. Its as simple as, it’s a lot harder to move a much larger opponent, so it doesn’t give you the same opportunity to work your pure game in that weight class.
Reversal: Fighting big dudes can also make you a monster because your game has to be on point or else they will smash you. By having to adapt to significant size disadvantages you could potentially get better.
Review: Find the best people in the world, and get good at what they are doing. Get a good training partner that can evolve with you and maybe even that’s a similar size so you can work your game.
What is the perfect training partner
At your own gym you don’t always get the opportunity to train with world champions so its important to have good training partners. One of the most important things for your partner is controlled resistance. Sometimes you don’t want people fully resisting and stopping your moves so you can’t get your work. Whenever you are drilling and working on stuff, your partner should start at no resistance, and maybe even work their way up with you as you get better but still help you get the moves.
The point about being a good training partner is helping your partner learn and get better, not just shutting down their moves and ruining their day.
When training with different partners here are some things to consider. What if your opponent is better or worse than you.
What if your partner is better?
Well then you might get your butt kicked a lot unless they flow with you and do give and take and let you get stuff. Otherwise you will likely get smashed for a while until you can adapt to their level, hopefully. But they can also teach you and guide you on the journey, so they are a blessing. Take advantage of that knowledge.
This person would be your Mentor or Master in some way and essentially you can take advantage of the hours they have spent so you can save time and learn more faster. Self-taught is harder, best to get a helping hand. This is symbolically your apprenticeship. So take advantage of this is you have it.
If they are worse
Then you better be watching John Danaher and Gordon Ryan videos and the latest and greatest innovations in the Jiu-Jitsu realm, because you have the reins and need to be leading and guiding them with you so you guys can evolve together. You have to get the systems in place so you guys are learning moves along a consistent basis obviously in class, but supplementally as well. If that is your only partner you have to be learning so you can help them get better to then get you better too. Plus there is no better way to learn than teach.
When you are better you can often work whatever you want or should be working and be more successful in all your rolls and moves. This will in turn make your game better and stronger.
Note: if you can literally do anything then you need to teach them how to counter these moves or find someone physically stronger so you can challenge yourself a little. All in all if you are better, you still have a lot to gain in that you can work your moves and not just get destroyed the whole time.
Partners
Pick various partners so you always get different looks but you can have your main person that you work more with on certain things. Either way make sure you establish what level you are working at and if legs or cranks are legal in your matches. Keep it safe and keep it playful, but remember, your training partners can make a huge impact on your evolution.
If you have a bunch of high level athletes in the room, you are probably one or you’re going to become one or scrub out. So align yourself with the right squad.
Reversal: Don’t be a jerk either and just not work with certain people. Share your knowledge and find time to rotate with other class members
What is a spaz and how to not be one
At some time someone will ask you to flow roll, you will try hard to win because that’s just how it is. Potentially this is being a spaz. It’s just how you move.
Example: Instead of just going straight forward and grabbing their lapel/neck, we dash and duck to try to get said grip, this is spaziness. If you can learn to relax a little and try to minimize muscle movement and overcompensation, you may be seen as less of a spazz and more controlled.
Another Example: if you ever find yourself kneeing or elbowing or hitting on accident, your body was out of control, you need to slow down until you can grasp the wheel.
Imagine you’re driving through a city at 80mph vs 20mph. Which one are you going to have control of the wheel, see the sites the stores etc. Its best often to take it slower and more controlled. Even black belts the matches are often sort of slow and boring but there is technical things taking place. So be less of a spazz and be in the present moment while rolling. Enjoy the ride. This will help you get better faster.
The Direct Line
Often times you don’t need to dash and dodge to get a grip or anchor on your opponent. If you slow down and be in the moment, you can often take the direct line to the path. This comes with time. Let’s find an example where patience could lead to us getting the upper hand.
Ex: my opponent has me in bottom side control, they are transitioning positions and in the moment that they move, technically they physically have to create space when they move. The space they create when they move is the opening. You have to wait (be patient) for them to move to then have your opening. This will help you get the direct line to the best.
Another way to look at it is that there is possibly the best thing to do right in that moment such as insert this frame or create this wedge, or block the hip etc and often times if you go for it they block you the first time but if you keep going to it over and over they concede to go some other direction, even though this is theoretically the best thing to do in this position.
