Calisthenics is one of the oldest forms of exercise that you can do to help your body grow stronger. There are countless different exercises that you can do with calisthenics. But how does this form of exercise translate to BJJ? Is it good for being stronger while rolling and for preventing injuries? Or will it make things worse? Well, if you read the rest of this article, you will find out all the information you need on the subject. Read more about Calisthenics for BJJ
Benefits of calisthenics for BJJ
The best thing about calisthenics is that you can modulate the strength demands by doing various different exercises. For an example – almost everyone can do a single push-up in the regular form. However, could everyone do a diamond push-up where you need to put your hands together in a diamond form? If you can do a diamond push-up, can you do a one-arm push-up? Finally, can you do a one-arm push-up with legs put together?
As you can see, there are many different variations of particular calisthenic exercises that you can play with. And the best thing about this is that you will be able to modulate the exercises and hit your personal demands for a workout. You can make thing easier and a lot harder by changing the exercises that you do.
That being said, the probability of getting injured while training in this way is very low. The best thing about this is that your body is your limit – you won’t have to deal with lifting external weights. This dramatically decreases the odds of you overestimating your strength and injuring yourself in this way.
Also, there are many different calisthenic exercises that will target multiple muscles around your body in a functional way. Push-ups, pull-ups, bodyweight squats, hanging leg-lifts – all of these exercises work your body in a highly functional way. So, you will only need a few exercises in order to keep your body fit and strong. And this fitness and strength will directly translate to the field of BJJ by keeping you strong, loose, and injury-free.
Drawbacks of calisthenics for BJJ
As far as we can tell, there are no drawbacks when it comes to supplementing your BJJ training with a regime of calisthenic exercises. The risks lie in how you go about doing calisthenics. As you’ve likely realized, BJJ is a very straining sport and martial art. This means that you won’t have a lot of strength and energy left after a hard BJJ workout.
So, you need to keep things light when it comes to calisthenics. Don’t overdo it. If you end up overdoing it, then you risk getting injured – regardless if it’s while you’re training calisthenics or BJJ.
That being said, we still maintain that calisthenics is one of the safest forms of exercise that you can do if you wish to complement your BJJ gains. You will feel stronger and looser and you will be able to train for longer periods of time at BJJ class.
An example of a calisthenics workout for BJJ
If you need to hit all your muscle groups – then you can do so in many different ways with calisthenics. What we suggest is that you do compound exercises that will hit all the muscles of your body.
The flipside with calisthenics is that you will have to do dozens of reps for the regular exercises if you want to comfortably tire out your body. That being said, we suggest that you do the exact exercises that we mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs above.
Let’s say you build up to two sets of 30 push-ups, two sets of 10 pull-ups. two sets of 15 hanging leg raises, and two sets of 40 bodyweight squats. This is just about what it takes for you to hit your body’s most important muscle groups. You will feel comfortably tired out after one such training session.
The beauty of it is that if you ever get bored by the calisthenic exercises, you can add in new exercises just as easily. Diamond push-ups, pistol squats, back-levers, front-levers – you name it. All of these exercises will help make your body stronger than ever before while you will have a very low risk of injuring yourself.
In conclusion
Calisthenics and BJJ mix very well. All you need to do is add a healthy regime of exercises that you can do for BJJ and you will find that your gains are getting bigger and bigger. It will get easier for you to roll with strong opponents and you will find that you can perform many of the submissions easier due to how strong you have become. So, start training calisthenics as soon as possible in order to begin seeing the benefits when it comes to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Check also:
- How to Build Grip Strength for BJJ and Why is it Important
- Strength Training for jiu jitsu: The Most important lifts
