Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a high-intensity intermittent combat sport and self-defense technique in which the strength and power of the upper and lower limbs and grip strength are essential to achieve success. Beyond the importance of muscle strength and power for Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletic performance, these capacities can also be related to injuries, mainly considering agonist/antagonist imbalances and interlimb asymmetry. This study aimed to obtain variation data for strength and power interlimb asymmetry and intralimb strength imbalances and to describe injury characteristics and frequency during a competitive season of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Thirteen high-performance Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes (19.38 ± 2.12 years old, 8.6 ± 2.4 years of training) underwent pre- and postseason evaluations of power of lower and upper limbs, strength of the hip, knee and shoulder muscles, and interlimb asymmetries. The number and characteristics of injuries were self-reported: 46.2% of the athletes suffered one or more injuries, 88.9% of which were recurrent. Small pre- and postseason intralimb strength imbalances, significant small decrease in peak torque (effect size between 0.04 and 0.09) and small increase in the magnitude of interlimb asymmetry (effect size between -0.30 and -0.28) were found considering knee and shoulder. There was good agreement of direction of asymmetry considering shoulder strength and strength balance (kappa between 0.56 and 0.81). The results reinforce the need to periodically monitor strength balance and interlimb asymmetry in terms of direction during the season to better adapt the training sessions to avoid strength imbalances and favoring always the same limb, as well as to be aware of proper recovery after the occurrence of injuries.
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