6 Benefits of Training BJJ
In this post I will share with you the 6 benefits of training BJJ. This is because Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) has been an integral aspect of my life and has helped me weather a fair amount of trials and tribulations.
And since BJJ has helped me a lot in my own life and improved my ever declining mental health, I want more people, especially women to try BJJ and see it as more than just wrestling or aggressively hugging other sweaty people.
Because BJJ is more than that and in this post I will share with you on the benefits of training BJJ that might give you insight on how BJJ can also help you in your life off the mat.
Although I have to admit I myself just returned to BJJ after a 4 month break.
6 Benefits of Training BJJ
Physical fitness and health
The first of many of the benefits of training BJJ is that BJJ is a full body workout because it not only improves your cardiovascular health but also your strength, flexibility and endurance.
Cardiovascular Health
Rolling/Sparring in BJJ honestly feels like doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) because the constant switch from attacking to get a better position and defending keeps the heart pumping.
Watching other people roll, it does look like nothing is happening but when participating in a roll (BJJ version of sparring) you truly feel like you just ran sprints.
This isn’t even including the drills that we do during classes. Depending on the intensity of your coach, let me tell you, sometimes (most times actually) I am out just from the warm-ups. THE WARM-UPS!
Or maybe that is just me because I am unfit.
Strength
BJJ is an activity that requires you to use all of your muscles from every muscle group, be it the core, legs, arms, back and or shoulders.
All this muscle activation is due to the techniques applied either during drills or rolling as we will do a lot of…
grappling
takedowns
sweeps
and most importantly submissions
These techniques when executed efficiently rely on leverage, balance and proper body mechanics as opposed to mainly using brute force.
This in turn allows you to develop functional strength. Also, using brute force in BJJ without technique is useless, you will just tire yourself out.
Trust me when trying to get a man double your weight off of you when he is on mount, you will use every single fiber of muscle you have to get him off so you can GET SOME OXYGEN.
Flexibility
Doing BJJ requires its practitioners to be VERY flexible as it involves a wide range of movements and some of those movements are quite interesting I would say.
These dynamic movements when done properly and SAFELY (please practice safety when doing BJJ, my eyes have been witness to far too many injuries when people don’t emphasize on safety) increase the joints range of motion and loosen tight muscles.
Said dynamic movements can be from hip escapes (shrimping) to front back and side roll to the many varieties of guard retention.
And if you aren’t flexible by nature, BJJ will definitely prove you wrong especially during rolls where you will question how you even got to the position of being flipped and rolled into a pretzel.
Thus, due to the consistency and frequency of going for BJJ training, best believe sooner or later your body will be more flexible whether it be consensual or not.
Endurance
BJJ training and rolling sessions are not only physically demanding but are also mentally taxing as it requires its practitioners to be active both in body and mind over an extended amount of time.
Rolling rounds in BJJ usually lasts for a few minutes ranging from 3 – 10 minutes per round and during the rounds the practitioners have to mentally focus whilst engaging in continuous movements and grappling exchanges.
This will inevitably build not only muscular endurance but also mental fortitude with a dash of the ability to perform under fatigue mixed in.
Trust me, being choked out whilst trying not to panic nor giving up AND also thinking of another move to get out of the compromising position will teach you to maintain calm in the face of chaos.
Empowerment and Self-defense
Another reason regarding the benefits of training BJJ is the sense of empowerment the practitioners of BJJ feel as well as the self-defense aspect especially for women.
To be very realistic, it is very hard for a woman to overpower a man especially if the woman is untrained in self-defense. So, I personally feel that BJJ is a good go-between for women as BJJ teaches you techniques to get out of compromising positions that can give a higher chance for the woman to escape.
Because in real life dangerous situations what you want is a chance to escape. Forget beating the crap out of them, this isn’t a movie. Unless of course you are trained in MMA and are an MMA athlete then by all means go crazy.
Building Confidence Through Competence
BJJ to understand it easier is a mix of wrestling and grappling and to get better in BJJ not only do you have to be consistent with training but also be willing to roll with a lot of people.
The more varied the people you roll with the better because it equips us with practical skills and knowledge to overcome different rolling situations as each opponent’s body is different.
This will increase your confidence in your ability to defend yourselves as it gives you a sense of competence and self-assurance in potentially dangerous situations.
Strength in Vulnerability
Doing BJJ always puts its practitioners in uncomfortable and vulnerable positions in the BJJ learning process, I mean it’s vulnerable for both parties, it’s never fun having your friend’s face at your crotch or vice versa when drilling triangles or some such moves (this is why personal hygiene in BJJ is CRUCIAL!)
So, by repeatedly putting yourselves in challenging situations on the mats, you can develop resilience and mental toughness that extends beyond the gym.
The confidence you get when getting out of a difficult position such as an armbar or crucifix or others, is exhilarating because you yourself never imagined your body could do that especially if you’re a white belt such as myself.
Of course if your sparring partner is a purple belt or more and you escape, your ego does take a hit because you know they’re just being nice.
Empowerment Through Control
BJJ teaches its practitioners on how to assert control not only over their bodies but also personal space as having control on these two aspects empowers them to set up strong boundaries to defend themselves when rolling.
Plus, by having more control you’re less likely to spazz out and hurt not only yourself but your training/rolling partner.
