Stretching: How good it is and why you shouldn’t skip it

August 10, 2023

There are many types of preparation to be made before engaging with Jiu-Jitsu, each with its area of effect amplifying some aspect of your performance. This build-up process takes place before, during, and after each time you wear your gi or step onto the mats, and every step is fundamental in its own right. A healthy diet and physical exercises help with conditioning and endurance, while mental preparation helps with decision-making and devising strategies. But one particular step of all this planning, despite being as important as everything else, is often overlooked by practitioners: Stretching.

Given how heavily Jiu-Jitsu relies on movement and flexibility, it is surprising to see how little importance seems to be given to stretching. This simple but instrumental step of your preparation will not only help with the aforementioned flexibility, but will also increase your blood flow, improve your range of motion, and reduce muscle soreness after you leave the gym and return to your daily life, among many other benefits. In fact, stretching is so important that we all do it instinctively every day when we wake up. So let’s take a look at how it helps your performance and the risks of skipping this process.

We’ve talked about how stretching helps increase the flexibility of your body, but it’s worth highlighting that stretching does that while also warming up your body. Whether you’re in the gym or competing at a high level, you’ll constantly be in situations where your muscles and joints are under strain. Sweeps, submissions, takedowns, berimbolo, and the many other techniques encompassed within Jiu-Jitsu will put your body, no matter how well-trained it is, through a wringer. If you go from a resting state straight into training or a roll, you’ll be taking a chance on a completely avoidable injury. Stretching makes your muscles more responsive, which in turn makes moving around safer and easier.

As if those benefits weren’t enough, stretching also helps with your coordination, which leads you to be more precise in every move you attempt. You’ll feel this advantage during a fight when you need to have the reflexes to make a split-second transition or attack to take the win. Stretching even improves your balance, which means you’ll have an easier time deflecting takedowns and using your opponent’s center of gravity against him. While properly stretched and warmed up you’ll be able to unleash your full potential, showing fluidity and dexterity that an unprepared body couldn’t possibly pull off.

Now let’s talk about the aftermath. It’s common to feel sore the day after a competition or a particularly intense training session, but if you did those things without stretching, odds are that soreness will be keeping you company for a long while. However, if your muscles were prepared for the exercise ahead of them, you’ll have an easier time recovering from it. You’ll still feel that muscle soreness either way, but a proper stretch coupled with a healthy diet, hydration, and a regular sleeping schedule will not only relieve the pain but also make it disappear faster.

Stretching is an important part of your preparation cycle before training or competing, and it should be treated as such. The benefits of doing it are equal to the risks of not doing it, so why take the chance? Minimize the risks and increase the rewards of your Jiu-Jitsu today!