Why Compete? What is the Point and Why Take the Risk?

Why Compete?

Many people in martial arts and BJJ often ask this question. What is the point in competing?  If I train, learn as much as I can, and make improvements, what's the point in competing?  Outside the realm of martial arts, the same questions can be asked. Runners, weight lifters, and people in their work places may all ask these questions and find similar answers as to why not to compete.

I will tell you that in most things in life, competition can be healthy. Consider this analogy: An incredibly bright and gifted student goes on to med school. The student goes on to be the leading MD in his field, and completely rids the world of the ailment he has spent so many years working to cure. Now what?  You see, you can be the best at something, but unless you are faced with challenges appropriate to your skill set, then you may as well have no skills at all. But competition can go deeper.

Competition as a Training Aid

First and foremost, I see competition as the greatest training aide there is. For the runner, races provide motivation to train. The upcoming race, which the runner has paid out of pocket to enter, will give the runner a reason to train more consistently and harder than he has ever trained before. For the martial artist, the same is true. Inside the average person has a real desire to do well. When you have a pending competition, you are less likely to skip your training sessions. In martial arts, you also have training partners that rely on you for their own training and most people also have a huge problem with letting other people down.

Competition teaches us lessons. A famous practitioner of BJJ once said that you either win, or you learn. I think this is very true. The caveat to that is that you actually have to look for the lessons, and reflect on them to some degree. I have lost far more matches than I care to admit, and I can tell you there is a difference between losing and learning. If I was paying attention to what tripped me up, if I thought about it after the match, then I would have something to focus on in my future training. If I wasn't paying attention, if I let the loss get to me, then all I really did was lose.

Competition as a Reality Check

Aside from motivation, and learning,  competition gives us a realistic look at how we compare to our peers. There is no mistaking results. Sure, a ref can make a bad call, we can all have bad days, or just get caught in something that we didn't expect.  At the end of the day however, whether or not you wear a medal around your neck is based primarily on your own individual skills and is a pretty concrete set of data that shows us where we stack up against our peers.

Additionally, competition is the closest thing to a real fight that we can safely see. A lot of guys in martial arts gyms figure that they get enough live sparring with their training partners. The reality however is that things are different in the ring. In competition, unlike in the training environment, adrenalin is present. Peoples’ desire to do well, to win, causes the body to actually produce and release adrenalin into the system. What that means is that you will be facing someone who isn't going to let go when things get a little uncomfortable. And neither are you. What you will learn in competition is that you can take a lot more than you thought you could, and so can other people. This is what makes competition so important, because ultimately, many martial artists train as a means of self protection. I will tell you that if you have never competed, than you don't know what a real fight will be like when both you and your attacker have adrenaline running through your veins. And no, they do not cancel each other out, adrenaline simply enhances both of you, in ways that are very difficult to explain to someone that has not experienced it.

Why Compete?

So all of these reasons are why I would tell you that competing is a good thing.  Yes, there is greater risk involved.  But in my eyes, the benefits that can be gained from competitions far outweigh the risks associated with it.  You will learn more about yourself, your technique, and your peers than you ever will in the same gym you go to everyday.  If you have the opportunity you should compete on a regular basis.