Episode 323: What time of day do you train Jiu-Jitsu? There are 3 major class times that BJJ folks fall into, each has it's benefits and potential downsides. Early Morning Movers, the Lunch time Killers and the Night time ninjas. For you it may be a simple decision of where the heck can I just fit in my training?
But if you haven't tried training at other times in the day you might be missing out. Whatever your work schedule might be JT & Joey explain why training at a different time in the day can benefit your BJJ learning and memory retention. Since changing from night to morning classes JT has improved his recovery dramatically. Joey trains lunches and nights and it works for him but what no one tells you are the potential draw backs to each different time slot- could the time of day you train be holding back your progress in Jiu-Jitsu. This episode offers some different perspectives that can help you think about your training differently.
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Episode 323: What time of day do you train Jiu-Jitsu? There are 3 major class times that BJJ folks fall into, each has it's benefits and potential downsides. Early Morning Movers, the Lunch time Killers and the Night time ninjas. For you it may be a simple decision of where the heck can I just fit in my training?
But if you haven't tried training at other times in the day you might be missing out. Whatever your work schedule might be JT & Joey explain why training at a different time in the day can benefit your BJJ learning and memory retention. Since changing from night to morning classes JT has improved his recovery dramatically. Joey trains lunches and nights and it works for him but what no one tells you are the potential draw backs to each different time slot- could the time of day you train be holding back your progress in Jiu-Jitsu. This episode offers some different perspectives that can help you think about your training differently.
Get Stronger & More Flexible for BJJ with the Bulletproof For BJJ App- Start your 7 Day FREE Trial: https://bulletproofforbjj.com/register
Stay Hydrated with Sodii the tastiest electrolytes in the Game! Get 15% OFF: BULLETPROOF15 https://sodii.com.au/bulletproof
Parry Athletic - Best training gear in the game... Get 20% OFF Discount Code: BULLETPROOF20 https://parryathletics.com/collections/new-arrivals
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Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. In the blue corner we have have just the natural worthington in the corner with the guy wearing the hat, jt tenacity.
Speaker 2:Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Just got inspired like that. Yeah, just listening to stuff about um bruce buffer getting a punch on in the elevator just commentators their it's quite interesting. Oh, wow, it's cool that guy can throw hands, can he? Yeah?
Speaker 1:Fuck, he's a weapon.
Speaker 2:I really like Bruce Buffer. He's an icon. Yeah, there's more to him than it would seem.
Speaker 2:I hope no fucking sexual allegations get made against him. No, the only thing that he's a criminal of is fashion, because Because his suits are the worst, yeah, but they're unique, they're gaudy, they're the most gaudy as fuck, but hey, he's a star. Good on him, guys. What time of the day do you train? What tribe are you? Are you the morning crew? Are you a lunchtime person? You know lunchtime warrior? Or are you a nighttime crusader? And we were talking about this because Joe was saying you know, some people just don't have a choice. But I think there is pros and cons to different times of the day and maybe, given the opportunity, training at a different time of the day might give you a different benefit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to go first to our morning crew, because I believe that there is a few different people in the morning crew and typically it's people just trying to get it in before work because they have no other time in the morning crew and typically it's people just trying to get it in before work because I have no other time in the day. Like they're, like my experience has been, it's not a lot of parents, it's not hard roles. People are coming in. It's almost like morning yoga. They're just getting the blood circulating. You know there's actually not a lot of learning going on. Like people are like half asleep. There's there's probably only one person in there who's actually really awake and they're not even the instructor. They've either punched a bunch of coffee, they've already had their ice bath, they ran there. They're like fucking, let's go. They're probably a white belt and then the rest of the crew is just using the class to wake up. And it's actually a fucking awesome way to start the day. If you can eat the early start. The post-morning roll is a good vibe. You're starting the day on such a good vibe, yeah, and I mean, whether you're training jiu-jitsu or doing gym stuff in the morning, you get that benefit. Through the whole day Just flows on All those endorphins and that sort of pride point where you're like, fuck, yeah, I trained today, I got it done, I did that little struggle. Yeah, everything's better your relationships, your productivity, it all goes higher.
