Fat Donkey

Hi, guys, I've been going nuts with my training (12+ hrs a week), and my rotator cuffs on both shoulders are killing me. BJJ is great but as u guys know your joints get pulled and stretched every night and I can't seem to get any relief for my shoulders even when I don't get submitted Any advice on stretches, supplements, ice/heat etc.

Wow? Anyone who saw the UFC middle weight championship got an education in Muy Thai. The beautiful clinch ended the UFC's second most dominant fighter and put serious doubt on the calibre of UFC fighters compared to PRIDE. As a Muy Thai guy I couldn't believe that Rich Franklin was SO dominated by that clinch, which most intermediate Thai fighter could escape or tie up easily. Silva's form was perfect especially the way he used body knees to open up the head for destruction. I personally am going to leave the more esoteric techniques for a while and spend extra time in using and defending the clinch.

Whom r u fighting? Against amateurs i use wrestling, especially single leg takedowns, against wrestlers and MMA guys I use the the tie-up/dirty clinch to the hip throw (judo), also as a counter attack. Against the good judo guys, I lose. or I use these really crazy takedowns from kali and movies. They r so outrageous they actually work sometimes

Thanks guys, the armbar to omoplata works well. I 'll also try the other stuff. I'm trying to get ready for some upcoming submission tournaments and while I don't mind losing to better BJJ guys I hate getting thwarted by wrestlers. I don't lose to them but time runs out.

Yeah Man, theres something we call the Superman escape. This can work even when the choke is on tight but u r still concious . Basically pretend u r flying like superman and push/run forward as hard and fast as u can. HEAD UP, Arms out. This basically stacks, rolls and breaks your opponents in that order. WARNING, this almost always works against bigger guys 180lbs +, who hate getting stacked. But smaller, more flexible guys r sometimes able to keep the choke and roll with it and end up in a mounted triangle, then your really done. But give it a shot. In the year since I've learned it I've only been triangled 4 times and always by smaller guys.

I'm back, been training so much no real time to post on the site. I have a really great gym and have been sparring with a lot of wrestlers lately. Do any of u BJJ guys have any favourite techniques against this style? The younger guys r usually no problem as I pull guard and wait for them to tire themselves out, but we have some guys who've been doing it for 20+ yrs and their positioning and stamina r amazing. They still have crappy submissions but awesome defense. Any strategies or ideas would be welcome

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. Greetings my fellow limpers, groaners, achers, scabbies, black eyed, fat lipped, cartilage deprived friends. As I woke up the day after training and could barely get out of bed, BECAUSE OF THE PAIN, I thought about all the MA's I've taken and all the injuries I've collected and thought: finally, a topic everyone on this site can agree on and have a rueful laugh. I began to list HOW I got injured? WHY I got injured? And the DIFFERENT injuries that different MA's produce. So lets get started: The WHY and the HOW! 1. I'm a KLUTZ: mind and body are one - yeah, right! If I could miss it, slip on it, trip on it, pull it, walk into it, fall out of it, fall on it and fall down it - I have. This is my number one explanation for my injuries. I've always hurt myself worse than any opponent ever has, BUT, the benefit is that I usually look like a dweeb in front of a lot people. Example: attempting the TKD jumping high kick, missing the board and managing to land on head, elbow and big toe simultaneously during a public demonstration. 2. My partner/opponent is a KLUTZ. Anyone who's ever trained a newbie has probably experienced this, but the worse is experienced people who are and will always be klutzes, not jerks, just bloody awkward. The guy/girl who misses the pad your holding and kicks you in the face. The person who attempts a hip throw while standing on your toe or the individual who manages to slip and head butt you in the mouth. The first day of my wrestling class, my partner turns the basic fireman's carry into the HEAD SMASH, DESTROYER OF ROTATOR CUFF Move. Not ONCE but 15 times. 3. The EYE of the TIGER. C'mon buddy, just a couple more reps, just a couple more pounds. If you want to be the best, you got to push it, C'MON PUSH IT ... (pop, tear, snap) HEEEELLLLPPPP! Somebody call me an ambulance, MOOOMMMMMYYYYY!!!! Sound familiar? You've pushed so hard you broke it. For me it was the shoulder rows - 50 pounds, 60 pounds. Hey, I'm so good I'll try 100 pounds. Focus, you can do it, c'mon champ! The sad part was I did it. I did it so hard I rammed that barbell right into my chin, cutting it open and chipping my tooth, almost knocking myself out. At least my friend laughed so hard he got a good ab workout. 4. MR. INTENSITY or the jerk who never controls himself. If you've been around MA's, you've met this guy. A friendly, light sparring session turns into the last 15 minutes of ROCKY. The slow technique has you thrown across the room with something dislocated. This is the idiot who never learns and thinks he can climb the skill ladder on top of your broken bones. He is also the only person I will occasionally pound into tapioca once in a while. My example, a friendly WTF TKD style sparring, with no punches to the head ends up with me taking 10 full haymakers to the face AND the guy was a higher rank than me. 5. OLD SCHOOL MASTERS: PAIN seems to have been a major instructional tool for many old school masters. To learn to IGNORE the pain you must first PRODUCE the pain. Now don't get me wrong, if I have a choice I always choose an old school master, but I know what's coming. Knuckle push ups/headstands on concrete floors. If you're not bleeding, you haven't kicked, punched, kneed or elbowed enough. My story is a Muay Thai one. My Thai master who kicks an iron post regularly is showing me shin blocks without pads. 1st kick 1/10th power, 2nd kick 1/3rd power, 3rd kick WHAM full power. Now I don't cry often but... I still have the bump 3 years later. 6. DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR. MA's build confidence, but with morons like myself they sometimes lead to fantasies that I might be half decent. Luckily, I have many good friends and instructors who are willing to hand me my overconfident butt on a platter when I get too big for my britches. When I get hurt in this scenario, it is usually more embarrassing than painful. Example, I challenge our heavyweight champ in BJJ after handling all my fellow white belts. After playing with me like a cat with a mouse, he sits on my chest and gives me the deadly double purple nurples. Humbled, I limp home more determined to improve my technique (SO I CAN ONE DAY EXACT SWEET REVENGE (evil laughter)). Now here, from my personal experiences, are the most common type of training injuries/pains of the different MA's. Tae Kwon Do: you will never have kids because you've been kicked in the baby maker twice a day for years. Karate: you've given up spicy or acidic food and drink because you're never without a cut on mouth or lips; enough with the *&^%*%^& backfist already! Judo: you buy shoes and gloves a size bigger because your toes and fingers are constantly swollen. You are hoping Santa will bring you a knee brace. Kali/Escrima: you start buying clothes and furniture to match the red, black and blue strikes that cover your body. Wrestling: Orthopedic surgeons need to eat, too. There just MIGHT be one girl who finds cauliflower ears sexy and walking is highly overrated. Knees, bah humbug! Boxing: you write your name and address in your underwear because your memory and attention span seem to be... What? Who wrote this stupid article? I did! Oh yeah. Moving on... erratic. You breathe through your ears because your nose is now simply decoration. Ugly, misshapen decoration. Muay Thai: you rename your shins pain and agony and use the bumps on the bones to try and foretell the future. You no longer worry about getting cut because your face is now solid scar tissue. Elbows taste like gummy bears. BJJ: you've learned groundwork which is good because now you crawl everywhere. You've pulled muscles unidentified by anatomist and you drive with your chin after the 2 hour armbar session. MMA: so, this is what a car accident feels like. I didn't know there was so much blood in me - cool!