Again, SAFETY FIRST! Many knees and joints have not been the same after doing BJJ and safety was not in the list of priorities.
For the love of God, please tap if you even think the position is too much for you.
Mental resilience and Stress relief
Mental Resilience
BJJ is a sport that requires focus, discipline and problem-solving skills from its practitioners which honestly helps people in not only BJJ but their daily lives.
And this is due to the fact that when you start out in BJJ you will suck and you will suck for a long time and that’s okay (this statement of course doesn’t apply if you’re a naturally talented grappler, must be nice being one of God’s chosen ones eh).
Being bad in BJJ teaches you to accept your losses with grace and be introspective and reflect on how to be better and improve. If you do BJJ with an ego from my own personal observation, you get injured more and it stops being fun.
Stress Relief
Amongst the benefits of training BJJ, stress relief is the best aspect. My current job is essentially customer service and people who have worked in customer service will understand how draining and frustrating it is to deal with customers on most days.
Having an outlet such as BJJ really helps release that stress and tension by allowing me to literally commit acts of consensual violence against another person.
Nothing is more de-stressing than choking out your training/rolling partner. My soul truly feels liberated.
BJJ is even better if you are going through a breakup because then you can just imagine that you are choking out your ex.
Or in my case back in the day actually choke your ex out because we go to the same BJJ gym.
Side note I have a few posts you might be interested in if yall are going through a breakup and are also BJJ girlies.
Breakups & BJJ: 9 ways BJJ can help during breakups
7 tips on how to train BJJ with your ex
Community and camaraderie
Having food buddies (aka building lifelong friendships)
Doing any group activities especially when it involves any fitness activities will bound to lead all of you to be FOOD BUDDIES!
Being food buddies is great especially after a good and hard training sesh where everybody goes out together for food hunting and talks about life which allows you to bond more not only as fellow BJJ practitioners but also as genuine friends.
Also, when living the BJJ life it’s not easy to find another fellow female who does it, especially if you live in a relatively small town. So, the second best benefit in the long list of benefits of training BJJ is the opportunity to find like-minded people who enjoy doing the same things you do.
Body positivity and self-confidence
Celebrating strength over appearance
BJJ is a sport that requires you to prioritize functionality where we again emphasize the importance of strength, skills and techniques over appearance.
Having this mindset will allow you to view your body as a complete whole as opposed to hyper-focusing on perceived imperfections that at the end of the day is meaningless.
Also, strength over appearance is very important in real life for functionality. I would know, I have had a few encounters where I had to strong arm a few people to stay still.
One of them was for an exorcism to be performed, where I had to ensure said possessed person did not run amok. Let’s just say I was glad I was a gym girlie at this time. If not, it would’ve been ugly.
Embracing diversity and inclusivity
From my own experience of doing BJJ along with social media exposure to BJJ related posts, I can say that BJJ is a sport that welcomes a diverse group of people.
There are so many BJJ practitioners from different walks of life; You can have BJJ practitioners who are in their golden age to adorable BJJ toddlers, even from disabled BJJ practitioners to the obviously able bodied individuals.
So, it doesn’t matter what you look like, everybody is welcome to join the BJJ cult. Plus, it’s pretty neat to get to know different people from all walks of life, widens your perspective so to speak.
Fostering self-acceptance and confidence
As previously stated in the point above, BJJ practitioners come in varying shapes and sizes. Having different body shapes and sizes truly is the best test for you to accept your body as it is and learn its strengths to get better in BJJ.
You can’t wallow in self-pity for too long, especially mid-roll if you want to survive your roll in one piece.
You have to accept that there are certain things and moves that your body isn’t able to do either through your physiology or lack of flexibility or whatnot.
And that’s perfectly fine. You just need to adapt. By adapting to the changes you face either when rolling with your partner or through life in general, you gain more confidence in yourself that you can get better, improve and move on.
Also, by reiterating the point made earlier when doing any form of physical activity be it BJJ or whatever, it allows you to be open to be grateful that your body is able to do these physically demanding activities.
You can see your body as a whole instead of imperfect fragmented pieces that need to be further scrutinized for no reason.
Don’t get me wrong it is perfectly normal to be insecure about your body. It’s human nature, you just have to remind yourself that there are bigger things out there than just perceived bodily imperfections.
Fun
Last in the benefits of training BJJ list, would be the fact that BJJ is a lot of fun. It really harks back to the rough and tumble play during our childhoods.
It may look like two people aggressively hugging it out but there is so much to BJJ as not only do you have to do mental gymnastics in trying to get the upper hand in rolling but also literal gymnastics as you contort your body into shapes that might not be normal.
There you have it guys! My list of why you should join or at least try BJJ at least once.
Below are all the details of the where, when, why, what and who of me doing BJJ.
Location
Class times
Coaches
Rusyan is our current coach for Monday – Wednesday classes.
Also, you can get 10% off with Rusyan’s promocode, JITSOMNIA, for AESTHETIC Asia gear.
I am not sponsored nor paid for this, I wish I was but alas…
Cameron and Jill is our coach for the ladies only class.
If you read my previous BJJ related posts then you should know Nigel. Currently, he is busy with work hence he isn’t the main coach for BJJ in Miri for now.
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