I’m laughing more when I roll. Getting swept to my back or tapping to a choke has never been more fun. I think I’m on to something. Grappling has always been fun. But for most of my BJJ journey I’ve had this sense of trying to ‘work towards something’ and focusing on ‘what’s next’ and when will I just ‘get it.’ Lately though, my fixation on promotion and grading has drifted away. I purposely missed the last two promotions and gradings. I just didn’t care. I mean it’s great to see people improve, and the folks that got stripes and new belts I made sure to congratulate them when I saw them next. But for me, stripes have lost their pull on me.
I know a purple belt that never signs in. I’m in awe of his aloofness and his dedication to not recording his attendance. I wish I had that in me.
The slog from blue belt to purple belt is a beautiful frustration of hits and misses and injuries and inadequacies. The visual reward manifests in white tape. To show yourself and others of your dedication. But does it represent actual skill? I bet it would be hard for instructors to keep track of all the students progress without the stripes. And I can see how, say, your first stripe is an indication that ‘hey you’re on the right track!’ And that the fourth stripe can be seen as ‘hey you’re almost there!’
For me I’m not chasing stripes anymore. I’ll be honoured and thankful when I do get my next stripes, because I respect my head instructors decision and trust his judgement if he decides to give me one.
My relationship with grappling is getting deeper (also jiu jitsu is not that deep). I don’t mean in a woo woo I’m a ninja sort of way (but yeah we are ninjas). I mean that my love for grappling is expanding to include not just my progress, in the form of stripes, but also to include the subtle ways we grip and toss and trip each other. The physical movements more than the visual upgrade. I am rediscovering the joys of training. Play curiosity presence over promotion. It is a relief not to put pressure on yourself to get a piece of tape. I highly recommend it.
I definitely didn’t think I’d be doing a combat sport at this age, 38. After starting BJJ over two years ago, I have put my body through the ringer. I feel as good as ever, now that I don’t drink booze or do drugs anymore. But, I do have to remember that I cannot recover as fast after a hard training session or go as hard as I could if I was 10 or 15 years younger. Sometimes I forget that and that leads to injury.
Lets talk about injuries in jiu jitsu.
Imagine, you just showed up to class, you get changed in your nice clean gi, and head to the mat to do your warm ups and stretches. You say Hi to all the regulars. You’re feeling good. During the instructions and practice, you noticed you are understanding everything, it all makes sense. You’re hitting the techniques as if you knew them all along. So far so good.
Then the sparring starts…
You flow-roll with a purple belt, just to get a sweat going, not too hard. They even give you some advice and tips that you happily eat up. Then you roll with a new white belt, you don’t go crazy and tap them mercilessly, but you match their intensity and maybe even give them some advice after the roll and they happily listen and thank you for your tips. You feel on top of the world. But there’s one more round left. And the only partner left to partner up with is the heavy weight blue belt you were told to avoid. He never goes easy and always puts on subs like its a competition.
But, you’re feeling lucky today. Today will be different. You’re pumped and motivated, you’ll finally pass his guard and take his back and slip in a smooth RNC. What could possibly go wrong?
Fast forward to next week. You can’t train because your ego got the best of you the other day. Not only did you NOT pass that blue belts guard or get to their back, you pulled guard, all his wonderful 280lbs on top of your 160lbs. What were you thinking? Now your out for at least two weeks because you bruised some ribs.
I’ve sparred like that. Not using my head and letting my pride cloud my better judgment. Being blinded by my self-importance. Succumbing to my hubris. I was dumb. And as a result, I got injuries that put me out for weeks and months. Although, I’m lucky I haven’t had a serious injury that has kept me out for a year or more or indefinitely .
I train smarter now.
You WILL get injured in jiu jitsu. From minor cuts and bruises to tendon and muscle rips to sprains and pulls to dislocation and breakage. And it mostly depends on what happens on the mats. But what you do off the mats is just as important to keep your body from being permanently injured.
Here are some ways that I have avoided serious injury so far after two years of jiu jitsu and seven competitions:
-find the sweet spot in your training schedule -trusted training partners -have perspective (the long game) -exercise
The Sweet Spot
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before somewhere on this blog, the importance of having a training schedule that works for you. 3-4 classes a week is my sweet spot. I’m not a professional grappler and I have two jobs and a wife and dogs. I have plenty of other things to take care of and other hobbies that keep me busy everyday. Even if you can only train once or twice a week, that’s better than the people who are sitting on the couch every day (I’m writing this as I sit on my couch).
