Competing as a hobbyist is exhilarating. Doing your regular life routine but also preparing for a fight can be challenging but it’s worth it.
Here’s my training regime for my upcoming comp in October (month and a half away)…
Fitness Gym:
All upper body lifting. Chest press, bicep curls, back rows, and shoulder presses. I must look the part and when I walk onto the mat I will strike fear into hearts of my opponents. 2 days a week should be good. My cardio is not the greatest so I’m not really looking to improve that much in that area. Too much work.
Get those 10,000 steps in before bed.
BJJ Gym Frequency:
Open mat every Saturday. Roll all ten rounds. Pick white belts as my partners so I can build confidence from smashing them. No gi once or twice a week. Also go to fundamentals class once or twice a week with my wife because we always have a fun time goofing around.
BJJ Skills to Work On:
Gripping in gi and no gi. I get the grip fight in gi but my No gi gripping is shite. If my grip game is solid I can get to a good position and work to submit from there. Pretty confident with that part. Also a heavy focus on underhooks and open guard for No gi.
Nutrition:
I eat pretty well. Cook almost every night. Steak, pork, or ground beef with veggies and rice. But when I’m at work, that’s when I eat like crap. Gotta stay away from the fries and Tim Bits. Need to lose 2-3 pounds, is definitely doable.
Mindset:
I felt way more confident and comfortable at my last competition in January, when I didn’t care about the outcome of the match. It took pressure off me and my expectations were realistic and I had more fun. Also, a trick I do is not looking at the brackets and my opponents before hand, so I don’t look at their profiles on SmoothComp and then psych myself out. I have my wife tell me when my match is coming up. And only try to see my opponent right before I get on the mat.
What are some ways that YOU like to prepare for a BJJ competition?
You know what I mean. But for those that don’t…try not to stare, and instead use good eye contact. Stop fidgeting and slouching and instead stand up straight with your shoulders back and chest out like the popular sculpting position called ‘Contrapposto.’ Own your space with certainty.
Simply be cool. Be friendly, but not too much of a nice guy (read: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover).
At the same time, don’t be a conceded, know-everything asshole. Blend a perfect mix of confident and relaxed with approachable and composed.
This makes people respect you and want to be around you. And most importantly it will make people more likely to want to partner up with you.
Becoming the type of person I just described above is beyond the scope of this post. And probably not attainable for most people. Believe me, I’ve been trying for over a decade. But just going to jiu jitsu class regularly, will help with those personality characteristics.
This sport has a way of changing people for the better (most of the time). Also, grappling tends to filter out the goofs. Usually but not always. Don’t be weird.
A note on creepy…if you get paired up with a woman from your class, don’t be creepy. If you don’t know what that means, you might be creepy.
Match Their Intensity
Have you ever rolled with a person that felt like they were fighting demons?
It’s as if you are being used as a stress ball. It’s as if the tension they’ve accumulated throughout the week is being released onto you. It’s as if their unresolved trauma and shock is your fault and you must pay.
We’ve all been there. We might even be that person. But If I had one piece of advice to new white belts, it would be: chill the f*** out.
We want to have a good experience sparring and rolling with our partners, and the best thing to do is to match their intensity while rolling.
Have you ever heard of ‘mirroring’? “Mirroring is the behaviour in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another.” They say that this can be a good way to build rapport with others.
When you’re trying to match someones intensity, think of mirroring.
If they go hard, you go hard. If they want to flow roll, you flow roll. And everything in between. This is based on FEEL. Yes you can roll how you want, but if you roll too hard, some folks will avoid rolling with you.
That being said, I believe it’s good to roll with as many different types of people and styles, so your bjj game can absorb the breadth that the sport has to offer. Just be careful.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you can roll with whoever you like and you can not roll with anyone you don’t like. It’s your journey, do what you want.
Allow Your Partner to Practice the Technique
This comes down to patience and giving your partner the appropriate amount of resistance.
The person you’ve partnered up with may be a clumsy new white belt (or a clumsy blue belt with one stripe, like me). Allow them the space to fail and fail and fail, and give advice when asked or when needed. Don’t get frustrated when they get frustrated, show some maturity. This is tough because a blue belt only knows what a blue belt knows. For example, if someone asks me a question regarding a technique we’re practising, I give them details that I recognize but I always tell them that the head instructor knows best and to call them over for more clarification.
