Every great journey must begin with a simple step. This is mine. My Jiu-jitsu Comeback.

my patented and very high tech method of measuring the range of motion in my knee

After several months of inactivity due to knee surgery, I’ve decided it was time to get back into a regular workout routine – rehab excluded.

Behold! The Majesty!

20 pushups
15 situps
rest
15 situps
rest
7 pullups
TIRED

And that was it. It’s been a couple of days and I’m still sore. Ha!

The plan is this: to keep working out until I get to the same level of fitness I was before surgery. Lots of pushups (50), situps (100) and pullups (six meter rope climb).

For my legs after rehab is done: lots of squats, balance ball work and deadlifts.

After all of that THEN I head back into the the halls of jiu-jitsu, and work on my conditioning and body movement.

NO TECHNIQUE TRAINING OR SPARRING FOR TWO MONTHS AFTER BEGINNING MY CONDITIONING!!

My doctor and physical therapist agree. They’ve set a similiar timeline for me when I’ll be ready to pursue jiu-jitsu again.

As far as my range in motion and mobility in my right knee goes, I can “actively” bend my knee past 140 degree. With a little help, I can bend my knee so my ankle is within one fist away from my butt.

Major props to me – four weeks ago I couldn’t even get anywhere near my butt. Goes to show that with enough drive and determination we can all set out and reach our goals. Even if its simply getting a knee to bend.

My leg in Bionic Ninja mode – unfortunately adds -5 to ninja sneakyness

Cue “Wayward Son” by Kansas.

It’s been two months since my ACL/meniscus surgery. Obviously I’m still not training.

I was told a horror story by my doctor. A patient of his made an excellent recovery and was cleared to pursue a higher level of activity. He was helping his friend chop down a tree, carried a portion of it on his shoulder, turned to look behind him when his friend called him, twisted his knee and re-tore his ACL. I’m pushing my back my jiu-jitsu activities two months after I get cleared my my doctor.

I have been “studying” jiu-jitsu now and then though. Bought a new book that shows off Kempo Karate. It shows off the standard “punch-kick” routine all martial art books typically showcase. I got it because it devotes a large section to wristlocks.

For some reason I can understand wristlocks better and I’m seeing possiblities for them in all sorts of positions – stand up or on the ground. I just can’t test them out or practice them yet.

I am behind in my rehab. Strength wise I can do squats and lunges slow and easy. In terms of my range of motion and mobility, it sucks. I still limp and walk way too slow for my Physical Therapist – Aono-san – taste. Last session he made me take off my brace, went behide me and pushed me till I was walking briskly. After months of moving at a snail’s pace it felt like warp speed to me. I can’t run or jog yet, but I shouldn’t be limping or walking slow either.

I should also be able to bend my knee until my ankle is one fist away from my butt. Last rehab session, a week ago, it used to be five-fists away. Now it’s three-fists. I have two more to go before my next rehab session in three weeks.

One of the reasons I’m behind on my rehab – besides the pain factor – is that I never knew I had a new goal to work for.

First it was just barely walking, then making sure I didn’t fall down or get my leg wet. Then it was getting my leg strong again. I knew I had keep bending my leg as much as possible, but to what extent I had no clue. I do now.

I suppose that’s one thing to keep in mind going through injury recovery or even just plain old training. There is a goal to be met. Make sure the goal is known. And to never stop until that goal is reached no matter how difficult it may be.

Why yes that’s a Roy Dean Purple Belt Requirements DVD
next to the awesome Japanese MMA magazine Gong Kakutogi

I miss Matt…

Just thought I’d throw out a post on injuries.

Things have been going great with training. Sparring match after sparring match, the techniques seem to just flow on out. The submissions are crisp and steady. Training partners have been showering praise. Even the higher belts have been noticing. It’s been nothing but good times.

Then it happens. A perfectly harmless maneuver, one that’s probably been done a hundred times before. Only his time sound accompanies it – a sharp POP.

