Konfor alanımızdan çıkarak kendimizi test ettiğimiz spor müsabakaları birçok açıdan potansiyelimizi ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Peki, BJJ müsabakalarına ilk defa hazırlanan bir sporcu olarak nelere dikkat etmeli, turnuvada nelerle karşılaşma beklentisinde olmalıyız? Öncelikle turnuva hazırlık sürecinde daha farklı bir antrenman rutinine girmiş olmanız ve hazırlığınızı yapmış olmanız en bariz ilkelerden. Kendinizi en iyi hissettiğiniz tekniklere odaklanıp onları bol bol tekrar ederek yaptığınız çalışmalar neticesinde içgüdüsel olarak düşünmeden yapabilecek hale gelmeniz turnuva heyecanında da bu teknikleri uygulama imkânı sağlayacaktır.  Müsabaka maçları her iki tarafın da en iyi oldukları oyunlarını sergiledikleri mücadelelerdir. Yeni ve ilk defa görülmüş ya da az çalıştığınız, emin olmadığınız teknikleri deneme alanı değildir. Turnuva deneyiminiz arttıkça ve teknik repertuarınız genişledikçe elbette bu söylediğim belli noktalarda geçerliliğini yitirecektir, ancak sınırlı minder deneyimine ve teknik bilgiye sahip sporcular için her zaman güvenli ve bildiği teknikleri uygulaması başarı oranlarını artıracaktır.  Kondisyonunuz en az tekniğiniz kadar önem arz etmektedir. Katılacağınız turnuvanın kural düzenine göre maç sürenize bakarak antrenman yapmanız ve temponuzu kontrollü bir şekilde artırıp azaltmanız, gerçek maçınız esnasında da nefesinizin ritmini kaçırmamanıza yardımcı olacaktır.  Daha yoğun ve sert antrenmanların eşliğinde en az onlar kadar önem taşıyan süreç iyileşme sürecidir. Yani temiz beslenmeniz ve en az 8 saatlik gece uykuları ile bedeninizi desteklemeniz hem hazırlık sürecinde sakatlıklarınızı minimize edecek, hem de müsabakada daha iyi bir performans sergilemenizi sağlayacaktır.  Turnuvaya yaklaştıkça, antrenman şiddeti azaltılmalı, vücudunuzun dinlenmesine ve toparlanmasına imkân tanımalısınız. Turnuva haftası artık sert idmanlardan uzak, teknik tekrarı, kas hafızasını kuvvetlendirecek, ter antrenmanları tercih etmeniz müsabakada daha enerjik ve güçlü dövüşebilmenizi sağlar. Müsabakanıza 1 hafta – 10 gün kala kafein içeren içecekleri keserseniz kafeine olan duyarlılığınızı yeniden artıracak, turnuva günü tükettiğini kahve ve benzeri içeceklerin etkisini de daha iyi hissetmenize imkân sağlayacaktır.  Etkinlik eğer farklı bir şehirde veya ülkedeyse, başlangıç gününden en az 1 gün önce seyahatinizi sonlandırıp yolculuktan kaynaklı oluşacak ödemin vücudunuzdan atılmasına ve dinlenmenize süre tanımanız yine size turnuva günü daha iyi hissettirecektir. Tartınızı bitirip kilonuzu da onaylattıktan sonra maçınıza kadar su tüketiminize özellikle özen gösterin. Dehidre olmamaya dikkat edin, düzenli su için.  Maçınızdan önceki gün temiz beslenmeye ve vaktinde uyumaya dikkat edin. Etkinlik günü kolay sindirilebilir güzel bir kahvaltı ile güne başlayın. Hazırlıklarınızı yaptıktan sonra turnuva alanında maçınızı beklerken aç kalmamak adına da (Muz, elma vb.) meyve ve yine kolay sindirilebilir temiz yiyecekler taşıyın. Yanınızda mutlaka su taşıyın ve düzenli olarak tüketin. Terlemeden kaynaklı mineral kaybınızı azaltmak adına yanınıza tuz alıp maç aralarında su ile tüketebilirsiniz. Glüten ve rafine şeker içeren ürünler tüketmemeniz fiziksel performansınızı artıracaktır. Etkinlik alanında giyebileceğiniz rahat bir çift terlik, ısındıktan sonra beden ısınızı kaybettirmeyecek bir hoodie/geniş sweater ideal olacaktır. Maç aralarının ne kadar süreceğini bilmediğiniz ve sonrasında üniforma arama telaşına düşmemek için yedek rashguard ve short bulundurmanız oluşabilecek son dakika heyecanlarının önüne geçecektir.  Maçınızın ne zaman olacağına dair aşağı yukarı bir fikir sahibi olabilirsiniz. Organizatörler karşılaşmaları listeleyeceklerdir. Venüye maçınızdan 1.5-2 saat önce gelmeniz hem atmosfere alışmanıza yardımcı olacak hem de etkinlik alanında fazla bekleyerek enerjinizin düşmesine engel olacaktır.  Tekrar tekrar terleyip soğumamanız ve enerjinizi boşa harcamamanız için maçınızın saatinden 20 dk önce ısınmaya başlayarak hazır beklemeniz verimli olacaktır. Takım arkadaşlarınız ile beraber gittiyseniz maçı olan arkadaşlarınızın köşesinde bulunabilir, eğer teknik bilgi olarak yardımcı olamıyorsanız maçın süresini ve puanlamayı ona belli aralıklarla bildirebilirsiniz. Kendi maçınızı takip ederken bir yandan takım arkadaşlarınızı da gözetmeyi ihmal etmeyin. Unutmayın ki birlikte her zaman daha güçlü olursunuz.  Eğer ilk kez bir grappling/BJJ müsabakasına katılıyorsanız öncesinde kural kitapçığını okumanız önem arz etmektedir. Eğitmeniniz size genel hatlarıyla turnuva düzeninden ve puanlama sisteminden bahsetmiş olacaktır. Müsabaka alanına geldiğinizde, kendi maçınızdan önce olan özellikle üst kuşakların maçlarını izlemeniz genel düzenin nasıl işlediği ile ilgili size bilgi verecektir.  Maçınız esnasında hakemin direktiflerine uymaya, karşı çıkıp saygısızca tepkiler vermemeye özen gösterin. Unutmayın, rakibiniz düşmanınız değildir, bilakis sizin kendinizi test etmenize imkân sağlayan kişidir, onlara öfke değil minnet duymanız gerekmektedir. Bu tarz bir tutum hem sizin bir sporcu olarak iyi görünmemenize hem de ekibinizin genel duruşu üzerinde etkili olacaktır. Maçınız esnasında hakemin direktifleri haricinde kulak vermeniz ve odaklanmanız gereken tek ses köşenizde size destek olan eğitmeniniz veya takım arkadaşınızın sesidir. Maç esnasında takım arkadaşlarım, izleyenler ne düşünür, kaybediyorum, nasıl gözüküyorum, rezil mi olurum kaybedersem vb. negatif düşünceleri susturmaya özen gösterin. Unutmayın, eğitmeniniz ve takım arkadaşlarınız kazancınız ve mağlubiyetinizden dolayı değil, onlarla minderi paylaşıyor olmanızdan, verdiğiniz emek ve mücadeleden, gösterdiğiniz cesaretten dolayı sizlerle gurur duyuyorlar.  Hepimiz mücadele sporlarında müsabakaya çıkarken elbette kazanmak için çıkıyoruz. Ancak unutmayın ki illaki birileri kaybedecek ki birileri kazansın. Başarı sonuç değildir. Başarısızlık da ölümcül değildir. Önemli olan devam etme cesaretidir. Zaferde alçakgönüllü, yenilgide de zarif olun. En önemlisi de keyif almayı unutmayın. 

