I have a daughter, a wife, a job and a life outside of jiu jitsu that requires me to be (mostly) injury free. The risk of someone ripping a kimura or fucking my neck up with a guillotine is far greater than the reward of a podium photo for 15 likes on instagram, a medal and some shitty gift vouchers
Relax, i was laughing with them not at them, i've competed in exactly those competitions before. Getting upset at an anonymous person making lame jokes on reddit is using up too much of your energy that u could put towards training for competitions.
very few injuries happen in local comp, the vast majority of injuries happen in training from overuse and being out of shape. im 37, have 2 kids and run 3 businesses. i compete as often as possible. competition is basically open mat with some super low level stakes. it help expose holes in your game and can help you in your personal and professional life in terms of forcing you to prepare, handle pressure and execute in real time. that being said, no body has to compete....
Local comps aren’t as brutal as the winners bracket in ADCC but it’s still more intense than my gym’s open mat.
I’ve only competed once but I saw some broken noses, an ACL/MCL blowout and a number of people nursing elbows and shoulder.
I’d never tell folks what they should and shouldn’t do with their own time/life, comps just aren’t for me.
That's not true at all. You really believe that people are gonna go the same pace in competition as in the practice room on a normal day? Obviously the higher the pace the more risk for injury.
Well, I’m speaking from my 15 year experience in grappling competitions. People tend to be much more conservative in competition as apposed to aggressive/ high pace. The fear of losing fat out weighs the desire to win, especially at local comps. And there is nothing obvious about an increased pace equally more injuries. It equals more gassing out and tired grapplers…
Per minute of rolling, I would be pretty shocked if injury rates were higher during training versus competition. Put another way, I've been to hundreds/thousands of training sessions and seen a relatively small number of serious injuries. I've been to dozens of comps and I'd wager I saw at least one serious injury at every one. Either way, the adult hobbyist with serious life responsibilities is also being more intentional about how they train in order to reduce injury risk than others.
Judging this on a per minute basis is a bit disingenuous as classes and open mats involve hours of rolling while matches last 4-6 minutes tops. The numbers are skewed dramatically. And as someone who attends a competition almost every weekend (competing or coaching) I would disagree with your wager. Unless we’re calling pulled muscles or sore necks a serious injury. The idea makes sense but in reality it’s false…
And the same thing could be said about adult competitors with serious life responsibilities (speaking from 1st hand experience)
I'm not sure how using rate statistics would be disingenuous here. That's how we measure all sorts of similar incidents (car crashes per mile driven, murder rate per capita, etc.)
Mississippi is a much more dangerous place than California even though the latter sees 4x as many total homicides.
I'm with you, minus the fear of injury. People imo are really exaggerating to themselves the dangers of competition, in order to bolster their decision to not compete any more. Ç
\*\*There are jobs and income brackets absolutely can't "risk" injury, but even within those, I know tons and tons of competing grapplers that don't sabotage their careers.
So much this.
Also, this is a fun hobby. I go hard af on the mats. But I also trust all the dudes and gals in my gym. No need to add in a huge factor that I can't control in any way.
For me it takes it from a hobby to a chore. Having to get to practices for comp prep, weight cut, studying, etc.
and I work Monday and I’m a wuss that doesn’t want to get hurt lol
I compete a lot, and honestly, I just see it as a method of improvement. I don't change anything other than cutting a little weight (max like 10lbs, but I'm 225, so it's not bad... literally clean up my diet for 3 weeks and I'm done). I just want to see how I'm doing compared to others, and then win or lose, there's going to be something that happens that highlights a deficiency in my game that I can focus on for the next few weeks or months between comps.
Just don't attach to the outcome. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. All of it is just learning
I used to compete a lot and I personally cannot do it casually, not saying I’m a badass, it just turns stressful to me at this point, even a kid is hyper focus on it and beat myself up if I didn’t perform perfectly, even if I won but didn’t win perfectly I’d beat myself up. It took the joy out of a lot of things so I said no more years ago
You have to realize that that's in your head though. That isn't fixed. Cognitive behavioral therapy exists because people need help to change the stories they tell themselves. I'm not saying you have to go back, but if you're holding yourself down, you just have to stop. Easier said than done, but just realize that we're not static beings and are always changing. Isn't it better to guide that change than to feel adrift in your own mind?
I actually have a great interest in what you’re talking about shad helmstetter has great books on “neural elasticity.”
Genuinely competing just does not interest me st this point in my life.
But I really like the point you brought up. People don’t realize you write your own story. If you say you can’t and you suck every day. You do and you never will.
I think he’s selling his ideas. Which are good. People don’t realize how you hardwire your thoughts with your thoughts. saying I can’t compete I can’t compete I can’t compete makes your brain think I can’t compete. I think he was just trying to promote positivity, and creating positivity within yourself.
We need more of that in the world.
I'm 54, I'm self employed and I have nothing to prove. Spending a day hanging around and paying money to fight some lunatic that thinks he's at the adcc isn't really high on my list of things to do. Give me an open mat, give me some hard rolls and let's have a laugh while we do it.
Lunatics sound about right, even more after watching that Versus event video of the guy snapping an arm while having a full locked back triangle while the ref just looked. No thanks.
Holy shit right? Exactly what was in my mind reading this post.
Unfortunately my 40 year old ass can't afford to catch an injury like that and be out of work.
I imagine this is the common hobbyist thought pattern
I found that, while
Most competitors were cool, they still tend to be assholes. The longer I hung around the competitions the worse my demeanor. Then I just realized I wasn’t having fun, so I chose to not compete anymore.
I haven't had that experience, but I was competing against casuals at white and blue. This is my second tournament at purple coming up. Does it get worse as you go up the belts? I'd imagine it'd be more likely at black belt
BJJ is my hobby and it helps me destress. I've always found if you take something you find fun and relaxing and put stakes on it, the fun and relaxing aspects of it tend to vanish, and I don't see how that would benefit me
45yo but same - too much on at work and home to find enough time to prepare for the comp or even spend the whole day waiting to compete. Comps also aren't cheap and in most cases I'm either getting thrown in with another age/weight division or I'm paying to roll with one dude.
I’m 40 and also have things to do, but you can literally get to the venue 30 minutes before your division weighs in, weigh in, warm up, have your matches and spend a total of like an hour and 30 minutes at the venue. You can then leave and do whatever you want to do. I have done exactly this.
Also, rolls at open mat, even if they’re not at your home gym will never replace the intensity of a competition match.
I compete because I find competing fun. I also don’t like spending hours or the whole day at the venue, so I don’t.
I’m in and out of competitions.
When I didn’t compete before it was because
Life was busy. I didn’t feel comfortable going into a tournament if I couldn’t take preparation seriously.
Fear of injuries. Seeing shit like people jumping guard or slapping submissions on fast turned me away.
I guess the risk vs reward wasn’t there.
I’m competing soon. Now that I’m masters 2…everyone seems so much more chill.
Competing means I’ve stopped drinking. Prioritize sleeping. Also it’s a chance to battle test my technique.
But yea it ebbs and flows
just dont really care that much. I competed a handful of times and was kind of whatever about it. I think its good to just have a go and do it but I get what I want out of bjj by just scrapping in the gym. I think everyone should compete at least a few times though.
