Marcelo Garcia is one of the greatest BJJ competitors in the history of the sport, so it’s worthwhie listening to anything he has to say on tournament preparation. Garcia has not only won more ADCC weight class titles than any other man in history, but he’s also had some incredible performances in the absolute division despite competing at under 77kg. Although he originally burst on to the scene in no gi competition, Garcia was just as successful in the gi as well. Over the course of his career he won an impressive five IBJJF World Championship gold medals and multiple other IBJJF majors.
The first interesting point that Garcia raised was about nerves in competition, and he revealed that it was something that effected him too:
“I understand some people still don’t have that confidence. I took all the way into my purple belt to not feel nervous to go compete. I was competing a lot but I was always nervous from blue to purple and almost brown belt, I was so nervous.”
He then went on to explain the approach he takes in the days before a tournament and surprisingly for someone so dedicated to the sport, Marcelo Garcia actually advocates for taking a short break:
“I think just a little bit different, I take two days off. One week, two days off, that’s not that much difference guys. (It’s) about that confidence that we talk about, you already did everything… Everybody’s different so two days, for me, is enough. I can be as tired as I am and two days is gonna recover anything, not injury but like tired.”
That recovery is obviously important for any competitor, as it allows them to ensure that they’re turning up to the event in the best possible shape. Garcia also explained how the rest of that final week works for him:
“In that week before, after you train super hard, I don’t try anything new. I just try everything that’s already been working for me. I drill and if I do a certain sweep then I’m not gonna try that sweep against the toughest guy. I already know it works, so I don’t need to overload my sweep. I just need to keep doing what is working.”
Marcelo Garcia also explained that the approach doesn’t just apply to physical training, but also to watching previous tournament footage too:
“If you do a move that I do, that makes sense. Like a week before: ‘oh, I’m gonna watch Xande (Ribeiro), I’m gonna watch Marcelo fight because that move is similar.’ That makes sense, but of course you don’t wanna learn something new in the last week because it doesn’t give you time to sharpen up. So I personally just pretty much sharpen up what I already know.”
It’s not only about avoiding mental overload though, Garcia says it’s also about keeping himself safe and healthy before the event too:
“(It’s) just because I don’t want anything to go wrong. I don’t want to get hurt, I don’t want someone to fall wrong with me. I’m just training easy that last week, but you gotta be confident. You gotta be confident you’re not gonna mess up your body. If you already trained for that competition, one week before you should be ready.”
The full interview with Marcelo Garcia where he explains how he always prepared for a tournament was uploaded to the official Jits Magazine YouTube channel:
