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How to Improve Your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Home

While Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is best learned on the mats, sometimes life gets in the way and we need to take some time off training. With the current global pandemic situation and social distancing restrictions in full swing, it seems we are all going to be taking time off for an extended period, but there are many ways to improve your BJJ while at home. At ICC, we are Sydney’s premier BJJ training academy and your one-stop shop for all your martial arts, health and fitness needs. Here’s what you can do at home to keep improving your BJJ skills.

Watch Tutorials

There is a lot of free content on Youtube and other online platforms that can improve your BJJ game. From specific tutorials on certain moves to work-out guides and professional tournament videos, there is a lot of footage you can watch and analyse that can help you in a real life BJJ situation.

It’s a good idea to focus on one specific move or technique at one time so that you can fully understand it before moving on. Research top competitors and figure out how they execute a certain position, step by step. Studying your craft off the mats is an important aspect of learning as well.

Write Down your BJJ Goals

Taking into consideration both short term or long term goals, writing down your goals will be very beneficial for you in the long run. It will also allow you to look back on your previous goals and see if you met them in the time you wanted. Write down the goals you want to accomplish and in the certain amount of time you give yourself to accomplish them – whether it is 3 months, a year, 5 years. Make sure you are clear with each goal and keep that in mind anytime you want to skip a class or if you need some motivation to do a training session at home.

Practice Yoga and Stretching

Most people know they should stretch, but few actually do so regularly. Proper stretching is something that can easily be done at home and has three huge benefits for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners:

• Helps with recovery and reducing muscle soreness
• Improves flexibility, which makes certain positions more comfortable and techniques more easily doable
• Helps to prolong your BJJ lifespan and ward off aches and pains

Try to dedicate 45 minutes to an hour several times a week, and you’ll see the rewards quite quickly. Any stretching will help, although the lower back, hips, hamstrings and pecs are common tight areas for grapplers. Yoga is also a terrific supplement to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, not only will you get all of the above benefits but you will get the addition of increased control of your breathing.

Eat a Healthy Diet

You don’t need to do anything extreme just make sure fruits and vegetables are the main part of your diet and limit sugar, salt and fat. Make sure you’re eating well-balanced meals and getting all your vitamins and minerals. Steer clear of fad diets!

Do Some Solo BJJ Drills

There are actually many drills that you can do at home to improve your BJJ off the mats. Speak to your instructor for advice on which drills you can do in your own home and try to do them once or twice a day if you have time. Even if you have no partners available to practice with, there are many solo drills you can do which will allow you to embed certain movements into your muscle memory, and increase your range of motion and reaction time.

Just because you can’t get to your local BJJ training academy, it doesn’t mean you can’t improve your BJJ skills and techniques. You can practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu alone by doing any number of activities such as stretching, yoga, solo drills and learning from videos and books, or even doing other sports. Everything helps and it’s better than not training at all!

If you are looking to learn BJJ in Sydney or if you are after more advice on what you can do from home to enhance your skills, contact the team online at ICC today. While we might be closed over the next few weeks or months, our team is still on hand to help you through this period and we will be back with our huge range of classes for all ages and fitness levels as soon as we can re-open our doors

Give our BJJ program a go and experience the improvements to all of these fields. It is considered to be an excellent first style where the skills are easily transferable.

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