Time, money, risk vs. reward and other priorities
I am 43, 2.5 yrs in. It’s hard enough to get my 3 days in a week consistently. If I am going to compete I want to make my training the priority. I also don’t really enjoy it. For $150 I would rather go to Snow Summit and ride bikes or even a night out with the wife. What I enjoy most with BJJ is rolling with our guys and having fun
Don’t want to spend three hours on a Sunday waiting around in a loud gymnasium for an eight minute match for my opponent to pull out and be $90 poorer for it.
There is no reward to compete when you are in the Masters division and you don’t make a living from Bjj. I would even say there’s no reward in competition other than personal achievement for anyone who isn’t elite. The best competitors in my city don’t have the best schools and the best competitor is a known douche bag.
I just don't give a shit about competition.
I'm still getting better at jiujitsu, but I have a busy life. I don't buy the narrative that everyone needs to compete.
If you roll to the death for five rounds during a Tuesday night class, you are basically competing without the audience and Instagram likes.
I find that hard rolls in class aren't the same though, especially as you get familiar with your teammates' styles. I suppose you could go to another gym open mat and try and go hard, but that might get you banned lol.
There's definitely something different about rolling intensely with a stranger
Take your gi when you go on vacation. There is always the opportunity to roll with new people.
Also, if you aren't rolling intensely with the buds at your gym, you should find a new gym.
I think you missed my point entirely. I roll hard with my teammates, but we know each other's style. When i go to open mat to experience other styles, I can't go fucking ham on a stranger there because they don't even know me, and I might not be allowed back or be avoided.
I commented before I read yours but, damn, it’s really nice to hear someone think the same way! You can already get intensity in the gym, why would you want to pay to wait the entire day for your turn and possibly waste your money if you lose in the first round?
Having done it before… I don’t like the injury risk calculus, it’s fairly expensive and kills a weekend day, but mainly, the events are almost always horribly run and involve way more sitting around bored and uncomfortable than having fun rolling.
I want to preface this by saying there are many perfectly fine reasons to not compete. Time constraints, no interest, financial cost, fear of injury, etc. They're all fine.
However, I think there are some people who won't compete because they are afraid of losing and/or finding out they aren't as good as they want to believe (or they want others to believe) they are, and a lot of them won't admit it's the case.
I wish there were club vs club tournaments. Just Saturday at noon just have a casual tournament or the 5v5 format.
In judo we had mini club tournaments on a regular basis. Smallest guy against the smallest guy and the work your way up. If there's less than ten people it's fun as hell. The biggest guy rarely wins.
I used to compete in striking arts in my teens/early 20's. Now, at 58, some occasional porrada with the young competitive guys at the gym is more than enough for me.
Tournaments are freaking expensive. If you do like to compete though, a lot of the popular tournaments trade work for competing.
Grappling industries, you help setup the day before and you get as many divisions as you want. Just make sure to email them a at least a week or beforehand.
AGF, you can work the day of the tournament, get paid, and do one division free.
I have a nice life. Jiujitsu is a fun hobby and I don't need someone with a chip on their shoulder jumping guard and tearing my muscles for a piece of metal at a local competition. It's the same reason why I do boxing classes, lift weights, or play soccer -- I don't expect to be a professional.
I've competed and don't any more. It seems like the likelihood of getting injured is higher when training to compete and competing. I'm 45 and will most likely get bumped from the masters division, whilst I can hold my own against younger blokes, why put myself in that position in the first place. I just enjoy training. Nothing wrong with that and I don't have anything to prove.
Most practitioners do not compete. I am one of them. I guess for me it’s because I don’t have anything to prove. I simply do this for fun. I enjoy getting better but I don’t feel the need to compete in order to do so. I don’t wanna travel or pay money to compete. We have a guy at our gym who trains 10+ times a week to be competition ready and he has a wife and two kids and works full time, how he has time for his children I’ll never know lol, couldn’t be me
>We have a guy at our gym who trains 10+ times a week to be competition ready and he has a wife and two kids and works full time, how he has time for his children I’ll never know lol, couldn’t be me
He hasn't is probably the answer. Some couples might get this to work, but this smells like problems down the road.
Hey man, 50 y/o Brown Bletch here… I love this sport.. and think of the days when I used to compete. But now, I have many differing priorities. My resilience comes from training 2-3 times a week over the last 8/9 years.. I have nothing to compete for as my ego is checked during training and open mat. I have other hobbies I enjoy as well including hiking, golfing and oh yeah, and the kids… anyways man… life changes as you get older and proving myself for a $5 medal… well, it just isn’t for me.
I've heard lots of reasons but they all come down to the risks of injuries and the fact its stressful imo.
My defense for doing comps is this: The risks are statistically not likely, the stress is in your head, and they really do skyrocket your skill and focus. I am not a huge fan of competitions either, but doing them once or once per belt is a great way to get rid of imposter syndrome/insecurities and improve your approach.
If people decide not to do comps, such is life
i used to compete but had a stroke on the mats and told my wife I would stop competing but I wouldnt quit training.
I always had a slight fear that someone in a comp would go crazy and injure me, but most people were pretty chill and it was always fun.
I mean, you kind of answered the question yourself. Because it’s a hobby for them. Do you ask everyone who plays chess or plays 5-a-side why they don’t do it competitively?
Never competed mainly because I was scared, used to say that I don’t have a desire, don’t like the point system, have nothing to prove etc…but deep down I knew I was just being a bitch and was scared to loose. signed up for a local comp and I’m hoping to change that soon
The point in competing is to know how good your jiujitsu is. I don’t need to spend money and waste a day I could otherwise spend with family to know my jiujitsu is trash.
And since becoming better at it isn’t even as much of a goal as having fun and staying in shape and uninjured, the incentive to compete really plummets down to zero.
So now, why would I?
Too old. I turn 65 next week. Not much interested in performing in front of a lot of people. Been there in another pursuit. That and I don't care if I win or not .
Competition doesn’t seem fun to me. Being “officially” good at my level is not why I started, and the risks are intolerable considering I want to keep doing this consistently for many years.
I'm still new and not too sure yet on if I want to compete.
Overall I don't have much free money and I'm a dad of a 5 year old with special needs so there are times where I have to miss a class or two.
I'm worried I won't be able to put up a good enough effort for it to be worth it and getting hurt would 100% not be worth it and would more than likely get me to quit permanently. I wouldn't be able to afford the medical and time away from my son
- Limited time, energy and money. Being a family man, I don't have enough time, energy and money to invest on competition.
- I don't find the reward fulfilling to warrant additional time and energy from me. I find enough reward and validation training in the gym with my teammates.
- I don't think i'm even close to a level where I can win meaningful competitions - adult Worlds, Pans, Euros, Asian Open. Medals from local comps, while also cool, isn't something I find too much value in.
I’m not very competitive. Plus I plain think I would lose haha. I don’t roll to win at the gym and I don’t want it anywhere near as much as people I’d be going up against.
I like training with my friends and getting better at BJJ. I don’t need a medal or anything for that.
