How Can You Prepare Your Body for BJJ Training After 40?

Training BJJ when you are young is very different from training BJJ once you are 40 years old. Your body is not the same as when you were young. Your body is not as durable and flexible as once it was. Your energy is also not the same. So you have to keep that in mind when you are planning to do BJJ when you are above 40. With these many changes in your body, how can you expect your training BJJ planning to remain the same? Your training also needs to be changed to help your body train BJJ.

• One of the most interesting and widely asked questions from people about BJJ is whether they are too old to start BJJ training. Should they start BJJ when they are over 40? Should they continue training BJJ when they are above 40 years of age? These are all questions that confuse many people often those who are above 40 or near 40. Well, the one-line answer to all these questions is that your age is just a number. You just need to be wise enough to make yourself able to continue training BJJ even if you cross 40 years of age.

• There is not a number for when you can say that you are now too old to do BJJ. You can do BJJ when you think you can do it. That is it. You can do it when you are 50 years old. You can even do it when you are 60 years old. That’s all depends on you, your passion, and your health. If you have ever observed BJJ academies, you can see that the people training BJJ there are from all different age groups, from four years old to sixty years old.

• The most important thing is the focus. You need to focus on training BJJ. You need to focus on your goals and the reason behind it. You should ask yourself why you want to train BJJ. Are you going to win the World Cup? No, that should not be the goal. That ship has already sailed. Let go of that ship and think about another ship you can sail. If you want to compete, you surely can compete. You can get into IBJJF competitions.

• There are a lot of options for that as well. So, try to think of your goal first. That is more important than asking this question of whether you can do or no do BJJ at 40. You can do BJJ at your older age for your fitness. You can do BJJ to keep yourself mentally active. There can be a lot of goals for that. You can be a more technical person. You can be a coach. You can reach the black belt after some years of training.

You can prepare your body for training BJJ and do safe BJJ training by following all the tips given below;

• The first thing you need to make sure of is leaving your ego at home when coming for BJJ training. You should listen to your body. Your body changes many things when you are aging. Your body will not be as flexible, durable, and strong as it was in your twenties. Some people being egoistic, take things too seriously, and the result is that they get injured. The point is that you have to adapt your body to the training. One person is 20 years old, and the other one is 60 years old. Can both lift the same weights for the same duration?

• Can both do hard training for the whole day? The older BJJ athlete can’t do all these things. Just make sure that you are not harming your body. Keep your activities to a limit. Otherwise, you will get injured and will not be able to do BJJ for any longer. If you are just starting BJJ at 40 years old, don’t compare yourself to a 20-year-old BJJ practitioner. You have to start BJJ with the light rolling. Train for less time. With a few days of this training, you can go on for somewhat hard training. If you are taking your ego with you for BJJ training, you are prone to be injured. You will train hard from the very first day. You will not tap earlier. This all will get you injured.

• Your body flexibility and mobility when you are 40 will not be the same as when you were young. This adds some additional exercises you need to do to improve your mobility and body flexibility. This flexibility and mobility will help your body to do BJJ training effectively when you are 40 or above 40. The simple and easy way to increase your body flexibility and mobility is by stretching your body. Your range of motion will increase when you are stretching your body.

• There are a variety of stretching exercises available that you can do for effective BJJ training. Some of the best stretching exercises are quad stretch, child pose, side stretch, knee to pose, and shoulder stretch. You can choose stretching exercises depending on the part of your body for which you want to improve your flexibility and mobility.

• The best advice most BJJ coaches give to the BJJ beginners is to tap early. You should tap on everything, not just. There is definitely more of a chance of an injury with the joint lock. What should you do when someone puts an arm bar on you? The time to tap is when they get the arm. If your hands are not connected like you are not defending the arm bar then you will probably need to tap. Because you are going to feel pressure, pain and then injury. You don't want to have an injury. If you are a beginner, you definitely need to tap really especially on the things that you are not aware of.

• Suppose somebody catches you in a position that feels like a trap that is dangerous. You probably should tap, and there is a great lesson. You are going to learn something too. Don't take it to the point where you are going to risk injury because it's not going to last like you go to. Get this in your head. If you are like a 20-year-old when you are doing BJJ, you are not indestructible. You have to be mindful about tapping.

• So tap early on everything, and when you are trapped, tap as you get better. There will be more of a chance where you can't escape from moves, but the true escape from a move is preventing it before it happens. Like, you really can't get out of a good arm bar. It is not smart because you risk injury on the way out. You should not risk your joints like that all the time because it's going to cause wear and tear. It's not going to be a good thing. It's not going to be sustainable. So that is first and foremost.

