The long running joke in BJJ is that once you hit purple belt, you either show up to class after warmups or hide in the locker room until they’re over.
But once you hit 35, you realize how crazy it is to actually do that. The thought of going cold into combat against an opponent literally makes my joints ache and my back tense up.
The warmup is not only beneficial, it’s essential.
It seems, however, most BJJ schools are stuck in 80’s Brazil, with a few laps around the mat, some forward rolls, and hips escapes being the standard.
Or worse yet, no warmup at all.
Believe me, I’ve encountered this at multiple schools around the country.
It blows my mind that in a sport where you actively try to injure each other, a coach would fail to prepare students with the best means for injury prevention.
Injury prevention is probably the best reason to warmup, but there are many others.
Let’s explore why and how to best warm up for jiu-jitsu.
Why Warm up For BJJ
When you’re young, warmups seem silly and an unnecessary. As you age, skipping the warmup seems silly and unnecessary.
First, warmups activate your central nervous system and prepare the body for action. Activating the CNS improves coordination and reaction time, which will result in better performance.
Second, at a certain age you start to feel stiff, seemingly all the time. A warmup will mitigate this stiffness, and get you feeling better and ready to perform.
Third, warming up is one of the best things you can do to reduce your chance of injury. A cold, tight muscle is a weak muscle. Muscles and tendons are more pliable, respond quicker, and better able to do their job when they’re warm.
As a result, your chance of a strain or tear decreases. Likewise, active tissues ready to stabilize bones reduce your chances of a joint injury.
Finally, warming up prepares your mind for the task ahead. This period from non-active to active is an important transition to focus your mind, leave the stress of the day behind, and get in the right frame to spar.
Major Points of A BETTER BJJ Warmup
Not all warmups are the same.
The unique demands of jiu-jitsu require specific needs for an effective warmup.
You wouldn’t warm up for golf the same way you warm up for hard sparring.
A complete warmup for BJJ requires you to elevate your heart rate, active your muscles, mobilize your joints, increase muscle and core temperature, and stimulate the CNS.
Additionally, you should be moving through BJJ type movements like the ones you’ll perform while rolling, and priming the most active and vulnerable areas. We’ll get into those in a moment.
You should also be moving through all planes of motion, including the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes.
Grappling happens in all dimensions, so if you’ve been sitting most of the day, or recently lying horizontal for 8 hours, taking your body through all planes is a must.
Finally, your warmup should be dynamic, meaning actively moving through positions.
Static holds were dropped from warmups years ago, and should be saved for the cooldown. You can skip the foam rolling before too.
Major Areas To Warm Up FOR Jiu Jitsu
Any serious grappler already knows what areas to warm up for training. In reality, it’s your total body, but at a bare minimum, it needs to include your shoulders, neck, hips and knees.
Not only do these areas need to be ready to perform, they need to be resilient against attacks.
A complete warmup will also address the wrists, elbows, ankles, core, and thoracic and lumbar spine.
Bones need to be able to rotate relatively to each other for optimal movement and injury prevention. When bones start moving together, not independently, that’s when performance decreases and chance of injury increases.
So, in addition to activating the muscles and tendons of these areas, creating mobility and space within these joints is necessary too.
How Long To Warm Up For Jiu Jitsu
World-class fitness coach and black belt, Steve Maxwell, used to prescribe rep ranges for joint mobility drills equal to your age. So if you’re 20 years old do 20 reps, 40, do 40.
I look at warmups in a similar way. The older you are, the longer your warmup.
But it’s also a balancing act. You can’t spend all your energy on the warmup and leave nothing for the workout.
At a bare minimum, warm up for 5 minutes, hitting all of the major areas.
Ideally, warm up for 10 minutes or more.
If you’re older or injury prone, do more. Some of my best performances come after 20 minute warmups.
The truth is, you need to find a warmup that you will actually do consistently. If you dread doing it, you won’t.
Find a warmup that works for you. One that addresses your individual problem areas, and one that you will repeat.
Consistency is the most important aspect for prolonged injury prevention and elevated performance.
BJJ WarmUp Examples
I regularly post warmup and activation drills on Instagram. A few of my favorites that take less than 5 minutes are Foundation Training, Turkish Get Ups, and Club Swinging.
Foundation Training uses isometric holds of positions in combination with decompression breathing to activate and mobilize the body for pain-free movement.
It’s become one of my go-to systems for injury prevention and pain reduction.
The Turkish Get Up is a highly effective sequence of movements that fortifies the body for BJJ. It hits all of the major areas for grappling while activating, mobilizing, and strengthening them in the process.
You can bang out a few reps in just a few minutes and is my primary warmup up method, especially if strapped for time.
Club Swinging is an effective way to mobilize in all planes of motion for grappling. The club excels at priming the shoulders, hips, arms, and core, and no other method comes close for rotational, transverse plane movement.
The Perfect Warmup For BJJ Checklist
✅ Activate Muscles
✅ Mobilize Joints
✅ Elevate Heart Rate and Core Temperature
✅ BJJ Type Movements
✅ Multiple Planes of Motion
✅ Warm Up Neck, Shoulders, Spine, Hips, Knees, Elbows, Wrists, Ankles, Core
✅ 5 Minutes Minimum, 10-15 Minutes Ideal
✅ Don’t Skip, Ever
