It’s around noon eastern standard time here in southern Ontario Canada. It’s 2°C, cloudy, with a chance of drizzle. Currently, I’m out walking our two dogs and using speech-to-text and talking into the Notes app on my iPhone. And in less than 24 hours I will be fighting a bunch of 20 something year olds in a round robin tournament in Toronto. I’m not nervous. Yet. I’ve been to two JiuJitsu competitions in my life last year and I didn’t get nervous until I stepped on the mat. And it was the same when I used to wrestle in high school all those years ago.
I’ve trained on the JiuJitsu mat and in the fitness gym these last few weeks, and I’m ready as I can be. I often times think about why I would even do such a thing, sign up to a competition and potentially get a permanent injury from young men full of energy and in their prime. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure that out. I have three jobs, a wife, and two dogs to take care of. Why would I risk permanent injury and jeopardize all of those things in my life. I like training jiujitsu and I like telling people I train jiujitsu. It’s one of the many hats that I wear. I wear a tutor hat. I wear a cooks hat. I wear a support workers hat and I wear a jujitsu hat. Out of all the hats I wear the jiujitsu one is still a mystery.
When I told people I was fighting in eight matches, they all had the same look, wide-eyed and surprised, and all of them said in different ways. “wow that’s a lot good luck,” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think I’m trying to re-create the feelings and good vibes I experienced from wrestling tournaments from back in the day, I’m trying to relive the old days, and a nostalgic feeling I get from training for and driving to and walking around and competing at the tournaments.
I just hope it’s worth the risk of potentially permanent injury. My hand is getting really cold and I need to pick up the dog mess in the grass. I’ll let you know how the competition goes.
You’ve come a long way since walking into the gym and signing up for a jujitsu membership.
Just walking through the doors and deciding that this is something you want to dedicate your time to, is a feat unto itself.
A reminder that most people don’t do jujitsu, most people who do join end up leaving for various reasons, and most people who stay for a bit end up quitting at blue belt. At least that’s what they say.
Just over a week ago I got my fourth stripe on my white belt in Brazilian jujitsu. It means a lot more than the other three stripes.
This fourth stripe I actually feel like I’ve earned it and deserve it. That’s not to say I don’t trust my head instructors judgment, when giving out stripes. I think it has more to do with my lack of self-confidence from when I first started my martial arts journey.
Who knows how long I’ll have my fourth stripe for before I get the coveted blue belt. Then the fun can really start.
How many stripes do you have on your white belt? If you are a higher belt, do you remember what it was like having four stripes on your white belt?
Here are some observations about being a four stripe white belt:
Survival
I’ve had enough white belts and blue belts and the rare purple belt tell me I have good defence.
That’s a wonderful compliment at this stage in my game. That being said, I almost never go for or attempt a submission finish.
The only technique I try for is a head and arm choke from side control or mount.
It works less than fifty percent of the time. I’ll take it, that’s pretty good for me.
Escapes
With survival usually comes escaping. At least that’s what I’ve experienced. Or you’re saved by the buzzer, which is a white belts best friend.
At this stage in my game as a four stripe white belt, escaping from someone taking my back is getting easier. It’s not easy though.
But it’s now not impossible. Escaping from side control is still challenging and I haven’t found my favourite way of escaping that, in no gi it’s a bit easier for some reason. I think because we’re sweatier.
I still get caught in arm bars and triangles. From white belt to higher belts. I must be doing something wrong.
I think that I tend to put my hands out when passing and lean over too much, what can I say I love putting the pressure on when I pass.
It’s the wrestler in me I guess. Gotta keep them arms in.
Mindset
Why keep showing up in the first place?
I like to say I have a white belt mindset. Always eager to learn, being a newbie in an ever growing and evolving martial art.
I bet even higher belts still have that mindset. There were times I really struggled with wanting to keep showing up.
But after I got my third stripe I knew I was on the right track. After getting my fourth stripe I can see the blue belt in my sights.
I still have a long way to go to get there but I am not stopping. Not now when I’m so close.
What do I think blue belt is like?
I feel like being a white belt in bjj is the tutorial in a video game. And the real game hasn’t even started yet until blue belt.
My defence will still be a work in progress but it will be harder for whites and blues to submit me. It will happen but not as much. The higher belts will still destroy me, of course.
At blue belt that’s when I will get my attacking and escaping game going. With a tight defence I can feel comfortable and confident in attempting attack techniques and submissions. Maybe something OTHER than a head and arm choke.
What do YOU think it will be like when YOU get your blue belt?
I signed up for a No Gi AND Gi competition. Round Robin. I’ve never done a No Gi Comp but why the heck not. This will be my third competition ever. I’m currently 0-2 in competing in bjj. I have a good feeling about this next one.
