Creating a reliable strength program for BJJ is not only beneficial; it is essential for success in the sport. If you want to truly excel in this sport, you must be strong.
Jiu-Jitsu is a very isometric sport. Many other sports are incredibly dynamic, such as football, soccer, and even wrestling, another grappling-based sport. However, Jiu-Jitsu is slightly different.
While you absolutely need explosiveness in BJJ, it is more important to be isometrically strong, which simply means your ability to hold a position with strength, such as holding the hips during a body lock pass.
Here we will get into a basic but very scalable strength program for BJJ athletes. Let’s dive in.
Pillars for Success
First, let’s go over the pillars for success when using this program. My philosophy with diet and training is that we need systems that can be used long term. And to create a system that can be used long term, we must keep things simple.
That being said, here are the pillars for success in this program:
- Tracking
- Caloric surplus
- Intensity
- Reps and rest time
Now into the Details
Tracking Progress
To get stronger, you must track your weights lifted every lift. If not, you will sacrifice gains. This can be tracked in any way you want. You can track on a physical notepad, in your phone notes, or, if you’re experienced, you can perhaps just track in your head.
For example, if you go to the gym three times a week for strength training and you bench every Monday, you will track the exact weights you used for every set. So if you do 185 for 4 sets of 4, keep that number handy.
The following month, you will use this number.
Caloric Surplus
I consider this a pillar for success; however, it is not completely necessary. But a calorie surplus will absolutely boost your progress by a great amount compared to if you were cutting weight during your strength program.
Try to stick to a 500-calorie surplus per day, with a maximum of 1000 per day.
Intensity
This one should be obvious, but you must train hard. Never sacrifice form, but push your limits while staying safe.
Reps and Rest Time
When strength training in any setting, you want your rep ranges to stay relatively low, typically between 3-8, and closer to 3 than to 8.
Alternatively, you want rest time to be high. When training for building muscle, you want 1-2 minutes of rest time between sets. However, with strength training, you want a minimum of 3 minutes of rest, or in a range between 3-5 minutes between each set.
Strength training sets take longer, but you will do less volume overall, so it evens out in terms of overall training time.
Program Overview
Now into the meat of the program.
The exercises you do in this strength program are flexible. However, we recommend you stick to the basics.
Push Exercises:
- Bench
- Shoulder press
- Dips
Pull Exercises:
- Deadlift
- Chest-supported row or seated row
- Pulldowns
Leg Exercises:
- Squat
- Bulgarian split squats
- Lunges
For each day, you will do 1-2 major movements with a strength focus, and 1-2 movements after that closer to 6-8 reps.
You will be in the gym three days per week. This may seem like less than normal, but this is accounting for two things: managing nervous system fatigue and balancing on-mat training with lifting.
Each plan detailed below is a 1-month plan, which you will repeat each month you want to strength train.
Push Day
Pull Day
Leg Day
Important Notes
- Adjust as Needed: Each plan can be adjusted based on needs. For instance, if you cannot shoulder press due to an injury or discomfort, don’t shoulder press. Replace it with something else.
- Stay Safe: Control the weight. Keep your reps clean to ensure you do not get injured.
- Balance the Workload: If you are also training 2-3 days a week on the mats, you are inevitably going to suffer some nervous system fatigue. This is completely normal. If your CNS fatigue starts to become too much, feel free to taper the training back. If you would like to learn more about nervous system fatigue, click here to read our article.
Conclusion
Strength is absolute. Having a reliable strength program for BJJ is necessary for success. A strength advantage is a whole other layer of your game that opponents have to solve for, and it is not easy to beat.
Get out there and become a more versatile grappler.
Light weight, baby!