Issue #101

Fight Club?

by: Grendel

About two years ago, I wandered into the University gym, looking for a new hobby. I was intending to resume learning Judo - I had taken a year of it during high school and I thought "what the hell". Ultimately, I stumbled onto the coolest new hobby in the world - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Now, unless you have been living under a rock, you probably have heard of the UFC (the Ultimate Fighting Championships). You have probably also at least heard the name "Royce Gracie" or even simply "Gracie". A family from Brazil essentially took a classic Japanese martial art system, jiu-jitsu, modified and stripped it down, and turned into into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When jiu-jitsu was unleashed into the mixed martial arts world, via the UFC, the results were astonishing - 'little' Royce Gracie easily defeated fighters much larger and stronger than himself.

My goal with this article is to encourage my readers to at least flirt with the idea of beginning some form of Brazilian jiu-jitsu training. The invasion of American by this Brazilian martial art came through the UFC and through the martial appeal of this art, but this is not an article about the benefits of the martial arts in the direct sense of self-defense. Instead, I suggest to you that there are more subtle yet pervasive benefits of training; I think I can divide them into the following categories: cardiovascular condition, anaerobic conditioning and functional strength, flexibility, stress relief, social activity, and competition.

Cardiovascular Conditioning

No one hates cardio more than I do. No one. I find the tedium of the stair climber or treadmill horrific. Watching TV helps - ogling spandex'd babes helps…but nothing erases the painfully obvious fact that you are a sweaty 200 plus pound hamster trapped on a machine. Nothing, that is, except the fear of being crushed alive in mortal combat.

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is an extremely hands-on type of training. A good portion of any class (sometimes as much as half of the class) is devoted to actual grappling - at 100 percent of your ability. Even if you are only doing 4 minute matches, you will spend at least 20-45 minutes a class with an extremely elevated heart rate. Hmm..did you just manage to sneak in a hell of a cardio session without resorting to the gym? Looks like it. And the truth is that you do see a tremendous improvement in your cardiovascular conditioning. This also brings with it a decrease in body fat.

A quick caveat - when I began training I did lean out nicely. However, after about 10 months of training I noticed that I was not getting the same kind of leaning effect. The idea in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to develop efficient movements and a fighting style that easily overcomes stronger opponents. So, as you get better, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu becomes a less effective cardiovascular workout and consequently you burn less fat. This type of adaptation is universal to almost all forms of training. Probably the best solution at this point is to force yourself to train longer and harder.

Anaerobic Conditioning and Functional Strength

Wrestling, in all its forms, requires that you constantly push and pull with all of your muscles. Not only does this require good cardiovascular conditioning, but you need to be able to perform anaerobically. This means that all the time you put into the gym developing big muscles may come into play - but perhaps not in the fashion you intend. Large 1-rep max strength is crucial - I doubt anyone in their right minds would dispute that tremendous strength is always an advantage in any wrestling contest. However, how strong are you on your 20th rep…your 50th rep…your 100th? A grappling session can last for ten minutes, or it can be over in 30 seconds.

I have no scientific evidence on the point I am about to make; it comes entirely from my own observations and conversations with other practitioners of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Here is the unproven thought: "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu improves your muscular stamina and strength". Now, this isn't a preposterous statement and I know I am not some Copernicus here, but I think it's worth making this point because many bodybuilders concentrate on only a single type of training. I am not talking about the distinction between power lifting and more sculpting-orientated training. Rather, I am talking about developing functional strength that lasts over time - if I recall my physics classes, isn't that the true definition of power - force over distance. Think about a manual laborer - have you ever seen a 'skinny' construction worker pick up some crazy keg of nails that weights 100 pounds and carry it up a ladder like it was nothing? That guy might not squat 500 pounds for reps, but he exhibited tremendous function strength and that strength lasts - he has muscular endurance, or what I would call function strength. I believe that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can help anyone develop true function strength.

Another point to make on the subject of function strength is that bodybuilding tends to isolate muscles. Yes, compound motions like squats do develop a wide range of supporting muscle groups, but I don't think that any formalized exercise can develop muscles in the same way that actual use can. When you wrestle, you encounter resistance from all kinds of directions, with all kinds of variation in direction, pressures, and duration. You are constantly acting against resistance and this cannot do anything but help develop your strength and muscularity. And don't forget things like grip strength that naturally develop as your wrestling progresses.