I have to make sure I don’t psych myself out either. Looking at the brackets everyday is not a good idea. Fear can keep people from competing. Fear of embarrassment can keep people from even joining or trying Jiu Jitsu.
Why the heck am I going to train for a martial arts competition at the age of 37? Why would I put my body and mind through that? Am I trying to prove something to myself? Not sure. But I know I want to have fun. And BJJ is fun.
I’m going to train on the mats AND in the gym. I need to be lifting more weights this next seven weeks since I will be in a heavier weight division, 170lbs, I’m currently 160lbs.
I now have a focus and motivation for going to the fitness gym. For years I haven’t been able to make weight-lifting a habit. Hopefully now that I have a goal of actually being competitive this time around it’ll motivate me to keep going to the gym at LEAST three times a week.
I got to say I’m excited about this next competition. I feel my wrestling skills will be more prominent in No Gi since there is no material to grip when hand-fighting and for my stand-up. But when I’m in someone’s closed guard in No Gi, like what the heck do I even grab? In training I sort of grab on to my opponents arms or wrists and try to post on them, is that correct? I’m need to look in to that. No Gi is like a different martial art than Gi.
Anyways, have you tried a free trial jiu jitsu class yet? Try it out!
Have you ever received stripes in a martial art? And have you ever felt like you didn’t deserve them?
About a month ago I got promoted two stripes. I’m now a two stripe white belt in the martial art of Jiu Jitsu. I was so excited to get them I blasted it out on twitter to let all you folks know.
After the buzz I got from sharing my accomplishment and receiving your “congrats” messages, I started to question the decision, Do I really deserve these two stripes?
It first happened when I had a terrible outing during an open mat session at our gym the following week after I got the stripes. I got wrecked even harder than I usually did. I thought to myself, Why did our head instructor promote me in the first place?
I thought about it a bit and figured it was because I showed up a lot. Our head instructor went around the gym the day we got stripes and asked if we had signed in at the front before starting. I read somewhere on Reddit r/bjj that Gracie Barra does promotions based on attendance, and I recall many comments dumping on GB because of that. Any gym can run things how they want and no gym does it perfectly, but I think getting a stripe for showing up is a good thing (of course I’m biased because I got one for that, I think). The stripe can be a sign of commitment, your discipline in showing up and doing the hard work.
Okay so why did I receive a second stripe? Well the head instructor told me, after I said I was surprised I got two stripes, that “You competed and almost died!” with a laugh. We both laughed. It’s true I got beat and almost choked out, but survived the full five minute round (you can read about it here).
I got my stripes for showing up often to class and for competing. Not necessarily for how good I am at technique. But I have had other white belts and some higher belts tell me my game has improved, especially my back-defence. And that means a lot to me.
So, do I think I deserve those two stripes? YES
Jiu Jitsu is hard. Most people don’t do jiu jitsu. Most people in jiu jitsu don’t compete. And most white belts in jiu jitsu don’t stay after they get promoted to blue belt. Why? I have no Idea but I’m making it to blue belt for sure. I just have to keep showing up and getting worked by my partners. As I get my butt kicked I’ll learn along the way and eventually not get my butt kicked as bad, that’s the idea anyway. I have to roll smart and avoid permanent injury (You hear that shoulders! You better not get injured again!).
First of all, good on you! Definitely a great BJJ goal. I’ve learned competing in BJJ isn’t for everyone and most people who practice Jiu Jitsu don’t compete. So you should be proud that you want to put your body through the competition submission gauntlet.
Being a no stripe white belt when I competed was great for me (May 2022). It focused my training and goals for Jiu Jitsu. I now know I want to compete in this sport. I bet that most people who join and do Jiu Jitsu do it for self defence and exercise, whatever gets them to show up to the mats is cool with me. Also, for my hard work and dedication towards training I received two stripes at once after the competition. I didn’t know someone could get two stripes at once, I was surprised and pumped.
I lost my match 6-0. But survived the five minute round without being submitted, barely. I almost got choked out with a cross collar choke while I was in my opponents closed guard. I got put into a high full mount but then rolled out of it with eight seconds left. I survived my first BJJ match. What a feeling.
For the person who’s never competed and isn’t sure if they want to, here’s what I did for my first comp last May, about 4 weeks before competing:
-created an eating schedule -ate whole foods and cooked meals more often than not -went to every class I could, especially the ones with sparring, picked two attacks, two guard passes, two sweeps to learn -focused on defence more -create realistic goals for my first competition (didn’t care about winning but cared about showing up, making weight, trying my moves, and surviving a round) -found a supportive community of likeminded folks
Creating an Eating Schedule and Eating Healthy
I had help with this. I first did a bit of research and then someone showed me the work of Mike Dolce of the Dolce Diet. I did not do the workouts but instead focused on the nutrition aspect. It is basically eating whole foods, veggies, and fruit – and eating a breakfast, lunch, and dinner with healthy snacks in between. At least that was my simple interpretation on it. And I didn’t follow it exactly. My wife helped a lot with this part of the training. She prepared many meals and snacks for me.
