When aiming to build resilience for jiu jitsu, many coaches stress the importance of strength training.
The idea is that the more force your muscles can generate, the more force they can withstand to prevent against injury.
And while this is very important, generating force is only one side of the equation.
Muscles and joints also need to the ability to yield to, or receive force.
A muscle or joint that isn’t prepared to receive force can result in injury, especially when speed is an added factor.
So, you can better build resilience by strengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments through resistance training.
But also by improving relative motion between joints, so they can better yield to forces and dissipate them more effectively.
Here’s how to do that.
Where To Start
It’s important to first address your mobility limitations when looking to improve your yielding abilities. When bones and joints lack relative motion, or the ability to move relatively to each other, they will orient together as a unit.
Think of a rigid bodybuilder who is so stiff that they waddle when they walk. Their bones don’t move relatively to each other so they move together, like a robot.
And while a bodybuilder may be very strong from resistance training, they are likely not resilient against injury because their joints may lack the ability to yield to the dynamic forces of sport.
So, creating space between joints, repositioning bones in better relative positions, and increasing range of motion through specific breathing drills can help improve relative motions between joints.
Try these for the hips and shoulders.
Plyometrics
Once you improve relative motion you can start with dynamic movements like plyometrics. There are many benefits to plyometric training, including strengthening of connective tissue and bones, and generating power and speed for performance.
But they also strengthen the body to receive force and pressure.
Specifically, the landing phase of the movement is what improves the ability to yield to and receive force.
Not only do the muscles and connective tissues adapt to receiving dynamic forces, they must work to decelerate them as well.
This better prepares your joints against the dynamic nature of grappling.
Examples of plyometrics are jumps, bounds, and hops, including depth drops, lateral bounds, single leg hops, explosive push ups, and squat jumps.
Weighted Drops Catches
Similar to receiving force through plyometrics, you can also improve your ability to receive force by catching weights in specific positions.
These types of exercises help prepare joints by transitioning into athletic positions to receive a moving load, which then must be decelerated and caught.
Picture someone tossing you an egg. You wouldn’t catch the egg with rigid hands, but you would soften your hands and move with the egg to receive it without breaking.
It’s a similar concept with drop catches. Your muscles and joints yield just enough to receive and decelerate the load without jarring the joint.
Examples are split squat drop catch, lateral lunge drop catch, lying med ball chest catch and throw, and dumbbell row drop catch.
Dynamic Weight Training
Similar to drop catches, moving weights dynamically can have a similar effect for preparing the body to receive force. The receiving position in many dynamic weight exercises is even called the “catch” position.
In olympic barbell lifting you clean a weight up and receive it in the catch before standing up fully. And while olympic lifting will prepare your body to receive high levels of force, it is riskier and require years of training to master proper technique.
More forgiving alternatives are swinging kettlebells and heavy clubs.
Kettlebell cleans, swings, snatches, and jerks all require decelerating and receiving weights dynamically.
Heavy clubs offer something that no other tool can – receiving weights in rotated positions, which will further improve your resilience in compromised positions on the mat.
Examples of heavy club exercises are lateral cleans, inside and outside circles, Mills and Shield Casts.
Final Thoughts
Strength training is an important part of building resilience for the mats, but it’s one factor in a two factor equation. Your ability to decelerate and receive force is essential for mitigating injuries.
Your muscles, tendons, and ligaments need the strength to handle incoming forces, but your joints also need the ability to yield effectively against them too.
You can improve this by first ensuring relative motion between joints, then loading them with plyometrics, drop catches, and dynamic weight training.
It’s important to start light with any of these methods, as you can injure yourself when working dynamically, especially if you’re new.
Start with low level plyos, light weights, and smaller movements first, then build up your capacity over time.
Add these to your routine to take your mat resilience even further.
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