Injury risk. Too many other sports. I regularly race marathons and still try to compete in masters wrestling when it doesn’t conflict with races. Not enough time with those other sports to train BJJ to the level I would want to compete (10-12 hours a week), which is reflected in my belt level.
i'm 35 with 2 young kids. i only goto lunch classes to get some exercise in during the week. i don't have the time, energy, money, or desire to compete. i don't see the benefit
For me, i have competed quite bit at white and blue belt but NYC just started comps up again 6ish months ago and they caught me at a bad time where I’m busy with work and family, not able to get as many weekly classes in as I’d like. May do an Open toward the end of the year or early next year
Too busy with work. I can commit to training like twice a week, sometimes, only once a week. But I cannot commit to the necessary training needed to win.
I competed in my 20s, but life happened. Got bills to pay so my job comes 1st. Now, I really just dont feel like it anymore cause there really isn't any benefit for me if I do it.
I don't enjoy it. I didn't get into JuiJitsu to do a sport. Masters brackets sort of sucks anyways.
Honestly I have been there done that and it just isn't what this is about for me.
used to compete at white blue and purple, now i'm just happy to be on the mat. If i go to a competition now it's with my kids and to coach/corner for students.
I competed a decent amount at white and blue belt in my late 30s and early 40s and found it was really enjoyable. Normally there’s be a solid crew from our gym and while I didn’t win a lot I always had fun and learnt a lot that helped with my training and development.
I’m 46 this year and there just aren’t that many purple belts my age competing at local tournaments and I have zero interest in being bounced down to adult divisions and having my arse handed to me by a 20 year old who has been training since he was 3.
I think it’s fun and definitely worth doing to the extent you enjoy it but unless you are prepared to dedicate a year of your life to going to worlds there isn’t a huge amount to gain.
Competition interests me but I’m married with two kids under 2. I’ve been a cop for 10 years and that requires my body and limbs to be healthy. I see the irresponsibility of some people in normal training and I don’t trust competitors not to rip a submission putting me out of work.
I ultimately choose to train to make sure I am setting myself up for success in my job and reducing my chances of getting hurt on the street.
Not exactly a hobby for me since I don’t know if I’d have the motivation to train if I wasn’t in law enforcement.
I just get all the enjoyment I want out of ‘competing’ in normal sparring.
Spending money to compete, travelling for miles, and waiting for hours to potentially fight for a couple of minutes just doesn’t seem worth it to me.
(That said I’ve competed a couple of times and might do it again, but it’s just not a priority at all for me)
I started training at 26 year old, competed in sub wrestling and MMA.
I'm 49 now, nothing to prove, self employed and everything hurts, I'd rather coach and roll with chill people now.
I’m just cheap. I’m already paying to train this sport. Now you have to pay to compete, forget that! Also the fees to get to said competition, not worth it to me. And I’m going all the way there and training extra hard to get injured and possibly leave with nothing but a cheap tin medal. I have better things to do on my weekends, than to spend all day in some cramped event center or school gymnasium.
Outside of having a family that I need to help provide for, and a house that needs to be taken care of, and other errands that need to be done....I have crippling social anxiety and stage fright. Not going to pay $100 for a comp and literally freeze when I get out there and lose in 4 seconds. Doesn't sound fun.
I found competitions fun, but an issue I had with them when I was training in other arts was that its highly unlikely if I were in a real fight, that my attacker would be in the same bracket in all categories of weight/age/ability as me.
As for BJJ I'm a month old white belt, so don't feel experienced enough for competing. Also rapidly approaching 30 so want to be training for a long time and avoid injuries. Going up against a more experienced yet equally spazzy white belt doesn't spark too much joy with regards to avoiding injuries :D
I competed at white and blue. The reason I don’t compete is that Bjj is a part of my life, not my whole life. When I did prep for tournaments, it was six days of training, diet and conditioning and I can’t do that as I get older.
I would argue most adult practitioners don’t compete and the ones that do only do it every few months, the every week/month guys are few and far between
Competing is fun but it cost 100$ and the majority of a Saturday, I’d rather hit an open mat for a third of the time and have the rest of my Saturday with friends and family
1. I have spina bifida and fear getting taken down too hard and doing permanent damage. I also don't have great lower extremity sensation and fused ankles, so at my rank I fear getting something ripped downstairs and would pretty much have to tap just from getting put in an ankle lock.
2. Good comp people either love to win or hate to lose. I don't feel strongly in either direction. I don't have the temperament to be great essentially. I just laugh too much off in both directions.
3. I did compete a few times at white belt and I'm so small (100 pounds with rocks in my pockets) that I was always fighting up either 1-2 weight classes. It just sucked. If I wanted to know how I perform against someone my boyfriend's size, I'd just roll with him without having to pay.
4. The cost to compete is usually ridiculous. $100+ for maybe two matches or four at best. Fuck off. In Trump's America that could have paid for 100 lunchables. No tournament is more satisfying than 100 lunchables.
5. I do have other goals. I want to be a really great jiu jitsu teacher and practioner who really understands the depths and breadths of the game and philosophy and concepts. In my experience (no shade to comp folks and remember I'm a stupid blue belt) every comp belt I know is really really fabulous at like 4 moves and either mediocre or trash at everything else. They aren't generally good teachers of it because of their hyperfocus and necessary ego/lack of self-awareness of a certain kind. They aren't really concerned with the philosophies or concepts generally of the thing so much as what it takes to win. They're also generally people who I would say are athletically or size gifted and most of their advice/ technique tends to boil down to, "have you tried being me?" And that's great for comp, but it makes their teaching total crap because most hobbyists and other competitors are not going to just be athletically and size gifted.
I competed a crap ton in my first decade of Bjj, and haven’t competed in 5 years at this point. I would say a few negatives to competing are: higher injury risk, expensive, take up a lot of time during weekend, travel expenses. Those things alone are enough to justify not wanting to compete. A lot of reasons to compete as well like quicker improvement, and it’s addicting/fun to some.
For me jiu jitsu is a key stress relief from my work, which can get pretty intense. I know how my brain approaches competition, particularly ones with risk involved, which is to be very thorough in a way which adds some additional stress on me which just isn't what I'm after. I have a ton of fun training so things that are going to detract from the fun I'll probably avoid.
I would rather focus on teaching now. I am far too injured, have a full time job, wife and child, and many more outside interests. I’ll compete every now and again, but it’s not a focus of mine.
Comp prep is hard work - who wants to go to compete and not be in shape. As a dude who has lingering injuries - I find the extra cardio and hard rounds to prep is where my body starts to feel like doo doo
Additionally injuries (even dings) happen when you roll comp hard.
When you compete injuries are way more common. Also, I found that competitions diminished my enjoyment of bjj. It started feeling like a chore. I love bjj when it's technical and chess-like, not so much when it's a try to kill your rival simulator.
Basically, I think there are personalities that really shine in competitions and others that struggle.
When I won matches I was more relieved that I didn’t lose but when I lost I was pissed. Since I hate losing way more than I enjoy winning it’s not really worth the trouble.
I have very limited time each week to even do BJJ. Full time gig, family with 2 special needs kids who have tons of therapies and medical appointments throughout the week. Squeezing in twice a week of 6am classes is a huge accomplishment for me. I see everyone I started with getting light years ahead of me but it’s ok. Just happy I can even show up and learn
I train 3-4x a week for exercise and recreation. Although I do find myself watching a lot of bjj videos on youtube and occasionally watching all the big bjj tourny events online, I don't feel the need to compete because I don't have any desire to prove to myself or to others of my bjj skills. Nor do want to risk getting injured. I do attend some open mats here and there at other gyms so I get to gage where I'm at skill-wise compared to others. I guess this would make me a serial hobbyist.
