We've been discussing injuries a lot recently, and it seems to have hit a chord with the Grapplearts readership. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I wanted to discuss one more thing before we leave this topic. … [Read more...]
The Simplest Way to Avoid Injury
Several years ago I found myself waiting for a Jean Jacques Machado seminar to start: I was sitting on the mat, watching people train, and chatting with a friend. Jean Jacques, the jiu-jitsu superstar, strolled over to us and told me something that I think about almost every time I train. … [Read more...]
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. … [Read more...]
Always Injured
A reader writes: Q: "I'm in my forties and and started MMA training a few years ago. Since then I have had many injuries including a shattered elbow, a torn knee, separations in both shoulders, and many, many more minor injuries. … [Read more...]
Thinking Inside The Box
A few weeks ago I was doing some standing pummeling; both my partner and I were fighting to get underhook positions in the clinch (some things you can do from an underhook). … [Read more...]
I Can’t Run: The Excuse List
If you are a longtime reader of this newsletter you know that I think very highly of running as a conditioning method. Long runs, sprints, hill runs - as you can see from the following articles I think that they are all great. … [Read more...]
The Twister Vs. The Toehold
Q: You've previously discussed dangerous submissions. Do you think that the twister spine lock is a dangerous submission? How dangerous is the twister compared to other submissions, say something like a toehold? A: The quick answer is that both submissions (the toehold and the twister) are dangerous. If you were to collect injury statistics, you would probably find that more people have … [Read more...]
Monitoring Morning Heart Rate
Longtime readers will recall that I’ve written about overtraining, under-recovering and exercise-induced illness before (e.g. Don't Get Sick and Overtraining in MMA). It sucks to have a streak of hard training sessions interrupted by the flu, and being overtrained makes catching that flu almost inevitable. … [Read more...]
More Non-Compressive Neck Training
I've received lots of feedback about a previous tip discussing how some methods of neck conditioning can be problematical for some people. Grapplearts newsletter reader Kevin shared his favorite method of neck training with us: … [Read more...]
Cutting Weight: A Rant
Today I want to write about a practice I don't like and don't endorse, but that is probably here to stay: cutting weight to get into a lower weight bracket for competition. … [Read more...]
The Berserker
There's one at almost every club. The guy who can't lose. The guy who always goes 100%. The guy who applies every submission with speed and power. The guy who fights as if his life depends on it. … [Read more...]
The Dangerous Locks
Not all submissions are created equal: some cause pain, some put you to sleep, and some do a lot of damage. Today I want to talk about the latter category, those submissions most likely to send you to the orthopedic surgeon. Knowing which locks are dangerous is important for at least two reasons: first, you need to know which submissions to tap out early to if you are caught in one yourself, … [Read more...]
Is it ‘only’ a mild concussion?
Concussions are an ever-present possibility in grappling, especially if you do a lot of takedowns or striking. In fact I think it's fair to say that everyone training in a combat sport for long enough will get hit on the head hard enough at some point to have some kind of concussion. … [Read more...]
Training with an Injured Wing
A grapplearts reader writes: Q: How can I still train if I have an injured hand, wrist, arm or shoulder? A: Being injured is super-frustrating when you want to train. But there are things you can do to keep your skills sharp even if you've got an upper body injury... … [Read more...]
Trust Your Spider Sense
Most instructors, motivators and 'experts' will tell you to train, train, train. Today I am going to tell you the exact opposite: there are some days when you shouldn't go within a hundred yards of a mat. The trick is figuring out which days those are. … [Read more...]
Neck Cranks
A Grapplearts reader writes: Q: "What are the true dangers of neck cranks?" A: It is funny how many clubs ban leg locks but allow neck cranks. Necks are under a lot of stress in grappling, even under 'normal' conditions: throw in a couple of uncontrolled neck cranks and you are looking at herniated disks, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis and a whole host of other painful degenerative … [Read more...]
There Can Be Only One! The Best Exercise for Grappling Cardio…
A Grapplearts reader writes: Q: "If you only had time for one cardio excercise which would you choose: swimming or running?" A: Swimming and running are both awesome exercises, and both have their pros and cons. … [Read more...]
Training with Injury
Injuries suck. They hurt, they take a long time to heal, and most importantly, they prevent you from training. Knowing how to train around injuries is an important part of getting better at any sport, and this is especially true in grappling. … [Read more...]
Foot Injuries in Grappling
Grapplers are a tough bunch, and generally tend to ignore injuries unless broken bones are actually protruding from a wound. I want to temper this tendency by using the Grapplearts pulpit to discuss a very serious category of orthopedic injury: strains and sprains of the lowly foot. … [Read more...]
Nutritional Nugget: Twenty-One Percent!
I have received many questions about nutrition, and so far I haven't tackled them in my newsletter. This is partially because nutrition is such a huge issue, and also because people are starting from such radically different baselines … [Read more...]