How to handle BJJ competition nerves

What nerves do to your body

Competition nerves are your body’s stress response, often called fight or flight. Your adrenal glands release adrenaline, you breathe faster, your senses sharpen and your body releases stored sugar and fat for energy. Many people also tremble, sweat and feel pain less than usual.

Feeling it does not mean you are unprepared. Experienced competitors feel it as well, so aim to grapple well while it runs instead of waiting for it to pass.

The same response can cost you some fine motor control, so grips and techniques that work easily in class can feel harder to pull off in a match.

Make fewer things unknown

Part of the worry before a match comes from what you cannot predict, so settle what you can before the day. Our guide to your first BJJ tournament covers the logistics, from weigh-ins to finding your mat. Decide how you will start and what you will do with the score in a competition game plan, so those calls are made before the adrenaline arrives.

Then get used to the setting itself. Ask your coach to run a few rounds with a referee, a clock and teammates watching. Enter an in-house or small local tournament before a large one, since many grapplers find their nerves ease when they compete more often.

In the days before the event, picture the start of your match in order: walking on, the handshake, your first grips and your opening exchange. Many competitors use this kind of mental rehearsal so the real start feels familiar.

Warm-up and breathing

Use the warm-up to settle as well as to get warm. Some grapplers prefer light drilling and pummeling with a teammate, and others prefer stretching and music on headphones. Try both at smaller events and keep what works for you.

Slow breathing is a simple way to counter the stress response, and you can do it anywhere. The pacer below runs box breathing and a version without the holds. Use the second one if holding your breath is uncomfortable, and check with your doctor before trying breath holds if you have a breathing condition. Select a pattern and press Start.

At the venue, use it while you wait to be called, on the walk to the mat and between matches.

Build a routine you repeat

A pre-match routine is a fixed sequence of steps you go through before every match. Sport psychologists use routines to help athletes manage their nerves and keep their focus, and a familiar sequence helps the last minutes before a match feel the same at any venue.

Build yours from a few fixed steps: your warm-up, a few rounds of breathing, a short phrase you say to yourself, and the order in which you put on your gear and walk to the mat. Some competitors also use the bathroom at a set point and keep conversation to a minimum.

Rehearse the routine before rounds in class so it runs without thought by the event. Plan a shorter version as well, for when your match is called sooner than you expected.

Treat the feeling as excitement

Nervousness and excitement feel much the same in the body, so relabeling the feeling as excitement is often easier than trying to calm it down. Telling yourself to calm down tends to keep your attention on what could go wrong. Saying “I am excited” out loud, even before you believe it, is one way to make the switch.

Set goals for the match that are within your control, such as taking your planned grips, sticking to your opening and breathing steadily, rather than winning a medal. You can meet these goals in a match you lose.

After the match

Adrenaline takes time to wear off, so your hands may keep shaking for a while after the match. Wait until you are calm, often the next day, before you judge how you did. Write down when the nerves were strongest, what you did about them and what helped, then change one part of your routine for the next event. If you filmed your matches, a verified black belt can review them in a roll review and set homework drills.

If nerves keep you from competing, or anxiety affects you well outside tournaments, talk to a sport psychologist or another mental health professional.