Yeni başlayacağımız herhangi bir deneyim bizi her zaman korkutur. Bilinmezlik vardır en nihayetinde, insan ise güvende hissetmek için ne ile karşılacağını önceden kestirmek ister. Yeni bir aktiviteye başlarken her ne kadar bir çekince olsa da, sanıyorum dövüş sanatlarının doğası gereği bu alanda bir adım atma ve devamlılığı sağlamak daha zor oluyor insanlar için.Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, bilinen geleneksel dövüş sanatlarından çok farklı bir duruşa sahiptir, çünkü belki de yerde sırtımızın üzerinde bu kadar ayrıntılı ve detaylı bir şekilde hareket ettiğimiz tek sistemdir. Benzer disiplinler elbette mevcuttur; Judo, Sambo, Catch Wrestling vb., ancak bütün bunlardaki Newaza dediğimiz yer güreşi olan kısmı, BJJ’de görüldüğü kadar ayrıntılı değildir.Hayatımız boyunca ayaklarımız üzerinde hareket etmeye ve özellikle büyük şehirlerde yaşıyorsak, kişisel mesafemizi korumaya bu kadar önem vermişken, bir anda bütün bu alışkanlıkların yerle bir olduğu bir aktiviteye başlamak elbette kolay bir karar olmayacaktır.Aklınıza gelebilecek bazı soru ve düşünceleri farklı bir bakış açısıyla yanıtlamak ve yorum katmak istiyorum. Jiu-Jitsu’ya başlamanın sizlere neler kazandırabileceği ile ilgili tecrübe ettiklerimi de size aktaracağım. Aynı zamanda dövüş sanatlarındaki eğitiminize başlamadan önce dikkat etmeniz gereken bazı hususları dile getireceğim. Öyleyse başlayalım.• “Çok zor gözüküyor ben hayatta yapamam”Yeni başladığımız ve yapmaya değer her şey kolay olmaya başlayana kadar zordur zaten. Bu öğrenmenin en doğal parçasıdır. Yaptığınız aktivitenin size kolay gelmesi aslında o yaptığınız şeyin kolay olduğundan değil, artık sizin için kolaylaşmış olmasından kaynaklanır. Düzenli çalışma ve tekrar ile Jiu-Jitsu öğrenememeniz için hiçbir sebep bulunmamaktadır.Düzenli olarak antrenmanlara katılıp gerekli emeği verdikten sonra Jiu-Jitsu öğrenememiş kimse tanımıyorum ben şu ana kadar. Herkesin öğrenme şekli ve hızı farklıdır, dolayısıyla zor-kolay, hızlı-yavaş gelişim algılarınızı biraz daha arka plana atarak sadece yeni bir şey öğrenmeye çalışmak olarak yaklaşmak Jiu-Jitsu yaparak geçirdiğiniz süreci daha keyifli hale getirecektir. • “Çok yakın temas, çok terliyorsunuz’’Evet, BJJ doğası gereği oldukça yakın temas uygulanan bir disiplin. Evet, haliyle yoğun fiziksel bir mücadele ve hareket neticesinde terleniyor. Fakat normal şartlara, fiziksel bir mücadele içinde kendi bedeninizi karşınızda size zarar vermeye çalışan birine karşı savunurken ne kadar rahat hissetmeyi planlıyorsunuz?Doğası gereği,hayati tehlikesi yüksek olan fiziksel bir mücadele, olmak istediğimiz bir yer olamaz. Ancak istesek de istemesek de bu tarz bir mücadelede kendimizi bulmamız her zaman bir olasılık. Peki, böyle bir noktadan baktığınızda, böyle bir olayda neler yapabileceğinizi, soğukkanlılığınızı koruyabilmeyi ve hayatta kalma olasılığınızı artırabilecek niteliklere sahip olmayı tercih etmez miydiniz? Size bir seçenek sunulsa, kendinizi herhangi bir insana karşı fiziksel olarak savunabilme yeteneklerine sahip olma veya olmama, buna hayır diyen birisi çıkar mıydı gerçekten? Bu güvenlik hissimize ve hayatta kalma içgüdümüze ters bir tutum olurdu. Yakın temastan çekiniyorsanız ve rahatsız oluyorsanız, o zaman kendinizi savunmanız gerekebilecek bir durumda panik yapmanız, duygusal tepki vermeniz ve dolayısıyla fiziksel bir mücadelede yapılabilecek yanlışları yapma olasılığınız fazlalaşmaktadır. Boks yapan insanlar “suratıma yumruk atsınlar, ne güzel” diye antrenmana gitmemelerine karşılık, ilk başta çekindikleri bu eylem oldukça sıradan bir hale gelmeyi başarıyor. BJJ için de bu geçerli.Huzursuzluk ve rahatsızlık içerisindeyken de sakin kalarak, akıllı kararlar verip, hareket edebileceğimiz bir alan yaratmak istiyoruz. • “Ben çok ufağım yapamam”Jiu-Jitsu’nun ortaya çıkışı zaten, küçük insanların kendilerinden daha büyük daha kuvvetli insanlara karşı mücadele edebilmelerini sağlamakmış. Öğreneceğiniz teknik konseptleri uygulamanız halinde hiç tahmin edemeyeceğiniz bir etkinliğe ve güce kavuştuğunuzu göreceksiniz. • “Ben sinirlenince kırmızı görürüm, vurmak isterim, kendime hakim olamam”Hayatta bir çok şey planladığımız ve olmasını istediğimiz şekilde gitmiyor maalesef. Bundan dolayı duygusal farkındalık ve duygusal yönetim hepimizin medeni bir toplumda yaşaması için önem arz eden özellikler. Jiu-Jitsu, aslında doğada oluşabilecek sonuçları hızlı bir etkinlikle karşınıza çıkartıyor. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu son derece matematiksel bir disiplin olduğu için, doğabilecek sonuçları size gösterip, oluşmasından önce size onu tanımanız, kabullenmeniz ve durdurmanız için fazlaca süre tanımaktadır.Doğada bir canlı başkasının bölgesine girdiğinde neler olabileceğini çok iyi bilir, istediği her ne kadar bir mücadele etmek olmasa da (çünkü bu her zaman onun da ölümüyle sonuçlanabilir) bunun farkındadır. Herhangi bir canlı kendisinden güçlü bir başka canlı ile mücadeleye girerse sonuçlarını bilmektedir. Doğada ders alma-öğrenme genelde yaşam mücadelesi üzerinden çok fazla şans tanınmadan gerçekleştiği için hayvanlar bizlere göre daha çekimser ve daha az cüretkardır. Biz insanlar, medeniyetle ile birlikte gelen sahte bir güvenlik hissine maruz kalabiliyor ve gücümüzü bazen olduğundan çok daha fazla görebiliyoruz.Öfkelendiğimizde, bağırdığımızda, hakaret ettiğimizde, genelde sonuçları fiziksel bir münakaşa ile bitmediğinden dolayı daha rahat hareket etmekte bir sakınca görmüyoruz, bu da bizi güçlü hissettirebiliyor. Ancak, medeniyet sayesinde çoğumuz, hayatında hiçbir fiziksel mücadelede bulunmadan yaşıyoruz. Böyle bir mücadele olması halinde ise gerçekte neler olabileceğini daha iyi anlamak açısından BJJ ve benzeri dövüş sanatları oldukça etkilidir.Sandığınız kadar güçlü veya sandığınız kadar güçsüz olmadığınızı çok güzel deneyimleyeceksiniz. Egonuzu dizginleyebilecek, sakin kalmayı çok hızlı şekilde öğreneceksiniz. Burada çalışırken hissedeceğiniz bütün duygular sizi onlarla başa çıkmaya itecektir. Duygusal tepkiler verip, vurmaya vs çalışsanız da bir işe yaramayacağını görmenize ve bu vesile ile sakinleşmenize ve kabullenmenize yardımcı olacaktır. • “Çok vahşi”Doğasına baktığınızda dövüş sanatları ve savunma disiplinleri karşıdakine fiziksel bir üstünlük sağlamak için düşünülmüş sistemlerdir. Fiziksel bir çarpışmaya kaotik bir olay olarak bakarsak, kaos ile nasıl başa çıkacağınız yine bir tercih noktası olmaktadır. Ondan kaçabilir, siz de kaotik bir tepki verebilir ya da onun karşısında mümkün olduğu kadar sakin kalıp onu kontrol etmeyi deneyebilirsiniz. