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Should You Weightlift in Jiu-Jitsu?

In my early days as a Jiu-Jitsu student I was told that to be good at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu that I shouldn’t lift weights. I was told it adversely effects your technique because you want to use the proper angle instead of muscling through a position to be most effective.

I don’t know if I totally agree with that but I do think that weightlifting is bad for your jiu-jitsu if you are lifting really heavy weights to bulk up like a weightlifter. That much muscle takes up a lot of oxygen in a match leading to quicker muscle fatigue. You need to be lean and mean to go the distance Baby! You're even starting to see extremely slim and toned fighters in the UFC.

If you do want to weightlift then Kettle bells and Bulgarian Power Bags are an awesome accessory to the grappler’s tool box. This kind of weightlifting gives you strength at different angles and exercises muscles important to good grappling that regular weightlifting won’t train. Body weight exercises are also excellent such as pull ups and pushups to help improve your game.

So is weightlifting good in Jiu-Jitsu? Yep…just make sure it’s the right kind of weightlifting.

P.S. If you do steroids to enhance your performance then you’re a dumbass.

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