It’s one thing to lose in BJJ competition if your opponent really is better than you. But it’s quite another to be beaten by an opponent that you KNOW you’re better than… to underperform… not to live up to your potential.
It sucks!
The most common reason for losing to someone with lesser jiu-jitsu skills is that you psyched yourself out and lost the match mentally. You can be in top shape and have your techniques honed to a razor’s edge, but can still perform poorly in BJJ competition if your mental preparation is lacking.
In this Grapplearts podcast I talk with BJJ black belt Gustavo Dantas about how to use sports psychology to create unshakeable confidence and perform to the best of your ability in competition.
To hear this podcast episode in full, you have a couple of options. The first one is to just press play on the embedded player below – easy as 1,2,3! The second (and better!) option is subscribing to The Strenuous Life Podcast so that you don’t miss out on any future episodes. To do this, you just need to click on your chosen audio player that is compatible with your device – one click and you’re on your way!
- Apple Podcasts (the purple app on your iPhone)
- Google Podcasts (the new google podcast app)
- Spotify Podcasts (they’re free)
- Stitcher,
- Soundcloud,
- Google Play
And/or click play on the embedded Youtube video below…
Stephan’s interview with Gustavo Dantas – click on the play button in the middle of the Youtube video below to listen:
As we promise in the interview itself, below are Gustavo’s top 10 mistakes competitors make in competition that limit how well they actually transfer their skills from training to competition. Hopefully this provides some additional value to readers interested in the topic of mental preparation for BJJ competition…
Top 10 BJJ Competition Mental Mistakes and Sports Psychology Mistakes
#1 Focusing on the Outcome
#2 Fear of Disappointing Others
#3 Fear of Making Costly Mistakes
#4 Dwelling on Mistakes
#5 Hyping Opponents Up
#6 Surround Themselves with Negative People
#7 Negative Self Talk
#8 Hyping Up the Tournament
#9 Bridging Outside Issues On the Mat
#10 Underestimating Mental Preparation
Stephan Kesting is a BJJ black belt and runs Grapplearts.com. You can download ‘A Roadmap for BJJ’ – his book about learning jiu-jitsu fast – for free by clicking here.
Gustavo Dantas is a BJJ black belt who runs the Gustavo Dantas Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Tempe, Arizona, as well as operating The BJJ Mental Coach
The post Podcast EP31: BJJ Sports Psychology with Gustavo Dantas appeared first on Grapplearts.