Fighter — cat_Lifestyle

"Safe" is such a relative term. Playing paddy-cake in a padded room could be unsafe to certain individuals, I'm sure. Really, it all depends on your definition of "safe". Are you going to die from jiu jitsu? No. Well...  actually, the possibility is there, but you have a better chance of dying from a lightning strike.

Dying aside, let's get one thing straight: Brazilian jiu jitsu is a martial (i.e. "fighting") art. As such, there's an unavoidable element of risk and potential for injury. Here's what you can expect: 

• You will get bruises, especially when you first start out and your body hasn't adjusted to the forceful grabbing by your opponent or the innumerable impacts of someone's elbows, knees and other random body parts. Don't worry, your body quickly adjusts and you'll stop bruising so easily after a month or two. If it doesn't, make sure you're getting enough vitamins in your diet. 
• You will get the occasional black eye from a stray knee, elbow or accidental headbutt. It happens. When you have two people rolling around on the floor, both trying to obtain a more dominant position and often moving in wild and unpredictable ways, odds are your face is going to get in the way. It may or may not result in a full-blown shiner, but you will get some discoloration. Concealer comes in handy if you're worried about going out in public.
• You will roll your ankle or strain some other ligament sometime during your career. If you don't, you've got some serous Luck O' the Irish on your side. Again, you and your opponent are moving around in sometimes unpredictable ways, so it will happen that you'll plant your foot or hand in an unstable position, allowing for the possibility that it will be rolled or twisted. When it happens, stop the roll, assess the damage, wipe away your crocodile tears and get it taken care of. 
• You may break something. Considering how many people are practicing the gentle art around the world, actually breaking something is exceedingly rare. It does happen, but this is either due to an extreme - and freak - accident, or because you didn't tap when you should have. Again, jiu jitsu is a martial art. The risk of breaking something is far higher when you're engaged in a fighting discipline, than when you're sitting on the couch watching television. Just get into the habit of tapping early and tapping often. 

Again, whether or not jiu jitsu is "safe" really depends on your definition of the word. If you're looking for a hobby or sport in which you won't have to worry about breaking a nail, you should probably look elsewhere. If you're looking for something that's combative but you don't want to be punched in the face on the daily, jiu jitsu is going to be that "safe" alternative. 

The beauty of Brazilian jiu jitsu is that you can always tap. Unless you're paired with a real disaster of a human being, everyone you train with will respect the tap. If you feel pain or you're unable to breathe, just tap. 

Train on... safely. Oss. 

At no other time do we - and every other e-commerce business - receive more returns than after Black Friday. We get it. Online shopping can be tricky, and things might not fit as you like.

However, returns are a hassle... both for you and for us. And on top of that, it's not the most eco-friendly practice, as this TED Talk points out. So we've decided to give you some tips to help you minimize your returns, improve your shopping experience, and keep more products out of the landfill. Read on...

Do Your Research

Especially during Black Friday, when there's this "rush" to omg-get-it-quick-before-they're-all-sold-out... it's easy to make impulsive buys without doing your homework about what's the best fit for you, or whoever you're buying for. The most common reason for product returns is - you guessed it - a wrong size. That's understandable. With online shopping, you can't "try on" anything... yet. I'm sure sometime in the future this might be a possibility. What you can do is research what size might be the most appropriate for you. There are many resources available in this regard: 

• Sizing guides - most brands/products will have a sizing guide. This should always be your first stop before buying an article of clothing. Check out both our provided sizing guide, as well as the brand's guide. 
• Reviews - After that, skim the reviews. See what previous buyers had said about the product, and particularly about its fit. Often some generous reviewer has included his/her height and weight, which gives you a very useful reference point when choosing your own size. 
• Customer Service - Customer service often gets a bad rap, but you should know that these brave guys and gals have heard it all, and answered it all, so they are highly knowledgable about appropriate sizing. Particularly at Fighters Market, almost all of our CS representatives train, so they really know their stuff when it comes to the fit of gis and training gear. 
• Social Media - Especially in the jiu jitsu community, there are a ton of online forums and Facebook groups where you can pose your questions about the fit or quality of certain brands. In my experience, people love to give advice, so you are bound to get any number of responses... some great, and some not-so-much, but hey, it's the thought that counts. 

