Top 5 Ultimate Ways to Avoid Exhaustion in BJJ Training

• When we all start doing something that we love to do, we find it fascinating . We start doing that with high energy levels daily and end the day with the same freshness and excitement.

• But as the time passes, we begin to feel exhausted . We do not feel like doing it anymore. Often, people quit doing that after some time. The same happens with most beginners in BJJ training.

• Many Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioners have to face this. Most people eventually quit due to exhaustion. However, there are specific ways to avoid that, as there is a solution to every problem.

• This is a common problem in BJJ training. It is often called BJJ burnout or BJJ fatigue, and the recovery after that is called BJJ recovery.

• You may have often wondered why you get exhausted or fatigued after a BJJ training. This is the case with many BJJ white belts who do not know how to deal with the exhaustion post-BJJ workout.

• Later on, as you continue training, you will find ways for BJJ recovery. We will dive into the top 5 ways to avoid post-BJJ workout exhaustion so you can focus on your BJJ training and achieve your goals efficiently.

• The number one reason that people get tired in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is because they hold their breath. They get stressed.

• They do not know what to do in a particular position, and for some reason, they think holding their breath is a good idea.

• It is not a good idea. You should try to do any kind of repetitive exercise like kettlebell swings. You will do perfectly fine for the first to eight reps, and things fall off a cliff as you go anaerobic.

• So, if you are getting tired when you should not, ask yourself if you are holding your breath and then make it the priority of the roll.

• The only focus of your next whole bunch of rolls is not how to escape the mount or how to apply the arm bar. It is how to breathe at regular intervals. It will help you in BJJ recovery.

• Another reason you feel fatigued in BJJ training or workout is overtraining.

• Do not treat your body like a machine. It has certain restrictions. You cannot expect your body to be completely normal when overtraining.

• BJJ training is not easy. It is heavy exercise. You have to keep a balance so that your body remains fit and you are improving.

• You cannot continue your BJJ training longer if you are overtraining. 

• The third reason is that you are not linking your breath with your movements during BJJ training. You are either breathing irregularly or too shallow. You have to keep it in balance. Breathe before making any movement.

• Make sure you are checking in your breathing while in BJJ training.

• You are not considering your body’s restrictions in BJJ training. Everyone is not the same. You have your stamina. Start slow, and it will help you continue for a long time.

• You are not taking care of your diet . Diet is most important for BJJ training. You should have a customized diet plan for BJJ workouts.

• Many people have problems running out of gas and feeling BJJ burnout, with the number one reason for holding their breath. They may be good in shape and physically fit, but BJJ is not easy. You get fatigued often.
• This article will show the top five ways to avoid BJJ burnout. These ways have helped many people avoid exhaustion.

• One way to help avoid or reduce exhaustion is to prioritize breathing over everything. You will think that is so easy to do. But practically, this is where most Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu learners, particularly BJJ white belts, fail. 

• You should focus on breathing in BJJ training. You should see whether you are breathing normally. You should breathe deeply and effectively.

• The perfect training day should start with picking one thing for a day, just one thing, not many things. Pick one thing and train for that the entire day, focusing on breathing, as this is the core of your BJJ training.

• You should ask the following questions from yourself while doing BJJ training. For each second, you must check your breathing.

• You should focus on one thing in a day in BJJ training.

• You should not try to learn a lot of different BJJ moves or BJJ techniques. You should also avoid going with the flow. 

• For example, you may decide that you will practice BJJ guard escape from half guard in BJJ training or any other guard type; you can pick learning how to escape when in a BJJ mount position, or even more specifically, you can spend your entire day learning nothing but how you can avoid your opponent letting control of your head.

• Pick one move or any type of BJJ escape in BJJ training and start learning that every day until you get good at it. You can even spend an entire month on that. But you should learn one thing at a time in BJJ training.

The second way to avoid burnout in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to link your breathing with your BJJ movements. At first, you will not understand what it means to link your breath with your movements in BJJ training. Let’s dive into it further by exploring a few examples.

• In BJJ training, link your breath with BJJ movements so that every step you take should start with every new breath.

• For example, just suppose you are grounded and want to take hold of your opponent’s collar . Before trying to stand up, breathe and then stand up.

• Then breathe again and try to hold your BJJ opponent’s collar by moving your hand towards his face. He will probably try to stop you and move his hand towards you.

• What do you do now? Breathe again? Yes, breathe again , push his hand aside, then breathe again and hold your opponent’s collar.

• This is the perfect way to avoid fatigue in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and you can continue your BJJ training for a long time.

• Let's take another example to clarify how you should do this. Suppose, there is a really good Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has a strategy where every breath he takes in BJJ training, he would do something.

• He would advance his grip ; if he had the sleeve, he would get the collar. He would take another breath and try to get the collar with the other hand. Take another breath. He would put his foot on the ground and move his hip. Take another breath and climb one leg.

• Take another breath and climb another leg. Take another breath and try to bump his opponent with a BJJ Kazushi . Take another breath, trying to sweep his opponent or submit him.

• He doesn't have a problem with breathing and holding his breath during BJJ training. He is always using that link as a way to stay offensive. He is always trying to put his opponent in a worse position.

• He improved his position incrementally until it was time for the finish of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match.

