Teen Starting BJJ

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

My wifes 14 year old brother lives with us and hes starting BJJ once summer starts. He did karate when he was very young in Hawai’i. Other than that no real athletic background. I’m looking for recommendations for solo drills and prepatory exercises he could do for the two months till then. I’m not trying to really teach him now because I dont want him have to forget a bunch of stuff when he actually starts.

The idea is more just to get his head right and prepare his body. Any advice and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

2

shrimping
grip exercises
yoga
mobility drills

and of course, none of it will make sense to him until he rolls for a couple months
just keep him active and healthy

3

Deadlifts and squats.

Doing BJJ properly without having good core/hip strength is silly. Build up your core and hip strength, and your ability to move will skyrocket.

4

virtually no sport in the world can be accomplished properly without hip/core strength.
and a beginner relying on strength in BJJ is asking for injury, to either himself or his partner. Rather, promote mobility so he doesn’t get hurt. How out of shape and inexperienced are you magick?

5

Ground mobility drills are going to get him used to some of the primary movement patterns that he will be utilizing once he starts BJJ. Things like:
Shrimping
Bridging/Upa
Bridge and roll/turn
Hip Heists
Sit-outs
Pelvis kick-ups
Pelvis kick-up to Triangle/Figure 4 legs
Front shoulder roll
Back shoulder roll
Granby roll
Technical stand-up/Tactical Get-Up
Leg fold/Windshield Wiper to leg lock position

will all get him used to moving on the ground and help to develop some of the movement specific strength and mobility that he will need to have success in BJJ.

He can also practice Wrestling/stand up grappling solo drills to familiarize himself with some of the primary movement patterns there like:
Wrestler’ shot
Head outside shot to angular step-through
Head inside shot/Sweep Single shot
Sprawl
Sprawl and circle
Back step to hip throw position (better with a training partner or grappling dummy, but resistance bands can be used for these as well if you want a more realism/resistance)

He can perform the above movements in repetitions like a traditional workout, in a set pattern like a Kata/Form, or once he gets more familiar with them like he is “shadow grappling”. All of those formats have merit and can a provide a great solo grappling specific workout.

I also second Jarvan’s suggestion of doing some grip strengthening exercises (towel chin-ups would be a good cheap option), and even though I don’t disagree with Magick that Squats and Deadlifts are great exercises and young athletes should learn how to do them correctly, I think getting your brother in law a big sandbag (preferrably made of something like canvas/burlap so it can take some abuse without leaking sand everywhere) and using that to do some weighted hip bridges, lifts, hip throws, etc… would more accurately mimic the demands that will be placed on his body while grappling and would be time and money better spent at this point in time.

Hope this helps.

6

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
and a beginner relying on strength in BJJ is asking for injury, to either himself or his partner.[/quote]

Did I say he should rely on strength? Did you even bother to read what I wrote beyond the “squat and deadlift”?

Here, lemme remind you-

I have a log in the log place. You can go look if you care.

7

to dear ol magick

strength is completely relative to the type of movement, so simply DLing and squats will not turn him into a BJJ master as you might assume. In fact, it could possibly deter him from the flexibility he might already possess with his youth. Just read about BJJ history and you’ll see for yourself… Helio created BJJ for the smaller… weaker guy… remember? BJJ isn’t about exploding strength :slight_smile: Hence many call it the ‘gentle art’.

And no one is disagreeing that DL or squats are bad for anyone, but your being quite repugnant by simply applying DL and squats will be the be all end all for all things athletic. YES, they are important, but the way you say it just doesn’t segue into anything really substantial… it’s rather harmful in a way.

So before you get your panties in a bunch, get some more experience then you can give some real help.

8

Glad you pointed out your log.

And honestly, not to make fun, but you’re a baby in the iron game. 2011 you started lifting, and you don’t even roll jiu jitsu…

I’m glad you’re excited about lifting, but you’re not gonna get anywhere if you’re just regurgitating information that you think sounds right.
Be honest with where you are and you will progress much faster.

Good luck on your continuing fat loss and strength gains.

9

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
strength is completely relative to the type of movement, so simply DLing and squats will not turn him into a BJJ master as you might assume. In fact, it could possibly deter him from the flexibility he might already possess with his youth.[/quote]

More assumptions! More reasons to make me believe you’re a self-absorbed retard! BJJ master? DL and squats an end all, be all for athletics? When did I ever write anything that suggested any of that? Seriously, how fucking retarded are you to read so much into what I wrote?

Are you incapable of just reading what is written and writing something based on that? Or do you live in your own fantasy la-la land all the time?

You really should strive to improve your reading comprehension mate. It’s awfully lacking.

Squatting and deadlifting actually gave me the flexibility and strength necessary to shrimp and do both newaza and throwing techniques properly. Just a couple months of lifting improved my judo techniques far beyond the two years I trained without doing any lifting.

So, I say squat and deadlift because of my experience with them. You can do the weighted exercises Sentoguy talked about as well if you want, but my experience is that you need external load to improve strength. Doing calisthenics only never did much for me.

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
I’m glad you’re excited about lifting, but you’re not gonna get anywhere if you’re just regurgitating information that you think sounds right.[/quote]

It’s a good thing I’m not just regurgitating information and rather speaking honestly about what helped me improve.