Speaker 2:There's so many memes about morning people mocking non-morning people like it's got. It's got like a bunch of. I think it's like taken from a comedy vampire series and they're all like wearing cravats and wigs and kind of 15th century french shit and and there's like four of them. They're all like looking real snobby and they're like how 6am crew looks at everybody else who doesn't train in the morning. But the truth is like I am that kind of get up early kind of guy. I had found that most people I rolled with in the morning were maybe slightly older and they had jobs. A lot of parents, a lot of parents and they just there's no 20 year olds don't need to train in the morning.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, if they can, they can. But it was interesting because one of the three sessions they do that day exactly just got to get it in first one checked off. The only downside, or the major downside I found from training in the morning was I didn't learn that much. Right, it was good for getting the gears turning over, but even though the instructor's there they teach the lesson and I've taught that many morning classes I found my morning crew, the retention was not great. I would show a technique on Monday. By the time we got to Friday people were still like you know, even though there was progressions and different things around it, people were not keeping any of it. Yeah, right, they got their jujitsu in, but maybe the learning wasn't. Yeah, I would say that the, the, the general energy of a morning session is a more kind of more sporting.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, if you say, let's get together and like play a couple rounds.
Speaker 2:You know it's like it's that kind of thing, whereas you know you contrast to an evening thing where it is, it can be often more competitive, very intense. Yeah, um, I got it, you know. Exception, and I've mentioned them before the guys at baume that I that I have done a few morning sessions with. They fucking cram a huge amount in. There's tough roles and what time is that like six?
Speaker 2:oh, there you go yeah okay, yeah it, yeah, it's awful, horrific. Please describe the horrors. And it's also like they're also very cerebral about it, like, okay, today we're working on this and who's been workshopping that and what problems have we had? Okay, let's look at this little detail in it. So do you think that's a gym culture thing? Then, yeah, I think they are a bit of an exception, because my exposure to mornings otherwise has been a little bit more, you know, aforementioned, yeah, more good vibes. Yeah, yeah, and also there's a social component, because sometimes people who work in the morning maybe they own their own business, so their start times make they don't have to rush out, so maybe, like, who wants to get a coffee after? You know there could be, there could be a social component to it if you're the kind of person who has the liberty to do that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Here's another interesting observation of people that train in the morning. Because you know you could, um, I'm sure there's people out there like, fuck you, we train, I train super hard in the morning and you know, of course people do, um, I'm sure you do, but the it's called being condescending, but heard of it, but they but. But there's an argument that people train, like in the evening. Classes are longer, there's more people there, it's usually harder sessions. However, you have control of the morning. If you can train in the morning, your chances of being consistent over a long period of time are probably the highest they can be, definitely, whereas the evenings we have less control over because shit comes up during the day. You've got to stay back at work. Of course, kid got sick, meetings yeah, like you just had to do something, couldn't make it in. I was planning to go tonight, but I didn't get there. So, even though we might be, in a very general way, saying yeah, mornings are sometimes a little bit easier.
Speaker 1:You do see morning people like get really good because it's three, like it's every week, week in, week out there's very little inconsistency.
Speaker 2:The thing that makes mornings harder and we've talked about this is the nutrition component. You know, it's like not having food in your tummy. The system's not warmed up, you barely probably drank your water. Physically it can be very demanding depending on how organized you are. You know, I have found, intensity wise, my best intensity, even though I've had some really hard night sessions. My best intensity is generated kind of mid to late morning or lunchtime. Yeah, for me, because you know there's water in the system, food in the system, caffeine in the system, I'm at my best to roll as hard as I can. Yeah, and generally that's only the domain of.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe this is like a fourth slot that people don't talk about, which is kind of the pros. They're training at 10 in the morning because they don't do anything else and that would count as a morning session. But that's not your 6 am crew, it's a little bit different. Yeah, it's like a daytime session, daytime sesh, and they're beautiful if you can get it. That's classically the realm of the open mat. Yeah, the 9, 10 am run it through to lunch. It's a good vibe if you can get it. But if we're talking about weekday hustle lunchtimes Because there's some people out there. Maybe they work close to their gym. That's the only time they can get it.
