Wrestling switch as BJJ guard attack
Here is a video demonstrating how to use aspects of a wrestling switch with the kimura / kimura sweep position from full guard.
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4 Ways To Deal With Anxiety In BJJ Tournaments
4 Ways To Deal With Anxiety In BJJ
My first competitive match in a one on one sport came back in 2000. Even though that was nearly 14 years ago I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was terrified. I didn’t feel like I was going out to wrestle, I felt like I was going out to my execution. Have you ever felt like this before a BJJ tournament?
About 3 years and well over 100 wrestling matches later, I had my first BJJ match. I had been training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu at this time for around 2 weeks and was given a crash course in the rules of the tournament 2 days before the competition. You’d think that the years of wrestling competitions would get rid of the nerves before a match, but it didn’t. I was still very anxious and my mind found itself in its normal irrational state, where the only thing I could focus on was the next match. Maybe it was because BJJ was new to me?
But, last year was no different. While I was warming up at various tournaments, regardless of whether it was a local tournament or a big IBJJF competition, I felt the nerves. It might come as a surprise to some, that after 13 years of competition under my belt I’m still not free of the pre match anxiety. But I’m not and I’ve actually grown accustomed to, and in a strange way, I sort of enjoy them. It kind of makes me feel alive.
A lot of BJJ practitioners have never done a one on one sport before.
Competition is something that is deeply entrenched within Brazilian Jiu-jitsu culture and many newcomers, in my experience, have never competed in a one on one sport. Because of this a lot of practitioners have never learned how to deal with the nerves before a match. A common question I get from students is,”how do I get rid of the nerves before a match?” They always seem so surprised when I say you don’t and that I still get nervous.
The tournament I didn’t have any pre match jitters
I remember only one tournament where I didn’t get my pre-match jitters. I had just finished 3 MMA fights and when I got to the tournament I just felt super relaxed. I didn’t have my customary bubble guts (In case you’ve never heard the term, I’m talking about that funny feeling in your stomach). I came in with the outlook of “no matter what happens, I’m not getting punched in the face.” Needless to say, that tournament didn’t go so well. When I got out on the mat I was just flat and lacked that urgency needed to win a competitive match. I’ve lost matches before, but during this match. . . It’s hard to explain. I’ve been beaten plenty of times but I’ve never felt unable to fight back. This was, by far, the worst performance I can remember, ever.
Some nerves are good
You definitely wouldn’t want to get rid of your nerves completely. Your body can do some super beneficial stuff for performance when it’s stressed. But I get it, being nervous isn’t enjoyable. I remember early on in my grappling career I used to want the same thing. I thought no nerves would be helpful. Now I understand that having nerves before a match is a good thing; it gives us our “edge.” It is important though, to have a way of dealing with the jitters. If we don’t keep our pre match anxiety in check, it can leave us exhausted before we step out on the mat.
Below I’ve listed some ways that I have personally learned to deal with the anxiety leading up to a match. This includes BJJ and MMA competitions. Keep in mind that I am probably slightly more anxious than the average person. Oh and if you’d like to read about some of the interesting things your body does when it’s stressed. Do a search for “fight or flight response and sports performance,” and you’ll find some really fascinating stuff.
4 Ways I Deal With Anxiety Before A BJJ Tournament
– Simply accept that the anxiety you feel before a match is your body’s way of getting ready –
I tell my students, “It’s simply your body getting ready for battle” when on the subject about their nervousness before matches. I’ve found personally and through the experiences of others, that by accepting, and anticipating that your stressed body is going to go a little haywire you can more effectively control it.
– Focus on yourself – In my experience the most important thing to help channel my heightened focus prior to a match, is to zero in my thinking in on myself. While I am in an irrational state of mind brought on by the stress of an upcoming match, it’s very easy to build my opponent up and become fixated on the negatives. Going down a slippery slope of “what if’s”. Instead, I reel it in and concentrate only on my techniques and abilities. I visualize myself successfully using my techniques in the match and having with my hand raised. If I execute all my techniques perfectly, I win, right? This has always helped me over the years. Especially in MMA where bodily harm is a high probability and in recent years as a black belt when every opponent is a beast in their own right.
– Music – I try to keep myself as calm as possible before matches. When the match or fight is hours away I will listen to something that calms me. In most cases I listen to a lot of classical music. Then as the match gets close I start my warm up routine and listen to something that gets me pumped up. I find that listening to music that gets me excited long before the match ends up making me tense and leaves me exhausted by the time my match finally is up. Staying relaxed till its time leaves me with more energy for the match.
