In this blog post I am going to talk about the single biggest mindset shift that helped me go from losing all the time in BJJ (I lost my first 4 tournaments) to winning most of the time (current situation).
Grappling Industries Hamiltion 2016. Purple Belt gi and no gi champion.
In one of my first white belt competitions I went in there with a plan to do take-downs and play the top game. Then in the fist match I got thrown right to my back in 30 seconds.
I would lose many more matches until I figured out which moves were working for me.
Notice Which Moves Are Working For You and Sharpen Them
I noticed that I did well when I had people in my closed guard. So I would just focus on bringing the match into my closed guard where my odds of success were higher.
I also practiced these positions in training and got better at them.
Every time I had a match I would try to bring it into positions that I was good at.
I remember I faced this one guy and I jumped closed guard on him and triangled him in a couple of minutes. It was a very easy and fun match.
Later on I saw the same guy throwing people and passing guards like crazy. He was a really good competitor but I just didn’t even think about it. Why?
Because I jumped closed guard on him and took him into a position that’s advantageous to me.
Once he was in my position, he couldn’t even do any of the attacks he wanted. He didn’t even get a chance to play his game.
That’s what made me realize that it doesn’t matter what your opponent is good at.
What matters is that you get the match into a position that’s advantageous to you. Once you have them there, their strengths mean nothing – because you are the expert in your position.
I think that’s a big part of why I am doing so much better in tournaments these days it’s because I focus on my moves. I focus on what I am going to do to him.
I understand he may attack me and my defense will be solid, but the game plan is to put the opponent into my positions.
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.