Competing Again in Bjj After First Round Tournament Loss
This article was written past 3rd-degree Roger Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Chugalug Nicolas Gregoriades. Header photograph courtesy of Maggie Left Photography.
I used to compete in a bunch in various martial arts. I accept fought in No-Gi, MMA and BJJ matches all over the globe. Professional events, amateur tournaments, exhibition matches, super fights - y'all name it, I've done it. I definitely won more than I lost, but If I'yard honest with myself I don't think I lived up to my potential. I never quite made it to the elite level. Winning the IBJJF World championships was my sole reason for waking upwardly in the morn for most 6 years. But, to quote Bob Dylan 'You don't ever become what you lot want - y'all get what you lot need'. Now that I'm mostly retired from competing and focusing on how to assist my hungry, young students perform to the all-time of their abilities, I've been questioning why some jiu-jitsu athletes are unable to get information technology together when it comes to contest. I experience that these are some reasons some of u.s. don't do as well as we might like in competitions.
ane. You lot're Non Conditioned Enough
Despite existence ridiculously broken-hearted and inexperienced, I actually won my start jiu-jitsu match. But my hands and forearms were so pumped and fatigued I could hardly even grip on my next opponent's jacket - I lost badly and was eliminated in the second round. The simple fact is that I wasn't conditioned enough. My body, in detail, my extensors and flexors were non upwardly to the task required of them. Many years later as a black belt, I allowed a similar affair to happen. After a long break, I decided to compete in the Worlds Masters. At the fourth dimension I was still living out of a suitcase educational activity seminars in different countries and unable to get into a practiced rhythm for training. Equally a effect, I made the mistake of non giving my conditioning training the focus it should have received. 'I'm on the mats vi days per week and I'm sharper than I've e'er been - my technique will cover my lack of fitness.' I idea. So dumb.In the second round, I drew a tough opponent. I knew his style and that the simply style I could beat him was by existence the assaulter and pushing the pace, then that'due south the strategy I adopted. I dominated the friction match for two mins and then gassed. I literally had nothing left. I had fabricated the same mistake I did fifteen years and four belts previously - I wasn't conditioned properly.When preparing for a contest, improved workout will pay bigger dividends than improved technique. Be the guy in peak physical shape. Build that big gas tank that will allow you to push button the stride. Naught breaks an exhausted fighter'due south spirit quite like seeing his opponent energized and raring to become.
2. Y'all're Too Inexperienced
For virtually of usa, the first few experiences of competition are pretty overwhelming. We underestimate just how anxiety-inducing and tiring competitive matches are. Fighting in a tournament is a very different experience from even the toughest rolls in the gym. It takes a while just to get used to the feeling of competing. Very, very few people enter their first consequence and feel totally comfortable. And it's difficult to perform well when you're excessively nervous or don't know what to expect. Consider looking at your first iii-5 competitions every bit exposure therapy. These are simply 'scouting missions' - y'all're just checking out what it feels like to experience a combat outcome and gathering data on how yous react in that kind of environment. After doing this a few times, y'all should become much more relaxed and less likely to waste matter energy or make stupid mistakes.
3. You lot Put Too Much Pressure on Yourself
Nosotros've all got that training partner who enters a comp the day before on a whim just to terminate upward winning. Meanwhile, you and the balance of the team trained 6 times a week for 3 months and all lost in the offset circular. Why exercise you call back that is? My theory is that it's because he had no expectations and this meant he was relaxed and merely went out at that place and had fun. And information technology'due south ordinarily in that state (having fun) that you doing every better. 1 of the interesting things I've discovered most life is that the harder we grasp for something, the less likely we are to reach it. I've found that grappling competitions are the same. The harder y'all endeavour, the more than y'all tighten up and the worse yous perform. And we unremarkably effort besides hard because we put too much importance on the event. We believe that if nosotros don't exercise well that we're letting down our training partners, coaches and our squad. Simply zilch could be further from the truth. A proficient jiu-jitsu tribe will be proud of you no matter what and will support you regardless of your event. Think that it's only a jiu jits competition. It's not the invasion of Normandy or the most important consequence of your life. You lot're not fighting for your family'south legacy or the fate of the free world. Unless jiu-jitsu is your career it's just not really big a deal. Your victories and defeats will before long be forgotten. Do you retrieve the 2003 Pan Ams middleweight black belt champion? Neither does anyone else.
