QNA: Small Mans Game, Lifting Once A Week, & Coach Not Rolling Artwork

Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast

Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia

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Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast

QNA: Small Mans Game, Lifting Once A Week, & Coach Not Rolling

February 17, 2026 • JT & Joey • Season 6 • Episode 545

0:00 | 19:40

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Listener Q&A Kicks Off

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to the only jujitsu podcast that is answering your questions on a near fortnightly basis. It's a Q ⁇ A episode. We got questions from you guys. They've been flowing in pretty thick and fast lately, which we appreciate. If we're a bit late in getting back to yours, apologies, but don't fret. We will get to it. We will. If you want to leave us a question for a future episode, go to bulletproof at bjj.com, hit the podcast page, and then just big red button, record your voicemail. And also let us know where you're from because we'd love to hear that shit. Um JT and I spend a lot of time trying to guess accents. First question today is from Gage. Oh, Johnny Gage. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Hey y'all, uh, quick question, and uh I might ask this the wrong way, but I started jujitsu a few years ago at like 160-ish pounds, 168 pounds, I think I was, and I wasn't very strong. Like I was competing at 170 because it was easy. Well, now I am 185 pounds, which I think is about a 10 kilo difference, give or take 20 pounds. Um, and I'm a lot stronger in the weight room, and I'm a lot stronger on the mats, but now I have the issue of playing a very small man's game because my frame is filling out better, and I don't know how to turn the gym strength into jujitsu strength without feeling like I'm just strong arming everything. And I don't feel like that's the best way to learn the technique. If I could just get y'all's input on it, that'd be great. Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Okay, so so Gage has gone from being what he calls a little smaller person to now crossing the threshold into I'm a little bit bigger, but my game is still based on the smaller person.

Efficiency And When To Turn It Up

SPEAKER_04 1:46

I don't think that's a problem. I this is this is this is my take because I okay, so I agree. Many years ago, I got to roll with Bruno Malfacini. Malfa is smallest motherfucker. The smallest guy of all time, right? He's also one of the strongest guys, pound for pound. Like he felt like his side control, his ability to move, he felt like a hundred kilo guy. He's a he's a 52 kilo guy, right? And he's so fast, he moves so well. Like, if you've I think what you have, Gage, is perfect. I think to be a smaller person or a lighter frame person who's now muscled up a bit is perfect because you are, you've come from the side of where you had to be technical and now you've got some firepower behind it. I don't think there's anything wrong if you're stronger to use that ability appropriately. I guess the way I would frame it is anything you do in life requires a degree of application, like technique, know-how. It's up to you how hard you push the lever on applying effort in that direction. And actually, when you get better at jujitsu, you actually become more efficient. You realize there's some times when you need to turn it up, and there's plenty of times where you don't need to. So I think understanding when is the time to go hard and use this new strength of yours, that is the kind of nuance, or that's when you're that's the understanding of jujitsu you need. I think having more firepower, it's really a personal choice as to when you fucking unleash.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yeah, I totally agree. Um, you know, at any, at any stage like of jujitsu, right, in the different weight categories, you should just be as strong as you can. Yeah. And so, you know, wherever you're at, if you're getting strong, that's great. It will be transferring to your game. You don't need to tailor your game around it in order to express that strength. That strength will be kind of permeating everything that you do. Um, so keep doing your thing, man. Um, yeah, like I'm I'm thinking like take all these, like um take guys like Lucas Cannard, sure. One of Australia's top no-gee grapplers. Yep. Um, in the gear, he's good too. He's great. Um, you know, he's he's stacked. He's stacked like any like any elite level. He's so strong. But he just pulls guard and chases legs. He does more. I mean, that's what he's been doing in his game. Um so you know, if you were looking at that, you might be like, oh, well, he's not, you know, based on how you were sort of talking about this gauge, he's not using his strength there, but he absolutely is. Oh my god. Hidden inside the way he entangles legs and fucking catches limbs, and you know, so so yeah, I don't don't sweat it, keep doing your thing.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Yeah, definitely. I I think it's just a matter of as you as your game develops, you'll be able to choose the moments where you use this new strength you have. And that's just I think that's a little bit of experience.

