Recovering energy in BJJ

Recovering energy in BJJ

Recovering energy in BJJ can be an important facet in eventually getting a submission. How do we get this done? With what one of my instructors used to call active rest. Jiu-Jitsu, like any martial art or combat sport, can be an exhausting experience. Sometimes, prolonged periods of exertion, especially when trying complete takedowns, guard passes, or guard retention versus relentless opponents, can leave you very tired. But, you can’t stop when tired. What you can do is take active rests that can recharge your batteries and get you ready for a next push forward towards victory. Whenever you capture a strong position after a prolonged struggle and you feel you are fatigued to the point where performance will be severely compromised, take a short rest in that position and control your breathing. In addition, use the position to collect yourself and understand that the onus is on your opponent to do something to get out, not you. For a period long enough to physically recover, let your opponent do the work and focus on physical recovery. Now, obviously you don’t want to simply go limp and have the opponent escape and undo all your hard work. Do the minimum physical expenditure to hold the position and keep the opponent honest by making some kind of minimal threat, like in the case of rear mount, threaten a choke. That takes little energy, but can’t be ignored by an opponent. When you feel you have recovered sufficiently, go back on the attack. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by how just a little time at lower energy expenditure can enable you to recover and get back to your offense. What people call a great gas tank in Jiu-Jitsu is mostly the ability to vary your intensity levels so you can try to gain better positions through short bursts. Then you can actively rest in the better position. That will enable you to have the energy to finish your opponent.