How Often Should you Train BJJ?

How Often Should You Train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

If you're new to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you've probably wondered how often you should train.

The short answer is that there isn't a perfect number.

How often you should train depends on your goals, the season of life you're in, how your body is holding up (Jiu Jitsu can be taxing), and what you ultimately want to get out of training.

Someone preparing for a competition may benefit from training five or six days a week. Someone training for fitness, self-defense, or community may find that two or three sessions each week is exactly what they need.

The important thing isn't training as much as possible.

It's making sure your training schedule aligns with your goals.

As with most things, the answer isn't straightforward. It would be easy to give you a crusty opinion like, "Train as much as you can," but I don't think that's the right answer.

To cut through some of the noise, the best place to start is by getting clear on why you're training Jiu Jitsu.

Your answer to that question will largely determine how often you should train.

You have to match your training schedule with your goals.

Why Are You Training Jiu Jitsu?

A quick story to illustrate my point. I had a teammate that I coached for several years in a No-Gi class I ran as a purple belt.

During that entire time, I don't think he ever learned some of the most fundamental sweeps and submissions in Jiu Jitsu. It certainly wasn't for a lack of effort on my end. I wanted him to become good at Jiu Jitsu.

That was my goal for him.

After politely listening to me harp on about technique for quite a while, we finally had a breakthrough moment on the mats.

It wasn't the breakthrough I had been hoping for, but looking back, it turned out to be far more valuable.

I was once again breaking down a technique he clearly wasn't interested in when he stopped me.

"You know," he said, "I'm not interested in winning competitions or even getting better at Jiu Jitsu."

That got my attention. "I started training because I love wrestling.” Author's note: the kind of wrestling that requires costumes, characters, and a healthy amount of showmanship. "I just want to learn the stuff that will look good in a ring and hang out with my friends."

It dawned on me.

I'd spent years trying to impose my values on his training experience. In doing so, I was probably taking away from his enjoyment, even though he never complained.

Once I understood what he wanted out of Jiu Jitsu, I changed the way I coached him. Instead of trying to make him into the grappler I wanted him to become, I started helping him get what he wanted out of training.

Oddly enough, I think it made me a better coach.

It's also the reason I answer the question of how often should you train Jiu Jitsu the way I do.

Because the answer depends entirely on why you're training.

Train Jiu Jitsu for Fun

Your reasons for training aren't static. They'll change because your relationship with Jiu Jitsu changes over time.

Many people start training because they want to get in shape or learn self-defense. Then, after spending time on the mats, they discover that what keeps them coming back is something completely different.

We don't know what we don't know until we experience it. Jiu Jitsu has a funny way of revealing that.

Learning to periodically examine your reasons for training helps you keep your training schedule aligned with what you currently want from the sport—not what you wanted a year ago.

Jiu Jitsu can be captivating because it never really ends. The sport is constantly evolving. Practitioners experiment with new techniques, which unlock entirely new systems and approaches to the game. There is always another rabbit hole to explore.

Not every advancement will appeal to you or fit your body type, but eventually you'll stumble across something that completely captures your attention.

Maybe you become fascinated with leg locks. Maybe half guard becomes your obsession.Maybe you discover that you've developed a knack for wrist locks and suddenly everyone in the gym starts warning new people about you.

"Watch out for Susan. She's the queen of wrist locks. She's also kind of an asshole."

That's reinforcing. It feels good to become known for something.

Or maybe you've trained long enough that the subtle details of a position begin revealing themselves. "If I shift my hip two inches here, everyone starts panicking."

Those moments are incredibly satisfying because they remind you there's always another layer to learn.

Then there are the friendships. The inside jokes. The memes.

If you've spent any amount of time around Jiu Jitsu, you've probably noticed there's an endless supply of them.

The point is that Jiu Jitsu is genuinely fun. Sometimes, that's reason enough to train.

If your goal is simply to enjoy yourself, then the answer to how often you should train becomes fairly straightforward. Train enough that you're excited to come back.

That isn't to say every class will be enjoyable. There will be periods where training feels frustrating. You'll plateau. You'll get smashed by someone half your size. You'll wonder if you've somehow gotten worse. That's normal.

Like any long-term pursuit, Jiu Jitsu has seasons.

Sometimes you push through discomfort. Sometimes you dial your training back because you're getting burned out. Neither is inherently wrong.

The goal is simply to adjust your training enough that you continue enjoying the process over the long haul.

Train Jiu Jitsu for Competition

Jiu Jitsu competitions give you the opportunity to test your skills against unfamiliar opponents who are close to your age, weight, and experience level. The intensity is almost always higher than what you'll experience during a typical class. That's part of what makes competing valuable. Competition has a way of exposing both the strengths and weaknesses in your Jiu Jitsu.

Depending on where you live, there are plenty of organizations and rule sets to choose from. Not everyone who trains should feel obligated to compete. That's perfectly okay. Again, it comes back to why you're training.

Some people love competing. Others have no interest whatsoever. Many people go through seasons where competing is exciting, followed by seasons where they're perfectly content just showing up to train.

I generally think it's worth competing a few times.

It's hard to know whether you'll enjoy it—or learn something valuable from it—if you never give it a shot.

Preparing for competition changes the way you train. Training becomes more focused, the intensity increases, and you're no longer just exploring techniques. Instead, you're identifying weaknesses, sharpening strengths, and preparing for the situations you're most likely to encounter during a match.

