By Guillaume Huni, BJJ black belt and head instructor of Kimura Academy in Serbia.

If you are (or were) a BJJ competitor then you know exactly what the title of this post is all about. For many competitive athletes just the idea of being able to compete is one of the biggest motivating factors behind playing sports along with the exhilaration of the competitive arena. Even though competitive athletes hate to lose, it is not winning that necessarily drives them but the enjoyment they get out of the challenge competition brings. For many people, competition is fun and a great challenge and can to motivate you to train harder.

I have competed in Jiu-Jitsu for over 19 years, I’ve lost a lot and won a lot too. However one thing I can tell you is that whenever I competed being 100% motivated and focused, I always did well and medaled. If I didn’t medal, then I at least gave it 100% of my capabilities and lost honorably. The same motivation and focus was not only present on the day of the competition but through the months of hard training before D day, where you have to train at least 2 times a day, lift weights, eat well, not go out on weekends, drill all techniques like crazy, work on your BJJ stand up, go 100% in sparring etc…

On the other hand I have also competed unmotivated, under-prepared, or even over-trained and did horribly. The worst is when you don’t even feel nervous before a fight and you suddenly wake up in your opponent’s guard and think to yourself “How on earth did I get here??”. If that is the case then you should never have competed in the first place.

The tip I want to give my fellow BJJers who want to compete is the following: Use smaller regional tournaments as a testing ground for your game and see what you need to change. However don’t compete in the bigger BJJ international events like Worlds, Pan, Europeans, if you are not 100% motivated and not ready to train like a madman for a few months and sacrifice many things in order to win. It’s not worth showing up there like a tourist and collecting a T-Shirt. All you will learn in losing is what I already just told you in this article: If you want to compete, then you have to be motivated and ready to sacrifice!