The Devastating Reality Of Coaches In BJJ

Chances are we love our BJJ coaches and they are one of the sole reasons we are still in the game. But could your coach inadvertently be setting a bad example? We have talked about why wearing injuries on your sleeve as a jiu jitsu practitioner is a bad thing, but what about when it's the coach? 

The answer: double bad. 

Tune in here to learn why coaches need to lead by example and must always be taking care of themselves for performance and teaching on the mats.
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Chapters

• 0:33 Coaches: The Most Injured People in Jiu-Jitsu
• 2:56 Why Coaches Neglect Their Injuries
• 7:22 Leading By Example: The Influence on Students
• 16:47 Essential Gym Equipment for Rehabilitation
• 23:03 Coaching While Injured: Still Valuable

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Essentially, at this point the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power? I'm ready, jt.

Speaker 1: 0:33

We talk plenty on this show about injuries in Jiu-Jitsu. We do a lot. I'm pretty sure that those listening understand there are injuries in Jiu-Jitsu. There's plenty of injuries in Jiu-Jitsu. But today I want to talk about the most injured people in Jiu-jitsu. And it's not the grapplers. Who? Who is the most injured person in jiu-jitsu? It's the fucking coaches. Oh, what coaches are?

Speaker 1: 0:55

The most injured people in jiu-jitsu and here's a statement I'm going to make is that they are the worst at managing their injuries. How dare you and you know what this does, please. The shit rolls downhill and it influences their students to also be shit at managing their injuries. It's kind of true. So here's the problem. We know that as you go further down the path with Jiu-Jitsu, you do accumulate more damage. Yes, it's just a part of it. Any sport, the longer you're in it, more damage is accrued. Coaches have usually been in it for the longest time in the gym. Yep, um, coaches are also sort of often have the most chaotic training practices they can, because to be a great coach and to be dedicated to your students and running the business and doing all that you generally can't be. You can't be optimizing for your ideal training setup for yourself, you're doing it for for the students, right? I mean? And I think all coaches sort of go through this where they're like, oh fuck, like my own training's fallen off a bit. Generally speaking, they find a way to manage it. It's like I jump in on these classes and whatnot. But I think that thing of a coach making themselves available to roll when the numbers are uneven you mentioned this the other day. Actually, you were like, so we were just having a conversation over coffee the other week and Joe's like, oh yeah, like it was uneven numbers and so I had to jump in, which you hadn't really planned to, but through obligation of being there and you want everyone to have a good time. That was not to your benefit, right, like you know. And so because you feel that obligation to serve your students, which is like an honorable thing, it's, it's fucking great. You self-sacrifice, self-sacrifice. True, you're doing it for them, but then, as a result, your neck might get a bit jacked or you're not properly warmed up and maybe you should be resting at that time, but you fucking don't. That's right, and I thought coaches pay a price for this. They fucking do so.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Quick chat now. I want to go over kind of the three main reasons why coaches need to change their approach to injury. Yes, uh, and I've got like there's pretty clear actions off this and I'm sure you're going to have some input. Yes, sir, the first one is go and see a fucking physio or a health specialist or whoever that person is that's in your network that deals with biomechanical injuries, body work, because you're showing up at jujitsu and I'm going to talk to you as a, as a student who has been trained by coaches over the years many coaches who have been carrying injuries has been trained by coaches over the years many coaches who have been carrying injuries. Your students get sick of you talking about your fucking injury. That's been dragging on for months and months. Yeah, um, your students also, like, subconsciously, feel that you're not able to train with them the way that maybe you once did. Yeah, right, they. They want to have a hard role with you. They want to. They want to feel like they're being tested by the boss. Yeah, uh, they want to have a hard role with you. They want to. They want to feel like they're being tested by the boss. Yeah, uh, they missed that, um.