Want vs. Need

Another major reason for returns is that the customer simply didn't want it anymore. This is the "want vs. need" dilemma. You've been there... you're browsing an online catalog and you see a cool rash guard that catches your eye. At that moment, you want it. It will look perfect in your collection, all your training buddies will "oooo" and "ahhh" over it. You gotta have it. You add it to your cart, click purchase, and done. It's yours. Except when that shopping adrenaline high wears off, you realize that you really don't need another rash guard... or maybe you need to pay your gas bill first. It comes, and you immediately send it back (after trying it on, of course, and getting all your sweaty armpit funk all over it). 

Fighters Market is a business, so we'd love to sell you as much stuff as possible, but we're also members of your jiu jitsu community. Not only do we want you to like and enjoy the products we provide, we also want you to be able to afford to keep living well and keep training hard. So before you buy, ask yourself: 1) can I afford this, 2) do I really need/want this, and 3) is there a possibility that I might return it? 

If You Really Must...

Now, you've done everything you can to prevent the dreaded return, but you find that you simply must do it. Here's how best to do it: 

• Please, for the love of Bob, don't wear it. Try it on, sure. But don't do it right after training, or a long day of burning through your deodorant, or right after you've just doused yourself in cologne. If an item returns to us with any kind of funk - good or bad - we can't sell it again. We wouldn't want to!
• Fold it back up as best as you can - yeah, we know there are some of you who can't even fold a hand towel - and return it in it's original packaging. Just because you don't want it doesn't mean that you should smush it up into a ball and return it like that. Don't be that guy. 
• FULLY read the Returns & Exchanges policies. This provides you easy-to-follow directions on how to return your item. You won't believe how many emails our poor, brave customer service reps get about returns, from people who are too lazy to look on the website. It takes less than a minute to read the return policies and fill out our return form. 

Just as recycling is becoming a norm - and not just something hippies do - we feel that being conscious shoppers should also become a norm, to keep as much returned items out of the landfill as possible... because the more we do to keep our planet healthy, the longer we - and our future generations - will be able to train jiu jitsu.

Train on... and shop wisely. Oss. 

Let's face it: jiu jitsu is an expensive hobby. First there are monthly membership fees, which can get pretty steep depending on where you live and which academy you're going to. Then there are the gis - plural, because you can't just have one - and the other gear that you need to train in. And if you're a competitor, add hundreds of dollars in registration fees, travel and meals. 

Ugh. 

So with all of that in mind, it would be silly not to look for ways to cut costs, where and when you can. One of the best ways is by scoring deals on your gis and gear. Here are a few ways that you can: 

Browse the Sale Sections

Almost every retail e-commerce business will have a sale section. We do. These sale sections serve important roles for businesses, because companies often have only a certain amount of warehouse space to hold all of their inventory. And new products - new gis and gear, which can take up quite a lot of space - are always coming out. So in order to make room for the new, companies have to get rid of the old... and quickly. They do that by marking down a lot of perfectly good products that either don't sell fast or which they have a lot of. Unfortunately, the most popular sizes are usually gone when they do this, but you can always cross your fingers and hope! Luckily, with our Sale Section, you can filter by size, so you don't have to waste any time discovering if something in your size exists. 

Coupon Codes

Make sure you follow your favorite brands on social media. Often, they will post special event coupon codes on their Instagram or Facebook, codes which they may not publish on their websites. Here at Fighters Market, we regularly post coupon codes for between 10-20% off of your entire purchase (with some brand exceptions, like Hayabusa). That means that you can often get a great deal on a name brand gi or article of no-gi gear at Fighters Market, even when the brands themselves aren't advertising a discount. Also, don't forget to sign up for newsletters. Companies love to gather customer emails - mostly to send future deals and advertisements - so in exchange, they often offer a coupon code for a certain percentage or dollar amount off of your first order. 

