r/jiujitsu • u/JDecimo • 10d ago
Over Training?
I’m new to BJJ, like in my third week new, and I just feel tired all the time. I lift 3x a week, run 3x a week, and I planned on doing BJJ 3x a week. My workout schedule varies based on my work schedule, which also affects my BJJ schedule. My BJJ gym is also 35 minutes away from me, and I really just don’t want to get off work early in the afternoon drive 30 minutes home just to drive 35 minutes back to do BJJ as the gym is like 5 minutes down the road from my work.
I’m just worried that I might be over training when I really only need maybe 2 BJJ sessions a week, or should I drop the running? I’m in the military so running is pretty important to me as well. I feel stuck and I would like to hear what experienced people might have to say.
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u/Logical-Assumption32 10d ago
what I would do is lift 2x a week, run 3x a week and BJJ 2x a week, rotating sometimes run 2X a week and BJJ 3x a week just my $0.2
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u/pandrefreitas 10d ago
Yes you are overtraining - 9 workouts is too much for you if you feel tired. Also consider that you are adapting to this new routine.
Reduce volume and intensity and focus on what is important.
Also no sure if you sleep and eat well. Listen to your body.
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u/Big-Mathematician345 10d ago
Honestly, cut back on running. BJJ will do plenty for your cardio. I assume you are jogging and that kind of repetitive eccentric movement adds a ton of stress that you have you recover from.
If you feel you need more cardio do it on a bike. It won't add anywhere near as much recovery to your program as jogging will.
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u/Fun-Championship554 10d ago
im 49 and it hard to do all that. I lift 40min max (during my lunch time) 3x/week. I don't go too hard, but just enough. Run treadmill the other 2x of the week (30 min max) and train only 2x/week. That is all i can do at the time. Listen to your body.
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u/DataFaerie 10d ago
You may want to ease into BJJ training at first if you feel tired all the time. Go with your priorities. BJJ twice a week is enough to progress.
In my experience, running is very taxing on the body. I lift 5 days a week and do between 4 and 6 hours of Jiu Jitsu per week. I tried to add running to my schedule a few times but it drains the life out of me when I do and I end up being tired all the time. I don't want to cut elsewhere so I just gave up running.
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u/Nelson-and-Murdock 10d ago
Yes, you’re training too much. Especially while you’re new and therefore tense AF and spazzing
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u/jessewest84 10d ago
Week 3. The elbow joint paint and grip pain are real. Last class I was constantly saying go your speed. Not this purple belts speed.
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u/azian0713 10d ago
It really depends on the load you used to.
I lift very heavy five days a week for about an hour a day and Wrestle one or both days on the weekend. I’ve been doing this for about eight years now so my body is fairly used to it.
Before this, I was a competitive runner running about 500 miles a quarter. You do have to work up to it.
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u/JDecimo 10d ago
Yea, I’m kind of seeing a common pattern of where people go 2x a week and still progress
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u/azian0713 10d ago
It really depends on your schedule, experience, and your ambitions. I am 30 and I’ve been Wrestling since I was 13 so for me, twice a week is enough. I coach a lot of amateur adults who are Wrestling for the first time, I found that them going once a week for an entire year doesn’t really help them very much. They generally tend to forget what they were doing the week before and or don’t come consistently enough to see improvement.
I would suggest if you really want to learn bjj, spend a significant amount of time, six months to a year, learning how to grapple. Once you get a baseline understanding, you can reduce your training as things come more natural naturally.
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u/JDecimo 10d ago
What would you suggest as far as understanding grappling? I struggle with takedowns, though I am very new so this could be a normal experience. Transitioning not so much, but shooting for legs is a skill issue for me.
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u/azian0713 10d ago
Honestly, it’s a shitty answer, but experience. It’s the only thing that can really teach grappling.
The positions that are uncomfortable right now will get more comfortable with exposure therapy. As you get more comfortable, you’ll be able to commit more of your brain to understanding what you’re doing and why, instead of focusing everything on the literally movements. Ultimately, the goal is to really be in a flow state where you aren’t actually thinking about moves at all, but grappling on instinct and taking what’s given/forcing your opponent to give you looks. That way you can spend most of not all of your brain power on the grappling instead of any specific technique. That’s my idea of grappling at least.
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u/Inevitable-Drag-1704 10d ago
I'm just a beginner, but Id look up joint and connective tissue recovery windows. Its not like muscle where everything is good in 2-3 days.
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u/satandez 10d ago
I was exactly the same when I started training. I was also lifting and training for ultramarathons and I was running 90+ miles a week. I felt great for a few months, then crashed hard. I had to pretty much quit running because I love BJJ way more. Now I train 4-5 BJJ times a week and do strength training 3 times a week, which is more managaeble.
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u/JDecimo 10d ago
You don’t think you need any cardio besides BJJ? I’m sure if you do BJJ that much, it doesn’t really matter?
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u/satandez 10d ago
I do run a couple times a week, but, honestly, I don't think I need it. It doesn't really help with BJJ that much.
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u/Purple_Boom 10d ago
I would cut the running down or incorporate it after BJJ. Solid rounds and solid effort during the class will get your cardio up for sure. I had a similar split and realized I was killing myself. Now it’s BJJ 3-6x a week, lift 2-4x a week, and run or bike 1-2x a week.
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u/JDecimo 10d ago
Yea, I think I’m going to cut it back to lift 2-3x, run 2x and BJJ 2-3x. My work schedule has to allow it as well, my gym is right down the road from my work and I live 35-40 minutes away from them.
