BJJ Welsh Open - 2014
Well it has been just over 24 hours since I left for Newport so thought it a good time to write my blog on yesterdays events. The blog will be broken into two sections. Thoughts on the competition and my own performance and errors made and lessons learned.
Welsh Open
In complete honesty it is difficult to find many criticisms of the competition. Chris Reece was very accommodating and approachable at all times (even when extremely busy) - this is extended to his staff and officials also. A free t-shirt was given to each competitor which I thought was a nice touch also. Timings were pretty much to book and plenty of warnings were given to those who could not adhere to them with two competitors being disqualified.
Criticisms - I could only think of one and even this was highlighted by Chris Rees during the event. The amount of competitors walking around bear footed (even in the toilets). There was nothing more Chris or the officials could have done than what they did tbh which was making an announcement.
All in all a good experience surrounded by a good crowd and dealt with by good staff/officials. Excellent value for money and if the trend continues I imagine the competition could easily become a far bigger event. I personally can not wait for next year.
Performance
I will break this down into my performance and why I think I did not perform and my errors made prior to competing and the effects I feel that had on my performance, both are relatively negative but many things were learned. As I was told yesterday 'You never loose, you learn'
Both fights were lost by submission which I was not too happy about - considering I'd not been tapped out for some months in training. BJJ is a tactful game (like chess) and small errors can have big consequences. Both fights I did not employ my own game (being honest I was not allowed too either which is credit to my competitors). This was my first competition in 5 years and at this level and it was telling, I can not however take anything away from the guys I fought - both were strong, controlling and demonstrated better control and technique than me on the day.
Although my cardio endurance was OK my muscle strength was depleted and I felt weak almost immediately. Previous posts on here have highlighted my efforts to cut weight and I believe the amount I have cut did effect my performance. In September 2013 I was roughly 96kg - yesterday I weighed 79.01kg. The drop in that time is acceptable however this last week i did drop an additional 4kg (Tuesday I weighed 83.4kg). And this was clearly an error and bad management of my diet. I wanted to try and have a strong strength to weight ratio but this was not the case yesterday.
Mary Kretsch, PhD. did a paper suggesting that a reduction in calories effects reaction time and this effect can be seen almost 3 weeks after a more balanced calorie diet is in place. Reljic et al (2013) found that cutting just 5% of water in a short period of time had very adverse effects on performance and ability. This in all honesty is common sense and in hindsight on Tuesday I should have maintained my diet and competed at Middle Heavy (88.3kg). I did maintain a log of my diet and carbohydrates were lacking as well as hydration being somewhat low the day of the competition (prior to weigh in). Correia-Oliveria et al (2013) found that a rich CHO (carbohydrate) diet (~ 70% CHO) increased performance (for up to 72 hours). Again this is common sense as well know the importance of CHO as an ergogenic resource. All of the above errors were made with a determination to compete at Middle with basic knowledge being ignored and personnel and friendly advice being shrugged.
All in all a very productive 24 hours..... as I was told yesterday 'You never loose, you learn' and I learned yesterday to not ignore what I know and what others tell me. I learned that I need to train harder and that when you reach the top of one ladder you start at the bottom of another. While errors were made in my build up to yesterday, one of the basic facts is I was not quite up to scratch with the other guys and the only solution to that is harder training. BJJ really is a journey and it is one that I thoroughly enjoy.
I look forward to putting on some much needed weight and to see what differences are seen in 5 weeks time at the British Open.
Oh lastly - I have not looked at any psychology for yesterday simply due to the fact I felt paratelic throughout and felt I had no adverse effects on performance from nerves. I will do a post soon on the paratelic and telic state and it's effects on performance (if any).
Reference List:
Correia-Oliveira, C., Bertuzzi, R., Dal'Molin Kiss, M., and Lima-Silva, A. (2013), 'Strategies of Dietary Carbohydrate Manipulation and Their Effects on Performance in Cycling Time Trials', Sports Medicine, Vol. 43, No. 8, pp. 707-719
Kretsh, M. (1997), 'Cutting calories too much can slow reaction time,' Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, Vol. 15, No. 6, p. 2
Reljic, D., Hässler, E., Lost, J., and Friedmann-Bette, B. (2013), 'Rapid Weight Loss and the Body Fluid Balance and Hemoglobin Mass of Elite Amateur Boxers', Journal Of Athletic Training, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 109-117