Jiu-Jitsu is a hard sport. I don't care if you do it "seriously" or "casually", either way, it's a tough sport. It sucks because you get beat up all the time. It's also really fun because you get to beat other people up too! (and I use the term "beat up" metaphorically as it relates to grappling...even though sometimes it IS literal). But the really cool thing is that you can tap, stop and start again! It's like a video game with quarters lasting as long as your partners (or you) last! When I tap or tap someone, it's like, "cool"...okay...slap hands and go again and try to get past the level you got to last time before you got killed! It's like hitting the credit button...only it's endless because it's already been automatically withdrawn from your bank account for the month LOL!!!
So back on topic...jiu-jitsu comes with a lot of injuries. No matter how you slice it (see food reference there?), you're going to get injured. Yes...YOU ARE GOING TO GET INJURED. It doesn't matter how careful you are, it happens. Now, you can learn and get smarter and reduce the amount and severity of the injuries. Let's look at one way. There's the old saying "position before submission"...which means that you have to have a good position before you can attempt a submission. So, once you are in your submission position, your opponent will most likely try to defend your submission attempt. So, what do you do (this is assuming that your opponent is getting out)? You can keep insisting on the submission as he escapes, gets to a dominant position and puts you in an inferior one. Now you have no submission and no position (or more accurately, a bad position). Another option is to maintain the position and let go of the submission. You still maintain your dominant position and have the opportunity to set up another submission attempt.
Now...really back to the intended topic, sometimes injuries are not because you got caught in a submission and didn't tap in time. Sometimes the person that gets injured is the one going for the submission. In this case, you can avoid injury by simply letting go of the submission. I remember someone once told me he had a triangle on a much bigger partner and then the partner busted out and up with all his might. His triangled knee tore apart! OUCHH!!!! Now, the guy getting triangled could have done any other number of escapes and not caused any harm to his partner (now, "good training partners"...that's for another day's post). It this case, the safest thing would probably have been to let go of the triangle and just continued rolling.
Everyone gets focused when they train.
Tunnel vision happens and sometimes the ego grows mighty.
Train hard and train smart.
As you train your body, train your mind and tame your ego.
Your body will thank you.
4 comments:
I had been pretty dumb in my 20's; I got sooooo much ego and pride that used to yell @ me from my shoulder not to surrender. I am still paying price for it to many parts of my body. :(
Now I am in my 30's. A lot older and a bit smarter. My body has been thanking me for it now.
If your body thanks you, you will roll with smile. :)
I'll tap when it breaks. heehee
Lots of good advice on your blog. Nice to see a jits practitioner take this approach.
I have a coda for this comment: make friends with doctors who know what they are doing.
I finally lucked out this weekend. I popped my left elbow fighting an arm bar several weeks ago. (No, my training partner didn't take my arm out too far or too hard, the popping happening when I let go of my grip while he was straightening my arm out, way before it straightened out I hear this snapping noise and verbally tapped out.)
Anyway I thought it was getting better, but awfully slowly, so at a Christmas I dinner asked my friend's wife to look at it - she's a chiropractor, and I thought they only worked on spines, but she told me she had a good rep at her college for "extremities work" and after examining me, she told me my elbow was never going to get completely better on its own, completely functional, since one of the three bones had popped out of place, and the longer I waited to put it back into place, the more likely muscle and scar tissue would build up around it to hold it in the wrong place - she said she was going to snap the bone back into place, which made me nervous, but she did something with my arm and I hear a little pop and the bone was back in place.
It's much better now.
The funny thing is, TWO different instructors had failed to tell me that you can "slightly" (very slightly) dislocate a bone in your elbow and it might need resetting (my friend's wife told me that a more severe "medical dislocation" would have sent me to the ER screaming in pain, and that sometimes with a little subluxation like I had, the bone pops back in later on its own, but if it's still hurting a week later you need attention).
So now I'm sold on my friend's wife's skills. Got to get them a nicer Christmas present now!
I had tried a judo doctor for a bruised or separated rib two months ago, with less than optimal results, and Kaiser just generally sucks (they told me to stop rolling).
So having a doctor who can actually DO something is great.
Relying on even you jits instructor to tell you if you are ok or not probably isn't so great. :-(
BTW, you didn't mention that injuries are "badges of honor." At least for the testosterone endowed wing.
wrestlings harder
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