Speaker 2:Suit goes off, gear goes on, let's bang. It's usually a pretty short class, similar thing to the morning. Right, it's like we don't have a lot of time, let's just fucking get in, get a couple rounds there. You go, get up. Yeah, that can be great too, that can be a really good, that can be a really good um energy, but also it could fuck you up.
Speaker 2:Here's how you're a person, a professional, and you're like, yeah, I just want to get some rounds in, I'm not here to fight to death. And then you've got some mat rat crew who have just been on there since the morning. They're like we're trying to get our second training session in and they're there to bang it out. And you get kicked in the face and you break your nose or you know you get a because it can happen. I, that can be problematic. Right, at the end of the day it's kind of like, all right, I guess we're going to go to emergency or whatever. But middle of the day it's like, oh sorry, boss, can't go finish that job. Whatever it might be, I'm in emergency. I got kicked in the face by a 17-year-old.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like what the fuck? You're not getting fired, but that's an inconvenience, subopt, suboptimal. I believe that the lunchtime class is all about convenience. That's my take on it. Yeah, again, I think that. Yeah, I think that those sessions, yeah, generally, are often the domain of, like, that's my only slot, so that's when I do it. Yeah, and you know, like, if you, um, if you live in the suburbs and you work in the city, yep, and your gym is in the city, then it, it kind of makes sense that, like, lunchtime is probably going to be the only time you could go there. You wouldn't go back home and then drive back to the city, right, not at all, yeah, but what I found actually like absolute mma in the city, their lunchtime class pumped. Like the location was primo for that, because right in the central business district, people get confused when I say cbd. They're like the oil, the gummies.
Speaker 1:I'm like no central business district where all the buildings are downtown for our American listeners downtown, where all the roles I can't believe you hadn't just adopted downtown since of this you know oh because of because. I've seen American podcasters no, unfortunately not.
Speaker 2:I'll work on it. Sorry friends, straight out the jacks. Just a point there, though. Um and I really got to reiterate this I've been guilty of showing up to morning classes and lunchtime classes at random gyms over the years, thinking, oh, this is going to be chill. And then you fucking slap hands with someone and they fucking put it on and you're like whoa, whoa, whoa, it's a lunchtime class.
Speaker 2:What are we doing? You know, I thought we were taking it easy. They're like no cunt, I'm training, this is my time, and you're like, ah, a bit of a misconception, sure you know I think.
Speaker 2:I think that's very important to mention. And you do also get in a lot of those sessions. You get people that have been there. They've been I don't know what it is, but they've established, yeah, they've been there for a long time. They're maybe not trying to, maybe they're at purple bell brown, they're not trying to like do the evening hustle and they're like look, I've settled into this because it's a bit more balanced for my lifestyle, but I will still fuck you up, I will kill you. Yeah, yeah, and respect to that, respect absolutely.
Speaker 2:But, um, what I see as a bit of a drawback on the um lunchtime even though there's so many pros, there's less time to work on your jiu-jitsu, yeah. So, yes, they do a technique, you practice the technique, you roll, but then you straight on to the next thing. I feel the thing that's really missing with the lunchtime class. Now, maybe, if you get a chance to hang out, that's cool. But what I notice is people are like off the mats in the showers bang, bang, bang, get the fuck out. Yeah, there's no, you don't have much free time. There's no afterwards like oh yo, hey, what did you do there?
