Checklists

Show Me kit

• Analog alarm clock, battery powered, so the phone can sleep in another room. About $20, less at Kmart.→ Sleep
• Mindset by Carol Dweck, your first book. About $20, or free from the library. Audiobook counts.→ Mindset
• Heart rate monitor for zone 2 runs. About $30.→ S&C
• Phone tripod to record your rounds. About $15 from Kmart.→ Technical
• Basic flip phone, only if the smartphone is the problem. About $100.→ Sleep
• A resistance band for warm-ups and prehab.→ S&C
• A small notebook for your mat bag, for your training log after every session.→ Journal

Skin and gear

• Disinfectant body wash: Microshield 4 Chlorhexidine Surgical Handwash, 500mL, from Chemist Warehouse. About $26. (Microshield 2 is the gentler option, about $21.)→ Skin
• Stock GB gi (no patches) and a GB belt. A spare gi for big events.→ Team Standards
• GB rashguard and shorts for NoGi.→ Comp Day
• Red GB competition T-shirt or red GB hoodie for comps.→ Team Standards
• Thongs or slides for off the mat.→ Skin
• Strapping tape and a few waterproof dressings.→ Skin
• A separate bag for sweaty gear.→ Skin
• Your own towel and your own drink bottle.→ Skin
• Mouthguard and nail clippers.→ Comp Day
• Earphones, with your music downloaded so the phone stays closed.→ Comp Day

Food and sleep

• Food for your plan: the same breakfast and dinner every day, plus pre-training snacks. You buy it yourself.→ Diet
• Easy wins for the pantry: pre-cooked rice, tinned tuna, frozen veg, a rotisserie chicken.→ Diet
• Electrolytes, for long, hot or double sessions only.→ Diet
• Blackout blinds or a sleep mask, if your room isn't dark.→ Sleep
• Earplugs or a white noise machine, if your room isn't quiet.→ Sleep

Pro, later

• A sleep tracker, so you know your real hours. Around $85 and up.→ Sleep
• Submeta subscription, roughly US$20 to $25 a month, once you're finishing the free Worlds blocks.→ Technical
• One instructional per focus block (about US$100 to $200 each). Finish and use one before buying the next.→ Technical
• Money set aside for physio, so cost never stops you going. Ice baths, saunas and cold plunges are optional extras at this level, not needed on Show Me.→ Recovery

Show Me

• Dietitian consult with Diva Arun, APD: divaamurthy@gmail.com or 0435 456 447. Telehealth consults are available, so you can see her from anywhere. About $150 an hour; the first consult is about two hours plus a meal plan. For Show Me, ask for a rough guide to your daily macros. Ask me about a deal.→ Diet
• Someone qualified to teach you to lift before you load up (a parent's PT is fine).→ S&C
• Know who you'd see if a niggle isn't settling after a couple of weeks (or for any warning sign): a physio such as Clare Walsh, Stadium Sports Physiotherapy, Moore Park, or your GP.→ Recovery
• Find a good GP you can see quickly (mine: Dr Kouroush Mahmoodi, Bondi Junction 7 Day Medical Centre).→ Skin
• Ask your GP whether a Medicare care plan applies, and check what your private health extras cover for physio, psychology and dietitian visits.→ Recovery
• Sit down with your parents and agree the phone rules. Then tell your coach.→ Parents
• Show your weekly schedule to your parents and your coach.→ Schedule
• Go through your Long Game worksheet with your coach.→ Long Game

Pro

• Strength coach: Ethos Performance (Meer Awny) for an assessment and program. Roughly $300 to start, then about $70 to $100 a week.→ Going Pro
• Sports dietitian (The Fight Dietitian, or Diva) with regular check-ins. A package is roughly $800 to $900 upfront, then about $20 to $30 a week.→ Going Pro
• DEXA scan for body composition. About $100 to $150.→ Going Pro
• Full blood panel through your GP. Often bulk-billed; allow up to about $100 for a gap.→ Going Pro
• Physio straight away at the first niggle, then every second week, booked in advance for the whole camp. Roughly $150 to $200 a session.→ Recovery
• Physio and strength coach connected, so they update the program together.→ Recovery
• An accredited sports psychologist, if it's in the budget. Roughly $250 to $350 a session, often in packs of 3 or 5; search the APS directory.→ Mindset

