I have traned at many places and for many years. I understand that everyone has their own reasons for traneing, and every school has their own philosophy. Having said that, at what point is too much conditioning a bad thing during a martial arts class you are paying for?
I’ll give an example. I’ve been training kickboxing at a new gym. Not cardio kickboxing, kickboxing for competition and MMA. During class, there is also a BJJ class the next mat over. We will be over 20 minutes into class and look over at the BJJ mat and they are still doing warmup and shit. Cartwheels. Having to do handstands down the mat. Having someone grab your legs and you have to walk the mats with your hands like you are a wheelbarrow. Carrying eachother back and forth. Sprints and shrimps and all sorts of shit like that. I look over and I literally just think look at them training “jiu jitsu.” They then manage to do more conditioning shit the last 10 minutes of class. It’s like the people paying for an hour class get maybe 10-15 minutes of actual technique in.
My point? At what point is it too much? I understand a quick warmup, no longer than 5 minutes, but 20+? Anyone think this is a good idea?
FTR, my stance is that the best warm ups for BJJ are functional drills. Shrimps, breakfalls, standing up in base, various drills like triangle and armbar drills.
I’ve always had this problem with most TMA and MMA “Schools”.
Generally speaking, the instructors are 100% wrong when they push conditioning too much.
I don’t give a fuck what anyone says.
I understand the reasoning behind it.
But when you have middle aged dudes with beer bellies just trying not to puke while drilling next to 20 year old kids – you are not making an honest dollar.
That being said – part of this also falls on the student.
If you are in shit shape – you should spend a few weeks getting in better shape before paying good money to be trained in a fighting discipline.
So I can see both sides if it.
I’ve seen some Muay Thai schools absolutely torture young kids – I’m talking like 5-8 years old – with over half of the class being conditioning.
It’s retarded.
Teach the kids the muscle memory of technique.
Running 50 laps when they’re 8 isn’t going to mean shit when they’re 18 – but learning how to throw a proper punch is like riding a bike.
Warm ups should just be flow technique of the week. Armbars/triangles for example 5 min each, then into technique. Kids classes however should have quite a bit of conditioning at the start, it helps them focus better come technique time.
Functional warm ups I’m all for. Especially if you are drilling parts and pieces of what will be taught in class. But, half the crazy shit I see happening during warm ups belongs in a crossfit class, not BJJ (or any martial art).
For teens and adults, ideally, the gym should encourage a culture of people coming in 10-15 minutes early to get their own conditioning in. Little kids are retarded so obviously they need more supervision.
You’re paying to learn a martial art; not to run sprints and do forward rolls.
Same shit happens in HS wrestling camps. I remember going to “intensive” camps as a kid where at least 25% of all physical activity was some variation of basic conditioning, usually running. Lazy, uninspired shit.
The best way to boost your conditioning for any martial art is to practice the martial art.
I’m torn on this. My kids train at one of the top wrestling clubs in the country and the first 30-40 minutes is a brutal conditioning workout followed by technique for 40 minutes and live for 30 minutes.
Those kids are some of the toughest kids in PA and will just outpace other elite kids in matches just with their cardio and mental toughness from doing that.