Can You Become Fit By Relying Only On Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a game that provides many benefits even if you are not taking BJJ as a career. For example, with BJJ, you can learn and master self-defense. You can win any street fights if you have learned BJJ. The techniques and moves you learn in the BJJ help you win many mental and physical battles.

But this is not the only thing that you learn from BJJ. You learn discipline, respect, social interactions, and many other things that are helpful for you in your real life. But the most important thing you can learn from BJJ is being fit. BJJ makes you fit both mentally and physically. Everyone dreams of staying mentally and physically fit for most of their lives. BJJ fulfills this dream. BJJ helps you make and stay fit in various ways, as discussed in this article.

Before you get into the details of becoming fit by relying only on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sport, you must know what being fit means. What constitutes being in shape or fitness? Different people may have different opinions on that. Also, you may define this based on your goals. But the perfect definition of being fit and in shape is following;

• It means elevated stamina.

• It means stronger cardiovascular health.

• It means stronger and bigger muscles.

• It means stronger joints and connective tissue like ligaments and tendons.

• It means weight loss, such as burning fats.

After learning the definition of being fit and in shape, now the question arises. Can you get all that from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? We will discuss each aspect one by one.

• If you have been doing BJJ for a while, you may know that Brazilian jiu-jitsu will strain your stress and test your cardiovascular stamina. To make this even more fun and practical, let's look at this from the perspective of someone who wants to get in shape and hasn't started yet. Whether drilling at speed, flowing, or full-on sparring, you will get cardiovascular benefits from BJJ, especially if you are starting from ground zero and haven't applied cardio training to your regimen yet.

• So the main question is, does BJJ help improve your cardiovascular health? You may now know the answer. Yes, it does. If you hate cardio, you should try BJJ because nothing makes you try harder than an opponent trying to choke you. You can compare it to running from bears. Nothing will make you run harder than if you have to run from a bear. Nothing is going to make you work harder on mats when someone is trying to choke you or break your arm. Now, you are training in a controlled environment, so you don't have to worry about that, but it does help ramp up the effort.

• If you have to draw up a tier system for the various levels of cardio training you will see in BJJ; then you should put drilling at the bottom of the tier list. This is because drilling is just moving back and forth. You may get three reps, but logically, you are not pushing the cardio pace. This is by no means a stressful or straining exercise.

• Above drilling, you should place flowing on the tier system. If you are new to BJJ, flowing is a very light role you are doing with your partner. You are letting your opponent get chokes and submissions, but they are not completing them. They are letting you get out of them. You are just flowing through the movements. There is no stopping for breaks.

• You are finding new routes. When your opponent puts on submissions, you escape. When you put on submissions, they escape. You continually move, and it is prolonged. It is very light but a little more fast-paced than drilling. Our heart rate goes up a little bit. Because of this continuous movement, you have to rank it above drilling.

• Above the flowing on the tier system would be drilling for Speed. This could be sprawl drills back and forth. This could be takedown drills back and forth. You are drilling for speed here. So there are no brakes. You are hitting all the movements and techniques at full speed, and because of that, you will get a great cardio workout. From this, the heart rate is going to go up. You are going to feel it. You will probably gas out at some point, which is excellent for cardiovascular health.

• You must put sparring at the top of this tier system because this is 100 percent combat. You and your drilling partner or your opponents give each other 100 percent of each other's efforts. You both are trying to submit to each other. You both are trying to escape with 100% effectiveness. Because of this, you will probably get close to your max heart rate depending on your belt rank, effectiveness and efficiency, and rolling style.

• Losing weight is the common goal for many people hitting the gym. They want to burn fat, burn calories, and reduce their weight. However, many don't realize that BJJ can fulfill this dream effectively. But you should remember that when we are in a state of weight loss, it is because we are burning more calories than we are consuming.

• This is the key to losing weight. It is nearly impossible to outwork a bad diet. It doesn't matter where you are in your weight loss Journey. Whether you are starting or have been doing it for a while, you will set yourself up for failure if you are not eating fewer calories than you are burning.

• You must track all your exercises. Between your weight lifting, your morning cardio, and your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, nothing burns more calories than your BJJ training. Track your morning cardio and your weight-lifting workouts. Also, track your BJJ training with a heart rate monitor.

• Assuming that all of these tools are slightly inaccurate in their calorie-burning count, it is not uncommon that you can see BJJ training that lasts an hour, burning five to six hundred calories. That may be slightly inaccurate, but it is much higher than weight-lifting workouts and morning cardio. So, assuming that you are doing everything right, trying to lose weight, and keeping yourself somewhat of a calorie deficit, BJJ can help you lose weight and burn fat.

• It is not uncommon for us to see a person enter the gym as an overweight white belt and, over the years, transition into someone who is a relatively in-shaped blue belt. These things take time, but if you are in the appropriate calorie range for your age, gender, and activity level, you can and will see weight loss from BJJ alone.