Holiday Savings

Here's a little secret: companies put a lot of effort into planning their holiday sales events. And each year they tend to start a little bit earlier than that last, banking on the fact that people usually plan their holiday gifting well in advance. Except for you procrastinators... There's no hope for you. Anyway, in order to take the best advantage of these savings - either for yourself or your loved ones - mark your calendar with these common sales days: Valentine's Day, Mother's and Father's Days, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and New Years. Start checking a week or two in advance of the holiday to see if they've posted about their holiday sales. 

Past Models

Keep an eye out for new gi or gear model updates. Companies love to put out new versions of solid favorites, and when they do, the past versions are often put on heavy discount. Unfortunately, you never know when a company will put a new version out - unless their marketing team is on-point and have been posting teasers about a new version - so it's hard to plan your purchase of past gi or nogi gear models. However, that only makes it more important to follow a brand or company on social media; so that you can spot those deals and snap them up before it's too late. 

We hope these tips will help you make your jiu jitsu journey a little more friendly on your wallet. 

Train... and shop... on. Oss. 

What's better than finding a new gi model that you really like? When a gi model that you've already loved launches their new and improved version! That's why we're super excited to announce that the long-awaited update of the Fuji Sekai is here.

Founded in 1969, Fuji Brand has been in the martial arts kimono business for a long time... so it's safe to say that they know their stuff. And while they are principally known as a judo brand - because that's how they started - they have also been producing durable, extremely reasonably priced, and high-quality jiu jitsu gis for a good while. Their standard Fuji Victory Single Weave is still a best seller, and you'd be hard pressed to walk into any jiu jitsu academy and not see at least a few of these puppies. 

However, the Fuji Sekai was Fuji Brand's first foray into producing a high-end gi, specially designed for the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu market. It was an instant hit, particularly in the competition scene. 

Now, Fuji has gone and made it even better. The Fuji Sekai 2.0 features the same quality construction and unbeatable durability as the previous model, including: a lightweight 450 GSM Pearl Weave cotton jacket, and triple-reinforced rip-stop pants made from 50% cotton and 50% polyester. The first version featured a huge rubberized world map in the interior of the jacket, paying tribute to the "Sekai" - meaning "world" in Japanese - of jiu jitsu. They got rid of that, responding to some reviews noting that the texture could irritate the skin sometimes. Instead, with the Sekai 2.0, they limited the iconic world map to the soft shoulder lining. Fuji also gave the Sekai a fresh updated look, without straying too far from their commitment to a classic, understated aesthetic. Removing the clunky embroidered "Sekai" across both shoulders, they added a very attractive vertical Sekai patch down the collarbone (with a matching patch down the left pant leg), the iconic Fuji Kilimanjaro logo embroidered on the opposite sleeve, the traditional Fuji logo across the left pocket area, and a cool block logo embroidered on the upper right hip area and back skirt of the jacket. 

All-in-all, we give this update two hooks up. Check it out for yourself! 



In jiu jitsu, we use our heads a lot. And I don't just mean figuratively, but also literally. We use our heads to base, to help pin, to drive into our opponent's chin in a gentle encouragement to let us pass, etc. And sometimes it just simply gets in the way... of a knee or elbow or even another noggin.

