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Help me catch my breath

I like to watch all of my students train and I noticed something that I wanted to talk about.  I noticed that some of the best athletes in the school were getting winded after only a couple minutes of rolling.  I wanted to touch base on why this happens and how to help prevent it.

In the past, when I was in my best shape but was still relatively new to the sport, I found I would get winded extremely quickly and I didn’t know why.  After doing a little research I discovered that almost all human beings without proper training hold their breath when they are exerting physical energy.  This is something that you have to be mindful of all the time.  I remembered that when I first started lifting weights the same thing would happen.  I would hold my breath while exerting physical energy.  I had to teach myself to breathe when I lifted and the same is true when you are training Jiu Jitsu.  When you are using as many different muscles in as many different ways as a Jiu Jitsu rolling session, your muscles will need a lot more oxygen than usual.  It is important to be mindful of your breathing.  The less you breath while training the less cardio you will have during the session.  The way to combat this is to keep checking yourself while you’re training and rolling.  In your mind ask yourself, “Am I breathing?” and if you’re not, immediately concentrate on doing so.  Doing so consistently will teach yourself to breathe while exerting physical energy and after a while of repeatedly doing this your body will learn to do breathe correctly without your having to double check.

Breathing is not the only culprit, though, when it comes to fatiguing more quickly than you should during a live rolling session.  Another enemy is being too tense and using more muscles than you need to.  When one is new to the sport of Jiu Jitsu, his competitive nature explodes out of him and when he is put into a dominated position he has a tendency to “freak out”.  When you become more experienced with Jiu Jitsu you learn how to relax and use your technique to escape rather than your muscles.  Jiu Jitsu means ‘the art of the gentle way.’  It is meant to use an adversary’s force against him.

Another general rule of Jiu Jitsu is to take the path of least resistance.  Of course, we have to use strength during a Jiu Jitsu match, but the smarter competitor will choose techniques that will use less force and thus conserve more of his energy.  It is extremely important to stay relaxed at all times and be aware of what is happening.  If you tense your whole body, here’s what can happen: other than it resulting in your fatiguing quickly you may also tend to be less aware of what your opponent is doing to you during the match.  I always ask my students after they roll, “What happened?” and the common answer is “I got caught,” so I will ask how you were set up by him and they almost never know how.  That’s because they were caught up in the battle and not relaxed or aware of what was happening to them.  This holds back your progression.  Rolling in class is supposed to be practice.  I realize we are all competitive, but you will learn a lot more by staying calm, relaxed and aware than by being aggressive and unaware during the session.

Remember, take your time and breathe.  The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.  Running the whole way will only leave you out of breath.

By: Adam Rocco