Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial arts that has to have a training partner when practicing. The good news is that it’s not impossible to practice alone. Practicing your skills is possible without a partner by your side.
How to Practice BJJ Alone?
A lot of people ask this question because they don’t have the option to train with a partner or there isn’t a gym nearby. Aside this, some people want to put in extra practice when they are at home instead of at the gym.
Issues associated with training alone
Training alone is not ideal for many reasons. One of these is that without the input of a training partner you won’t get reactions. You won’t get the input you need to see whether or not your techniques are getting better.
Another downside of training alone is that you don’t get to live roll. To find out which technique works for you. You really need to implement live situations into your training.
Having said this, there are still ways for you to improve your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques without a partner.
The training area
First of all, let’s take a look at where you will train.
This is quite easy, the bigger the open space the better and anywhere over 40 square feet is perfectly sufficient. So, you could choose a spot in your yard, or a spare room, a part of your lounge room, or perhaps your garage.
Equipment you will need
There are a lot of equipment on the market that are suitable for training without a partner. Some can be quite expensive, but there are also some affordable kits that you can use.
One of the best tools that you can invest that isn’t too expensive is a yoga ball.
Weights is also a good idea. You can choose from medicine balls, dumbbells, kettlebells, and even resistance bands.
If you have cash on hand, then the best accessory to spend it has to be a grappling dummy. There are loads to choose from on the market, some are better for different training types. Check out the video in the link below to see what drills you can successfully carry out with a grappling dummy.
BBJ exercises and techniques that you can practice alone
There are actually different BJJ techniques that can be practiced alone. To do this though, you really need a solid base in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Otherwise, you won’t know if you are doing things the right way, and you could simply be wasting your time.
So, let’s talk about grappling dummies. As we said before, some are better for certain types of training. If you are really serious about practicing BJJ alone, you may end up having multiple dummies to maximize the effectiveness of your home training.
Strength training and stretching
Strength training and stretching are both essential when training in BJJ. For this reason, I have included these videos for you to watch that will help you with your training sessions at home.
Books and videos
Under no circumstances would I promote the idea that you can learn BJJ completely by yourself. It’s just not possible, as Jiu-Jitsu is a martial arts that depends on having a partner.
But you can certainly excel at the game and improve by practicing alone. The training you carry out alone must also be mixed with a training that involves a partner.
There are plenty of ways to get information about BJJ techniques and how-to training. There are some great videos you might like to watch and even books you might like to read.
One of the best books I have come across is “Theory and Technique” by Jiu-Jitsu University and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, follow this link to check it out.
Of course, better than books, are videos that you can watch. BJJ videos are great learning tools as you will be able to watch detailed examples that you can then focus during your own training. The trick is learning which videos to watch.
So, here are a few tips that will help you decide the right videos to watch to enhance your training.
YouTube is fully packed of various videos. Unfortunately, many of them are not legit.
So, how do you find a video that is legit? First, you can look up for your favorite fighter or champ, and then add into the search the techniques or moves you are interested in. Try a top name like Roger Gracie or Andre Galvao.
A lot of the best BJJ guys are sharing their content online nowadays. You can subscribe to their channels on YouTube or buy their DVDs through their websites.
A paid subscription or a DVD purchase is what you need if you want to dive right into learning about specific techniques. If you don’t have money to spend on subscriptions, don’t worry. Although the $25 you might spend a month is worth it if you have it, well it’s certainly not a must.
If you are interested in paid subscriptions, I would suggest:
Keenan Online by Keenan Cornelius
Estima in Action by Braulio Estima
Roger Gracie TV by Roger Gracie
Darcepedia
Back Attacks and the Deep Half Guard by Ryan Hall
More sports
An interesting point is that you can actually improve your BJJ skills by practicing other sports and martial arts, known as supplementary training.
If you are lucky enough to live by the ocean, then surfing is a great sport to practice. It helps you stay in shape and it’s great fun. It’s great for balance, and the way you move on your board is directly related to BJJ, getting up from a sprawl is very much like getting up on to your board!
Taking BJJ back to its roots in Brazil and you will see the connection. Brazilians are avid surfers! However, if you don’t live near the coast, don’t fret. There are other fun and cool sports other than MMA that you can definitely try. Some favorable sports are wrestling, rock climbing, yoga, and gymnastics and for a really interesting one, you can even try chess!
Although chess may not actually be classed as a physical sport, but it’s still a valuable training for your mind and alertness. Chess is all about thinking of the best moves and BJJ has been known, as many would say, like a human chess!
FINAL NOTE
You can practice aspects of BJJ alone even if you don’t have a partner, well it doesn’t mean you can’t improve. There are loads of activities that you can practice alone as well as videos that you can watch to help your training. Try strength training, stretching, and flow rolling, or one of the other sports I mentioned above. You can even learn from reading books on Jiu-Jitsu.
To apply what you learned, you will of course need a partner to train with. In that way, you will know that you have got the certain aspects such as timing and pressure. Once you can train well with a partner, you will also be able to train more effectively alone.
Hopefully, all the stuff I have mentioned is inspiring and will be of use to you. It should help you learn and practice all the techniques and small movements even when training alone.
