In this podcast I go over the foundational elements of a good BJJ training program - Breathwork, Isometrics and Leverage Based Training (a.k.a. Steel Mace Training). By understanding how these 3 things fit together to form a holistic approach to improving on the mats you can make more productive use of your training time and see better results when you roll.

You can stream or download it from the link below or you can find it on Itunes, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Spotify and all other major podcasting platforms.

While this approach to training is certainly different than what you will usually see in BJJ specific programs, I don’t believe that it is anything new. When you look at traditional physical training methods for warriors and grapplers, you find these same elements. 

For example, Yoga - which is the best known of the traditional training methods - uses a lot of Isometrics and Breathwork, especially if you look at the original practices from India.

Another example is the Steel Mace, which is based on the Gada. The Gada is an ancient training tool used by grapplers for thousands of years and is a Leverage Based Training Tool. 

By combining these 3 things you get a better way to improve your BJJ specific strength and endurance. You can still use our modern understanding of Functional Training and human physiology, you just look at them through a slightly different viewpoint (click here to see a video demo of a workout that uses these concepts).

There is a reason that ancient training systems had an emphasis on these 3 things, which is because the people who developed them knew that they were what would really make the difference in battle and grappling. By looking back to these traditional methods and applying our modern understanding of them I believe that we can evolve our training programs to the next level of specificity for our amazing sport.

Until next time…

Train Strong,

James Wilson