10

Let’s try to keep the discussion civil and constructive guys. This individual came here looking for help/advice; both of you started out giving him just that (based on your own personal experiences), why not return to that goal.

Let’s also remember that everyone is an individual and will have different strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and limitations. We really know nothing about this guy’s brother in law other than he’s 15, wants to start BJJ, and hasn’t previously been involved in athletics. He could be really naturally flexible but weak, really naturally strong but stiff, naturally explosive but with poor natural endurance, really naturally good at endurance but have poor explosiveness, etc…,etc…etc…

As a result what specific strength and conditioning exercises will best help this individual in their BJJ training may vary and may be different from what would be best for any of us. In the end all that really matters is results. If squatting and dead lifting helped Magick improve, then how can anyone say that they were the wrong thing for him to do? If lots of flexibility training and avoiding squatting and dead lifting improved Jarvan’s BJJ, then how can you argue that this was the wrong path for him to follow? Even among the elite in the BJJ world you have individuals with very different “styles” based on their own individual physicality. For instance, Eddie Bravo’s style is all about flexibility and doing tons of DL’ing and squats to strengthen his hips would likely decrease his mobility and actually make him less effective as a grappler. On the other hand Ronaldo Souza’s style is much more based on power and explosiveness and focusing extensively on flexibility at the expense of strength and power training may have decreased his effectiveness as well. Both men were World champions, so can you really say that one was “right” and the other was “wrong”?

The exercises that I mentioned are however integral movement patterns in BJJ/submission grappling, apply to everyone, and regardless of individual physicality, are going to help a person improve in their grappling pursuits. In other words they are specific grappling strength and conditioning exercises as opposed to non specific GPP types of exercises (like squats, DL, chins, strongman stuff, battling ropes, sledge hammer drills, gymnastics strength elements, Oly lifts, etc…) and so do not require that we individualize them to him specifically. If he wants to add additional load to the movements (like a sandbag or grappling dummy) once he is sure that he has the movements down correctly in order to develop greater strength, then of course that can be beneficial.

Once he actually starts doing BJJ, then hopefully his coach will help him to individualize his strength and conditioning program to help him improve best based on his strengths and weaknesses.

11

Thanks for the replies. I looked up alot of recommendations for solo drills but just wanted to see what people have actually used and might have worked. I walked him through the solo drills, along with doing some easy wrestling with him so he learns the type of fatigue that pushing and pulling against someone else induces.

I used to wrestle but im hesistant to show him a whole lot because I dont want to undermine what hell learn from his future instructor. Although wrestling and bjj are both grappling arts my understanding is that theyre still fundamentally different. I have a home gym but hes never really shown an interest in lifting weights. I have t handles I use for farmers walks, homemade “sandbags”, a sled, and bands that ive used with him recently.

He has a slight build and average height I guess my wifes family is filipino so hes not going to be naturally big. But hes been doing the calisthenic drills and im trying to get him to do the gpp 2-3 times a week. Id rather that he did some basic barbell stuff but im working around his interests not mine, and ultimately this is for him to enjoy and experience.

12

[quote]Rush88 wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I looked up alot of recommendations for solo drills but just wanted to see what people have actually used and might have worked. I walked him through the solo drills, along with doing some easy wrestling with him so he learns the type of fatigue that pushing and pulling against someone else induces.

I used to wrestle but im hesistant to show him a whole lot because I dont want to undermine what hell learn from his future instructor. Although wrestling and bjj are both grappling arts my understanding is that theyre still fundamentally different. I have a home gym but hes never really shown an interest in lifting weights. I have t handles I use for farmers walks, homemade “sandbags”, a sled, and bands that ive used with him recently.

He has a slight build and average height I guess my wifes family is filipino so hes not going to be naturally big. But hes been doing the calisthenic drills and im trying to get him to do the gpp 2-3 times a week. Id rather that he did some basic barbell stuff but im working around his interests not mine, and ultimately this is for him to enjoy and experience.
[/quote]

I have used all of the solo drills that I mentioned with myself and my students. My head BJJ coach (multiple time PanAmerican champ, 2x NAGA champ, Worlds Masters champ and No-Gi champ, etc…) also utilizes all of those drills personally and with all of his students.

13

The best thing about solo drills is that he’ll already “speak the language” when he starts class. He’ll be ready to go in and start learning technique right away rather than spending his first few classes thinking “What the hell is a hip heist?” and being confused before he’s even through the warm up. That is absolutely the most useful thing you can do for him right now.

It’s cool that you’re working with him, man. That’ll be really good for him on a much deeper level than just grappling for sure.

14

Andre Galvao has a book on BJJ drilling but it won’t make any sense unless you are already doing BJJ. There is also something called Ginastica Natural which people like Saulo and Xande Ribeiro do as well as Rickson Gracie. The best way I can describe it is by calling it yoga for BJJ. There are DVDs you can get but I’m sure Youtube has some videos.

And there is nothing wrong with squats and DLs as long as the movements (and I use the word movement for a reason) are done in a way that is appropriate to the kid’s age and ability. Squats promote mobility so the idea that mobility exercises should be done instead makes no sense. Squats are many things including a mobility exercise.