Before you go Pro

• Eight weeks of Show Me done and logged.→ Going Pro
• One big goal and a long-term plan agreed with my coach.→ Going Pro
• Budget agreed with my family.→ Going Pro
• Setup started early. DEXA, bloods and the dietitian can take about six weeks to sort.→ Going Pro
• Weekly schedule rebuilt for 10 to 12 sessions, with sleep and study protected.→ Going Pro
• Phone lock set for the night: the full sleep window plus an hour either side.→ Sleep

Sleep

• Set one wake time for all seven days, then count back to your bedtime.→ Sleep
• Work out your sleep number: baseline, plus load, plus sleep debt, minus naps.→ Sleep
• Write down the hours you actually slept for seven nights.→ Sleep
• Move the phone charger out of your bedroom.→ Sleep
• Set a bedtime alarm that tells you to put the phone away. Add a lock app or screen-time limits if you need them.→ Sleep
• Set up your room: cool (16 to 19 degrees), dark and quiet. Alarm across the room if you hit snooze.→ Sleep

Your week

• Build your weekly schedule in 30-minute blocks, in order: sleep, school or work, Jiu-Jitsu (door to door, travel and shower included), study, S&C, food, recovery.→ Schedule
• Block at least nine hours of study at set times. Tutoring counts.→ Schedule
• Print the schedule and stick it on the fridge.→ Schedule
• Set your tracker columns and plan, print it, and stick it next to the schedule.→ Tracker

Food and training

• Pick your same breakfast and dinner, and write down the next seven days.→ Diet
• Know your go-to order at two takeaway places that fits the plan.→ Diet
• Get the junk out of the pantry, and stop buying it.→ Diet
• Find a basic strength program (or join a parent's PT) and save it in your phone notes.→ S&C
• Start the Worlds block you've been given, in order.→ Technical

Your long-term plan

• One long-term goal named, and I know whether it's "good experience" or "all in".→ Long Game
• A plan for each area (Jiu-Jitsu, strength, diet, recovery, mindset), and I know who owns each one.→ Long Game
• The majors I'll taper for are agreed with my coaches. Everything else is a training comp.→ Long Game
• Three technical focuses, max, set with my coach.→ Long Game
• Strength work planned around my comps with my strength coach.→ Long Game
• Long Game worksheet filled in and reviewed with my coach.→ Long Game
• Before changing anything in the plan, I talk to the professional who owns that area.→ Long Game
• A change is for a real reason, never one result or one bad week.→ Long Game
• I talk to my coach before entering any comp.→ Long Game

Mindset

• Read the mindset site once, properly.→ Mindset
• Do the video exercise: watch the Carol Dweck talk and write 200 words. Do it again in week eight.→ Journal
• Put the notebook in your mat bag for your training log.→ Journal

Morning

• Up at my set time. First alarm, no snooze.→ Sleep
• No phone for the first hour.→ Sleep
• Water, sun and light movement.→ Sleep
• Breakfast. About two hours before morning training, or keep it small.→ Diet

All day

• Lunch, protein at every meal, vegetables at lunch and dinner.→ Diet
• Water all day from my own bottle. Pale yellow is the target.→ Diet
• Pre-training snack one to two hours before the session.→ Diet
• Ate the plan. No junk.→ Diet
• Study block done, the full time. Recess and lunch count.→ Schedule
• One thing I learned at school today, better than "good".→ Schedule

Training

• Open wounds cleaned and covered before I stepped on the mat.→ Skin
• Named my focus before I bowed in.→ Training
• Steered my rounds toward my focus.→ Training
• Locked in: tough partner, one good question, no chatting.→ Training
• Stretched 10 to 20 minutes after the session, full body.→ Recovery
• Training log written after the session: focus, what worked, where it broke and why, one question, one fix.→ Journal
• Showered after every session, as soon as I finished (at the School or gym if possible), disinfectant wash, scalp and feet included.→ Skin
• Checked my skin in the shower.→ Skin
• Gear washed and dried properly after every use.→ Skin

Night

• Dinner about two hours before bed.→ Diet
• Screens off an hour before bed. Phone charging in another room.→ Sleep
• Read at least 10 minutes.→ Mindset
• Wind down: write, stretch, pack my bag.→ Sleep
• Tracker filled in before the phone went away. Honestly.→ Tracker
• In bed on time. Logged my hours.→ Sleep

Training

• Four or more Jiu-Jitsu sessions.→ Training
• Adults class or open mat at least twice.→ Training
• Two gym sessions, 30 to 40 minutes.→ S&C
• Program finished before I left. Warm-up slow and controlled. No scrolling between sets.→ S&C
• Gym notes logged: weights, sets, how it felt.→ S&C
• Two or three runs: zone 2, sprints once.→ S&C
• No two red (hardest) sessions in one day, no more than two sessions in a day.→ S&C

