Which muscle do BJJ fighters use the most? How to strengthen it?

An important piece of advice, which beginners jiu-jitsu practitioners get the most from their rolling partner is “You’re using way too much strength!” Is strength really important in brazillian jiu-jitsu? It’s not that simple. Have you observed top BJJ athletes playing who are very strong and spend plenty of time in doing serious strength & conditioning training. Strength & explosive power is necessarily important in brazilan jiu-jitsu. Then what with the advice beginners often get? An accurate way of saying that is: “You’re not applying the strength efficiently.” Sports of every kind requires physical strength & endurance. If two players of equal skill & experience are fighting one who is physically stronger will get the advantage.

Physical stamina helps a lot in protecting your joints, tendons & ligaments.  Not being vulnerable to BJJ injuries is one of the most important benefits of being a strong player. If you’ve been practicing on the mats for years, witnessing a smaller and weaker player holding a higher belt and domination over a stronger opponent would be a rare sight. Big muscles definitely pose a problem to your opponent. In some cases the right technique can overcome physical strength. But that doesn’t deny the importance of being physically strong. What’s more important than being a big player in your BJJ rash guard? Using the strength efficiently. In the following ways you can use your physical strength efficiently in BJJ.

• Go for the technical solution of your problem you’re encountering in the role. Rely on using the technique correctly by applying brute force.
• Stay relaxed. Stay calm during your fight even if you’re trapped under the side control & the opponent’s submission is coming on the way! Try not tensing every muscle while holding your breath. In fact try finding a defensive safe posture at bottom while saving the strength for the big move that you must execute for escaping the choke at the right time.
• Rely on your leg strength & hip movement then pushing yourself away by using a bench press for pushing your opponent off. Using the strength of your legs & hips is one the basic and important principle of Jiu-Jitsu
• You must rely on using stronger muscles for executing a technique at correct timing, it’s the jiu-jitsu efficiency.

Prioritizing Muscle Groups for BJJ

High endurance is also an important attribute that a BJJ practitioner must have. More exhausted your body is,  the slower your mental cognition will be. Which isn’t good for the Jiu-Jitsu game. Timing & strategy of your technique is  everything. Aerobic workouts help a lot with building endurance. However different approaches work for different people. Having a firm grip strength is important for both BJJ and no Gi game. Stronger grips gives you better control over your opponent. And you will be able to execute submission fastly. You can perform a lot of exercises like pull ups, holding kettlebell and rope climbs for strengthening your grips. With this having full body strength is crucially important. Jiu-Jitsu is more like a full body sport; it requires skill & strength equally. Training the muscles which are used most can be beneficial but this isn’t how body strength works. For making a certain muscle stringer it is essentially important to train your whole body. Claves and your arms are used mostly for grappling, controlling your opponent, while forcing him to submit. We would advise you to perform exercises that engage multiple muscle groups of your body.

What muscles do Jiu-Jitsu fighters use the most?

Yes your forearms & hips are the muscles which work the most in Jiu-Jitsu. But your whole body strength is crucially important. Every single muscle group in your body compliments your overall strength. Your triceps, chest, biceps, lats, abs groups, glutes, quads, hamstrings, shins, calves, & neck are important big muscular groups that are highly targeted. Your stability muscles give you the edge though. Strengthening those muscles is easy but what makes you unbeatable in the ring?

Frequent training is undoubtedly the best way of making you a stronger grappler. Strong drappling is what makes you a winner of combat sports. It might appear that you use your forearm most while grappling your opponent but this certainly isn’t correct. A grappling session is only complete when you use all of your muscles in the same amount. If some of your muscles are under trained, even they are used rarely affects your game very much.

Muscle strengthening workouts for grapplers

It is important for Jiu-jitsu grapplers not to train like a bodybuilder. Their Strength training program should complement their sport. The strength & conditioning field for jiu-jitsu has evolved over time. Sometimes performing high intensity workouts can’t be beneficial as much so it is important to train properly.

1)  KettleBell Upright Row

It is an upper-body strengthening  workout that engages the deltoids & the traps. For starting this exercise, hold the bell, make a hip hinge, by putting both of your hands on a bell & push yourself for standing. This should be your starting position.  Keep your abs locked & your feet screwed firmly on the floor. Then squeeze your glutes & the quads. Then, drive up, bend your elbow and place both of your hands below your face. By controlling the movement start lowering it slowly. Take a deep breath by driving back and exhale.  Make sure your elbows  don’t cover your face. 

2)   Pull ups

Pull-ups are an amazing bodyweight workout which is great for developing holistic upper-body strength. They are one of those workouts which is hard to master.  Start this workout by standing under a pull-up bar. And place both of your hands on an overhand-grip with the hands opened  further than shoulder distance apart. If reaching the bar directly from the floor is hard, place a box or an elevated surface underneath you.

Once the hands have reached the bar, you are in the starting position. Take a deep breath and lift both of your feet from the ground in a way that you are just hanging from the bar. Engage the core by stretching your belly inward toward your back. Then pull the shoulders back & down.

Engage the muscles of your arms & back, by bending both of your elbows. Start raising the upper body toward the bar and keep on doing it till the chin has crossed the bar level. As you proceed with the movement, avoid swinging the legs around and shrugging the shoulders up.  Take a deep breath at the top of movement then extend both of your elbows while lowering the body back to the position from where you started.

3)  Deadlift