– Practice mock tournaments with your friends in the gym – Military manoeuvres and war games are used to prepare units for battle. It gives the armed forces of a country the chance to test strategy and get an idea of how things might work without actual warfare (Sorry, military history nerd coming out again). Mock tournaments in a gym are a great way to get a taste of what it’s like in a competition without having to go to an actual tournament. We do these often in my gym. Having that clear “win or lose” situation with points involved and people watching really helps prepare us for upcoming matches. We can also test out strategy by placing ourselves in unique situations (such as being down by points with a short time limit to mimic the end of a match).
So don’t let your anxiety and nerves hold you back! Get out there and compete!
As always, if you have any questions. Feel free to shoot me a message.
Chewy
What gets you motivated?
Whats something you use to motivate you for training?
For me it’s videos. Right now with the nose still healing, its terrible. I can’t help but watch jiujitsu videos when I have some free time which gets me psyched up and it sucks because I can’t roll to get rid of some of that energy. Oh well my lifts are coming up which is good and I’ve been getting lots of reps drilling.
Here are two of my favorite videos to watch when I need a little motivation.
Andre Galvao Budovideos clip
I remember seeing this back in 2009 when I was watching DVDs I ordered from their website. This video always brings be back to a time where I had cleaned out all the debt I had left, and began training full time. It always gets me pumped up to train even though its not super action packed or anything. Just reminds me of how far I’ve come since then.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCGxMZoov8c&w=560&h=315]
Rodolfo vs Buchecha
This is just such a fantastic match. Even though my personal favorite (Rodolfo) loses. The match is incredible and always leaves me wanting to push it during some of the harder training sessions.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DLFqLCFqg&w=560&h=315]
Biggest Belt Promotion Ever!
Have you ever had someone close watch you go through a gauntlet, if so what was their reaction? Most of my students say their wives, husbands or whatever say, “WTF is wrong with you guys!”
Biggest Belt Promotion Ever!Well, at least for my gym.
Last Thursday I had the honor of promoting 21 people. 11 Blues and 10 Purples. I have always been very stingy with belts. I refuse to water down the sport and just give belts away. I think that by being slow to promote, it allows people to focus on what really matters. The community, getting better, competing and learning more about your self through hard work. But I messed up. I didn’t have a clear cut idea of what each belt should look like in my gym. You know. . . when you get your black belt its not like someone hands you an instruction manual on how to run a program. Instructing and running a program is unique to each gym and instructor so I had to develop my own views and ideas that matched up with that of my academy. When I finally finished ironing out what I expected out of each belt, I realized that during the last 2 years while the gym has experienced some incredible growth, many of my students were beyond where there current rank would suggest. Many of them had been at their current belts for 2 years and some up to 4! Yikes. So I had to reward their hard work, and to make it more fun I decided to do it all together. It made for a really fun day. My hats off to my students as I have not once heard a complaint or ever been asked for a belt promotion. Not once. So I am glad my students understand the whole point of this pajama wrestling stuff. Its not about the dyed cotton around our waist.
Anyways, I just wanted to give people an idea of why there were so many promotions and to share the video of some killer gauntlets. My morning class had around 20 people and my evening class had about 55. Made for some crazy belt whippings.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPVGY0AKcnc&w=560&h=315]
Whats really important in BJJ
There are so many things that contribute to make BJJ such an awesome martial art / sport. But over the years the thing that stands out for me the most is the community; the people. The people I’ve met over the last 10 years have literally changed my life. I’ve learned so much from them, both in regards to my BJJ and life. I now have friends all over the U.S and in plenty of places around the world.
This weekend was another reminder of that. I went to Nashville to take part in my friend Shawn Hammonds’ association meetup and Pans team training. There were over 100 people on the mat from all over the U.S going after it and the atmosphere was incredible. After the training my students and I had dinner with some friends from Tucson, and Beau (a brand new black belt) said it perfectly. He said something to the effect of, “It’s amazing how close you can feel to someone after a 3 hour training session. You’ll see someone everyday and you don’t feel that close to them, but then you see this guy you met at a gym somewhere and trained with for a few hours. When you see that guy you get excited like its one of your best friends.” I agree with that completely. When I see a training partner from another gym I get excited and in almost every instance I give them a hug instead of a hand gesture. I would say handshake but not that many people handshake anymore, its weird. That fellowship that exists in BJJ is what I believe makes it so special. We live in a world with so much technology separating us from any real human contact. It’s nice to have an outlet where we can let our social barriers down and be around like minded people.
