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The importance of training smart

claairemartin5
Jun 14, 2018
3 min read

At the moment I have a 50-75% rupture of the ligaments in my shoulder. Whenever I get an injury I feel so guilty taking time off of training to let it heal - so I often don't take time out. This has lead to quite a few problems and this time I need to be sensible and let it heal. This blog post is mostly for me but hopefully it can help someone who may feel the say to realise that training smart is good for you and is nothing to feel guilty about.

In BJJ (and many other sports) I think we all fall prey to the doctrine of 'train insane' 'the only workout you'll regret is the one you did't to' & there are a MILLION more - a quite scroll through a 'fitspos instagram' and you will see many variants of these types of quotes.

However, whilst training hard can be good training smart will be much more beneficial to you in the long run. If you're going to be training at 100% effort level all of the time then eventually you're going to crash - you'll hit a plateau, you'll get injuries & these injuries will not heal properly (and I write this from experience - whenever I get injured I feel guilty for taking time off so I go back too early & my injury never heals properly).

Training 'smart' involves recovering as hard as you train. If you are not taking the time to properly recover and look after your body then you will never reach your full athletic potential. We are so often told that improvements in athletic performance comes solely during training, and yes training is essential to get better at BJJ - you need to drill techniques in order to improve your Jiu-Jitsu game BUT during rolling/live sparring although you're working on technique your body is in fact being 'broken down.' By constantly training, and not practicing proper recovery, your body is in a permanent catabolic state. An athlete needs to take the time to recover and rest to maximise their training sessions and their athletic performance. Recovery is particularly important when an athlete is injured - if you don't take the time out to let your injury heal when it happens there is the potential for that injury to never fully heal or lead to an even more serious injury.

Maximising your own recovery will depend on individual factors but if you're a BJJ competitor/athlete some of the things you can do to aid recovery include;

- Incorporate a proper cool down/stretching session into your training days. So many of us are guilty of getting home from training, hopping in the shower, and then just sitting on the couch. It is SO important that we are stretching our bodies to counteract all of the weird and wonderful positions that we end up in at JiuJitsu.

Attending a yoga class or following along with a yoga video on YouTube can be a great way to get more relaxation and stretching into your daily routine.

-On non-training days try to do some yoga/stretching and you will begin to feel the benefit. The more flexible you are the harder your guard is to pass!!

-Drink lots of water and eat a healthy and balanced diet. Nutrition looks different for everyone but try to feed your body what it needs and keep your hydration levels up.

-Prioritise your sleep. The Joe Rogan podcast with, Matthew Walker, will 100% scare you into getting enough sleep! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig)

-If you do have an injury try to see a physio or an osteopath so they can guide you to the best rehab/pre-hab exercises that you can do to help that injury heal.

You don't need to kill yourself day in day out on the mats to get better at jiujitsu. Training smart & taking the time to let your body heal will benefit you more in the long run than trying to impress people by training with an injury - especially if it's a serious injury.