Sure, keep saying “it’s only a sprain” enough times and perhaps it’ll come true. But it won’t because it’s not. It’s full blown injury. And things go down hill from there.

That’s exactly how it happened to me – three times, same body part – and the chances are that’s how it’ll happen with other members of the Jiu-jitsu community. If you haven’t personally had a major injury yet, the safe money is that you probably know someone that does.

Here’s a short and sweet game plan when it comes to injuries.

• Properly warm up and cool down
• Stretch afterwards
• Avoid hazardous sparring partners
• Pay attention to your body
• Massages help and yeah they feel good
• R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compress, elevate) minor injuries
• Seek medical attention for major injuries
• Need surgery? Sports doctors or those that compete are gold
• Going into surgery? Have a good support system in place
• After surgery do your rehab, workout harder and don’t forget your prehab
• Stay positive; you WILL heal up, you WILL get back to jiu-jitsu
• And for any type of injury, a complete and full recovery is better than a quick one

That’s pretty much it. Oh, there are some things from my own experience I’d like to share as I just had knee surgery on the 14th of August.

Big injuries suck – mentally, physically and financially – that’s were the support system comes in. Friends, family and loved ones you can count on when you’re hurting.

Here’s something I learned from the 171st episode of the Fightworks Podcast with Danny Dring and took to heart – prehab is just as important as rehab. Rehab is the foundation for your physical conditioning. Prehab, from what I understand it to be, is supplemental training specifically for that recovering body part to prevent future injuries. It’s addition exercises to your regular workout routine long after rehab is finished.

And finally, I learned from that it will probably be far more longer that I’d like to before I can really get back to doing what I want to be doing. Pre-injury-me, in January of this year, was in top shape. I could do a hundred sit ups, a hundred push ups and immediately spar for 30 minutes easy. And that version of me still got injured. Post-surgery-me has to work twice as hard just to get back into shape and unfortunately that’s nowhere near the same fitness level of pre-injury-me.

My physical therapist, Toru, who I met with a week before my surgery, told me flat out one year. To walk somewhat comfortably – one month, give or take a week. To jog – four months.  To play sports at a low level – around six months. It’ll probably be one year before I can normally train again. To go at full intensity, longer still, because, no offense to basketball players out there, BJJ is definitely not Basketball.

His exact words in English were, “Basketball, easy. Run, stop, shoot ball. Six months. Newaza, hard. Legs all over, push, pulling, lots of stress on knee. One year, better to wait.” Knows his stuff, helped lots of Judoka on their way back to the mats. I’m in safe hands.

There is the dire feeling to rush things, especially after surgery, but if there’s anything we learn from training jiu-jitsu, patience is the key to getting better.  There are no short cuts to excellence.  Obtaining a black belt takes hard work and perseverance .  Injury recovery is no different.

As I go currently through my own rehab, I wonder how long it’ll really take me. But you can bet I’m going to approach my recovery with the same work ethic and drive I did when I trained BJJ.

The way I see it; the better care you give your body now, the longer your body will be able to do things you want years later.

And I see myself doing jiu-jitsu for years to come.

A lateral view of my right knee via MRI. Unhappy face via me.

My ACL is indeed torn. I’m going into surgery on the 14th of this month.

Now that we got that out of the way…

First off I’d like to thank Caleb and Dan for their tireless effort and everything they do for the jiu-jitsu community. Most especially to Caleb, he is a personal inspiration to me that despite being sidelined by his injury and his surgeries – he has not let that be a hindrance in preventing him from remaining an active member of the BJJ family, ever supportive to the Mighty 600,000.

I’m also very grateful for Caleb’s interview with Danny Dring. No stranger to injuries, Danny Dring overcame major hip surgery to continue practicing the various martial arts he has attained black belt in, including BJJ. After listening to it recently for a second time, it is a particular episode of the Fightworks Podcast that has strongly hit home with me. I found it to be very insightful, encouraging and extremely helpful.

