Fighter — cat_Lifestyle

When you get to a certain point in your career, you tend to forget a lot about those first few, extremely awkward and uncoordinated months of your jiu jitsu journey. For good reason. But this poses interesting challenges for a coach, or really any upper belt helping out a brand-spanking-new white belt, because you just can't assume he or she knows how to do certain things. For example, shrimping (aka doing a "hip escape"). Seriously now... when do we ever do anything remotely like it in our everyday life? The closest thing is Tyra Banks' "booty tooch" method for posing in pictures... which is still a stretch.

What doesn't immediately come to mind, yet is probably the most frustrating and awkward thing for a newbie to learn, is sparring. How do you do it? How do you start? What is your goal?

Fear not, young padawan. Here are a few things to keep in mind, in order to make your first sparring sessions as smooth as they can possible be. Read on... 

Your Starting Stance

Usually, your instructor will have you start on your knees. This is mostly to reduce the chances that you might get hurt when you are taken down, because like a wobbly little baby giraffe, you really aren't very agile yet. So you're on your knees... WRONG. On your butt? NOPE, leave that for the upper belts. My best advice is to get into combat base (one knee down, toes active, the other knee up and sitting down comfortably). Why? Because when you start on both knees, the very first thing you will do in order to go somewhere is: lift one knee off the mat. So why not just eliminate that step from the start?! That way you're in a much better position to move if your opponent makes a grab for you. If you do happen to start standing, 1) find a comfortable stance and be light on your toes, 2) when you move around, don't cross your feet (that creates a prime opportunity for takedowns), and 3) for the love of Bob, don't look at your opponent's feet. This last one not only limits your vision to just your opponent's feet, but also rounds your back and puts you in a terrible position to defend any kind of takedown or standing guillotine attack (actually one of my favorite things to do to fresh meat... muahaha).  

Your Grips

Even in no-gi, I can tell two seconds into a match if I'm facing a brand-new white belt by his/her hands. Baby white belts do this distinctive fisting of their hands until they go to grab something, and when they do grab, they don't usually grab and hold; they grab and release, even if it's really a decent grip. Then when their training partners grab them in turn, they don't do diddly-squat about that grip. To my dear white belts reading this: be conscious of your and your opponent's grips. Grips are everything in a fight. So... 1) Relax your fists. Shake them out if you have to. If you ball your hands into fists, what's the first thing you do when you try to grab your opponent? You relax them. So, just as with your combat base, eliminate that step and start with relaxed hands. 2) When you grab something, don't release it right away. Grab and hold. That usually makes your opponent redirect his/her focus, for the moment, toward breaking your grip, rather than executing whatever terrible torment he/she had planned for you. And 3) BREAK their grips, first and foremost. When a more experienced practitioner makes a grip on you, he/she usually has something in mind. Take that half second to at least attempt a grip break. You'll never regret it. 

Your Space

If you haven't already noticed, jiu jitsu is a very physical, close-contact sport. If you're a freak about personal space or a little shy about touching people... well, either you have to get over that - and fast - or jiu jitsu really isn't for you. Maybe try underwater knitting. In jiu jitsu, you will be getting into really close and intimate positions with your training partners... like, face-in-the-crotch-area kind of close. That's just the way it is. Now, assuming you're okay with all that, I have one really important rule of thumb for you to follow: when you're attacking, take space away; when you're defending, create space. For example, if you've somehow - by some stroke of luck or the kind generosity of your training partner - passed the guard, "smash him/her like a pancake" (as I say to my kiddos). You're attacking, so you can't give your opponent any space to escape. On the flip side, if your partner has passed your guard - with ridiculous ease, of course - don't proceed to hug him/her to you while you're on bottom. Frame up and shrimp like your life depends on it. Try to create enough space to get your legs between you and your opponent, and then keep them there. 