Recovery and food

• One full rest day, starting at my normal wake time, device-light.→ Recovery
• At least one device-free recovery thing: a walk, a beach swim, a book.→ Recovery
• Seeing a physio? Did their exercises.→ Recovery
• Told my coach what my rest day actually was. Other sport counts as load.→ Recovery
• Bought my own food and cooked at least one meal.→ Diet
• Food prepped twice (Sunday and Wednesday works).→ Diet

Study and technical

• At least nine hours of study.→ Schedule
• Next week's planner filled in and shown to my parents.→ Schedule
• Recorded two sessions, with my partners' OK.→ Technical
• Reviewed both myself and wrote them up in my training log.→ Technical
• Found seven more options for one technique from class.→ Technical
• Two 20-minute study blocks on my current focus.→ Technical
• Asked my coach one specific question.→ Communication

Mindset and check-in

• Weekly reflection, 20 to 30 minutes: one prompt (200 words, the go-deeper question, one action) or what I read this week. Kept for myself.→ Journal
• Said "we try, we learn" after a bad round, and meant it.→ Mindset
• Caught myself blaming something outside me, and wrote down what I could have done.→ Mindset
• Tried every new instruction properly before giving my opinion.→ Communication
• Weekly check-in done on Sunday: sessions, sleep average, book page, reflection done, one win, one fix.→ Tracker
• Tracker brought to training on Monday.→ Tracker
• Turned up to team events and team dinners when they were on.→ Team Standards

Pro adds

• 10 to 12 sessions including three S&C (one conditioning, two strength).→ Training
• Every session recorded and reviewed myself the same day.→ Technical
• Seeing a sports psychologist? Did any exercises they set. (Same writing as everyone otherwise.)→ Mindset
• Five to ten minutes of meditation or breathing every day.→ Mindset
• Weekly weigh-in: same day, same scale, same clothes, first thing after the toilet.→ Diet
• Study blocks three or more times, with my questions taken to my coach.→ Technical

Before you enter

• Is this my big goal, a planned major, or a training comp?→ Long Game
• Does it break a strength block, or change the rule set I'm preparing for?→ Long Game
• Talked to my coach before entering, not after.→ Long Game
• Taper only for the majors I've planned with my coaches. Go into small comps a bit tired.→ Long Game

The night before

• Bag packed (list below).→ Comp Day
• Weigh-in time and venue written down once. Then stop checking.→ Comp Day
• Brackets: look once, if at all.→ Comp Day
• Nails checked and clipped.→ Comp Day
• A normal dinner I've eaten before, about two hours before bed.→ Comp Day
• Phone away an hour before bed. Alarm clock set.→ Comp Day
• Wind down: a poem or a few pages, slow breathing (in for four, out for six).→ Comp Day

Comp bag

• Clean stock GB gi and GB belt. A spare gi for a big event.→ Comp Day
• GB rashguard and shorts (NoGi), team T-shirt or hoodie.→ Comp Day
• Registration details, ID, weigh-in time and venue.→ Comp Day
• Water bottle, electrolytes, snacks I've eaten before.→ Comp Day
• Mouthguard, tape, nail clippers.→ Comp Day
• Thongs or slides, towel, warm layer.→ Comp Day
• Earphones and downloaded music.→ Comp Day
• My book or my poems, for the waiting.→ Comp Day
• Medicated cream and tape, if I'm dealing with a small skin lesion.→ Comp Day

The morning

• No phone for the first hour. Music is fine.→ Comp Day
• Water, then a short walk in the sun.→ Comp Day
• The breakfast I always eat, with time to digest.→ Comp Day
• The control check: let go of what I don't control.→ Mindset

At the venue

• Planned my arrival around check-in and weigh-in. Found my coach and my team.→ Comp Day
• Registration, bathroom, my mat, test scale and gi check sorted first.→ Comp Day
• Earphones in if I want. No scrolling, no results, no comments.→ Comp Day
• Eating small and sipping water all day.→ Comp Day
• Warmed up for about an hour (stretch, GB warm-up, drill blocks) and reached the bullpen warm.→ Comp Day
• My pre-match routine and a minute of slow breathing.→ Comp Day
• Between matches: water, a snack, stay warm, one short note from my coach, don't replay it.→ Comp Day

After, win or lose

• Shook hands and thanked the referee.→ Comp Day
• Stayed to support my team to the end.→ Team Standards
• Didn't post or message angry. Slept on it.→ Comp Day
• Wrote the competition entry in my training log within two days: what I tried, what I learned, one thing for the next block.→ Journal
• Reviewed my own footage and added it to that entry.→ Technical