Review: A lot of times you can simply be patient and wait for them to move to set up your opening. Or you can take the direct line and be persistent on that energy path to make them go somewhere else and again, give you the opening. Be Patient, and take the Direct Line.
Offensive and Defensive Cycles
Jiu-Jitsu is essentially you are fighting with someone, and this fight is in various positions, likely some sort of back and forth ironically happens, where they try something and you counter or vice versa. These are defined as offensive and defensive cycles. If you are on defense that is where you are, the trick is off setting your opponent so that you can then gain the offensive cycle and therefore the advantage.
Any of the positional escapes can likely lead to submission attacks.
Mount: You can do a Kipping Escape into Ashi Garami, heel hook bam
Rear Mount: As you turn to escape you can end in Guard/Ashi Garami
Side Mount: is an upper body pin so you escape into armbars or top locks. But they pull out and you go to back side 50-50.
Half Guard: top and bottom can enter the legs, but bottom as a defensive cycle, you could go from Butterfly half into Ashi.
So, you can see these moments of “Defensive Cycle” need to be broken and why not enter into Offensive Cycles along the way. Get good at Escapes. Then good at escapes into attacks, instead of just resets.
Drilling vs Rolling
First ask yourself if you could just have one which would it be. Now that’s a tough one. Because if you only drill you never Pressure Test the moves. Yet if you only go live, how can you get perfect technique and muscle memory.
So it is best to find a balance between both rolling and drilling.
On Drilling
Do not neglect your drilling. You will be surprised what hundreds of repetitions can do the idea of Mastery or thousands of hours leading to seeing everything differently. Likely you will get there some day.
Drill all positions and categories, create systems within each of them.
Example: Closed Guard has sweep and sub, but can quickly transition to K Guard then you enter the K Guard system.
You need to be drilling these things often to truly get the muscle memory to hit it on the good opponents.
On Live Rolling
Live is perfect for pressure testing the techniques to see if they would work. You’re basically fighting someone in hopes to submit them. Its one of the greatest experiences. But often times if you do live you could end in the same positions or loops over and over with certain people and not get the most out of it.
Higher belts understand to also do positional live or Positional Drilling.
Ex: Mount Escape vs. Mount Control – You just try to hold them there and they try to escape.
Or submission vs. Survival – they just lay there well you try your best subs.
Guard passing vs. guard retention
Sweep Submission vs. Passing
Seated Entanglement Position – Only Leg Locks
And you can get creative with this. But these are the ways to get good at a certain position or thing faster.
If you want to get good at leg locks. Literally sit there with your opponent and only do leg locks. If you want to get good at mount escapes, you have to force yourself into bottom mount over and over, or ask your partner to start from there in your rolls and AS Soon AS you escape you start back over in Bottom Mount, that way you can keep increasing those minutes in the Mount Escapes and Survival Category.
Review: We find the balance of Live and Drilling, making sure to drill the best moves hundreds of times, and doing situational live so we get good everywhere and not stuck in the same cycles.
Explore all the “What ifs”
Work with your training partner on a given position and technique, give them as many looks as you think an intelligent opponent and a neophyte may do. This will give you guys opportunities to really master this area. Knowing and having responses to everything they can do will help you get better faster.
The Self Development Component
Keeping the passion and excitement is going to be the key in your journey. You will have highs and lows, especially if you get injured. The trick is to just keep showing up. Everyone likely says it, but old habits die, so if you don’t keep it as a habit, then it’s gone. SO make it a part of your life style. You don’t have to make it your whole identity like a lot of us do. But see Jiu-Jitsu as sacred and something that will help you become the best version of yourself.
If you have open mat or class at 6am, you’re not going to be partying all night because you know you wont be able to roll as well in the morning, or wont be in that absolute best mood from a good night sleep, healthy meal etc. So often times we find Jiu-Jitsu can be a medium to self-development, where we would make sacrifices and be better because we like kicking butt and doing good.
So just remember take it all in stride. As we get older we appreciate the good old days and really, the white and blue belt might be some of the best days of your life. So, enjoy the ride and keep the passion and you will surely get better faster. Remember just keep showing up.