4. Y'all Don't Railroad train How You Fight
Let's brand one thing clear: In most cases, competition jiu-jitsu is very different from 'university' jiu-jitsu. In a typical BJJ academy sparring session both players will beginning on their knees and then gyre for submission. In a good gym, these matches unremarkably take place at a moderate pace with each person engaging the other without trying to rip his or her head off. Think about how far removed this is from competition. For one thing, I've never seen a contest that starts on the knees. That scenario is nigh never encountered in a match, regardless of the ruleset. Competition jiu jitsu starts continuing, is characterized by a LOT of guard and moves a lot faster. The margins for error are really small. You can't relax and 'work on your defense', or try out that new counter you saw on YouTube the day before. You lot have to execute the stuff you lot know how to do and you accept to execute it well. So it makes to sense to train in that fashion. Sadly, it'south often the instance that a competitor won't even recollect about going for a submission and instead will endeavor to proceeds a modest lead and and so stall to get the win. The problem is in an university, y'all cannot fight competition-style all the time, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, your preparation partners will start to hate you if yous go 100% consistently because you'll end up injuring them (and yourself). And secondly, your game will never progress if you don't experiment and allow yourself to be put in bad positions. There are a few very successful teams where they railroad train for competition almost exclusively. Only nigh of their students are all physically cleaved or burned out by thirty if they fifty-fifty last that long. This is where periodization of your training comes into play. Most of the year you should train 'academy style' - moderate rolling with a chip more than flow and experimentation. Simply when preparing for a contest, devote a certain amount of time to training in that fashion. This ways yous either start standing or in a specific position and you fight like you're hoping to in the upcoming effect. This will crave willing training partners and dedicated preparation sessions. And keep in mind that you lot don't demand a huge repertoire of techniques to do well in competition. DJ Jackson wins most of his matches with the same ii moves. It'southward far more of import to have a basic strategy. Take a few simple combinations from each position, and practice the crap out of them. If yous're not hitting something regularly in practice in the academy, you lot sure as hell won't hit it in competition.
v. You Don't Have a Coach
Now you might be thinking something along the lines of 'What are you talking about? My bus is Diego Santos and he's a blackness belt nether Bruno Viera" or whatsoever. Simply is he really a coach? Or is he a teacher/university owner. At that place's a divergence. A instructor demonstrates certain techniques and / concepts and helps you to learn them. Your motorcoach monitors and guides you through all aspects of your contest training including your mental preparation, physical conditioning, strategy and possibly fifty-fifty diet. Elite athletes can have a whole squad of coaches. Granted, that's not always feasible for jiu-jitsu hobbyists, only at the very least you should take someone responsible for helping you to prepare who will likewise be at the venue on the mean solar day. This doesn't even have to be a black belt. As long as they are someone with the relevant experience, patience and an interest in helping you succeed, information technology'southward likely that they will get you farther than you lot could on your ain.
6. Your Opponents are Sandbagging
There'southward a vast discrepancy in levels betwixt players of the same belt, and sandbagging is an unfortunate merely ever-present reality of the jiu-jitsu contest scene. Let's run through a hypothetical scenario: Jimmy has a black belt in judo and has fought in international-level competitions. He's besides a 4-stripe blue belt in jiu-jitsu who is long overdue for his royal belt, only his coach is 'holding him dorsum' so that he tin can get a medal at world's/pan-ams/
7. Information technology's Non All Under Your Control
Allow'south say none of the above issues are applicative. You're experienced and yous've trained with realistic competition scenarios in mind. You've had great coach guide you along the way. There's nobody way ameliorate than you in your division. Guess what. You could still lose. Why? Because there are 2 sides to the coin in any lucifer. It'southward not just almost you - there's an intelligent, focused and resisting opponent who is trying to impose his volition upon you lot only as you lot are trying to do the aforementioned to him. And please don't give me whatever of that 'Information technology's about who wants it more!' crap. Do you lot think Roger Gracie didn't want information technology equally desperately every bit Xande Ribeiro in the Accented final he narrowly lost in?t And across the opponent, at that place are countless other variables across your command. Fighting is very dynamic and unpredictable. When you take two fighters of (nearly) equal skill, workout and mental strength, it doesn't come down to who wants information technology more badly. It comes down to luck, the referee, how the styles match up with each other or any one of a hundred other things. An case I always use is Kron Gracie. He'southward been doing jiu-jitsu literally since he could walk and is coached by his father, Rickson Gracie, one of the best jiu-jitsu fighters in history. He is a super-conditioned, athletic and seasoned competitor. The dude was basically bred to compete, and even he couldn't win the Worlds at blackness belt! Don't let any of the items put y'all off the idea of competing or use them as excuses if you lose. Instead, control the things you tin, let get of the outcomes and accept fun.
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Source: https://www.jiujitsubrotherhood.com/blogs/blog/why-you-lost-your-last-jiu-jitsu-tournament
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