For everyone who trains Jiu Jitsu, whether you are a competitor who trains every day, or a hobbyist who trains 3 times a week, Jiu Jitsu training takes its toll on your body. Therefore, we are always looking for more efficient and effective ways to recover from training.

In this blog, we go through different methods we can use to recover from training. This is especially needed as we come back to proper training after the long lay-off most of us took during the pandemic.

Cold Therapy

There are many ways to practice cold therapy. Throughout the lockdown, I've seen people buy themselves wheelie bins, fill them with ice water, and sit in that bin for a few minutes. Others will go to their local reservoir, lake, or river and sit in the water for a few minutes at a time.

Some of the benefits seen in studies include:

• Reduces inflammation and speeds recovery for muscular injuries.
• Stimulates your immune system, helping you fight illness.
• It has also been noted to help improve your mood.
• Reduces muscle soreness.

Sauna

A favourite of Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who has his own sauna at his house. Saunas are widely available to the general public, as they are found in most gyms.

Some of the benefits of the sauna include:

• Saunas post-workout have been shown to boost the immune system, increasing white blood cells.
• Helps to cleanse your skin; the sauna helps our skin clean itself, enabling it to better protect us.
• Saunas have been shown to help stimulate muscle growth. Heat therapy, or “hyperthermia,” has been shown to increase the production of heat shock proteins, which repair damaged proteins in our bodies and protect us against oxidative damage. The same study also showed an improvement in muscle growth after saunas. In short, sauna therapy may help reduce muscle breakdown and increase muscle building.
• Heat also helps dilate blood vessels and promotes blood flow.

Diet

Diet is often overlooked when thinking about recovery. It’s much easier to order takeout and not make a meal yourself. A lot of us are also short on time or on a budget.

A good diet, though, has many benefits for recovery:

• After hard exercise, your body needs to rehydrate and appropriately refuel to recover.
• A good diet can support your immune function.
• It can also promote muscle repair and growth.

Sleep

Last but not least is sleep. Many people get nowhere near the correct amount of sleep required to recover from training. It is one of the most overlooked aspects of recovery. Sleep allows your body to rest, enabling your tissues and cells to recover. Lack of sleep also makes you susceptible to illness; you are more likely to catch common colds and flu, along with being more vulnerable to injury—something Jiu Jitsu athletes want to avoid.

To try and get the best possible sleep recovery:

• Ideally, you need around 8 hours of sleep to adequately recover.
• Try and create a sleep routine that you stick to. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time.
• Avoid blue light an hour before bed.
• Try and limit caffeine to earlier in the day.