Some people are slightly confused when they hear others say that BJJ (short for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) provides a much better workout than the traditional forms of working out do. In order to summarize some of the benefits of The BJJ Workout compared to the traditional workout methods, here are a few reasons as to why more and more people in Portland, OR train BJJ.
The different aspects of The BJJ Workout:
The muscles that you train
Unless you are doing a full body workout or a HITT workout, standard workout regimens only train a select few muscles each day. One day a person is going to train their shoulders, another day their back, the third day their chest, lather-rinse-repeat. Jiu jitsu trains your entire body; most students feel the strength of their arms and legs increase after a few rolling sessions. Unlike the traditional workout, BJJ is also going to work your core. The core muscles not only provide support for every action you perform, but these the core muscles are those hard to reach muscles.
The cardiovascular aspect
When you run on the treadmill you are only shaping your legs, it does not train your core muscles, nor does it train shoulders, arms, chest etc. If you are lifting weights, you are not improving your cardiovascular conditioning. However, when you practice BJJ you are going to strengthen your muscles and work on your endurance at the same time. This means you are going to burn calories, burn fat, and become fitter, faster than you ever thought possible.
The self defense aspect
While it is great that you can bench press an immense amount of weight, or deadlift heavy, ultimately that is going to do nothing for you if you ever face a real assailant that is not shaped like a barbell.
BJJ does prepare you for a real assailant and even helps you take the fight down to the ground as quickly as possible.
Once down on the ground it does not matter how tall your opponent is or how much they weigh, once you get on the ground everyone is equal and technique, which you train in BJJ, is going to make the difference.
When you look at these three benefits of BJJ, it should come as no surprise that people in Portland, Oregon are leaving their regular workouts behind and turning towards Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to get the best workout of their lives.
Read about a BJJ class