Let's talk about that scary subject of Injuries! When I was growing up playing sports there was question that was always asked "Are you hurt or are you injured?" I lived by this for such a long time. In every walk of life, whatever you do there will be bumps and bruises along the way, but if I could tolerate some pain and still train, practice, or workout like most competitive athletes, that is what I did. Throughout my BJJ journey I have trained through the pain of jacked up fingers, toes, ribs, knees, feet etc... you name it I have been through it. No I don't want a cookie or a trophy for this (or I might) I just did what almost every other athlete would do to get better. Training with pain can help you in some ways and can hurt you as well. For example, I am right handed, I do almost everything in BJJ as a left handed person. That stems from jacked up fingers I suffered as a white belt. For a period of time I didn't use my right hand, so I did everything left handed and it has stuck with me for the last 8 years!
Now injuries are a totally different animal! Maybe you can still deal with the pain, but you risk further injuring yourself worse than you already are. Keeping you off the mat for longer periods of time. I have been here as well. Take it from me, don't go about it like I did. When I got injured I stayed completely away from the mats and the academy. I used the bullshit excuse, its just too hard to watch and not be out there. Which is true, it is hard to just sit and watch, but to be honest with you this is the course you should take. You should try to spend as much time as you can hanging out at the academy, watching classes, and hanging with your team mates. Why you ask? In my opinion coming in watching the classes won't help your timing or speed up your recovery, but it will keep the techniques fresh on your mind and keep you engaged in the art that we love. It will help with your state of mind and keep you from feeling sorry for yourself like I did. Just being around everyone and seeing your team mates get better will put you in such a positive state of mind. Lets face it being injured sucks to no end, so every bit of positive energy you can get will help. If your injury allows you to help on the class but you still can't train, by all means do it. You would be surprised just how much teaching techniques will help your game in the long run.
When its time to come back do yourselves these favors.
1. Take it easy, go slow, don't risk getting injured again. Do what you can.
2. If you need to work your defense then do that.
3. Don't stress out, once you've been back on the mat things will start to fall back into place, things will be sloppy and you will feel like you are terrible at BJJ. You won't be able to do the same things you did before the injury. Just keep training and the improvements will keep coming.
4. Work hard! Not only at your BJJ, but also getting your body stronger and losing that weight you gained. This is probably one of the hardest things to do especially if you're over 35. As you get older its harder to lose weight, to find time to put in the extra work, and sometimes its even harder to push yourself to work as hard as you did before the injury.
5. Drill everything you can.
If you're going through an injury now I hope this helps you. I need some positive energy head to the academy. If you have questions or comments click below!
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