On Recovery
Recovery as in getting lots of sleep, taking a day off or few days or whatever your body tells you. The good ones never miss their class say two or three times a week. Some of us have pre-existing conditions or other circumstances but this is targeted towards the average person. A lot of times you may just need to take it easier. We all spaz or are wild at first and honestly you might always be a little bit of a muscle user, but what happens eventually is: we trust the technique, we don’t need all that burst and push, or we detach our egos from just Having to win in that moment or pull off that move. Any time we overcompensate with muscle or move our body irregularly we can become injured or sore. So its best to trust the Jiu-Jitsu. Its not about whos’ best its about whos’ left. And if you want to be training in 20 years, you need to be proactive and take care of your body.
On Injury
For those that are injured, its probably best to take the proper time off to heal but hopefully your doctor or PT gives you functional movements to keep your body moving. This is not medical advice, the writer is not a doctor, obviously.. These are just ideas, and the worst thing is just taking months off, and you never do it again.
So be Proactive. Tap Early Tap Often. Lose the ego. In fact often the people that tap the most are the ones exploring other realms such as how to survive a certain submission or do an new escape they learned etc. It’s a long journey so make it fun and playful. The Thais in Thailand see it as play, the Russian Wrestlers its play. Yet they are the best in the world at their craft. Maybe there is some wisdom to this.
Once you know a couple moves in every position you can truly play the game if you have the right partner. And this will help you identify loops and find new solutions and game plans. This is the fun stuff. Rather than just smashing through someone or getting smashed and hurt.
There is a time and a place of course for play and competition training, its on you to find the balance. When you are way better though, you will realize the play is much more fun.
In conclusion lose your ego, don’t try to win practice, learn and have fun, make it playful, and be especially mindful of your body and your partners actions so that you can keep everyone safe and still coming to class. More class means you get better faster. So Recover, and be Proactive against injury.
Section 4: The Physical Component
Just because Jiu-Jitsu sells itself as the ultimate equalizer where you can beat up big dudes, that’s honestly not the case. Even if you’re 150lb black belt, if you let yourself go and become a scrub you will get handled, and even in the best shape of your life its still going to be hard to defeat a 6’2” 210lb guy. So at the end of the day its best to sharpen your sword and again become the best version of yourself.
If you don’t strength train and your opponent does, and you’re the same weight, wouldn’t they be stronger then, and they can use that and exploit it. Everyone does, it doesn’t matter who you are, if you are bigger and stronger, or have more mass and body weight, you use it. Therefore, we need to do our best to even the playing field by doing some forms of weight training or calisthenics if the doctor says its ok. Sad I even have to say that..
Strength Training
The point of this book is not to teach fitness so we will limit the main points and you can go to other resources to get a program together if you don’t already.
Strength Training is all about using the Muscular system.
Learn about the muscular system and how amazing and powerful it is. Learn your muscles. Particularly
1. Pectoralis Major – Pecs
2. Deltoids - Delts
3. Trapezius Major – Traps
4. Latimus Dorsii – Lats
5. Biceps Bracii – Biceps
6. Triceps Bracii – Triceps
7. Forearms
8. Abdominals – Abs
9. Glutes – Bum
10. Quadriceps – Quads
11. Hamstrings – Hams
12. Calves.
Each of these muscles are apart of the muscular system and need to be worked.
Lets try to break this down into a simple workout.
Hopefully you have hear of the Push, Pull, Legs workout
Pushing Motions = Chest and Triceps
Pulling Motions = Back: Traps and Lats and Biceps
Legs = Quads, Hams, Calves
Note: Likely your forearms and shoulder/deltoids will be targeted in most of your movements. Plus, shoulder injuries are very high on the list, again just ideas.
Simply put you need you work your arms legs, chest and back and push pull legs is a simple method. Its likely there is no pill (unless its steroids of course) or secret recipe to make you lean or jacked or lose weight.
It simply boils down to volume or Repetitions. The results of your strength training will be strongly correlated to the Volume of training.
You want to get good at armbars, drill them over and over. You want to get big biceps, drill them suckers too. Do Biceps every other day for a month and they will grow. Its that simple, do sets of repetitions at a certain weight equals your Volume. There is likely more technical equations but it boils down to:
Volume = Sets x Reps x Weight
Start with your Sets and Your Repetitions of a certain weight
4 sets of 10 reps is 40 repetitions, that’s your total Repetitions in this workout.