One-Day-Per-Week Strength Plan

SPEAKER_03 4:42

So yeah, and the flip on that, which is being like coming into jujitsu as a big guy, stronger, like if you come into jujitsu as a 110 kilogram, or what's that, like a 2024 240 pounder. Um, it's gonna be very hard for you to ever do anything other than play a big man's game. Yeah, whereas what you're talking about, Gage, is having the ability to do both. So that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Happy for you.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Second question, Robert.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

How's it going, guys? Uh, I have a question regarding strength training that is more centered around training in the GE. I'm currently almost two years into my jujitsu journey, and my BJJ has benefited from strength training, and I agree with you guys that it definitely seems to help with performance and durability. I would like to ideally strength train at least twice a week. However, because of health issues that uh limit the amount of food that I'm comfortable eating, I often struggle to strength train more than once a week, can't get enough calories in. My question for you guys is if I can only manage one strength workout per week, what specific exercises, volumes, and rep ranges would you recommend? Noting that the primary goal is to perform in training and in competition for BJJ. Also pointing out that I'm extra training exclusively in the gi, whether or not that factors into your recommendations. Thanks and really keen to hear your thoughts.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

Robert, legend. Nice. I look, I I think the gift, training for the gi versus no gi, uh you can train for them differently, but you're only going to be doing strength training once a week. So that is your biggest constraint. The the gi no gi thing doesn't matter. Can you get stronger training once a week? You can, but that is a challenge in and of itself. So when we come to sets and rep schemes, I I would say if your number one goal is you want to be stronger, then you're going to be doing lower volume, like you're going to be doing less reps in your sets, but you will probably be doing multiple sets. So I would be looking, if I were you to be doing anywhere from, you know, kind of your three reps, topping out at five reps. You might be doing five sets, you might do more, you might do seven sets, depending, you know, you obviously it's a very general chat here, and you'd be going whole body. So you would be squatting and deadlifting and pressing and pulling. You need to be hitting every single base in that workout. That is going to be the biggest challenge for you. So, like you say, you know, dietary issues, I don't know what the context is there. But if you're saying you can't get enough calories in, that is for me a concern. Um you can get stronger without getting bigger. That's that goes without saying. But what I'd say here, from a recovery point of view, if you're training in the GE a lot, which it sounds like you are, you do need to make sure you're getting enough nutrients in to support that strength training. So I think it's going to be a whole body workout, it's going to be lower volume, like less reps, more sets, more rest, heavy work, whole body. That's what I would say for once a week.

Sets, Reps, And Recovery Constraints

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Yeah, I'm not too far different in my recommendation. I would say, um I would say an alternative view on the rep thing is that don't worry too much about them. You could do three months of low rep stuff, you could do some high, you know, like it's kind of as long as you're getting the, as long as you're getting the hard sets in. But I'd say like if you took JT's recommendation of squat, hinge, push, and pull, then you want to be doing at least eight sets of each of those every workout. Ten sets ideally, but eight sets if at a minimum. So, and that's quite a lot, right? So doing one session. Yeah, like if you're doing, let's say you're doing um 90 minutes. Let's say you're doing five sets of five deadlift and five sets of five back squat and fucking chin up and bench press, then that's five sets of each. So then for your accessories, you only got to do three sets.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Right? That's probably gonna tick the box. Scientifically, you're probably getting enough stimulus there to get stronger. Maybe you do four in your primary, so then you do four in your accessory. So yeah, I would just gauge it around that. But I wouldn't, um, there's no single best exercise. Um, there's ones that are really good, and obviously the compound movements are gonna be your your friend here because you're trying to do as much as you can with as little as possible. So all the classic lifts are gonna be the ones for you. Um, but you know, you could do like three or six months of this and then switch it up three to six months, but as long as you keep in that base of, you know, getting making sure you're getting enough sets, because that's ensuring that you're getting the the minimum effective dose to get stronger.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Yeah, definitely. And just make sure if you're not able to eat certain foods for whatever the reason might be, you want to be looking at creatine and potentially other supplements that are gonna enable you to bounce back from jujitsu and bounce back from your lifting.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

