Pre-Tournament Week: How to Revise Your BJJ Game the Last 7 Days Before Competing

TL;DR. The last 7 days before a BJJ tournament are for sharpening, not learning. Cut new techniques, taper training volume, and revise a short list of positions you already trust: your A-game guard, one pass, one sweep, one submission chain, and your escapes from bad spots. Sleep, hydrate, and cut weight cleanly if you must. Walk into the venue knowing exactly what you want to do — not hoping to figure it out on the mat.

Competition week is where a lot of grapplers accidentally undo months of good training. They panic-watch instructionals at midnight, ask a training partner to show them "that one leg lock," spar hard on Thursday, and turn up Saturday flat, tight, and full of half-remembered ideas. This guide is the opposite of that. It's a practical, boring, effective plan for the seven days before you compete — one that trusts the work you've already done and gives you a system to revise it.

Key takeaways

Stop learning new techniques at least 7 days out — the last week is for revision, timing, and rest.
Build your comp game around 3–5 positions you already trust, not everything you know.
Taper mat time as the week progresses: normal early week, technical/positional midweek, light movement and visualization at the end.
Revise from your own notes or saved technique cards, not from random YouTube rabbit holes the night before.
Sleep is the single most underrated performance tool of comp week — protect it more than any drill.
Handle weight cuts, hydration, and food logistics in advance so match day is boring and predictable.
Have a simple, written game plan for standing, top, and bottom — and rehearse it mentally the day before.

Why the last week is for revision, not learning

BJJ is a skill sport with a huge memory component. In a normal training block, you're constantly adding — new details from your coach, a sweep a partner showed you, something you saw on YouTube. That's how you grow. But under tournament stress, your nervous system reaches for the techniques it's done hundreds of times, not the one you drilled twice last Tuesday.

So the goal of comp week is simple:

Reinforce the positions you already trust.
Sharpen the timing and grips inside those positions.
Rest enough that you can express them explosively on the day.

Everything else — new guards, new leg entries, new submission systems — goes back on the shelf until after the tournament. You're not a worse grappler for parking them. You're a smarter competitor.

Remember. You will not out-learn your opponents in seven days. You will out-execute them if you sleep, revise, and show up calm.

Step 1 — Define your comp game (do this by Monday)

Before you plan the week, decide what you're revising. Most competitors have a much smaller effective game than they think, and that's a good thing. Sit down with a notebook or your saved technique cards and write out your actual A-game across the three phases of a match.

A useful minimum:

Phase	What to define	Example (yours will differ)
Standing	1 takedown or 1 pull to a specific guard	Double leg / seated guard pull
Top	1 primary guard pass + 1 backup	Knee cut / long step
Bottom	1 primary guard + 1 sweep + 1 submission chain	Closed guard → hip bump / kimura chain
Bad spots	Escape from side control, mount, back	Elbow-knee escape, bridge and roll, back escape to turtle

If you can honestly fill in that table with techniques you've hit in live rolling, you have a game. If you can't, pick your best option in each row anyway — comp week isn't the time to reinvent it.

Write it down. A game you can't articulate on paper is a game you won't execute under adrenaline.

Step 2 — Taper your training across the 7 days

Think of the week like a wave: normal training early, technical work in the middle, movement and mental rehearsal at the end. Exact days will depend on your schedule and when your gym has open mat, but the shape looks like this.

Day	Focus	Intensity
Day 7 (Sat/Sun)	Last "normal" hard session: positional rounds from your A-game	Moderate–hard
Day 6	Technical drilling + light positional sparring	Moderate
Day 5	Situational sparring only from your chosen positions	Moderate
Day 4	Light drilling, movement, flow rolling with trusted partners	Light
Day 3	Very light: movement, grip work, review notes	Very light
Day 2	Rest or gentle mobility, walk, mental rehearsal	Rest
Day 1 (day before)	Full rest, hydration, sleep priority, visualize matches	Rest

A few rules that save people from themselves:

No new partners, no ego wars. Roll with people who won't try to prove something to you.
Tap early. A tweaked knee on Wednesday can end your Saturday.
Stop sparring hard by mid-week. The strength gains are done; you're only risking injury and fatigue now.
If you feel sick, rest. One missed session won't hurt you. A fever on the day will.

Step 3 — Revise from your own notes, not the internet

The worst comp-week habit is scrolling YouTube at 11pm looking for one more trick. It fragments your focus and plants half-learned ideas that your body can't actually execute yet. Instead, revise from material you've already processed.

Good sources, in order of priority:

Your own notes and technique cards from classes and instructionals you've studied.
Video of your own rolls or past matches — you'll spot patterns nobody else can see.
A short, curated list of 2–3 videos that reinforce techniques already in your game (not new ones).

This is exactly the problem BJJ Memo is built to solve: turning the instructionals you've already watched into structured technique cards you can revise in one click before training. If you've been saving cards through the year, comp week is where that library pays off — pull up your A-guard, your pass, your escape, and re-read the key details the day before you compete.

If you haven't been keeping notes, don't try to build a full system this week. Just write a one-page "comp cheat sheet" with your game plan from Step 1 and the top 2–3 details for each technique.

Remember. The techniques you revise from your own notes will fire on the mat. The ones you binge-watched at midnight will not.

Step 4 — Handle weight, food, and logistics early

Most avoidable comp-day disasters are logistical, not technical. Sort them by Wednesday so the last 48 hours are boring.

