Another end of the year is approaching and with it the traditional New Year’s resolutions. Starting a new year is always a good opportunity to put into practice what we didn’t do the previous year, often for lack of time, tiredness or lack of stimulation. But if you want 2020 to be the year of your life on the mat, it’s essential to set goals.

Go to training more often? Participate in a tournament? To improve, you need to analyze what you are already doing, define strengths and identify weaknesses. This makes it easy to determine what the next steps are to take and start 2020 in the best way possible to ensure your success! Whether you have just started in the “gentle art” or have been training for a few years now and don’t know where to start preparing your New Year’s resolutions, here are some questions to guide you and help you prepare.

• SCHEDULE YOUR TIME ON THE MATS

Before analyzing the technicalities, let’s check how your attendance is in class. Attending class talks a lot about your learning and commitment to yourself. Going to the school twice per week is good. This is the minimum required to learn, put into practice and theoretically be able to be promoted.
Promotions are important, but not everything. Jiu-jitsu is like an ocean. The deeper we dive, the more treasures we will find. If you plan on improving your cardio and / or cardio techniques, organize your weekly schedule for more classes. This first change will undoubtedly make a difference.

• GET OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE

It is normal to have a style of play in which we feel most comfortable and find no problems in it, just the need to adjust small details. But when you get out of the comfort zone, how have you been feeling? Have you come out of comfort and put yourself in challenging situations? Analyze what you do most often and aim to improve other aspects of your jiu-jitsu. A complete fighter is a versatile fighter who knows how to fight in different situations.

• UPGRADE

Because of routine or accommodation, we often fail to study or pay attention to the most challenging techniques. Jiu-jitsu is an art that is constantly renewing itself. As a car that does not upgrade its parts gets outdated, so is the mat. The strong foundation is the cornerstone of everything, but not studying the most modern techniques can make you feel stuck and out of options. If you have been feeling stagnant, without successful attacks or defenses, it may be a good time to attend advanced classes or even take some private lessons.

• EAT WELL
Our off-mat actions directly and indirectly influence our performance in the gentle art. How about starting a balanced diet? Our food acts as fuel for the body. If we put a low quality gasoline in a car, it will certainly not perform as well and over time will start to fail. The same thing happens to the body, if you do not supply it with healthy food, your performance will begin to reflect the problems in your health.

• TOURNAMENT, AM I READY?
Feeling the adrenaline rush of a tournament is inexplicable. But before you think of signing up for one, it might be a good idea to speak with your professor. It will give you the necessary guidance on what and how to improve to be fully ready for a tournament. Tournaments also have many different rules and guidelines from each other, and your professor can help you prepare in specific ways that will ensure a higher chance of success. Although becoming an athlete may not be your goal, keep in mind that tournaments are true tests of your technique and can shed light on your areas of opportunity. Of course we should aim to win every tournament we enter, but the take away should not be whether you lost or won, instead it should be about what you learned about this step in your journey.

Profª Glaucia Braga
Black Belt 1st degree