Need Mental Help for Tournaments

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March 21, 2010, 03:34:03 PM

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[Old School Grip]

There's a limit to that.

"You will never win on my mats." - ref livershot

So true. old school grip let some dude continue to choke me after I was already unconcious. I never even did anything to her except eat a few of the crumbs from her sandwich.

Grip couldn't tap for you by virtue of the Grown Ass Man rule.  It was unfortunate that you also couldn't tap for yourself any more.

C'mon! I was just givin' the little dude a chance to come back!!! 
(Plus he told me I had beef jerky breath!)

[opticnads]

I hope this helps you out. This is what I understand.

1. You need a goal. Are you competing to place, gain experience, or win first place? You need to know as soon as possible before the comp. 
Knowing what you want out will help eliminate self doubt that you may have while competing because you now know that you are there for that purpose and nothing else. Do not go in without this. You will make yourself too a wildcard and that will have you at a disadvantage simply for the fact that you are not even comfortable for the reason you are there.

2. Visual everything that you want to happen. Start from the time you wake up out of your bed till the time you are driving back home. Do this to the point where it is part of your subconscious.

3. Routine is important. Make sure you go into your tourney no different than what you would do if you were to have a normal. Forget the idea that you need rest before. If you never rested before you had class and did that before your match then you will be throwing you body out of line. You need to be relaxed.

4. Relaxation is the key. In order to perform you need to be relaxed. Do whatever it takes to calm yourself down so you can focus on steps 1 & 2. This part is different for everyone. Bring your ipod, a book, leave the venue, or do jumping jacks. Just do whatever it takes.

I did these actions the last time I competed and did well. Went 3-3 for the whole day; 2 subs, 1 points, 3 losses by points. All losses I was within 2-4 pts and wins were 6 pts or higher.

I could have done better and I remember telling me self that I really want to place. Perhaps i set my goal too low, but either way I went in with a game plan. 

[jimmyjames]

I think the best thing you can do is to compete as often as you can.  The more times you get out on the mat in a competitive environment, the more comfortable you will be.  As you get comfortable, it's much easier to focus on your game. 

In addition, I like to visualize my matches in the week leading up to event.  I think about how I'm going to start and build a mental plan for getting to the win when things fall apart.  For example, I may decide that I'm giong to set up a double right off the bat, take my opponent down into side control, move to knee on belly, to mount, to submission.  But I also have a counter-visualization for each move not working that gets me back into the planned sequence.  It's rare that a match proceeds exactly according to plan, but knowing where you want to go at each point, even when you're in a tough spot, has made a big difference for me.

[Country Boy]

man just pop in some ted nugent go huntin and eat some red meet the night before and drink a spark or two the morning of, and youll be throwin folks round like rag dolls.

[Dinky Dog]

Trolls are so 2006.

[Nolan85]

Be confident in your jiu jitsu and give it your all.

[princegiggy]

The biggest thing that has helped me over the years is just to compete as much as you can.  And, this may sound silly but meet as many people you can when you are at the big tournaments.  The more friends you make the more relaxed you feel when you go to a big event. It makes you feel more at home with your surroundings. Even some of the refs will start to recognize you....all of those things really help relax your mind and make you feel more "at home".

I have had some of the worst internal freak out sesssions ever. I once went into a tournaments, pysch myself up was feeling good then as i waited and started watching matches as i warmed up it started to get to me. I would visualize what i would do and that set off my brain. Now, instead of the gameplan i had in mind i was trying to remeber counters to counters and freaking out cause i couldn't remeber a detail to a move that made a huge difference. The 1st match i looked calm on the outside but, maybe like 15 seconds in i lost the feelings in my hands. I won via Triangle/Armbar but, i couldn't use my arms to finish a guilliontine in my 2nd match and lost by points.  I still freak out but, I have meant alot of cool people so, i'm more relax.

[andy ruffner]

Been there with the anxiety s**t.  I couldn't grip a gi cause I couldn't hold my hand closed. lol. 

Yeah, I still get excited, but not like crazy like when I first started competing.  Yeah, competing a lot will take away a lot of those nerves and then competing gets to be really fun, because you can concentrate on working your game rather than being more focused on just trying to remain calm.  I remember the tournament where I was calm enough to take direction from the side for the first time (I used to just be a wildman and if anything I was worried how much time was left).  It is a compounding effect everytime I go out and compete.  I still have a long way to go, but I have a good time now and am more successfull because I'm calmer. 

[fasteddieferrari]

Don't be afraid to lose. The most dangerous guys are the ones that are not afraid to lose, you see them open there game up and go for moves rather then play it safe. However I try this mentalaty and still lose but it makes competeing alot more fun a way less stressful.

[BurienTopTeam]

I couldn't agree more with the idea of competing as frequently as possible. 

I only compete 3-5 times a year at small, local events.  And it has taken me four years to finally feel comfortable about fighting/competing in front of an audience.

I also think there is a difference between the anxiety of simply competing in the first place and the anxiety of winning versus losing.

[Sksmith]

I've been reading up on similar subjects lately,too. I think the reccomendations of visulization are very good. A lot of people jack up their own anxiety by visualizing everything that can go wrong instead of what they need to think about, which is just doing their thing. I also was reading a book about the mental preparations that Soviet athletes used to be put through and it was pretty impressive. One of the examples made was that, if you ask a person to walk across a gymnastics bar thats on the ground, anyone can do it no sweat. Take that same bar and put it 4 feet off the ground and a large percentage of people will fall off. The bar didn't change. The person's brain became flooded with "omg, I might fall" and so they fell. Your brain has a huge effect on your body during times of anxiety and stress and once you start learning to deal with it, everything becomes simpler.

Also, another big thing is breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Occasionally, sit down and exhale until your lungs are completely empty. That helps get rid of some of the muscle tension.

[sonicbh]

I recently stopped listening to music before my matches and it has helped me a ton! I thought about it and it makes since. I only listen to music through my headphones when I am relaxing. So I would always go into matches relaxed but too relaxed and I would treat a match like a rolling session. My advice would be to take one day a week and plan out everything you would do normally for the tournement. Eat the same do the same things and then roll really hard. I use saturdays which is our open mat day to do this. So in the morning I am eating banannas and honey just like at an event and I roll with people I dont normally roll with! Helped me a ton. 

[brendan raedy]

Listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurqXyOjLxE

[trianglegrrl]

Listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurqXyOjLxE

YouTube's poorly-targeted advertising offered me the option to buy the latest John Mayer album while I was listening to this song. FAIL.

[brendan raedy]

Listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurqXyOjLxE

YouTube's poorly-targeted advertising offered me the option to buy the latest John Mayer album while I was listening to this song. FAIL.

LOL