Your Goal

You're not going to have enough tools in your toolbox to do any submitting just yet, so let's just put that aside for a moment. Until you've drilled your basic submissions 100 times, at the very least, you'll be in no position to properly execute them in live sparring. And don't "just survive." I've heard many a white - and even blue belt - utter that phrase, and it's like fingernails on a chalk board to me. "Just surviving" automatically puts you in the wrong mindset to learn while you are sparring. My advice to you is: 1) Focus on getting to the positions you know - guard, side control, mount - and try to stay there. 2) If you're a few weeks into your journey, go ahead and try a couple techniques you've learned and drilled. Don't be afraid to try, even if it gets you into a bad position. And 3) Focus on what your opponent is doing to you. He/she is undoubtedly leagues ahead of you in technique, so you'll be able to pick up a few things here and there while you're sparring. Then after the roll - PLEASE DON'T DO IT DURING THE ROLL, because that's really annoying - don't be afraid to ask how he/she did something you really liked. 

I hope these few pointers will help you enjoy your first sparring sessions, and allow you to use them in a constructive manner. I can't stress enough: don't be afraid to try something. Don't be afraid to move. You're going to get your butt handed to you anyway, so why not maximize your potential for growth and learning? 

Train... and spar... on. Oss. 

Knees aren't the only things that take a real beating in jiu jitsu. Considering how much you use and rely on your arms in jiu jitsu - and how many attacks there are to this particular appendage - those puppies can be pretty vulnerable to a host of different injuries and afflictions. 

Read on to learn about the most common elbow injuries you might encounter and what you can, or will, have to do about it...

Bursitis 

Bursitis is the inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs, called bursae, that act as cushions at the joints, helping to decrease friction between moving tissues, such as bone, muscle, tendons, and skin. Bursitis is often caused by repetitive minor impacts - oh so common in many sports - but can also result from more serious trauma to the area. Symptoms include rapid swelling around the joint that is also warm and tender to the touch. Bursitis will usually clear up with rest, icing, elevation, and over-the-counter inflammatories, but more serious cases can be drained, or injected with corticosteroids. Some athletes are still able to train with it, but because it is so painful to the touch and jiu jitsu involves a lot of elbow-to-ground contact, the best option is to rest until it clears up.

Tendonitis

Similar to bursitis, tendonitis can also be caused by repetitive movements, can be accompanied by swelling (though not always), and is quite painful... at least until you warm up, when it fades to a dull ache. There are two types, depending on which tendon it afflicts: lateral epicondylitis, or "tennis elbow," and medial epicondylitis, or "golfer's elbow". Aside from rest, ice and pain killers, there's not too much else you can do on your own, and may in fact be all you need to do. However, for more serious cases, you can see a medical professional for a corticosteroid shot, Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment - in which they take a sample of your own blood, spin it really fast to separate the platelets and good stuff, then inject it back into the affected area - physical therapy, dry needling, or ultra-sonic treatment (to remove tendon scar tissue). If you have to resort to surgery, you probably have a more serious issue than just tendonitis. 

Pinched nerve

Pinched nerves at the elbow - also called "ulnar nerve entrapment" (oooo fancy) - are also relatively common in jiu jitsu and other sports in which the elbow moves repetitively and in unpredictable ways. In fact, the "most common place for compression of the nerve is behind the inside part of the elbow," according to WebMD. Common symptoms include: numbness and tingling in the ring finger and little finger and weakening of the grip. You can typically treat it pretty well with anti-inflammatories (corticosteroid shots are not suggested due to risk of nerve damage), bracing or splinting your elbow, and "nerve gliding exercises." 

Sprains and Strains

Oh yes... no guide on sports injuries is complete without mentioning sprains and strains. What's the difference? A sprain is the stretching or tearing of the ligaments (the bone-to-bone connectors), while a strain is the stretching or tearing of the muscles or tendons (the bone to muscle connectors). Spains and strains occur when a particular part of your body moves beyond its natural range of motion... armbars anyone? Both show very similar symptoms - pain, swelling, limited ability to move the afflicted area - but sprains are typically accompanied by a "pop" sound or feeling when the injury happens, and will include bruising, and strains are often accompanied by muscle spasms. Treatment for both is often just RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation), but see a medical professional if it feels pretty serious. 

