My main priority is building as much muscle mass and strength as I can, so this precedes every other physical endeavor. I’m currently training 5-6x a week using a hypertrophy focused program.
However, I’ve recently been wanting to pick up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since a new gym for that opened up near my home. I have no desire to compete in BJJ, so I’m likely not going to train any more than 2x a week at that, most likely at the end of the week after my lifting session and on the remaining rest day. I only want to do it for basic self defense if need and to add a new skill to my repertoire for the sake of it.
My question is, will adding the 2x a week bjj sessions at the end of the week hinder my hypertrophy progress from the 5-6x a week lifting sessions prior. Or will I be able to grow just as well as I would otherwise despite the jiu jitsu training? If it would hinder progress, is there a way to schedule the sessions and training frequency better so it would allow me to make similar progress as I would without the bjj?
Provided you’re eating enough, I do not think this amount of BJJ training will have any effect on hypertrophy outcomes, especially in the moderate to long term.
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I assume it’s also the same for more cardio intensive arts such as muay thai or mma? Thank you.
I do not think the demands are different enough to really change my opinion. Similar to increases in endurance training load, I think any interference effect is mostly due to total training load being too high for the individual, not necessarily inhibition of one fitness adaptation by another.
In other words, making sure your total training load is something you can currently tolerate is key.
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Truarch, Muay Thay, BJJ, MMA depending on how the instructor teaches it are all going to be very similar as far as intensity and fatigue.
Most classes will have a warm up, skill training, then some type of sparring.
If lets say the class is predominantly 40 minutes of drilling techniques, that is not going to be as intensive as doing 40 minutes of straight sparring.
So really as you start training you could probably apply an RPE rating to the session and monitor your fatigue.
Also as you start out do not feel like you have to do every round of sparring. If you feel terrible sit a round out and be selective with your sparring partners too.
As you train you will figure out which guys are best and safest to spar with.
Hope this helps.