Should I Compete in BJJ? Part 1: The Pros of Jiu Jitsu Competition

Competition is an integral part of the jiu jitsu experience for many BJJ students. While students at Oregon Grappling Arts are never expected or required to compete, jiu jitsu competition is a unique tool that can augment your training and technical development in several ways:

It is almost impossible to replicate the intensity of a competition jiu jitsu match in the training room. No matter how hard you and your training partner try to grapple in the practice room, you are very unlikely to reproduce the physical output, resistance, and urgency to win that arise in a competition setting, where your coaches, team mates, and countless other people are watching you. Given the prominence of competition in the bjj world, even for hobbyists, many students seek to experience a jiu jitsu tournament for themselves.

Competition allows you to test your jiu jitsu against your peers. Many students seek to know where they stand against others in the same weight, age, and skill class. Oftentimes in the training room, our partners become increasingly familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of our jiu jitsu. Stepping onto the mat at a tournament and testing your jiu jitsu against a peer who is unaccustomed to your movements is arguably the best way to assess where you stand.

Relatedly, the results of your competition jiu jitsu matches will provide an excellent roadmap for your skill development. For instance, if you’re taken down with a single-leg takedown in several matches, or your opponents pass your guard easily with a knee slide pass, or you get finished by several triangles, you know that you need to work on the respective defenses and escapes to those techniques. Competition will also highlight the strengths of your jiu jitsu, thereby directing you to seek new setups and pathways to your best positions and submissions.

For goal-oriented individuals, competition provides a shorter-term objective to which students can direct their jiu jitsu training. Having a jiu jitsu competition on the horizon gives many students a more concrete goal, acts as a source of motivation to ramp up training intensity, and provides a timeline for making necessary improvements.

Winning a jiu jitsu tournament can be an extremely gratifying feeling and often motivates students to pursue technical development even more diligently.

While competing can be a very positive and rewarding part of your jiu jitsu experience, we at OGA encourage our students to speak to a coach and to consider several important points before signing up for a tournament. Check out Part 2 of this post for some important considerations about jiu jitsu competition.

-OGA Staff

…Continued in part 2, located here.

If you are a grappler who is interested in training for competition in the Portland, OR area, there is no better gym to suit your needs than Oregon Grappling Arts led by Hannah Sharp and Eddie Jamrog.

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