The Trust
After two years of training almost every week, I’ve learned I can make my training my own, I can customize it. For example, I can go when I want and I can train with who I want. Don’t feel obligated to train with every person who asks you to roll. Although I say Yes nine times out of ten, there are times when I simply want a rest round, or I don’t feel like rolling hard with the heavy white belt. And that’s okay. Find a training partner who you’ve rolled with often, about the same size, and a person who knows how to control their body. Trust me, I know what it’s like to let my ego get the best of me and end up rolling with the person that is rough and will probably hurt you.
The Long Game
Roll and spar with the intent to learn. You don’t “win” practice. Be smart with it. This is advice for me as well. Heck, I love a good competitive roll. You know the ones, where you and your partner are all over the mat, almost rolling into the other people on the mat. But doing that every class or every open mat can be dangerous. You might become one of those people I warned you about, the ones that are rough and will hurt you.
Don’t become a training partner that people say say No to because they’re afraid that you might go too hard and hurt them. We all want to be able to go to work the next morning and show up to training the next day as well, in one piece. Think of the long game. Hopefully you’re committed to jiu jitsu for many years to come, I know I am. As long as we’re smart with our training we’ll make it to black belt without any serious permanent injuries. Hopefully.
The Crew
I asked people on X/Twitter, “What are some ways you have learned to avoid serious injuries in BJJ?”
So far I got over 30 responses. I’ll share them with you here:
“Stretching daily and lifting weights to build up that armor. Tap early, drink water, and sleep good.”
“Tap early early. Once they get it locked, its over. You fucked up a long time ago.”
“Tape up & Tap quick!”
“Consistent strength and conditioning has allowed me to be stronger and more stable in many different ranges of motion regarding joints. It has also helped improve my mobility. Conditioning helps too, because it’s easier to prevent injury when you not completely gassed.”
“I’d like to emphasize two things: – Sleep – Hydration”
“Train more and if you don’t feel good, stay away make sure you get a lot of good stretching and then ice up when you come back maybe you have to just stretch again and then tape”
“Lift weights”
“1) always stretch and warm up 2) tap early and often| 3) very careful with body weight in free fall (no jumping guard etc)”
“Tap big guys fast or tap before they tip it off”
“Choose training partners carefully. Don’t be afraid to say no to the heavyweight white belt with a massive ego.”
“Roll slow and avoid scrambles. Make tucking your chin a reflex if you go airborne. Listen to your body.”
“Study anatomy and physiology”
“Tap quick, don’t be tough in practice”
“Not every roll is ADCC finals”
“Had a purple belt almost break my wrist and elbow today. Some guys never drop that ego. Guy had 100+ lbs on me and asked how long I’d been training. When I told him, he said “ah I don’t feel bad then..” Avoid those dudes like the plague”
“The first “invisible jiu Jitsu” skills I learned were to never c grip in bottom. Monkey grip or lose your thumbs!”
“Defaulting to a chill/flow-y rolling style is a big one. I still get in hard rounds when I roll w/ certain ppl, but I default to being calm & technical. Also, having a strength & conditioning routine. My body feels better now at 33 than it did in my mid-20s.”
“Know when I need to avoid rolling that day, instead of feeling compelled to roll every single time I step in the gym. If my body doesn’t feel right I just do class”
“Tap early. Stretch. Good nutrition.”
“Avoid training or sparring lol. On a serious note: 1) strength and conditioning (legs and back in particular) 2) don’t start from standing when the gym is too crowded 3) Rest and don’t overtrain – don’t be too hard on your body”
“Every roll doesn’t have to be a competition. Sometimes you work on defense & if they’re real spazzy control the position until they get tired. Then have some fun”
“Lifting weights helps too”
“say no when asked to roll with a spazzy white belt”
“Warm up. Tap early.”
“Tap Get stronger”
“Train calm and slow”
“Tap early. Avoid people who spaz out.”
“Overtraining causes slot of injuries. Take days off.”
“Avoid big white belts, avoid big blue belts, avoid competition guys, tap immediately on leg locks, skip competition classes, don’t roll when cardio is cooked.”
“Don’t talk politics or religion in class lol”
“Avoid new people, avoid heavyweights, avoid your ego”
Some good advice there, I agree with most of it.
