Author: drdos

Big man flexibility

~ drdos

Early in BJJ I noticed the benefits of flexibility for safety and to expand my game. The most helpful advice I received was to be patient with my body when it comes to flexibility. As a bigger person, you are probably used to working on strengthening where you can see significant progress in say 14-30d. Unless you have freak genetics, think about flexibility on about a 120d schedule when setting comparable modest goals or expectations. Be patient. Tendons etc take longer to grow/heal than muscles, that's just nature. And make sure you aren't doing things to/through pain, just mild discomfort, keep your joints safe.

Secondly, because of your goals to improve and expand your BJJ game, make sure you don't just work on extending your flexibility (ability to contort your body further) but also extending mobility (ability to move your body over a larger range). The two don't always go hand in hand.

There are plenty of YouTube videos I've found and instructionals (if you care then I can give some links from my collection). Yoga can be a great source but they don't always include the mobility with the flexibility so I suggest being picky or making sure to mix things up. Try to find instructionals that give you stages and progressions so you don't stagnate.

I'm a bigger guy. Despite being very flexible in some ways (e.g. for high kicks), I had uncomfortable limitations when it came to shoulder and hip flexibility. Over many months I gradually became quite flexible in my hips (went from not liking to cross my legs even to being able to comfortably do a half lotus and am working on a bit more) and my shoulders are now flexible enough to ensure that my training partners need good technique to finish arm/shoulder locks.

One last important specific tip I found helpful. When doing the dove hip stretch or half lotus type hip opening stretches, engage your foot (ancle at 90deg or less). It helps to keep your knees safe. In the dove stretch, if your knee tends to hurt, it's because the stretch isn't coming on correctly, it should be in the hip not the knee. Prop yourself up, try to hold good posture, one leg extends back, and make sure the bent leg is perpendicular to your body with the foot engaged before lowering down. You won't be able to go down as far but your knee will thank you.

Rib injuries

~ drdos

Most of us have been there.

Short of it is that you just need to rest it and you have to stay away from training (free rolling at least) for probably a few weeks. Once you can breathe deep and move around a bit without pain then you can move on.

Once I got there, I would drill without too much trouble but modify or skip if I had any pain. I'd free roll with people I trusted but two things were different from usual. I'd tap early from just discomfort on the ribs if I felt stuck. I'd move and give up positions if I felt discomfort. Oddly enough this would sometimes give me good opportunities for improving my position or going for submissions, because I'd be doing "the wrong thing" which friends found unexpected from my skill level and it would probably momentarily confuse them. So even if I was technically letting them flatten me out, giving then mount or back, it would kinda catch them by surprise and I'd be able to work out of a bad situation better than you'd expect lol.

Wearing the skin off your fingers?

~ drdos

Let go and regrip. Get fast at it, develope that skill, look into good YouTube instructors that emphasize grip fighting (Stephan Kesting has this with Emily Kwok, Chewy at chewjitsu has some good stuff too iirc, and probably lots of others). You can also work on the toughness of your fingers and grips but there is no hurry for that. Some of that will be trained but some may just be generic and you will have to adapt your game if you want to sustain your training.

It doesn't hurt to learn about how to tape your fingers (I believe it's covered in the FAQ for this sub) but I don't think that's the problem you are having. Taping is usually used more to support the joints than to protect the skin of your fingers.

Competition day

~ drdos

Take it one match at a time, don't try to win the whole thing, just try to focus on winning your current opponent.

Breathe, remember you are ok right now and you have trained and you are ready. Breathe and be well.

Keep with your normal eating routine, nothing unusual. Unless you were cutting weight, focus on rehydrating (water and electrolytes, e.g. Pedialyte, eat your normal food or bars you are familiar with).

You will dictate the pace of the match you are going into. You will play into your game. You will not let them into their game. You will go for it. Get your grips, don't let them get theirs, go for your takedown or your pull. If your technique fails, thats ok. You dictated when the action took place and when it started, which means you will be first to react even if they stuffed your takedown/guard pull. You know when the action happens, you are ahead of the game.

Blisters on toes

~ drdos

Few of things I'd recommend.

  1. ⁠Pay very close attention to your instructors feet/toes when he/she is demonstrating a technique. The particular application of your feet can help both with effectiveness and safety for your toes.

  2. ⁠When blisters break, Neosporin or similar, band-aid, then tape on top of that. When taping, don't wrap around multiple times. Rip off multiple strips of tape and layer them. Create support structures with tape if you like. For example, a layer or two around the toe, then a v shape (or like those memorial ribbons) wrap around the toe and down along the top and bottom of the foot, a couple of those, then a couple of layers around the foot to anchor the v strips from earlier.

  3. ⁠Get a anti-fungal foot spray and follow the therapy instructions (iirc it's at least a couple of weeks of daily or 2x day application). Don't forget your flip-flops or shoes you use around the mats.

  4. ⁠Use a nice foot lotion at least on occasion to keep the skin supple if you tend to get dry skin.

  5. ⁠Once it's well healed and if you don't have a skin problem, tip 1 will most likely help cure your problem in the future.

Shoulder maintenance?

~ drdos

I've struggled with the same problem a good while ago (training for over 4y now in my 40s).

I'd reccomedations looking into the Athlean-X YouTube channel, it's got kind of a duchy body builder vibe to it at times (which I'm not) but it's run by an athlete trainer and physical therapist who is excellent and has helped me very much.

Here are some of my top reccomedations:

  1. Warm up before BJJ and preferably before most of the mobility exercises/stretches you do.

  2. ⁠Hanging, passive (just activating grips, relax the rest) feet relaxed touching the floor behind you. I now do this every morning, worked wonders for shoulders and back.

