The first time I ever competed as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu white belt, I didn’t sleep the night before. I was super nervous going to the event and once I arrived at the event I saw everyone around me as a potential enemy. My first match I came out and was stiff as a board, by […]
Continued from Competition Mindset Part 2: For Best Results Be Prepared In my time competing I’ve collected several dozens of gold medals, I’ve won the IBJJF No Gi Pans twice and I’ve secured a Fight To Win Pro title, I’m not the best competitor in the world by any far stretch of the imagination but […]
Continued from Competition Mindset Part 1: Stop Making Excuses In the realm of competition, your mindset can greatly depend on how you prepared. It is critical to prepare properly for competitions, both from the moment you find out about the competition to the day of the competition to the moment you step on the mat. […]
Very early into competing I realized that any time I give myself an out by making an excuse, whether it be in talking to others about my match or tournament or internally to console myself for losing, it always resulted in repeating my mistakes. Excuses are easy. They soften the blow of losing. But they […]
Jiu-jitsu has one of the most active competition cultures in martial arts, with constant tournaments and an ever expanding scene. Because of this, beginners are immediately attracted to the prospect of competing. When I first started competing, I had all sorts of misconceptions about competition and it took me a while to get over those […]
How To Build A Competition Game Plan for Jiu-JitsuThere is an age old saying that goes something to the effect of “he who fails to plan, plans to fail.” Very often when talking to BJJ and MMA competitors who haven’t spent a whole lot of time on the competition mat, their response when asked about […]
The first few tournaments that we attend as jiu-jitsu competitors are inherently going to be tough. Odds are that new competitors will lose, and lose often. Odds are that you’ll be a weight-class or even two higher than your healthy weight, and you won’t be ready to apply techniques that you’ve learned in training. While […]