In the episode Danny Dring addresses many issues, most of which I knew very little about; finding the right doctor, dealing with our athletic mindset, rehab and the much looked over prehab aspect of injury treatment. I was also pleased to hear (but reminded of how clueless I was previous to my three-peat injury) that Danny’s recovery time to reach the same level of performance he had before took years to achieve.

I did so many things wrong and even when the interview was originally launched I paid no particular attention the first time I listened to it as I thought I was on the mend.

I highly recommend anyone with an injury – however minor or serious – to head on over to the Fightworks Podcast and listen to it.

Caleb can be reached at The Fightworks Podcast and on Twitter.

Danny can be reached at his site Living Defense and he has a book on injuries and recovery coming out entitled Stay in the Fight.

I re-re-injured my knee. Went through some major crazy thinking. I’m still going through it.

Although I have a full week to wait for the news as to the full extent of my ACL injury – so it make seem like I’m jumping the gun here, and regardless of whether or not I go into surgery – I’ve decided to stop jiu-jitsu for the rest of the year.

And as a result of that, this blog will go into hibernation.

A jiu-jitsu blog about a guy who can’t jiu-jitsu. Boring, if you ask me.

As much as I enjoy seeing the progress of my peers and friends, it’s really heartbreaking to be there on the sidelines and not be an active part of it.

I like the personal approach to coaching, working with or against my training partner, letting them figure out how to work the technique against me and then turning on the pressure, seeing how they’ll deal with it.

It’s the aspect of training jiu-jitsu aside from the actual training that I’ll miss the most. I’ll miss being a jiu-jitsu training partner than training jiu-jitsu.

There are a few loose ends to tidy up, so there probably might be an occassional blip here or there with a report on an OJJ event or a competition and, of course, what the heck is going on with my knee.

But for the most part, I’m going to be keeping a low to non-existent profile.

I’ll leave with a few personal messages.

For Carl – please do not feel bad about being the guy on the other end of an injury. Things rarely go the way we plan them, we only choose how we can deal with it. Any feeling of regret or apathy in my case is a waste of energy.

If anything you’ll learn how to precisely perform that sweep. Don’t make me sit out on the sidelines again for nothing. Next time you pull off that sweep make it clean and make it count!

In all seriousness, I’d like to say you have no idea of the jiu-jitsu practitioner I see in you. You have always been humble about your ability and because of it you’ve dwelled on your shortcomings rather than noticing your growth.

I am a silly low level blue belt, but trust me. You are not “close.”

You have already reached the next level. Own it.

For Seth – you’ve got a great handle on your training and what you need to improve. I would say to focus more on your sweeps and submissions from the guard.

Eddie Bravo has said that Big Guys would have incredible guard games if they spent as much time training that position as they do top positions. I don’t agree with a lot of what Eddie Bravo says but in this case I do.

For Oguni – Hey, don’t disappear from jiu-jitsu even though you’re farther away!

For Mike – Carl’s a good coach. You’ve got a great start in jiu-jitsu already.

For Esteban – it’s strange how things work out, just as you’re coming back to training, I get sidelined. I’m glad you’re back, because I’ve always thought of you being the sole reason Brent and I got to the level we’re at today. You pushed us hard and helped elevate our game beyond just drilling and the occasional sparring.

I know you’ll do the same for everyone while I recover (yet again).

For Brent – work on finishing that choke from the back mount and tighten up your stand-up game. Other than that, you’ll clean up your division easy. Well not super-easy easy. Two or three matches is tough, but you’re more than ready for them. I have that much confidence in you.

For Sam – sucks, but we’ll have to wait that much more longer before we can train together. I’ll still be around, most likely sticking a camera in your face as you’re sparring. But remember when I said that you’ll get your blue before I get my purple. I was right, you know.

