TFS#39: Better Your Odds

Competitive tournaments are opening up as the year continues on.

You train for weeks and go through tedious weight cutting, competition classes, and late night film sessions. You’re first match is a close one, and when the ref blows the whistle, you can’t tell who won. You turn to look at the scoreboard and you’ve lost by a point.

Heartbreaking…

Although losing is part of the process of learning and improving, silly loses can be a major blow to your confidence. Especially if you know you could’ve crushed your bracket.

The Gi

First and foremost, the obvious: have a tournament legal gi (and belt for some tournaments).

Don’t get DQ’ed for something silly. (Like disagreeing or arguing with the ref.)

If you’re unsure whether or not your gi is legal, the tournament website will list their guidelines. You can also ask a teammate if they’ve competed before to get an idea of what gis are legal.

The last thing you’d want to have to deal with is realizing your gi is not legal and having to spend the next 10 minutes stressfully running around looking for someone to lend you a gi.

The Cut

Cutting weight for competition can be a dangerous and an unhealthy practice if done incorrectly. It can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and loss of muscle mass.

It is important to slowly prepare for a weight cut and always monitor food and water intake. Additionally, always ensure that you are eating enough to maintain energy and performance.

Lastly, make sure to always drink enough water and electrolytes to stay hydrated and energized during the weight cut.

It’s tough being on the border but being DQ’ed for not making weight is tough when you’ve put in all the hard work and long nights of passing up that slice of pizza.

The Scoreboard

Having awareness of the scoreboard will definitely help in tight situations. “I’m up 4 points, have them in closed guard and there’s 30 seconds left. Okay, let me just milk the clock so I’ll focus on continuously breaking their posture.”

If it’s too much stress for you, don’t worry about it. Have a teammate or coach call it out.

When sparring in class, it’s good mental practice to keep track of the score for each round. You can even discuss it with your partner afterwards. Learning to play the point system is a key aspect to increasing your odds of winning.

The Rules

Sometimes, what separates first and second place are the finer details.

And I don’t mean technical details. Especially at the lower belts, it might not be your technical knowledge, but rather the knowledge of the rule set that helps you eek out a win.

This is the slight advantage you may need to beat someone you feel like is “better than you.” Knowing how sweeps are rewarded or when the guard resets can tip a close match.

After all, advantage points are the tie breakers.

For Your Jiu-Jitsu

→ This common place to get injured can be avoided if everyone understands the fundamentals of movement. Better overall knowledge of how the body moves can keep everyone safe, especially at the hobbyist level.

→ Bigger, lengthy opponents can be difficult to manipulate and maneuver. Add these sweeps to your arsenal to threaten bigger opponents .

→ Improving your guard requires patients and numerous reps of rounds, preferably specific sparring. Use these 8 quick concepts to help you recover your guard .

→ Lots of people offer advice, even if you don’t ask for it. Here’s a list of common bad advice you’ve probably heard in your experience . How will you share your knowledge in the future?

Closing Thought

As a 9-5 office guy, I do my best to stay in shape and continue to train Jiu-Jitsu. It’s a tough balance and I always remind myself that at the end of the day this is a hobby.

But like everything else I involve myself with, I want to give 100%.

With that, when I begin ramping up for competition, I always make sure I understand the nuances of competitive rounds. I need every point I can get, I’m an old man in Masters division…

Expand your knowledge off the mats will increase the odds of winning.

Wish you the best this year in all your competitive matches.