If you could go back to the beginning…
To all my seasoned brethren… when you reflect back to the early stages of your journey, what is something you wish you wouldn’t have spent so much time on? A mindset that you now realize held back some progress? A technique or concept you now realize is trash or maybe you were training it wrong for years? Etc… Ego I know is always a big one. Rolling too hard on the regular and/or overtraining. For me I think it’s the mental anguish that can take place when you can’t be on the mat for a while for whatever reason. It’s silly to think you’re gonna slip that much because you have to take time off for an injury or life event. I believe if you’re really about this and are in it for the long haul you will find your way back and so will your skill level. What about you guys?
5 Comments
Taking the fun out of training and taking it way to serious. Once I stopped caring about losing, not getting tapped by a lower belt, what people thought, I started to enjoy training a lot more.
Ego by far is the biggest hindrance that will slow down your progression. I didn't want to give up position or try anything that I wasn't good at for fear of being submitted. This slowed my training down for several years.
For me personally, there isn't much I would change. I probably would have competed even more often. I competed a lot but I would have completed even more as my younger self.
Also I would have trained Judo formally and competed in Judo. That's definitely something I wish I did.
If I could send a message back in time to myself, I would say to start competing 6 months into white belt. I would tell myself there’s no waiting until I am “good enough”.
@locnload That's just what I needed to hear man. I'd been putting off competing for exactly that reason, but I'm gonna sign up for one and just see how it goes. Thanks!
@juangar1992 Try it once and see if you like it, don't think about the results. Always said that the first competition is not about winning or losing, it's about stepping onto the mat. That's the real victory, what happens after that is not important. It matters that you trained hard, showed up, made weight, stepped onto the mat just you and your opponent. Obviously, if you intend to compete a lot results matter, just not your first competition.