BJJ Tournament Mental Preparation Strategies

One of the hardest things for people to prepare for during a competition is their mental state. Some people are able to stay calm and others freak out and panic. Panicking during a grappling tournament is not good because it will make you breath harder and it will tire you out faster. If you panic it will cause you to tense up which increases your chance of getting injured, so it is in your best interest to figure out how to remain calm. It may seem like some people are naturally good at staying calm but that is not the case. Here is a list of factors which influence whether an individual is likely to be able to stay calm during a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament.

Factors for remaining calm during BJJ Tournaments

1. Experience competing - People who have played sports and done other competitive activities during a lifetime have way more experience remaining calm because they have slowly built up the ability to perform under pressure. The more related the activity to BJJ the more helpful it will be in mentally preparing for a grappling competition. For example the best experience would be a history of competing in wrestling because it is so similar. Tae Kwon Do tournaments would still be pretty helpful but is not as good as wrestling. It is still a one on one, contact sport but does not include grappling. A running race could probably help since it is sport and requires endurance but would be even less related because it is not one on one or contact. If you have no better options, consider signing up for and competing in a 5K race before your competition. It will help your endurance and your nerves.
2. Confidence - Nothing will help you remain calm like a large dose of confidence. If you think you are better than the other person then you will be more confident and it will allow you to relax and remain calm during the match. This will help you to breath slower and stay lose. I literally just look at the other guy and think to my self "I can take this guy, I am better than him." It doesn't matter if it is true, just tell your self that. Men can increase their confidence by raising their testosterone level.
3. No worrying about the outcome - People who don't care about the outcome are able to stay relaxed. Just remember that 50% of people lose in the first round, so even if you lose you have done as well as half the tournament competitors.
4. Have a game plan - If you have no idea what your plan is for a match, when it begins you will panic. Decide on a game plan before hand so you know what to do. It could be to go for a take down, it could be to jump guard, or it could even be to sit down (depending on the tournament rules). Just make sure you know what your first move will be and how you plan to proceed during the match. It helps immensely if have been watching all of your future opponents during their previous matches. One time I watched a guy jump guard in his first two matches, then it was my turn to go against him. I asked my coach for some techniques for combating guard jumps. During the match when he went for the guard jump I stepped back and he fell on his butt which allowed me to step past his guard while he was stunned on the ground and eventually I won the match.

If you are preparing for your first tournament, you should read about what to expect. Talk to your friends who have competed and find out what it was like for them. The more you know the less you have to be surprised by. 

If you haven't practiced in a realistic matter, you will be less prepared. When I did my first triathlon, I had never swam in an open water race in 60 degree weather (which is really cold for swimming), only in ideal pool conditions. When the race began I completely panicked and ended up hyperventilating. I nearly drowned. To prevent this, it would help you to practice rolling hard in a tournament like fashion at your gym a week or two before the tournament. This will allow you to feel what it is like to go 100%. Have a friend ref who knows the rules. Be sure to think about points during this practice roll so you know what it will be like during the real thing.

Most people will not be able to use all of these techniques for remaining calm, so chose which ones suite your style best. Over time you will learn to stay calm if you stick with BJJ competitions. Good luck!

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Weight Cutting Strategies for Grappling Tournaments

Weight Loss vs Weight Cutting

Weight loss is when a person burns calories which leads to losing fat and body weight. Weight loss is important for people who are overweight or obese in order to improve their health. Weight loss takes a long time because a person can only burn half a pound of fat per day maximum. If you try to burn more than half a pound of fat per day, instead you will burn muscle. If you are competing in BJJ tournaments it can be helpful to lose weight in order to drop weight classes. This strategy take weeks or months to drop a weight class.

Man wearing a sauna suit.

Weight cutting is when a person who is competing in a sport that requires weigh ins loses a significant amount of water weight in order to make a lower weight category. It is very common in wresting, MMA, and grappling tournaments to employ weight cutting. The amount of weight you can cut is proportional to your normal body weight, for example a person who ways 200 lbs can cut more weight than a person who weighs 100 lbs because they have more water to lose. Excessive weight cutting can be very dangerous, consult a doctor before attempting to cut weight. 

Weight cutting is a short term strategy that is done during the week before a tournament. I have cut up to 10 pounds of water weight before a weigh in. Keep in mind the more water weight you cut, the more unpleasant the experience will be and the more dangerous it is. The extreme dehydration can also hurt your performance in your competition if you do not have sufficient time to recover.

Weight Cutting Strategies

Water and Salt Intake

Drink a lot of water, around two gallons, and plenty of salt during the week before you weigh in. Starting 3 days before your weigh in cut back your water intake to only what is necessary, perhaps a few cups, and avoid all salt and sodium. On the day of your weigh in you should only take a few sips of water and still no salt.