Injury or sickness

• Told my coach before the session, not after.→ Communication
• Small niggle: told my coach, modified my Jiu-Jitsu and strength work around it, didn't stop. Gave it about two weeks.→ Recovery
• Not settling after a couple of weeks: saw a physio or GP. Followed the advice, no matter what.→ Recovery
• Sharp or worsening pain, swelling, a pop, numbness, or pain that wakes me up: stopped and saw a physio or GP.→ Recovery
• Knock to the head with headache, dizziness or nausea: stopped training that day and got checked.→ Recovery
• Injured or sick: still came to training to watch, learn and ask questions.→ Recovery

Skin

• Something on my skin: told my coach before the session and saw my GP.→ Skin
• Took the medication, used the cream, finished the whole course.→ Skin
• Washed everything I trained in, plus towels and sheets.→ Skin
• Came back only once it healed or my doctor said I'm not contagious.→ Skin
• Redness spreading, red streaks or a fever: saw a doctor that day.→ Skin

Head and habits

• Tired thought: noticed it, labelled it, decided nothing tonight, slept, checked it in the morning.→ Mindset
• Still true after a few good nights: asked for a time to talk, and brought a possible solution.→ Communication
• Relying on caffeine: checked my sleep and my pre-training snack first, then cut it out over a week or two.→ Clean Athlete
• Reached for something: asked myself what I was trying to get away from.→ Clean Athlete
• Struggling to stop: talked to a parent, my coach, my GP or Quitline (13 7848).→ Clean Athlete
• A sponsor, superfight or other team's gear on offer: talked to my coach before saying yes.→ Team Standards

On this plan

• No drinking, smoking, vaping or recreational drugs. From day one, at any age.→ Clean Athlete
• No living on energy drinks. Under 18: no caffeine unless my dietitian says so.→ Clean Athlete
• Under 18: no nicotine in any form.→ Clean Athlete
• Stopped everything first. Caffeine, and for adults nicotine, only brought back in a set amount agreed with my coach and the right professional (dietitian, and GP for nicotine).→ Clean Athlete
• No late nights before training, school or work. Late nights only when the next day is free.→ Clean Athlete
• No workarounds: no skipping meals or sweating it off in a sauna after a big weekend.→ Clean Athlete
• Under 18: no weight cutting. No amount.→ Diet
• No junk as a habit. One cheat meal a week, at most.→ Diet
• No supplements unless your dietitian says so.→ Diet

Mat and team

• No training with staph, ringworm or anything contagious.→ Skin
• Never compete with a big abscess. A small, treated, covered one: I don't recommend it, but it's an option.→ Skin
• No sharing towels, razors, drink bottles or gear. Never barefoot in the bathroom.→ Skin
• No patches, names, handles or quotes on your gi. No non-GB belt.→ Team Standards
• No yelling at referees: not on the mat, from the side, or online.→ Team Standards
• No dating Students.→ Team Standards
• No inappropriate language: mat, comps, team chats, online.→ Team Standards
• No filming other Students, especially kids, without the OK. No posting other people's rounds.→ Technical

Habits

• No phone in the first or last hour of the day. No phone as your alarm. No snooze.→ Sleep
• No phone on comp day. Music is fine.→ Comp Day
• No leaving the gym until the program is finished.→ S&C
• No lifting past your form. If your form breaks, the set is over.→ S&C
• No decisions on a tired thought: no texts, no posts, no quitting.→ Mindset
• No buying a library you won't watch.→ Technical

Before the eight weeks start

• Built the weekly schedule with my child, including at least 9 hours of study.→ Parents
• Agreed on training volume, including adults classes and open mats.→ Parents
• Bought the alarm clock and the book (and the tripod and HR monitor if we can).→ Parents
• Agreed on the phone rules, and where it charges at night.→ Parents
• Booked or discussed the dietitian consult.→ Parents
• Started reading Mindset myself.→ Parents
• Agreed: no weight cutting.→ Parents
• Know how to reach the coach, and when.→ Communication

During

• Food in the house that fits the plan, lifts sorted, a quiet bedroom.→ Parents
• Asked "What did you try today? What did you learn?"→ Parents
• Told the coach honestly what I see at home, sleep included.→ Parents
• Didn't chase the habits. The eight weeks are theirs.→ Parents
• Comp day: let the coach coach, kept it short and positive, raised anything later.→ Parents