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’nun hedeflediği nokta ‘’kontrol’’ ilkesidir. Kontrol edebildiğiniz bir durumda dürtüsel ve düşüncesiz hareket etme olasılığınız azalacaktır. Zaten kontrol altında olan birine zarar verme gereği de yoktur.Unutmayın, Jiu-Jitsu sadece bir araçtır, nasıl, nerede, ne için kullandığınıza göre çok büyük değişiklik gösterebilir. Son derece sakin ve kontrol esaslı olabildiğimiz gibi, daha saldırgan ve zarar verici olmamız da mümkün ama bu sanatın kendisinden kaynaklı bir şey değil icra edenin kişisel tercihidir. Unutmayın ki bir bıçağı meyve kesmek, yemek yapmak için de kullanabilirsiniz, bir başkasına zarar vermek için de.Bu ön yargıları ve düşünceleri bir kenara bırakırsak, çok daha öncelikli bir soru var aslında; Neden BJJ yapmalıyım?Öncelikle, her bireyin fiziksel olarak kendisini minimum düzeyde koruyabilecek bilgi ve fiziksel nitelikleri olması gerektiğini savunuyorum. Güvende hissetme içgüdüsü bütün canlılarda olduğu gibi bizim için de her zaman geçerlidir. Medeniyetin vermiş olduğu sahte güvenlik hissini hatırlayın. Kanunlar ve kurallar, bir toplulukta birlikte yaşayan insanların ortak kabul ettiği düzenlemelerdir. Devletlerden, medeni düzenlerden uzakta herhangi bir yerde hak, hukuk gibi kavramlar bulunmamaktadır. Zaten sorun da bu ortak yapılarda yaşarken topluca kabul edilmiş bu kuralları tanımayan, onlara uymayan insanlar çıktığında meydana geliyor. Sizin kendi hakkınızı sizin yerinize ‘o anda’ savunabilecek birisi olmadığında ne olacak? Sizin kendi haklarınızı, kendinizi savunmanız gerektiğinde ne olacak? Böyle bir senaryoyu hiçbirimiz düşünmek istemeyiz ama böyle bir tehlike her zaman mevcut.Hayatınızda herhangi aktif bir sporun olması sizin böyle bir durumda daha dayanıklı, daha zor bir hedef olmanızı sağlayacaktır. BJJ’nin antrenman modeli ve tekniklerin uygulanışı ise gerçek bir fiziksel mücadeleyi maksimum direnç ve kuvvetle, karşılıklı zarar görmeden, gerçeğe en yakın haliyle simüle edebilme imkanı sağlar.Beden farkındalığınız artacak. Bir bütün olarak bedeninizi daha iyi anlayacak, onu daha iyi hissedecek, daha iyi kullanabileceksiniz. Koordinasyonunuz, dengeniz kuvvetlenecek, acı toleransınız artacaktır. Stres toleransınız artaracak, zihinsel ve fiziksel olarak daha güçlü bir siz olacaksınız. Egonuzu dizginleyecek ve özgüveninizi artıracak bu disiplinde başkalarıyla birlikte çalıştıkça, güveni, saygıyı, takım ruhunu, yardımlaşmayı, sağlıklı rekabeti, başkası için mutlu olmayı öğreneceksiniz. Olduğunuz her yerde kendinizi genel olarak daha güvende hissedecek, daha özgüvenli olacaksınız.Bütün bunlarla birlikte, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’nun nasıl öğretildiği, nerede kim tarafından öğretildiği son derece önemlidir. Herhangi bir salona kayıt olmadan önce dikkat edebileceğiniz bazı noktalar şunlar:Öncelikle, eğitmenin yetkinliği. Hiç bilmediğiniz bir alanda, hiç tanımadığınız birine güvenerek bedeninizi emanet ediyorsunuz aslında. Eğitmenin deneyimi ve yetkinliği sizin sakatlanma riskinizi, öğrendiklerinizin niteliğini ve öğrenmenizin kolaylığını belirleyecektir. Elbette konudan çok uzaksanız bunu değerlendirebilecek bir perspektife sahip olamayabilirsiniz ancak diğer salonlardaki eğitmenlerle, ders yapısıyla ve eğitmenin kendisini gösterme şekline göre bunu değerlendirebilirsiniz. Unutmayın, eğitmenleriniz de öğrenmeye devam ediyor olmalı.BJJ’de eğitmenin yetkinliği en basit şekilde kuşak soy ağacından belli olur. Diğer geleneksel dövüş disiplinlerinin aksine herhangi bir standarda oturmamış bir kuşak sistemi vardır BJJ’nin. Genel çerçeveleri bellidir kuşakların ancak sınırlı bir teknik sayısı olmadığı için, yapılabilen teknik sayısından ziyade, kişinin bu disipline verdiği emek ve onu ne kadar anladığı üzerinden derecelendirme yapılır. Derecelendirmeler ve alınan kuşaklar, eğitmen ve okulun (salonun) tarzını temsil eder aslında. Kuşaklarını aldığı eğitmenler ve takımlar belli ise o takım ve eğitmenler onun yetkinliğini kabul etmiştir.Eğitmenin sorduğunuz sorulara karşı uslübu. Sorgulanabilir olması.Derslerde soru sorduğunuz için küçük dürüşürülüyor, alay ediliyorsanız orada bir yanlışlık vardır. Soru sorabilmeli ve öğretilen tekniği yeri geldiğinde sorgulayabilme, neden çalışıp çalışmadığını, nerede uygulamanın daha uygun, nerede uygun olmadığını tartışabilmeniz BJJ’nin önemli bir parçasıdır.Alt kuşaklara nasıl davranıldığıBJJ özelinde olmadan, bazı dövüş sanatlarının öğretildiği salonlarda yeni gelenlere gereksiz bir üstünlük sağlanabiliyor. Yeni başlayan birisi eğer öğrenmeye gelmiş, kibar ve düzgün tavırlar sergilemesine rağmen karşılığında ötekileştirildiğini hissediyorsa orada bir problem vardır. Elbette kapıdan giren herkese ilk günden bütün ilgi gösterilmez, takımın parçası olmak için emek vermesi ve ciddi olduğunun anlaşılması beklenir. Ancak, beyaz kuşaklar takımın en önemli parçasıdır belki de, her gelen kişi yeni sorular, yeni fikirler ve yeni motor paternleri ile gelir. Onlara ilk günden yardımcı olmak ve sıcak davranmak üst kuşakların en önemli görevidir.Başka insanlarla/kulüplerle antrenmanSizin bir salona yazılmış olmanız, orada çalışıyor olmanız, oradaki herhangi birine salon dışındaki hayatınızda size ne yapıp ne yapmayacağınızı söyleyecek yetkiyi vermemeli. Çalıştığınız salonu ve takımı temsil ettiğiniz noktalar elbette önem arz ediyor ancak sizin bireysel olarak çalıştığınız kişiler katıldığınız etkinlikler takımınızın kimliğinden bağımsız olabilmelidir. Başkaları ile antrenman yapmanızı, başka kulüplere misafir olmanızı, cross-training yapmanıza kimse karışamamalı.Bir yere ait hissetmek, bir topluluğun parçası olması insana her zaman güçlü hissettirir. Bunu evde ailemizle, iş yerinde meslektaşlarımızla, okulda arkadaşlarımızla, hobilerimizde, her yerde yaşıyoruz. Ancak, bu aidiyet ve birlik güdüsü başkalarına hayatımız üzerinde gereğinden fazla yetki vermemeli.Umarım kafanızdaki bazı sorulara cevap olabilmiş, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’ya başlamanıza engel olan bazı önyargılar hakkında farklı bir bakış açısı kazandırabilmişimdir. Unutmayın, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu her yaştan, hayatın her alanından insanın yapabileceği bir disiplindir. Genel hareket, denge ve kaldıraç prensipleri etrafında, teknikler herkesin vücut tipine göre uyarlanmaktadır. Minderde görüşmek dileğiyle!

