A part of the journey for any submission fighter who takes part in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling or judo is the tournament. That is where all your hard work and training is tested against other schools to see where you stand as a fighter. All the warm-ups, drills, grappling techniques and hours of rolling with your teammates are what you leave on the table when you compete in tournaments. This is where all the hard work either pays off in a medal or where you can discover what you need to work on further.

Tournaments and competing is so much more different than class as the nerves and adrenaline are is what makes or breaks some fighters. The ability to perform under extreme circumstances and prevail is a key element to becoming a better fighter.

This week Stephan Kesting talks about fighting in tournaments and some key points to look out for when fighting that may help you gain an advantage over your opponent.

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Which Coach to Listen to, and the Return of Paulson

I don't remember too much from my first BJJ tournament other than that the place was packed, that there were lots of huge guys strutting around like they owned the place, and that I was nervous as hell.

One thing I DO remember, however, is an inadvertent bit of help I received in a match. I was fighting this big guy and managed to sweep and pin him. All of a sudden I heard his coach yelling "bridge him over! He doesn't have any base on that side". Although this advice was meant for my opponent he actually ended up warning ME of my vulnerability instead. I posted my head on the floor to compensate for my lack of base and he never did successfully bridge me.

This episode made a strong impression, and in subsequent competitions I always made sure not only to listen to my own coach, but also to my opponent's coach. There were many times that I had access into my opponent's brain by listening to what his coach was telling him, and sometimes those little tidbits of information made a huge difference.

Of course you should also listen to your own coach, but hopefully your coach is wording his advice in a way that isn't much use to your opponent. Little harm can come of your coach letting you know to protect your arm, or to put more weight onto your opponent, but if he's telling you stuff like "push down on his right knee and then pass to your left" then he might actually be helping your opponent instead of you!

So listen to you your coach, but also listen to your opponent's coach. It's a real life application of the old adage ""keep your friends close but your enemies closer".

And if you coaching or cornering someone in a match take care what you say and how you say it. It can be had to do, but give advice which doesn't give any useful information to the opponent.

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Erik Paulson DVD's Back In Stock

The Vale Tudo Conditioning DVD and Erik Paulson's Greatest Hits DVD are available again on Grapplearts.com. It's been hard to keep them in stock, perhaps due to Erik's recent exposure by helping prepare Brock Lesnar for his UFC fights.

These are the only DVDs available on my site that I haven't produced, and I make them available because of the quality and quantity of information on them.

Click here to find out more about Vale Tudo Conditioning www.grapplearts.com/Vale-Tudo-Conditioning.php

Click here to find out more about Erik Paulson's Greatest Hits www.grapplearts.com/Erik-Paulson.php

P.S. If you're planning to add them to your collection you should move quickly, because they're really hard for me to keep in stock.

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

Bet at SportInteraction for MMA and UFC Fighting Today