Speaker 2:And I think that there's a huge value in jujitsu in the kind of post-class breakdown or they're just just a bit of workshopping, post-training chat, troubleshooting. There's insight there, yeah, and that is totally missed, like I. I feel at least from my experience and I've trained at a lot of different gyms that just that 10 minutes after class where someone could be like, hey, man, can you show me this? Or you could be like, hey, what did you do there that can unlock so much of your knowledge or your thinking about jiu-jitsu, whereas if you just wham bam, thank you, ma'am, and you're out, you miss it. And so I think that, even though there may be people out there who are like I'm just trying to get it in respect, you may be missing out to a certain extent yeah yeah, I'd agree.
Speaker 2:But then we, we turn to the brotherhood of the night, uh, sisterhood also. Night training is just generally where everyone, most people, can get it right. You'd say night classes are the biggest generally generally speaking. Yeah, generally the biggest. Yeah, busy, generally speaking, yeah, generally the biggest. Yeah, busy, often longer yes, like your night class might be the 90-minute thing, whereas maybe in the mornings and lunchtime is an hour and people can often hang around for a little bit. They can Do that thing. Some people do the double class Oof, you know, like that's really.
Speaker 1:I used to do that a lot like stick around for two and a half hours.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it lends itself to a different energy. Definitely, like you were saying, joe, the thing which can fuck up the consistency which is what we need is your day blowing out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like you get a flat tire or your kid punches another kid at preschool and you're like, oh, I'm going to have to go in here and defend him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Good on you son, that was him.
Speaker 2:yeah, good on your son, that was a great straight right. I love that. No, you can't say that in front of the kindy kids, um, but you know it's true and I knew this of my clients, my evening clients, like relevant to being a personal trainer there was nearly always one session cancelled in the week yeah, because of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, work, drinks or some shit, well, even just okay, no, I had to go do something. Yeah, and it just means I just can't be there. And you're like, oh god, that's, it's a punish, because if you're only training twice or three times a week, that's a huge, huge miss. Yeah, even though there's so much going on when you get there, everyone's there, the techniques there, the rolling, you know the whole energy of the night training. I believe it's easier for people to skip a night class. That's that's my take on it. Yeah, for sure, for sure, way more stuff gets in the way. There's I. When I used to train evenings a lot, I would never go into the week with a pre-thought out schedule. Right, it wasn't like, yep, I'm doing monday, wednesday, thursday, or it was just I trained today, I'll probably be back tomorrow, come. Tomorrow, probably come the next day.
Speaker 2:But it gets very easy when you're in that loop to maybe you miss Monday and then you have a big day at work on Monday, tuesday, and then you're like, ah, it's Wednesday now. You're like, ah, got a big weekend coming up and then all of a sudden you just didn't really train that week. So I find like, like you know, takeaway there is, try to have a schedule if you can. That kind of anchors you. But the morning and the lunchtime people, they have their schedule, yeah, because it's usually tied to their work, yeah, or to their routine, and it's like no, I go on this day at this time and that's when I get it in. Structure is important, yeah.
Speaker 2:And look, part of the reason why I kind of cut back on the night training was I just found it, it fucked my sleep. I couldn't I mean, I'm an obsessive person as well like if I maybe didn't get the better of a particular role and something happened, it would just, I would just ruminate. I found, even if I would stretch after class, I would just to have just flushed with all the stress hormones and just jujitsu was in my brain. So even I come home, have my shower, do whatever before I go to sleep I'd still be thinking about jujitsu and I just didn't rest. Well my body, I would get out the shower I'd still be sweating like I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm a I, I kind of I'm a hot-blooded human, but I just the change for me that I found worked exceptionally well. And now I understand that this is not available to everyone because of life. Doing a morning or doing a lunch and then maybe doing some weights later in the day, not necessarily nighttime, but like Arvo-ish four, five o'clock, like after work is done, meant once I was home I was eating dinner, rest, digest. I actually think there's a huge value in after about 6, 7 pm, just not doing stressful things, and I understand that for most people it's very hard to do that. But what I wanted to put out there just off the back of this episode is if you haven't done a morning class, because it seems like it's too much messing about to go early, maybe if you just try it one time you might be like oh, hang on that that was great.
