Nerves in competitions.

Nedrin

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So yesterday I ended 3rd but I felt like I fought like shit, I was in positions that I've been in before where I easily dominated the other guy, yet on this competitions I was so nervous, my hands where shaking really hard, I even declined the open weight class cause I was to nervous.

I've noticed lately that I keep getting more nervous on competitions, I feel like this might be because I feel like I need to at least get a medal or I've been training all this time for nothing.

This might also be because in the last 2 tournaments I didn't get time to warm up(Tournament at 11 am) we got up at 5.30am and still had to hury.

I've think next time I will just roll with some team members for a good 20-30 mins prior to the fights, I feel like this will help tremendously, if anyone else has good tips, my ears are all yours :D
 
I don't even follow my own advice, but here is what I try to tell myself: It really doesn't matter how you place in a tournament. If you win, you win. If not, so what. Things happen the way they're supposed to happen, and you will always have something else to improve on in the gym, whatever happens.

The reason I never follow this advice, and tend to beat myself up about bad performances, is that it has to matter to me - or else why go through it? But I'm slowly beginning to realise that by telling myself a bad performance doesn't matter, doesn't mean I'm not taking things seriously, I'm just mentally clearing the decks so I can focus properly for the next time. Too much focus on the past has definitely held back my progress.

To get back to the actual topic, I can already feel a reduction in pre-competition anxiety if I try to rationalise things in this way.
 
So yesterday I ended 3rd but I felt like I fought like shit, I was in positions that I've been in before where I easily dominated the other guy, yet on this competitions I was so nervous, my hands where shaking really hard, I even declined the open weight class cause I was to nervous.

I've noticed lately that I keep getting more nervous on competitions, I feel like this might be because I feel like I need to at least get a medal or I've been training all this time for nothing.

This might also be because in the last 2 tournaments I didn't get time to warm up(Tournament at 11 am) we got up at 5.30am and still had to hury.

I've think next time I will just roll with some team members for a good 20-30 mins prior to the fights, I feel like this will help tremendously, if anyone else has good tips, my ears are all yours :D


Are you a coach, sponsored athlete, or do you get paid to train? if none of these apply to you then it should be fine... there should be no pressure this is something you do for the love of jiu jitsu...

if you are stressed, try to relax. Kron gracie sleeps at bjj tournaments. do the trip the night before if your tournament is a few hours away. listen to music chill with friends at first. dont over think it. get into competition mode as your division gets closer


you've put tons of time in, but everyone has a bad day.. everyone has the ability to lose...
 
Nedrin , by any chance you competed in Holland?
 
I still get super nervous before competitions, but each time I compete I'm a little less nervous then the time I was before. If you enjoy competition, or think that it's valuable, just keep at it.

Also, like you said warming up is super important. I find that if I don't warm up I get super tired really early in the match(adrenaline dump I guess).
 
I'm always nervous right before i compete. My hands start shaking and i get butterflies in my stomach. If this doesn't happen i know something is wrong. I've found that listening to music and rolling with my teammates doesn't help. I just try to take a few deep breaths, stretch out a little, and try to relax.
 
A teammate of mine was nervous before his fight over the weekend. He let nerves and improper weight cutting exhaust him early in his match. At one point I was so scared he was going to get knocked out. He looked dead on his feet. But, he just kept working. Even though your hands feel like they are in glue. Your arms and legs are quivering. You just want to quit... but, you don't..."You just keep coming..." Whatever the speed. It doesn't matter. Just keep coming.

I remember a tournament where I couldn't feel my hands after my first match. It sucked big time. I went on to win the the tournament. It wasn't pretty at all. It looked bad on video. Very sloppy, but I won...

I would imagine many of the competitive guys on here have felt this at one time or another.
 
Yeah TS I feel you on this one, big time. This eats me up in my comps, it makes me feel like I underperform as soon as that ref throws his hand down between my opponent and I.

Both times I went to tourneys though I was also significantly outweighed (since I don't do weight cuts) but I do alright. You ever try closing your eyes when you roll? It helps to calm me down, you might be surprised how little you need to use your eyes, short of the scrambling/takedown phases.

That helps me to deal with it though, I think I'm just bad with the pressure of feeling like I need to win.
 
So yesterday I ended 3rd but I felt like I fought like shit, I was in positions that I've been in before where I easily dominated the other guy, yet on this competitions I was so nervous, my hands where shaking really hard, I even declined the open weight class cause I was to nervous.

I've noticed lately that I keep getting more nervous on competitions, I feel like this might be because I feel like I need to at least get a medal or I've been training all this time for nothing.

This might also be because in the last 2 tournaments I didn't get time to warm up(Tournament at 11 am) we got up at 5.30am and still had to hury.

I've think next time I will just roll with some team members for a good 20-30 mins prior to the fights, I feel like this will help tremendously, if anyone else has good tips, my ears are all yours :D

this happened in my first fight in front of a big crowd (my 2nd fight)
my first one was in a small town in front of about 250 people then my second one was in front of about 8000, i panicked and got choked. there are a lot of things that can make you nervous: crowd, pressure, etc. all my veteran coaches just tell me you overcome it with time. im sure youll do fine man
 
Just train as hard as you can before the comp that way there are no doubts in your mind. This has worked for me recently before my first 2 mma fights. The final week before the fight I was not nervous at all because I knew I had done everything i could and I was just ready to go.

Also what I do is tell myself you only live once. Win or lose your competing and doing something that you can look back on and be proud of, and whether your grappling or fighting your still doing something that alot of people will never do so just go out there and do your best and dont overthink things just trust your training.
 
I like to go into competitions with the intention of losing... That way no matter what the outcome, I'm a winner
 
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