Improving Your BJJ With Yoga

Like a lot of you, I was introduced to Yoga as a youth through Street Fighter II and the character "Dhalsim." As a youth, I viewed Yoga as some mystical thing that included meditation and ultimately could make me breathe fire and slap fools from across the room with my super-stretchy arms that I (somehow) achieved through said mystical practices that involved elephants.

 Eventually, I grew up enough to learn that breathing fire is (probably) fake and can't be achieved; but I'm not a Yoga expert. Flash forward some years and shake in some BJJ and watch Rickson Gracie's "CHOKE" documentary, and then I remembered that Yoga was a cool thing, so I reached out to someone who's proficient with BOTH Yoga and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to drop some knowledge on us. Sam Dei Lune is a life long martial arts practitioner and a certified Yoga instructor, who has used that knowledge to help MMA fighters and other professional athletes improve themselves in their respective fields with Yoga. So take off your gi pants, replace them with SPATS (not Yoga pants, but you can if you're a girl. Guys, no), and let the powerful and wonderful friend of WBS take it away. Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Sarahbi:
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   Yoga not only is an invaluable tool for breath control, but also will improve a jiu jitsu practitioner’s balance, stability, and flexibility.  I will break down some aspects of yoga and their benefits for your use in practicing martial arts:

Breathing: Hot yoga, or yoga practiced at 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity, will increase your awareness of your breath by focusing on breathing through discomfort.  If you’re new to rolling, something like a solid knee mount, or a tough scramble/battle for position can be very draining if you hold your breath throughout, or breathe without a proper rhythm.  Breath control is paramount to advancing/finishing position and escapes, and can assist in controlling of the heart rate as well as mental focus and awareness.  Vinyasa yoga is a moving meditation, much like rolling, and most proficient rollers seem to prefer this type of yoga for their asana practice.  I engage ujjayi breath with my students, six seconds in through the nose, six seconds out through the nose, with a slight constriction in the back of the throat to build heat.

Flexibility: Vinyasa yoga at what would be considered normal room temperatures are probably the most helpful for flexibility.  While you may get a deeper stretch and you may be able to push your body further in heat, this is an artificial depth that you are unlikely to be able to sustain while practicing jiu jitsu.  For the most part, practice your yoga at the same temperature that you will be rolling to be better in tune with how far your body can be pushed.  Poses that spread your hips will help you wrap a higher and tighter guard.  Pigeon pose is a popular hip opener among martial artists and one that I use every day when working with fighters.

Balance:  Balance is essential in avoiding and initiating sweeps and takedowns.  If you only have time for one balancing pose and you are a beginner, I suggest Tree Pose.  This pose will have you balancing on one leg at a time.

Core Strength: Every submission, movement, position, and defense requires core strength.  Every yoga pose engages the core in a manner that can stretch, and strengthen your muscles and joints, which makes it ideal cross training for jiu jitsu.   Specifically, Boat Pose is an intense core strength builder.

Spine Strength: I include a complete series of spine strengthening in every class that I teach because it is important in preventing injury, as it is important to counterbalance some of the movements your body makes in Jiu Jitsu.  Floor bow is a full counter pose to the bending and pressure you will put on your spine during your martial arts practice.

Even though I have included some poses here, it is important to note that I suggest a full yoga sequence, with a warm-up, cool-down, and a full range of motion in between.  Make sure that you are entering and exiting each pose properly, and that you keep balance in your movements, doing a back bend each time you bend forward, doing poses on both sides, and twisting both directions.  Always consult your professional healthcare provider before beginning, or making changes to any fitness regimen/ exercise program.

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Incredible, right? Sam is awesome. Over the course of WBS becoming 'a thing,' she and I have got to be pals. She's always insightful and has a lot of great things to say about everything from MMA to just life in general. She's a great example of what can be the result of incorporating multiple disciplines into your life. 

Get more familiar with Sam Sarahbi at her website: http://www.samsarahbi.com/

Her Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamSarahbi

and if you really want to be the coolest of the cool, and want to get more into what she can offer with her Yoga, you can pick up her book The Sequence at Barnes and Noble, or on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Sequence-Vinyasa-Yoga-Script-Cues/dp/0692294880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411882584&sr=8-1&keywords=SAM+DEI+LUNE

in closing, here's Rickson doing Yoga (skip to 3min to get real)

  

Gi'ed Up From the Feet Up

So now that you've got a gi, how do you take care of it? That might have been something you've already considered, but maybe not. I'm sure by now you've see some ripping, tearing, stitching, and patchwork on the gis of your training partners, and you've just spend some good quality dough on your gi, so you probably want to avoid that sort of thing for as long as possible. In this post we're going to take a look at gi maintenance and how to care for your new suit of armor so that you don't end up with a rip a lot sooner than you should...errr, or will.