How about you, what have you done to help you prevent injuries in BJJ?
Here are some A.I. generated images from Adobe Firefly, using the prompt, “Jiu Jitsu man in pain injuries crying on the mats laying down”
When I first signed up for jiujitsu, I was quite intimidated. Yes I used to grapple and wrestle in high school for six years, and I knew what it was like rolling around the mat with other people. But seeing all the different belt ranks made me feel inadequate. I thought I was out a place, like I didn’t belong. One time it actually happened pretty recently. Last week I went to a GB3 black belt and competition class. This class has blue, purple, brown, and some black belts in it. I definitely felt out of place. They were doing techniques I’ve never done before, and they also all had camaraderie that was built up over many years of knowing each other. I knew a few people in there but I’m not super close with them. At 37 years old I actually felt a little shy for the first time in a long time, the last time was probably when I went to my first jiujitsu class.
Dealing with the fear: what exactly are you afraid of?Think long and hard and heavy on what exactly it is that makes you not want to sign up. Hey, maybe you’re not interested and that’s OK a lot of people aren’t. But if you are interested in signing up for a bjj class then do some research, ask around on social media, check out YouTube videos, or drop in to a gym and ask a bunch of questions, or you could even email or message a gym on FB. That’s exactly what I did, I reached out to the gym I’m currently with and asked about free trial sessions. I bet some anxiety and stress from fear could be alleviated if you simply had your questions answered.
Wearing a Gi
Putting on a gi for the first time feels weird. I certainly didn’t feel as cool as I thought I would, like those martial artists in all those movies I watched growing up. “Everyone else looks better than I do” is what I often thought. Gi’s can be heavy, uncomfortable, and basically not fit well. Months in to my jiujitsu journey I didn’t really feel comfortable wearing my gi. And I don’t mean physically comfortable I mean mentally comfortable. Perhaps during those first eight months I didn’t feel like I belonged in my gi or that I didn’t look cool in my gi. And now after over a year and a half in my jiujitsu journey, I definitely feel like a martial artist and that I look cool in my gi.
Dealing with the fear:what exactly are you afraid of? We want other people to like us and we want to feel comfortable in our own skin and feel confident about ourselves. Image is important to us. “What if they don’t like me or what if they make fun of me?” we might say to ourselves. But in reality , and I’m sure you’ve heard this before, most people are way too caught up in the intricacies of their own lives and the problems they have that they don’t think about you for too long. Most of the fear you have about what others think about you is all in your head. It’s taken me 37 years to finally realize that.
Training Skills
Even if you’ve been training a short period of time with jiujitsu, you know this all too well. Especially if you don’t have any grappling background or any athletic skills at all. Rolling around on mats with strangers trying to fight each other, in this case choking and limb locking, is such a trip. Our bodies were made to move, and if you’re able to, jiujitsu will feel weird. That’s why in the fundamentals class I go to, there is a focus on basic body movement, such as, rolling forwards and rolling backwards, hip escaping, butt scooting, and break falling. Even someone who’s uncoordinated, learning these basic body movements can help you feel more in tune with your body, so then you can eventually feel more in tune with your body while you’re fighting somebody. Jiujitsu has thousands of techniques, and I’m pretty sure there’s no person on planet earth that knows all of them. When you’re first learning this martial art, you will look silly, will look dumb, you will look uncool. But guess what, everybody does when they first start!
Dealing with the fear:what exactly are you afraid of? Chances are you’ve never been in a real fight before and that’s okay a lot of people haven’t. When I first tapped to a submission in my first class I was scared sh*tless. There I was thinking I’m a hot shot with my wrestling background, being choked like I’ve never been choked before. It was wild. Your body and mind will go into Fight or Flight or Freeze Modes. That’s normal. To deal with this particular fear. break it down into small pieces. Don’t rush yourself. Don’t expect to be tapping and submitting people right away. Start with the basics of moving your body properly for jiujitsu. Then once your body has adjusted to the new-norm, that is, you fighting every week by rolling around in positions that you’ve never been in, then you can really start to open up to the martial art.
