If you’ve ever competed in a bjj competition, I guarantee you have wondered how to deal with a bjj competition loss.
I’ve competed almost 30 times and started competing at only a couple months into bjj so I can relate all too well and can, hopefully, provide some insight that has helped me learn from my losses.
I’m currently on a 3 competition losing streak so this post stings worse than that time I was trying to parkour, missed the jump, and scraped my shins on a cement ledge.
How You Cope with a BJJ Tournament Loss Matters
If there’s one simple trick that bjj influencers don’t want you to know about its that doing frequent bjj competitions gets you better faster than anything else.
If you can deal with the nerves of competing and find productive ways to deal with a bjj tournament loss your bjj skill will sky rocket.
These are my five steps for how to deal with a bjj competition loss:
- Acknowledge that competing is a skill itself and will take time to develop
- Understand that a competition loss is simply a measurement of what you need to work on
- Review the match over the next day or two and choose a handful of specific techniques to improve on
- Show up to the next class
- Don’t dwell on the loss
1. Competing Is a Skill You Can Learn
If you find yourself making silly mistakes in a bjj competition, ones that you never make in the training room you’re not alone.
Competing brings with it a roller coaster of nerves, and sometimes it feels like you are 3 corn dogs and 2 candy apples deep when that coaster decides to take you for a loop.
If you’re looking for further info on competing I have written a detailed post on how to prepare for your first competition here
These tips have helped me personally with my own competition anxiety so helpfully they’ll help you too.
The biggest takeaway from this first tip is to understand that if you perform poorly in a competition, worse than you do when training, you can learn to become more comfortable in a tournament setting by:
- Competing more often (sorry wish there was another way – at about 10 competitions in I felt noticeably more comfortable)
- Creating a simple game plan based around your A game and drilling it as well as hitting it in live sparring training frequently
2. A Loss Is a Measurement of What You Need to Work On
.
That’s all it is.
There’s no need to wonder what the loss means to you and to others like your coach, your partner, or your gym buddies. Everyone loses. A competition loss exposes your weakness better than any other bjj training.
There’s simply no comparison to the intensity of a competition match verses sparring rounds in the training room. You will need to rely on instinctual reactions and techniques that your body has done countless times with no time to stop and think “is this the right move?”
The truth is you are one step closer to improving upon those weak points now that you know what areas those are, and you are certainly ahead of everyone else who has one less competition than you.
3. How to Review Your Match to Improve
I am a big fan of re-watching my losses as much as it hurts to do so. Usually the day after the loss I’ll sit back and re-watch it a couple times.
The first time or two I just watch and look for overall trends or common areas that I struggled with. From then on, I will continue to re-watch and take notes of those specific areas.
Generally, my first attempt to improve on these areas is go out and look for bjj instructionals that may deal with these specific positions and techniques.
In a recent competition loss of mine, I kept getting stuck in the front headlock position and struggled with defending attacks from it.
From there I started studying both Craig Jones’ Anti-Wrestling Equation as well as John Danaher’s Standing2Ground Takedown dvds.
I then will show up to classes the next week and will put myself frequently and purposefully into those positions (again, for me it was front headlock) with training partners who are a little less experienced than me.
This was key in becoming comfortable in those positions, and then eventually, working up to getting into that position with more experience teammates.
Drilling is great, but eventually, you need to work on hitting “live repetitions” during sparring rounds.
Live repetitions are reps of techniques performed properly during your sparring rounds
If you are not as comfortable with the technique or position, I strongly recommend working in these live repetitions with lower belts first then with those who are closer to your skill level.
4. Show Up to the Next Class No Matter What
After a loss, the easy way out would be to just wallow in your misery eat some sweet treats, maybe even indulging on some that treats that contain magical properties that make you sleepy and relaxed and then watching all of the Daniel Craig James Bond movies in chronological order. (…Yes, this is pretty specific and yes, I did this ok?)
This is the easy way out don’t do this – James Bond wouldn’t do this if he lost first round in a single elimination tournament in front of his spouse who doesn’t quite understand the strategical tactic of pulling guard.
In a recent loss of mine, the tournament was on a Saturday,
I made it a point to show up to Monday’s bjj classes.
This honestly will take a good bit of discipline, but you will be all the better for it. This is what black belts do and have done for years – that’s how they got there.
What makes someone good at bjj is really just showing up even when you don’t want to and even after a bad loss.
Showing back up to class will then make you well on your way to improving on your weak areas and looking ahead to your next competition.
5. Don’t Dwell on the Loss
It’s easy to get hung up on losing to someone, especially when you know that you should have beaten them.
In my title pic, I’m versing an opponent who I went against two times previously and beat both times, but the third time we versed each other he ended up winning.
This one was particularly hard for me to get past. Especially, during these days of social media plus the fact that it was at a bigger event and not just a small local tournament.
If you’ve re-watched your tournament loss enough times, identified your areas to improve upon, have a plan set in place to get better at those areas; now its time to move on.
You can’t change the past, but you can prepare for a better future – for me, hopefully one where I don’t get guillotined 2 matches in a row.
Thanks for reading all.
Hopefully, you got some solid info and learned from my many mistakes that will live on forever on my opponent’s instagram – Zack
To Sum once more – These are my five steps for how to deal with a bjj competition loss:
- Acknowledge that competing is a skill itself and will take time to develop
- Understand that a competition loss is simply a measurement of what you need to work on
- Review the match over the next day or two and choose a handful of specific techniques to improve on
- Show up to the next class
- Don’t dwell on the loss
