Here’s How to Prepare for Your First BJJ Tournament in 2024
Whether you are training for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to become a professional fighter or just practicing this sport to achieve your health and fitness goals. Whatever the case may be, you have decided to choose the right sport to achieve your fitness goals. BJJ is one of the most famous and highly encouraged sports that health gurus and fitness experts swear by.
Not only that you can benefit from physical and mental health benefits by practicing BJJ but can also excel in a professional career if your goal is to practice this sport for becoming a professional fighter. Regardless of your experience, if you are a beginner or a prized fighter feeling butterflies in the stomach before a competition of a tournament is natural.
Because a fighting match means that you will be pushed beyond your limits and your skills and resilience will be put to the test. And if you have shaky nerves and improper mental state not only can this make you stressed but can also be the reason you lose a match. Therefore, proper planning and preparations before competing in a fight are crucial.
Do you have an upcoming first BJJ tournament or a practice competition? You are in luck. Because we have prepared for you the top 7 tips you can use to better prepare for your fight.
1. Get into the right mind-set
If you are not in a proper mindset or you have already accepted your defeat mentally, you are going to lose the fight, period. Without a will to persuade and the mind-set to win, the chances of you getting out of the match victorious are slim to none. Before getting into the fight, have some alone time, and get yourself mentally ready for your first fight.
Decide mentally that you are not in your comfort zone anymore, you are here to improve yourself, get stronger and better. Decide that you going to give all you have got to win this fight. And even if you lose, you will take your loss to identify the lacking areas that you can work on further to improve yourself. When you enter the fight with the right mind-set the chances of you securing a victory increase significantly.
2. Clam your nerves
Feeling pre-fight nerves and butterflies in the stomach is natural but a thing you can live without. Your shaky nerves can get in your way during the competition if you don’t get them under control. A relaxed mind and a relaxed body is more focused and attentive and can help you during your matches.
To calm your nerves down, practice breathing exercises. Take deep breaths and exhale slowly. Repeat the process multiple times and you will feel more calm and relaxed. Another way to do the trick is to visualize your success. Visualize how you are going to deliver your offense and secure a victory. Here’s the deal, our mind can be easily fooled.
It cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imaginary. This is exactly why you move your body involuntary while wearing a VR headset. Accordingly, visualizing success can calm you down and give you the courage to secure a win.
3. Put in the efforts
All the visualizing and mental preparations in the world will not do you any good if you do not have the required skills and abilities to win a match. If you slack in your workout exercises and practice sessions. Chances are you will not be able to win a fight, let alone the whole tournament. Because there will be more determined, skilled, and experienced fighters who may have made huge efforts in their workout regimens.
Therefore, hard work is necessary and is the key to success. Just like the Jiu-Jitsu athletes and experienced fitness gurus says “Hard work can beat talent”. If you work hard enough and hone your combat skills you will automatically feel confident in your abilities and will have the ability to go head to head with your opponents.
4. Know the rules
This fighting art has many disciplines that require partakers to abide by its rules and regulations. Different fighting disciplines of this sport has different types of chokes, grappling, tackling techniques, and submission moves and require wearing different types of uniforms to be able to partake in the matches.
Wearing uniform attire items including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gis, mouthpieces, rash guards, no-shorts, etc. depends on what type of BJJ discipline you are studying or competing in. Whatever discipline it may be, just ensure that you know the rules and wear proper attire. Explore Elite Sports’ collection of BJJ Gis for choosing the most comfortable and durable outfit for your class.
5. Develop a fighting strategy
The chance of winning a fight increases significantly if you have a proper game plan or a fighting strategy. You should be able to have multiple combat strategies ready to test out during a match depending on the type of opponent you are facing.
If your opponent does not practice proper defense or leave their body areas exposed, try to lock them in submission moves, if your opponent is offensive and aggressive then you should try to increase your defense while looking for a perfect moment to strike back. Likewise, develop multiple strategies and switch between them during the match.
Not only will this confuse your opponent but will also help you to figure out what type of strategy is effective against each type of your opponent.
6. Warm your body
Going into a match head-on without a proper warm-up can have some unwanted effects. You can feel a lot more energetic, active, and relaxed if you do some warm-up exercises before partaking in the fight. Warming up your body beforehand will increase the blood flow in your body and will increase your agility and performance.
7. Fight with Gusto
After you have got your mind and nerves settled down. It is time that you go on ahead and fight with your opponent will all your might and ability. And remember life is about winning and losing. You are not there to only win championships or titles. You are there to improve yourself mentally and physically. As long as your primary aim is fulfilled do not let yourself down if you lose a match.