• The next question you may ask is whether BJJ builds bone and joint strength. Does it help with bone density? Does it help develop tendon and ligament strength? 

• The truth is any activity that strains your bones, ligaments, or tendons will help build strength in those areas. This is one of the main reasons people should be weightlifting alongside their BJJ training.

• It helps build bone density and strength and develops tendon and ligament strength. Anytime you put any of these things under pressure consistently and constantly, your body will adapt, and you will become stronger, which will help prevent injury. 

• Now, you can also think, can this occur from BJJ training alone? The answer is yes because it puts pressure and strain on your bones and joints. But to reiterate, weightlifting should be done alongside BJJ training because it will take all those aspects to the next level.

• The last and most exciting question you may ask is, does BJJ build muscles? It depends on where you are at in your journey. If you are new to exercise and just jumping into BJJ, then yes, you will probably build muscle from this. But if you are someone who has been an athlete all your life or at least for a few years, whether that be weightlifting or some other kind of sport, you are probably not going to build a ton of muscle from this.

• You may build some supplemental strength because you will be using new movements and new muscles that you haven't ever used before, especially if you are new to BJJ. Someone from a wrestling background with bodybuilding and powerlifting mixed in will probably not build more muscle on top of their frame. But you can make different kinds of muscle, mainly through bodybuilding and powerlifting.

• You can build fast twitch muscle fibers, the big muscle fibers that are great for aesthetics and make you look good. You can build up more of your stamina muscle fibers, slow twitch, and intermediate twitch muscle fibers. They are great for combat stamina but don't do much for aesthetics. If you are entirely new to all forms of training, you will build muscle from BJJ. You probably will burn fat and build visible muscle that looks good, especially if you're keeping yourself in a caloric deficit, whether that's coming from eating less food or training so much that it puts you in a caloric deficit.

BJJ is a great way to start to build confidence. Get yourself in shape, which can honestly transfer to other things. You may build confidence. It takes you to get into a gym and train. Get yourself in shape to the point where you feel comfortable walking into a weight room. You feel comfortable walking into a commercial gym and crushing a workout, and you don't care who's there. You don't care who's looking at you. Do BJJ to get in shape. If you have not done any training in the past, jump into BJJ because it can be life-changing for you, as it has been for so many people before us.

If you want to begin training BJJ to get in shape, it can help you build muscle. Are you going to look like a bodybuilder? No. So, if you rely solely on BJJ to meet your Fitness needs, you will probably build a frame similar to an MMA fighter who doesn't do much weight lifting. They are lean and muscular. They look like they can fight, but simultaneously, you are not hulking like a bodybuilder and will not be thick like a powerlifter. You can get in shape utilizing only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu if you are in the correct caloric range. 

If you want to begin training BJJ to get in shape, it can help you build muscle. Are you going to look like a bodybuilder? No. So, if you rely solely on BJJ to meet your Fitness needs, you will probably build a frame similar to an MMA fighter who doesn't do much weight lifting. They are lean and muscular. They look like they can fight, but simultaneously, you are not hulking like a bodybuilder and will not be thick like a powerlifter. You can get in shape utilizing only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu if you are in the correct caloric range. 

• It depends on where you are at in your journey. If you are new to exercise and just jumping into BJJ, then yes, you will probably build muscle from this. But if you are someone who has been an athlete all your life or at least for a few years, whether that be weightlifting or some other kind of sport, you are probably not going to build a ton of muscle from this.

• You may build some supplemental strength because you will be using new movements and new muscles that you haven't ever used before, especially if you are new to BJJ. Someone from a wrestling background with bodybuilding and powerlifting mixed in will probably not build more muscle on top of their frame.

• The truth is any activity that strains your bones, ligaments, or tendons will help build strength in those areas. This is one of the main reasons people should be weightlifting alongside their BJJ training. It helps build bone density and strength and develops tendon and ligament strength. Anytime you put any of these things under pressure consistently and constantly, your body will adapt, and you will become stronger, which will help prevent injury.

• Now, you can also think, can this occur from BJJ training alone? The answer is yes because it puts pressure and strain on your bones and joints. But to reiterate, weightlifting should be done alongside BJJ training because it will take all those aspects to the next level.

Assuming that all of these tools are slightly inaccurate in their calorie-burning count, it is not uncommon that you can see BJJ training that lasts an hour, burning five to six hundred calories. That may be slightly inaccurate, but it is much higher than weight-lifting workouts and morning cardio. So, assuming that you are doing everything right, trying to lose weight, and keeping yourself somewhat of a calorie deficit, BJJ can help you lose weight and burn fat.

Yes, it does. If you hate cardio, you should try BJJ because nothing makes you try harder than an opponent trying to choke you. You can compare it to running from bears. Nothing will make you run harder than if you have to run from a bear. Nothing is going to make you work harder on mats when someone is trying to choke you or break your arm. Now, you are training in a controlled environment, so you don't have to worry about that, but it does help ramp up the effort.