Injury Prone
Since the first day I started my jiujitsu journey over a year and a half ago, there hasn’t been a week that went by that I wasn’t nursing some type of pain that was a direct result of training. I’ve been lucky I haven’t been out for longer than three weeks with an injury. All the injuries were due to me not rolling smart or safe. Nobody wants to hurt anyone else (unless they’re an idiot). Jiujitsu is interesting, you’re trying to submit your opponent but you don’t want to permanently incapacitate them or prevent them from functioning properly again, at least a good training partner doesn’t want to. I remember seeing a video on social media of a person becoming almost paralyzed because their training partner did some sort of jumping back take. Lots of people with lots of opinions about who was in the wrong. But for me, it was a stark reminder of how dangerous this sport can be. Just be careful.
Dealing with the fear:what exactly are you afraid of? I’m not gonna lie to you, jiujitsu can be dangerous. It’s a self-defence and it’s a sport. People get hurt and permanently injured and cannot come back for months or years or ever. Like I said, I’ve been lucky. I haven’t experienced a debilitating injury. I constantly renew an old shoulder injury, and a nagging back rib injury, but my activities of daily living or not inhibited. I can still do what I want. So how do we deal with this type of fear? Train smart and train safe. Use your fight or flight or freeze mode to your advantage, gain control of it and know how you react in survival situations in BJJ. For example, how would you react when you have a person who is eighty to a hundred pounds heavier than you sitting on top of your chest and possibly smothering your face? Or if someone has back control on you, and they slipped in a rear naked choke, and it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter? The truth is, you won’t know until you’re in it.
The fear of being judged or being permanently injured may never go away, but you certainly can mitigate the effect it has on your life.
Talk to your fellow teammates and ask them how they deal with it.
Seek out support wherever you are lucky enough to have it.
Embrace and enjoy each of the small victories you have on the mats. You’ve earned them.
And the more you expose yourself to the trials and tribulations of the jiujitsu journey, the more you’ll be able to turn it into an adventure.
Manage the fear. It will take time, but it will get better and it will become easier.
You don’t have to feel vulnerable, weak, exposed, or helpless when it comes to your jiujitsu journey. With enough time and effort, you will instead feel secure, resilient, empowered, and prepared. So keep showing up and keep fighting.
May your sweeps be quick and your submissions be swift. See you on the mats.
Imagine yourself, walking around with confidence, your chest sticking out, your shoulders back, your head high, your stride strong. As you walk by other people, they notice the smirk on your face, a tiny grin that suggests you know something they don’t, an inside joke or a secret that they wish they knew. The people you walk by wish they had what you have, they wish they knew what you know.
Imagine being part of a secret society or furtive fellowship, where you have created a better version of yourself and learned how to protect yourself if you ever needed to, by participating in fun physical activity that has put you in the best shape of your life. Your family and friends will ask “What’s your secret? And, can I join?!”
Of course they can. So you go the BJJ gym together and discover what you’re all truly made of…by choking a complete stranger!
Look, we all have fear and doubt and uncertainty. Fear of getting hurt. Doubting ourselves about what we can do. And uncertain if you’d ever be good at a martial art. Guess what, almost everyone that has ever joined a martial art started that way! Nobody was born a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But those that have achieved that prestigious belt, started right where you are, at the free trail jiu jitsu class.
So what are you waiting for? It’s free! Join a free trial jiu jitsu class now in your city and let me know how it goes! But I already know how it will go, you’re going to love it!
Tonight we learned the Duck Under from standing, a Back Take to Cross Collar Choke, Cross Collar Choke to an Arm Bar. My wife is good at cross collar chokes from the back, who knew.
A family who pays money to learn how to choke each other, stays together. My wife and her younger brother (my new brother-in-law) have joined the jiu jitsu gym I go to. I talked about bjj so often and the benefits of it and how much fun I’m having that they finally decided to give it a try.
I’ll be honest, I was worried about my wife getting seriously injured if she rolled with some stranger. But she survived just fine after rolling a bit with other gym members and also did part of an open mat, I feel much better, although still a bit nervous, but overall happy she is enjoying herself. Her younger brother is a white belt with lots of piss-and-vinegar, as they say, because he’s so into it and critiques my technique and gives advice as new white belts do. I like his enthusiasm. His first week he got one of the worst mat burns on his feet I’ve ever seen. White belts, amirite?
I hope we all stick with this martial art for a long time because it’s a great bonding experience. And we all look good in Rash Guards and Gi’s.
By the way, have you tried a free trial jiu jitsu class yet? You should, I think you’d enjoy it.
There and Back 