So with Covid being an issue, how has a lack of sparring affected you.
Hasn’t affected me more than any other restriction.
Supply chain bumps, and travel restrictions / potential travel problems more of an annoyance / inconvenience.
Then again, I have mats at my house, and keys to mat rooms all over town, if and when I want to train in private with someone, or in small restricted groups.
And, I am old enough, and have been on the mats long enough, that my children training is much more important than my training, and they are close enough in age, that they serve well enough as drill partners for each other.
Interesting, do you think working with a grappling dummy helps if one works solo
There are all kinds of agility, and body in space drills that one can do with one’s body as simple matwork (BJJ specific, or animal gymnastica, or western gymnastics, etc), or with a heavy bag, or with one of those large yoga balls that one can sit on, or with various grappling dummies.
Also, Carl Adams from Boston made some interesting wrestling training devices a couple decades ago, that are still for sale.
And there are of course, throwing dummies.
And there are Judo training dummies and equipment.
And other agility and body in space equipment.
I have a few grappling dummies.
One of them is actually a physical therapy instructional dummy, so the joints all articulate correctly.
Which can come in handy, when showing dangerous, or painful things, to newbies, and when one does not wish to be the uke for dozens of repetitions of them.
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Ah ok, thank you
Bigger gaps between rolling has made me loose conditioning, grappling cardio and grappling strength.
Kettlebells , cross trainer and running up steps on the seafront has helped keep some cobwebs off but its not the same.
What I found though is that on the occasions I do grapple i am focussing more on technique and as such am improving in that area most which is great.
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Grappling cardio, huh?
Because you are a prima posta artist.
That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever called me
IME, most people benefit more from that kind of training than reps of Triangle from Guard done ad nauseum.
This is the longest complete layoff from BJJ I have had since beginning in 2004. Poor biometrics and labs from annual physical a few months ago prompted me to start jogging again and eating better. It occurred to me how sedentary I had become.
Lost quite a bit of weight and BP is trending down, which is all great. I’m expecting a rough return to the mats if/when I get back to regular training.
Well that’s what I call it .
Being able to run up and down 14 sets of stairs 15 times weighing 120kg yet 2 mins rolling and I’m blowing out of my arse .
Pre covid I could grapple for hours but only do 4/5 sets of stairs .
Somehow I doubt you were grappling for hours at the same intensity as you were running up stairs.
I have a speculation about such things.
Not sure “cardio” is the same as breathing well, and knowing how to breathe well, regarding an activity.
Of course, in an adversarial game, taking away the opponent’s (or partner’s) ability to breathe, is of course fair game, and a legit submission, or path to same.
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I had never really given it much thought but now you mention it I see it is the over thinking, not relaxing = controlled breathing habits gone to shit.
Well there really is only one way for me to put it right and thats to STFU and train.
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I kept sparring with two other training partners. So i never really stopped, only during the extreme lockdown phase early last year where we weren’t allowed to leave our houses. Since then it’s been garages or parks when there were restrictions in place.
In terms of conditioning i have some gear at home i’ve been using. You actually don’t need a lot of equipment to stay in shape. I use mostly bodyweight though (pullup dip station, horizontal bar, some dumbells, etc.) Cardio is easy to work on at home as well. If you are looking for ideas i enjoyed this cardio workout. I keep looking for different workouts and approaches online, there is loads of content which you can do at home.
I’m in the process of updating my home gym, i think all i’m going to add is a bench and squat rack (doesn’t have to be a full rack, just something i can get under). I have a double end bag in the garage and a heavy bag outside which i didn’t mention. That’s also great.
If you have a heavy bag this is a killer drill.
Apologies those are more boxing focused, I haven’t really been working on grappling, so not the best person to give advice there.