Because I couldn’t train this weekend (my nose) I ended recording video of everyone else. I did a pretty poor job of it, but I pieced together what I could and made a short video of the training. If you ever had a chance to stop by Shawn’s gym you really should. He’s a fantastic coach and just an all around good dude. Oh and in the meantime be sure to take advantage of the community in BJJ around you. Go out to dinner with your teammates after training, go make trips to friend’s gyms, go compete. . . you get the idea. You only have so long to do this stuff. I know that sometimes going out of town to train or compete can be a hassle, but you’ll never regret it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAnYQbW8JA4&w=560&h=315]
Toe Hold to Guard Pass
So I have started doing leg lock classes with my students every Friday. I figured I’d get an early start and share this one. Enjoy.
Double Under Guard Pass
An old school pass with a small adjustment from the traditional way it was shown to me.
http://youtu.be/OK8VEPdxzMM</p>
Which BJJ competitor are you?
So I asked a hypothetical question on Facebook today.
Question to all the BJJ practitioners. Would you rather be competitor A or B?
Competitor A : Wins almost every match, consistently at the top of the podium, but is boring. Will get ahead on points by a pass or sweep and ride it out to win. Rarely submits opponents.
Competitor B: Wins most matches, consistently medals, but stills loses from time to time. Is exciting to watch. Many wins are by submission. Takes chances and goes for it regardless of the point spread.
I hope the cogs in your brain are turning and considering the choices! While you’re considering your options I’ll explain where the question came from.
I was recently browsing through http://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/ and saw a response to a video of Rafael Mendes vs Gianni Grippo which said something to the effect that the kimono makes BJJ boring. That when BJJ competitions are in the gi guys just get tangled up and it’s becomes slow and boring. He went on to share that he thought no gi BJJ was by far, more entertaining to watch. I myself, completely disagree with this thinking.
I don’t believe the kimono makes a grappling match innately boring. My belief is that whether its gi or no gi is irrelevant to the speed and excitement of the match. In my opinion it is the mindset of the competitors that will ultimately determine the pace of the match. Are you skeptical? Well, here’s why I believe this. If you do a search and watch certain BJJ competitors, some guys are just exciting and go after the win. You can’t find a boring match of these guys! Whether it’s a gi or a no gi match, they’re fun to watch. Then there are some competitors that are notorious for being snoozers. They will do just enough to win. Get a pass and sit, get a sweep and sit, wait till the last minute and score a takedown. These guys are just not entertaining to watch regardless of their match being gi or no gi.
I value the perceived fearlessness of a competitor that attacks and goes for the win rather than plays not to lose. These are the people who stick out in my mind and make me love BJJ competitions. I was curious about the mentality of some of the other BJJ players I know, so I posted the question.
What am I?
For myself personally, I am a B, but I end up an A from time to time. I perceive Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as an art form. Just like an artist tries to translate what he feels or sees inside to canvas or a writer to paper. I’m trying to take the techniques and abilities that I have worked to develop in the gym and display them on the tatami during competition when anxiety and fear are at a maximum. There have been numerous times where I won a match but felt dissatisfied after. The guy that won wasn’t me. I failed to display my true Brazilian Jiu-jitsu abilities because I was afraid of losing. Fear won, not me. In many cases these matches are boring because I failed to open up my game. These matches bother me so much. Then there are those matches where I end up losing but I feel very happy with the outcome. Even though I lost I was able to be myself on the mat. I opened up my style to the best of my abilities and went for it, and, even though I came up a little short I am content with the fact that I (big emphasis on the “I”) lost that match. I didn’t allow the fear of losing to prevent me from playing my game. Finally there are those perfect matches. You play your style perfectly and come out on top. They’re the best because it means I accomplished my objectives in a match. . . to dominate my opponent with my style of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and to be free of any fear of losing. I conquered my opponent and myself.
The Ancient Greeks said that Phobos (fear) rules the battlefield. I think it rules the mats too. If you become too afraid to lose, you don’t play your game and really go after the submission, which in the end, is the ultimate objective in BJJ and grappling. Of course, this is simply my interpretation and belief and many think differently. Again I see BJJ as an art and there is no right or wrong, just different. Well there are some things that are wrong. . . like giving black belts away. . . or not protecting your neck. . . but you get the idea. I’m just trying to not come across as if I am bashing all the A’s out there. I’m not. I just feel as though many competitors get so focused on winning that it renders them afraid to lose, which in turn, leads to boring matches where we don’t get to see the competitors open up and attack. In short, we don’t get to see who they really are on the mats.
I’m curious as to your view on the subject. From an instructor’s standpoint I love knowing what makes BJJ players tick. I find it incredibly interesting, so please comment and share whether you’re an A or a B and why.
