TFS#48: Build Your Home Base

Something that doesn’t sit too well with me is when others try to calm others down before competition by saying: Don’t worry too much, it’ll be a learning experience.

Yes, it will be a learning experience. But it hasn’t happened yet so don’t treat it that way. If you’re thinking this way before the competition, you’re already telling yourself you’ll lose. You’re okay with losing, you’re getting comfortable losing.

When you compete, only focus on the winning conditions. Your only objective is to win.

After your competition, you can reflect, review and learn. (Incase you didn’t know, you can learn even if you win.)

With that said, it’s natural to feel nervous, it means you care. But you’ll have to learn to set those feelings aside because there’s something else bigger than those feelings: competition.

The first part is easy. Acknowledge to yourself that you are nervous, it doesn’t make you a tougher person by trying to play it tough.

The second part requires you to start when you’re ramping up into competition. You’ll need to create a “safe place” and use it as proof that you are doing well in a match.

What is this safe place?

The Safe Place

This is the place (or situation) where you know you will be safe during sparring.

As an example, for me, I’m very comfortable playing a Collar-Sleeve guard. I feel very comfortable here since I have a lot of transitioning options. And as long as I have a a collar grip and ankle grip, I have the option of De La Riva, X-Guard, and Spider ready as well as submission attacks.

The collar and ankle are simple and easy to get. These grips tell me I’m in control and my nervousness goes away.

If you’re a white belt, you can find your safe place to become bulletproof against up to blue belts, for example. It’s a place you know blue belts don’t know how to deal with.

Upper belts might be able to work around your safe place but if you can get to this spot against blue belts, you’ll probable do well in competition.

Use it in competition

Now you know where you should get to if things are in a scramble. If you can consistently force your opponent to start off in your home base, you’re in a good spot.

And even if you lose your match, think about how you got to your safe place and how you transitioned or lost the position.

This is the building block.

Also, if you win your match, you can analyze how you won. Probably because being the safe place helped you calm your nerves and see openings for attack or progression.

For Your Jiu-Jitsu

→ Learning these grip concepts will set you apart from your peers. Don’t learn them too late.

→ Check out these 9 reminders if you’re feeling lost on your Jiu-Jitsu journey. Nothing better than to straighten yourself out again.

→ Your game will suffer over time if you aren’t working on bodyweight exercises. This workout helps your cardio and develops your stabilizer muscles.

→ Here’s a quick read about fatigue. Brought to you by the BJJ Reflection newsletter.

Closing Words

This is connected to the idea of “building your game around what you like the most.”

You’re most likely to like what you’re good at.

Specific sparring is a great way to find out what you like.

And once you have a handful of safe places, you can try to start connecting them together.

Think about how kids play the “lava game” where they try to jump from one furniture to another without touching the floor. That’s what you’re trying to do with your safe places.

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