Weightlifting and martial arts training is the way to turn yourself into a beast of a human being. You will get stronger along the way and get the necessary cardio in place to get completely shredded and feel amazing about yourself. The hardest part about this is balancing your time in a way that still supports other aspects of your life. Making sacrifices is part of the process. In this article, we discuss how to balance BJJ and lifting!

How to Balance BJJ and Lifting

Balancing your martial arts training and still finding time to make it to the gym is a balancing act that is not easy to accomplish for most people. I speak from experience on this topic.

When coming to this crossroad you have to look at your schedule and identify the holes that are in it to fit some weight training in. Working out on a daily basis is not going to hurt you in the long term. As long as you are not maxing out on every lift, you will be okay. Mix this in with the cardio you get at your martial arts gym and you will end up shredded in no time!

Time Management

Many aspects of life are about sacrifice and time management. You and everyone else on the planet really only get 12 – 14 hours a day to do productive things since one-third of our day is spent eating and sleeping.

Dissect the amount of time you spend on things that don’t move you towards a goal that you have in mind.

It is important to note what type of person you are in this situation. Are you a morning person that could benefit from waking up thirty minutes earlier to start your day off?

Possibly you’re a night owl that enjoys working late at night, maybe you could just be more efficient with your time. Whatever it is time management and building a schedule are the utmost of importance in the balancing act of weight lifting and still getting martial arts training in.

Setting Up Your Schedule & Analyze Goals

How often do you want to train in your respective martial art? Once you answer this question you can get a good idea of how you want to structure your week.

Lifting weights three days a week is a goal of ours. We train Brazilian jiu-jitsu a little more often than most at about 6 times a week. Some days we get two training sessions in a day and we manage to still work in one rest day for getting ahead on other aspects of our lives that are important to us.

Analyze what is important to you, identify your goals, and set up a schedule that is in favor of these two things. Balancing your time is a forever thing but once you get this down you will be able to build real momentum in your life that can bring you to new heights!

Balancing lifting and BJJ training is a juggling act that many practitioners struggle with, ourselves included. The important thing that we have learned is to not be too hard on ourselves. Managing your time is hard and when getting the training in is important to you, you will find a way to make this all happen!