Dislocation

Not quite as common as sprains and strains, but dislocations of the elbow can happen. And it's not just the result of a wicked armbar - that you may or may not have had too much ego to tap to - but also if you're getting swept or taken down hard and you plant your hand into the mat, instead of taking the fall. In technical terms, a dislocation happens when the "bone is pulled or pushed out of place." It can be a "partial" dislocation, or a "complete" dislocation, and can range from simple (no major bone injury), to complex (sever accompanying bone and ligament injury) or severe (where even the blood vessels and nerves have been compromised). Treatment? Go to the emergency room. And after they're done with you, take a break from the mats for a little while. Don't mess around with dislocations, especially if you want to have a long jiu jitsu career. 

Fractures

Last, but certainly not least: fractures. I must stress that jiu jitsu is not some kind of paddy-cake sport. Even in the most careful of situations, accidents happen. Elbow fractures can "result from a fall, a direct impact to the elbow, or a twisting injury to the arm," all of which are oh-so-common in the practice of jiu jitsu. Just as with sprains, fractures are accompanied by pain, swelling, bruising and stiffness around the elbow... so it'll be hard to tell at first that it's a fracture rather than a sprain, unless it's a full-on break or "open fracture" (when the bone is protruding from the skin). The best thing you can do is go to the ER and have a professional check it out. Yeah, it will cost a pretty penny - and they might order a CT scan to be sure, which will cost even more pretty pennies - but it's a small price to pay for ease of mind and/or appropriate treatment. 

Once again, don't just rely on your - or my - WebMD skills, no matter how ninja they might be, to diagnose elbow injuries from impact or falling. If in doubt, get it checked out by a licensed medical professional. The sooner you know for sure what the problem is, the faster you'll be able to fix it, and the sooner you'll be back on the mats. 

Train on... safely. Oss.

Here at Fighters Market, we pride ourselves on being the best source for gis, gear and apparel in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu market. A large part of what makes us successful in doing that are the people behind the scenes who make all the magic happen. They know what BJJ customers like, need and want... because they ARE practitioners and athletes themselves!

We'd like to take a moment to recognize the main man behind it all - the guy whose vision brought Fighters Market from a small inventory of products run right out of his garage to the leading international e-commerce business it is today: Bruno Munduruca. 

Just recently, at the IBJJF World Master Championships in Las Vegas, Bruno was recognized as the number two ranked black belt athlete in the Master 2 division... that's number two in the WORLD! He already has his eyes set on the number one spot this coming year, but considering he received his black belt little more than a year ago... what a remarkable achievement! 

Few people in the sport can appreciate how difficult it is to balance being a businessman, a family man, and a high-level athlete all at the same time. For a long time, Bruno dedicated most of his time to the former, but now that he's built a strong business - arguably the best online market for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gis and gear in the industry - and gathered a solid team behind him, he's finally had more time to dedicate to his passion. 

And it's been paying off. In the last year, he's been consistently hitting the top of the podium in IBJJF tournaments around the globe, and has even racked up double gold wins at some of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments in the federation, including the European Championships.

Congratulations Bruno, and we look forward to seeing what the next year brings! 

Although Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a male dominated sport - and will be for the foreseeable future - the female population is still quite significant, and growing rapidly. Odds are you will train with a woman or girl at some point in your early career. Here's a little cheat sheet of things to do... and not to do...

Remember the size-strength differential

Most men who train jiu jitsu are generally bigger and stronger than the women on the mat. And even if they do happen to be the same size, a man will still be far stronger than a woman... by two and sometimes three-fold. That's just a fact. This is why women tend to pick up technique at a faster pace. They basically have no choice. They can't rely on strength to get them through challenging situations, whereas a man in the same situation might be able to blow out of a submission or force a sweep. For the most part, jiu jitsu enables a smaller, weaker person to prevail over a bigger, stronger opponent, but when both parties have an understanding of jiu jitsu, the odds often tilt again in favor of the stronger opponent. So remember, when you're getting your butt handed to you by someone of the "fairer" sex... yes, you can hulk out of a submission or overpower her technical attacks, but it will neither do your nor her jiu jitsu any good. 