• The third way to avoid burnout in BJJ training is really simple.

• Talk to your BJJ training partners and coach when rolling with you, and ask them to tell you if you are holding your breath. Some people become tuned to their opponent's breathing while doing BJJ training. They know they listen to your breathing when rolling with you. 

• They want to hear how tired you are. They want to hear if you are holding your breath in BJJ training. Many people hold their breath before they make a big explosive move, so if you hear the other guy hold his breath, it gives you a clue as to what he will do next.

• Some people generally monitor the breathing of the people they are going against. So use this to your advantage.

• You can ask your BJJ training partner, “Can you please tell me if you detect me holding my breath?”

• Most training Partners want to help you, and if you are training with people who do not want to help you, you probably should not train with them.

• They will try to help you accomplish your goals. You can say to your BJJ training partner, “Hey, I would like to improve this one aspect of my game. Can you help me with it?”

• Your BJJ training Partners will generally say yes. This is just one more request along those lines. Can you tell me if I'm holding my breath?

• The last way involves weight training and cardio conditioning as part of the solution. This does not mean becoming more fit. Being more fit is always good. The fitter you are, the better you are going to do.

• You should do weight training and cardio conditioning to coordinate your breathing with movement in BJJ training.

• For example, you are doing kettlebell swings during BJJ training. Make sure you breathe out every time you do a kettlebell swing. When you do squats, just link the breathing with BJJ movements.

• This does not work if you are used to weight training in the low rep range. If you are doing a max squat, deadlift, or bench press, you should not be breathing. You should inhale deeply.

• So, if you are used to weight training in the very low rep range, you may have developed a bad habit ; you want to do this training with higher reps with 10 or 20 reps. It will teach you very quickly to breathe as you are doing the motion.

• Similarly, if you are doing cardio, you have to breathe. Most people say when running, they will take a step, breathe in, step, step, and breathe out and again follow this pattern.

• When people are swimming, there is a breathing pattern associated with it. It is a very conscious breathing pattern. You are becoming conscious about linking your breathing to your physical motions. If you become better at this, it will also translate to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

• After understanding how to avoid burnout and exhaustion in BJJ training, you may have a question: “Should you continue BJJ training when you are exhausted?” The answer is yes.

• Training when you are tired does not mean training when you are sick. You can take risks with your health but not with others. So do not train if you are sick.

• If you are tired, the odds of getting injured in a BJJ training session are higher. Once you get injured, you will be five moves behind the other guy. When muscles are tired, your joints become less stable.

• These were the top five ways to avoid exhaustion or burnout in BJJ training. You should make breathing the main focus of your BJJ training. Throw everything else out the window. Everything stops until you get this breathing thing fixed.

• Check in with yourself regularly during each roll and ensure you are still breathing. Link your breathing to your movements offensively, defensively, or transversely. Make sure you breathe every time you move.

• Involve your training Partners; they are part of your team to make you better. You will not get better if you do not have BJJ training partners. Tell them what you are trying to achieve, and let them help you get through this.

• Link your weight training to other movements in physical conditioning, including weight training and cardio. Focus on learning one thing in BJJ training. Do not try learning different things at one time. It will be a huge payoff if you get this fixed.

• The number one reason you are getting exhausted in BJJ training is that you are holding your breath. Breath control is the key to going longer in BJJ training.

• People often get stressed during BJJ training, and they start holding their breath. If they do this repetitively, they will eventually get exhausted.

• If you are getting tired when you should not, ask yourself if you are holding your breath, and then make it the priority of the BJJ training.

BJJ white belts get exhausted due to the following reasons:

• Holding your breath in a BJJ workout

• Overtraining in BJJ workout

• Not linking your breath with a BJJ workout

• Other reasons for exhaustion during BJJ workout include not considering your body’s restrictions during BJJ training and not taking care of your diet. 

Following are the top five ways you can avoid exhaustion and burnout in BJJ training:

• Prioritize breathing over everything

• Pick only one thing to learn in BJJ training

• Link your breaths with movement in BJJ training

• Feedback from your BJJ training partners

• Do weight training and cardio conditioning to coordinate your breathing with movements in a BJJ workout.

• Yes, you should continue training after you are exhausted. But you must be more careful because the chances of getting injured increase after you are exhausted.

• Once you get injured, you will be five moves behind the other guy. When muscles are tired, your joints become less stable.

• But exhaustion does not mean being sick. You should not do training when you are sick. You can take risks with your health but not with others.

• No, you cannot overtrain in a BJJ workout. You have to understand that your body has limitations. If you overtrain, you will eventually exhausted and get yourself injured. So, it is always advisable not to overtrain yourself in BJJ training.

• Do not treat your body like a machine. It has certain restrictions. You cannot expect your body to be completely normal when overtraining.

• BJJ training is not easy. It is heavy exercise. You have to keep it so that your body remains normal and you are improving.

• Yes, breath plays a major role in BJJ training. The breath will get you exhausted if you don't focus on it and continue holding your breath.

• The breath will help you train longer and increase your stamina if you link your breaths with your movements in BJJ training.

• One way to help avoid or reduce exhaustion is to prioritize breathing over everything. You will think that is so easy to do.

• But practically, this is where most Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu learners, particularly BJJ white belts, fail.