Your sweeps are already awesome. You need a little fine tuning when it comes to finishing a few submissions, then with a few more competition wins I will be right.

For practitioners everywhere – if I would be so bold as to offer ridiculously simple advice to everyone who welcomes it; make the most of your time on the mats, be good to your training partners, keep drilling until the Star Trek catch phrase “resistance is futile” becomes your personal truth and, above all, take care of your knees followed by your loved ones.

Other than that, enjoy yourselves, so long and thanks for all the fish!

SUCKS TO BE ME!!

I wish I had pleasant news to post, but I don’t.

It would be nice to write about my triumphant return to jiu-jitsu practice where I got to cover all the techniques I wanted to and drill them to my heart’s content. Where old friends from my time in the quaint town of Kurogi met up once again and pushed each other to our limits.

Yes, it would most absolutely be great to post something good, something earthed in actively pursuing jiu-jitsu for a change.

Not this time.

***

Seth, Carl and I drove down to Kurume City on Monday, and we arrived at the Judo Hall Teppo Ebi trains in with a surprise. There were no parking stalls available, leaving us to park on the road – a no-no in Japan – but we were there for jiu-jitsu and we’d be damned if we were going to let parking be an issue for us.

But the best surprise was seeing good old Esteban again on the mats.

Esteban, who I have not trained with (but have met up with once in a great while off the mats), showed up to Teppo Ebi a changed man. Since last time, Esteban joined Judo at the high school he teaches at, injured his knee, had surgery, got better, got back into Judo and finally came back to his jiu-jitsu roots.

I really missed Esteban and it was good to see him on the mats again. He was a welcomed addition to our circle.

I had warned Seth and Carl about Esteban. Back in Kurogi, I was the quick, speedy one. Brent had strength and incredible top-game pressure. Esteban on the other hand could easily match what both Brent and I had to offer plus his height which made for terrible in-Esteban’s-guard moments. I’m happy to report that, yes, Esteban lived up to his hype.
.
After our typical (new to Esteban) Teppo Ebi warm up everyone broke into pairs and we all went over techniques we wanted to drill. I wanted to put in armbar drills ala new-Pat style. And I did. Two reps. With Seth and Carl. One at half resistance, then the other at full resistance. And I had to finish the armbars. And finish I did.

After that, Round Robin drill from closed guard.

I went in with Carl. He was on bottom. I was on top. I opened Carl’s guard rather quickly, stood up and was threatened with a sweep.

Carl would have had the sweep had I not braced myself with my leg.

I would still be able to walk up and down stairs with ease had I not braced myself with my leg.

The right leg. The one with the re-injured knee. Or should I now write the one with the re-re-injured knee.

Yup, third time’s a charm.

This is not a smile.
It’s the hatching of an evil plan to conquour the world
three times over!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

I met my requirements of flexibility and strength so it’s not like I rushed into things. In fact, I could even jump up on one of those giant rubber balance balls and stand on them like that clip with Andre Galvao and Leo Vieira.

I was never going to spar.

I was only going to start off with drills then work my way back up to full sparring one or two months later.

Round Robins are relatively safe.

***

Yesterday, I went to a brand new clinic, Emoto Knee and Sports Clinic, the same one Esteban went to for his knee injury. I went through the whole motions, filling out of the forms, medical history and x-rays. And got a proper MRI done on my knee (which should have been done on my knee in the first place).

Everything was brand new in this clinic, including the clinic. Top of the line rehabilitation and exercise equipment. They even had a very large, open and comfortable waiting room complete with plants almost two meters in height. In my previous clinics I went to I could jump up and touch the ceiling in the waiting room if I wanted to.

The doctor, Emoto-sensei, who happens to be the top doc in the clinic because it’s named after him, spoke really good English. He spent an entire hour with me, carefully going over my injuries and treatment plan.