  3. ⁠Put your back against a wall, arms our, fingers pointing up. Drag the thumb side of your hand or back of your hand up and down the wall, down from shoulder level and up as high as you can, trying to trace a straight line such that your elbow is bent 90deg along the path. There is a video on this on the Athlean-X channel.

  4. ⁠The chicken wing shoulder stretch. This one feels super effective but my results have not always been great.

  5. ⁠Use a bar (like a broom handle for example), grab a wide grip and use it to stretch, moving arms up and down, in front and behind your back. I'm sure there are good videos on this too.

  6. ⁠Sit on the floor with slightly bent legs in front of you. Place your palms down behind you with straight arms and rotating your shoulders out. Work on scooting your butt forward while keeping your back as straight as you can (your arms are gonna be further and further behind you giving you a stretch.

  7. ⁠Look into the book "becoming a Supple Leopard", it has some excellent stuff on posture and mobility.

I have no affiliation with either of the reccomended sources I mention, they are just among the things that have helped me with similar issues.

Oh and Yoga of course (see my post on yoga for BJJ).

Yoga for BJJ?

~ drdos

Check out these YouTube channels, lots of excellent free content. Some of them have specific 14-30d challenges too for beginners or intermediate yoga practicioners (e.g. look at their playlists)

Do yoga with me (specifically the ones with McAlpine)

Bad Yogi

Fightmaster yoga

Yoga with Adrian

Yoga forBJJ

More or less in that order, but depending on what I want to be working on, browse those or follow their playlists.

Should I do “catch and release”?

~ drdos

Personally I usually only do it in two different circumstances:

  1. ⁠During flow rolling

  2. ⁠When there is a huge skill discrepancy or I don't trust the partner to recognize submissions

(particular when using leg locks like the heel hook where the wrong reaction by defender can cause serious injury)

I'd highly recommend it for flow rolling. Helps you focus on developing your movement and transitions. Almost by definition, when flow rolling I'm not focusing on working submissions or a heavy pressure game.

Should a beginner roll with much bigger guys?

~ drdos

In short, there are potential benefits, particularly with respect to self defense. There are no weight classes on the street and all that.

But! As a white belt, especially going against bigger white belts and possibly strangers, I'd advise against it for now, at least not full on free rolling. Reason is that your technique is likely not sufficient to make up for the difference in size and there is a real risk of potentially serious injury, particularly spinal injuries. If you are not flexible or familiar enough with the movements, and your partner is smashing you, possibly in an ill controlled fashion, this can be very dangerous for you.

Once you have many months or a few years under your belt, then you should absolutely try rolling with much bigger people. See how much your technique can make up for. Size and strength is just another attribute, like flexibility, skillfulness, age, speed, stamina, conditioning. Technique and strategy can make up for discrepancies in these attributes but only to a point. There is a YouTube video where iirc Renner Gracie explains his view on it from a belt perspective, giving every 20lbs or 10y age difference approximately a belt level of skill needed make up for it. It's not that simple but it's not a bad rule of thumb.

I'm a bigger guy, have rolled with guys who are much smaller and that I have 40-60lbs on. Earlier on, I had people with a few years more training on me be able to consistently control me. But I also caused at least one injury to a friend and felt very bad about it. Now with more training and skill, that's less likely but it's still a danger and there is always responsibility on both sides. I have also in tournaments rolled with guys who had well over 60lbs on me, and won, and lost. I found it very interesting and helpful for my game.

Going from blue to purple

~ drdos

I'll try to avoid getting overly philosophical, just describing roughly what I did from blue to purple.

Familiarize yourself with as much of the game as you can and start developing paths to and from positions (Stephan Kesting's free BJJ roadmap can be a good place to start).

Always have two things you are working on.

One, trust your instructor, pay close attention, make notes if you want/can, follow their tutoring.

Two, have something you are very interested in and want to work on that is practical for your game (not some crazy sub or transition that you'd never practically get into at your current stage). This doesn't have to be complicated but should be a deep dive and suite you personally. I spent weeks or months on each one of these things for myself, with much help from YouTube, occasionally I'll try to avoid getting overly philosophical by just describing roughly what I did from blue to purple.

Familiarize yourself with as much of the game as you can and start developing paths to and from positions (Stephan Kesting's free BJJ roadmap can be a good place to start).

Always have two things you are working on.

One, trust your instructor, pay close attention, make notes if you want/can, follow their tutoring.

Two, have something you are very interested in and want to work on that is practical for your game (not some crazy sub or transition that you'd never practically get into at your current stage). This doesn't have to be complicated but should be a deep dive and suite you personally. I spent weeks or months on each one of these things for myself, with much help from YouTube, occasionally from instructionals, and of course training partners and coach, usually after regular class was over. This included techniques like how to finish an arm triangle without cranking the neck, how to solidly get to and finishing an arm triangle under high resistance, how to get and finish a leg triangle under high resistance etc. Whatever you find yourself struggling with something or you find something interesting or something that might fit your body well.

Compete occasionally, not too often so that you have time to cultivate new knowledge/abilities but often enough to give your skills and spirit a check. I competed roughly once or twice a year, and made a point of learning from every competition, win or lose (I won more than I lost but I learned more from losing).

Concept wise, consider the fundamentals of not just BJJ but of body mechanics and movement as it relates to BJJ. If you like, look into things like Rob Biernacki's conceptualization of base, posture and structure. Solidifying your own and breaking down your opponents is one way of looking at great meta concepts of what BJJ is about. Also look into some works like the book "Becoming a Supple Leopard" and YouTube physical therapists like Athlean-X help with both your body posture and movement and to help your recovery from nearly inevitable occasional injuries and for maintenance.

...all the other things I'm forgetting 😉 ....