My experience from the AJP tournament, Istanbul, December 2022   Look at this picture. I am on the left, wearing black. How do I look? Exhausted, that’s how. This was my sixth tournament. I had convinced myself that by now I was experienced enough not to freak out, to be laser-focused, and to get the best outcome possible. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. In fact, I waited for a few months to write this article precisely because I needed to reflect on what happened and give it enough time to try to be objective. The first tournament experience is usually tough. The first fight you have, perhaps the second and third and a few more — you are desperately trying to get used to the aggression and roughness of it. Yes, training in jiu-jitsu should prepare you for this. But it is not quite the same. The first time you go down as your opponent launches an aggressive double-leg takedown, the first time a hand lands on your collar with serious intent, or the first time you get bull rushed as you are desperately trying to prevent a guard pass — what happens is a bit of panic settles in. Your heartbeat elevates. You are starting to run out of breath. This is surprising, after all, you roll in the gym for an hour and here you can barely handle 5–6 minutes. You regularly fight with big strong guys, but your opponent, who doesn’t quite look that intimidating, feels too strong or too fast. You can barely hear your coach screaming. The noise of the crowd comes and goes. There are moments when there seems to be nothing else, just you and the opponent. Then there are moments when there is so much noise it makes you dizzy. I remember my first match. My heartbeat was so elevated I could hear it. The opponent felt strong as a bull. After the first 30 seconds, the shock passed and I kept thinking — I am not going to take damage, I should trust my training. I did feel better. Since then, I have had my good days and bad days in competition. Which brings me to the AJP Tour Tournament of December 2022 in Istanbul. This was, as I said, my sixth tournament. What could possibly go wrong? Had I not seen it all? Ah, so comical. Thinking a bunch of white and blue belt competitions meant that much. That I was already an experienced competitor. False confidence can be a serious problem because it makes you think you can be successful despite whatever goes wrong. And one big thing that went wrong was that I barely slept the last couple of days before the competition. We arrived at the tournament venue, weighed in and the next morning, the matches started. DOWN We were only three in the bracket. By the time my first match started, I had waited for hours. During this time, I did all the wrong things, mentally. I burnt myself out. Kept thinking about the match, about what I wanted to do. Nothing wrong with that. But these thoughts were constantly interrupted by other thoughts. That I was a blue belt with four stripes, so I had to win. Anything less than a double gold would be a failure. This, of course, was a colossal mistake. Putting that kind of pressure on yourself is a direct path to failure. If your status, achievements, or accolades do not generate calm confidence, you start feeling like an impostor, desperate to prove to everyone and to yourself that you deserve to be where you are. When I stepped on the mats, I felt mentally exhausted. It did not help of course, that my opponent was as game as they come. In a few seconds, he took me down and started trying to pass my guard. He was strong, he was focused and surprisingly technical. But he was facing a diminished version of me. I was doing what I could to keep him at bay, but by minute two of the match, I could not feel my arms. I couldn’t breathe. I was getting increasingly frustrated with myself. Minute after minute, my opponent racked up points and the desperation settled in. Once I accepted that I was going to lose the match, I focused on not getting submitted. He tried an armbar. I defended. He tried a choke. I defended. Finally, the ref stopped the match after what felt like an eternity. Final score — 20–0. The worst defeat I have had in my 17 tournament matches. As I walked (or rather crawled) off the mats, I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I sat down next to the mats and closed my eyes, trying to regain my breathing. Failed. Opened my eyes and saw the tournament organizer who took one good look at me and then told the referee to give me 5 minutes before the next match. Yes, there was going to be the next match. The thought of stepping on the mat again was almost physically painful. As my brain started functioning again, slowly, the thoughts that filled my head were not helpful at all. What an embarrassment. 20–0. My team must be so upset. My coach must be so upset. My son (also a competitive jiu-jitsu practitioner) saw that. How could that happen? Maybe I should never compete again? UP Then the rational brain kicked in. Calm down — I said to myself. Just breathe. This was the worst match ever. But you did not get submitted. Now is the time to forget that match. I can relax now. No pressure. I won’t be getting gold, so no point being upset about it now. Just do the next match. Focus on what is in front of you. The referee signaled for me to come to the mats, my opponent was already there. He had seen the mauling I had just received and probably thought it’d be a walk in the park. Can’t blame him if he did. I triangled him in a little over a minute. A win. A convincing win. How about that? After thanking the opponent and the referee, I walked off the mats and went to the stands where my teammates were. Despite all the words of encouragement and congratulations, it was obvious they were a bit shell-shocked at how my first match had gone. I thought about how I could turn this around. My friends! — I said with a big smile. — If you had any worries about your matches, trust me, you will be fine. You would have to try really hard to lose 0–20. As I sat there, with my body aching, I tried to calm my nerves. Yes, I got silver in gi. Not too bad. I did not get submitted. I won by submission. Now I had to concentrate on the no-gi part of the tournament where in the quarterfinal I was paired against a 31-year-old Russian. DOWN AGAIN Perhaps it did not help that a couple of hours passed before I was to compete again. I reverted to destructive self-talk, making the same mistake I had made earlier. Hyped myself up. After all, I was much better in no-gi than gi. I thought I would do well here. As I thought this, my heartbeat started getting up. I did not make the connection at the time, but I can see now that this was the wrong approach. My opponent was a young wrestler (damn it) and attacked viciously. At some point, as he was trying to pass my guard, he tried a baseball choke of sorts and squeezed his fist into my cheek and I felt my teeth cracking. This brought me back to earth. You, son of a bitch, I thought. I got back into the fighting mode and regained some ground, then wrapped my arm around his neck. Arm-in guillotine. I had it deep. Then again, doubt started creeping in. My arm-in guillotine is not good. I need a clean guillotine. And sure enough, as I tried to re-position, he escaped. I felt very frustrated. And as I was already low on energy, he started accumulating points and won the match. I was very upset. Walked off the mats, came to the stands, sat down, and did not say a word for a while. My teammates recognized that it was best to leave me alone. My son put his hand on my shoulder and said — it is over. I was glad it was. That was the competition. Down. Up. Down again. In a tournament— when you don’t win, the question is did you lose or did the opponent beat you? - Losing means you lost focus. You were not present. It is self-inflicted.- Being beaten is — you put up a fight, did your best jiu-jitsu and the opponent was just better.The only way you can make sure your experience was not a waste of time is to identify specific lessons from each loss. These can be specific technical issues, like fixing my arm-in guillotine (match 3 takeaway). You can also make sure you don’t take your wins for granted and seek lessons in those too. You can also adjust your tournament preparation, mindset, and thinking process, as well as your routine before and during the tournament. Here are a few thoughts: Train. Understand that when competing, you are going to fall back on the most trusted techniques that you can perform almost subconsciously. So train, train, and train. I won’t go into details on how to train for a competition — that’s a separate topic altogether. But know this — your confidence depends on your training. As John Danaher once remarked, confidence does not come from words, it comes from accumulation of skill.Improve your conditioning. If you are exhausted, your technique becomes unimportant. There are different ways of doing this, again, a separate topic altogether, but among other things, don’t neglect good sleep. Also, focus on your breathing. Doing breathing exercises can help improve your cardio.Your tournament is NOT that important. Don’t burn yourself out overthinking what might happen. As I often say to my teammates, no one remembers or cares about Gordon Ryan’s wins or losses as a white or blue belt. Most tournaments are to help you identify holes in your game and what to focus on in your training, maybe to have a fun time with your friends and get a bit of an adrenaline rush from the competition. Treat it as such.Your tournament is NOT that insignificant. Yes, the tournament is not such a huge deal, but it is also not nothing. If you approach it correctly, it can be a great motivator to train and improve. It can be a source of great inspiration, new friendships, and fun times. It is a test of your ability to perform under pressure and a medium through which you can improve that. Trust your training. Don’t overthink whether you are ready. Do what you know how to do. You can, of course, try new things, but the tournament is not usually the best place for improvisation.Be here, now. Be present. Don’t overthink your environment. The crowd. The noise. Your family, friends, and your teammates will not care whether you won or lost. Focus on your match. On your opponent. And nothing else.Defeats are normal. Rather than trying not to lose or trying to win, focus on giving it your all. If you come out of a match with no regrets, everything else will line up. Maybe not in this specific tournament, but longer term.Expect aggression. Don’t be shocked at how hard your opponent attacks. Expect it. Initiate aggression if you can. This will save you valuable match time and unnecessary self-talk during the match. No one is coming to the tournament to lose. Yes, some people might choke and fold, but most will give it a fair shot. Do the same.Practice listening to the coach. It is amazing how little we end up listening to corner advice during our first matches. You need to train that. Do drills in training when your coach yells out advice and try to detect the coach’s voice from among the noise. I find that the most useful information is about the time — how many minutes are left in the match — knowing this will help you decide on your strategy and tactics.Winning the first points. This is crucial, it is hard to come back from a point deficit in a 5-minute match. So try to initiate the action, this will help you relax and have a clearer head for the rest of the match.You need to realize that of all the “tough” people you know in your life, a very small percentage has what it takes to survive a week in a jiu-jitsu gym. So you are already in a very small group of people. But then there is the next level. Of all the people who even regularly come to training, only a small percentage competes. So the fact that you are there, competing — you are already among very few select warriors. Take pride in that. . . . Just the last week I did my first tournament at a purple belt level. The advice I have shared in this article helped me avoid being nervous and I did quite well, winning one match by submission and losing in the finals on points. Most importantly, I did not burn myself out before even fighting and was able to enjoy the experience. Competitions can be an amazing experience. I have had a blast traveling and competing with my sons and teammates. I have made a lot of new friends along the way and have great memories. Try it out!

