My coach says that bjj practicioners should compete often and try to have at least 50 matches per year. What do you guys think of this? Sounds difficult and kinda expensive.
If you have a spare 1,250 to put solely towards grappling competitions sure go ahead, don't use that money for things such as privates, or additional classes with a second gym, no use it all on competitions. Competing is important, it is not however, the end-all be-all. BTW, I'm lucky I can get my one competition in, maybe two if the stars align, per year.
I meant 50 matches not 50 competitions... He brought this up and also said that most tournaments are too expensive and offer too few matches which prevents proper progression in bjj. He's an accomplished competitor and 3rd degree BB, also really nice guy and i dont want to disappoint by not competing enough. Also i'm pretty sure we need to compete in order to get promoted.
50 is an arbitrary number, but the 'compete as often as you can' mindset is one I agree with. It makes you better faster than anything else, because competing keeps your intensity level high and forces you to correct weaknesses rather than just focus on positions you already know and enjoy playing. If you truly want to get better at BJJ, and not just have a fun and be willing to live with slower progression (either are fine approaches, IMO), then competing a lot is important. But I wouldn't worry about hitting some arbitrary # of matches, only because a lot of that's not within your control. Who shows up, enters what divisions, the draw you get, etc all come into play with your # of matches at a given tournament. I think the key thing is to not go many months or years between comps, rather than trying to have a ton of matches at any given tournament.
If you get 30 matches in a year, I would say you speed up your progression of skills by at least 300% as opposed to zero matches. I see this happen constantly in wrestling. There is an urgency in the transfer of power and speed that happens in matches that most people cannot simply figure out in training. You also have real, tangible experiences that are looming on the horizon (competition dates) that give real life consequences to slacking in training.
i agree that competing a lot will greatly benefit everyone but be realistic, even if you are a sponsored athlete, 50 matches a year in bjj is a tall order, for someone like me, almost impossible. I did 10 tournaments last year and had 23 matches. So it can be very difficult.
I def think the more you compete the more your bjj has potential to improve if you learn from your mistakes. I competed alot this past year and it has made me more aware of my holes in my game that I usually overlook or don't notice in training. 50 matches is alot if your not a fulltimer though. Just do as many as your willing to spend is my motto if thats one tourny were you get 4-5 matches or 10-12 tournies and you get 50+ go after it. Just don't be one of those I'm going compete and then never do.
Like I said earlier, I think 30 is the magic number, not 50. I look at every teammate I ever had, and the guys who would get at least 30 per year were always the best guys on the team. That even goes for the Olympic styles. If a guy got 30 international matches a year in greco, it was almost a lock that he would be top 3 in the USA.
Really!? So you think that doing one tournament where you have, let's say 2 or 3 matches is as good as one month of training? I don't buy that at all. Even if you only train 3 days a week, the month of training is still way better. Competition is where you find out what you need to work on and practice/training is where you work on it and get better. When you compete, you are playing your A game and not taking chances or risks, which is what helps you learn and get better. I think competition is good and that it will help you grow, but people who say you have to compete to progress are delusional. Just look at John Danaher.
Yes, I believe it. The holes in your game are exposed. Of course, I'm over 30, so I always get 7-8 matches every tourney by entering multiple divisions.
Bro, get out of here with that. Marcelo, Caio & Rafael all compete less than 20 times a year and they're gods. So obviously, if we want to have their success we will mimic them completely
Yeah but how many matches did they get as purple belts? How many matches did Paulo and Jaio Miyao have this year? What about Keenan Cornelius?
Like I said before, Competition exposes the holes in your game, training is where you work on it and get better. You are not going to get better without training. That's whats the most important.
Yeah I dont think 30 times is even that hard of a number to get to in one year if you can consistently get to the finals. Especially if your a middle or lighter guy. Yeah those guys coming up were mundial champs and state champs at lower belts. If you compete every other month and need 5 matches for Gold in your weight class you got your 30 right there without even doing absolutes.