Your hope is to set a certain weight and slowly beat that 40 total reps. Once you can do multiple sets of that weight at say 15 or more repetitions, it would be time and add some more weight.
Ex: Bench Press: 4 sets x 10 reps at 100lbs = 4000 lbs of volume
By next month you can do: 4 sets of 15 at 100 = 6000lbs of volume. Congratulations, you have way more volume, but maybe 15 reps is too many or you are not getting sore anymore.
You then dive into muscle confusion where you would have 3 month cycles of low weight higher reps or high weight lower reps.
Ex: Three months you are doing higher repetitions, 3 months lower, as to always confuse your body so that you do not end up with plateaus.
Review: Make sure to produce an adequate amount of total volume so that you get good workouts and make gains. If you plateau its time to switch us your sets and repetitions or even workout variations so you can keep growing.
Many people get set in the same workout plan and that’s why everyone isn’t just huge and shredded every time.
People that are making gains are likely doing the Compound lifts, and their auxiliary lifts vary so they keep their muscles confused, as well as change their repetitions and sets every few months.
Fitness is a Lifestyle
Its best to look at this as a lifestyle too. You strength train two or three times a week, you look good and feel good.
Volume Calculator
Bench Press: 4 sets x 10 reps at 100lbs = 4000 lbs of volume
Bench Press 3 sets x 5 reps at 200lbs = 3000 lbs of volume
So maybe you want to add a 4th set to that second bench press pal. Or add chest flys and cables etc. you can hopefully get a picture of what volume is, how to calculate it and just the simple idea of getting enough repetitions to force your body to adapt to the conditions you set before it and get stronger.
Review:
Being stronger gives you an advantage, its best to be doing something
Push Pull Workout
Strength train a couple days a week
Reversal:
Again listen to your body, have time for recovery, take a joint supplement and sometimes you might even need an ibuprofen. Outway the pros and cons to strength training vs maybe something lower impact like bands or calisthenics.
Cardio, Cardio, Cardio
Depending on how long you roll for without breaks and how long your rest periods are will obviously impact your cardio. Cardio is one of the most important factors in your game. Cardio is based around the Cardiovascular system. Again its important to make a little time to study this fascinating and powerful body system.
If you’re Gassed, You’re Donzo
If you are a big strong guy, but you cant do 10 pushups or a pull up or run a mile without a cigarette, then I bet your cardio isn’t that good either. Lifestyle choices will have a big impact on our cardio and we all think we are big and tough until we throw a round of punches or do takedowns for 2 or 3 minutes. We soon realize how hard fighting several minute rounds like the pros can be. Now imagine there are no time limits. And you only got two minutes in those lungs. What happens after that? You have a heart attack or beg for mercy as you crumble to the ground, incapable of even fighting back. Or in the match or tournament you are just done, and you mentally quit and lose. Wrestlers will know what I’m talking about. The mental game.
You better have an amazing knockout punch and hope it connects every time in a fight, but if looking at it from a Jiu-Jitsu perspective where it’s the game of fighting, you need to get good cardio or you are going to get whooped.
Supplemental cardio training can be HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), higher repetitions or super sets in your lifting, or running, rowing, cycling etc. These will all get your cardiovascular system up to standard. Or you can just roll and roll at higher intervals. Maybe 5 even 10, 20 minute rolls even to really get your cardio up. Check online what the time frame is that if you rest, you will then lose your amazing cardio. Sadly it could be just a few days and all of a sudden you aren’t as fire as you were. So consistency is key with cardio. Maybe you run a mile everyday no matter what or if you attend some class every other day you always try to get a roll or two in at the end to keep your cardio up.
Review: By having a bottomless gas tank and the ability to keep fighting, you will of course get better faster.
Cheat Code: Economy of Energy.
Stop forcing those moves mate. When you burst and explode or overcompensate with muscle, that wastes energy. Any wasted movement will often cause extra energy. This also follows the principle of direct line. If you just keep your game simple and be present in the moment, you can use your energy more efficiently and save energy, therefore giving you better cardio.
Once you have a significant amount of energy efficiency in your technique, Now add the strength and you will have a greater increase in your game.
Review: By using your energy efficiently, and taking the Direct Line, you can get better faster.