My wife is very competitive. Board games, card games, anything that involves competition. When we are at BJJ and she isn’t understanding the technique right away, she sometimes gets frustrated. I do my best to use encouraging language “You got this” or “That’s almost right, but here’s a detail that might help…” or “Let’s get (so and so) over here to show us the correct movement.” Encouraging language makes people feel comfortable even when they are failing.
And trust me, when I don’t use encouraging language or if I get frustrated and annoyed, we both feel it and our energy shifts. Just be aware that your demeanor can affect your partner. Keep that in mind.
A note on humility…it’s okay if you don’t understand and perform the technique right away. Jiu jitsu is hard and it will take a long time to get good at it. Some people pick it up fast while others not so fast. “Learn to be where you’re at.”
The other aspect of allowing your partner to practice the technique, is giving appropriate resistance. That means not going 100% defence and not allowing them to go through the motions of the submission or guard passing or whatever you’re learning.
Some people even ask me to give more resistance if they want to feel what it’s like when someone is trying to defend themselves from the technique. Ask your partner, or tell your partner how much resistance they/you want when learning a technique.
Don’t be weird. Match your partners intensity.And allow your partner to actually practice the technique you’re learning.
I’m still trying to master all of those and expect to be working on them for many years to come. Because one of my biggest goals in jiu jitsu is to become a good partner. If we learn well together, we all get better together. And if we all get better together, we can fight each other using really cool moves and become modern day ninjas. Isn’t that what we all want?
Higher belts compliment your courage and adversity. Lower belts admire your dignity and grace. Your enemies would never dare to test your strength and ferociousness. And your friends and family don’t really understand why you go to a legal fight club every week but they like you anyway. You’re basically a modern-day samurai.
After getting my first stripe on my blue belt, I finally feel like a blue belt. What does that mean exactly, to ‘feel like a blue belt’?
It feels like I understand most basic positions
I might not know all the techniques in jiujitsu, I’m not sure anyone actually does. But I can understand what instructors are saying 90% of the time. However, if they start talking about K-Guard or leg entanglements then I’m pretty much lost.
It feels like I can submit and positionally dominate white belts
The difference between a three stripe white belt and a one stripe blue belt is patience. All the white belts I roll with (and some blue, but all white) are either tense, shaking, rushing themselves, or panicking. Nowadays, I’m cool as a cucumber even when someone takes my back and has a body triangle locked in real tight. As a result my defense is getting better with every open mat. When it comes to positional control, I can really get a sense of where and how I am supposed to be putting my body in certain positions and how I and my partner are most likely to react in those scenarios. Beating up white belts makes me better.
It feels like I’m not going anywhere
They say most people quit at blue belt. They think they know all they need to know. I actually agree with that. If everyone out there was a blue belt, street fights would be safer and there might not be as many. I want to do this as a life long activity. A hobbyist who competes sometimes. Maybe one day could teach others how to survive even when someone takes their back and has a body triangle locked in real tight.
Here are three skills that got me this far: 1. Taking my lumps 2. Knowing my body / recovery 3. Research
Taking Lumps
I get beat up at every class. Doesn’t matter who I was rolling with. Sure, I might get more subs then my training partner (doesn’t happen that often for me) or my defense will be solid, but none of it came easy. It was always a grind. But I kept showing up. There is this weird phenomenon that I will call the Fight Club Phenomenon (will henceforth be referred to as FCP). FCP is when you get beat up but keep coming back. There is a feeling of triumph even though you got smashed. You put your body through hell, and came out alive. You realize you can do a combat sport without quitting. You learned a lot about yourself. Fighting becomes a form of self-improvement and you want more!
Knowing your body / recovery
You want to know a little secret? Sometimes I choose not to go to bjj class. Not just because I have an injury or I am busy with something else. Sometimes I don’t go simply because I don’t want to. Don’t get me wrong, I still love rolling. But sometimes I need to listen to my body. And when my body says ‘hey maybe we should take a break and let that chronic shoulder injury you’ve had since high school recoup a bit’ I take its advice and don’t go for a few days or even a week. There’s nothing wrong with taking time off. As they say, the mats aren’t going anywhere. And the mats want your body to be at its best when you are there.
