Gianni Grippo writes for FloGrappling about some of the lessons he's learned from superstar grapplers Marcelo Garcia and Leandro Lo.

Competing is something I truly love doing. It's not a job; it's simply a passion of mine, so the opportunity to compete multiple times in the coming months on different stages has me chomping at the bit and ready to go.

But at the same time, I realize this busy schedule can provide some challenges for me, not only with the level of competition I'll be facing but also with how I should (or should not) prepare.

First, I'll compete in Lisbon, Portugal, at the IBJJF European Championships, fighting on January 22.

Watch the 2017 IBJJF European Championships LIVE on FloGrappling on January 17-22

Then two weeks after that I'll be in Arizona for my first Fight To Win Pro superfight versus Samir Chantre.

Then to top it off I'll be competing at the Abu Dhabi World Pro trials in New York and perhaps in Montreal on back-to-back weekends in February.

The challenge there comes with competing under three different rule sets and time limits in a short period of time. How should one mentally approach this in his or her training?

Learning from experience

If I were to give you advice on how to handle this dilemma a few years ago, it would sound a lot different than what I'd say today. I would have been the one who would have only wanted to exclusively train a specific way to "most effectively" prepare for the given rule set.

Another option would have been for me to choose one or the other, even if I had the desire to compete at both events. I truly did believe that I would be hindering myself if I weren't training an exact way towards what I was preparing for at the time.

This was all before I was introduced to Marcelo Garcia's method of training.


Marcelo Garcia, one of the G.O.A.T. jiu-jitsu competitors, shakes hand with one of his student's teammates. Photo: Hywel Teague / FloGrappling

Marcelo's methods

Before I joined Marcelo's in early 2013, I would only train 1-2 months out of the year for no-gi competitions, and the rest of the year would be spent in the gi, as a big majority of my goals came in the gi.

But I found of quickly that my regular training routine was going to have to drastically change when switching over to Marcelo's system.

When I joined, it was only two weeks before the IBJJF Pans in Irvine, California, and I was straight into the thick of preparations. On the second day there, I realized Marcelo's 12:30 PM and 7 PM classes were both no-gi.

It had me flabbergasted. Even though he had many high-level students competing at one of the biggest gi tournaments in two weeks, here we were still training no-gi.

What I learned was that Marcelo believes no-gi can help the gi as much as gi can help no-gi.

Without grips to rely on, I became better at using my weight to control my opponent and my timing had to be quicker when I'd look to advance positions.

I didn't like the idea of training no-gi at first, but I understood these benefits quickly soon after.

What Marcelo also stressed in his training is that we must always be ready for any type of event to come our way. He would talk about a scenario in which you get a late-notice invite to ADCC (like he had back in 2003), would you turn the down the opportunity because you've only been training in the gi at the time? He would find that to be unacceptable -- so in that case Marcelo believes training both gi and no-gi helps us be optimally prepared for any challenge that could come our way at any time.


Leandro Lo battles Claudio Calasans at the 2016 World Pro. Photo: William Burkhardt / BJJ Pix

The mindsets of Leandro Lo, Felipe Pena and Romulo Barral

What also helped shape my attitude to preparing for different rule sets was a translated dinner conversation after the 2014 Copa Podio with Leandro Lo, Felipe Pena and Romulo Barral.

The day prior, I had fought Joao Miyao in a submission-only no-gi match for an hour that ultimately went to a draw. That same night Leandro battled Gilbert Burns in a submission-only gi match and went on to win after 20 minutes.

I asked him what his preparation was like, if he did any marathon rolls or if he trained looking for more submissions. He told me that he just trained hard like he always did, looking to attack, advance his positions and look for the submission -- nothing crazy, nothing specific, just regular hard training.

Implementing this in your own game

Here are the lessons I've taken from Marcelo and Lo: Jiu-jitsu is jiu-jitsu, and if you just work to improve your own game on a consistent, daily basis the results will follow.

It doesn't hurt to train specifically if you're only preparing for one event (if anything it is beneficial), but don't allow yourself to stress when faced with multiple rule sets in a short period of time.

Just continue to train, continue to seek improvement in all aspects of your game and continue to go into any competition with the mindset of moving forward. Always seek the finish regardless of where you are or what rule set you're competing under.

While my mindset is focused on getting the submission in my sub-only match at Fight To Win, my mindset is still the same for the Europeans and the World Pro trials. I plan to implement my pace and my game regardless of whom I'm facing or where I am at that time.

GIanni Grippo will compete in the IBJJF Europeans on Sunday, January 22, and Fight To Win Pro 25 on February 4.

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