Dealing with Less-than-Ideal Ukes

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Need for Speed: 3 Principles that Shouldn't Be Sacrificed to Go Faster

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Back on the Mats and Training

Last night I got back on the mats and resumed my Shorinji Kan Jiu jitsu training. I took 2 weeks off after I sprained my Achilles tendon right at the beginning of my purple belt grading. I pushed through the grading and avoided doing things that would make it worse, but I must admit that it was pretty sore afterwards, so I needed to take some time off to recover.

I need my body to be healthy for what I do, so I take my healing very seriously. Whenever you get any joint sprain, it's wise to avoid using the joint for the first 48 hours, a vital period of your healing. I didn't even go into the dojo for the first 48 hours so as to avoid standing on my bum ankle. After that, I resumed teaching, but tried stay off my ankle as much as possible as I did so. Even when I was just standing around and giving advice, I did feel sore by the end of a class at first. Jenny, my doctor student, gave me some exercises to strengthen the joint gradually over time. I've been religious in doing them. And last night, I was finally ready to get back to the mats and train.

I'm still not a full capacity though. Running and skipping are still stressful on my ankle, so I had to do my own warm-up independent of the class. I did 5-10 minutes of shrimping and crab walking rather than participating in the classes usual running exercises. The only other thing I had to make modifications for was forward stance (zenkutsu dachi) practice. When my injured ankle was the back leg in the stance, I had to do a modified half stance to avoid stressing the ankle. Other than that, I was able to function completely normally in class, which is great after 2 weeks of doggin' it! :)

Anyway, sometimes you have to back out of training to let yourself heal, but in some cases you can get back to training in a limited capacity if you're diligent about avoiding things that will could hamper your healing. If you do decide to get back to training, make sure you do so under the guidance of your doctor so you know what types of movements to avoid. Some people, however, just can't participate in a class and hold back in any way. These people are probably best served by waiting until they're fully healed before returning.

Have you ever had to train around an injury? What adjustments did you need to make to allow you to train?

Braving through a Belt Test with an Injury

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Taking Care of Joint & Muscle Strains

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Foam Rollers as an Alternative to Massage

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How to Be a Good Uke (Training Partner)

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How to Train through Injuries

Last night, I was feeling good. I had enjoyed one of my first training sessions at my dojo since Chris came back to teach (he was on hiatus for the last month as he prepped for his black belt grading. Then it happened. After class I was grappling with one of my students and there was an unfortunate slip that led to me getting injured. Now I'm suffering from a hyper-extended elbow.

When it comes to injuries, obviously you should rest or take the necessary time off until you can train safely again. But I can walk. I can move. I just can't use my left arm right now. So instead of taking a break, I'm going train in how I would defend myself if I couldn't use my left arm.

Chris is teaching at my dojo tonight with his shiny new black belt. I'm having him teach a special Shorinji Kan Jiu-jitsu class to my students to pay homage to his recent achievement. As a gesture to me, he is teaching the entire class on doing one-armed defense. I am grateful for this gesture.

But if you have a particular injury, there are always ways to train around it. Like, for example, you could do defense from a chair if you can't use your legs for some reason. Obviously, not all injuries permit this. Neck, back or hip injuries, pretty much limit your options for safe training, but the next time you have an injury, ask yourself: How would I safely defend myself if someone attacked me while I'm still recovering from this injury? It's a good exercise in creativity and it might lead to some interesting training.

Featuring Two of My Blog's Readers

One of the coolest parts of attending the Shorinji Kan Jiu-jitsu event in Spartanburg was not only meeting but actually getting to train with two people who regularly read my blog. I'd like to tell you a little about them because they were both great martial artists and very cool people.

Jennifer Higgs has been training for several years and holds a brown belt in Shorinji Kan (seen here on the right). She currently trains in Toronto. From what I've heard of her, she is truly dedicated to the study of Jiu-jitsu, having persisted in her training after sustaining multiple injuries that would have caused most other people to simply drop out of the martial arts altogether. I trained with her a few times over the course of the conference. She trains with both an appreciable level of skill and a keen interest and enthusiasm. She is around the same size as me... ok, maybe she was just a little taller. My point is that being a similar size, it was interesting to see that we moved in similar ways. It's cool for me to discover training partners like her as we likely have had similar challenges throughout our development as martial artists. Jennifer is planning to come visit our dojo in BC in the fall some time. I very much look forward to the opportunity to train with her again.

