Yesterday, I decided to get some advice from one of my
friends, Mike B, a blue belt from the school. I bounced the idea of competing
in some upcoming tournaments in January and February.
The discussion about competing lead to a couple of topics:
1)
My home life is still unpredictable with the new
born and parenting. This would impact my training and preparation for the
tournament
2)
I am currently not in “Competing shape” I have
managed to lose a step or two and gain a pound or 10 during my hiatus while
doing my fatherly duties at home.
If I compete on January 28th, the tournament
weight class is 200-215lbs, I am currently 228lbs. That means at least 13 lbs
in 5 weeks, which is doable.
As far as the training aspect goes, I believe a good 3-4
rolling and drilling sessions per week would get make me for more comfortable
for the tournament. The only issue with training is I will miss spending time
with my daughter and would be putting extra burden on my already stressed out
wife.
The upcoming NAGA in Atlanta
is February 18th, and seems to be a little more feasible as far as
me competing. The only issue with this is that there will be a lot more fairly
skilled opponents than me, and right now, I just do not think my technique or
cardio will be on point to handle the 5-minute rounds.
The academy is closed starting 12/22 and will re-open at the
beginning of the New Year.
That is 10 days not rolling, but I can do some drills at the
house or something. I am having a
conflict part of me want to compete, and the other half of there is a that
little bit of doubt and fear in my current capabilities.
I have set a deadline to try to have answer for myself by
January 18th for the
tournament coming up on January 28th. I
think this will be enough time to try and evaluate my rolling and conditioning.
And as for the NAGA in Atlanta,
I am going to play that one by ear and try to train enough to make sure I can
compete.
Any suggestions as to what to do?
The question you should ask yourself is what do you want to get out of competing? If it is to learn about your jiu jitsu and see what you need to work on, then just compete, don't worry about weight etc too much.
ReplyDeleteYou can always be better prepared (more time on the mat, less injuries, less weight, bigger muscles, more experience, etc), so if you're waiting until you're perfectly prepared, you'll never compete. ;)
I definitely want to see where my jiu Jitsu skill is at, but I want to be better prepared to be somewhat competitive my division.
ReplyDeleteI just want to get the most out of the experience and learn some things about myself
That's understandable, but I would warn you that worrying too much about being competitive may hold you back from competing.
ReplyDeleteAt blue belt, I decided I would wait before I competed again, because I wanted it to be a true test of my skill. I thought that if I'm not regularly tapping people in class, why bother testing myself in competition: I already know what I need to work on.
The result: I was planning to compete earlier this year, but got promoted to purple belt, which completely killed my motivation. ;)
I say compete. It will give you a good indicator of where you are in relation to others. Obviously you are very competitive person, so maybe this will make you train harder for the next one and you will have the experience under your belt which might give you an advantage.
ReplyDeleteAs far as training, I think that maybe you will be able to balance more than you think you can. Perhaps you can give Suzi the night off, when you aren't training during the week. What does she think?
All valid points for consideration. I have definitely wanted to compete more just to get the experience before I get promoted and moved into another division. I do want to regret not competing at white belt and it impact my future competions as a blue.
ReplyDeleteSuzi and I have briefly talked about it, but we haven't formulated a gameplan as of yet.