That's yeah, if liquid, if liquid nutrition is a way for you to get more calories in, you know, mass gainer shakes, protein shakes, that kind of thing, if that's an option, yeah. Definitely be going down that path.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

My guy, hopefully that answers your question. If it doesn't, you can kind of follow up on this, hit us up on Instagram, we can get a bit more nuanced about it.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah, we'd love to help. Um, third question for the day no name attached.

SPEAKER_04 10:21

Ooh, mysterious.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Hey guys, it's TJ again. Just wanted to follow up on my previous Wait.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

No, that's the second half from TJ. TJ came in with two questions. Hold up. Hold up a second.

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SPEAKER_01 11:16

Hey guys, it's TJ, based out of Sydney, Australia. So my instructor doesn't roll with the students during class, which I find a bit strange. I'm a bit unaccustomed to that, as I've trained engines before where the professor might not roll every round, but he'd get a few rounds in. Um, my current instructor is under the age of 50 and is still able-bodied and does a lot of sessions, so I get that he might be just fucking tired. But yeah, what do you guys think about the professor not rolling with everyone and in fact doing no rounds at all? Cheers guys.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

Okay, now there is a second part to this. So should we go into the second part? Um we get the full picture. TJ, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Hey guys, it's TJ again. Just wanted to follow up on my previous submission. Um, I'm coming from the perspective where I want to roll with my professor to see where I'm at, see what he does to me, see what I'm missing. Um, I'm a coloured belt, so obviously not at his level, and he's got like fifth, I think he's a fifth degree black belt, so he's been training forever. Um yeah, I want to see where I'm at, see what he does to me, see how easily he does it, and yeah, I think I'm coming from a learning perspective, not I want to destroy my professor.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Just I mean, we all want to destroy our professor a little bit. Maybe you do.

Testing Yourself Versus Respecting Roles

SPEAKER_04 12:41

I mean, you can say, oh, look, it's all about learning. Oh, smash him. Um, two two things here. There's there's a there's a bunch of context around this that we don't know. So, for example, if your coach has already taught three classes that day, has already trained, I I I think it's at least the way I'm understanding your question and the way you're shaping it, TJ, is my coach ducking out on the roles because he's kind of hiding insufficiencies in his jujitsu, or is it because he's just friggin' tired? Yeah, like he's just actually looking after himself. Yeah, he's just looking after his body, right? And so I think it's pretty obvious when you see your coach role with other students, um, that you go, wow, that's the level. Like you see the, you know, the kind of the the matrix, oh Morpheus, Neos fight Morpheus, and everyone like runs to see like the top brown belt versus the coach. How does that play, right? That often gives you a gauge of like the kind of dynamic balance of jujitsu. And you're saying you want to find out for yourself how you roll against your coach. I I I think it depends on the coach. If your coach is uh someone who competes or they're someone who takes pride in being competitive, then the rolling will be a big part of how they communicate skill to you. But if someone is like you're saying five stripes on their black belt, that's you say they're under 50, but by how much? Like that's a lot of freaking stripes, like been around the block a few times. Yeah, you would say so. So maybe they also are carrying injuries and and and as a result aren't feeling as competitive and don't necessarily want to be tested. I don't think that that means their jujitsu is invalid or of any lesser quality. But if you're looking for a top tough black belt, then maybe that isn't necessarily the environment. Most coaches I know will jump in with the students. That's at some point. So if you've never rolled your coach and you've been training there a while, then that might be a bit questionable. What's your take, Joe?