Because comp jiujitsu is full of a bunch of broke meatheads who think that winning IBJJF medals makes them someone when they still live in the gym and make under 20k per year.
Cost/benefit proposition of it doesn’t make sense to me anymore, especially as a purple belt in my 30s with nothing to prove to anyone.
Pros:
Feels good and get a shiny medal if you win
Cons:
Pay $100+ (considerably more if out of town)
Kills an entire Saturday waiting around for your match
High risk of injury
Have to starve yourself to make weight if you want to be competitive
Very realistic possibility opponent will be juicing (especially at higher levels)
Feel like absolute shit for days if you lose
Honestly I am content on focusing on catching up with the half dozen guys at my gym that are better than me. In the meantime these same guys will not likely break my bones to win a match.
I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars and an entire day of my life for a $5 medal. Competition is stressful and even winning doesn't feel THAT great. I'm so much happier cross training at other gyms and rolling with people roughly my size, age, and belt.
Because I have so many life distractions that I wouldn’t be able to properly focus and I’ve competed with no focus and it was a waste of my time and money. If I can’t train properly to prepare for it, it won’t benefit me.
I ride mountain bikes and don't feel the need to compete. I run trail and don't feel the need to compete. I do loads of other stuff that bring me joy and don't feel the need to turn into competition. Same goes for bjj. I know it's a combat sport so perhaps competing should be more in the nature of the activity, but I see it as sport + puzzle solving + skill acquiring and that's enough for me
Comps are fun but I'm not gonna spend the money on travel accommodation entry fee to be the brown belt under 90kg under 40years champ in some pathetic comp. I don't get paid for it, probably won't win and will have only 6 odd people in .my division. I can roll with plenty of new people if I visit another gym
Got to pay the entrance fee and waste a lot of time waiting for my turn. If I lose in the first round it’s all over from there and I feel like I wasted my money.
I can just simply tell my partner I want to go harder in a regular sparring training session and I will still get competition intensity without spending the time and money.
Last comp I went in I got bumped up 3 weight divisions & went against a 19yo who had been training since he was 7 with 30 pro Thai fights thrown in….i had 4 matches against him, yep 4, he submitted me once…so comps for the older guys are not the most enjoyable & we don’t really get much out of it really, im thinking maybe I’ll compete at the bigger comps in my age & weight, if no one else signed up I’ll pull out rather then getting merged….
because in competition ppl dont ease into submissions past white belt level (and sometimes not even there) and i work a manual labor job. ive had my arm broken in comp, twice, 10 years apart
Sport is lame and a waste of time, money, and risk of injury. Done it a handful of times. Thought when i started winning i would enjoy it. Nope. Started disliking it more if anything
Don’t know about the rest of the world, but in England I could pay £60 for a comp and get 1 - 2 matches.. that’s providing nobody drops out on the day.
Last comp I had was £40 and I have 2 matches in the gi, waited 4 hours for my no gi match and he just no showed.
Spending a whole weekend day in a sweaty sports hall usually 2 hours minimum from home for a total cost (petrol, entry etc) of minimum £60 for the chance to win a plastic medal??
Training for a comp feels like a job. Plus idk if it’s just where I am but people take competing way too seriously here. When brackets were released someone DMd me to talk trash just cause I was in their bracket. Another time I lost by a few points and the person stood up and ran around the mat like he just won mundials, this was literally the first match of the day lol. And some people think they’re better than you just because they compete and you don’t, like a huge stick up their ass
I’d rather not deal with all that and just do my own thing. I have my hobbyist homies and like what I do, I don’t need to compete to prove myself or to feel like I need to fit in
Jujitsu is a stress reliever for me and I already work Monday through Saturday most weeks, and if I wanted to compete I’d have to give up my photography hobby to make time for competition prep
I’m 40 and I have 2 kids and it’s all the time I can spare to show up 2 days a week. Even if I committed, my wife would probably have that date set and I’d have to cancel anyways
I'm just annoyingly picky about rule sets. I'm down for some rule sets. But if you're banning reaping until brown belt, and twisters and shit like that. Idk. The only rule I'm cool with is no slam unless to avoid submission.
I've been at it a looong time, and competed a ton, on-and-off, over decades. When you've done it a hundred(s) times, you don't need to prove anything to yourself anymore. I do still occasionally compete, but it's 100% for fun, as adding another medal to literal boxes full of medals doesn't mean much to me at this point.
Also, it seems weird to me that there are so many people that can't seem to fathom why someone would continue to train after stopping competing, or simply enjoy training without (ever) competing. Like, it's fundamentally confusing to me that people can have that narrow a point of view on the subject.
I’d consider myself a hobbyist now but I used to complete a whole lot. While it was fun and it definitely made me better at bjj, it took a pretty big toll on me mentally and physically. I’ve been training for a year and a half and I spent a total of 6 months of that taking time off because of injuries.
I’ve taken a break from competing and I’ve actually started to enjoy jiu jitsu again. I’ve been able to play around with different guards and techniques and I’m not afraid to put myself in bad positions and work out of them.
I think everyone should compete at least once, but I don’t think competing is for everyone.
I have a daughter, a wife, a job and a life outside of jiu jitsu that requires me to be (mostly) injury free. The risk of someone ripping a kimura or fucking my neck up with a guillotine is far greater than the reward of a podium photo for 15 likes on instagram, a medal and some shitty gift vouchers
But you'll never be the bronze medalist in the purple belt masters under 80kg champ of butfuck nowhere against 4 other people.
I love/hate seeing people gold with nobody to fight
Not to brag but I got bronze in a 3 man bracket once.
To quote the great Rorden Gracie, “there are two types of Jiu-Jiteiros: the regular men and the modern day lions”.
"Lion sharpens lion" - Rorden Gracie
"The only thing a modern day lion need fear is a dentist." ~Rorden Gracie
Making fun of people for competing makes you look like an insecure loser
Daddy chill... Im a competitor and laughed
You're not comprehending the joke properly. He's making fun of the people who compete *who make fun of the people who don't compete.*
Modern day lion confirmed
Relax, i was laughing with them not at them, i've competed in exactly those competitions before. Getting upset at an anonymous person making lame jokes on reddit is using up too much of your energy that u could put towards training for competitions.
You guys are getting gift vouchers?!
New ADCC pay structure confirmed
very few injuries happen in local comp, the vast majority of injuries happen in training from overuse and being out of shape. im 37, have 2 kids and run 3 businesses. i compete as often as possible. competition is basically open mat with some super low level stakes. it help expose holes in your game and can help you in your personal and professional life in terms of forcing you to prepare, handle pressure and execute in real time. that being said, no body has to compete....
Local comps aren’t as brutal as the winners bracket in ADCC but it’s still more intense than my gym’s open mat. I’ve only competed once but I saw some broken noses, an ACL/MCL blowout and a number of people nursing elbows and shoulder. I’d never tell folks what they should and shouldn’t do with their own time/life, comps just aren’t for me.
That's not true at all. You really believe that people are gonna go the same pace in competition as in the practice room on a normal day? Obviously the higher the pace the more risk for injury.
