No Desire to Compete = "Gym Hero"?

[Forceof1]

I always thought the gym hero was the guy who went all out in practice. Only worked on his "A" game, cared about subs and not tapping out, pounding on lower belts, etc. Douche also described him well.

This was an interesting post, as I can understand where the topic starter is coming from. I don't have the same history in BJJ, but have been training martial arts for years and done more than my share of competitions (win some, lose some, etc).

Some guys on my team are fired up for a local tourny coming up. I've done the last two, and while I was fired up for the first, was more into helping coach the other guys in the second (had to be pulled off video taping someone to go compete).

I think part of it is the reality and your goals. I'm mid 30's, wife, 2 young kids, and if I get in the gym 2-3 times a week things are going well. There are no age brackets in our local comps, so last time I went it was all against 20-25 year olds who are training 5 plus times a week. Good for them, and I still held my own, but you can tell the difference.

At this stage, I have the fire for learning, teaching, drilling and rolling- but struggle to get it competing. I get my ass kicked in class every night, so thats not the issue.

We have 6 weeks till our next local, and I still haven't decided if I'm entering.

 

[Grapplingwizard**]

Somebody mentioned cost, which is legit reason not to compete. But also I think how often you train is a good reason. If you can get in the gym only twice a week, there's a good chance you won't do well at a comp, especially these days when it seems so many more people are training five or six days a week. You can learn a lot from losing, but you still have to give yourself a chance to win.

As a wrestler I forgot about the cost of tournaments (season wrestling tourneys are free for wrestlers). I remember when I did a naga it was 80 bucks so I could see a financially unstable person not want to compete especially a student in college. And if you train 2 days a week yes you most likely will not win, so if you want to win you have to try to make it to the gym more which is hard for some people. You would need atleast 3+ days a week in the gym to win a few matches, unless you are a sponge or an athletic stud.

 

[AllKnowing]

If you don't compete what's the point of doing bjj? the only other reason would be to get in shape. No one joins a baseball team to just practice. I see your point of view, though, about the "fight" thing. Yes, you don't know the guy and you are trying to beat him and vice versa. You just either : 1. Get pumped up and tell yourself "I'm gonna fuck this motherfucker up" or 2. Be calm and don't have anything on your mind, and just grapple like it is a normal roll. or 3. "This guy is big and scary. I'm gonna lose" and go out there and lose. I would recommend choosing option 2. Option 1 is good, but you could get a lot of adrenaline and then have an adrenaline dump and then gas out quickly. On the mat, it's either him or you. Don't let him take away what you work hard for.

EDIT: In wrestling though you get your bout sheet with your opponent and go to the mat with them. Sometimes me and the guy will talk and stuff about how much experience we have and stuff. Lately though I haven't talked to or even looked at my opponents because I feel it makes me more nervous when I think "damn this guy has been training for 5 years" or "this guy is really buff". It's just wrestling, so I don't really have the fight mentality.

You answered your own question. Despite your personal feelings on the matter, it's more than enough reason for most.

 

[Grapplingwizard**]

You answered your own question. Despite your personal feelings on the matter, it's more than enough reason for most.

some people are scared of competition.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

some people are scared of competition.

Others are disinterested. I know plenty of people who shoot hoops in the park but don't join a team, and people who play handball but don't enter tournaments. I know people who jog but don't do marathons, and people who bowl but not competitively. What's the big deal?

 

[Jagcorps_esq]

Others are disinterested. I know plenty of people who shoot hoops in the park but don't join a team, and people who play handball but don't enter tournaments. I know people who jog but don't do marathons, and people who bowl but not competitively. What's the big deal?

Come on. You know what the "big deal" is.

Some people have such a low self esteem that they need ANYTHING that they can have over other people.

That's where you get threads like "Should competition BJJ people have a different type of belt than those that don't compete?" Remember that trash thread?

(P.S. I compete, and do well for anyone thinking that my opinion comes from my lack of competition).

 

[AllKnowing]

some people are scared of competition.

Maybe some are. But that doesn't make it a rule for everyone. People train jiujitsu for a variety of reasons. Assuming the only true reason to train is for competitive purposes is pretty narrow minded.

 

[luckyshot]

Others are disinterested. I know plenty of people who shoot hoops in the park but don't join a team, and people who play handball but don't enter tournaments. I know people who jog but don't do marathons, and people who bowl but not competitively. What's the big deal?

I was going to post something along the same lines. The comparison I was going to make was a musical instrument. You learn it primarily just for the pleasure of playing it. Of course some people might have other goals - make extra cash performing gigs, become renowned, start a band and score chicks, whatever - and for some, those might be the primary goals - but most are motivated simply by the activity itself.

I'm glad to know that most people here don't consider me a gym hero for not competing. Hopefully my coach and team mates will be cool with it, too.

 

[Kozbot]

Do you count your gym rolls as victories or brag about that slick hip bump triangle you hit the other day? If not, you're just a tree hugging hippie who likes to choke his brothers.

I did hit a sick hip bump triangle on a brown belt last week. Was so happy with myself I got wood.

 

[TheHereticJay]

Others are disinterested. I know plenty of people who shoot hoops in the park but don't join a team, and people who play handball but don't enter tournaments. I know people who jog but don't do marathons, and people who bowl but not competitively. What's the big deal?

The difference here though is they are not paying $100/month or more for doing these things leisurely. And wizard may be right, they may be scared to compete. Hell, I'm scared to compete because who knows what will happen in a match? Though I do still compete, some people just won't face that fear and blow it off as if they're disinterested. Am I saying there aren't people who train and are generally disinterested in competing? No. But show me a healthy guy or girl in their prime that trains BJJ more than 3 days a week who is actually disinterested and not just fearful of competition.