Some Reflections My son and I, on the day of my promotion to purple belt. Symbols. They matter because they represent something to us. But for them to have meaning, there needs to be a group of people who share a similar “language” helping understand how to interpret these symbols. Whether it is an object (a belt of purple color in this case), a ritual, or a sign of some sort, they are a part of our vernacular, helping to make sense of things, persons, and situations. The object — the Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt. The language is that of the worldwide community of BJJ practitioners, grapplers, MMA athletes, and fans who understand the significance and meaning of different belts in one’s martial arts journey. Symbols also tell a story. In this case, the story of a 45-year-old, who has spent the last four years plus borderline obsessed with Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Of countless hours of practice, drilling, sparring, injuries, competitions, watching instructionals, and more practice still. Of dragging my two sons and many others to try BJJ, hoping they would find in this art the precious things it has given me — in addition to the obvious physical benefits, a mindset, and habits that help deal with everyday stress, a great community of like-minded individuals from different parts of the world and walks of life, and an extraordinarily tricky martial art that is fun to learn. So I got the purple belt about a month ago. It was a strange mix of feelings. At first, a deep sense of pride. I did it. When I started jiu-jitsu, I hoped to get to a blue belt level. That was the maximum I hoped to achieve. At the time, the purple belt seemed so far out of reach. As I have heard different black belts say, not more than 10–15% of the jiu-jitsu practitioners get to a blue belt level. If you do, bravo. But sadly, most people quit after getting a blue belt. Only about 3% of the practitioners reach the purple belt. However, once you reach the purple belt, the chances of reaching the black belt become significantly higher. At the purple belt level, you have crossed the survival stage of the white belt, and you did not quit as the blue belt. It is at the purple belt level that everyone around you recognizes that you are in this for real. That’s what it is. The purple belt signifies consistent commitment. With pride, however, come all kinds of thoughts and feelings, sometimes contradictory. • Gratitude. To have found Brazilian jiu-jitsu. To have decided to put in the work. Towards my coach and everyone else who helped me learn and get better. To everyone else in my life, who is patient and understanding enough to let me spend this much time and effort in what may seem like a strange way for a forty-something-year-old to spend his free time.• Confidence. In my skills, putting in the work. In my ability to learn and improve. In my technique, my game, my ability to defend myself and defeat others.• Doubt. Am I really at the purple belt level? Can I successfully match up with other purple belts? Do I know enough? Doubts are part of life. In this case, the way I deal with the doubts is that I remind myself that I am at the beginning of my time as the purple belt — so a couple of years down the line is when I will be a much better purple belt. So no rush, no freaking out. One step, one training session, one sparring match at a time.• Relaxation. I don’t have to prove much anymore. Not that I don’t think I need to improve, of course I do. But I can do that without putting any pressure on myself. Relaxed learning. I can care less now who taps me out, how many times. There is relaxed strength that comes with the rank, I feel. I know my worth, and what I am capable of. I won’t give easy wins to anyone, that’s not gonna happen. But I am now more comfortable with losing without having my ego bruised. Losing and learning.• Focus. At the same time, as my knowledge of BJJ expands, I am becoming more and more focused on what I want to learn. It is hard to make sense of all of it as a white belt. Even as a blue belt you try different things and many things just don’t stick. The problem is at junior levels I did not understand the game well enough to learn the concepts and techniques efficiently, to add them to my game. As a purple belt, it feels different — there are very few things I cannot understand and physically do at this stage. So learning becomes very different.• Responsibility. To my teammates, to anyone I spar with. To keep them safe, to help them grow and get better. But also to improve as their partner — the better I get, the better I can help them become.• Joy. Of just practicing something I love. Having fun. Exchanging jokes with my teammates. Trash talking in the most desperate situations. Giving and receiving positivity.                                                                       ···So where to now? What is next? The easiest answer to that is — keep training. Keep moving forward. If there is one thing BJJ has taught me so far, it is the importance of small steps. Incremental improvements. Kaizen. Atomic Habits. Call it what you will, but anything of value is achieved through continuous work to improve over time. Still, I know I won’t just be satisfied with vague guidance. :) I like to make specific plans. So here are some thoughts: • Don’t forget Defence/Escapes. Periodically revisit and dedicate specific sparring sessions to fundamentals of defense and escapes.• Elevate my guard game. Open Guard, including butterfly, X-guard, single leg X, half guard, half butterfly, reverse de la Riva. Improve the transitions, sweeps, wrestle ups and submissions from all.• Polish my favorite submissions. Leglocks and strangles (including triangles). I never fancied armlocks much. But guillotines, d’Arces, rear-naked choke, and all kinds of leglocks — that I love. I need to add/improve set-ups and finishing. One important thing, I think, is understanding the transitions — between different kinds of headlocks for example. Or between different leg entanglement positions — irimi ashi-garami, cross-ashi, 50/50 and others.• Streamline my top game. From stand-up (snap downs, double leg takedowns), to guard passing (pressure passing), to top control in side control (including my beloved Kesa Gatame) and mount. Get it to the level where opponents feel claustrophobic.I don’t feel I need to learn a whole lot of new techniques necessarily. I think the focus needs to be on improving the execution of high percentage techniques I am already using. It is all about learning and applying the nuances at this point. That said, this old fox can certainly learn some new tricks too. :) I have mentally prepared myself for plateaus. I have previously dealt with plateaus when learning languages, piano, and chess. Plateaus are not fun. But plateaus are also manageable. With perseverance and changing things up just a little bit, you get through them and typically end up better and stronger at the other end. I should also prepare myself for how my sparring sessions might change. As a purple belt, you are in a place where every sparring session with blue belts has a different significance. Also, every white belt will feel more comfortable experimenting because they will feel more confident that I can protect them and myself. :) Every brown and black belt roll will get harder since they won’t feel the need to hold back. This might take some adjustment — symbols change attitudes, even if logically speaking, I have not changed much within the last month. So practice and have fun. And learn, learn, learn.                                                                        ···A week ago, on my trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, I had my ass kicked by a purple belt who is 10 kg lighter than me. :) Yes, yes, he was younger. Much younger. But it was the skill level on display that was more impressive. I was not disheartened after such an experience and if anything, it made me even more eager to learn. There is so much to learn…

Supercharge Your BJJ GrowthA still from a John Danaher instructional Listening to the stories of people who started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the 90s, I have always noticed a similar pattern. They seek out and find some worn-down gym with a bunch of people rolling around, then there is the first experience of sparring and being demolished by someone smaller, weaker, and less athletic. Then starts the fascination with BJJ, becoming an obsession, followed by (important!) minimal opportunities to learn anything about BJJ outside the gym. These days, the pattern is slightly different. BJJ is much more mainstream, thanks to its importance in the fastest-growing sport of MMA, as well as the expanding interest in, as well as the range, and viewership of BJJ competitions. So most people who start BJJ have some idea about what they are getting into. And while the first experience of sparring is usually the same as thirty years ago, what has changed tremendously is the amount of BJJ resources out there. In this article, I want to talk about BJJ instructionals. How to choose them, what to study, and most importantly, how to study. First of all, seek material appropriate to your level. If you are only two months in, watching Gordon Ryan's instructionals is a waste of time. You simply do not have enough reference points to learn advanced systems and techniques. As a complete beginner, you are much better off focusing on learning how to be safe, then fundamental techniques of escapes, then guard, then the top game, and most high-percentage attacks. I won’t go into detail here, you can find my advice for the white belts seeking to become blue belts in my article Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — The Path to Blue Belt. As you gradually gain more experience in jiu-jitsu, self-study should become a key part of your learning. You are much more in a position to start experimenting, branching out, and building game plans. You can find my thoughts on the journey from blue belt onwards in my article Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — You are a Blue Belt, now what? At white belt, your best investment is studying fundamentals, typically through short-format videos, for which YouTube is best. You need some specific tutorials and you won’t be able to retain much of the information you consume, so keep it short. But at blue belt onward, I recommend you start taking your time. Long-format instructionals can revolutionize your training and jiu-jitsu progression. You can still look up short videos if you are trying to fix a specific problem, but the long-term format should take most of your instructional study. There are a number of specialized resources with such materials. The most significant among these is probably the BJJ Fanatics — offering hundreds upon hundreds of instructionals on every possible topic related to the sport. Other resources include the MGinAction by Marcel Garcia, GrapplersGuide by Jason Scully, Jiujitsux by Keenan Cornelius, and others. The pricing differs, but you are learning from some of the best athletes and coaches in the world. At the beginning of my experiments with BJJ instructionals, I have been, sadly, one of the thousands of members of the “I watched an hour-long instructional and barely remember anything” group of jiu-jitsu practitioners. It is hard to retain and apply what you see in an instructional. There is a reason why a coach and a sparring partner are essential when learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is a physical activity after all, and an activity practiced with another person. That said, there are specific things you can do, to maximize the value of the time you spend watching instructionals. So here are a few things you should do first: • Pick the right type of instruction. This is so important, I will repeat myself. What are you looking for? Learning material for beginners or advanced practitioners? Covering a general theme or a specific position or technique? Gi or no-gi? Make a choice.    • Choose the area you want to study. You can choose to expand your game gradually by researching a position that connects well with your game. For example, if your favorite guard is butterfly guard, you might want to expand into half guard, single leg-X, and X-guard. If you prefer the supine guard, add Reverse de la Riva. You might want to connect Reverse de la Riva with de la Riva. If you prefer closed guard, you might want to review the K-guard. And so on. Finally, sometimes unrelated topics. Fun. Serendipity — embrace randomness.