Photo Cred: Shin Zen Bi/Flicker

 Eventually, your gi will rip, tear, and/or fall apart. General wear and tear is just a fact of life. But you can take some steps to prolong the life of your gi by just being more aware of what you're putting it through. One of the first things to consider is: What is my gi made of? The majority of the gis out there are going to be 100% cotton, which means they're going to shrink. Even some pre-shrunk gis will shrink (on average) 3-4%. Keep that in mind; because if you're working in something 'a little snug' with someone else pulling on it, chances are you'll rip a seam, or bust through a knee altogether if that's the case. Sewing that is an option, but the material is already compromised and the stitch will most likely tear again. Sewing a tear and covering it with a patch is a good option in that case. Personally, I've never heard any arguments against it--other than the happenstance that the placement isn't conducive to BJJ. Some gi manufacturers even try to anticipate that by placing their company's name/logo patches in areas that are going to get the most wear and tear like collars, knees, shoulders, and sometimes the odd case of the back seam.

Photo Creds: Kelly Labor, SCMA

So check me out in the GroundGame Titan Energy gi, (also available in BLACK, if that's more your style) from this week's sponsor, GroundGame Fightwear. You can see GroundGame's patchwork displayed on the gi top where I'm most likely to get some gorilla pulling on me and potentially causing enough stress that it might cause a rip and ruin my day.





You can also see the pants are a little special as well with built-in canvas covers over top of cotton pants. The extra layer does exactly what you think it would: more protection. Also, the canvas is tougher than cotton--if you didn't already know that--so you shouldn't get those pesky knee-rips as we illustrated in the first picture; but that's not without some compromise to flexibility. Like all things in BJJ, you give something for another, and in this case you're giving up some flexibility for durability. But don't be so quick to count that out.  I like the option to add some more armor on some days. Sure, giving up my flexibility for a class can be a bummer, but not as much as going to the advanced class and having someone rip your pants all because you wanted to push yourself a little, ya dig? (Good. I knew that ya could.)




So now that we're all done laughing at my hair in those pictures (I swear it doesn't always look like that), let's rap a little about washing your gi. You're going to hear a lot of sides to this story as to what it the best method. Personally, my wife washes mine in our normal washing machine on COLD water. Weather permitting, I'll hang dry outside because I like to try to be traditional, but I live in Pittsburgh, PA and sometimes it's colder than hell and snows, so in those instances, I (she) does put then in the clothes dryer and I've never had any problems. I've heard of guys who refuse to subject their gi to the physical beatings that a washer/dryer session can put on a gi by hand-washing it. (A training partner told me that Garry Tonon told him that he puts his in his bathtub with some soap and stomps on them like he was making wine.)  Look, on that front, do what works best for you, but PLEASE just be sure you're getting it clean. Just whatever you do: DO NOT USE BLEACH. Bleach will weaken the fabric so bad that it will rip 1,000,000x's faster than it would have in normal circumstances. I didn't even consider that when I came home with blood splatters on my gis. I'd spot-treat the areas and think it was fine--it wasn't. The areas were all weak and ripped too easy.
PRO TIP: If you're going to throw them into the washing machine, knot-up your pants string so that it doesn't get all wibbly-wobbly and pulled out while it's in there.

Hang Drying for Jesus to bless my gis w/ luck

But what if you WANT to shrink a gi, well, okay. That's going to take some guesswork, but it can be done. If you're one of those BJJers who's in between sizes, buying a size up and shrinking down is a good option. To do that, more or less, do the opposite of what I just mentioned about washing/drying. To shrink a gi: Wash that sucker in a washing machine on HOT water, then dry it HIGH heat. But tread softly, young white belt. Overdoing it is easy. You don't want to have super-short sleeves on your new gi, and not be allowed to even use it in competition. Because there are IBJJF Rules about that sort of thing, but that's a topic for another day.

Finally, transporting your gi. Seems dumb, but it's a real thing. If you're lucky, the gi manufacturer will provide a gi bag with your gi. Check out the nice one GroundGame gave me. Some guys will wear their gi to class, some even carry it like a school boy carrying books using their belt like a bookstrap. It's my personal opinion to transport mine in a bag. I'm scared of spilling coffee on it while driving to class. There's also the weather factor--rain, mud, sleet--getting onto it before class. Also, if you use public transportation, I'd prefer that you didn't rub your gi in my face that was just laying on a spot where who knows was sitting and farting (not to mention taking it home all sweaty). Any kind of bag is fine, but if your gi manufacturer is nice enough to provide you with a gi bag, use it, man!

BIG THANK YOU to this week's sponsor, GroundGame Fightwear.
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