How much pride do you have in your game? How much trust have you put into your training for you to make it to the big leagues? Are you ready to compete?

These are all valid questions. Believe you me. It’s normal to be feeling butterflies running amuck in your stomach. You are going against a fellow human being while clueless of his capabilities in the art of Jiu-Jitsu. And in foresight, there is this thing called fear of losing.

This article is not to scare you at all. But to actually encourage you to get out of the gym and compete like crazy.

Here are some of the best reasons why competing in BJJ is a good idea.

BJJ is relatively a safe environment 

We all have the founders of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to thank for making BJJ what is today: a wholesome sport for everyone to enjoy. The good thing about BJJ as an art per se is that there are already standards for each tournament, sanctioned by IBJJF or otherwise. There are smaller leagues that also adapt the international rules of refereeing, point system, and what-have-you.

Test your mettle

The logical step to every practice is application. Culmination events are as important as the training itself. Professional athletes see tournaments as a way to calibrate themselves. While training environments can give you the feedback you need, in a tournament where everyone’s desire is to be on top, you might be able to learn a thing or two about your game, or what you lack from it.

It can be a full time career

Living off of sponsorship can be a double-edged sword. But going out there and doing the stuff you love the most can be one of the most rewarding things you can ever do in your career. Due to the fact that the world of social media has made it a lot easier to get sponsors, competing and being known can be as lucrative and also rewarding as the amount of skills and training you put in to the sport!

BJJ teaches perseverance

Perseverance is always one of the traits that is strongly attributed to successful individuals. In hindsight, learning perseverance is more than just knowing to persevere. Jiu-Jitsu teaches you exactly that.

You need to lose

Counter intuitive? Not really. Losing has its benefits. Although, in Gracie Barra we are taught that there is no such thing as losing, but the reality is more athletes have bounced back even stronger after losing a match. Losing athletes are known to be more reflective and pursue a higher level of skill whenever they lose. Winning is good. Losing can be even better.

Nilo Valle Chinilla