• Pick the right instructor. Not all instructors are equally good. Some excellent competitors can be pretty bad teachers. So choose well. You cannot go wrong with Jon Danaher for example. From white belt to black, everyone can learn a lot from Danaher’s instructionals. Arguably the best coach in the business, he offers a number of well-structured courses (available on BJJ Fanatics). For gi, check out his Go Further Faster series. For no-gi, Enter the System series and the New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. For advanced practitioners, anything by Gordon Ryan is quality material. You can go with Marcelo Garcia, Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones, Gary Tonon and many others. Pick your poison. • Do not overdo it. Too much good material is not a good idea. The instructionals that just sit in the memory of your computer and you never watch are not improving your game. So don’t try to find, buy and download EVERYTHING. Be selective. Remember Bruce Lee’s famous “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”. Now that you have selected the instructional you are going to work on, here are the things you can do to make your study session more effective: • Watch a section per sitting, not an entire instructional. BJJ can be intense. A lot of details, movements, concepts, and techniques. Know when to stop. How much can you actually absorb• Take notes. Whatever format works for you, linear, mind map, whatever. I recommend taking notes digitally, on a platform that you can sync across your devices (Evernote, Notion, or another similar tool), so you can quickly look your notes up during your training session, particularly before rolling.• Use stills. Pause the video at key points and copy that picture into your notes. BJJ is a sport of physical movement and sometimes it is hard to capture what you are supposed to do with words and sentences. A still from an instructional, or series of stills can easily remind you what is the move that you are trying to execute. Using still was a huge upgrade in my BJJ note-taking. I cannot recommend this enough.• Re-watch it! Good instructionals can and should be watched multiple times. You will discover that as you improve in jiu-jitsu, you start noticing things you did not pick up on the first time you watched the instructional. So every once in a while, go back to excellent instructionals that you rate highly.• Watch the instructional with a sparring partner at hand. Watch, stop, drill, go back to the video, and keep watching. This is arguably the best way to do it. If you have a study partner, brilliant. Do not think that just watching instructionals will make you better. It is COMPLEMENTARY to mat time. Make sure you actually practice the moves you learn from the instructionals. Theoretical knowledge that is not applied is useless. So practice, practice, practice. At the end of the day, you need to be on the mats. Try the moves on someone worse than you, then someone at your level, then someone better. This is Frank Shamrock’s training method. Make sure to ask for feedback. Ask your coach if there is something that does not seem to be working. Keep trying. Don’t abandon the move if you just tried it once and it did not work. Adjust, drill, and try again. It is useful to complement your instructional study by watching competition footage. Especially the competitors whose style you want to emulate. Watching high-level competitors apply the techniques you are trying to learn in a competitive setting can be extremely useful. There you have it. Good luck and let me know if there are any interesting methods you use to maximize the impact of studying jiu-jitsu instructionals.

Continue Progressing Despite Being on the Sidelines   Show me a black belt who has never been injured and I will show you a fake black belt. Jiu-jitsu might be the “arte suave” — the gentle art — but it is still a contact sport. Yes, jiu-jitsu is much, much safer than, say muay-thai or boxing. We can spar with high intensity a few times a week, which is impossible in striking disciplines. Unfortunately, injuries are, nevertheless, inevitable. I just had an unfortunate foot injury during sparring where my sparring partner simply fell on my foot, resulting in toe and ankle injury. It happened almost three weeks before a local ADCC, which threw a wrench in my preparation. I could not walk for three days, then limped for a few more. I am starting to slowly spar again, though not nearly at full capacity. While this is not my first injury, I want to share some thoughts and experiences on how to handle an injury and continue progressing. Let’s start by acknowledging that injuries do not come only with negatives. An injury can be good, because:  •    It teaches you how to move better, more efficiently, and safely; or, if you prefer to think about it the other way around, it teaches you how not to move;  •    It teaches you to tap early and recognize high-risk positions;  •    It helps choose the right sparring partners because let’s face it, every gym has some people who are responsible for most injuries happening to teammates;  •    It forces you to rest if you are overtraining. Were you sleeping enough? Did you train too often and did not recover?  •    It forces you to diversify your game, for example, I cannot use my left foot to elevate the opponent in butterfly guard, so I had to start using cross-butterfly sweep a lot, using my right foot to elevate.   What should you do when an injury happens? I am not a medical expert. If clearly serious, seek medical help immediately. If it is something relatively light, like a sprain, give it a day to see if you feel you need medical attention or not. All I will say is, take the necessary time off. Don’t push it, don’t force it, don’t make it worse. You want to be back in full force, not to delay the recovery. But. While you are recovering, do not completely check out. The frustration you may experience because you cannot spar or compete is understandable. It may be tempting to just take a complete break from jiu-jitsu, thinking you will be back in full force once you fully recover. If you do that, you will be in for a serious disappointment once back on the mats. You will not only NOT be at the same level, but you will have regressed. Not to worry! There are a few things you can do to “stay in the game”. You can take advantage of the time you have, now that you cannot do jiu-jitsu as you used to. If you did 4–5 sessions a week, for example, that is at least 8–10 hours, plus whatever time you spent commuting to and from the gym. THAT IS A LOT OF TIME. Make the best use of it. Here are a few things you can do:     1.  Attend classes and observe the techniques and sparring. You will keep your finger on the pulse and not fall behind the rest of the team. Also, watching live sparring is very enjoyable and instructional. One thing is sparring with your teammates, another is observing them when they spar with someone else — you will pick up on details that you don’t normally notice when you spar with them. I like to observe our coach sparring with some of my teammates who give me trouble and see how he deals with the same problems. It is like unlocking a cheat code.     2. Watch videos. YouTube can be a massive distraction and an obstacle on the way to our objectives. But for a jiu-jitsu aficionado, YouTube can also be a treasure. Thousands upon thousands of videos on all kinds of positions and techniques. I would suggest not just watching random videos, but being systematic about it. What positions do you struggle with? Is there a particular move your opponents make that gives you the most trouble? Do you struggle with particular escapes, or with finishing a specific submission? Perhaps you play a specific type of guard and would like to add some additional tools to your toolkit? Whatever you are looking for, you will find a dozen or more videos. Minimum. Watch, take notes, and then when back in the class, practice them. There are excellent channels, such as Chewjitsu, Knight jiu-jitsu, BJJ Globetrotters, the Grapplers Guide by Jason Scully, Tristar Gym, Wiltse brothers jiu-jitsu, Stephan Kesting, Gracie breakdowns, videos by Lachlan Giles, Mendes brothers, so many other top level athletes.     3. Buy instructionals. BJJ Fanatics is currently the best online shop for jiu-jitsu instructionals. It also has a ton of instructionals on wrestling, judo, and striking. BJJ Fanatics features material from Jon Danaher, Gordon Ryan, Marcelo Garcia, and many, many other incredible athletes and coaches. One tip, watch for the sales and also make sure to use your BJJ Fanatics points for discounts. Otherwise, it is easy to spend a fortune on this website. There are other places where you can buy good instructionals, but BJJ Fanatics is by far the best. Video quality is typically excellent, and the quality of instruction is world-class.     4. Watch jiu-jitsu competitions. If you are aiming at a particular competition with a specific ruleset, watching matches will give you a lot of information about not only techniques but also tactics and game plans. ADCC, IBJJF, AJP, EBI, whatever the ruleset is, there is an endless supply of videos online that you can study and improve your game, as well as learn the finer points of the rulesets. You can also find breakdowns of matches with professional analysts explaining what is happening, where athletes make mistakes, or what they do well.     5. Strategize. Game plan. Systematize your jiu-jitsu. Stop thinking in terms of singular moves and just letting a scramble happen. Be strategic, take time to think about your game plan — in a standing position, when at the bottom, when on top. How do you tend to act in specific positions? What do you think your game is missing?     6. Visualize. This goes with the previous point. As you are working on your game plan, visualize a fight. Try to imagine how a fight would go. How would you respond to different moves by an opponent? How do you react to different situations? Visualizing helps prepare for a fight, but also to identify gaps in your preparation. If you cannot think of a way to deal with a problem, you won’t be able to come up with a solution on the spot. I practice visualizations before tournaments and it has certainly been a boost to my preparation.     7. Do some physical activity! Do not fall completely out of shape. You may not be able to do jiu-jitsu, but perhaps you can do something else. Weight training? Calisthenics? Cardio workouts? Jog, swim, or do yoga. Staying in shape will make the return and re-adjustment that much faster. If your foot is hurt, do push-ups or pull-ups. If your hand is injured, run or squat. Of course, do not go too hard. You are still recovering from an injury, but some minimal exercising has been proven to help with recovery.     8. Rest! Don’t forget that! Most importantly, make sure you get good sleep. This will help you with recovery from the injury, and if you are overtrained and your body needs a bit of a break, there is nothing better than quality sleep to help your body get back in shape. I recommend reading Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, here is an article I recently wrote about it.     9. As you start rolling, pick your opponents carefully — avoid too big, too explosive partners. Pick patient opponents who are willing to work slowly, and let you work with the handicaps that you have. Practice what you can. If your foot is fine, practice footlocks. If you are hurt on your dominant side, perhaps you can practice your moves on the other side. Right now I have trouble being in top mount as my left foot still hurts, so instead, I stay in side control a lot and have tried to focus on improving my control from this position.     10. Lessons learnt. Finally, when you are fully back, do not just move on and forget about the injury. Re-think your warm-ups and cooldowns. What do you need to do to avoid injuries in the future? Stretch more? Differently? Do mobility drills? Does your game make you vulnerable to certain kinds of injuries? What kind of adjustments you can make to be safer? Use your injury as a learning experience. So do not overthink the injury. Don’t get demotivated or frustrated. Injuries are simply a part of the journey in jiu-jitsu. Follow the above suggestions and you won’t really lose that much of your progress. You might even come back stronger, surprising your teammates with a bunch of new tricks in your arsenal. Good luck!