Speaker 2:I got a lot from that actually, yeah, like a net, like the getting up early sucked, but there was all these other positives that came from it, yeah, and then maybe that means it doesn't mean you change your whole life, even though you should, no, um, but you know that one change. You think, oh, maybe one day a week I might do a morning class. Maybe a Friday I can start a bit later, I can start at nine instead of eight or something, so that way I can get a morning class in. And then you're like, oh well, that actually just changed my whole day and my whole experience. Because me personally, even though I have found night classes to be awesome in terms of you get the most training partners, it's usually the hardest training. The technical information is the most, in my opinion, the best.
Speaker 2:Man night training. I would just be really… you pay a price, yeah. There's a cost there, oh yeah. And so I mean, how about you, Joe, Because you've done a variety of session times through the day. What is your preferred time now, do you think?
Speaker 1:Pros and cons, all balanced.
Speaker 2:I'm back, I'm coaching Advantage Monday night and I'm rolling Yep, and so I'm back in the night thing on Mondays and it's fun, like it's great, getting to connect with all the team again. I haven't seen everyone for ages. People are coming for me, which is, you know, it's part of the game. You see the wins. He's like yeah, just thinking back to when Eric Eric tapped me with a full Nelson, full Nelson from the back, oh, this is big baseball bat Club arms came in and then my all of a sudden, my shoulders were just being separated from my neck like from my torso.
Speaker 2:It was great, but but yeah, such a brute bro, but I'm talking about big frames, right, yeah, but you know so that that's been really fun and I and and I've missed those guys. But my sleep is shit. I was up till I think 10 past 11 on Monday, cause I 10 o'clock, I'd finished cleaning the kitchen and I'm like normally I'd be in bed 20 minutes before that. Yep, that's late and I'm like there's no chance I'm going to bed right now. So I sat down and watched TV for an hour and that was great. I accepted the late, the late bedtime, but it meant that when I went to sleep I could sleep Right. But that was really suboptimal for me because I'm usually in bed between 9, 30 and 10, which means that I'm up between 5 36 yeah so that one night throughout my whole kind of routine, which is not optimal, of course.
Speaker 2:Look for me. These days I really like the pros and cons, right. Sure, I love the lunchtime session. Lunchtime works great for me and that's what I've been doing at gracie bowman. Yep, it's awesome. I got good energy. I know that I can train hard and then I can have plenty of time to like I can go back to work afterwards and chill out and all that. But it's not good for me when I have a lot of work and I'm trying to be productive, because to go and train at sort of 12.30 means that I'm already kind of like I've got to leave the house, you know just about 12. I've got to leave the house, you know just about 12, I start getting ready like quarter to 12. And then I'm not really back on the tools until 3 o'clock. Yeah, you know when you factor in like okay, 90 minutes of training plus a shower and shit, and then you're having lunch.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's like that's actually a huge chunk of the middle of the day, Massive, yeah. So I do find if I'm on a flow with getting work done, I'll just be like nah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Nah, fair enough. Now I'm in a bit of a sticky spot. I'm not so desperate that I've got to make the mornings work. Sure, If that was getting chronically like if I was not getting the training in, I would love to see it. Joey just comes to work and he's just like a little jittery and I'm like, oh, what's going on?
Speaker 1:You what's going on? Man, you look a little bit flustered.
Speaker 2:He's like I'm on my third coffee and I'm like, oh, it's the, it's only nine o'clock, you haven't been meditating what's going on, right? Yeah, like tables turned, I could see myself doing mornings at a point. Yeah, you know, um, just to fit it. But for now, yeah, lunchtime's great. Yeah, what informs the way I approach this whole thing? Partly I've read it in dr mat Matthew Baker's book why we Sleep. Matthew Walker, matthew Walker, dr Matthew Walker, I apologize. Thanks for listening. Sorry, I fucked up your name. Here's the thing With circadian rhythms, whatever. When you look at people who are more prone to being awake earlier, being alert earlier, and people who are more prone to being alert later, people who are more early risers, early birds, they do their best mental work in the morning. That's when they are at their most efficient. So that really that's me For nine hours.