Honest Communication And Next Steps

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Yeah, I tend to agree. Is it is it is a coach just is it a practical thing? Or are you training at different classes and and you know for a fact that they just are not training with students or particular students? Um yeah, look, in my mind, if it if it kind of is, that is the case, um, then I yeah, I think that's probably not great, right? Like I I think it should at least be addressed. Like I I I sometimes when I'm coaching, like I never get to roll with everyone. And I'll sometimes do a session and I'll and I'll realize, I mean, I try to as much as I can. I apologize if there's anyone I missed here, but I'll be like, oh fuck, I haven't I haven't rolled with JT for a bit. I didn't, you know, not not JT, but I didn't roll with fuck that guy, you know. And sometimes I'll know because I didn't want to go to war today because he's a real because it's a tough fucking who's a dog fighting. And so and so I'll as in from my own thing, I'll be like, hey, I won't duck you next week, I promise. Make sure, make sure we get around it, you know. So I I try to uphold a bit of that, and I but I coach once a week, and I so I do have empathy for coaches who are running a gym, been doing it for a long time, five stripes, been doing it for a long time. Fatigue is a factor, potentially, you know, pain is a factor. So, you know, I just throw that in so that you can be considering those things. I definitely think though, there are some coaches out there that are reluctant to put themselves on the line, particularly in this more modern age of jujitsu, and they might where they feel that maybe their jiu-jitsu isn't up to scratch, and so they don't want to roll students. And I I I think that is a weakness in them. Um, and I I I think that, you know, and while I have empathy for them, um, I do think that you you can be up front with your students about that. You can be like, I'm I'm prepared to lose to this student, right? And I'm prepared to have the conversation that, like, yeah, I'm fucking don't have the fire that I used to, but I'm still here to teach you guys and help you get better, and you know, fucking good job. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, you don't you don't have to be the top dog forever.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

That's no, and that's the hardest thing about jujitsu, which most people don't realize is it's gonna come to you. You know, you're you you start to diminish, you stop being the most competitive or the most dominant person in the gym. And it just sounds from from what I'm hearing, TJ, that you want to test. And I don't necessarily think your coach is the best person to test against. You need to go to other gyms and push, and you need to find other people who want to go to war. And that is probably a better gauge, in my opinion, because the hardest thing is managing that relationship with your coach. That yeah, I mean, it's you know, like any relationship, there's got to be a certain degree of respect there. And if you don't respect your coach for not rolling, then that's gonna be a hard relationship to manage.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

Yeah, yeah, I do think the onus there is on the coach to communicate with the students that you know, with the higher, with the tougher students, so that they can understand the reason for that, right? Because otherwise it lends itself to this kind of thing, like ambiguity, what's going on, why are they fucking ducking the rounds, you know? Sus. Yeah. Um so yeah, fair question. Um, fuck, I'd love to hear what your what you you know take from this and how you kind of are you just leaving and going to another gym. Or, you know.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Yeah, I I think it's something, it's a conversation you would have with your coach on the site. Just be like, hey, I'd like to roll with you.

Closing And How To Submit Questions

SPEAKER_03 18:28

It it is it is, but I can imagine if you were not feeling comfortable to have that conversation with them, it's probably because you're pretty sure that they're like not willing to expose themselves. In which case they're not gonna, they're probably not gonna, you know what I mean? Yeah. Whereas if you've got a kind if you've got a coach that's like up front and open and like you feel like you can have that chat with them, yeah. The coach is gonna say, hey man, I'm not rolling with you because I fucking my body's not up. Yeah, you're too fucking good for me these days. Right. You know, sure. Whereas if it's a coach that you feels a bit kind of feeling a bit vulnerable, it's like, oh shit, I don't know how to broach this. Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

But hey, you sound like you're in Sydney. Uh, if you just want to have a little private test, let's uh let's have a roll. Yeah, J Chair's available. I'll beat the fuck out of you any day to let you know exactly where you're at. So hey, get out of me, bro. Much love.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

Uh appreciate it, guys. Great questions today. Please, if you've got one about any part of your jujitsu journey, go to the website and record one for us, bulletproof for bjj.com. Hit the podcast page, record that thing, and we'll catch you on an upcoming episode.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

Shoo