Sometimes, the sheer intensity of a roll can hinder your performance by a whole lot. And it can happen both in Jiu-Jitsu training and competition alike.
John Danaher explains what happens, most predominantly in competition:
The first is that breathing will become shallow and restricted and quickly fall behind the demand for oxygen that the extra muscular effort demands.
The second is that you will tend to keep muscular tension longer and at higher levels and experience greater lactic acid build up than usual.
In some cases you may even experience adrenaline build up and release that can create an initial sensation of impaired muscle control when adrenaline levels are high and then a sudden strength loss when your adrenaline diminishes.
The mental side starts falling back as well:
Mentally, you will often experience a tunnel vision as you focus on an initial move or game plan and your heightened focus on that prevents you seeing any alternatives that arise as the match progresses.
You will also find that as anxiety increases, so does your aversion to risk. You’ll restrict yourself only to your most trusted moves and shy away from trying anything else, thus shrinking your skill set well below what you normally exhibit in a more relaxed setting.
Things often tend to get worse from there. But if you expose yourself to this intensity enough times, you’ll get used to it:
Be aware that it generally gets better with time.
If you can survive the initial shock you’ll often be able to recover in the course of the match and exhibit a “second wind.” Make sure you get to feel the sensation from time to time so that the shock value diminishes.
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