Is Jiu-Jitsu the Best Exercise for Your Health?

Raise your hand if you always hated going to the gym and running on a treadmill (or an elliptical

machine, or an exercise bike …) for an hour.

You’re not alone. And it turns out, hating to do that kind of exercise might actually have been

your body’s way of telling you it’s an awful, awful idea.

Prolonged bouts of cardio are actually really stressful on your body. Pheidippides is perhaps its

most famous victim, some 2,500 years ago, when he ran 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens to

deliver news of a military victory against Persia, and then dropped dead of sudden cardiac arrest.

But he’s by no means the last to fall prey to too much cardio. There are plenty of articles about

the cardiac dangers of excessive exercise, and now we’re finding evidence that it’s stressful on

your body in other ways, too, increasing inflammation, cortisol, free radical production, and

more.

Not only that, but it turns out extended cardio is actually less effective than other forms of

exercise at improving your health. Interval training (short, high intensity bursts of activity with

rests in between) is just as effective at improving aerobic capacity, with the added bonus

improving strength, growth hormone production, insulin sensitivity, and more. In the last decade

or two, more and more endurance athletes have started adding intervals into their training

programs. If they’re smart, they make it the bulk of their program.

A recent Scandinavian study tested what they called 10-20-30, where they took a group of

recreational runners and had them change their workout to the following:

1. Run at moderate pace for 30 seconds;

2. Steadily accelerate for 20 seconds;

3. Sprint for 10 seconds;

4. Repeat steps 1–3 four times for five total sets without stopping;

5. Rest at a near standstill for 2 minutes;

6. And then repeat all five steps above as desired.

After 8 weeks, the test group shaved an average of 38 seconds off their 5K time, and most had

improved blood pressure and other markers of health, compared to no changes for the control

group.

Sitting Down as a Measure of Health?

So how does jiu-jitsu fit into all of this?

Well, there are actually four types of fitness that your body needs:

 Cardio

 Strength

 Balance

 Flexibility

Notice that cardio is just one of them. But here’s my completely unscientific estimate of the

division of labor for your typical hour-on-the-elliptical machine gym rat:

Division of Labor for Prolonged Cardio

CardioStrengthFlexibilityBalance

And that’s assuming they’re spending some time stretching at the end of their workout.

How about yoga?

Division of Labor for Yoga

CardioStrengthFlexibilityBalance

Not so much on the cardio, but it hits two of the others pretty evenly. Now you know why yoga

has such a powerful effect on health, even though it has almost no cardio to it.

But let’s think about jiu-jitsu for a minute:

Strength? Check.

Cardio? Of course.

Balance? Were you paying attention when your base got more reliable? How about when your

takedown defense improved? Ever notice how, the more you practice those forward and

backward rolls at the beginning of class, the less dizzy they make you?

And lastly, flexibility: Much as I hate getting passed, there’s no doubt that when I’m getting

stacked, or one knee is getting pushed to my head while the other one is pinned to the ground,

I’m getting some good stretching in during that process. (And if you’re not stretching as a

regular part of your training, you should be! An easy way to incorporate it is to stretch while

your instructor is teaching a technique.)

Altogether, this is what your jiu-jitsu division of labor probably looks like:

Division of Labor for Jiu-Jitsu

CardioStrengthFlexibilityBalance

As well-rounded exercise programs go, it’s not too shabby.

And jiu-jitsu is the ultimate interval training program, too. You learn a technique (rest) and then

drill it (moderate intensity); followed by more rest during the instruction and then more moderate

intensity as you drill it some more.

Then when you roll, it’s all about conserving energy as much as possible, with short bursts of

high intensity as you attempt to advance your position. After the roll is over, you get a short

break, and then you do it again. Not unlike that 10-20-30 program described above.

My analysis isn’t the most scientific, but there’s a lot of truth to it, regardless. It’s entirely

possible that BJJ is not just the best sport for self-defense, but the best for individual fitness and

health as well.