Competition

If you don’t want to compete at my school, don’t do it. It’s not enjoyable for everyone, and if you say you want to compete, my naturally abrasive personality usually dials up to hold you accountable. It is a good experience though, because it is very different. Competition is a test of the grappling you actually have as opposed to the low stress environment of rolling with your teammates. If you decide to compete, your output should match your expectations. When you want to win a world championship, training is a full time job. To win a local tournament, training is a part time job. Either way, it’s going to be work. As I have talked about here before, training three days a week is maintenance. If you want to be competitive, you’ll need to do more than the bare minimum even at the local level nowadays. That’s probably 15-20 hours per week across training, lifting, and recovery if you want to be successful. That’s a commitment, and it’s understandable if you don’t feel like you can invest that in a hobby, when you have an actual life outside the gym. All your coaches ask is that you assess whether you put the work in before you get upset about the result.