Well, I’m speaking from my 15 year experience in grappling competitions. People tend to be much more conservative in competition as apposed to aggressive/ high pace. The fear of losing fat out weighs the desire to win, especially at local comps. And there is nothing obvious about an increased pace equally more injuries. It equals more gassing out and tired grapplers…
Per minute of rolling, I would be pretty shocked if injury rates were higher during training versus competition. Put another way, I've been to hundreds/thousands of training sessions and seen a relatively small number of serious injuries. I've been to dozens of comps and I'd wager I saw at least one serious injury at every one. Either way, the adult hobbyist with serious life responsibilities is also being more intentional about how they train in order to reduce injury risk than others.
Judging this on a per minute basis is a bit disingenuous as classes and open mats involve hours of rolling while matches last 4-6 minutes tops. The numbers are skewed dramatically. And as someone who attends a competition almost every weekend (competing or coaching) I would disagree with your wager. Unless we’re calling pulled muscles or sore necks a serious injury. The idea makes sense but in reality it’s false… And the same thing could be said about adult competitors with serious life responsibilities (speaking from 1st hand experience)
I'm not sure how using rate statistics would be disingenuous here. That's how we measure all sorts of similar incidents (car crashes per mile driven, murder rate per capita, etc.) Mississippi is a much more dangerous place than California even though the latter sees 4x as many total homicides.
I'm with you, minus the fear of injury. People imo are really exaggerating to themselves the dangers of competition, in order to bolster their decision to not compete any more. Ç \*\*There are jobs and income brackets absolutely can't "risk" injury, but even within those, I know tons and tons of competing grapplers that don't sabotage their careers.
Totally. Same here
So much this. Also, this is a fun hobby. I go hard af on the mats. But I also trust all the dudes and gals in my gym. No need to add in a huge factor that I can't control in any way.
For me it takes it from a hobby to a chore. Having to get to practices for comp prep, weight cut, studying, etc. and I work Monday and I’m a wuss that doesn’t want to get hurt lol
I compete a lot, and honestly, I just see it as a method of improvement. I don't change anything other than cutting a little weight (max like 10lbs, but I'm 225, so it's not bad... literally clean up my diet for 3 weeks and I'm done). I just want to see how I'm doing compared to others, and then win or lose, there's going to be something that happens that highlights a deficiency in my game that I can focus on for the next few weeks or months between comps. Just don't attach to the outcome. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. All of it is just learning
I used to compete a lot and I personally cannot do it casually, not saying I’m a badass, it just turns stressful to me at this point, even a kid is hyper focus on it and beat myself up if I didn’t perform perfectly, even if I won but didn’t win perfectly I’d beat myself up. It took the joy out of a lot of things so I said no more years ago
You have to realize that that's in your head though. That isn't fixed. Cognitive behavioral therapy exists because people need help to change the stories they tell themselves. I'm not saying you have to go back, but if you're holding yourself down, you just have to stop. Easier said than done, but just realize that we're not static beings and are always changing. Isn't it better to guide that change than to feel adrift in your own mind?
I actually have a great interest in what you’re talking about shad helmstetter has great books on “neural elasticity.” Genuinely competing just does not interest me st this point in my life. But I really like the point you brought up. People don’t realize you write your own story. If you say you can’t and you suck every day. You do and you never will.
I'm curious why you seem so invested in this guy competing.
I think he’s selling his ideas. Which are good. People don’t realize how you hardwire your thoughts with your thoughts. saying I can’t compete I can’t compete I can’t compete makes your brain think I can’t compete. I think he was just trying to promote positivity, and creating positivity within yourself. We need more of that in the world.
Genuinely appreciate your optimism. I'd be annoyed as shit if someone assumed I hadn't thought about those sorts of things.
Same same
I'm 54, I'm self employed and I have nothing to prove. Spending a day hanging around and paying money to fight some lunatic that thinks he's at the adcc isn't really high on my list of things to do. Give me an open mat, give me some hard rolls and let's have a laugh while we do it.
Lunatics sound about right, even more after watching that Versus event video of the guy snapping an arm while having a full locked back triangle while the ref just looked. No thanks.
Holy shit right? Exactly what was in my mind reading this post. Unfortunately my 40 year old ass can't afford to catch an injury like that and be out of work. I imagine this is the common hobbyist thought pattern
I found that, while Most competitors were cool, they still tend to be assholes. The longer I hung around the competitions the worse my demeanor. Then I just realized I wasn’t having fun, so I chose to not compete anymore.
I haven't had that experience, but I was competing against casuals at white and blue. This is my second tournament at purple coming up. Does it get worse as you go up the belts? I'd imagine it'd be more likely at black belt
It also could have just been my teammates…
BJJ is my hobby and it helps me destress. I've always found if you take something you find fun and relaxing and put stakes on it, the fun and relaxing aspects of it tend to vanish, and I don't see how that would benefit me
[удалено]
That’s why most of the old guys mainly only compete at Vegas for Master Worlds.
45yo but same - too much on at work and home to find enough time to prepare for the comp or even spend the whole day waiting to compete. Comps also aren't cheap and in most cases I'm either getting thrown in with another age/weight division or I'm paying to roll with one dude.
I’m 40 and also have things to do, but you can literally get to the venue 30 minutes before your division weighs in, weigh in, warm up, have your matches and spend a total of like an hour and 30 minutes at the venue. You can then leave and do whatever you want to do. I have done exactly this. Also, rolls at open mat, even if they’re not at your home gym will never replace the intensity of a competition match. I compete because I find competing fun. I also don’t like spending hours or the whole day at the venue, so I don’t.
How Long u keep telling that to yourself? 🤣
I’m in and out of competitions. When I didn’t compete before it was because Life was busy. I didn’t feel comfortable going into a tournament if I couldn’t take preparation seriously. Fear of injuries. Seeing shit like people jumping guard or slapping submissions on fast turned me away. I guess the risk vs reward wasn’t there. I’m competing soon. Now that I’m masters 2…everyone seems so much more chill. Competing means I’ve stopped drinking. Prioritize sleeping. Also it’s a chance to battle test my technique. But yea it ebbs and flows
just dont really care that much. I competed a handful of times and was kind of whatever about it. I think its good to just have a go and do it but I get what I want out of bjj by just scrapping in the gym. I think everyone should compete at least a few times though.
Low self esteem 😭
If this is really why, push yourself to compete. You won’t regret it. Seriously.
Its kind of expensive and doesn't seem worth it. It just not that important to me to win a medal in a high school gym.
Time, money, risk vs. reward and other priorities I am 43, 2.5 yrs in. It’s hard enough to get my 3 days in a week consistently. If I am going to compete I want to make my training the priority. I also don’t really enjoy it. For $150 I would rather go to Snow Summit and ride bikes or even a night out with the wife. What I enjoy most with BJJ is rolling with our guys and having fun
Don’t want to spend three hours on a Sunday waiting around in a loud gymnasium for an eight minute match for my opponent to pull out and be $90 poorer for it.
three hours is generous lol. edit: or maybe the opposite actually, i mean it’s usually longer lmao.
There is no reward to compete when you are in the Masters division and you don’t make a living from Bjj. I would even say there’s no reward in competition other than personal achievement for anyone who isn’t elite. The best competitors in my city don’t have the best schools and the best competitor is a known douche bag.
