[heelhookofglory]

I've been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the last 6 months and I'm really enjoying it. It seems that it's good for all-round fitness, core, grip strength and mental discipline. BJJ is one of those activities, similar to climbing, where you really need to be doing it 3 or 4 times a week to see good progress IMO. Personally, I find that doing any less leads to me forgetting what I'm learning and I just don't seem to perform as well when rolling (sparring).

The downside is that it's meaning that I don't have much energy left for bouldering and my climbing is lacking a bit since starting BJJ, well a lot actually. BJJ training is hard and it leaves me pretty drained. For example training BJJ 3 times a week and then bouldering 3 times a week is too much for me and I end up too tired to concentrate on work etc., so I'm currently not climbing much at all and I'm lucky if I get more than 1 session in.

I know it comes down to what my personal goals are really and if my martial arts goals are more important than climbing but I'd still be interested in seeing how others mix it up. I'm reading quite a bit about the benefits of being more of a generalist, in terms of training, rather that being too specific. I'm never going to be world-class in any sports that I do as that's just not important to me. What is important is personal development in all areas, experiencing life and enjoying what I do so maybe I'm doing the right thing by mixing it up and switching it about each week.

Anyone else successfully mix other sports/activities with climbing? How do you balance it out and see steady progress in all areas?

[Muenchener]

I think you've pretty much answered your own question. I faced it years ago when I reached 3rd kyu brown belt at karate and realised that to get any further I was going to have to give up climbing. I chose climbing.

It's not about being world class, it's about what level of achievement/ambition will satisfy you in your  chosen activities.

[heelhookofglory]

It's not about being world class, it's about what level of achievement/ambition will satisfy you in your  chosen activities.

Exactly and that's what's pulling me back towards climbing as it provides more satisfaction for me... as much as I enjoy BJJ and find climbing frustrating!

[Oldmanmatt]

I always drifted from one art to another (with bouts of obsessive surfing or diving thrown in), climbing being the stalwart or default ground state of me.



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[Nibile]

Nope, climbing cannibalised everything.

[webbo]

i try to mix climbing with cycling but as climbing is the main thing. I avoid big rides if I'm going to climb the next day and thats just riding. I did try to keep racing when I started climbing again and I couldn't focus on both so stopped.
Maybe when I retire.

[Fultonius]

I got to a moderately high level in both dinghy sailing and downhill mountain biking in my teens/20s and soon realised that maintaining that level or improving would take more time and effort than I felt like giving them, so I gave up (in fact I got into the MTB after giving up sailing).

I found climbing at uni and found that,  unlike the other two,  it never felt like training - so I could get better just by doing.  I also have never competed in climbing.

These days I still ride my bike and do the odd enduro race for fun,  but it's always second fiddle to climbing.

Bottom line is,  being very good at any sport does seem to preclude being good in others. However,  some sports being merely OK is still fun (MTB &  skiing for me) but in others not being good might be no fun (eg your BJJ??).

Only you know.

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[Gus]

I think it depends on the level that you aspire to, and what your potential is in your chosen martial art (are you looking to compete etc??)

I've got back into heavy bag/ focus pads sessions lately but it took me quite a few sessions (five or more over a month) before I could smash out a sesh and be able to climb at any kind of decent level a fair few days afterwards (sore/ tired wrists, shoulders, low grip strength etc) The first few times I couldn't really climb properly for about a week afterwards. I'm currently doing one session a week, with a days rest afterwards, which leaved enough time in the week for climbing sessions (although for pure climbing I would be better using that day for climbing specific stuff, I'm sure in summer time I'll naturally want to use that time to be climbing outdoors!)

I remember years ago when I was training, competing and instructing (kickboxing and other elements) there was the mentality that if you weren't training 3 or more times a week,plus other complementary training you weren't doing it right/ properly, which fits into what you said above!

I think the key thing that you've already said is that you get lots of enjoyment out of it, which is a great reason to keep at it, no matter how often/ at what level. I had a hip op 11 months ago (too much kicking hard things, splits between chairs etc!) before which I thought I'd never be able to kick/ move properly again, so I'm enjoying it so much at the moment as it feels like it's a gift that's been given back to me!

Enjoy and hopefully you find a balance.

[SA Chris]

Fortunately I live in NE Scotland so even if I do surf every swell that comes my way I still have plenty of time for indoor climbing!

At a time when I was pretty much continuously getting injured I also made a life decision (partly influenced by?) and decided to sack it off and do a ski season in the US. Concentrating on skiing and snowboarding for that time got me to a level I would never have achieved being the once a year punter I was, and even though I have dropped off in ability now I've still got that higher base level which I always start from. Maybe concentrate on one or the other until; you get to a base level you want to achieve in one or the other, then try mixing it up?

