How An Addict Views The Typical BJJ Class

Why train in jiu-jitsu? First, it is the best overall exercise I have found. And I have tried it all. Trained and ran a half marathon, body-building with heavy weights, Zumba, every Beach Body program from Turbo Jam to Insanity. This is the only exercise that works my Core and my brain while building muscle and burning fat. It does not look like it when you watch what is happening in class, but at the end of class, I feel like I just meditated for an hour. We start with a cardio warm up, I am not the fastest jogger, but I catch up when we do the grape vine. Then come the somersaults and cartwheels; what girl doesn’t love the memories that come with these moves? Next, we learn two or three moves. Gilmar, Chris, Joanna, and/or Rob break down the moves into steps. You use science, leverage and momentum of each others’ bodies to move around. So I am moving a 150 – 200+ lb. person. This is where muscles are built, but it is so much fun to swing your opponent around using leverage, you don’t notice how much weight bearing exercise is happening. End that with a fitness burn out and take a break. Then try your skills out in 4-minute rolling sessions. Rolling is what looks like wrestling to you. It is practice—try your skills out on each other. Try not to get trapped in guard. Get trapped and try to shrimp out. Just keep moving for 4 minutes. The calorie burn is amazing. When I train consistently, 1.5 to two pounds a week fall off. And I am building muscle at the same time, so my body looks tighter faster.