Research
I watch bjj comps and match videos often. I bought a yearly FloGrappling subscription a year ago and there is tournaments on all the time. Also, on Youtube, there are free livestreams of IBJJF comps all over the world. (side note: I cancelled my FloGrappling subscription and it won’t renew at the end of August, since I didn’t want to pay another $200+ again. Its a cool app, but not worth it for me when I can find competitions for free elsewhere.)
I also read about jiu jitsu often. Here’s a short list of books I’ve read or I’m reading or I plan on reading, that have helped with mindset and keeping interest in the sport: -Grappling 101: How to Avoid Being Bullied on the Mat by Bakari Akil II PhD -The Lazy Man’s Guide to Grappling by Bakari Akil II PhD -The Black Belt Blueprint: An Intelligent Approach to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Nicolas Gregoriades -The Jiu Jitsu Answer Man: Intriguing Questions, Thought-Provoking Responses, Informative Articles, and Fascinating Stories by Roy Harris -Becoming the Black Belt: One Man’s Journey in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Roy Dean -On Jiu Jitsu by Chris Matakas -Mastering the 21 Immutable Principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Paulo Guillobel -Jiu Jitsu 101: White Belt Survival Guide by Jiujitology -Jiu Jitsu 201: From Blue Belt to Black and Back to White by Jiujitology -Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro and Kevin Howell
To name just a few.
The power of osmosis has my brain soaking up all this knowledge unconsciously and then it swells up to my consciousness when I roll. I have no idea how it works, but it works.
With all that being said, sometimes I miss being a white belt. It was an amazing feeling.
Are you a blue belt? What have you enjoyed so far about that belt?
Are you a white belt? What are you looking forward to the most when it comes to getting your blue?
Keep showing up and you’ll get that stripe on your blue belt quicker than you think.
The black belt head instructor was rolling with me and proceeded to dominate, as expected. At the end of the roll I said his pressure was amazing. He said it’s all in balance, pressure, and connection. I will try and explain what he said to me.
For example, if you’re in Mount you want to catch your balance first, so they don’t sweep you. Then you want to put pressure on them to make it hard on them to move. Then you want to start making a connection to a limb for a break or their neck for a choke. It seems simple, and it probably is but it’s hard to execute.
The more I think about it, it seems like these concepts of balance, pressure, and connection when added together, equal control.
So how did the rest of my rolls go today?
My ability to dominate white belts continues to impress. My ability to get dominated by higher belts also continues to impress.
What can I say? I’m an impressive blue belt with one stripe.
After rolling with a black belt today at open mat, he said I’ve gotten a lot better. He said that him and another black belt have been watching me from the side of the mat and have noticed I’ve been improving a lot and that my flow is looking really nice.
He also said since I’m a quiet guy, a lot of people are sleeping on me, meaning I’m unsuspecting and they wouldn’t know how good I actually am until they roll with me. I thanked him and said that means a lot coming from him.
Now I’m gonna have a giant smile on my face all day.
After rolling with a back belt (it was more survival than anything), a purple belt called me over. He asked me “do you study Jiu Jitsu?”
I said “I dunno I watch it a lot, I used to wrestle in high school” (I always like to tell people I used to wrestle in high school). He said “you rolled really well with him” as he motioned at the black belt I just sparred with.
What a great compliment!
He then showed me a technique/ submission that I had on the black belt but didn’t realize at the time while rolling that I had it.
For example, I’m in side control on top, both my opponents arms are trapped under me, I then would get a cross-face and then triangle my arms to tighten. It’s like a squeeze submission, very cool.
I thanked him for showing me the technique and then went off to spar with my next partner. A good day on the mats for sure.
Near the end of last year, the head instructor and owner the GB gym I go to, has used me as the Uke (AKA the demonstration dummy that the techniques are shown on in the middle of the mat so everyone can see what they’re learning that class) for almost every class I’ve been in since then. I’ve been wondering why he keeps picking me.