He then spoke about going to workshops over in the states and constantly reads new articles and surgery techniques on knee injuries. He told me it’s good to keep learning new things even though you already know a lot (reminded me of the need to constantly improve our own jiu-jitsu).

As Emoto-sensei was going over my injuries, I immediately wished for a time machine to go back to February of this year when I injured my knee and seeing him for the first time instead of going to the very old and outdated clinic near where I live. That probably would have saved me a lot of frustration and pain.

Here’s what ails me (sorry, no pictures, too busy being in awe seeing the inside of my knee for the first time):

I have four points of injury in my knee. The first is a mild tear in my MCL at the femur attachment and the second one is a tear in my medial meniscus. Because of my MCL injury the lateral point where the femur and the tibia meet is my third injury.

These are mild and the treatment is conservative. Lots of rest, no sports activities. Which is what I’ve been doing everytime I’ve injured my knee.

Emoto-sensei wondered why I kept re-injuring my knee.

He suspects a torn ACL. My forth injury point.

He believes I must have had that injured ever since February and it’s the reason I keep spending time mending instead of training. On the MRI reading it wasn’t clear the extent of the injury so he didn’t feel it necessary to say I need surgery. There were a few cases – some he experienced first hand – where the ACL was injured but then somehow recovered to a point of acceptable flexibility. He wants wait and see where I fit.

I go for a re-check next week. Stay tuned.

Here’s a vid of good old Rumina Sato at the UFC 100 fan expo Grapplers Quest tournament.

What I picked up from watching the clip:

1) Never pull guard if you’re not following up with a sweep or submission.
2) Go for submissions like Rumina does – he’s a hungry dog and his opponent’s limbs are doggie treats.

Finally strapped on a gi for the first time since I re-injured my knee yesterday. Didn’t do any sparring. Didn’t do any drilling either. Just joined the conditioning warm ups and showed some techniques to the guys. That’s it.

I sort of kept up with the warm up. I wasn’t grunting and groaning, but I didn’t really do all of the reps either.  And I totally forgot about the gi!

Geez, it’s super hot ! Gah! After the warm ups, I just stood on the side and was constantly sweating for so long I soaked my gi.

Originally I wanted to work on some stand-up, but after Brent brought up not being able to finish Morimatsu-san in the back mount, I taught some escapes and my high percentage collar choke. I then had everyone do two minutes of positional drills from the back mount. One trying to submit, the other trying to escape. Kinda obvious.

The last time I did that particular drill I had finished my training partner four times within the two minutes we had for the drill. Everyone there had trouble finishing with the exception of Brent and Carl.

That along with asking the question of “do you guys know how to breakfall?” with the reply being, of course, no, made me realize just how green everyone else is compared to seasoned crispy leaf old me.

Eventually I did work on some stand-up. It was just drilling the entry to the throws and takedowns I wanted to work on, but I couldn’t follow through on them. Not without potentially hurting my training partner, Oguni, who has yet to learn how to properly breakfall.

I also wanted to practice jumping into guard, but didn’t really get a chance to. Everyone was tired and it was towards the end of the session when I finally got around to asking if they wouldn’t mind a 64 kilo heavy guy jumping up on top of them.

I’m still good on not sparring. Still building up my leg strength. I’ve gotten to the point that my legs are able to handle a good workout but the days following it are hard on my knee.  Other than that, I’m also getting better at kneeling, I can stay in seiza for more than a minute!  Huge when I couldn’t even do that a month ago!

I am getting close to really coming back.  It’s a nice feeling. 

Oh, btw, here’s Teppo Ebi’s new homepage.  You can see me kneeling with a smile on my face.

In order to signify proper achievement and rank in the martial arts I propose a new belt rank system, the Super Duper Action Belt Patch Series 3000.

It has long been established (thanks Jigoro Kano!) that universally the most respected belt rank is that of black belt. (the issue of red-black and red belts are for another post entirely) The black belt should represent in depth knowledge and superior skill above any other belt color within the respective combative art.