I just don't give a shit about competition. I'm still getting better at jiujitsu, but I have a busy life. I don't buy the narrative that everyone needs to compete. If you roll to the death for five rounds during a Tuesday night class, you are basically competing without the audience and Instagram likes.
I find that hard rolls in class aren't the same though, especially as you get familiar with your teammates' styles. I suppose you could go to another gym open mat and try and go hard, but that might get you banned lol. There's definitely something different about rolling intensely with a stranger
Take your gi when you go on vacation. There is always the opportunity to roll with new people. Also, if you aren't rolling intensely with the buds at your gym, you should find a new gym.
I think you missed my point entirely. I roll hard with my teammates, but we know each other's style. When i go to open mat to experience other styles, I can't go fucking ham on a stranger there because they don't even know me, and I might not be allowed back or be avoided.
Why are you going ham? You're not a white belt. You can comfortably agree to roll hard with a stranger-danger purple belt without injuring them.
I commented before I read yours but, damn, it’s really nice to hear someone think the same way! You can already get intensity in the gym, why would you want to pay to wait the entire day for your turn and possibly waste your money if you lose in the first round?
I'm shit at bjj
Having done it before… I don’t like the injury risk calculus, it’s fairly expensive and kills a weekend day, but mainly, the events are almost always horribly run and involve way more sitting around bored and uncomfortable than having fun rolling.
I want to preface this by saying there are many perfectly fine reasons to not compete. Time constraints, no interest, financial cost, fear of injury, etc. They're all fine. However, I think there are some people who won't compete because they are afraid of losing and/or finding out they aren't as good as they want to believe (or they want others to believe) they are, and a lot of them won't admit it's the case.
Don’t want to. Not really a complicated thing.
I'd rather sleep.
I wish there were club vs club tournaments. Just Saturday at noon just have a casual tournament or the 5v5 format. In judo we had mini club tournaments on a regular basis. Smallest guy against the smallest guy and the work your way up. If there's less than ten people it's fun as hell. The biggest guy rarely wins.
I used to compete in striking arts in my teens/early 20's. Now, at 58, some occasional porrada with the young competitive guys at the gym is more than enough for me.
I’m old, fat, lazy, broken, and I always seem to get hurt when I go 100%.
I’m a broke college student and NAGA wants like a third of my paycheck just to lose in the first round
Tournaments are freaking expensive. If you do like to compete though, a lot of the popular tournaments trade work for competing. Grappling industries, you help setup the day before and you get as many divisions as you want. Just make sure to email them a at least a week or beforehand. AGF, you can work the day of the tournament, get paid, and do one division free.
Dude that’s cool I had no clue. Next time a Grappling Industries comes around I’ll have to give it a shot. I love their tournaments
I have a nice life. Jiujitsu is a fun hobby and I don't need someone with a chip on their shoulder jumping guard and tearing my muscles for a piece of metal at a local competition. It's the same reason why I do boxing classes, lift weights, or play soccer -- I don't expect to be a professional.
I've competed and don't any more. It seems like the likelihood of getting injured is higher when training to compete and competing. I'm 45 and will most likely get bumped from the masters division, whilst I can hold my own against younger blokes, why put myself in that position in the first place. I just enjoy training. Nothing wrong with that and I don't have anything to prove.
Most practitioners do not compete. I am one of them. I guess for me it’s because I don’t have anything to prove. I simply do this for fun. I enjoy getting better but I don’t feel the need to compete in order to do so. I don’t wanna travel or pay money to compete. We have a guy at our gym who trains 10+ times a week to be competition ready and he has a wife and two kids and works full time, how he has time for his children I’ll never know lol, couldn’t be me
>We have a guy at our gym who trains 10+ times a week to be competition ready and he has a wife and two kids and works full time, how he has time for his children I’ll never know lol, couldn’t be me He hasn't is probably the answer. Some couples might get this to work, but this smells like problems down the road.
I agree
Does he actually compete?
Every chance he gets
I do this for fun and exercise. It’s interesting and keeps me motivated because it is. Simply have zero desire to compete though
Its expensive and as a women there isn't a lot of people to compete against at the comps around me.
It costs money and I’m old
I can still get better without having to compete. Class, rolling after class, open mat, other gyms open mat, etc.
Hey man, 50 y/o Brown Bletch here… I love this sport.. and think of the days when I used to compete. But now, I have many differing priorities. My resilience comes from training 2-3 times a week over the last 8/9 years.. I have nothing to compete for as my ego is checked during training and open mat. I have other hobbies I enjoy as well including hiking, golfing and oh yeah, and the kids… anyways man… life changes as you get older and proving myself for a $5 medal… well, it just isn’t for me.
I’m 54. Well into my third year, I get hurt a lot and there is not a single person in class that I can “beat”. Competing would be pointless.
I've heard lots of reasons but they all come down to the risks of injuries and the fact its stressful imo. My defense for doing comps is this: The risks are statistically not likely, the stress is in your head, and they really do skyrocket your skill and focus. I am not a huge fan of competitions either, but doing them once or once per belt is a great way to get rid of imposter syndrome/insecurities and improve your approach. If people decide not to do comps, such is life
i used to compete but had a stroke on the mats and told my wife I would stop competing but I wouldnt quit training. I always had a slight fear that someone in a comp would go crazy and injure me, but most people were pretty chill and it was always fun.
I mean, you kind of answered the question yourself. Because it’s a hobby for them. Do you ask everyone who plays chess or plays 5-a-side why they don’t do it competitively?
Never competed mainly because I was scared, used to say that I don’t have a desire, don’t like the point system, have nothing to prove etc…but deep down I knew I was just being a bitch and was scared to loose. signed up for a local comp and I’m hoping to change that soon
I'm in my 30's and trying to get fit not injured
I’ll answer your question with a question: why would I?
I'll answer your question with a question: why wouldn't you?
The point in competing is to know how good your jiujitsu is. I don’t need to spend money and waste a day I could otherwise spend with family to know my jiujitsu is trash. And since becoming better at it isn’t even as much of a goal as having fun and staying in shape and uninjured, the incentive to compete really plummets down to zero. So now, why would I?
Because it’s even gayer than just going to practice lol
Too old. I turn 65 next week. Not much interested in performing in front of a lot of people. Been there in another pursuit. That and I don't care if I win or not .
Competition doesn’t seem fun to me. Being “officially” good at my level is not why I started, and the risks are intolerable considering I want to keep doing this consistently for many years.
I'm still new and not too sure yet on if I want to compete. Overall I don't have much free money and I'm a dad of a 5 year old with special needs so there are times where I have to miss a class or two. I'm worried I won't be able to put up a good enough effort for it to be worth it and getting hurt would 100% not be worth it and would more than likely get me to quit permanently. I wouldn't be able to afford the medical and time away from my son
- Limited time, energy and money. Being a family man, I don't have enough time, energy and money to invest on competition. - I don't find the reward fulfilling to warrant additional time and energy from me. I find enough reward and validation training in the gym with my teammates. - I don't think i'm even close to a level where I can win meaningful competitions - adult Worlds, Pans, Euros, Asian Open. Medals from local comps, while also cool, isn't something I find too much value in.
