Jiu Jitsu after 30: How to stay in the game
By Joe Hannan
The body keeps the score. In my case, the score is one torn MCL, one irreparably dislocated floating rib, torn rotator cuffs, several QL strains, four or five corneal abrasions, countless staph infections, and a litany of other damage my brain can’t recall but my ligaments, tendons, muscle, bones, and fascia won’t forget.
The gentle art is rough on the body – especially for those of us in the 30+ crowd. As we age, jiu jitsu longevity requires effort that’s comparable to the effort we put into our training. Genetic anomalies aside, we otherwise run the risk of injury, surgery, and becoming a meme.
The following protocols have worked well for me. They are not universal. They may not work well for you. Use them as the basis for your own supplemental practices to enhance your BJJ longevity.
My current training schedule
It helps to begin with a plan. Otherwise you run the risk of under-training or overtraining – both of which will limit your BJJ progress.
I began BJJ in my mid-twenties. I had no plan. Then I was training six to seven days a week, most of them double or triple sessions, with the third session being a late-night kickboxing class with sparring.
I kept this up until my early 30s. Sometime around age 33, I noticed a precipitous drop-off in my ability to recover. These triple sessions left me feeling hungover the next day. I started developing a lot of random viral illnesses and staph infections, despite being meticulous with my laundry and hygiene. Also, my BJJ growth stalled.
I purchased an Oura Ring and saw the irrefutable data: My training schedule was making me sick, tired, and generally miserable to be around. I was sleeping poorly, eating poorly, and recovering insufficiently. Things had to change.
Of course, they didn’t for a few more years. Then my son was born and things really had to change.
I’m 37 years old now. Every time I hit the mats, I want to be there and I’m able to learn and progress. I feel great and am learning well. This training schedule, and these modalities, are the reasons why:
- Monday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 1 hour strength and conditioning
- Tuesday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 90 minutes of intense BJJ
- Wednesday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 1 hour strength and conditioning
- Thursday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 90 minutes of intense BJJ
- Friday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 60 minutes of focused drilling
- Saturday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, 60 minutes of intense BJJ
- Sunday: 20-30 minute uptempo walk, rest
Let’s unpack each of these modalities.
Walking
Many of you will skip right over this section and as a result, you’ll be skipping one of the best supplemental interventions you can use. Walking is free, easy, and comes with outsized recovery benefits.
I try to get my daily walk in before noon and I do it without sunglasses to get the benefits of morning sun exposure, which includes energy-level stability throughout the day. It’s a brisk walk, enough to break a sweat on a warm day, with the intention of moving blood throughout the body and fluid through achy joints, to expedite the recovery process.
It’s also a technology-free walk. No music. No podcasts. I listen to the wind. I watch the birds. I study trees. All with as much focus and joy as I can muster. This is as much a meditative exercise as it is a physical one. I try to really feel the ground beneath my feet.
Finally, we spend a lot of time in BJJ in a hunched-over, kyphotic position. Sedentary desk work only accentuates this. 20-30 minutes of walking with good posture helps to undo some of that damage and it encourages the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid.
Strength training
Working with my personal trainer, Katia Silva, has been the best investment I’ve made in BJJ longevity for several reasons.
The first is that building muscle required me to get serious about my nutrition. I have the enviable problem of being an under-eater. The amount of food my body requires does not correlate with my appetite. To put on muscle mass, I had to abandon trendy diets and embrace the full spectrum of basic macros from a variety of whole-foods sources. We’re talking plentiful carbs, sufficient protein for my weight, and enough healthy fats.
The second reason is that becoming stronger has made me more resilient. I used to walk around at 6’1” 165 pounds. Now I’m 187 pounds. Same waist size, though I’ve had to replace most of my wardrobe. My body is just built differently now. There’s more sturdy tissue to absorb the wear and tear of BJJ.
The final reason is stability. Flexibility is wonderful. We should be able to move our joints through their full range of motion. But we should also be strong and stable at any point within that range of motion. Strength training has identified both limited points of mobility and hyper-mobility. And Katia’s skilled guidance has helped me address both.
BJJ training
How I approach training in my late 30s differs drastically from how I approached it in my 20s.
The first key difference is a mindset shift. In addition to whatever the instructor is showing, I’m training something in my personal curriculum. While this maximizes my learning time, it also has a secondary benefit: During live training, I’m not training simply to win the round. I’m training to practice an element of my personal curriculum.
The second key difference is that intensity is a moving target. My metric of a successful training session used to be feeling completely dead after live rounds. But feeling dead is not advisable when navigating poopy diapers, temper tantrums, professional goals, and married life. I go into each training session with a general idea of how hard I’m willing to push on a given night and I stick to it.
The final key difference is that I strategically use drilling. Come Friday, I’m pretty beat up. The Friday afternoon BJJ Lab at Princeton BJJ is an iron-sharpens-iron opportunity to collectively train new material while getting our heart rates up enough to clear the metabolic dust and debris. When I return to more intense training, I’m physically and mentally refreshed as a result.
A day of rest
I’m not religious, but I see the value of a sabbath. Our lives on and off the mats require massive expenditures of cognitive, emotional, and physical energy. To be at our best, we need to be as serious about replenishing that energy as we are about expending it.
As students, we are not at our best when we lack the energy to focus. As teachers, we are not at our best when we lack the clarity of mind to instruct. As friends, partners, and humans, we are not at our best when we lack the presence of mind to truly connect and empathize.
This is the biggest difference between BJJ in my 20s vs. BJJ in my 30s. One of the hallmarks of aging is you realize – truly realize – that it isn’t about you. It’s about everyone around you. Resting ensures that you can do right by them.