Why incorporate strength training with Jiu Jitsu
If you are reading this, then you are obviously already training Jiu Jitsu and keeping yourself prepared in some form or fashion for the ultimate fight on the street, if that fight ever should come. But what if I was to suggest to you that Jiu Jitsu alone is not enough? Blasphemy you say? Jiu Jitsu is about the little guy taking on the big guy and humbling him, that is all you need you say? Yes, there is truth in the axiom of the little very technical guy being able to submit the much larger stronger guy. But the reality is, unless you are Marcelo Garcia, being proficient in Jiu Jitsu may not be enough.
So what are some advantages to incorporating weight training into your weekly regimen? Well, it can help to reduce your chances of becoming obese. Recent studies have shown that up to 40 percent of Police Officers nationwide are obese, and up to 80 percent are considered overweight. Nobody wants to be the stereotypical overweight donut eating cop.
Strength training can help to increase your physical endurance. We all know what it feels like to be completely exhausted while training and unable to defend ourselves from getting choked over and over again on the mat. The last place we want that to happen is on the street during a physical encounter with someone we are trying to arrest. Strength training absolutely will increase your muscular endurance while training Jiu Jitsu as well as during an encounter with a violent subject on the street.
Several studies have also shown that increasing muscle mass and strength allows you to sustain more physical damage during a violent encounter (to include gun shots) and keep fighting. Basically, building up your muscle mass and strength is like adding a layer of muscular armor to protect your body with. This also can be very helpful with injury prevention on the mat.
As police officers, our body is constantly moving from stressful situations and hypervigilance back to recovery state (traffic stops, domestic violence calls, etc..). Increased physical fitness improves and reduces the time our body needs to recover from the constant stress we are under and allows us to get back to our baseline and prepared for the next stressful encounter.
Besides looking better, strength training will also provide you with a more professional appearance which will not only increase the public’s confidence in your ability to serve and protect, but also increase your personal confidence in you own image and ability to do the job.
And last but certainly not least, it will make your Jiu Jitsu better. When you are stuck on bottom side or mount, and every technique you try just doesn’t seem to be able to get you out of that position, there is nothing wrong with being able to add a little power to escape a bad position and reverse it. Just like on
the mat, there is always someone on the street that is bigger and more athletic than you, having the ability to power out of a bad situation can be the difference between getting tapped in the gym, or life and death on the street.
Just adding strength training to your weekly schedule 3 to 5 days a week, can have a major impact on your Jiu Jitsu as well as your safety.
I hope you guys enjoyed the article, stay safe and don’t forget, STFUAT!!
Jason Rebsch, Co-Founder, Invictus Leo Jiu Jitsu Collective
