Jiu-jitsu is a high-intensity sport with heavy demands on the body, physically and mentally.
Even if you are a hobbyist training only 3 days a week, putting a focus on recovery is essential for optimal performance, injury prevention, and continued progress.
If you are a competitor, recovery is crucial.
And If you’re over the age of 35, you may have noticed that you don’t recover as quickly as you used to.
I’ve asked dozens of late 30-somethings around the mat, and we all say the same thing.
It just takes longer.
Lebron’s S&C coach focuses on recovery as soon as he’s off the court or out of the weight room. He is always in recovery mode when not performing.
The problem is that when you train without being recovered, often, that’s when you get hurt, burn out, or lose motivation.
If you’re like me, and focused on staying on the mat pain-free for as long as possible, then recovery needs to be a priority.
Thanks to science, there are proven methods to help kickstart and speed the recovery process, which ideally, equals more mat time for longer.
1. Walking
Humans are designed to walk. There are many amazing health benefits from walking in general, but for recovery, it has proven to reduce pain, improve immunity, and lower stress.
It’s also low-impact, which makes it the perfect recovery day activity. Pair walking with being outside and you’ll get even more psychological and physiological benefits.
I walk every morning for 10 minutes to ease the body into movement, and for 10 minutes after each training session as part of a cool down.
Walking helps lubricate the joints of the lower back, and also gets you out of the flexed, seated position we are constantly subject to in modern life.
A worthy goal is 8,000 steps per day, but try for 25 minutes on recovery days, and 10 minutes every morning.
2. Breath work
I’ve written on the importance of recovery breathing after training to get back to a parasympathetic state. Parasympathetic is the “rest and digest” state of the nervous system, where genuine recovery can occur.
Getting into this state is how your body begins the recovery process, and we can do that through the breath.
Breathing techniques such as deep, slow, diaphragmatic breathing can also decrease muscular tension and reduce metabolic waste in the blood, helping to aid recovery.
Once you learn recovery breathing you can use it any time to get your body into a more relaxed state, including before or after a stressful event, after training, and before bed.
Studies have shown that 2-10 minutes post exercise of slow, deep breaths can help activate and support the recovery process. Shoot for 4 to 6 breaths per minute.
I use recovery breathing after every training session, a few times throughout the day on recovery days, and always a few breaths before bed.
3. Sleep
Speaking of bed, sleep is by far the most important aspect of recovery. It’s literally an entire chunk of time where the body and mind restores itself.
If you are cutting this short, or not getting deep enough, your recovery and therefore, performance will suffer.
I don’t need to tell you the problems that come from lack of sleep. Anyone who’s skipped even just one night or gotten botched sleep knows the effects on performance, mood, and focus.
Countless podcasts, books, and resources have been produced on the subject, so I won’t spend a ton of time on it.
Simply, use this as a reminder to prioritize sleep for BJJ recovery and performance.
Aim for 7-9 hours per night in a cool, dark room.
4. Temperature Therapy
Ice baths are all the rage, but do they really do anything?
It appears so, with special benefits for athletes and recovery.
According to a growing list of evidence, cold water immersion may decrease markers of inflammation, activate antioxidant enzymes, and promote recovery.
However, timing is important.
After we exercise, the body releases pro-inflammatory proteins to help with beneficial adaptations. Cold immersion will blunt this process, and thus, the beneficial adaptations we are looking for after exercise.
These inflammatory proteins typically peak within an hour after training, so cold therapy after this point could provide enough time for the wanted inflammatory processes to pass and also get the benefits from the cold water.
Aside from the beneficial chemical and physiological responses from cold water immersion, users have also reported less perceived soreness and pain from training, as well as elevated mood and well-being.
You might be wondering about the benefits of heat exposure for recovery.
The research has changed over recent years specifically regarding recovery. Researchers are finding that the stress induced from saunas essentially add to your training load, which may add to your time to recover.
Saunas have many proven health benefits, including cardiovascular, athletic endurance, and muscle maintenance and longevity improvements.
So, heat exposure can be used to improve markers of health, but specifically for recovery, cold therapy appears to be the better method.
5. Supplements
I kept supplements for the last part of this article because that’s where they should fall in the hierarchy of recovery methods. Many try to use supplements as a bandaid to make up for neglecting things like diet, sleep, and rest.
Supplements are just that, there to support your efforts, not be the star actor.
With that said, there are a few safe and effective supplements that could help bolster recovery. Of course, consult a doctor, as these are not recommendations.
Creatine is probably the most widely tested, used, and accepted performance supplement in the world. It provides a list of health benefits, including an ability to boost muscle recovery.
Creatine has proven to provide a protective effect on muscle injury from strenuous contractions related to sports activities.
Another widely studied and used supplement is Omega-3. Again, this supplement has shown benefits for many markers of health, including cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, muscle loss, and longevity.
With respect to recovery, Omegas have also shown beneficial for performance recovery and soreness.
Subjects performed better on a vertical jump test after recovering with rest and omegas than those with just rest. Markers of inflammation were also lower in subjects who supplemented with fish oil. Dosages between 3-6g seemed to be the sweet spot.
Finally, there have been positive correlations for recovery from tart cherry juice, as well as turmeric supplementation, however nothing earth-shattering. Both of these supplements work as antioxidants which can help markers of inflammation.
Which brings me to my final thoughts on recovery.
Your diet is possibly the most important consideration with regard to recovery and performance behind sleep. Nutrition is a broad subject with variance of strategies, nuances, and personal considerations.
So we’ll leave nutrition and hydration for another day.
Just realize that what you ingest will have a massive impact on your performance and recovery.
In Summary
Recovery is a hugely important aspect of performance, injury prevention, and longevity. As we age, recovery must be given even more attention to reduce the potential for injuries, burnout, and overtraining.
Science has proven the following methods can help support training recovery:
- Walking – 8,000 steps / day, 25 minutes on recovery days, 10 minutes every morning.
- Breath work – 2-10 minutes post exercise of slow, deep breathing
- Sleep – 7-9 hrs / night in a cool, dark room.
- Temperature Therapy – cold water immersion 1+ hr post exercise
- Supplements – Creatine 5g / day, Omega-3 3-6g / day
If staying on the mat for as long as possible is goal of yours, start adding some of these methods to boost your recovery.