Speaker 2:like my partner Ola, she does her best cognitive work kind of post 7 pm, right she kind of has this second yeah gear where she goes 7 pm all right on the laptop, do it and she's good till like midnight, yeah, whereas me, once I get past about like 1 pm 2 pm, cognitively I'm terrible. Physically I can do a lot, I can still train, I can do a lot, but I'm not making good decisions after that time. So for me, in terms of how I balance my day, I prefer to get get up fucking ridiculous early, get it out by lunch and then I'm kind of free, yeah, whether I'm lifting weights or I'm doing jiu-jitsu, I can choose how I dictate that and I'm pretty lucky that my work allows me to do that. But yeah, like you might be working a night shift fuck, you might be working two jobs, so you're like I'll just do jiu-jitsu whenever the bloody hell I can fit it yeah, and salute to folks like you.
Speaker 2:I met a gentleman on the um last week. Who was who? Was that kind of a guy you know two kids, two jobs, like just doing it. I was like, how often you're training? He's like man, sometimes it's once a week. I'm like, yeah, all right, cool. He's like sometimes I get three and I'm stoked. But he was was a tough role, like he's a strong, tough human, so he was just trying to get the most out of whatever he could fit in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think the great thing is now that most jiu-jitsu gyms will offer multiple time slots.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's more ways to get it in your life.
Speaker 2:And different gyms will have different cultures around that, won't they like? You know, like I was saying before, like about main morning crew is like really fucking solid, it's tough, yeah. And you go to another gym and morning crew is like it's more, it's a bit more relaxed, it's a bit lighter. Some gyms have that pro session right where you've got a bunch of killers coming in at like 10 o'clock. I remember, you know, gracie, we used to. They had like the, the black belt training which was like 10, 30, you know, a couple days a week. You're like fuck, this is a really like tough mat. So you know, different gyms got different things going on.
Speaker 2:I think you know to your point earlier about, say, maybe the shorter classes, like morning crew, lunch crew. They often miss out on that extra time to just kind of troubleshoot stuff. Yep, you could easily just put that in by going like oh, hey, just put that in by going like, oh, hey, on, uh, on the thursday or the friday session. We're just going to keep that as like a bit of an open mat kind of workshop thing. So come in with any problems you had from the week and let's discuss them there. And you know so, rather than it being like an after each session. It's like on that session we do that. Yeah, the only drawback and I love an open mat, I think open mat is is a beautiful thing people just leave. You know how typically people go okay, see, I've got to go, whatever. That's cool. But because there's no actual structure, people can kind of come when they want and they can kind of go when they want and that is the beauty of the thing.
Speaker 2:But oftentimes the person you wanted to chat to, or whatever they might have just had to jet, and then you're like, oh, we were here, but then, yeah, the moment is is gone, it's true, whereas with the structured class it ends, and if it's a container it stops yeah and then we know that, hey, we've got 10 minutes before coach wants to clean the mats or whatever, and so that's when we can do the little power.
Speaker 2:is that a case, you think, for like having a little bit of a structure with open mats, being like hey, starts here, finishes here, finishes here, you know? So it's like you're kind of letting people know like, don't come and go as you please. Yeah, I think there's something to that, and what I had seen is that they would have a class of sorts. So I'm not super strict, but after a certain point it's open mat and so….
Speaker 1:Right, so they would already do some rolling.
Speaker 2:We're going to do a bit of technique stuff and then open and then it's up to you come and go as you please, but after that time you know that maybe I can hang around or I can't, and I think taking advantage of that little window post-training is a good time to get a bit of extra learning in no matter what time of day you're doing it, I like it.
Speaker 2:Hey, for you guys listening, we want to get this show out to as many folks like you as we can, and so there's one small favor we ask of you like, subscribe and leave us a five-star review. It's going to take you about 30 seconds, but it goes a long way for us. Appreciate it. Thank you, thanks, guys.