Being new to BJJ and Transitioning to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has it’s advantages.
While everyone else, who is new to grappling, is learning how to shrimp and do front rolls. You can already do solid takedowns, hold side control and mount, and just have experience grappling.
Being a former wrestler provides the benefit of providing lots of competition opportunities and you will have learned how to push yourself mentally through the pain of fatigue.
But, coming from Wrestling to BJJ also has it’s drawbacks.
Everyone is different. But early on for me when I was a BJJ White Belt. Wrestling affected my Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in 3 big ways.
1. I wanted nothing to do with the Guard in my BJJ training. Bad idea for a White Belt in BJJ!
2. BJJ doesn’t have seasons like most sports. So I had to learn how to mentally turn off my desire to always win. When it’s time to prepare for competitions. You turn it on. But to truly grow you have to learn how to relax and experiment.
3. Lastly, the rhythms my body had gotten used to from Wrestling was completely different in Brazilian Jiujitsu. I had to adjust to those.
Thanks to Jacob for the question.
I hope this helps any of you wrestlers out there who are wrestlers getting into BJJ!
