BJJ - Aerobic or Anaerobic, or both!? Hold on....
There was a blog published the other week which tried to answer this very question – it made some good arguments as to which part of the energy system BJJ leans towards, but I feel the answer simply isn’t that simple.
Firstly the energy system is predominantly broken down into 3 ‘sections’
ATP-PCr ( roughly 10s)
Anaerobic ( up to 30/40s)
Aerobic ( after 30/40s)
This is has been spoken about in depth in earlier blogs – but for the sake of simplicity and to ensure most understand where I am going I will stick with these three more commonly known terms.
All of which have a ‘shelf life’ as noted in seconds in brackets, the graph (which was taken from practicaltriathlon.wordpress.com) shows that all systems work with each other at one point or another - Now the reason I say the answer isn’t that simple is this – it really does depend on how you play your own game… are you an aggressive player who likes to explode continually until you submit your opponent, or do you play a slow methodical approach that guides your opponent into a mistake for you to pounce on?
It is fair to say that a good base of aerobic fitness is essential for all sports – however the same can be said for most can it not? While this blog has started with a question and will no doubt end with a question, the point in case is this – there is no singular answer. I would argue that training all 3 would be beneficial, and I doubt anyone else would say different, but where would you focus, well the answer is simple surely? The weakest one…… I find I get a high percentage of my aerobic exercise from rolling with a good percentage of my anaerobic training being catered for – but not enough (for me) and I certainly don’t utilise my ATP-PCr enough and this is my current focus.
Don’t let anyone tell you there is a simple answer – there isn’t. It is very individual! However having an understanding of what your body is doing and what is required at different times, will allow you to focus your training.