There are some exceptions though. Maybe they had knee surgery and that knee has never been right again or something along those lines. Even those people DESIRE to compete, but aren't physically able to do so. So aside from physical limitations from past injury, or birth defect, I'd say a good 95% of people in their prime that train WANT to compete. A general disinterest in competing is definitely a small margin of the bjj community.

There is a guy at my gym who's roughly 230ish and he doesn't compete. Why doesn't he compete, fear. He wants to compete, but not until he is under that super heavyweight weightclass because he fears going against the monsters of that class. And before you say I'm assuming things, yes we've had a conversation about this.

Fear is a good thing. Fear heightens your senses. Fear allows you to brave.

 

[Hendo89]

Luckyshot, one thing you said I really identify with, a fight is a fight and I'll do my very best to incapacitate or kill you as my life is at stake and will not stop untill either of those ends is realized. In BJJ we have an awesome community and I pretty much love all of the people involved, and don't wanna hurt anyone. And competition is more fight mindset than training. Fuck I even hate hurting people in self defense. In my last comp I let an armbar go because it was gonna break and he wasnt gonna tap.. Lost on points..

It's fine not to like fighting, don't feel bad. The reason I compete is because in the time leading up to it is the biggest improvements in my Jiu Jitsu, not the actual day.

 

[Grapplingwizard**]

The thing about not competing though is where are your proving grounds? Where do you show your skill and technique against someone that is trying to beat you the best they can? Certainly not the gym. Where do you get to feel a sense of pride in victory? You do all of that through competing. There is no other feeling than winning a gold medal, which you could have a good chance getting by doing a smaller local tournament. Some people like grappling because they like learning the intricacies of the art or they like self defense stuff, but still, nothing is on the same level as the feeling of victory.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

The thing about not competing though is where are your proving grounds? Where do you show your skill and technique against someone that is trying to beat you the best they can? Certainly not the gym. Where do you get to feel a sense of pride in victory?

You don't do those things. So what? Some people aren't interested in those things.

 

[Grapplingwizard**]

Others are disinterested. I know plenty of people who shoot hoops in the park but don't join a team, and people who play handball but don't enter tournaments. I know people who jog but don't do marathons, and people who bowl but not competitively. What's the big deal?

Yes, but they aren't on a team practicing. When you do BJJ, you affiliate yourself with a team. You never see a kid join a baseball team but never play in a game. the equivalent of shooting hoops would be rolling out mats with friends and grappling at your house. A bjj class with a team is a legit team practice.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

The difference here though is they are not paying $100/month or more for doing these things leisurely. And wizard may be right, they may be scared to compete. Hell, I'm scared to compete because who knows what will happen in a match? Though I do still compete, some people just won't face that fear and blow it off as if they're disinterested. Am I saying there aren't people who train and are generally disinterested in competing? No. But show me a healthy guy or girl in their prime that trains BJJ more than 3 days a week who is actually disinterested and not just fearful of competition.

I know a few. Mostly they are in their late 30's or 40's and have jobs and families. They're not interested in proving they're the best, or testing themselves. This is just recreation for them. I know other people who train once or twice a week, and are younger, but also not interested in competing.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

Yes, but they aren't on a team practicing. When you do BJJ, you affiliate yourself with a team. You never see a kid join a baseball team but never play in a game. the equivalent of shooting hoops would be rolling out mats with friends and grappling at your house. A bjj class with a team is a legit team practice.

No, it's not. A BJJ academy is the only place you can get instruction. The point I'm trying to make is that people do things for their own reasons and that's fine. Some people don't join to become part of a team, and many schools aren't run like a competition team.

 

[luckyshot]

The thing about not competing though is where are your proving grounds? Where do you show your skill and technique against someone that is trying to beat you the best they can? Certainly not the gym. Where do you get to feel a sense of pride in victory? You do all of that through competing. There is no other feeling than winning a gold medal,which you could have a good chance getting by doing a smaller local tournament. Some people like grappling because they like learning the intricacies of the art or they like self defense stuff, but still, nothing is on the same level as the feeling of victory.

When I look back at my life, jiu-jitsu and MMA have played a role more like therapy than "proving ground." They've helped me stay (relatively) sane while having to scratch and claw in life.

I'll take a beer after practice over a medal. When I was young and training 4-5 days a week, I think I felt like I had to validate my investments of time and energy in jiu-jitsu by competing. I never really liked it, though, and I'm glad I'm getting to the point where I can accept that feeling.

 

[ElKarlo]

I think of a "gym hero" as someone who is a beast in training, tooling guys who are successful competitors. But he isn't able to replicate that success when he actually competes.

yeah that is what a gym hero is.

 

[EGDM]

I know a few. Mostly they are in their late 30's or 40's and have jobs and families. They're not interested in proving they're the best, or testing themselves. This is just recreation for them.

Yup. I train regularly with top-tier competitors and have a very clear idea of where I stack up in the grand scheme of things. I also have a lot of commitments outside of BJJ, and it's enough of a personal and logistical struggle just to get to the gym as often as I'd like (4-5x a week on a good week). I've competed a few times and generally enjoyed the experience and learned a lot from it, but generally speaking there are other ways I'd rather spend a Saturday. Once a year or so I get the itch and compete (and per form fine - won a few locals and my division at an IBJJF regional), but mostly it's just not that interesting to me.

 

[nomoremondays]

How does one 'prove' to others that you choose to not compete not because of fear but because of disinterest?



lol!