The other reader I had the pleasure of meeting was Ian Purnell Sensei, instructor of the University of West England Jitsu Club in Bristol, England (seen here on the left). Ian has been training for over 2 decades and was awarded the rank of senior second degree black belt (a high level for this particular style) at the conference for all his hard work and dedication to the art. He is taking the helm in the organization of the next international event to be held in England 3 years from now. I had the pleasure of training at two different seminars that he taught, one on shiatsu and another in which he taught a number of practical self-defense techniques. Both were well-taught, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

There was one exchange between him and one of his students I had the privilege of witnessing outside of the seminars he led. His student stepped off the mat having been severely winded from a blow. She was looking panicked as she tried to draw breath to no effect. Without even getting up to his feet, Ian tapped her on the body with an open palm then drove a thumb into a point at the top of her chest, which had the immediate effect of causing her to take a huge breath of air. I couldn't help but be impressed and immediately asked him to explain what he did. Essentially, he drove his thumb into a shiatsu point known as 'lung 1', which can be used to stimulate the breathing process. Ian explained that this point can be used on people having an asthma attack if they don't have an inhaler. He himself uses it on students while they fumble to find their inhalers in their bags, fixing the problem so effectively they have no need of them when they finally do find them.

I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to meet and train with both Jennifer and Ian. I feel very honoured that my blog has attracted such impressive martial artists.

Jitsu International - Spartanburg 2009

Yesterday morning, I took my gi out to throw it in the wash. There were blood stains both in the top and in the pants. I can't say whose blood it is, but I know it's not mine. Oh, those Shorinji Kan-ers...

This past weekend, Chris and I travelled to Spartanburg, South Carolina to attend an international event being held there for students of the style of Shorinji Kan Jiu-jitsu. It was a great privilege to have been able to go and a wonderful experience, albeit a brutal one. I would challenge anyone who'd say that Shorinji Kan-ers don't train seriously. After 4 days of training, conference participants could be seen sporting black eyes, bruises, blisters, fat lips, and more besides. A couple of guys' faces were so scratched up they looked like they had stuck their head into a bag of angry cats. I can't help but wonder what went on at that particular seminar...

While I've been studying Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu for 16 years, I only recently started learning Shorinji Kan at the beginning of this year. As a result, some concepts that were featured at the conference's seminars were more natural for me to pick up, others had me fighting against my previous experience. And as frustrating as it can be to learn new things that are very different, there is something comforting about the fact that there are still many concepts out there that can make me feel like a white belt just starting out, even after 16 years of training martial arts of various styles. The more you learn, the less you realize you know.

Overall, the conference was fun and educational. My muscles were pretty sore by the end of the 4 days of training, but it was worth it. I am very impressed at the Jitsu Foundation's level of organization, allowing them to coordinate huge multi-national events like this one, which attracted over 100 participants from the UK, Canada, the US, and South Africa. In my next blog post, I'll write about two impressive Jiu-jitsu practitioners, both followers of my blog, whom I had the privilege of meeting for the first time at the event.

How to Grapple When There is a Major Size Difference

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Why It's a Good Idea to Vary Your Class's Strength Training Exercises

Today, I got some happy news from one of my students. He emailed me to tell me that because of our strength training workout in class last night, he managed to work out a pain in his lower back and hips that had been bothering him for some time. It was because of a pelvic lift exercise that I ran with the class that was newly introduced to him.

As an instructor, it's easy to get in the habit of using the same types of strength training exercises class to class, not just for the purpose of strengthening different muscle groups (though variety of that sort is also important), but doing different exercises that exercise the same groups. I am even guilty of it myself on occasion, so every so often I try to bring in something new.

For lower back strengthening, I often use back crunches in which you lie flat on their belly and lift up your upper body off the mat. Last night, I ran my students though pelvic lifts instead, in which you lie on your back and lift your lower back and hips off the mat (as shown in the picture above). And on that evening, it was just the right exercise for that particular student I mentioned. Apparently, it stretched out the area in just the right way that it seemed to correct a problem that had been causing the pain in his hips.

Beyond this wonderful success story, it is worth pointing out that the body does get used to exercises that are repeated regularly, which causes your muscles to get complacent, so to speak. This is why it's a good idea to try and vary the types of exercises.

Instead of just using push-ups to work out the pecs, chest passes using a medicine ball can be used, or resistance training using weights or resistance bands. Instead of using stomach crunches, you can do medicine ball tosses on the abs (great for working the inner abs for taking hits), or just holding the plank position for a minute or two, or any of the myriad other options out there. This will keep your or your students' bodies on their toes and give them a better overall conditioning program.

Safety Concerns When Doing Movie Fighting

Sorry for the lack of blogging recently. I've been away working in the woods on a movie set, doing martial arts special ability background work. I have the day off today so I'll tell you a little about that.

In the movie on which I am working, they have hired about 30 people to play warriors, all with their own special abilities, including fencing, archery, javelin throwing, horse handling, gymnastics, and martial arts of every description. It's been very interesting to meet all these people, each of which have a strong commitment to their individual arts. I've even set up training dates with a few of them for after we're done working on the movie.

