Dos Equis Competition?

[kevinculp]

How many of you are over 40 and compete? How often do you compete? I'm almost 46 now and I've noticed that due to constant injury I have been competing far less than I used to. I competed a lot at purple but since I got my brown a year ago I have been plagued by one injury after the next. I'm so far off in conditioning and drive from just a year ago I'm almost embarrassed. Any of you other guys with grey hair going through this?

[Jayamilne]

I am 48 and started when I was 45. Last year I did 3 tournaments and I plan to do some this year as well but I will have to be a bit smarter about how I train leading up to a tournament. I find I can't keep up the pace needed to be competing all the time, so this year doing a mini-camp, where I ramp up my rolling and cardio 6 weeks prior to a tournament. And between, I lower my intensity, which helps with injuring reduction and helps with recovery.

[Craig Murray]

Personally I just don't compete, and have no plans to. I'm sure it would be a lot of fun, but I don't want to risk it. I get plenty of injuries in training as it is.

My primary goal in Jiu Jitsu training is to get really good and choking dudes out. At this point training with guys at the gym seems to be a reasonable route to that end. I don't expect competition to make much of a difference. I don't see how rolling with guys I don't know at a competition who have no interest in my safety is going to make me better any faster. Maybe make me better a little faster? I dunno, plenty of high level guys didn't compete.

It's just not worth the risk to me... but that's just me. I love watching my partners compete.

[kevinculp]

I felt the same way at white belt. After I did my first tournament at Blue I felt that it was fun and low risk. I've never been hurt at a competition and I've done 10. The hardest part is how long you end up waiting to fight. My style is also very defensive so I'm not as worried because I go in planning to stay safe. But I recommend doing at least one big tournament just for the experience!

[NameLikeNoOther]

I am 38 and just did my first competitions last year. Due to my location I can only train once every week or two weeks. This has slowed my injuries for sure, but also my progress. I keep my body in condition by doing boxing, swimming and gymnastic workouts in between. I figure competing in grappling is like any other combat sport where almost every competitor has some injury they are nursing at any given time. Looking forward to competing this year. So far I have entered the 18+ years category and avoided the Masters Divisions.

[Greg Pavlik]

Can relate for sure and its very frustrating - especially since I've been working on technique and trying to be less strength oriented alot. Missed two paid-for tournaments from injuries this year. I had pretty easy recovery but now I have a freak injury to the neck that just won't get better for the last 3 weeks. That has me more or less unable to lift, do much cardio or stretching - my few attempts at training last few weeks have been pretty embarrassing: just no gas right now and need to be super careful about inversions. I'm skipping January competition, but hope to be back competing by March. My goal for 2016 is stable training and much competition, so fingers crossed.

[Pat Campagnola]

I'm only 31 and my body feels broken on a regular basis. It is definitely motivating to take care of my body and ensure longevity in this sport. Wrestling from the age of 10 to 22 and not knowing how to train smart definitely put some miles on the body.

Everybody is in this for different reasons and with different goals/expectations, but I find competition to be necessary for me to continue developing at this stage. I feel like no matter how good my training partners are and how hard we roll, I don't truly know if my stuff works until a competitive match against a skilled opponent who is putting it all out there to win.

[Steve Haas]

I am 43 and just started in jiu jitsu a little over a year ago. The body not healing as fast is certainly one reason I wish I had started 20 years ago. That being said I am doing competitions. Training with the same people all the time you learn what their game is and how to defend or attack them individually. That is why I like the competitions as you are faced with an unknown opponent. Plus there are not many white belts at my academy so competing against someone close to my level is a nice change.

[Eric Schuettenberg]

I'm 48 and know exactly how you feel. It's been almost two years since Ive competed due to two knee injuries. First a partially torn lcl on my left knee then a partially torn mcl on my right knee. I'm planning on competing at the Chicago open the first weekend in April if I can stay relatively healthy. It's been frustrating because I feel like my window of opportunity to compete is shrinking fast. I don't do as many hard training days as I used to and focus more on diet, flexibility and flo rolling. I only roll hard 3 days a week. This decreases my chances for injury and increases my recovery time. I plan on training more as the tournament approaches but the extra time will be flo rolling and drilling my game plan. Thanks to the two knee injuries Ive had to change my game a bit. Not as much rubber guard as I used to play but hay I'm still in the game.

[Zac Wilson]

I will be 40 this summer and I'm doing my first comp this spring. Because of Jiu Jitsu and weightlifting I'm in better shape than I was at 25. 40 is a new chapter to my life, a healthy one, a positive one, a Jiu Jitsu one. I love it.