Jiujitsu

Mostly of the Brazilian variety but are there any other grapplers out there? Seems the only thing I have going for me when climbing is my grip and I feel like jiujitsu is mostly to blame.

I took it for a month.  Blew my knee out 

I’ve been doing bjj for just under 2 years. Good workout.

Offwidths!!

Perhaps you should try using your feet?

I more or less gave up jiujitsu when I started climbing 7 or 8 years ago... I slowly transitioned out of it due to injuries. Finger, shoulder, and elbow injuries are very prevalent in both sports. I couldn't give both sports the effort they require due to that. So I picked climbing. 

Anthony McGlynn wrote: Mostly of the BrazilianI variety but are there any other grapplers out there? Seems the only thing I have going for me when climbing is my grip and I feel like jiujitsu is mostly to blame.

I don't think any sport would be bad for climbing (maybe weightlifting?). Grip is a good thing, Old guy grappler here. BJJ for twenty years.

They seem very similar to me physically and like they would have a lot of the same injuries. But it seems like most people pick one or the other. Are any of you able to balance the two together?

Anthony McGlynn wrote: They seem very similar to me physically and like they would have a lot of the same injuries. But it seems like most people pick one or the other. Are any of you able to balance the two together?

Climbing isn't a casual sport. If you want to be serious about it, you don't casually do it. Sure some people are casual, but what they climb is pretty casual as a result. I casually lift, fish, and hike on the side because those can be casual sports.

Anthony McGlynn wrote: They seem very similar to me physically and like they would have a lot of the same injuries. But it seems like most people pick one or the other. Are any of you able to balance the two together?

Anthony,

FrankPS wrote:

I don't think any sport would be bad for climbing (maybe weightlifting?). Grip is a good thing, Old guy grappler here. BJJ for twenty years.

I don't see how lifting would be bad...

BJJ was the first sport I ever pursued after two decades of being a sedentary nerd. I was frequently injured, and I also found that it was hard to make progress without going to class 3x/week. I'm not sure I could balance with my current climbing schedule. I also prefer getting outdoors to being in the gym, and would rather spend my hard earned money on gear and gas than monthly BJJ gym membership. If anyone has a recommendation for a gym in the LA area that does drop-ins and is beginner friendly (more of a chill pace porra), please let me know. I really enjoy it, but have been hesitant to roll since I started climbing.

Sam Cieply wrote: BJJ was the first sport I ever pursued after two decades of being a sedentary nerd. I was frequently injured, and I also found that it was hard to make progress without going to class 3x/week. I'm not sure I could balance with my current climbing schedule. I also prefer getting outdoors to being in the gym, and would rather spend my hard earned money on gear and gas than monthly BJJ gym membership. If anyone has a recommendation for a gym in the LA area that does drop-ins and is beginner friendly (more of a chill pace porra), please let me know. I really enjoy it, but have been hesitant to roll since I started climbing.

Sam,

climberish wrote:

I don't see how lifting would be bad...

C'mon man. You can balance both! life is too short to pigeon hole yourself. Enjoy its many aspects. Climbing is amazing but it ain't everything. 

Sam Cieply wrote: BJJ was the first sport I ever pursued after two decades of being a sedentary nerd. I was frequently injured, and I also found that it was hard to make progress without going to class 3x/week. I'm not sure I could balance with my current climbing schedule. I also prefer getting outdoors to being in the gym, and would rather spend my hard earned money on gear and gas than monthly BJJ gym membership. If anyone has a recommendation for a gym in the LA area that does drop-ins and is beginner friendly (more of a chill pace porra), please let me know. I really enjoy it, but have been hesitant to roll since I started climbing.

I've heard good things about Robot Jiujitsu in Sawtelle.  If you don't mind shifting to judo (my preference), you should try the Sawtelle judo dojo.  I practiced there for almost 8 years.  I've also heard good things about the Venice judo dojo.  PM me if you want more details, happy to help. 

Izzy Nawfal wrote:

I've heard good things about Robot Jiujitsu in Sawtelle.  If you don't mind shifting to judo (my preference), you should try the Sawtelle judo dojo.  I practiced there for almost 8 years.  I've also heard good things about the Venice judo dojo.  PM me if you want more details, happy to help. 

Robot was where I started many years ago. Then I trained with John Machado, and later at Fabricio Werdum’s gym in Venice. Robot had the least impressive pedigree, but was the best gym in many ways. I will check back in with them and see if they now have options other than monthly. Venice and Sawtelle judo sound promising as well. Thanks for the tips!

Stagg54 Taggart wrote: Strength to weight ratio...  It really depends on what you mean by lifting.  Are you trying to gain muscle mass? or simply work antagonistic muscles? or something else? There are a lot of variables.

I understand that, but doubt FrankPS does. High intensity strength training (i.e. weight lifting) is super beneficial for climbing...

FrankPS wrote:

Anthony,

I climb and train in BJJ, as my above post indicates. Not sure what you mean by "balance the two together"? Many people participate in more than one sport.

At a competitive level for jiujitsu whule keeping up with some tough climbs. Mostly I'm interested in how people hold up injury wise while doing both to an expert level. Im a brown belt in bjj looking to go to worlds and the pan ams and tons of pro matches. I eventually would love to do ADCC but I also really want to hit some big climbs. Do some really big rock but in order to do that I gotta hit a lot of small rock and get up to par for it. 

FWIW, I find MMA & Jits to be great for climbing training: and grip strength is actually the least of it. The ability/need to cycle through different kinds of strength in a given period of time makes it a good fit. Mark Twight incorporated some of the training methods in the early days of Gym Jones, and - more recently - Steve Bechtel talks about it a bit on the most recent Training Beta Podcast. 

FWIW, if you're thinking about leaving climbing and trying jiujitsu, it's an easy transition as well.  I only trained for a month before my knee was injured, but the core strength and grip strength carry over.  Between those two things (and that I'm a fast learner,) they thought I had trained somewhere before.