BJJ, Competition, and Stress

[GAP]

Congrats on having the balls to get out there and test yourself.

There are few of us who train, even fewer who compete in front of people.

Prior to my twelve fights in MMA, i competed in countless BJJ tournaments. Honestly, experience cured the adrenaline dump for me. You learn the prep, learn the flow of things, know what to expect, etc.

For instance, I could always tell the new guy from the seasoned fighter backstage. The new guy would be pacing around and shadow boxing hours before they went out to fight. After a fight or two I had my sneakers off and a hoodie up with my iPod in relaxing on the floor.

We've had plenty of guys over the years that were studs in the gym but froze in competition and never went after it again.

My advice would be to compete as much as possible and don't put so much pressure on yourself to win. It will happen naturally, just embrace the grind.

[txdpd]

It's like sex, first time jitters are normal, you'll get better with repetition.

I've been training daily for the last 8 months.

I don't know what you're training encompasses or the intensity, but are you giving yourself enough time to recover? Over-training isn't as much of a problem as under-recovering. The let down from an adrenaline dump can be absolutely crushing when combine with the cumulative effects of long term physical, mental/emotional, CNS, and adrenal fatigue. Crashing and burning after an adrenaline dump is a good sign that you're just stressed out. If that's the case, try to avoid the going into a death spiral of worrying about why you didn't do well which is just adding more stress, training even harder without a plan which is more stress, not doing well again, and repeating that cycle. You'll burn out, get sick, or injured.

Your training should be like running a 10k race. Start off a little slower than you would like, build up your pace and work your self into a competitive position at the front of the pack, and be ready to sprint at the end. It's 9950 meters of controlled effort to set you up for 50m of all out effort at the end. The 200 50m sprints strategy doesn't work in a 10k and it doesn't work in training.

[ford.304]

It's like sex, first time jitters are normal, you'll get better with repetition.



I don't know what you're training encompasses or the intensity, but are you giving yourself enough time to recover? Over-training isn't as much of a problem as under-recovering. The let down from an adrenaline dump can be absolutely crushing when combine with the cumulative effects of long term physical, mental/emotional, CNS, and adrenal fatigue. Crashing and burning after an adrenaline dump is a good sign that you're just stressed out. If that's the case, try to avoid the going into a death spiral of worrying about why you didn't do well which is just adding more stress, training even harder without a plan which is more stress, not doing well again, and repeating that cycle. You'll burn out, get sick, or injured.

Your training should be like running a 10k race. Start off a little slower than you would like, build up your pace and work your self into a competitive position at the front of the pack, and be ready to sprint at the end. It's 9950 meters of controlled effort to set you up for 50m of all out effort at the end. The 200 50m sprints strategy doesn't work in a 10k and it doesn't work in training.

Thanks, I will try to remember that. I'm not killing myself every day -- I do one or two days a week where I try to crush things and the rest are lighter, friendlier rolls against upper belts, or more drill focused.

I know what you mean, though. For a while I was trying to squeeze in that and lifting 3x a week on a calorie deficit... I had nothing left and just hurt constantly

[Cecil Burch]

I don't think you ever are able to control the adrenaline dump. My coach has almost beyond a doubt competed more times as a black belt than pretty much any other BJJ BB on the planet (that is not hyperbole - ask anyone remotely familiar with BJJ about him and you will get confirmation. Roger Gracie in print has called my coach the greatest competitor in BJJ history) and he still gets butterflies in the run up to a match. All you learn to do is live with it and learn to function with that stress dump.

One of the reasons I still compete is that I feel it just as bad every single time I am in the bullpen waiting for my name to be called. In my head, I tell myself to run, and I feel miserable as those chemicals go through my system. But I want to experience that because then I go out and perform, generally okay. THAT is what I need to be able to do when the SHTF, so I want to learn to deal with it as much as possible.

I thought the article was okay, but really the main takeaways from it are the last two paragraphs:

We really only have control over our own performance, and that’s how we need to judge ourselves. Did we fight well? Did we perform up to our own level of competence? Did we improve from last time? Once we decide to judge ourselves on these types of criteria, the outcome is secondary. That gives our ego some comfort, and it lessens the adrenaline dump. We aren’t as afraid of losing, so we can relax a little bit and have fun.

Perhaps the best way to deal with adrenaline though is just to compete more often. Just like anything else, as we become used to the environment the fear goes away. While we might still get a little nervous or get some butterflies, we don’t have the huge adrenaline dump to deal with. If you remember your first day in class, you were probably pretty nervous, but now it’s like family. Same guys, same things going on, but no more fear. Tournaments can become the same way; just watch some of the high level guys who compete all the time. It looks like just another day at the office for them.

[GJM]

I don't think you ever are able to control the adrenaline dump. My coach has almost beyond a doubt competed more times as a black belt than pretty much any other BJJ BB on the planet (that is not hyperbole - ask anyone remotely familiar with BJJ about him and you will get confirmation. Roger Gracie in print has called my coach the greatest competitor in BJJ history) and he still gets butterflies in the run up to a match. All you learn to do is live with it and learn to function with that stress dump.

One of the reasons I still compete is that I feel it just as bad every single time I am in the bullpen waiting for my name to be called. In my head, I tell myself to run, and I feel miserable as those chemicals go through my system. But I want to experience that because then I go out and perform, generally okay. THAT is what I need to be able to do when the SHTF, so I want to learn to deal with it as much as possible.

I thought the article was okay, but really the main takeaways from it are the last two paragraphs:

Rob Leatham told me the following -- the notion of being calm in an important competition is BS. Everyone will be feeling physiological reactions, but the key is to learn to manage your performance while being under their influence.

Bill Rogers discusses this in his opening lecture. Let some bird dogs out of the truck at the hunting grounds, and the first thing they all do is run around and pee and poop. When they call it is time for the Rogers School test, most everyone is running to pee, and those that are not, are headed to do something bigger.

It stands to reason, that the more experience you have performing under the influence of physiological bodily reactions, the more likely you are be able to channel the tension to your advantage.

[Luke]

I read somewhere where it talked about welcoming the adrenaline. Be excited when you feel it and know that it will make you faster and stronger. This was in the context of competitive shooting, which it did help.

[Mr_White]

I read somewhere where it talked about welcoming the adrenaline. Be excited when you feel it and know that it will make you faster and stronger. This was in the context of competitive shooting, which it did help.

Funnest way I've heard that described is to think of 'that feeling' as your super power charging up.

[spelingmastir]

I found that the greatest benefit of competition is that it made me get more honest about what I was good and bad at and helped me improve at a faster rate.