Treat her with the same respect you would a male training partner

There is an hierarchy in jiu jitsu, and your belt color indicates where you are in it. The most important thing to understand is that your level in jiu jitsu is determined by how much knowledge you've acquired... not by how many people you've tapped. That female purple belt in the academy has just as much experience and knowledge as that male purple belt. So be conscious of how you treat her and what you say to her. Would you do the same with a male purple belt? If the answer is no, just don't do it. For example, you wouldn't say "good job" to a higher ranked male training partner and risk sounding condescending? Probably not. So don't say it to a higher ranked female training partner. 

Keep the drama off the mat

When you put a bunch of people with shared passion together, it's just natural that sparks will fly somewhere in the mix. We're only human. But it's not cool to act on those feelings while you're still on the mat. Whether you're testing the waters to see if she's interested, already in the midst of a steamy romance, or you're in a full-blown tiff with your significant other... keep it off the mat. The mat is where you and your teammates go to learn, train, and often to get away from whatever craziness life is throwing at them. The last thing they need is for "crazy" to infiltrate their sanctuary. Not only that, but if said woman does not reciprocate your feelings, you may make things very awkward for her if, or when, she has to partner with you. 

Especially if you're a lower belt, your female training partner has a lot to offer you. As I mentioned before, she will likely be far more technical than many male training partners, because she has never had the luxury of strength to compensate for any lack in technique. As long as you treat her with respect and as a fellow teammate, and as long as you be conscious of your size and strength relative to hers, you'll find she will be one of the greatest resources in your own jiu jitsu journey. 

Train on. Oss. 

Not everyone has aspirations of being a sport jiu jitsu superstar... that's not why we started jiu jitsu in the first place anyway, right? But it'd be a shame if you didn't try it at least once in your career. Exposing yourself to the unique stresses of the competition mat not only grows your jiu jitsu, but it also gives you a fresh view into yourself, particularly your vulnerabilities and your strengths. 

However, not all jiu jitsu tournaments are created the same. Their size, prestige and rulesets all differ a bit, so you can pick and choose which one suits your tastes. No need to waste energy looking them up... we've listed all the major ones below: 

IBJJF - The International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation is the oldest and one of the most prestigious promotions in our list, featuring large and small events across the globe. In addition to their yearly World Championships - both gi and no-gi - and their major continental events - the Brazilian, European, Pans and Asian Championships - they also offer more local "Open" events held in major cities around the world, as well as a huge event exclusively for competitors age 30 and above: the World Master Championship (which also happens to be one of their biggest events, with nearly 4,500 competitors in 2017). As the oldest competitive jiu jitsu promotion, they have set the standard for most points-based tournament formats. 

ADCC - The ADCC World Submission Fighting Championships is the oldest and most prestigious no-gi - well, "submission fighting" - events in the world. Launched in 1998 by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of then-UAE leader Sheik Zayed and founder of the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (hence, ADCC), the event is held every two years and features the top wrestlers, judoka, jiu-jitsu and sambo practitioners in the world. These fighters had either won an international ADCC qualifying event or were invited due to their notoriety in the sport. The ADCC ruleset is an interesting mix of sub-only and points, in which the first half of the match is sub-only (although competitors can still receive negative points for pulling guard during this period) and the second half is points-based, but calculated differently from the IBJJF. 