So, needless to say, we put our heads and necks at risk when we practice jiu jitsu. Here's what to expect - and hopefully avoid - in regard to those kinds of injuries: 

Cauliflower Ear

Let's start with hands down the most common affliction: cauliflower ear. If you haven't noticed the gnarled, chewed-up ears on some of the guys - and gals - then you obviously have never stepped on the mat before. Also called "wrestler's ear", cauliflower ear happens when the perichondrium (the layer of connective tissue between your skin and cartilage) separates from the cartilage of your ear, creating a pocket that quickly fills with blood and other bodily fluid. Untreated, abnormal cartilage forms on top of the normal cartilage, and the cartilage may even contract into itself, resulting in a lumpy, misshapen appearance. Cauliflower ear is typically treated by draining the fluid - often repeatedly - and applying pressure in an attempt to re-adhere the perichondrium to the cartilage. I say "attempt" because it's not a guarantee... I speak from personal experience. If you're really concerned about having pretty ears, you can always seek medical assistance to have your ear professionally drained and compressed. In either case, plan to take at least a week or two off training, as fresh cauliflower is incredibly tender to the touch. Of course, you can always try training through it by wearing wrestling headgear, but prepare to live in Guillotine City while you do.  

Lacerations

Jiu jitsu is not a striking sport... but, well, shit happens. At least once - and maybe more than once - in your career, you will get an inadvertent elbow or knee to the head, resulting in a laceration (a cut, in layman's terms). The most common places for these are: around the eyebrows, on the lips, on the chin, and on the forehead or scalp. These range from "simple" lacerations, in which the cut is relatively straight and the edges of the tissue can be easily lined up, to "complicated" lacerations, in which the edges are jagged and the cut is deep, requiring more than one layer of skin to be stitched up. If the cut is small and shallow enough, you can probably get away with a few Steri-Strips to close it up and allow your body to heal itself. However, when we do get hit in in jiu jitsu, it's usually hard enough to warrant going to urgent car and getting stitches put in by a medical professional. In either case, the first thing you should do is stop rolling, get off the mat, gently clean the cut with a mild soap and water, control the bleeding with a sterile gauze, and apply ice and pressure to reduce the swelling. 

Stinger

Common in pretty much all contact sports, a stinger occurs when the "neck is forced sideways and away from the shoulder or pushed backward... This sudden force pinches—or acutely stretches—the nerves in the neck." While it's certainly not as common as in rugby or football, or even other martial arts such as boxing and kickboxing, stingers can still happen in jiu jitsu, especially when training in the gentle art becomes not-so-gentle. When the nerves are pinched, it sends an "intense, electric-like pain" shooting down the back of the neck, and sometimes down the arm and into the hand, causing some numbness and weakness in that extremity. The effects can last anywhere from a few seconds or a few minutes, to even days. Ice and anti-inflammatories are the best on-the-spot treatment for stingers, but I shouldn't have to sound like your mother when I say: if you're experiencing pain and/or numbness for more than a couple days, you obviously should seek medical attention. However, even if it's less than a day, don't mess around with head and neck injuries, especially when they involve the nerves. The goal in jiu jitsu is longevity. So don't be a tough guy and go get it checked out. 

Concussion

On that note, if you get knocked in the head hard enough, or maybe a gnarly takedown sent your braincase crashing into the mat before you had time to roll or tuck your chin - PLEASE learn how to properly breakfall, kids - you are definitely at risk of a concussion. A concussion happens when the brain is basically thrown against the wall of your skull, either from direct impact or a whiplash-type scenario. Symptoms typically include: headache and blurred vision, irritability, difficulty focusing, and fatigue. Again, you don't want to mess around with head injuries, especially when it affects the brain. If your symptoms are bad enough (and note: they may not appear until days after the event), or if the impact knocked you unconscious, you might want to go to the hospital. Otherwise, rest - both physical and mental - is really the only thing you can do for it. Yes, you read that correctly: keep your butt off the mat for a while, at least a week or two. If you're suffering from an associated headache, you can take an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen, but don't take an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen and aspirin, as they can increase the risk of bleeding... you don't want that happening in your noggin.

Luckily, serious head and neck injuries are really relatively rare in the jiu jitsu community. But they do happen. The best way to prevent them is 1) taking care of your training partners, and not trying to kill them over some dumb ego trip, 2) trying your best to train in a controlled manner, and 3) avoiding any spazzy training partners, which are usually white belts, but exist at every belt level... even black.

Train on... Safely. Oss.