What is an Uke in BJJ?
The technical definition for Uke is…
“When learning new moves, partners will take turns practicing on each other. The “uke” is the student who is allowing a partner to practice a technique on them. It is the uke’s job to be cooperative and not provide too much resistance, so their partner can successfully practice and learn the technique. However, a good uke is not a limp noodle!”
I haven’t got any special powers from being the demonstration dummy. Although I’ve been able to not show how much pain I’m in when my coach is done showing the move. Gotta stay strong in front of those white belts!
When I first started BJJ, as a fresh white belt, I thought it was the highest honor and coolest spot to be in. I admired and looked up to the Ukes. I thought, there must be something special about them, they must know the technique perfectly if they are being used to teach it!
After being the Uke dozens of time now, I can say for certain that that isn’t the case (at least for me). Often times after being smashed by the instructor, I can’t remember what the technique was that I was part of. I wonder if there are any new members who think the same things about me when I’m the demonstration dummy, that I used to think of the Ukes when I first started.
PSA: be nice on your Ukes, they have feelings too!
Here are some of the top replies that people shared about why they pick certain people to be the Uke:
“Same size as me, contrasting gi color, and skilled enough to give correct responses. Unless it’s, like, escapes or something where a bigger person is more compelling.”
“order of importance: -Least wet person -smells of cinnamon and fresh baked bread -makes me look better”
“I’m never picked. Too sweaty”
“It depends. Often it’s the ones that bend the most. I usually go for lighter people so I can explain it in detail without much effort, especially if it’s dynamic.”
“Not necessarily belt level. Sometimes it has to do with body type best to demonstrate the technique. Some people just make better ukes than others though regardless of the belt. They listen, anticipate, and respond correctly for the demonstration.”
“Someone who I know is going to give me realistic/appropriate reactions to the technique I’m demoing. Nothing worse than trying to show how to prevent a common counter and the uke is going ham on shit that no one would ever do ever.”
“I choose someone more or less my size (I’m short) but prefer a higher grade (purple or above) – mainly because they know how to react as I talk through a technique and secondly I do not have to show them the same thing again after demonstrating it.”
“Whoever is my social anxiety blanket at the time…”
“My prof uses the guy least likely to go unconscious.”
“Good, not heavy, someone I like as a person.”
So basically, if I had to guess why my head instructor picks me to be the Uke each time I train, it’s probably because we’re the same height, I’m a blue belt so I can react mostly correctly (although not all the time heh), I weigh less than him so it’s easier to do a technique, and I’m a decent person and not a shit head. All those sound good to me. Or, he picks me because I’m the closest person on the mat to him and it’s just easier. Who knows.
As we were drilling a cool sweep in class recently, I think I heard my head instructor say to a couple of white belts, that sweeping is the fastest way to the mount. It got me thinking, maybe I’m doing this bjj thing wrong (wrong for my age and body type).
I’ll be 39 this year. I’m in decent shape, don’t drink or smoke. And can recover fairly well. But I can’t keep up or out wrestle the younger people at my jiu jitsu gym. Ain’t gonna happen. No matter how much I try and finish a single or double leg takedown. Even a failed attempt at a single leg takedown, and I’m exhausted.
Time for a new approach.
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Grappling
“If you’re going to get beat anyway then realize that this is an opportunity to take it easy”
You know how they say, destroy your ego, well in the case of getting beat in a bjj round, if you’re going to lose a position or get submitted, take the L. Your ego won’t be hurt. Your ego will be so strong it doesn’t even care if your guard gets passed because you’ve survived and didn’t get hurt.
“A grappling school is a learning environment and if you grapple long enough you will be able to hand out more whippings than there will be grapplers to accept them.”
Our time will come, my fellow older blue belt. But that time won’t come if we get injured. And we’ll get injured if we keep rolling like an 18 year old college wrestler.
“Once you have them clamped down then you can begin to rest and start thinking about what you want for dinner after practice. Depending upon experience they will be moving a little or a lot in order to break free, but it will be a lot less than you because you have established position. For them, not only have they not established a favorable position, they are operating from a deficit.”
