Why Winning Doesn't Help You Get Better
Why Winning Doesn't Help You Get Better
ADCC star Chris Wojcik is back to talk about the process of improving - and why winning doesn't really help
ADCC had a massive build-up that was several years in the making.
For me, the 2024 ADCC preparation began just hours after I watched Gordon Ryan submit Andre Galvao in 2022.
At the time, I was training in Chicago and living in a small studio apartment on the north side of the city. I had no idea what the next 2 years would hold for me.
In those next 2 years, I’d move my whole life across the country. I’d compete in 4 ADCC Trials. I maxed out a credit card to lose in the 3rd round of a Trials. I did pretty much everything you could imagine – it was a busy and kind of tumultuous period of my life.
In those 2 years, I also connected with some really high-level Jiu-Jitsu minds – people like Jozef Chen and Dima Murovanni, whose approach to training would change the way I think about Jiu-Jitsu and the way I improve myself.
Today, we’re talking about 2 different kinds of training and what they mean.
Get Caught Up On Chris' ADCC Prep Blog
- I'm Competing at ADCC. Here's My Training Routine and Thoughts On The Event
- ADCC Prep Week 2: The Grim Reality of Trying to Be Your Best
- ADCC Prep Week 3: The Mental Game of Grappling
- ADCC Prep Week 4: "The Deload Week"
- ADCC Prep Week 5: The Home Stretch
- ADCC Prep Week 6: Are We There Yet?
Performance Training
For the ADCC series that I wrote, there was a heavy emphasis on performance training.
Performance training is pretty easy to write about. It’s hard work, it’s romantic, and it’s the kind of work that people think of when they think of “hard training”.
We started the series about 6 weeks out of ADCC 2024, and I was deep in the camp dealing with injuries, exhaustion, and just “the grind” of brutal training. It was not always fun.
Even the good days were less than enjoyable. I felt really attached to the outcomes of training during the camp. A good day meant I was going to do well at ADCC and a bad day meant I wasn’t supposed to be there at all. I berated myself more than I should of, and the worst part is that it’s not uncommon for an athlete to do that.
Considering that I was a late replacement for the event that would eventually change my career, it wasn’t hard to have at least a shred of doubt that I wasn’t even supposed to be there in the first place.
Watch Chris At ADCC Worlds
But nonetheless, I stayed the course. I trained my ass off for the entire camp as best I could. I wrestled every day even though I’m more of a guard player. I studied my opponents. I pushed my cardio.
I didn’t focus so much on building skills as I did sharpening the tools I already had.
The goal for performance training is to reach a peak, and at ADCC 2024, I did peak. I had the best performance of my career at the time. I submitted an ADCC medalist and beat one of this year’s South American Trials winners on the first day. I finished 4th at ADCC.
And then?
It was over. Just like that.
What Happens Next?
After months of lead-up to peak at ADCC, I felt this heavy post-competition depression.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
It wasn’t just a 2-month camp for ADCC, it was several years of hard training, quitting the gi, moving my whole life, and reinventing myself as a grappler. I practically relearned how to wrestle for ADCC – something I hadn’t done since high school (and even then not particularly well).
But just like that, it was all over and I didn’t really know what was next.
I started training immediately after the event but it wasn’t quite the same. I had things to work on, but because a lot of the things that I was working on weren’t directly related to ADCC rules, I felt a bit aimless. I didn’t have a big goal.
I went from truly feeling like a professional athlete in the days before and after ADCC to feeling like an angsty kid again.
I realized that I didn’t really know how to train when there’s not a competition coming up.
At first, I medicated this issue with another competition. I competed at the PGF season 7 at 205 pounds, going up in weight about 17 pounds from my natural weight. I’m also competing again at EBI in December – back to 170 for the first time since the East Coast Trials in 2023.
But there is an underlying issue with all of these competitions that I’m aiming to solve.
How To Train For Skill Development
Some of our guys at B-Team have not competed since ADCC/CJI weekend.
I’ve competed twice already and will do one more before the year ends. I enjoy the constant competition because it gives me a reason to push myself and work hard. Sometimes it’s hard to justify the abuse on my body when there isn’t a tournament with a decent sum of cash or prestige coming up.
But what I’m trying to learn is how to train to get better.
More specifically, I’m trying to learn how to train and improve without tons of competition.
Many grapplers go their whole careers and never quite learn how to do this. They can’t take a break from competition and return months later even better than they were before. This is an elusive (and thus highly valuable) skill to have.
People like Owen Jones, Jozef Chen, Levi Jones Leary, and a few others seem to have mastered this.
They’ll do a competition, do well, and then disappear off the scene for a few months. When they return, it’s not like they haven’t left, it’s like they’ve been somewhere better.
That place is where I’m trying to go.
I believe that place is “training for skill development” land. After EBI, I’m purchasing a ticket straight there for a bit.
Closing Thoughts
I try to be intentional about my training.
As a grappler who’s been doing this for nearly a decade, I am not as durable as I used to be. I have injuries, limitations, and other things in my life that I like to do. I don’t do 3 sessions in a day in a day anymore and even if my body would allow me to, I honestly wouldn’t want to.
There is a better way to work than simply as hard as you can.
My goal in Jiu-Jitsu is to train as well as I can for as long as I can, and that is a bit more complicated than simply embracing the grind. Longevity and quality are things that are not so easy to find in this sport.
But hey, maybe that’s a post for another day.
Read more from Chris at TheGrapplersDiary.Substack.com
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