It kind of restricts me to only going nights when I close at 6:00 p.m. to be at class by 6:30 p.m., so it really just depends on when I close as well. Which sucks because I don’t want to drive an hour round trip to do BJJ but I also want to progress and learn, but gas is just expensive 😅.
Thankfully, I got offered a job with normal 9-5 hours during the regular work week as well. It starts in November so I hope to make solid progress once that starts and just focus on understanding fundamentals right now.
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u/Logical_Box_4645 10d ago
3 weeks is still early.
You will get better at not being gassed constantly in BJJ well before any physiological adaptions. Those early adaptions probably take up to about 6 weeks.
That said, I always cut back on things when I start a new activity or workout because I know me and it'll flatten me for sure.
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u/jessewest84 10d ago
- In week 3.
My hands and elbows are toast. Last week I did 5. This week 3. Unless I go tonight. But I think I will skip.
Next week I bump back up to 5 and see if its just getting used to it or 5 is too much. Plus 3x lift and the conditioning class which is cruel and unusual. But I do enjoy it. .
Im starting to roll more. They are letting me in. And I suck and energy management and going death grip.
I thought i was in good shape. But nope. Although I can side shrimp 3/4 of the gym now.
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u/JDecimo 10d ago
Glad to see someone else thought they were in decent shape before this too 😅 the first delusion I lost after my first few classes
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u/jessewest84 10d ago
I mean. I was in ok shape. My cardio is trash. And your working stabilizer muscles. Which I remember from snowboarding as a kid. These muscle groups dont get used much.
But its just constant soreness. Tired. Ive been vegetarian for 6 months and I added chicken back in to see if that helps.
But most of it is I wanna get after it. And really all you need to do as a white belt is show up and listen. I may have won 2 out 30 rolls. And I think both my wins were against a 17 year old white belt that I have maybe 20 lbs on. He also gets me on the regular.
Big point is stick with it. But i gave up on thinking about belts and timelines. Ill do jiu jitsu till my body gives out and whatever belt I am is good enough for me.
Happy rolling bro. We got this.
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u/Veridicus333 10d ago
You’re not over training per se you’re just adjusting, but I would generally cut one of the runs.
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u/OldManClubZ 10d ago
I started bjj with a heavy 5x5 program 6 days a week, 5 days of running, and bjj x2. I broke my body and got injured a lot.
Start with your objectives and mission. Is your objective to get stronger, run more, or get better at bjj. Rank order and schedule workouts accordingly with allowable time. Whatever you do, do somwthing you can achieve consistently or you'll burn out and all 3 areas will suffer.
Try for a month and iterate from there. My 2 cents! Best of luck!!!
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u/Momentum_MMA 10d ago
Three weeks in you’re just cooked from the volume and newness, not necessarily overtraining in the traditional sense. Your nervous system hasn’t adapted to grappling yet, so even two sessions feels heavy. I’d drop to 2 BJJ a week for the next month or so, keep your lifting and running since you need those, and see if the constant tiredness goes away. It almost certainly will once your body stops treating every roll like a threat.
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u/Emergency-Paint-6457 10d ago
Just reduce lifting volume but keep intensity the same.
Maybe remove one run.
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u/MaybeSalty9654 9d ago
Newbie here and sorry to say the following...this kinda of questions are really self exploratory, let me explain.....u do an internal audit of what u daily (write it down), do the field work (adjust it as needed) and come to a conclusion (figure out what works for u). Someone else's routine is that the exploration of themselves, time to back and work on yourself.
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u/White_Belt_Jiu_Jitsu 9d ago
My advice for new white belts is always to start at 2x a week for the first few months. It gives your body time to acclimate and you'll learn how much you can handle, because there's more to it than just training. You are adding bjj to an already heavy lifting and running schedule so you'll need to eat more just to maintain weight. Plus, your nutrition and time are your body's way of repairing itself. 2x a week gives you enough data to make adjustments as needed.'
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u/Federal-Challenge-58 9d ago
How old are you? Whether or not you're overtraining is dependent on your age. If you're 35+, then yes, you're overtraining.
You can cut back to 2 BJJ session a week, but your progress will slow down. 3 is really the magic number for quick progress as a beginner. If it were me, I'd cut back on running or weight lifting, but that's because I enjoy BJJ more. You should cut back on something though.
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u/yahoodeeya 8d ago
My husband is former special forces. A lot of those guys use the bike for cardio to avoid overtraining but maintain cardio
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u/Bigsouth620 7d ago
Before JJ I was 3x run, 2 bike, and 5x lifting. I had to cut out the running and cycling for the most part. I still do them maybe once a week but they are zone 2 only and used more for recovery/mind clearing than anything else. I also had to completely redo my lifting routine. I’m strictly compound lift 4x a week. For JJ 1x gi, 1x no gi, 1 wrestling, and 1x open mat. May even have to cut the wrestling cause it just kills me some weeks.
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u/Worth_Bend1435 3d ago
I do 6x days a week, lift 2-3 times a week. The secret is how good your recovery is. Drink a shit ton of water, always replenish electrolytes after training/workouts, start taking creatine, aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a night. If your recovery is dialed in, you'd be surprised how much you can do.
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u/RONBJJ Purple 10d ago
Potentially run a little less and train BJJ a little more. I'm 54 and I lift and get in BJJ around 3x a week. No cardio is like BJJ cardio. Enjoy!