Competition Training at Airlock Jiu Jitsu

Competition Training at Airlock Jiu Jitsu

While competition isn’t something we require that everyone partake in at Airlock Jiu Jitsu, we certainly acknowledge the benefits of jiu jitsu competition to improve your game! Many of our members are gearing up now for their first ever competition, so today, we wanted to share some info on how we’re preparing and our outlook on jiu jitsu competition training.

First, some thoughts on competition. It’s important to remember that the way we train within the gym is different from the rolls you experience in a competition environment. For one thing, you’ll be dealing with a specific rule set depending on the competition and your belt level. At Airlock Jiu Jitsu, we typically train any and all techniques. We don’t really believe in hiding useful techniques like heel hooks or wrist locks from our members, which is a practice that some gyms apply. However, within our members’ competition training, we encourage them to start playing by the rule set that they’ll be facing in competition. That’s important to help avoid accidental disqualifications in competition.

Similarly, rolling in a competition is likely to involve much greater intensity than our typical rolling in the gym. Around the gym, we’re all friends. That disappears in a competition setting. We want our members to be ready for an intense roll, to be physically ready for the energy needed, and even to know when and how to tap to avoid serious injury. Our competition training means preparing for every situation that our team will encounter in a competition setting.

Luckily for all of us, Professor Rei Villa has a strong background in jiu jitsu competition. It’s certainly one of the reasons that our whole team rolls much more often and much more consistently that other gyms – Coach Rei knows that there is simply no substitute for hours spent actively rolling, whether for competition training or for self defense, physical fitness, or any of the other benefits of jiu jitsu training. 

Our training schedule offers many opportunities for competition training. On Mondays and Wednesdays at lunchtime (11:30 am), we typically roll for the full hour, working within our competition rule sets and getting in reps. Our Friday evening class is structured similarly, with plenty of rolling and often with live positional drilling as well, starting from a variety of positions. Of course at our Sunday Open Mat, we spend the hour rolling round after round! And every weekday evening class involves rolling as well as learning new techniques and drilling positions. At Airlock, we like to think we’re always competition-ready because of the way we train.

Interested in competing in jiu jitsu? We’d love to call you our teammate. Join us for some competition training anytime.