Unfortunately, with the advent of other martial systems adopting a wider color scheme, false and self promotions, more systems based on effectiveness, technical merit vs competitive skill vs ready4dastreetz practitioners, the current status of measuring skill in a martial art via belt color is severely faulty at best.

I submit the Super Duper Action Belt Patch Series 3000 as an attempt in clarifying the large skill gaps within the martial world.

Thumbs Up Patch
Your rank is genuine and official. Your peers agree that you have earned the belt tied around your waist. Be proud.

Two Thumbs Up Patch
You are an instructor, and your rank is genuine and official. Your students enjoy learning from you. You treat everyone with respect and you represent your martial art with great responsibility and honor. It is your hope that your students become better people through the study of martial arts rather than World Champions. Although both wouldn’t be bad.

Five Star Patch
You are deadly efficient in your combat system. You can handle a Professional Rugby Player OR a Firefighter OR both with ease. Anyone foolish enough to call you out on your skills are required to immediately apologise.

Question Mark Patch
You are clueless. You make up techniques as you go along. You attempt to be some kind of authority, feeling it is your duty to impart your knowledge on others less fortunate. Your martial roots are dubious. The authenticity of your rank and skill is in question.

Mickey D’s Patch
Upgraded from the Question Mark Patch. You train in a McDojo. Your rank is exactly what you paid for. Do not bother passing yourself off as an authority figure in any form of combat or martial manner unless you want members of Bullshido to come visit you and host a throwdown in your “school”.

Chicken Patch
Upgraded from the Mickey D’s Patch. You avoid all forms of confrontation related to the validation of your rank. You belittle all those that want you “exposed” most especially the “peers” in your art form.

BONUS: Special Jiu-jitsu Series Patches

Skull-n-Crossbones Patch
Competitions aren’t for you, however, you provide fierce competition for your fellow practitioners. Your intensity is unmatched. You’re a mat-sparring pirate and your booty are the appendages of your sparring partner. ARRRGGH, indeed.

Terminator Skull Patch
You have entered multiple tournaments. You are a competing machine and you will not stop.

Terminator Skull (with LED glowing eyes) Patch
You have fought in the Mundials or in ADCC. You say the word armbar and the nearest person to you taps out just to be safe.

Triangle w/Exclamation Mark Patch
You are a dick. No one likes to train with you. You hurt others deliberately and could care less about their safety as long as your status (read:ego) is securely in place.

Road Runner Patch
You cannot distingush between a light friendly roll or competition level sparring. It is all the same speed and intensity for you. Unlike the Exclamation Mark Patch, you spar at the level you do because you don’t know any better.

Learn how to tell the difference or you will be upgraded to the Triangle-Exclamation Mark Patch.

Pink Heart Patch
You have more than two years of training in a striking combat system. Thank you for sharing the love.

Double Pink Heart Patch
You have more than two years of training in another grappling system. You really love grappling.

Ninja Star Patch
Your skill is not represented correctly by the color of your belt. You are better than it seems. Stop sandbagging and get promoted.

OR… You like ninjas.

Smiley Face Patch
You train for the fun of it. Everyone in your academy enjoys rolling with you. You don’t mind tapping out more than others. You’re one of the few great training partners. Everyone flocks to you while they avoid Triangle-Exclamation-mark Patch guy. You are missed when you’re not in the academy.

Terminator Skull (w/ pink LED glowing hearts for eyes) Patch
You love the Terminator TV series – the Sarah Connor Chronicles and have no problem saying the title five times fast.

Green Four-leaf Clover Patch
You have not had a serious injury… yet.

Handle With Care Patch
You’re cool with everyone else if they don’t abuse their strength during sparring matches with you. Or you have a nagging injury and request that others take it easy with you.

Special ability: any of the Skull Patch practitioners can immediately serve as proxy for players sporting a Handle With Care Patch. Apologies to the fans of the Terminator TV series.