As always, Thanks for reading.
Here are some of the responses I got from Facebook.
“B”
“A. Position before submission all day.”
“B….i rather lose like a man than win like a coward”
“B”
“B all day.”
“b. all my wins have been by submission. and there are quite a few”
“b. Call me many things, but please don’t ever call me boring.”
“If your goal is to a world champion, I would want to be competitor B until the worlds. At that point I would have a Competitor A attitude. Competitor B mindset would allow you to push your limits and be prepared for a lot of different scenerios.”
“I’m definitely a B competitor, until pans/worlds…”
“A. Make some money”
“B! I don’t believe in points… I wish all tournaments were true submission only… though we would likely still be watching the 2008 Mundials LIVE”
“If you are primarily a competitor you have to understand that you are playing a game. The goal of the competitor is to win. If I chose the competition route then I would play whatever style would get me the most wins.”
“I think thats true. To be the best competitor u must be smart and even conservative at times.”
“B but if it was a crazy big tournament and my opponent was super technical then A.”
“Competitor C. pull double guard, go for toe hold win on an advantage…… But seriously, B”
“B”
“I would go B but if it was a really big tournament I would probably be competitor A”
“Smaller stuff deff B. More prestigious events competitor A.”
“B. Its all about fun”
“A. complete control of what i do…not there for peoples amusement.”
“B..someday. 8)”
“Im more of a C. I win some. I lose some. But I always have a really awesome time and am really stoked to have rolled. Even when I lose. The couple of no gi matches I had with you, you totally crushed me. But i had a really awesome time, and was just stoked that I got a couple of rolls in with you.”
“B! Still working on it!:-)”
“A.. if your not first your last.. (Talladega Night’s)”
“B”
“B !all day long with no lunch break… Always looking for the finish! I would rather win by submission any day rather Than points. In my mind and heart I know I went for it and gave it 110%”
“A is a good way to think when it comes to self defense; every point is a chance at injury. B is the way you should “play” bjj during a competition with not much on the line but a trophy. I would rather be competitor B.”
“B! Submission only all day err day!”
“Anthony says B”
“B”
“B”
“B for sure!”
“B, what is life if you just ride it out all your life”
“B…..Go for the kill…..I mean submission. “
“B all day!”
“Kind of a loaded question. Do you want to be boring or exciting?”
“Even if B were to lose most matches, I’d still rather lose an exciting fight than win a boring one.”
“B”
“Duh. Lol”
“No one remembers points, go big or go home.”
“B”
“Sorry guys I’m an A…….I hate to lose….”
“can you make another option that wins all the time and submits?”
“Depends on the setting. If it’s a tournament that isn’t the pans or some big stage tournament like that then B would be the way I would go. Less to lose, in my opinion. If it is a bigger tournament I would play it safe and try my best to get to the top.”
Nose is fixed
Well yesterday I had my surgery to fix my broken nose and now I am in the process of healing. Right now I feel worse than I did when I had the broken nose! This surgery stuff is rough.
The doc said I’ll be out for around 6 weeks before I am able to train again. Well, full rolling anyway. So in the meantime I am going to focus on my students and helping them improve. In addition to making them better I am going to focus on my lifting a bit while I have the downtime. I’m still bummed about missing out on the initial start to the tournament season, but I am actually really excited about being able to focus solely on my students.
Injuries suck
Being entrenched into BJJ as a lifestyle and training full time you kind of have to come to grips with a certain frequency of injuries. You know they’re coming but you don’t know where and when they will happen. Sometimes it’s just a finger after a gi break, or maybe it’s a knee during a scramble, who knows? I understand this, and the aches that move from section to section of my body, but never leave, are a reminder of this. But even though you know the injuries are coming, every now and then one hits at the worst possible time.
I’m a little down in the dumps today because I found out that my little nose injury will be a little more than I thought it was going to be. I originally assumed it was going to be a quick snap back into place and voila! Instead I have to do a surgery. Minor albeit, but I still have to be put under. The kicker is that the healing time is going to be around 6 weeks or so, which really sucks considering I was preparing for Pans this year and that six week period is a lot of time away from hard rolling. Maybe lots of drilling and strength and conditioning will do the trick? We’ll see how things turn out, but it’s definitely bad timing! Plus I have several fighters getting ready for MMA fights and I hate not being able to push them and spar with them.
It’s pretty hard to make me a little depressed. I’m an overly positive, almost annoyingly so, person. But this definitely has me a little down today. Well, off to the weight room, at least I can do that for now.