Are you injured or are you hurt??? Should I train when I am hurt?

Hello everyone! I am back from my Holliday break in blogging. I have two guest blogs coming up. My two guest bloggers are being slow and lazy, so I thought I would throw together something on my Saturday night.

It goes without saying that you will have boo-boos, ouchies, nicks and bruises when training BJJ. At it's essence, BJJ is all about trying to make your opponent quit through threat of injury, or actual injury. However, there is a big difference between being hurt and being injured. Hopefully, this blog might help you better decide if you should "suck-it up buttercup" or take a little time off.

My broken pinky toe, because I want you to feel sorry for me. 

Before I get into the meat of this blog I should make a disclaimer: I am a doctor, with that being said, I am not the type of doctor that actually helps people (I have a PhD in Child Development). So, any advice I give is purely earned from experience and not a medical diagnosis.

I have been very fortunate in my grappling career. I can think of two instances that have forced me to miss time on the mat. Our coach separated my shoulder on a throw and I got my knee popped on a cheap heel-hook, other than that, I have been able to train without major injury. But, it seems like I always have a sore part or two. We have a great club that tends to be incredibly safe and friendly. If you are at a gym where guys are getting seriously injured on a regular basis, you are at the wrong gym. Find somewhere else that values your health. Nothing trumps mat time. It is far better to roll at a lesser known gym a lot, than a premier gym where you are missing time because higher belts are ripping your arms off for trophies.

Good example of why to tap. 

So, what type of injury should you not roll with? Any broken bone, anything you cannot put weight on, anything that if it is more seriously injury you will not be able to do your job. We have several construction workers who come to our class, if they broke their leg, blew out their knee, etc. they would be off the mat for awhile and losing money they use to feed their family. DON'T MAKE YOUR FAMILY GO HUNGRY. You can always come back to the mats when you are healed, but if your bone is broken or a joint is seriously injured, it will eventually force you off the mat. You might as well heal it now and get on the mat sooner, than tough it out and roll like poo for 2 weeks and still have to rehab the injury. Here is a great article about common BJJ injuries.

The more tricky situation is when you are hurt and not sure if you should roll. I would suggest you start to build a stable of partners you can roll "light" with, to test the injury. Typically, an upper belt is going to be good for this job. They have better control over their body and will not maul an already injured appendage. Also, they get subs all the time, tapping out a white belt is not going to be a notch in their belt. If you can roll light with little or no pain, then you should increase the intensity when you feel comfortable.
 

In the event a you are not able to finish a light roll without getting getting hurt, you should take it easy. I would suggest coming to class and still doing technique. When you are unable to do technique without pain, try to roll light again.  After you can roll light with minimal pain, start to increase the intensity.


Respectable instructors and fellow BJJers will not frown on you for getting yourself healthy after an injury. The only time classmates and instructors will start to question your injury status is when you are taking to long to tap (typically this problem takes care of itself) or you are using a former injury as an excuse to get out of rolling. I am not sure why anyone would want to get out of rolling, that is the best part.

I got arm bars you ain’t never seen bro….A comment on humility in BJJ

For anyone that has ever attend a martial arts class, watched a kung fu film, or talked to someone who does martial arts, they know that humility is something that is preached.  To be sure, humility is an important part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well. However, the road to humility and the vehicle through which it is taught, is a lot different than many other martial arts.

Kanye knows about humility

I have had my fair share of experiences in martial arts. I took Tae Kwon Do and Shurite as a child. As a college student I participated in Judo and Hapkido. 

Shuri...what?

In all of these disciplines respect and humility is preached. Often times a creed is recited before and after class. There are symbols for the concepts of humility and respect hung on the wall (typically in an Asian language). I think this is great, especially for kids. In our school and all the others I have trained at, there is less of an emphasis on overtly talking about the importance of respect. As a result of the structure of BJJ, there is not really a need for this verbosity.

Here are some symbols for humility...or from a take out menu. It could be either.

At it’s core, Jiu Jitsu is an art/sport where people compete against each other every class. As a result, humility and respect get infused into the culture for about 45-60 minutes at the end of class (when we try to choke or break someone's arm). If someone thinks they are the best person on the mat, they will get a chance to prove it. If they submit everyone that night, they will have to do it the next night, and the night after that. Eventually, that person will get subbed. In that moment, there is probably going to be a reckoning with the high opinion they hold of themselves. Often times, participants quickly learn that it is far easier to be happy to have the opportunity to learn and quietly celebrate when they get a submission against an upper belt or congratulate a person when they are submitted. In addition, when applying a submission to a training partner, it is always in my mind to be safe...at some point that person will catch me and I hope they return the favor.

About 4 years ago, we were getting ready to start class when a very muscular ex-service man came in. He had tribal tattoos and lifted a lot at the gym (so he was pretty certain we knew he was for realz). As we were warming up he turns to our coach and says, “I already know this stuff. I have got armbars you guys ain’t never seen. I just want to roll live.” In that moment our coach was faced with two choices, explain the importance of humility and respect. Let the student know that BJJ is a process and takes many long hours of improvement before a person gets better, etc. Or, let him role with one of his students and experience why humility and respect are a virtue. To our enjoyment, he picked option number 2!

Enter my good friend Ned (not his real name). Ned is an outstanding competitor. He is also somewhat of an enforcer for our class. This is a good thing, every class needs a Bob Probert. 

Bob who????

Our coach set the clock for six minutes, the young man made it maybe 2 minutes against Ned. Clearly, he had arm bars we had never seen. The problem was, they were really ineffective.

Essentially, the match looked like this

2 side points: 1) I am categorically against beating up on new people and teammates. That is a dick move, it ruins a club. 2) There is a lot of hyperbole around respect and humility in BJJ. There are pictures of chiseled swarthy men in gis, staring menacingly into the camera, with captions like, "Lions eat elephants which are bigger than them, so be nice.....OSSSS!!!" 

Like this. I want to believe it, it's in black and white!

I don't think we need all that. The beauty of BJJ is that it self regulates egos through challenging a person's skill. After a person gets beaten so many times, they either become humble or become an ex-BJJ participant. This wasn't a case of a new guy getting picked on, it was a person who needed a reality check of their skill level. After his beating, he faked an injury, said he would be back next class and never returned. He could have been a great guy, he could have been Charles Manson, I don't know. What I do know, he wasn't ready to participate in BJJ at that point. 

We have a lot of different personalities at our gym. We have had (at most) one or two instances where someone has had to step between two guys that were ready to fight. Honestly, a person doesn’t need to fight in class to assert their dominance in BJJ. Everyone in class knows that by the end of class that will have taken care of itself.