It Hurts To Watch
by Meaty
The first few months as a white belt was the toughest time I had learning Jiu-Jitsu. I cracked a rib two weeks into it. As a beginner who had no idea what I was doing, I was trying desperately to escape side control and somehow ended up getting a knee shoved into the side of my rib cage. I still can’t wrap my head around what exactly happened but I drove home that evening with tender ribs. I didn’t think it felt too bad and went to the next class a couple days later and rolled again. That was a mistake. I made it through the class but somehow aggravated the injury. I was out of commission for at least 6 weeks. Getting in and out of bed was painful. Trying to sleep was a chore. I dreaded having to laugh or sneeze and just breathing was painful. It sucked.
And as a lot of the guys here would attest, the most difficult thing about being injured is not being able to train. I still showed up to class to watch from the sidelines and wishing I could roll. It probably would have been easier not to show up to class but I didn’t want to miss learning what the rest of the class was learning. It’s pretty common to see guys with injuries come to class just to watch. They just can’t keep themselves away from it. Concussion, cracked ribs, hyper-extended elbow, shoulder strain, jammed fingers, jammed toes, cauliflower ear, sprained wrist, bruised knees, and I still come back for more (see this is why I wear a mouth piece, head gear, knee pads, a cup, and lots and lots of tape on my fingers). Other guys have had broken arms, toes, slipped discs, and knee surgeries and they still show up.
So if you don’t know what you are doing, don’t try to muscle your way out of a situation using an unproven technique. If you don’t know how to get out of a bad position, just let it flow and see where it’s going or just tap out and start again. Learn from getting tapped out; ask your partner what he did and how he did it. Learn how to do it and how to defend against it. There are times when you need your strength to “muscle it” but you should apply that “muscle” within the scope of a proper technique, not on movements that could potentially get you or your training partner injured.