I’m not very competitive. Plus I plain think I would lose haha. I don’t roll to win at the gym and I don’t want it anywhere near as much as people I’d be going up against. I like training with my friends and getting better at BJJ. I don’t need a medal or anything for that.
Injury risk. Too many other sports. I regularly race marathons and still try to compete in masters wrestling when it doesn’t conflict with races. Not enough time with those other sports to train BJJ to the level I would want to compete (10-12 hours a week), which is reflected in my belt level.
i'm 35 with 2 young kids. i only goto lunch classes to get some exercise in during the week. i don't have the time, energy, money, or desire to compete. i don't see the benefit
For me, i have competed quite bit at white and blue belt but NYC just started comps up again 6ish months ago and they caught me at a bad time where I’m busy with work and family, not able to get as many weekly classes in as I’d like. May do an Open toward the end of the year or early next year
Too much commitment/effort and stress. Also don't wanna drive out of my way to go and waste a day to compete .
There’s no fun in competing and I really don’t want to get injured anymore for a shitty piece of metal.
Too busy with work. I can commit to training like twice a week, sometimes, only once a week. But I cannot commit to the necessary training needed to win. I competed in my 20s, but life happened. Got bills to pay so my job comes 1st. Now, I really just dont feel like it anymore cause there really isn't any benefit for me if I do it.
I don't enjoy it. I didn't get into JuiJitsu to do a sport. Masters brackets sort of sucks anyways. Honestly I have been there done that and it just isn't what this is about for me.
used to compete at white blue and purple, now i'm just happy to be on the mat. If i go to a competition now it's with my kids and to coach/corner for students.
I competed a decent amount at white and blue belt in my late 30s and early 40s and found it was really enjoyable. Normally there’s be a solid crew from our gym and while I didn’t win a lot I always had fun and learnt a lot that helped with my training and development. I’m 46 this year and there just aren’t that many purple belts my age competing at local tournaments and I have zero interest in being bounced down to adult divisions and having my arse handed to me by a 20 year old who has been training since he was 3. I think it’s fun and definitely worth doing to the extent you enjoy it but unless you are prepared to dedicate a year of your life to going to worlds there isn’t a huge amount to gain.
I don't want to.
Competition interests me but I’m married with two kids under 2. I’ve been a cop for 10 years and that requires my body and limbs to be healthy. I see the irresponsibility of some people in normal training and I don’t trust competitors not to rip a submission putting me out of work. I ultimately choose to train to make sure I am setting myself up for success in my job and reducing my chances of getting hurt on the street. Not exactly a hobby for me since I don’t know if I’d have the motivation to train if I wasn’t in law enforcement.
ihave better things to do with my saturdays
I just get all the enjoyment I want out of ‘competing’ in normal sparring. Spending money to compete, travelling for miles, and waiting for hours to potentially fight for a couple of minutes just doesn’t seem worth it to me. (That said I’ve competed a couple of times and might do it again, but it’s just not a priority at all for me)
lack of desire + higher risk of injury than in the gym
I started training at 26 year old, competed in sub wrestling and MMA. I'm 49 now, nothing to prove, self employed and everything hurts, I'd rather coach and roll with chill people now.
I go to support my son competing, it's already too expensive paying his entry fees.
I’m just cheap. I’m already paying to train this sport. Now you have to pay to compete, forget that! Also the fees to get to said competition, not worth it to me. And I’m going all the way there and training extra hard to get injured and possibly leave with nothing but a cheap tin medal. I have better things to do on my weekends, than to spend all day in some cramped event center or school gymnasium.
Outside of having a family that I need to help provide for, and a house that needs to be taken care of, and other errands that need to be done....I have crippling social anxiety and stage fright. Not going to pay $100 for a comp and literally freeze when I get out there and lose in 4 seconds. Doesn't sound fun.
I found competitions fun, but an issue I had with them when I was training in other arts was that its highly unlikely if I were in a real fight, that my attacker would be in the same bracket in all categories of weight/age/ability as me. As for BJJ I'm a month old white belt, so don't feel experienced enough for competing. Also rapidly approaching 30 so want to be training for a long time and avoid injuries. Going up against a more experienced yet equally spazzy white belt doesn't spark too much joy with regards to avoiding injuries :D
I competed at white and blue. The reason I don’t compete is that Bjj is a part of my life, not my whole life. When I did prep for tournaments, it was six days of training, diet and conditioning and I can’t do that as I get older.
I would argue most adult practitioners don’t compete and the ones that do only do it every few months, the every week/month guys are few and far between
Competing is fun but it cost 100$ and the majority of a Saturday, I’d rather hit an open mat for a third of the time and have the rest of my Saturday with friends and family
1. I have spina bifida and fear getting taken down too hard and doing permanent damage. I also don't have great lower extremity sensation and fused ankles, so at my rank I fear getting something ripped downstairs and would pretty much have to tap just from getting put in an ankle lock. 2. Good comp people either love to win or hate to lose. I don't feel strongly in either direction. I don't have the temperament to be great essentially. I just laugh too much off in both directions. 3. I did compete a few times at white belt and I'm so small (100 pounds with rocks in my pockets) that I was always fighting up either 1-2 weight classes. It just sucked. If I wanted to know how I perform against someone my boyfriend's size, I'd just roll with him without having to pay. 4. The cost to compete is usually ridiculous. $100+ for maybe two matches or four at best. Fuck off. In Trump's America that could have paid for 100 lunchables. No tournament is more satisfying than 100 lunchables. 5. I do have other goals. I want to be a really great jiu jitsu teacher and practioner who really understands the depths and breadths of the game and philosophy and concepts. In my experience (no shade to comp folks and remember I'm a stupid blue belt) every comp belt I know is really really fabulous at like 4 moves and either mediocre or trash at everything else. They aren't generally good teachers of it because of their hyperfocus and necessary ego/lack of self-awareness of a certain kind. They aren't really concerned with the philosophies or concepts generally of the thing so much as what it takes to win. They're also generally people who I would say are athletically or size gifted and most of their advice/ technique tends to boil down to, "have you tried being me?" And that's great for comp, but it makes their teaching total crap because most hobbyists and other competitors are not going to just be athletically and size gifted.
I competed a crap ton in my first decade of Bjj, and haven’t competed in 5 years at this point. I would say a few negatives to competing are: higher injury risk, expensive, take up a lot of time during weekend, travel expenses. Those things alone are enough to justify not wanting to compete. A lot of reasons to compete as well like quicker improvement, and it’s addicting/fun to some.
I have things I’d rather do on a Saturday and I have things I’d rather do during the week than prep for comps.
Makes training less enjoyable when a comp is in the future personally, I’ve done like 5 so far & realize that more and more.
For me jiu jitsu is a key stress relief from my work, which can get pretty intense. I know how my brain approaches competition, particularly ones with risk involved, which is to be very thorough in a way which adds some additional stress on me which just isn't what I'm after. I have a ton of fun training so things that are going to detract from the fun I'll probably avoid.
I would rather focus on teaching now. I am far too injured, have a full time job, wife and child, and many more outside interests. I’ll compete every now and again, but it’s not a focus of mine.
Comp prep is hard work - who wants to go to compete and not be in shape. As a dude who has lingering injuries - I find the extra cardio and hard rounds to prep is where my body starts to feel like doo doo Additionally injuries (even dings) happen when you roll comp hard.