The ruleset also matters. A Gi tournament requires a different approach than a No-Gi tournament, and your training should reflect the style you'll be competing in. If you're unfamiliar with the differences, we've put together a guide comparing Gi vs. No-Gi Jiu Jitsu and how each style influences strategy, pacing, and technique.

Many competitors look for tournaments that offer both divisions so they can compete in each and get the most out of the experience. Having training partners and a gym that supports both styles is a significant advantage.

Nor should it.

I've gone through periods where I was highly motivated to compete and loved the structure that came with preparing for tournaments. I've also gone through periods where I simply enjoyed showing up, learning something new, and rolling with friends. Both seasons taught me something different.

If you find a gym that supports both approaches, you've probably found a pretty special place.

Train Jiu Jitsu for Community

If you're reading this article, there's a good chance the social media algorithms have already started feeding you Jiu Jitsu content.

Prepare yourself.

There are...a lot...of memes.

Why? Because there's a large and growing community of people who practice Jiu Jitsu.

If you've never trained before, your first class may feel a little like walking into the middle of someone else's friend group. You'll hear nicknames instead of real names. You'll hear inside jokes that make absolutely no sense.

You'll watch people laugh about things that seem completely absurd.

At first, you'll probably feel like an outsider looking in. Stick around long enough and you'll get a nickname, become part of the inside jokes, and eventually be responsible for creating a few of your own.

Personally, I think community is one of the best reasons to train Jiu Jitsu. We're living through what many have described as an epidemic of loneliness. Adults are spending less time with friends, participating in fewer community activities, and reporting higher levels of loneliness than previous generations.

Jiu Jitsu provides a built-in way to push back against that.

Think about it.

If you're over the age of twenty-five, how many opportunities each week do you have to consistently spend time with friends? For most adults, the answer is probably not enough.

Jiu Jitsu gives you a scheduled time every week to spend time with people pursuing a common goal. You train together. You struggle together. You celebrate each other's progress.

That has real value.

Laughter, camaraderie, and shared purpose all contribute to better mental wellbeing.

I've had plenty of days where I walked into the gym carrying the weight of work, family, or life in general.

An hour later I'd be sitting on the side of the mats, covered in sweat, talking trash with teammates, laughing about something ridiculous that happened during sparring, and wondering where all that stress had gone.

Sometimes talking a little trash really is good for the soul.

If building community is your primary reason for training, then finding a gym with a culture that supports that should matter just as much as the instruction itself.

Train Jiu Jitsu for Self-Defense

Jiu Jitsu is, first and foremost, a martial art.

It was developed as a means of protecting yourself in physical confrontations, and that remains one of the primary reasons many people begin training today.

One of the biggest advantages of Jiu Jitsu is that you can train at a relatively high intensity against fully resisting opponents. That helps prepare you for the adrenaline, uncertainty, and unpredictability that accompany real physical conflict.

Many people significantly overestimate their ability to defend themselves.

If you've never trained a combat sport where another person is actively trying to stop your techniques, you'll quickly discover how much there is to learn.

It's a humbling experience.

Nothing puts things into perspective quite like being strategically choked by a teenager (or a mom!) you outweigh by thirty pounds.

That said, many people begin Jiu Jitsu because of self-defense and eventually discover that other parts of training become even more meaningful.

The friendships.

The challenge.

The constant learning.

One of the reasons Jiu Jitsu is such a good martial art for self defense, is our fight truly begins where most sports stop: on the ground. Statiscally, the overwhelming majority of fights end up on the ground. Just being familiar with how to move with and against an opponent on the ground is so important.

And while training for Self Defense is important, I think Jiu Jitsu provides defense against things that are statistically much more likely to affect our lives:

Poor mental health.
Physical inactivity.
And...loneliness.

So, How Many Days a Week Should You Train Jiu Jitsu?

If you've made it this far hoping I'd finally give you a magic number...

I'm sorry to disappoint you.

There isn't one.

Your ideal training schedule should reflect your goals—not someone else's.

As a general guideline:

• 1–2 classes per week: Great for beginners, busy professionals, parents, and people training primarily for fitness, self-defense, or community.

• 3–4 classes per week: A solid balance for most hobbyists who want to improve consistently without making Jiu Jitsu the center of their lives.

• 5 or more classes per week: Often appropriate for competitors or those in periods where rapid improvement is the goal, provided recovery is also a priority.

There will be seasons where your body needs more recovery.

There will be seasons where work gets busy.

You may have a newborn.

You might be traveling.

You could be dealing with an injury.

Life changes.

Your training should change with it.

Consistency Matters More Than Intensity

The most important thing you can do is regularly check in with your reasons for training.

Not someone else's reasons.

Yours.

Make sure your training schedule continues supporting whatever those goals happen to be today.

In the end, there is no substitute for time on the mats.

You can't compress fifteen years of experience into fifteen months.

Jiu Jitsu takes time.

You have to learn techniques, apply them against resisting opponents, make mistakes, refine them, and repeat the process over and over again.

Find the amount of training that keeps you consistent.

Someone who trains twice a week for ten years may not improve as quickly as someone training five days a week for two years.

But over the long haul?

The tortoise usually wins the race.

That's one of the beautiful things about Jiu Jitsu.

It isn't a sprint.

It's a practice.