Flexibility

I never thought of myself as particularly flexible - if anything, I always thought I was a bit challenged in that department. However, at this moment, I'd guess I could probably impress the average person with my size to flexibility ratio. Granted, I've taken a few yoga classes and I do my stretches at the gym, but there is no better stretch than an angry 230lb Puerto Rican (named Chris, incidentally) crushing your knees down to your head. Seriously though, all martial arts emphasize and develop flexibility. However, I think that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu does such a good job of improving your flexibility because there is a real incentive to do so, other than just being able to kick that much higher. When you see a real-world improvement in your performance because your flexibility has increased, that provides tangible incentive to work harder. And trust me, the more flexible you are the more flexible you want to become. Not only does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu help improve your flexibility, but remember (c'mon its only a few paragraphs higher on the page) when I talked about developing real strength? That also means being able to exert your strength from all sorts of whacky positions, which is something you will definitely learn to do.

Ok, it is time for another of my crazy pet theories: "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu changes the shape of your muscles" Now I think it is probably a combination of increased flexibility, lower bodyfat, and an increased emphasis on muscular endurance rather than strength, but the end result is that weightlifters who start training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu start to look less hulking and muscle-bound and more, well, just plain athletic. To me, that is a good thing.

Stress Relief

Many people claim that they find going to the gym relaxing. I don't, at least not anymore. Some days more than others, I view the gym as an obligation - something I do because if I don't, I will feel bad. Only recently, thanks to my new workout partner Luis (not to be confused with life partner), have I found pleasure in going back to the gym for my workouts.

In direct and stark contrast, I love going to jiu-jitsu. I find myself going over moves in my head (and applying them - again, still just in my head - to annoying professors, students, pedestrians, etc) and replaying my recent wins or losses (ha - at my level there are far more losses than wins). And I am not alone in my passion for training - more than half of my friends that I train with, report that they are eager to come and train, or that they are 'obsessed'.

Furthermore, because of the cross training nature of jiu-jitsu, I feel a lot more euphoria at the end of a two hour class than I would if I had just been lifting weights. I feel completely physically drained and exhausted and just pleasantly fatigued. Because you are grappling, at full tilt, and trying your hardest to crush or avoid being crushed, you burn through a lot of stress and anxiety. You don't have time to think about all the shit that bugs you during your day when someone is trying to throttle you from behind. I never found it so easy to forget about things when I was simply lifting weights. To me, jiu-jitsu is an amazing form of therapy.

Social Activity & Competition

Jiu-Jitsu is a social sport - you have to have at least one other person to do much of anything. That means you deal with people and develop both friends and foes. From friends and foes you derive twin pleasures - a social outlet and a source of competition. Not only do you get a band of buddies who all share your interest, but you know exactly the measure of your comrades. There is less bullshit and posturing because you can always settle shit right there on the mats. As a result, I think Jiu-Jitsu jump starts friendships and gives you a real bond with your team mates. This is not something I think you can find in the gym, or in the pursuit of bodybuilding titles. If anything, the gym is, more often than not, a very lonely place and the pursuit of your goals can be an isolating experience. Furthermore, Jiu-Jitsu has a culture to it and you will be pleased to find that you can always be watching a televised fight or doing something with your fellow teammates.

Competition is also a great thing, in my opinion. And it is something that is not really part of bodybuilding. Yes, there are shows and such, but that is such a bizarre and even perverse type of competition. Here you have real classic mano-a-mano stuff - hand to hand combat and such. Not only do you get to compete in each and every class, but there are lots of local and national tournaments that you can enter. Competition helps you measure your progress in an objective fashion - something that can be almost impossible in the bodybuilding arena.

Conclusions

So why is this article called Fight Club? Are you not supposed to talk about this article? If this is your first visit to AE, do you have to read this article? (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

This article is called Fight Club because I believe Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu offers the same sort of satisfaction clearly evidenced in the classic movie. The thrill of combat, the camaraderie of a shared passion, and a fantastic outlet for aggression, stress, competition and other emotions and desires that are typically deemed "politically incorrect" by the modern world. Hopefully, you will not stray into soap making or outright anarchy. But, if my suspicions are true, you will enjoy a great new hobby with tremendous mental and physical benefits.

Above all, if you have been exclusively lifting weights for a couple years you are probably yearning for something new and some way to apply your strength. Even if you consider yourself primarily a weightlifter, you can rationalize this foray into the martial arts with the knowledge that you are cross-training, developing function strength, a building up of muscles you can easily miss in a typical workout. To be honest, if you stick out two weeks of grappling, I am pretty confident you will be hooked.

Until next time…(or maybe I should say…hope to see you on the mats)