Fight2Win - What began as a small local Colorado tournament has become one of the most sought-after live event super fight promotions in the United States. Considered "the biggest party in grappling," Fight2Win brings UFC-style excitement to the jiu jitsu mats, where they feature one-on-one match-ups between local competitors. With the Fight2Win, you don't have to be a superstar to get a spot on their card... but you do typically have to be at least purple belt and above, or a juvenile. Fight2Win is a submission-only ruleset, under a specified time-limit, with three judges who will determine the result in case neither fighter gets a submission. Check out their fighter application here.

UAEJJF - The United Arab Emirates Jiu Jitsu Federation is basically IBJJF's biggest competitor on the world scale. As its name suggests, the UAEJJF was founded in the UAE in 2009, where several UAE big wigs - including Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahayan - had discovered and fallen in love with jiu jitsu, and subsequently began a national project to install jiu jitsu into all of the country's public schools, as well as create a professionalized promotion of jiu jitsu events around the world. Like the IBJJF, the UAEJJF is a points- based tournament, but unlike the IBJJF, the UAEJJF offers prize-money for athlete who make the podium. 

EBI - Launched in 2014 by the founder of the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system, the Eddie Bravo Invitational is a 16-person submission-only tournament. One of the few no-gi only tournaments, participation is by invitation only and the event is broadcast live on UFC FightPass. The EBI also features a unique format designed to maximize the chance of submissions: each match is 10-minutes, and if no submission is achieved by the end of time, the competitors go into overtime, where they each have to be put into a "dead-zone" position - spiderweb or back control - from which they have to escape. The competitor who is able to submit, and avoid being submitted in return, wins. If neither competitor submits during three overtime rounds, the winner is he/she who has the shortest accumulated escape times. Many smaller sub-only promotions have adopted this format. 

Polaris - Founded by the guys at Scramble Brand and Tatami, Polaris is Europe's longest-running professional grappling event, featuring both gi and no-gi matches. Polaris is invitation-only and features some of the best jiu jitsu competitors from around the world. Matches are 15 minutes long and submission-only. However, if a match fails to end with a submission, a panel of judges decide who wins via a tiered set of considerations, in which submissions attempts and aggression are weighed more heavily than positional control. This format makes for strong incentive for exciting matches.  

Copa Podio - A Brazilian-based super fight promotion, the Copa Podio is a live super fight event that pits ten of jiu jitsu's top athletes against each other for a grand prize. Instead of a traditional bracket system, Copa Podio uses a round-robin system, in which the fighters are split into two 5-person groups, and everyone in that group has to fight each other to determine who advances to the finals to face-off against the winner from the other group. The matches are six-minutes long and use the IBJJF ruleset, with the winners earning match points - five for a submission, three for a win by points, two for a win by advantages, and one to each fighter in the case of a draw. 

Absolute Championship Berkut - The ACBJJ jumped on the event bandwagon in 2017, featuring both open championship events around the world, as well as professional super fight events. Notably, the ACBJJ does not allow women to compete in their events. 

Five Grappling - Five Grappling is a California-based promotion that features both a professional super fight event, called the "Five Super League", as well as local tournaments held in states around the U.S. 

Sport Jiu-Jitsu International Federation - The only Brazilian jiu jitsu federation that has recognition from an international sport organization - the Association for International Sport for All - the SJJIF also boast both continental and country-level associations, which hold events across the globe. 

In addition to these more prestigious promotions, there are a ton of promotions that hold smaller, local tournaments in various regions across the United States. Entry fees are relatively inexpensive, and offer great opportunities to get some fights under your belt, especially for white belts to purple belts. Some of these are: 

• North American Grappling Association (NAGA) - across the U.S. 
• American Grappling Federation - across the U.S. 
• Fuji BJJ Championship Series - across the U.S.
• Jiu Jitsu World League - mostly Western U.S. and Texas
• SubCon - Southern California
• New Breed - across the U.S., but mostly the Southeastern U.S.
• Copa American Grappling Championships - Southeastern U.S.
• Grappling Games - Midwest and Eastern U.S. 
• Grappling Industries - across the U.S. and Australia
• US Grappling - Eastern U.S.

Train... and compete... on. Oss.