The Pros and Cons of Yoga for BJJ

Have you ever thought about doing supplementing your BJJ training by doing yoga? If not, perhaps you should – yoga could provide some big benefits to your game, as well as your overall fitness.

Read on and we’ll discuss the benefits of yoga for BJJ fighters, as well as looking into whether there are any cons to adding yoga to your training schedule. We’ll also talk about how you can start using yoga to improve your BJJ.

Benefits of Yoga for BJJ

So, what are the benefits of yoga for BJJ? Is it really something that’s going to take your game to the next level?

Let’s take a look:

Flexibility

Yoga can help to improve your flexibility. This is obviously a big plus for BJJ practitioners, who need to be able to contort their bodies into all sorts of different positions. By doing yoga, you’ll gradually become more flexible and will find it easier to execute moves that previously seemed impossible.

Strength and Endurance

Yoga can also help to improve your strength and endurance. Although yoga isn’t traditionally seen as an aerobic exercise, certain types of yoga – such as power yoga and vinyasa flow – can really get your heart rate up. This means that they can help to build your cardiovascular fitness as well as improving your muscular strength. Both of these things will be beneficial for BJJ.

Focus and Concentration

Yoga can also help to improve your focus and concentration. This is important for BJJ as it’s often the difference between winning and losing a match – if you can keep your focus on what you’re doing, while your opponent loses theirs, you’ll be in a much better position to come out on top.

It’s also worthwhile in training, as you need to be able to focus on your movements, often under pressure or physical duress, to nail down and master different moves or techniques. Yoga can help you to develop the ability to maintain your focus even when under pressure.

Preventing Injuries

Finally, yoga can help with injury prevention. The increased flexibility that yoga brings can help to protect your joints from being strained, while the strengthening of muscles and connective tissues can help to prevent injuries such as pulled muscles.

Cons of Yoga for BJJ

So those are some of the main benefits of yoga for BJJ practitioners. But are there any downsides? Let’s take a look at some of the potential cons of yoga for BJJ:

Time Investment

The first thing to consider is that yoga can take up a lot of time. That time can take away from the time you spend training BJJ, lifting weights, doing cardio, or simply resting.

Perhaps you’re already training BJJ several times per week. You might also have other goals – getting stronger, improving fitness, adding kickboxing/wrestling/MMA sessions, etc. Add in yoga, and there’s only so much you can fit in.

And on top of that, you need rest days here and there. Some light yoga actually might be good as a form of active recovery. But you do need some days where you actually do nothing, to let your body fully recover from those tough rolls.

Spending time doing yoga isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something you should be conscious of.

Low Intensity

Another potential downside of yoga is that it might not be as intense as some other forms of exercise. If you’re looking for something that will really get your heart rate up and make you sweat, yoga might not be it. However, this obviously depends on the type of yoga that you do – some types, such as power yoga, can be quite intense.

The Verdict: Is Yoga Good for BJJ?

So those are some of the pros and cons of yoga for BJJ practitioners. As you can see, there are definitely more positives than negatives when it comes to adding yoga to your training regime. So why not give it a try? You might be surprised at the benefits that you experience.

Doing yoga could help improve your flexibility which is necessary to execute different moves in BJJ. It could also help improve your strength and endurance so you can last longer during matches or training sessions. Plus, yoga helps with focus and concentration which allows you to maintain control over yourself and the match. Lastly, practicing yoga could prevent injuries from occurring due to the increased flexibility and strengthened muscles. Although there are some potential downsides, such as taking up time or not being intense enough, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

So if you’re thinking about adding yoga into your training schedule, go for it! You might be surprised at how much it can help improve your BJJ game.