Position before submission. Don’t rush. Establish control before attacking. I constantly need to remind myself of those. If you go slow you can go fast (that sounds like some old school martial arts wisdom, it’s not mine I definitely heard it somewhere though).
“To throw my grappling buddies off when I am on top, I sometimes act as if I am going after a choke or I will pull their gi out of their belt and pretend I am working on a new type of submission. In reality I am just buying time, as most people will try to defend by trying to remove my hand or keep me from tugging on their gi. I often have no idea what I am doing but I gain precious rest while pretending I possess awesome skills”
There isn’t much time to rest and take it easy while grappling, so why not make time? I also often don’t really know what I want to do from any given position, either on top or bottom. “Fake it ‘til to make it” is a good strategy for the aspiring lazy grappler.
“As a lazy grappler I don’t have the energy or motivation to spend two minutes trying to get you down. I need you down yesterday […]
My mission is to, as quickly as possible, do one of the following: overwrap both of my opponent’s arms (one will suffice too), apply a bear hug or get a Greco Roman grip. Once I lock up an opponent I like to apply an inside or outside leg trip
Bear hug and trip. That sounds low effort and low risk. I like the sound of that!
If you want to last long, save energy, and stay cool calm and collected, while rolling jiu jitsu, I highly recommend becoming a lazy grappler.
I’ve noticed some weird bjj training phenomena that has made my bjj game get better. Becoming a lazy grappler is one of them.
Don’t take it too seriously, have fun, and don’t get injured. Don’t use too much energy, low-effort techniques are your friends, and move slow to prevent yourself from getting hurt.
Now doesn’t that sound like a good plan for BJJ longevity!
Here are some interesting phenomena that I’ve discovered during my time on the mats…
Not going to JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
Have you ever noticed that when you take a break from JiuJitsu and then come back, you’re actually better?
That’s happened to me enough times that I think I’ve discovered a new way to get better at jujutsu.
It seems counter intuitive. And I’m not suggesting that not going to class all the time will make you better than if you went to as many classes as you could. But sometimes when I’m away from the mats for a week or two, I’ll come back to an open mat and actually roll really well. I can’t explain it but it happens.
Maybe that has to do with my expectations. Maybe my brain uses that time to digest the technical aspects and catch up to my body. Maybe there’s a bunch of other variables involved like the time of day, how my opponents are feeling etc.
Being “lazy” at JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
I use the word “lazy” loosely here. It’s more energy efficient than lazy. But lazy is the way I think about it. Lazy and comfy and relaxed. Not doing too much or more than you need to do.
Why do a takedown when you can pull guard? I’ve noticed all the black belts at my gym rarely do takedowns. Most of them are older than me, so maybe that’s just a way they are mitigating injuries. But I believe it’s also because: using the least amount of energy in bjj is a black belt level skill that you and I should try.
Not caring about JiuJitsu makes you better at JiuJitsu
So what if your opponent taps you in class? You get to restart.
So what if you lose a match at a competition? You can always sign up for another one.
I don’t mind giving up positions as long as I’m safe. But I don’t care if I give them up. When I won a match at the last comp I went to, my mindset was, “I don’t care if I win but it would be nice.” It helped calm my nerves a bit. I didn’t put a ton of pressure on myself so I had a clearer mind going into the match. It worked out for me.
So basically, if you take anything from this post it should be:
⁃ don’t go to class too much
⁃ if you do, be lazy
⁃ and don’t care how you do when you’re there
But seriously, sometimes these work! It’s okay if you need to take time off training, you’re not going to lose all your knowledge. And you don’t have to go ham every class and go all out, you can chill and relax. And don’t put too much pressure on yourself and instead focus on having fun.
That’s why we joined in the first place, right?
I do these sometimes and it actually makes me better.
How about you, have you noticed this in your BJJ training?
I did in fact get off work early and made it to GB1 Fundamentals and then the GB3 class.
We learned K guard tonight. Then k guard to the matrix back take. Now that is some advanced leg entanglements.
And as I said, I got smashed. Thought I pulled a muscle in my hand. But when I got home and showed my soon-to-be-nurse wife, she said it’s just a bruise. I’m lucky then.
There and Back 