Last week I had the opportunity to teach two mobility sessions at a jiu-jitsu camp in Mexico.
The group was exactly who I create content for every week: recreational grapplers past their prime looking to stay on the mats as long as possible.
People who love the art, but whose best competition days are behind them, and are starting to feel the wear and tear of years spent on the mat.
And I used this opportunity to reinforce something I’ve believed for a long time.
If you want to stay on the mats for as long as possible, you have to train differently.
Here are the main principles and takeaways I gave this group last week in Mexico.
Day 1 — Mobility Is the KEY
The first thing I told them was simple:
Strength matters, but mobility is the key to longevity in jiu-jitsu.
Mobility is what allows you to access your joints full range of motion.
This gives you movement options on the mats, including a range of techniques unavailable to those restricted by tension.
Without it, strength becomes limited. You might be strong, but you can’t express it where it actually matters.
It’s also your ticket to injury prevention and pain-free movement.
It Starts With Breath
Every session I run starts and ends the same way: breathing.
Not because it’s trendy, but because it works.
Breathing allows you to relax the nervous system, reduce unnecessary tension, and open space in the body.
When you create space, you create the potential for better movement.
Focus on What Matters Most
From there, we kept it simple.
I explained that if you focus on your hips and shoulders, you cover about 80% of what you need for jiu-jitsu.
- Better hips → healthier knees and lower back
- Better shoulders → healthier neck, elbows, and thoracic spine
We started with a quick assessment, then got to work.
Breathing drills, targeted mobility for the problem areas in BJJ, then some total body movements to get the heart, lungs, and muscles primed and ready to roll.
We finished the session the same way we started, with breathing and an assessment.
The response was immediate.
People moved better, ranges improved, tension unlocked.
More importantly, they saw and felt the difference.
It’s powerful to not only feel but actually see changes in range of motion, knowing you’re that much better off when live rolling.
Day 2 — The Missing Piece: Rotation
Day two was focused on what I believe is the most overlooked movement pattern in training: rotation.
Humans are rotational beings and life happens in mainly the transverse plane of motion.
Nearly every sport is rotational and jiu-jitsu is no different.
Yet most people train almost entirely in straight lines.
I explained that if you want to build a resilient body, you need to expose it to all planes of motion, especially the transverse plane.
The spine flexes, extends, and rotates when grappling, and it’s the positions you haven’t been exposed to is where you get hurt.
The Power of the Obliques
Rotation isn’t just about the spine.
It’s driven by the obliques, aka your lateral core, which actually turn the spine from side to side.
So we started again with breathing, this time focused on opening the sides of the body.
Then we built from the ground up:
- rotational patterns on the floor
- controlled transitions
- and eventually standing movement
We assessed rotation, trained it in multiple positions, then reassessed.
The results were the same as day 1.
Better movement, more range, less restriction.
Final Thoughts
What stood out most wasn’t just the improvements.
It was the realization from the group that: This is what’s been missing.
They weren’t lacking effort or mental toughness.
They were lacking the right inputs.
If you want to keep training into your 40s, 50s, and beyond, you should:
- Maintain mobility
- Train rotation
- Manage tension
- Use the breath to your advantage
Do that, and you give yourself a chance to roll another day.
WHENEVER YOU’RE READY, THERE ARE 4 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU:
1. Start improving your durability with this loaded mobility program, BJJ Kettlebell Resilience.
2. Fortify your body for BJJ with this free course on BJJ Resilience.
3. Join the free weekly newsletter here.
4. Apply for online coaching here.
