I've been to watch a couple of JJJ and BJJ classes locally with one BJJ class left to check out. I'm really drawn to BJJ with the main reason being that it gets really tested through sparring with resistance. My only uncertainty is that there appears to be a heavy focus on competing as well. Is there any merit in starting BJJ if I have no intention of competing? Or at least no intention in competing at full contact level. Would I be better suited, do you think, do JJJ?
you dont have to compete to progress in BJJ i have a friend who's coach asked him to stop competing fopr a while so he could focus on other things like developing a much rounder technical skill set
there are plenty of guys at my bjj gym that do not compete--some very good ones too. so no, if that's not what you want to do, then i wouldn't sweat it. for me though, it's very important to compete. it will make you better. i personally think that everyone should compete at least once in their bjj career. i shoot for once a year, and no, i'm not some remarkable athlete or seeking to go pro. i'm 44 with three kids. but i love getting ready for competition, then laying it all out there on the mat. it's really scary, but also incredibly fun and worth while.
I wouldn't mind the odd semi-contact comp as I've done that before with Karate but FC is a bit too much for me.
it's not full versus light contact like karate sparring. it's all just grappling. there might be some techniques not allowed at white-belt level--like leg locks or wrist locks. but other than that, a competition is just like regular class sparring. granted, probably with a higher intensity level, but still, it's basically what you observe when you go to your local bjj gym.
Yeah..if you get hit full contact in a BJJ comp something's gone very weird indeed. Although KO's are no unknown from the odd bad fall, hard throw, guard jump or naughty, naughty slam.
You can compete in 3 areas. Gi, nogi and mma. You dont have been to compete, but most people do compete a little at local comps, and mostly in gi comps. If you wanted to do mma then you also have to train striking and wrestling, noone will force this on you.
Cheers guys that's all very helpful. I didn't realise that the gi/no gi comps were different to MMA comps. That makes more sense now and is a little more appealing.
When I did BJJ I did one no-gi interclub and two gi comps. There was no pressure to do them at all but once you've done BJJ for a while you start to get the feeling you're missing something and want to try things out. Just for the experience really.
I think competition is beneficial and educational to development. When I compete, I don't go into it with a "WIN WIN WIN" mentality so much as a "This is added pressure for me to pressure test my skill set." Then again, I'm not depending on BJJ for livelihood or renown, I'm a scummy white belt who just enjoys it. It's one step closer to a self defense scenario than sparring within the gym. With that said, if you don't like it, don't do it! Your martial development is your prerogative, and if what you really want to do is just have fun hanging out with the guys and arm barring each other, there's nothing wrong with that.
I've only ever competed once, didn't like it, so I haven't done it since (though I'm not ruling it out). I think that competition is essential to BJJ in general, but it's not essential to the individual. As long as there are a couple of people at your school who compete, it's all good. Though I would recommend trying competition at least once, to see if you like it. A lot of people find it helps their game, gives them focus, shows them holes in their BJJ they didn't know they had, etc. I didn't find that personally, but then I'm a massive nerd when it comes to analysing my training.
In all fairness after reading this thread and generally being more educated about BJJ comps I think I'd give it a go. Unrelated, but, racing mountain bikes helped my on bike fitness loads and climbing comps helped my climbing so I'm sure BJJ comps would do the same.
You learn a huge amount from competing, and in my opinion it is always worth doing. On the other hand, John Danaher is living proof that you can get very good at BJJ without ever competing.
