Grapplearts: Tips for BJJ & Grappling Competition

[Stephan Kesting]

Hi There

Some people are natural born competitors. Like Mickey Rourke's
character in "The Wrestler" they love the limelight, the roar of the
crowd and putting it all on the line...

... and the rest of us tend to have more of a love-hate relationship
with competition.

I was recently asked if I had any good tips for people wanting to
enter their first competition.

I do. In fact I have TWO tips:

First, remember to breathe. Breathing is more important than almost
everything else, because if you hold your breath because you're so
excited you'll either gas out or pass out. Neither is pretty.

Longtime readers will recall a previous post in which an anonymous
grappler could forever with advanced people but gassed out much
quicker when rolling with newbies. We eventually diagnosed this as a
breathing problem, which led to both the solution and a surprise
tournament victory.

You can read that story here:
http://www.grapplearts.com/2004/10/breathing-oxygen-and-exhaustion.htm

My second tip is to go and read the new article by Jason Scully that
I've just posted on Grapplearts. He's put together a great list of
tips that should help you on the big day. Even more importantly, he
has a great attitude about tournament competition.

You can read those competition tips here:
http://www.grapplearts.com/bjj-grappling-competition-tips.html

Ciao
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

P.S. At the risk of getting way off topic, "The Wrestler" has probably
moved into my top five movies list, so definitely think about it the
next time you're going to see a movie after training.


P.P.S. As always, please feel free to forward this email to any
aspiring competitors that you know.