Toro BJJ's 12 days of Christmas workout

The Holidays can be a stressful time for all of us - visits with relatives, traffic at the mall, scrambling to pick up last minute gifts and - if you're a compulsive grappler like myself - cancelled jiu jitsu classes.

Now, hold your reindeer. It is still possible to get in some high quality, high rep drilling. Grab a partner and some mat space and give this 12 days of Christmas workout a try. 

It works like an ascending ladder. You start with 1 rep of move 1, then you do 2 reps of move 2+1 rep of move 1. Then you do 3+2+1, then 4+3+2+1 and so forth. The numbers correspond to the move you are drilling, but they also represent the number of reps. Your last round will be 12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1

Here is the workout (bonus points if you sing the song while you drill!).

Toro BJJ's 12 days of Christmas workout:

1. An omoplata for me

2. Standing sweeps

3. Take downs

4. Guard openers

5. Back escapes
6. Arms a draggin
7. Guards a passin
8. Foots a lockin

9. Legs a trianglin
10. Arms armbarrin
11. Sweeps from kneeling
12. Side mount escapes

 

I gave this workout a test grapple and it took an hour fifteen minutes for just one partner. If time is an issue, you can split legs of the ladder with your training parnter.

Other tips:

- go at a quick pace and stand in base each time you get up. By the end of the session, your legs will be toast

- pick and choose the techniques you want to work on. If you have a particular triangle setup that you want to incorporate into your game, maybe you choose that for each round of "legs a trianglin." Don't feel like you need 9 different setups

- For "guards a passin," have your partner set up different open guards. Then, you recognize and execute the appropriate passes

- To maximize the cardio benefit, commit the song to memory before you start or have a handy printout near by

Give the workout a try! 

**You may notice the extremely well dressed grappling dummies in the photos. My sponsor Toro BJJ has been very good to me this year.  Check out their awesome gear for your last minute shopping and support the company that supports me! Toro BJJ