Preparing to Perform Well in a Competitive Setting

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Got it, but am I the Lion or the Gazelle here? How will you find out?

In Jiu Jitsu it is important to get a clear picture of how you are going to be the lion. You don’t need to start there, but you need to get there.

What are your strengths? How will you position yourself to assert them? How will you compose yourself if you end up out of position instead? The more clearly you can see that, the more likely you will be able to make that happen.

The path to victory is not always a straight line. Learning to navigate towards better outcomes is what Jiu Jitsu is about. Fortunately for you there are several paths to success, and several styles of Jiu Jitsu to play.

The self defense application of Jiu Jitsu just means not getting beaten up. That’s it. That’s the whole goal - stay safe & don’t get beat up. Survive. It is a good baseline to maintain.

The other end of that spectrum is thriving. Getting the finish is how that is demonstrated in Jiu Jitsu.

You need to be ready to do both in hard training, or in a competitive match. Be ready to win dominantly. Also, at the same time, equally ready to survive, not get beat up, and look to find or create an opportunity to get to a better position.

On Approach

Sometimes the only way to survive IS to thrive. Generally speaking, in competitions the person who gets to go first is considered to have an advantage. Don’t be afriad to go first, to fight, to thrive. There is nothing wrong with it as long as you understand what you are trying to do and why.

Save energy and focus for where you specifically choose to thrive. You will likely need to give maximum effort to a technique, scramble, or even an entire match. Try hard to build to that though. Don't start there.

Start as chill and relaxed as is comfortable to you. Make sure you move your feet and keep finding the angles. Trust your body/mind to find the opportunities.

You know Jiu Jitsu.

Probably much more than you realize.

The more you can relax, move, and execute, the more your skills can take care of the details. Save your attention for when it is needed. Probe to find out what that is.

Warm Up With Intent - Compete With Intent

Warming up and getting ready is key. Practice your warm up every day. Then on match day you just warm up, get ready, and allow yourself to get into a rhythm that allows you to dictate the pace and place of the match - Wherever you feel you have the best chance to win.

That might be different for different opponents. The max effort might come at different times, right away, or not at all.

Control your breathing and control your output. Practice it everyday before match day and everyday in class.

The habit trains the reflex. Sometimes you make decisions in Jiu Jitsu. Sometimes the decisions you have made reveal the pattern you’ve established. Practice moving and warming up with intent and consideration.

Being fluid requires a little bit of letting go. Find your rhythm and picture where you want your body to be in the match - Then let go and allow yourself to get there, promptly.

Execution and Balance

Knowing how to deliberately execute is what martial arts is about. It's not so much about how much you know, but being able to execute the basically correct thing at the basically right time. The rest is polishing.

The more you can tie together your mental presence with your movements, or intent with your warm up, the better you will be able to find how your opponent is out of position, or make him out of position.

Judo has the concept of Kuzushi. It means to off balance your opponent. It is the first step in executing a throw. Implicit in that concept is that you yourself have, and maintain, your balance.

That’s what happens when you do Jiu Jitsu - you get your opponent tired then try to make them lose their balance or structure. Test your balance with your warm ups, and use your warm ups to train you to probe for stability - Think 1, 2,3, Sit out.

If you test your base, balance, and breathing with an active warm up, you'll be ready enter the match calmly, ready to have fun. That is what Jiu Jitsu is, and we are lucky to be able to do it. Not everyone has the chance, so use your chance well!

Make the warm up fun and allow yourself to feel relaxed and ready to go. You can do that everyday. Somedays we just compete more than others.

Have fun!