You have to address your body on a daily basis. You are not going to feel the same every day. If your knee is a little bit sore someday, so you have to be a little bit more mindful that day about your training. If you push your knee that day, it is going to become something that could be potentially serious or chronic. So listen to your body. You should have a good relationship with your body in that sense where if your body is telling you something, if it's whispering, you are listening. Don't wait until the point where it's become too dangerous. Take care of yourself. Try to address that stuff really early, on a daily and ongoing basis.

• Then, you have to be doing all of the things in your life that are going to support your training. That means eating a healthy diet, taking good care of yourself, getting a good night's sleep, drinking plenty of water, and good mental training. The thoughts that you think, the way that you think, are going to affect everything in your life. So, live a stress-free life as much as possible. All of these factors, you know certainly come into play as a 51-year-old rolling. You cannot roll 100 all the time, and you know that is not sustainable.

• You will be going to end up getting hurt. So find the days where you feel like you can roll harder and the days where you want to roll a little bit lighter. It is okay to tell somebody, 'Hey man, I want to roll a little bit light today. If that person can't respect that, then they are probably not a good training partner for you. So maybe you avoid them next round, or maybe you save them for when you are feeling like you can roll hard. But if it's a day where you are feeling a little off, you need to listen to that.

Some other tips that will help you get started or continue training at or over 40 are the following;

• Focus a lot on your diet. Eat the right foods. Avoid junk food and fast food. Eat three times a day. Fulfill your nutrient goal every day.

• Hydration plays a lot of role in your BJJ journey. Don’t neglect it. Drink water and keep yourself hydrated.

• Make sure you are recovering yourself after BJJ training. Give yourself some time and rest. Without proper recovery, you cannot prepare your body for the training the next day. So, BJJ recovery is very important, particularly when you are above 40.

• You may be thinking that when you are old, you should not do strength training. But that is not true. That is just a myth. You can still do strength training. But do and increase the weights gradually. You must do strength training.

Now, this does not mean that you should not challenge yourself. Yes, of course, challenge yourself. Push yourself. You need to die in the mats like there is a point where you roll so hard that you are going to die. But that role does not happen every single day. It is not possible. So be mindful of the speed you are rolling at, the type of partner you are rolling with, and how you are feeling on a day-to-day basis. Those are all factors that are very important, and all of the stuff that you need to be doing off the mat that's gonna support your training.

• Continue your training. It is important to continue. If you are a brand new beginner you have got to get through the first six months. Six months is the key because after the first six months you are going to start understanding the framework a lot better. You are going to start having some victories on the map. You will start tapping out some of the people that are just starting behind you, and it's gonna start feeling like, wow, I can actually do this.

• So, right now, if you are a beginner, it might be tough. You might just like getting through it. That is okay. Get through it, but get through those six months because, at the end of the six months, there's going to be a reward for you. Take care of the beginners because if you take good care of them, they are going to play an amazing role for you in six months, a year from now, two years from now. But if you destroy them now, you are not going to have them down the road.

There is no age where you cannot do BJJ or you should retire or finish doing BJJ. If you think you can do it. If you have a passion for doing BJJ. If you can think, you can work hard. If you think you can give BJJ a proper time daily. Then you can do it regardless of your age. 

The most important thing is the focus. You need to focus on training BJJ. You need to focus on your goals and the reason behind it. You should ask yourself why you want to train BJJ. Try to think of your goal first. That is more important than asking this question of whether you can do or no do BJJ at 40. You can do BJJ at your older age for your fitness. You can do BJJ to keep yourself mentally active. There can be a lot of goals for that. You can be a more technical person. You can be a coach. You can reach the black belt after some years of training.

You can prepare your body for training BJJ and do safe BJJ training by following all the tips given below;

• Don’t Be Egoistic

• Try Exercises to Improve Your Flexibility

• Tap Early

• Address Your Body On Daily Basis

• Do Some Other Things to Support Your Training

• Focus a lot on your diet. Eat the right foods. Avoid junk food and fast food. Eat three times a day. Fulfill your nutrient goal every day.

• Hydration plays a lot of role in your BJJ journey. Don’t neglect it. Drink water and keep yourself hydrated.

• Make sure you are recovering yourself after BJJ training.

• You can still do strength training. But do and increase the weights gradually. You must do strength training.