Food Intake

During the week before your tournament you should not eat any carbs except in fruit and vegetables. Eliminate foods such as bread, rice, grain, potatoes, corn and any flour product. These foods will cause you to bloat up and retain weight. Starting around three days before your weigh in you should limit your calorie intake as much as possible. I generally eat around 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day right before weigh ins. Day of you should have as little food as possible.

Additional Weight Cutting Options

If you haven't quite made it to your goal weight, there are a few last minute water cutting options. Put on a sweat suit and use an exercise bike on low intensity. Be careful not to tire yourself out too much. You can also wear a sweat suit use a sauna to force you to sweat. Staying in a sauna too long can also tire you out and hurt performance. Another strategy is to chew gum and spit to drop water weight. Spitting has limited effectiveness. Another option is to take an epsom salt bath to draw the water out of you.

Recovering after Weigh In

After you weigh in you will need to recover from dehydration. You will need to replenish your liquids. It is important to do this slowly. Sip a recovery drink such as gatorade or pedialyte. Eat food slowly to replenish your energy, I recommend fruits and nuts. Don't eat too quickly or too much. Remember, the more weight you cut, the longer it will take you to recover. Think hard about how much weight you can cut based on how long before you compete you will be weighing in. Is it the night before, 3 hours before or 5 minutes before. The amount of time before the competition will affect how much water weigh you can drop.

Warning

Remember to be careful if you decide to employ any weight cutting. If done irresponsibly it can be dangerous and hurt your performance.

Advice to BJJ Beginners: Don't attack from inside guard

Tonight I was watching a new guy at the gym roll with another white belt. The new guy was inside the the white belt's guard. The new guy inside guard kept on trying to either choke or Americana the white belt. I advised the new guy to try to escape guard several time instead of attacking and tried to walk him through a guard escape but he ignored me. Clearly this strategy did not work and ultimately ended with the new guy tapping to a triangle choke. Don't be THAT GUY.

Tonight wasn't even the first time I saw this. Last tournament I went to I watched a white belt with 9 months experience try to go for a choke from inside guard. She should have know better, and it cost her the match.

Advice for your first grappling tournament

If you have never been to a grappling tournament, your first one will make you pretty nervous. Here is some advice that will help you perform better during you first tournament.

1) Practice take downs as much as possible. Most BJJ classes don't work much on takedowns because they often lead to injuries and it takes a lot of space. In tournaments they are key for success.

2) Learn and practice guard escapes and guard passes and drill them. One of the most common moves by white belts in tournament is jumping guard. Be ready for it. If you stager your legs when they go for it then they won't be able to get their legs around you and will fall on their butt. While they are in shock, step past their guard and take side mount or mount.

3) Only use simple, basic moves. The complex fancy moves you were taught last week is probably not your strongest move, only use move you know well and have practiced often.

4) You don't get any bonus for submitting your opponent. Try to get a few points from positional advantage and stall. Once you have gotten mount, it doesn't take much energy to hold a person down for the rest of the match. It is much less risky to hold your opponent in mount than it is to go for a submission. Failed submissions often lead to opponents escaping, even scoring points by mounting you or passing your guard. The one advantage of submitting a person early is that you don't tire yourself out. If you are able to get a low risk submission (like a collar choke), go for it but only if it is low risk.

5) Develop good endurance. Tournaments are unbelievably tiring, especially no-gi. Practice rolling hard so simulate what it will be like. Often you will have 4 or more matches in a tournament.

6) Try to be the heaviest person in your weight category. If you are in the middle of a weight category you should either put on weight (muscle preferably) so you are at the high end of your weight bracket or lose or cut weight so you in the next lower weight bracket.

Weight Distribution

Over the past couple of days I have become more aware of my position when I am grappling and how my weight is distributed. I hadn't realized how important it was until just recently, the higher belts are probably laughing at me right now. Now when I roll actively think about what direction the person's stance/position is strong and what direction it is weak and choose the direction he is weak in.

I used to just try to do the move I wanted to do and overpower the other person's resistance. It can work especially because I am pretty strong for my size, but it isn't the smart way to roll. Instead now I go for a move, then if someone tries to resist I look for the weakness he creates by resisting the move and I change to attacking his weakness.

Dizzy Leg Takedown

In No-Gi tournaments takedowns are very import, especially at the novice/beginner level. The single leg takedown and double leg takedown are two of the most common types of take down. I have a creative idea for increasing the odds of a successful takedown. It might only work once per tournament before people catch on but I think it can work.

I was practicing circling last night while I was waiting for others to show up to our wrestling class. When the other guy showed up we started practicing circling together. After 40 seconds or so of circling we stopped abruptly which caused us both to get dizzy. I had been practicing circling before he got there so I was significantly less dizzy than he was since I was used to it. In a tournament you could circle for 30 to 40 seconds then stop, give him a second or two for the dizziness to set in then shoot for the single leg takedown while his balance is off. It is important for you to practice getting dizzy for a few minutes before you try this so you are prepared. I will give the dizzy leg takedown a try during my next tournament and see if it works.