Last weekend, the world’s biggest grappling events took place, including ADCC and its new rival, the Craig Jones Invitational.
Whatever your personal opinions may be about either organization, you have to agree, we all got to witness absolutely outstanding submission grappling last week in Vegas.
As a 14 year grappler myself, and admirer of quality human movement, I was blown away by the exceptional technical skills and physical abilities on display.
Each week I write about building the qualities needed for high level grappling, and to see them in action at the highest of levels was inspiring and informative.
Here are the best BJJ performance lessons we can take away and apply to our own training.
1. You’re Not Done After 40
One of the most impressive things to me was seeing the amount of 40+ year old athletes in the finals.
Rafael Lovato Jr., Vagner Rocha, and Roberto Cyborg all competed in a gold medal match despite being “over the hill.”
I understand performance enhancers are not banned at these events, but even if these athletes are juicing, they’re doing something right to maintain that level for so long. (Note, I always recommend against steroids.)
No amount of drugs could negate the mileage they’ve put on over a lifetime of martial arts training, if they weren’t also caring for their bodies like a high performance race car.
In fact, I know personally that Lovato Jr. puts an insane amount of effort, discipline, and money into keeping his body in top shape. I interviewed his strength and conditioning coach, Lucius Tirey, a few years ago, and you can get all the details here.
Although none of them left with gold, it was motivating to see these journeymen on the podium next to the new generation 20-somethings.
If you’re feeling old or beat up, you’re not done yet. It’s just going to take more discipline and consistency.
2. If You’re Going Scrap, You Need A System To Preserve Your Body
Two of the most exciting fighters of today are the Ruotolo brothers, Kade and Tye. They always come to scrap and never hold back when they’re on the big stage.
Kade took home the million dollar prize at CJI, and put on one of the best matches in jiu-jitsu history against Andrew Tackett.
And while many will attribute their acrobatic, aggressive style and high energy to youth, there is no denying the abuse their bodies has endured after 18 years on the mat.
But the Ruotolo bros approach their BJJ performance training different than most.
They don’t lift heavy, or crush themselves with grueling circuits or metcons.
They train smarter with Foundation Training. I interviewed their coach, Jessie Salas, who explained how Foundation Training helps undo a lot of the problems that come with hard training and time spent on the mat.
Foundation Training is focused on bringing balance to the body, creating space for the nerves and breath to flow, and building stability for sustained resilience and longevity.
If you want to train hard, balance it with a movement system to sustain your long term health.
3. Isometric Strength Is A Must For High-Level BJJ
There are so many qualities that a grappler needs to perform and win at the highest level. We’ll explore them in detail next, but isometric strength is essential.
Nearly every major position requires isometric strength at some point in a match – clinching and gripping while standing, pinning and holding while on top, framing and gripping while on bottom, and squeezing as hard as freaking possible to finish.
A few specific examples from last weekend come to mind where isometric strength determined the match.
Nicky Rod used incredible clinching and pinning isometric strength to body lock pass almost every one of his opponents. He then finished all of them with a jaw crushing RNC to take home the million dollar prize.
Felipe Pena used effective isometric knee and elbow frames to endure a grueling 20 minutes of pressure from Gordon Ryan in their super fight. Although he didn’t win, his isometric strength kept Gordon from advancing and narrowly lost by a questionable 2 points.
Kaynan Duarte submitted an impressive 7 of 8 opponents on his way to double gold with multiple RNC and Guillotine chokes. Both of these finishes require an effective combination of technique and isometric pressure to force the tap. The ability to generate strong isometric tension for prolonged periods is what’s required to finish a relenting opponent.
Building your isometric strength will serve you in almost every position on the mat, and provide excellent benefits for injury prevention and longevity.
4. You Need To Keep The Pace To Win
One of the most impressive things to see at these events is the ridiculous pace the athletes maintain for multiple 15 to 20 minute matches.
At ADCC the matches are 10 minutes with the possibility of more 5 minute overtime periods, and 20 minute finals with multiple 10 minute overtimes.
Cyborg for example, had three 10 minute matches that went the distance, a 15 minute overtime war with the current ADCC -88kg winner, and a possible 40 minute final to win gold…all at age 43.
CJI matches are three five-minute rounds with no out of bounds, meaning no time to reset back in the middle. The action just keeps going.
And you must realize, with a million dollars on the line at CJI, and the most prestigious medal at ADCC, these matches are an all-out WAR.
What I found to be the determining factor at both events, was who could enforce offense late in the match. Meaning, who could not only keep fighting, but find the energy to keep attacking.
At 10 to 40 minutes, these are aerobic events layered under anaerobic intervals. Every energy system needs to be in top shape to endure an event like these, including your creatine, glucose, and oxygen systems.
Read this for an easy program to improve all three.
5. These Are The 3 Most Important Qualities For Elite Grappling
As mentioned, the grappler needs a healthy dose of nearly every important athletic quality for optimal performance. The best grapplers are a combination of elite physical attributes, an unbreakable mindset, and superior technique.
However, I believe the following qualities are the most important.
- Strength Endurance – The ability to repeatedly generate muscle tension with minimal decrease in efficiency for relatively long periods of duration. Meaning, the ability to maintain a squeeze hard enough to finish an opponent late into the fourth match of the day.
2. Aerobic / Aerobic Conditioning – The efficiency in the rate and duration of energy production with and without the use of oxygen. Meaning, how well your body creates and maintains energy output during all the necessary demands of a match.
3. Mobility & Strength At End Range – Access to your joints complete range of motion with adequate strength and stability at the max range. Meaning, your body can fully access its full range of motion without compensation, instability, or weakness.
Of course, technique is the most important factor when it comes to successful grappling, but when technique is nearly equal, as it is in events like these, physical qualities can be the determining factor.
I believe strength endurance is required to attack, defend, and counter late into the match, conditioning is necessary to endure, and mobility is essential for fast, efficient movement and injury prevention.
In combination, this is what’s needed at the highest level…and even for hobbyists over 40 training for fun.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As inspiring as these events were, there is an unfortunate reality that comes with competitive grappling, and even recreational sparring – there will be injuries.
The most notable injury of the weekend was Nicholas Meregali’s shoulder dislocation after being thrown to the mat by an NCAA champion wrestler.
That’s the nature of dynamic grappling.
However, what was shocking was the number of athletes who came out after the events revealing that they competed injured.
Lucas Barbosa competed with a severely torn shoulder, Gordon Ryan won with a torn LCL, Ana Rodriguez performed after suffering an ACL tear and concussion, and I’m sure there were many more.
Fortunately, most of us are not competing professionally for a million dollars, so we don’t have to subject our bodies to this level of demand.
But, if you’re going to do a combat sport, you’re going to get hurt.
The best thing you can do, is fortify your body with smart training methods like the one’s below.
WHENEVER YOU’RE READY, THERE ARE 4 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU:
1. Start improving your BJJ durability and performance with the new Foundations of Rotational Strength.
2. Fortify your body for BJJ with this free course on the Grappler’s Get Up.
3. Apply for 1-on-1 coaching here.
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