The Resilience Series | The Quality of Lasting Champions

"...all of the sacrifices were very small compared to my goals and my dreams." Last week we started a mini-series with Prof. Lucio "Lagarto" Rodrigues, one of Gracie Barra's most decorated competitors with multiple international titles. We discussed his battle with lymphatic cancer and his return to competition. This week Prof. Lagarto shares his mindset of resilience in competition and offers some advice for Gracie Barra competitors.

“All of the doctors told me that I wouldn't be able to compete at a high level again. After two years of training, I finished my treatment and went back to the UK. I was training really hard and I went to compete in Abu Dhabi, at the first World Pro Cup in Abu Dhabi. I remember feeling when I started to push myself - I was feeling so dizzy - and feeling that my body wasn't ready. You know after so much medicine and poison in my body I felt that I couldn't really perform in the way that I was expecting. And I lost…”

Prof. Lagarto goes on to share how a month later he got a special invite to a competition by the King of Oman, black belt invite-only. He lost again, this time passing out from a choke he couldn’t even feel. After gaining consciousness, he started to realize he needed to change his perspective. Two weeks later he got invited to another competition, against the same guy! He reminded himself how strong he was, he managed to score a lot of points, and even tapped him in the end! Prof. Lagarto says...

“From that moment I realized that if I could work my mind - the body will follow.”

Prof. Lagarto had been denied a US visa for the last 10 years but decided to try once more. It was a dream of his to be able to compete in the World’s in the USA. He was finally able to get his visa, but to this day, still doesn’t know why he kept getting denied for 10 years.

The professor goes on to say, “I had to prove to myself that I was able to win the Worlds. And before the World’s broke up. And that could not be better. . .

In my bracket were Xande Ribeiro, Jose Junior, another tough guy whose name I forget, and Marcus "Buchecha". I have a very big story with Xande because Xande took like 2 World Titles from my hands when the World Championships were in Rio de Janeiro. And I got third. I fought him in the semi-final and eventually he won. I was with that on my throat. I got Xande in the semi-final. I beat Xande and got into the final against Marcus "Buchecha". I managed to win as well and I was World Champion after all of this!”

Competition provides you with an end goal and you work backward from there to achieve it. Resilience is developed over the course of working towards this goal. 

Prof. Lagarto explains how “I had to commute every day for 4 hours. 2 hours each way. At that time I didn't really have a good income so it was really hard for me to even feed myself. That was a very tough time...

Every time I was on the mats, I wasn't thinking about anything. I was just thinking about being the best of myself. I was just thinking about being my best version. And to be more technical. To be stronger. To be able to perform better. And all of the sacrifices were very small compared to my goals and my dreams.

One thing that the competition taught me so well was...

we don't know our limits until we are nearly giving up.

I remember when I fought against Ronalda "Jacare". The journey to get to that final was something insane! All of that fighting was a war. But my focus, my goal to win that title was so big, that there was nothing that could be in my way that could distract me from that. I remember many times during different fights I was like "Wow! I need to overcome myself right now. This guy is really tough!"

It was really funny, because when the pain and the technique goes out of the window, what you have left is the amount of training that you have put in. That's when you really, really see who you are. That's when you are going to see how good and how much you can overcome.

Our mind is our biggest opponent...

We need to keep attention to what we are thinking because that will become our action and determine who we are. Our mind will always trick us to keep our body in safe energy mode. We just need to keep pushing ourselves.”

Build that resilience. Push yourself beyond what you think you are capable of, you can do it! 

Stay tuned for upcoming CompNet Tournaments in your region. 

Blog Written by Mark Mullen - Gracie Barra Black Belt