Up here in Canada gi training makes sense because people here wear jackets 9 months out of 12 and while u can't body punch a guy in a big parka u can collar choke him. Second, I always use gi pants when I train no gi becaues the fabric allows better armbars and gives me something to wipe off sweat before attempting a lock Third, a gi is heavy and after taking it off I feel ten lbs lighter and faster when I train no gi. Fourth it looks cool

I am trying to build a solid BJJ foundation BUT I seem to lose my techniques. For example, I prepare for submission tourney against big guys so my single leg takedowns, sprawls, kimura and defense is good. I go back to the gym and I can't pass anyones guard or defend or submit from the guard AAAAARRRRGH! My armbars suck and I get spanked by everyone under 205 lbs. Plus I miss 2 weeks of class with a pulled groin so my hip movements suck. I keep losing what I learned 3 months ago because I get so focused on what I learned yesterday. Anyone have this problem? How did u remeber and USE all the techniques u have learned.

Agree with u 100%. Very good finals and the match between diego and diaz was a must see for grapplers. Escapes and reversals being displayed with awesome skill. I just watched PRIDE bushido middle and lightweight tournaments and I have to say with the exception of the very top guys in UFC, the class of fighter was much higher and more well balanced. Both Rashad and Imes would get killed in this league, along with most UFC fighters.

Thanks for all the good advice guys. The tournament was a blast BUT, I'm not training today because I got pretty banged up. HOW? Well being an Idiot I didn't make weight. I was 207 instead of under 205. I HAD to FIGHT the super heavy weights. Heaviest guy was 275lbs. Out of 6 fights I only lost 1, against the 275lb guy. All he did was lie on my face with all his weight with an arm beneath my neck and I saw stars I tied all the rest and almost submitted two guys. A lot of fun but I'm going to have to adjust my game to fight these monsters. Some techniques just don't work. Also every inch of my body hurts (especially my neck) but I'm going again in December and I'm goinf to fight in this weight class.

Hey guys, my first grappling tourney is this Saturday and its an open tournament ie, no gi any skill level. I haven't had time to train but my instructor says go and have fun. FUN???? I'm scared of getting injured! I know some of the guys entering from other schools and they r freaking psychos, good enough to hurt u but not good enough to defeat u "gently". I'm just a white belt by the way. I get so many injuries in my own school through hard sparring and I'm no wimp. I've been beaten up by the best in many different MA''s. But unlike MT or TKD it's not just black eyes and bruises. It's joints, tendons and bruised trachea. I have no chance of winning anything but I would like to be able to walk afterwards, any suggestions? Aggressive/Submissive? Attack/Run away? Go to guard or try to obtain position?

Definitely go with the MT with sparring. Why? Because while drills r important the often lead to unrealistic expectations without sparring. The techniques that look good in the mirror and feel good on the bag may simply not work against the person u r fighting or may have weaknesses that r only revealed with an opponent that hits back. Experience + Technique + Conditioning = Effective MA.

I am currently training at 3 different schools with 5 different instructors. Like most of u I have a stupid schedule and this allows me to squeeze in training at different times and days. Problem; these schools compete for a limited number of students and the instructors don't necessarily like one another. I love the fact that I can learn these MA's from different teachers because it gives me deepr insight and is vastly helping me improve my game. Problem, I don't want to have to choose between them, no one has said anything yet although I'm upfront about my other associations. There r always "side" questions about the other schools and worse yet when competitions come up I am only going to compete for one. Do I have a problem? I'm not sure! I want advice on how to AVOID problems!

I hear what U guys r saying. I always go for the mount and try to defend against it because I eventually want to try MMA. BUT, right now I can't seem to finish from these positions because people don't freeze in these but move like maniacs and pure strength can block a lot of submissions. I am looking for simple strategies and decoys that will let me utilise these positions to finish