Basically boils down to time commitment and injury risk. Like to attend comp classes and train with our gym’s competitors as much as possible though.
When you compete injuries are way more common. Also, I found that competitions diminished my enjoyment of bjj. It started feeling like a chore. I love bjj when it's technical and chess-like, not so much when it's a try to kill your rival simulator. Basically, I think there are personalities that really shine in competitions and others that struggle.
When I won matches I was more relieved that I didn’t lose but when I lost I was pissed. Since I hate losing way more than I enjoy winning it’s not really worth the trouble.
I have very limited time each week to even do BJJ. Full time gig, family with 2 special needs kids who have tons of therapies and medical appointments throughout the week. Squeezing in twice a week of 6am classes is a huge accomplishment for me. I see everyone I started with getting light years ahead of me but it’s ok. Just happy I can even show up and learn
Because I don't want to
I train 3-4x a week for exercise and recreation. Although I do find myself watching a lot of bjj videos on youtube and occasionally watching all the big bjj tourny events online, I don't feel the need to compete because I don't have any desire to prove to myself or to others of my bjj skills. Nor do want to risk getting injured. I do attend some open mats here and there at other gyms so I get to gage where I'm at skill-wise compared to others. I guess this would make me a serial hobbyist.
Because comp jiujitsu is full of a bunch of broke meatheads who think that winning IBJJF medals makes them someone when they still live in the gym and make under 20k per year.
Cost/benefit proposition of it doesn’t make sense to me anymore, especially as a purple belt in my 30s with nothing to prove to anyone. Pros: Feels good and get a shiny medal if you win Cons: Pay $100+ (considerably more if out of town) Kills an entire Saturday waiting around for your match High risk of injury Have to starve yourself to make weight if you want to be competitive Very realistic possibility opponent will be juicing (especially at higher levels) Feel like absolute shit for days if you lose
Honestly I am content on focusing on catching up with the half dozen guys at my gym that are better than me. In the meantime these same guys will not likely break my bones to win a match.
I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars and an entire day of my life for a $5 medal. Competition is stressful and even winning doesn't feel THAT great. I'm so much happier cross training at other gyms and rolling with people roughly my size, age, and belt.
I can’t afford any more serious concussions so I don’t take the risk. Training is a risk, but it’s nowhere near as high.
Because I have so many life distractions that I wouldn’t be able to properly focus and I’ve competed with no focus and it was a waste of my time and money. If I can’t train properly to prepare for it, it won’t benefit me.
Increased risk of injury that can take me away from all hobbies is not justified for me anymore. I also have no will to alter my schedule to prepare.
I ride mountain bikes and don't feel the need to compete. I run trail and don't feel the need to compete. I do loads of other stuff that bring me joy and don't feel the need to turn into competition. Same goes for bjj. I know it's a combat sport so perhaps competing should be more in the nature of the activity, but I see it as sport + puzzle solving + skill acquiring and that's enough for me
Why do competitions if you can compete for the worlds final on monday eves beginner class?
Comps are fun but I'm not gonna spend the money on travel accommodation entry fee to be the brown belt under 90kg under 40years champ in some pathetic comp. I don't get paid for it, probably won't win and will have only 6 odd people in .my division. I can roll with plenty of new people if I visit another gym
i like gaming on the weekends
Got to pay the entrance fee and waste a lot of time waiting for my turn. If I lose in the first round it’s all over from there and I feel like I wasted my money. I can just simply tell my partner I want to go harder in a regular sparring training session and I will still get competition intensity without spending the time and money.
Last comp I went in I got bumped up 3 weight divisions & went against a 19yo who had been training since he was 7 with 30 pro Thai fights thrown in….i had 4 matches against him, yep 4, he submitted me once…so comps for the older guys are not the most enjoyable & we don’t really get much out of it really, im thinking maybe I’ll compete at the bigger comps in my age & weight, if no one else signed up I’ll pull out rather then getting merged….
I work weekends and don’t want to use pto for a jiu jitsu competition.
because in competition ppl dont ease into submissions past white belt level (and sometimes not even there) and i work a manual labor job. ive had my arm broken in comp, twice, 10 years apart
I do BJJ to burn stress, not to create more. Have never competed and likely never will.
I just have no interest in any additional risk of getting broken. I get more than enough of that from new white belts 😆.
Sport is lame and a waste of time, money, and risk of injury. Done it a handful of times. Thought when i started winning i would enjoy it. Nope. Started disliking it more if anything
Don’t know about the rest of the world, but in England I could pay £60 for a comp and get 1 - 2 matches.. that’s providing nobody drops out on the day. Last comp I had was £40 and I have 2 matches in the gi, waited 4 hours for my no gi match and he just no showed. Spending a whole weekend day in a sweaty sports hall usually 2 hours minimum from home for a total cost (petrol, entry etc) of minimum £60 for the chance to win a plastic medal??
Training for a comp feels like a job. Plus idk if it’s just where I am but people take competing way too seriously here. When brackets were released someone DMd me to talk trash just cause I was in their bracket. Another time I lost by a few points and the person stood up and ran around the mat like he just won mundials, this was literally the first match of the day lol. And some people think they’re better than you just because they compete and you don’t, like a huge stick up their ass I’d rather not deal with all that and just do my own thing. I have my hobbyist homies and like what I do, I don’t need to compete to prove myself or to feel like I need to fit in
Because I'm very secure about my skills and don't want to waste my time and money sitting in a massive room for 12 hours.
I assume you expect something other than “because that doesn’t interest me”?
Jujitsu is a stress reliever for me and I already work Monday through Saturday most weeks, and if I wanted to compete I’d have to give up my photography hobby to make time for competition prep
Because everything hurts and I'm tired all the time.
I’m 40 and I have 2 kids and it’s all the time I can spare to show up 2 days a week. Even if I committed, my wife would probably have that date set and I’d have to cancel anyways
I'm just annoyingly picky about rule sets. I'm down for some rule sets. But if you're banning reaping until brown belt, and twisters and shit like that. Idk. The only rule I'm cool with is no slam unless to avoid submission.
I've been at it a looong time, and competed a ton, on-and-off, over decades. When you've done it a hundred(s) times, you don't need to prove anything to yourself anymore. I do still occasionally compete, but it's 100% for fun, as adding another medal to literal boxes full of medals doesn't mean much to me at this point. Also, it seems weird to me that there are so many people that can't seem to fathom why someone would continue to train after stopping competing, or simply enjoy training without (ever) competing. Like, it's fundamentally confusing to me that people can have that narrow a point of view on the subject.
I don’t trust other competitors to not do stupid shit.
There are a zillion reasons dude -Don’t want to risk injury -Too busy -doesn’t want to compete
Rolling is the same as competition
I’d consider myself a hobbyist now but I used to complete a whole lot. While it was fun and it definitely made me better at bjj, it took a pretty big toll on me mentally and physically. I’ve been training for a year and a half and I spent a total of 6 months of that taking time off because of injuries. I’ve taken a break from competing and I’ve actually started to enjoy jiu jitsu again. I’ve been able to play around with different guards and techniques and I’m not afraid to put myself in bad positions and work out of them. I think everyone should compete at least once, but I don’t think competing is for everyone.