Always Injured, the Feedback

Several tips ago I gave some advice to a reader who had suffered a rather terrible string of orthopedic injuries while training in MMA . I also opened up the conversation to other readers of this newsletter and invited comments on several martial arts forums. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, and here is what they had to say:

• “I have realized I was getting injured when I was was gassing. With better cardio, I stayed more out of trouble.”
• “Nutrition plays a huge role in injury prevention. Bones and ligaments, like muscles, need fuel to regenerate. Fish oil helps for inflammation (I use Carlson’s fish oil.)”
• “Being fat is an invitation for an injury. Your body isn’t as balanced, and you’re carrying around more weight than you should.”
• “The biggest thing to prevent injuries and especially reoccuring injuries is to understand what cause them, meaning the ANGLES your body is in, and where the PRESSURE is being applied to you and don’t let it get in that position again even if you have to tap for no apparent reason. I have stopped sparring matches on many occasions and my partner was like “what happened?”, I just tell them the situation and let them have to closest position with them being in advantage and restart. I have never had someone complain about me doing that.”
• “Find a sports medicine doctor not a primary care…makes a world of difference!!!”
• “Warm up properly. Nearly every injury I’ve received in judo has been from going hard early in the session before I’m warm and loosened up.”
• “I find (as a 60 year old fighter) that my injuries come from rolling with guys that weigh 50, 75 100 or more pounds heavier than me…. At my age i would like to work with more guys in my weight class. It would be easier and i would develop quicker if i could just work with someone in my weight class.”
• “Sometimes it is important to turn it up a notch and escalate your sparring. Recently I sparred with some MMA guys who outweighed me and all went 110% in their sparring. When I took it easy I found myself in potentially dangerous situations (e.g. stacked on the back of my neck), but when I went all out and got to the top position I was alright for the rest of the match. It’s important to be aware of your training partners’ tendencies, but it’s also really important to know yourself too.
• “There’s a big difference between being 25 and being 37 or 40. I am now going to a traditional BJJ class that focuses on technique. That’s what I need to do to improve. Rolling with a bunch of testosterone junkies isn’t going to make me better. My goals are to (1) not get hurt, (2) have fun, and (3) improve my BJJ. In that order, since they all depend on #1.”

A big thanks to everyone who contributed to this article.  I’m sure your advice will help a lot of people!!

Stephan Kesting
Grapplearts.com

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