Quick Tips on How to Rest & Maximize Your Jiu Jitsu Training

Quick Tips on How to Rest & Maximize Your Jiu Jitsu Training

Quick Tips on How to Rest & Maximize Your Jiu Jitsu Training
Article by:  Greg Hamilton - Machado Black Belt and Head Instructor at Carlos Machado Jiu Jitsu Mid Cities (Bedford, Texas)


If you are serious about your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training and progress, remember this RULE:  

  • Muscles are Torn in the Gym
  • Fed in the Kitchen and
  • Buit in Bed...

Adequate rest is even more important when the physical acclimation of your muscles and bone structure is combined with learning a specific move or skill, which is exactly what happens when you train Jiu Jitsu.

As a result you have to incorporate conscious rest to let your body to do the needed healing and to get ready for the next training session.

Its easy to just ignore what the body needs and is telling you and to say oh, I'm just going to still go train but "light" instead of taking a rest day.  Overtraining can lead to significant injuries.  Just ask George St. Pierre who basically tore his ACL and had to have knee surgery due to endless training and lacking adequate rest.  

"When you fail to "REST", your risk of injury is much higher".


It's NOT Easy to Rest & Relax

We all know that taking a rest day is not easy, but here are some tips that we at Carlos Machado Jiu Jitsu Mid Cities recommend you can do on a rest day.  If you usually train at 6pm Wednesday and decide to take that day off, then you have to dedicate that day to resting your body as much as you can.

Why? So that the next day you can go train and perform to your highest potential with a more rested body vs one thats just tired and in "Rest Debt".

Quick Tips How to Maximize Your Rest

At 6pm Wednesday, force yourself to be home instead of going to train.  Make yourself a protein shake, sit down in a comfortable spot, and write out each position such as Guard, Mount, Side Control, Half Guard, etc.  Then for each position write out your Top 3 submissions.  You will be blown away with what you learn about your own Jiu Jitsu game.

You can also write down a particular position and go online and and look up 3 submissions that you can study.   One thing that we do recommend is that the primary source of your online Brazilian Jiu Jitsu should always be your lineage and especially if your professor or instructor has their own online Jiu Jitsu video technique library.

In our case, Master Carlos Machado has the MachadoMethod.com and JiuJitsuSecrets.com websites so we always use those amazing resources for our curriculum and students to access.  So our primary go to online video source is our instructor, Master Carlos Machado.

Overall you get the idea.  Occupy your time "resting" doing non physical Jiu Jitsu, but Mental Jiu JItsu.  You will feel productive and actually that you strategically accomplished quite a lot because the next time you will go train, you will have a much more clear overview of your own game-plan and goals for that next training session.

After the regular time you would be training is over, and you actually successfully stayed home, you can then proceed to enjoy your rest day and know that you are going to be back next day ready to develop.

5 Good Reasons Why You Need to Take Rest Days

  • Your joints and especially muscles need time to recover in order to build
  • Eliminate the Mistake of "Overtraining"
  • Without Rest Days, You Will Get Burnt Out Physically and Mentally
  • Learn to "Listen to Your Body"
  • At Least 1 Full Day of Rest Per Week is Crucial

If you really think about it, we all know that everything that is written in this artile in reality is just common sense.  If you want to continue to benefit from making gains in your training, regardless of physical endeavor, you need to rest.  You are human, so treat yourself like one.

This is where loving thy self comes into serious play.  WIthout drifting onto another tipic, if you love yourself, you will listen to your body and do accordingly.  If you know how to love yourself, you will know how to love others.

If you fail to listen to your body, do you really love yourself?

Give us some feedback if you have any.  We always welcome discussions for the betterment of all parties involved.  Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.


Carlos Machado Jiu Jitsu Mid Cities Texas
2843 Central Drive., Bedford, TX  76021 
www.CarlosMachadoJiuJitsuMidCities.com
Article Written by:  Greg Hamilton, Machado Black Belt & Head Instructor of Kids and Adults Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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