The Ninja Blog

Competing is a different skill set from jiu-jitsu. Do you know someone who is really good at rolling but not very good at competing? This person usually dominates open mats by developing a high level of training skills, but has not yet developed their competition skills. In fact they may hate competing because they don’t like losing and find competition too stressful. These 5 tips are for both types of grapplers...........

The growth mindset is a way of approaching challenging situations without the presence of fear. My coach often has us practice this by having us flow roll with a partner, but instead of focusing on winning (which makes the match competitive), you take on the “Mind of Einstein”. The entire roll is a process of data gathering. When you run into resistance or an unexpected response from your partner it’s just more data for you to apply to grow your game.

This allows you to make mistakes and try new things without fear of failure. Allowing yourself to make mistake is extremely important for the learning process. I like to apply this same concept when competing. A simple change in mindset can allow you to never lose when competing ever again. If you approach your competition from a non-fearful perspective, where you allow that “L” to transform itself from “Loss” to a “Learn”, then you’ll never lose when competing again. You have lost nothing if you notice an opportunity to get better and nothing exposes your weaknesses better than competing.

So go out there and try something new today. When it fails, ask yourself why? Try adjusting things until it starts getting more success. 

See you on the mat!

One of the most difficult, and almost inevitable, experiences in jiu-jitsu is injury. To make matters even worse, many people get into a vicious cycle that follows something like this:

1. Get hurt 
2. Stop training completely
3. Come back ready to go hardcore
4. Get re-injured
5. Repeat.

Consistency has been and is a major key to improving my jiu jitsu game. I try to build a routine around my training schedule so that by default I’m busy on training nights. Friends want to go out for drinks that night? Sorry, but that is a training day for me. Take it as seriously as you would an appointment with someone else. 

If you are able to consistently dedicate as little as 300 minutes per week (3 days per week) to improving your Jiu Jitsu, you’ll be on track for great results. It's better to be consistent and steady than the alternative. I have had many friends hit the gym super hard for a few weeks only to vanish for months while they figure out why they got hurt or burned out. It's just as important to get quality rest as it is to get those hard sparring rounds in!  You can use Grapple.Ninja to help keep yourself accountable and motivated, while also keeping an eye on your training volume. I use Grapple.Ninja to keep an eye on how much I'm training and I adjust my days accordingly. 

Go train and happy tracking :)