Tom DeBlass has just revealed one of the biggest regrets of his competitive BJJ career, and it might surprise many people who are currently training themselves. It’s essentially over-training, something that actually effects a shockingly high number of combat sports athletes. A large part of the culture surrounding competitive fighting in any form is built around the idea that toughness and grit can be enough to persevere through adversity and win. In many ways, this isn’t wrong. Professional athletes certainly have to be willing to sacrifice more than the average person and there will be moments when losing seems certain, but competitors can snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.
As with many pieces of advice for white belts and new competitors, there’s a time and a place for that toughness and grit but that isn’t all the time and everywhere. DeBlass explains the true problems with going at 100% capacity in every training session every day, and a large part of it is how much you’ll suffer for it later in life. This is especially important for those that are in the sport for the long haul, because it’s simply not conducive to a long career. When Deblass announced that this was one of the biggest regrets of his BJJ career, he was asked several questions in the comments and one in particular might be helpful to those who want to train as hard as possible all the time:
“Do you think you’d have enjoyed the same results had you not done what you did though? Not asking if it was worth it because worth is entirely subjective but would you have had the same results?”
Tom DeBlass: “This is a great question. Personally, I think me training so hard was a huge phonological factor. In my mind, I didn’t deserve it unless I trained hard. I believe with smarter training and the right mindset; I’d have done much better. I truly never competed healthy.”
Tom DeBlass revealed what one of the biggest regrets of his BJJ career was in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