Jiu-Jitsu sakatlık riski yüksek bir spor mudur ? Sakatlık riski hayatımızın her anında olan bir şey olmakla birlikte, elbette yaptığımız bazı sporların diğerlerine göre bu ihtimali daha yukarıya taşıdığını hepimiz biliyoruz. Jiu-Jitsu her ne kadar kelime anlamı nazik/kibar sanat olarak çevrilse de, aslında diğer bütün mücadele sporları gibi çeşitli riskler taşımaktadır. Doğası gereği Jiu-Jitsu teknikleri, rakibin eklemlerini hareket kapasitesinin dışına manipüle etmek, boyundaki kan veya hava akışını baskı sayesinde kesecek şekilde boğuş teknikleri uygulayarak rakibin pes etmesini ve yenilgiyi kabul etmesini hedeflemektedir. Uygulanan tekniklerin amacı aslında rakibinize çıkamayacağı bir duruma geldiğini hissettirmek ve yenilgiyi kabul etmesini sağlamak. Eklem manipülasyonların sonucu eklemin veya bağlı olduğu kemiklerin kırılması olabileceği gibi, boğuş tekniklerinin neticesi de bayılmak oluyor. Anatomik olarak vücutlarımızın yapabildiği ve yapamadığı bir fiziksel kapasitesi olduğunun hepimiz farkındayız. Bu noktada jiu jitsu yaparken bedenimizin sınırlarını daha iyi anlama fırsatı buluyoruz aslında. Ancak bu noktada antrenman partnerimize ve bize bazı roller düşüyor. Bir mücadele sporu ve savunma sanatı olmasından dolayı haliyle yenilginin ölüm ile özdeşleştiği bir düzen mevcuttur. Bu da kazanmayı çok önemli kılmaktadır. Bundan bağımsız olarak elbette hiç kimse başladığı bir işe kaybetmek amacıyla yapmamaktadır. Ancak antrenman maçı ile gerçek mücadelenin farkını unutmamanız gerekmektedir. Kazanmak değil antrenmanda öğrenmek daha önemlidir. Nerede yakalanıp, nerede çıkabileceğimizi anlayabilmek sadece antrenman partnerine güven duyulması ve karşılıklı birbirimizin iyiliği doğrultusunda hareket ettiğimizden emin olduğumuzda mümkündür. Beden ağırlığımızın, hareket hızımızın, dengemizin kontrolünü kaybettiğimiz hareketleri sparring sırasında denemek sakatlık riskini artırmaktadır. Özellikle eklem manipülasyonlarını doğru uygulamak için antrenman partnerinizi bu tekniklere yakaladığımızda hareket kabiliyetinin son derece sınırlı olduğuna emin olmalıyız. Güreş yaparken rakibinize zarar vermeden gücünüzün neredeyse tamamını kullanacak koşullarda mücadele edebilirsiniz. Strike(Vuruş) içeren disiplinlerde böyle bir şansınız yoktur. Bu tarz disiplinlerde gerçek bir müsabakada olduğu gibi partnerinize vurursanız birileri mutlaka sakatlanacaktır. Ancak, BJJ’de sadece sonlandırılacak yerde daha kontrollü ve yavaş hareket etmemiz gerekmektedir. İtişlerde, çekişlerde, düşürüşlerde ve pozisyon mücadelelerinde antrenmanın şiddetinin artmasında bir sakınca yoktur. Sadece yakaladığımız eklem ve boğuş tekniklerini artık son uygulama anında daha kontrollü olmamız önem arz eder.  BJJ yaparken mücadele anında istediğiniz gibi kuvvet uyguladıktan sonra herhangi bir bitiriş tekniği yakalarsanız bunu bitirmeden önce partnerinizi sabitlemeye ve mümkün olduğunca yavaş bitirebilmeye odaklanmalısınız. Bu hem sizin teknik içerisindeki olasılıkları değerlendirmenize, hem de partnerinizin defans çalışmasına olanak sağlayacaktır. Eski zamanlarda kılıçla savaşmayı öğrendiğinizi düşünün. Gerçek bir kılıçla hızlı ve bütün gücünüzle çalışırsanız kuvvetle muhtemel bir sonraki sefere ya yeni birini bulmanız gerekir ya da bir daha asla kılıçla savaşacak halde olmazdınız. :) Eğer partneriniz tap etmiyorsa, siz bırakın. Baktınız yakaladınız pozisyonu ve eminsiniz (bunu deneyiminiz arttıkça daha iyi anlayacaksınız) partneriniz sizden daha deneyimli veya daha az deneyimli olsun fark etmez, bırakın. Antrenmanda kimseye bir şey kanıtlamak zorunda değilsiniz. Bu tabi erken bırakma alışkanlığı oluşturmamalı. Partneriniz yakaladığını noktadan çıkamıyor, uyguladığınız tekniğe göre eklem veya boyna verebileceğiniz baskı için daha yeriniz var ise ve uygulamamayı tercih ediyorsanız o zaman tekniği uygulamış ve bitirmiş sayabilirsiniz. Antrenman partnerlerimiz elbette bana zarar gelmeyecek güveni ile kolunu bacağını kaptırdığında burada bekleme alışkanlığı kazanmamalıdır. Gerçek bir fiziksel mücadeleyi simile ettiğimiz bu oyundaki kurallara her iki tarafın uyması gerekmektedir. Çocukken hayali silahlar oynadığımızda vurulan nasıl kenara geçiyorduysa burada da başımıza gelebilecek senaryoyu kabul edip oyun bozanlık yapmamalıyız. :)  Her ne kadar bireysel mücadele edilen bir spor olsa da, BJJ aynı zamanda da bir takım sporudur. Antrenman partnerlerimiz bizim için en değerli insanlar olmalıdır. Onlar olmadan sevdiğimiz bu sporu yapamaz hale geliriz. Ayrıca düzenli olarak sizinle antrenman yapan insanlar sakatlanıyorsa, bi süre sonra insanların sizinle roll etmekten kaçınır olduğunu göreceksiniz. Kazanma veya kaybetme olayını geride bırakıp sadece öğrenme ve doğru teknik uygulama deneyimine girerseniz çok daha hızlı ilerlediğinizi göreceksiniz. Antrenmanlarda her gün galip geliyor ya da hiç kendinizi kötü hissetmiyorsanız düştüğünüz pozisyonlar açısından, yanlış bir şeyler yapıyor olmalısınız. Kendinizi ve partnerleriniz korumak için patlayıcı ani hareketlerden kaçınıp, antrenman partnerinizin hızına uyacak şekilde idman yapmanız daha verimli olacaktır. Unutmayın ki yaptığımız submissionların sonu eklem veya kemiklerin kırılmasıdır. Bu tarz bir sonuç elde etmeden antrenman partnerinize ‘yakalandın’ hissini vermek tekniğinizin doğru ve etkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Savaşı, fiziksel mücadeleyi kaotik bir etkinlik olarak düşünürsek jiu-jitsu bu kaosu kontrol etmemize yardımcı olan bir araçtır. Sakin kalabilmek, sonraki adımı görebilmek, seçim yapmak, kendi isteğimiz doğrultusunda anı yönetebilmek gerçek yetenek ve teknik üstünlük olarak görülmelidir.  Siz siz olun ne kendi egonuza, ne başkasının egosuna yenik düşün. Öğrenme zihniyetiyle yaklaşın minderlere. Kendinizi geliştirebildiğiniz, fiziksel ve zihinsel olarak çok daha güçlendirebildiğiniz bir yer gibi düşünün bu alanı.   

