Does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Get You In Shape?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is proven to be the most effective martial art. The early days of UFC and Royce Gracie showed it to the world. But the truth is that most people, especially after the pandemic, have been looking for sports that provide physical benefits to improve overall health and lose weight (not only to learn a new ability). In this sense, does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu get you in shape?

As a general rule, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a great way to get you in shape. As a 1-hour training session can burn up to 1100 calories, BJJ is a great activity for weight loss, in addition to being an excellent martial art. Combine Jiu-Jitsu with a good meal plan is proven to be great for fat loss.

BJJ is a powerful way to improve overall health and lose weight, as is a high-fat burning and complex physical activity. In most cases, the single fact of start training Jiu-Jitsu 2-3 times a week makes people lose about 2kg per month. But using the right techniques and combining train with good nutrition, the results can be even better. To learn all about it, check the following free guide.

Getting In Shape With BJJ In 5 Easy Steps

Does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Get You In Shape? — Photo: Globo Esporte. Helder Mourao Lost 34kg Doing BJJ.

1) Jiu-Jitsu 3x A Week

Training BJJ three times a week is enough to burn about 3500 calories a week. It means that if you keep the same diet and lifestyle, Jiu-Jitsu alone can help you to lose about 1,1 pounds (500g) per week. The “magic” is described here. Studies show that to lose 1kg of fat, an average individual needs to burn about 7700 calories. So let’s imagine a person that wants to lose 1,1 pounds (500g) per week, about 4,4 lb (2kg) in one month. To achieve that, there are at least two ways:

Reducing your daily food consumption in 500 calories (3500 calories a week); or
Burning 3500 calories a week through exercise (maintaining the same food intake).

The best way to achieve healthy weight loss is by combining diet and training. But as the subject of the post is showing how BJJ can help you to get in shape, let’s focus on how much Jiu-Jitsu you need to train to lose 1,1 lbs (500g) per week. Each school has its own Jiu-Jitsu teaching methodologies, but in general, it can be said that a training session of approximately 1 hour can burn more than 1100 calories, depending on the age and weight of the person training. The science of this awesome calorie burn is the following:

Exercise	Calories Burned (for each kg of body weight per hour)
BJJ Stretching	1.81 calories
BJJ Warm-Up	2.43 calories
BJJ Techniques and Drills	3.25 calories
BJJ Sparring (Roll)	4.87 calories

Reference Numbers: https://elemento.ag/blog/calorias-gasta-treino-de-jiu-jitsu/

An average 1-hour BJJ session is divided like this:

5 minutes warm-up;
5 minutes stretching or drilling;
25 minutes of technique;
25 minutes of sparring;

Considering the division described above, an 80kg-individual would burn exactly 1137.32 calories in only 1 hour of exercise. That’s a lot! With three sessions a week you would be burning 3411.96 calories, enough to lose 500g a week (if you keep the same diet and lifestyle, increasing your calorie intake will impact the results).

2) Improve Your Nutrition

As shown in the past section, BJJ training alone will have a gigantic impact on the weight loss process of any person. However, to maximize the results and really get in great shape doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, your meal plan needs to be well organized. There are several types of diets and ways to control your food, but as the goal of this article is to give you easy tips on changes that you can start today, we’ll keep things simple. In that sense, the best way to achieve great results and still have a satisfying routine is using the 80/20 rule in your diet.

Eat Clean Most Of The Time (The 80/20 Rule)

It’s no secret that the first thing to change to improve the quality of your diet is avoiding certain things on your meal plan: refined sugar, soda, fast food, etc. Eating those types of food daily is not a good idea, as they have thousands of calories for small portions of food, and this is the worst possible combination. This means you will feel hungrier and eat more than you should (and need) if you were eating properly. However, never eating a good old burger or an ice cream is a bad idea as well. The key to getting in shape is trying to eat clean most of the time, not all the time. The 80/20 rule can be applied to different areas of our lives and when it comes to nutrition it’s no different.

In most meals, eat good carbs, lean proteins, and vegetables. That’s everything that you need in a good plate of food. But after a hard day of work or in a day that you trained harder than usual, eating a burger or drinking some beers will not destroy your results. Just do some math and try to keep these “junk” meals to a maximum of 20% of your weekly calories and you’ll be good to go.

3) Drink More Water (35ml Per Kg)

We all know – or should know – that drinking water is fundamental to our lives. Talking about the importance of water for our body has already become a cliché, but for those who want to lose weight training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, this is an essential point. In a BJJ training session, it’s normal, at least for me, to lose between 1.5 and 2 kg immediately after the class, especially when it’s a GI training. But don’t get excited: this loss is almost exclusively water, minerals, and impurities, that are eliminated in sweat.

Except for impurities, it’s very important to drink a lot of water to replace this lost liquid (and to eat well to replace the minerals, but I don’t want to skip the next tips). To reach this goal, there’s another math that you can use to control your daily water intake. For an average healthy individual who exercises, a good metric for the daily amount of water to drink is 35ml per kg of body. That’s way more than most people consume, and following this tip can generate several benefits, such as:

Improved kidney function.
Increased satiety (less hunger, as I’m always hungry I love this one lol).
Improved skin health.
Less retention of fluids (fewer pounds on the scale and a better looking body in the mirror).

4) Weight Training + BJJ (A Strong Combination)

BJJ is a complete activity that combines cardio and strength training, using the whole body in a training session. It’s great to improve overall fitness and also flexibility, in addition to being a powerful ally in weight loss. However, combining BJJ with Weight Training seems to be the best combination to achieving great performance in BJJ while cutting some pounds and gaining more muscles. Weight training helps in the fat loss process as it helps to build more muscle mass (more muscles speed up metabolism, more fat burning). But this is not the only benefit of weight training for BJJ.

Benefits of Weight Training for BJJ

Reduces The Risk Of Injuries (Strengthens Muscles And Joints).
More Strength To BJJ Training.
Improve Weight Loss (More Calories Rurn, Speeds Up The Metabolism).
Multi-Muscle Training (Important to Improve Overall Conditioning)

5) Appropriate Rest Time

Training is one of the pillars to get in shape doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Improving nutrition, drinking more water, and combining BJJ with weight training… All of these are very important but will be in vain if you don’t give your body time to recover (especially if you’re a beginner). Increasing your weekly exercise load without resting for at least 1 full day a week and sleeping at least 6 hours a night will hinder your results and also your training performance.

Rest is important for muscle growth. Exercise creates micro-injuries in the muscle fiber, and rest helps in the repair, growth, and consequent strengthening process. Thus, the microinjury associated with the rest phase allows the necessary repair for hypertrophy and hyperplasia. When you don’t get the necessary rest period and your body is overloaded, you are more likely to make wrong movements and get injured. Overtraining can also increase the risk of overuse injuries, which can disrupt your training routine. So stick to the basics: train, drink water, eat well, and rest appropriately.