Weight. If you need to cut, do it gradually across the week — mostly through cleaner eating and normal water manipulation, not a Friday-night sauna death march. If the cut is brutal, you probably signed up for the wrong division; note it for next time and don't punish your body now.
Food. Eat what you know. Comp week is not the time to try a new pre-training meal or a new supplement. Familiar carbs and protein, plenty of water, less alcohol and junk than usual.
Gi and gear. Wash your competition gi early in the week so it's dry, weighed, and legal. Pack a spare gi if you have one, mouthguard, tape, water bottle, snacks, sandals, and a warm layer.
Rules and bracket. Re-read the rule set for your division (points, legal submissions, time limits). Check the venue, weigh-in window, and travel time. Add 30 minutes of buffer.
Support. Decide who's cornering you and tell them your simple game plan so they can call it out under stress.

Step 5 — Protect sleep like it's a training session

Sleep is where your nervous system consolidates skill and where your body actually recovers from the block of training you just finished. It is the highest-ROI thing you can do in comp week, and most competitors sabotage it by staying up watching matches on YouTube.

Simple sleep rules for the week:

Aim for a consistent bed and wake time, especially the last three nights.
Screens off well before bed on Day 2 and Day 1.
If nerves keep you up the night before, don't panic — one lighter night doesn't ruin you. The nights before that one matter more, which is why you protected them.
No caffeine late in the day. No alcohol the night before.

Step 6 — Mental rehearsal (the underrated superpower)

On Day 2 and Day 1, spend 10–15 minutes visualizing matches. Not vague "I win" fantasies — specific, first-person reps of your game plan:

The referee slaps. You establish your grips. You pull to your guard or shoot your takedown.
You feel the opponent post to defend the sweep. You hit your backup. You come up on top.
You pass to your dominant side. You settle. You start your submission chain.
You end up under side control. You frame, shrimp, recover guard. Reset.

Walk through wins, losses, bad positions, and comebacks. Your brain rehearses stress responses the same way it rehearses movements. When something similar happens on the mat, it feels familiar instead of overwhelming.

Step 7 — On the day: keep it simple

Eat what you'd eat before a hard session. Get to the venue early. Warm up gradually — mobility, light movement, a few positional flows with a teammate, not a full sparring round. Re-read your one-page game plan. Then close the notes and trust them.

When you're called, remember: this is just another round with a stranger. You've done thousands. Play your game — the one you defined on Monday, revised all week, and rehearsed in your head. Win, lose or draw, you're going to learn more from one competition day than from a month of regular training. Take notes on it afterwards; that's how the next camp gets better.

Remember. The competitor who walks in with the shortest, clearest game plan usually beats the one with the biggest bag of tricks.

A quick word on safety and coaching

Everything in this article assumes you're training regularly at a legit academy with a qualified coach. If your coach has a different taper, weight plan, or game plan for you — follow them, not this article. They've watched you roll; a blog hasn't. BJJ Memo helps you remember and revise what you're already learning; it doesn't replace mat time, sparring, or your coach's eyes.

Also, respect your body. Nagging injuries, illness, or dangerous weight cuts are not badges of honor. There will be another tournament.

Frequently asked questions

Should I roll hard the week of my BJJ tournament?

No. Keep normal training early in the week, drop intensity by mid-week, and stop hard sparring at least 3–4 days out. You want technical, positional work with trusted partners — not ego rounds. Hard rolling in the last few days risks injury, drains your nervous system, and doesn't add any skill you didn't already have.

Can I learn a new technique the week before I compete?

It's a bad idea. Under adrenaline, your body reaches for what it has drilled hundreds of times. Anything you learned this week is unlikely to appear cleanly on match day and can actually crowd out the techniques you already trust. Save new material for after the tournament.

How do I revise BJJ techniques without getting lost on YouTube?

Revise from material you've already processed: your own class notes, past match footage, and a short list of instructionals you've studied before. Apps like BJJ Memo let you save YouTube instructionals as structured technique cards during your training block, so comp week is just re-reading your own library instead of starting from zero.

What should I eat the day of a BJJ tournament?

Eat what you already eat before hard training sessions. Familiar, easy-to-digest carbs and protein a couple of hours before your first match, then small snacks (fruit, rice cakes, bars) between matches. Drink water steadily; don't chug right before you compete. Comp day is not the day to try a new supplement or meal.

How much sleep do I need the week before a BJJ competition?

Aim for your normal solid amount every night of the week, and be strict about it on the two nights before the tournament. Consistent sleep across the week matters more than a single "perfect" night. If nerves cost you sleep the night before, don't panic — the earlier nights carry you.

What if I feel unprepared or nervous the day before?

That's normal, even for experienced competitors. Instead of cramming, re-read your one-page game plan, visualize a few matches, and go to bed early. You are not going to become a better grappler in the last 12 hours. You are going to compete better if you're calm, rested, and clear about what you want to do.

Wrap up

Comp week isn't complicated. Define a small, honest game. Taper your training. Revise from your own notes. Sleep, eat, and pack like an adult. Rehearse the matches in your head. Then show up and play your game.

If you want to make next camp easier than this one, start capturing what you learn now. Every time you watch an instructional or take something home from class, save it as a technique card so it's there when you need it — including the week before your next tournament. Build your library with BJJ Memo on iOS and Android, and next comp week your revision will already be done. For more on structuring your learning between now and then, see our guides on how to remember BJJ techniques and studying instructionals effectively.

Last updated 2026-09-08.