The frequency I ate and portion control (that was hard!) was the main reason I believe I was able to lose the lbs in order to make my weight class. The meal schedule went like this…
-Breakfast at 9am -Snack at 11pm and 1pm -Lunch at 3pm -Dinner at 5pm -Snack at 7pm -Fast for 14 hours until breakfast the next day
I wasn’t perfect with this. If there were days I didn’t eat well I would just fast the next day, which was also challenging.
I messaged my wife just now and asked her what I ate because I forgot:
“Breakfasts was poop well pudding [a pudding my wife made that has lots of fibre – fruit chia seeds, flax seeds and other stuff] Eggs and maybe some veggies Lunch was normally some salad with a meat of beans or legumes Dinner was the same or similar to lunch Snacks was fruit. Peanut butter Bananas Smoothies but just half of one”
Here are some pics of the foods I ate…
Went to Every Class I Could
I go to a Gracie Barra academy. They have GB1, GB2, GB3. GB1 is for fundamentals, GB2 is the advanced class (three stripe white belts or higher), and GB3 for higher belts. However, the academy I go to is real chill and anyone can go to the advanced class. When there is a tournament we are going to, they allow lower belts to go to the GB3 class as they also call it the ‘comp class’ where they do competition specific training. They also have No Gi classes as well. Basically, I went to as many of all of those classes I could that had sparring in it, especially the Open Mats on Saturdays that have a full hour of sparring – 5min rounds then 1min breaks in between for an hour.
At the height of my training I was going Monday to Saturday, 8 hours a week, that happened for about two weeks. It was intense. It was a lot. Maybe too much at one point. But even during all of this I was able to take days off and relax. Besides, Jiu Jitsu is for fun and if I don’t want to go I don’t go. The mats aren’t going anywhere and I’ll be doing this for as long as I’m interested.
Create Realistic Goals
What the heck did I do during all this training? Well whatever was in the GB curriculum we would learn. But for me, since I am a white belt, there can be way too much info coming in and not a lot retained. So what I did was focus on the moves I understood and did well at. And although I didn’t perform all the moves I wanted to during the match, at least I prepared myself in a way that I didn’t overwhelm myself. I came up with a Game Plan. For example, I chose some submissions, escapes, passing guard, my guard, and some takedowns. Often times when it came to sparring I would forget to practice those moves, but again at least I didn’t overwhelm myself or put pressure on myself to have to do all those moves. I had to be realistic, it was my first completion after all.
Winning wasn’t even on my mind. Sure, I did think now and then that ‘wouldn’t it be cool if I won a match or the whole thing?!’ – but I quickly shot that down and focused on my goals. There’s no point in building myself up and creating unrealistic expectations and then end up failing badly and feeling horribly. Once I have more competitions under my belt, I can start to focus on winning matches and tournaments.
Find a Supportive Community
Did you know there is a great BJJ community on Twitter? I have no idea how I found them but I did and they are encouraging and great. I haven’t experienced anything bad from them and have in fact got a good amount of info and perspectives I wouldn’t have got as quickly if I didn’t find them online. For example, I can post a newbie white belt question and have back belts give me their advice or perspective on it, whether the questions are about certain techniques or proper mindsets to have in Jiu Jitsu. I’m glad I found them and encourage you to find a similar group online or in real life if you can.
To sum it up, when it comes to your first BJJ competition – for the Physical aspect go to as many classes as possible and eat well. For the Mental (Mindset) aspect create realistic goals for yourself considering it’s your first competition. If you try these things I mentioned, you’ll at the very least get healthier and have fun. If you have fun then the chances are that you’ll want to compete again, and that will help improve your BJJ game.
That’s me. On the bottom. Surviving.
Is There Anything I Would Have Done Differently?
There are a few things I would have done differently and will work on them next time…
-show up earlier to the comp -warm up for longer at the comp -and not worry so much about losing weight
These are minor things but overall I will follow my BJJ Game Plan pretty much the same for next time.
Overall I had a ton of fun and can’t wait to compete again this year. With my rough training formula of eating well, going to as many classes as I can, and having a few realistic goals – then I should be well prepared for my next competition.
Also, here are some reading resources that I found useful to help me prepare for my first tournament. They go over some technique but mostly mindset and expectations.
There and Back 