A gym ball can be the best tool to supplement your movement training for BJJ. I'm a huge fan, but the most commonly asked questions I get are what ball to buy, what size and how much should I inflate it. Today I'm going to answer those questions for you!

Lower back pain in BJJ is fairly common. But, what causes it?

The positional and movement demands of BJJ places a high amount of stress on the lower back. Although as you'll see, what's causing the pain, quite likely stems from an area other the back itself. As discussed in the "BJJ Strength & Conditioning: A Complete System?" article, incorrect alignment, activation or mobility in one area can cause a problem in another. 

In this article, I want to show you the variation of potential causes, so you can start tackling lower back pain with a complete approach, not just looking at solutions in isolation. Too often people only target one potential cause. When you truly understand the root causes of any problem, it becomes much, much easier to fix it in a systematic way AND avoid the problem in the future, ensuring you can enjoy BJJ, feeling great on and off the mats.

Stability balls are, in my opinion, the best tool for developing BJJ specific movements when you haven’t got a training partner. I’d even go as far as saying that there are movements you can develop on a stability ball, that you can’t with a partner. Stability balls can’t get injured, don’t get tired, don’t complain and they’re always ready to train day or night. You can do what you want to them.

But how do you use them to help your BJJ?

Weight training for BJJ or bodyweight training for BJJ? It can become quite a heated and dividing debate. Although, when picking any form of strength and conditioning for a sport, one key question to ask is; which form of strength and conditioning will have the most application for the sport, in this case BJJ?

This article is the first step in trying to strive for a "complete" system of strength and conditioning for BJJ,  and aims to:
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1. Answer the question 'What areas could or should be in included in a "complete" system for physical optimisation in BJJ?'
2. Present arguments for why they should be included in your training.
3. Provide a framework to help those training BJJ and coaches answer questions such as 'Why does my body hurt? What should my training outside BJJ include? How do I take my performance to the next level?' ​

Grip strength is one thing when it comes to chokes in BJJ, but adding in some strength and conditioning exercises that prepare your hands and wrists for the very specific demands of BJJ, will go a long way in improving your chokes. Let me show you how.