One thing I'd like to emphasize in this post about movie fighting is safety. While the people playing warriors are all very skilled at what they do, they don't all have the same experience in all the arts represented in the movie. If you're ever working on a movie set and someone asks you to do something you don't know much about, either ask for assistance if possible, or give up the task to someone who knows what they're doing. Because people are very keen to get an active role in the movie, sometimes they take on risks they shouldn't.

The other day, one guy got stabbed in the eye with a wooden sword. The person holding the sword didn't have any experience with sword handling and when he got caught up in the action the sword ended up in a place it shouldn't have. This person would have been better off giving up his role to someone with more experience. Fortunately, they were only using wooden swords so the guy on the receiving end only ended up with a nasty black eye. If they had been using the aluminum prop swords he very well may have lost an eye.

When doing movie sword work, you never aim the sword for the person's body. It is easy to make the scene look realistic and still safe by aiming away from the body half a foot wide of the either hip or shoulder. Basically, you are aiming to the place where the other person is expected to block. It usually takes a lot of training to develop the control with the sword to do this at a speed that looks good for the camera while still being safe for those doing the action.

Well, that's my 2 cents. I'm away for another week or so on set so there won't be any new posts (unless my assistant instructor Chris finds the time to do one). Have a great week!

Dealing with a Nose Bleed? Give it the Finger!

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Dynamic vs. Static Stretching in Martial Arts

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'X' Marks the Spot... The Groin That Is

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Intensity Skipping Instead of Sprints

In the last month or so, I started doing hard interval running and sprints as conditioning for a potential upcoming fight. Unfortunately, I started to develop some minor pain in my left achilles tendon so, upon advice from my trusty doctor Jenny, I switched over to intensity and interval skipping to replace the running.

To simulate an MMA fight, I always do three 5-minute rounds with a 1-minute rest in between. When doing intensity skipping, I do three 30-second rounds of double skipping within each 5-minute round. This gives me a solid anaerobic work-out that very much simulates the way a fight goes. Jenny told me however that I should only do this type of work-out once a week as it is hard on the body. On other days, I simply do three 5- minute rounds of regular skipping, practicing various technical patterns, with a single 30-second round of double skipping at the end of each 5-minute round. Check out my post, Increasing Your Cardio When Skipping for a video demo of double skipping.

The skipping work-outs seem to put less stress on my joints. And with skipping, I get to work out my upper body more than I do with running, particularly when I'm doing the double skipping portion of the workout. Skipping is almost always the way I warm up as well.

A Cold Shower VS. A Slap in the Face

Tonight, I experienced 2 things that phased me; a cold shower and a slap in the face. You can probably guess which one phased me more... yep, it was the cold shower.

It was my dojo's other instructor's turn to teach tonight. In case you don't know, Chris, one of my students is a brown belt in another style of Jiu-jitsu, Shorinji-kan. After recently promoting him to purple belt, I decided to have him teach 2 classes a week. He's already an experienced instructor since in his style brown belts are considered full instructors, some even running their own clubs. This arrangement has been working out well, allowing me to train with my students on the nights he teaches.

Anyway, tonight Chris taught a class on joint locks. He was teaching an off-curriculum class showing slightly different variations to familiar locks. I had recently chided him that he didn't hit me hard enough when he was using me as his demonstration uke. As a result, he decided to go harder on me. Unfortunately, it was in a way that I didn't expect. For his distraction, he decided to slap me solidly across the face.

"Well you told me to go harder on you!" Chris defended in response to my glare as I touched my hand to my stinging cheek in front of our watching students.

"Yeah, kick me in the groin, punch me in the gut, elbow me in the brachial plexus origin... you just slapped me in the face!" I responded, struggling not to react to the angry shock that comes from being hit that way. The students all shared a laugh at the unusual exchange.

Well as much as the slap in the face surprised me, it didn't bother me anywhere near as much as the ice cold shower I took after I got home. I recently discussed various ways of dealing with muscle soreness on my blog. I even provided information on how to do an ice bath, a method of preventing delayed muscle soreness from working out as recommended to me by Jenny, one of my students who is a doctor. Having told her that I couldn't bring myself to do an ice bath for the perscribed 15-20 minutes, she suggested a cold shower, starting with it on warm, then reducing the temperature.

I figured it was worth a try tonight since I did 2 hours of boxing and strength training with an interval run scheduled for the next morning. As I reduced the temperature to purely cold water, I bellowed loudly and constantly for the full minute or so that I was able to stand it before I wussed out and turned the water off. I can't tell you if this procedure helped. I suspect I didn't do it long enough to get the benefits. Bah!

Anyway, given the choice of being slapped in the face and taking a really cold shower, I would definitely choose the slap. The slap doesn't last as long. :P

Btw, I've recently invited Chris to post on my blog occasionally so expect to see his thoughts on Jiu-jitsu Sensei in the near future.

How to Do an Ice Bath

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5 Ways of Treating Muscle Soreness

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