[Muenchener]

I remember years ago when I was training, competing and instructing (kickboxing and other elements) there was the mentality that if you weren't training 3 or more times a week,plus other complementary training you weren't doing it right/ properly, which fits into what you said above!

I certainly felt that to make the jump from brown to black belt I was going to have to be training five days a week to the exclusion of pretty much all else. I didn't really see that at the time as an expectation that was imposed on me from ouside, rather it was what I felt was going to be necessary to meet the required standard.

[heelhookofglory]

I think it depends on the level that you aspire to, and what your potential is in your chosen martial art (are you looking to compete etc??)

I was thinking of competing next year both in the gi (local comps) and no-gi (ADCC British Open) but that's only because there's quite a strong competition focus at our gym and I thought 'why not, something to aim for'. There's no real pressure to be there every night but it's a technical art and consistency really is key.

In the interest of full disclosure I got a bit disillusioned with climbing and took most of a year out from it. Mostly down to me trying very hard and not getting much closer to my goals, or at least that's how I felt it was. That's how I fell into doing BJJ. I used to train traditional MAs as a kid and remembered liking it so thought what the heck. I ended up really enjoying it but lately I've started getting the climbing itch again and I think it could be down to me not putting the pressure on myself to perform and just enjoying it for what it is. I went down to the wall this afternoon and really enjoyed it but I'm still looking forward to BJJ tomorrow evening.

My main issue is that I want to be the best version of me at everything I try which can leave me blanking out other areas of my life until I feel I've reached that target – which incidentally never happens because the target always moves further away the more I try to reach it. I guess I need to learn to be more balanced, which is no bad thing.

[slackline]

I guess I need to learn to be more balanced

I've heard slacklining can help improve balance.

Hope you work out what you want to do and achieve the desired balance.

[Lund]

Is it appropriate to drop in this classic yet?

[Nibile]

Always brilliant! En-ga-land En-ga-land En-ga-land!!!

[heelhookofglory]

Is it appropriate to drop in this classic yet?

Haha always a good one.

[Rocksteady]

Depends what level you're happy with. I quit MMA/groundfighting when I realised I couldn't get any better without significant extra investment of time, which didn't exactly sit well with the rest of my lifestyle. I discovered climbing after that - I find I enjoy climbing badly more than I enjoyed doing martial arts badly (less painful beatings, easier on the ego!)

I can't imagine successfully combining training BJJ and climbing - too much toll on the body, lot of the same muscle groups used. 

If you work this out let us know! I have never found it easy to do two physical hobbies at the same time - find it hard enough to do the supplementary training that helps climbing.

[heelhookofglory]

You're right. Mixing both so far has broken me. Especially this week training some no-gi. We'll see how it goes.

[slackline]

Maybe just go the whole hog and combine the two by going footless.

[heelhookofglory]

I've been watching quite a bit of Ido Portal's stuff lately. I know he's in the limelight at the moment with being a part of Conor McGregor's training but some of what he says makes good sense about mixing different activities / sports.

[rich d]

I'm off to my first karate session in some 20 and a bit years tonight.
Used to fight to national standard as well as having some belts to my name, suspect tonight is going to be really hard and either inspiring or depressing...wonder what it will do to my elbow?
 

[heelhookofglory]

How'd it go?

[rich d]

done 3 weeks now, and feel like I'm starting to get back into it, 6 months and I might be ok again. The stretching has felt brutal each time, but definitely something I needed. I tried climbing the day after week 2 and was fine for about 30 mins then just completely ran out of steam.
So far I didn't think it had negatively affected my climbing apart from having a rest day, but today at the depot I completely fried my elbow whilst warming up - the golfers has started to come back over the last few weeks, but this was starting before the return to karate (lifestyle/age/climbing/being too lazy to do the physio stuff etc) and my feet slipped resulting in me twisting and weighting it a bit funnily - so I don't really think that was the karate training - although you can never tell.
More importantly I really enjoyed getting back into karate and feel psyched for it and really enjoying it.

[heelhookofglory]

Glad you are enjoying it. I noticed that the stretching element of training in MAs helps me lots. I have tight legs from lots of cycling and my shoulders are normally pretty tight from bouldering. Still not convinced on the longevity of mixing the two sports and making solid improvements in both but as long as it's fun and you are enjoying it then it's all good.

I sprained my thumb last week in sparring and only managed to climb this last Sunday, so that's one downside, but getting injured can happen doing anything I guess!