Making Sense of your BJJ journey as a White Belt I remember when I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), I came in with some idea of what the sport was. As a huge fan of MMA, I was familiar with BJJ and the BJJ terminology — I could recognize some positions and the most common submissions. So I thought to myself — I’ll be fine. But it looked like anyone, regardless of size, strength, and skill level could beat me up. It felt like drowning. Every session was ending with a bruised body, bruised ego, and a racing heart. While the body (and the ego) gradually adapted, it took a while for the skills to catch up.  In the beginning, I just blindly followed classes, but almost no move that coaches would show me I could repeat in sparring. Sparring felt like torture. With the lack of positional understanding and no techniques, I had to use strength, which quickly sapped my energy to the point of exhaustion.  I was keen to make progress, so I thought the learning principles that I had applied to learning languages, playing piano, other sports would help me with BJJ as well. So the initial concept had two elements:    •  Learning plan — formulate the overall vision of where I wanted to improve — for this, I would ask my coach for advice and do my research online; •  Training sessions — maximize the impact of training — do deliberate practice;  Let’s go through these in a bit more detail.  1. Learning Plan I figured I needed to concentrate on a limited number of things. So I came up with a formula for getting to the blue belt (or at least close to that). Now that I am a blue belt, I still think this approach makes sense. You will work on these things usually in this order, though not always. Just don’t lose sight of the overall plan. In the beginning, make sure anything you add to your game falls under these things. If you know how to do an armbar, but never even get into your guard because the opponent passes too quickly, that is not helpful. If you learn the omoplata but spend almost all of the time in sparring pinned and trying to survive, you are focusing on the wrong thing.  •  Safety•  Escapes•  Bottom guard game•  Top game•  Back attacks  The first step was, most obviously, learning how to be safe. When you don’t know anything else, this is a great place to start. Keeping elbows close to the body, not stretching the limbs too far, protecting the neck, are the kind of advice that can make your sparring sessions far more pleasant. Don’t lay flat on the floor when pinned, if you want to be able to breathe. Keep your legs — your strongest weapon — between you and your opponent. Protect your torso, to the extent possible, keep your elbows and knees connected. That will make the opponent’s task of getting into any of the dominant positions all the more difficult. Think about it, side control, mount, knee on belly, even back control are the positions where your opponent has achieved a position where your elbows and knees are apart. Try to be as small and compact as possible.  Most importantly, learn to tap. This, by the way, is not always straightforward. You need to learn to tap not only with your hand but also with your feet if both your hands are trapped. You also need to develop the instinct to tap verbally, not something we naturally do when we start.  The second step is learning escapes. If you are in a position where the opponent can attack and you cannot, that is not the place where you want to remain for the entire sparring round. Escapes are essential not only because you don’t just want to fight for your life, but because without escapes you cannot develop an effective guard game and offense.  I believe escapes from side control are the key. This is where you will end up most often, but also a position that is the most connected to your guard game. Escapes from mount and back are also important. You need at least two strategies for escaping from each one of these positions. If you only have one, you will quickly discover that the opponents know how to shut it down. You need an alternative, to give your opponent more to think about. Positions such as North-South or knee on belly happen more rarely, but for starters, you also need at least one escape from those positions.  As you learn to stay safe and escape bad positions, you will discover that you will become more of a challenge for your more experienced opponents. Not yet a threat, but certainly a challenge.  The third step is to develop a guard game. You need to choose a guard and develop a range of moves and tactics that keep you safe and also allow you to create threats. What you will discover is that the better your escapes are, the more quickly you will develop an effective guard. Because a failed guard means that your guard is passed and that your opponent gets a side control or mount, which is where you need to start escaping. If you are comfortable enough with your escapes, you can experiment with your guard, confidently add more techniques, try them and try again, troubleshoot, and continue learning and improving your guard game.  Please do not try to learn 5 different guards at the same time. You can experiment and learn the fundamentals of a few, sure. But do a concentrated study of one. Do not worry, if you decide to practice another guard later in your jiu-jitsu practice, the body movements and habits you will pick up from focusing on one guard will mostly be transferrable to other guards too. Just don’t spread yourself too thin at the beginning. Closed guard, butterfly guard, de la Riva guard — whatever it is. Focus on one. Learn the movement mechanics from this guard, a couple of sweeps, and a couple of submissions.   Now, this is where you start getting dangerous for your opponents. An effective guard means you can protect yourself, but also control the opponent, control the distance and dictate the game. You are no longer just protecting yourself, but threatening sweeps and submissions. Guess what, from here on, sparring becomes a lot more fun.  The fourth is learning how to maintain and improve a top position. No matter how good your guard is, at the end of the day, being on top is, all things being equal, better than being in the bottom. BJJ has a hierarchy of positions where you go step by step from guard pass to side control to knee on belly to mount and possibly to back control. It is usually messier than that in sparring, but essentially it is a step-by-step process. At first, the key to top control is developing a sense of balance and weight distribution that allows you to stop the opponent’s attempts to sweep you and reverse the position. You will learn about the mechanics of different pins to help you control your opponent better. Simple advice — focus on controlling the opponent’s head or hips, or both. Limit their options, create opportunities for yourself.  To advance position, it is useful to learn a submission or two from each top position and to combine those with positional moves that get you to an even better top position. For example, when you are in top half guard, rather than just trying to force getting to mount or side control, accompanying that with a threat of kimura makes things easier. It is hard to defend two things at the same time.  Finally, back attacks. Being behind the opponent has a clear advantage — all your weapons are directed at the opponent, but all of the opponent’s weapons are directed away from you. The back attacks and particularly the RNC — the Rear Naked Choke are universally recognized as BJJ’s best, most effective, and most high-percentage weapon against any kind of opponent. I, therefore, focused as much as I could on that as my main offensive weapon. You will need to learn how to take the back and also how to finish from that position.  You will notice I did not mention leglocks. :) No, I did not forget. I just don’t think you need to get into leglocks as a beginner. BJJ is complex as it is and the more you learn, the less you will feel you know. Don’t try to learn everything at once. Once you are reasonably comfortable with all the above, feel free to choose whatever else you want to learn.  2. Maximize the impact of your training sessions Do not think that it is enough to just come to training and follow the instructions. You will, for sure, improve. But you can improve much faster if you do the following:  •  Let’s start with the obvious. Train regularly. That is what allows you to improve. If you take breaks, you will, when you come back, waste the first 2 to 3 sessions to just get your cardio back. Every break is a step back. Injuries and sicknesses are pretty much the only reasons that justify taking a break. Even then, if you are sidelined, you can still think about BJJ, strategize, watch matches, or instructionals. •  Practice fundamental movements. After a few sessions, we think we have mastered them, but the fundamental movements are worth regularly working on. Do the bridges, shrimping, reverse shrimping, pummeling, scooting, different kinds of rolls, hip heists. Do drills with the opponent, without the opponent, with a resisting opponent. Think about how these movements feature in some of the techniques you practice in sparring and how you can improve your movement. •  Try to approach every sparring session with an objective. Don’t just do the same stuff every time. Even if you are successful for a while, you will quickly realize your opponents are adjusting and learning, while you are staying where you are. So pick something you will work on at each session. Whether it is trying to apply the moves the coach just showed you or focusing on one particular position, practicing defense, or a particular guard. Don’t waste the sparring time. •  Learn concepts. You will discover that when coaches focus on concepts, it will help with your sparring and you will be able to incorporate the moves into your game much faster. Specific, complex techniques, will be very difficult to pull off in the beginning. •  It is Ok to include some unusual moves in your game but focus mainly on high-percentage moves. Fancy things are a bonus, invest in time-tested techniques. •  Think. Identify problems. Do you get your guard passed the same way all the time? Figure out a solution. Ask your coach for advice. Check a YouTube video. Have trouble with my butterfly hooks? Do you hate being caught in a triangle all the time? Not sure how to deal with an opponent with very long limbs? Zoom in on the problem and try to identify a solution. •  Be patient, resilient, accept that you will have bad days. The trajectory is not linear, some days you will feel like you are not improving, some days you will not have the energy. That is ok. It is part of the journey. •  Every once in a while, throw all this advice out of the window and just enjoy rolling. :)  Perhaps the most important piece of advice is, don’t fixate on getting a belt. Or stripes. Focus on learning and growth, try to enjoy the process. Have fun. The belt will come when it comes. You will do way better if you focus on the journey, rather than the destination. Because guess what — you think what you want is that blue belt, but at some point, the blue belt might just be a stop on a much, much longer road.