We are quite excited, as the folks with Gaspari Nutrition sent us some sample product for review.    Having never used a preworkout supplement in the two or three years that I have been interested in health and fitness, I was especially excited to try out Gaspari’s newly improved pre-workout formula:  Superpump Max (Watermelon Flavor).  Being somewhat of a scientific mind, I decided I would wait to try the product until shoulder day.  Shoulder day is by far my favorite resistance session in the gym, and knowing this, I would best be able to gauge the impact of the product on my performance.  Before getting into the trial, lets first review the claims on the label.

“They say that strength doesn’t count, but it does. Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference if the opponent didn’t know anything. If the opponent knows something, then strength starts to count.” – Carlson Gracie 

This is becoming ever more prevalent in the competitive world of BJJ. Whilst in a self-defence situation you would most likely have the upper hand of your attacker not knowing how to defend a takedown attempt, armbar, or triangle. When competing, not only does your opponent know how to counter but more and more competitors are enlisting the help of Strength & Conditioning coaches especially at high level. Many academies now offer some sort of S&C training as part of their curriculum, because as the saying goes "when technique is equal - strength counts."

Stabilization Training on the Stability Ball 

BJJ offers unique body movements that strengthen the core musculature such as the external obliques, rectus abdominis, and psoas. However, beneath the surface, there are muscles that stabilize and strengthen the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex ( the real core).

In part 1 of this article I discussed the goals of strength and conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu, and how it was vitally important to match the needs of any sport to its programming. In this article, I’d like to give you some practical applications of these concepts with example exercises that will develop the attributes required for effective skill learning. The exercises detailed here are by no means extensive but they will give you a great, albeit somewhat alternative, way to approach your strength and conditioning.

This is part 1 of a 2 part article by guest contributor Mathew Palfrey, a strength and conditioning coach from the UK. In this first part Mathew lays out some of his ideas about how strenght and conditioning can be approached conceptually and in the second part he will provide some examples to illustrate the concepts.

Ask any gym rat about muscle soreness after a hard workout and you might hear something about lactic acid. It's been a commonly accepted wives tale for years that the build up of lactic acid in muscles causes fatigue and soreness.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is an individual sport. Although there are teams, schools, and associations, at the end of the day your training partners can’t fight for you. At a competition, once you step onto the mat, it’s just you, alone in the spot light.

We've all gassed before. Things are going along fine and all of a sudden, you are completely out of energy and can't do anything but lie on the mat like a dead fish. Jiu-Jitsu requires great cardiovascular conditioning and many jiu-jitsu fighters run or bike as part of their training. This strengthens the heart and improves its ability to pump blood through the body. It also improves the capacity of your lungs, another critical part of the cardiovascular system. As the entire system becomes stronger, your heart beats slower and moves more blood per beat.

Grip strength is incredibly important for BJJ, especially when training with the gi. A traditional gripper may help with finger grip strength but it won’t help with wrist strength or thumb strength which can both make a difference when trying to hold on to a wriggling opponent. These exercises will help you develop finger, thumb, and wrist strength that is functional for BJJ.

Having trouble making it to the gym for an hour a day? Maybe you don’t need to go. A new field of science called Metabolmics as looking at what happens inside your body during cellular metabolism. And they have found that just 10 minutes of exercise can go a long way.