Speaker 1: 3:47

But as we've sort of already identified, they also subconsciously take your example as well. I should just ignore my injuries too. Yeah, this is so tough because I I had this with my Russian coach. If him, you know, like I admire him so much and I still do Like I I look up to him, but this guy is the master of self abuse. He'd just talk about how he wasn't warm and he's like, yeah, I'll just press this 48 kilo kettlebell.

Speaker 1: 4:14

You're like why You're a coach. You know that's not good and you know that's your bad shoulder, but like you just felt the need to. You know what I mean Like it doesn't make sense and I, the way I think about it, it's almost like with kids and I don't have any kids at the moment, but having I have my parents and I look up to them. I respect them a lot, but obviously they did the best they could, as at the time, with what they had. But you do copy your parents' behavior, even if they tell you eat your vegetables, but then you don't see them eating vegetables. You're like should I eat my vegetables? It doesn't seem like you do it, man, and really it is monkey, see, monkey do. In this situation it's 100% that, yeah, you can't like.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And this is the beauty of jiu-jitsu is that there is a real what's the word. There's an equality to j to jujitsu in that usually uh, except for maybe some of the big kind of franchise operations but there is this equality to. This is what the coach does, like this is their game and how they do jujitsu and this is what you're doing and that's what your coach is teaching you. It's not like, hey, here's the techniques for you guys, but I do this other, more advanced shit. Of course, beginner programs and and stuff are going to have beginner techniques, but at a certain point it's like we're all doing the same jujitsu together.

Speaker 1: 5:33

But yeah, it's with the injury thing, it's like the coach will tell you hey, you should go and deal with that, and you're like can't? You're not, yes, but I think this is a tricky, tricky thing. I was speaking to a coach the other day who hurt their knee. They feel it's bad advertising to because they weren't wearing their knee brace in class, right, right because they think it's a bad look, because if someone comes in to sign up for jujitsu and they, they see that you got a knee brace on, they're like I don't know if I should be doing this. You know, like it's we, we all know it's part of the game and it's so strange that there's like this, like it's like an inherent shame in the game, that you get injured. It's like no, this is fucking full on contact sport and you do cop injuries and I believe there is a weird self neglect that is acceptable for coaches because it's in the name of their students. Yeah, but but really, this is where it's like you can't, you can't help others swim if you're drowning, that's. It's just fucking that simple. So you've got to take care of you to be able to be empowered to help others.

Speaker 1: 6:42

And here's the the basic mass on this go see a physio. Recommendation is, like you know, it costs you money to go and see a physiotherapist. Right, it's going to cost you 125 bucks. But if you don't do that, let's look at like, say you do you pay that you go in for another few appointments, you get a little rehab thing, get some needling massage and before you know it. Three weeks pass and the injury is no longer a thing. Flip on that and say you don't see the physio.

Speaker 1: 7:08

The injury drags out for weeks, months. That affects your training for weeks, months. That affects your energy as the coach in the gym. The pain the students feel that the class isn't as enjoyable because you're in a dark mood all the fucking time, because you're fucking going through a shit period. It, you're fucking going through a shit period, you know like it's, this whole compounding thing and then, yeah, potentially the injury becomes something more serious which requires greater sums of money to be spent down the track. Surgery, yeah, all of that, that's right, like it. Just it has the power to really make the next fucking chunk of your life shithouse and that's going to affect your business. So best to like deal with it as early as possible in the best way possible, so that it's done. Yes, definitely.

Speaker 1: 7:46

Um, this follows into the second point, which is to lead by example. We've already kind of touched on that, but I think it deserves having sort of mentioned on its own, which is that your students really do emulate what you do, and I mean, we know this from being in the gym personal trainers for a long time. People come to you to learn strength and flexibility and how to train and all that stuff. But what I observed sort of only really clicked for me maybe about five years ago is that often the people that come to train with you, they actually just and this is going to sound really weird they actually just want to be you, yeah, and they want to know what do you eat for breakfast? Yeah, and do you use a journal? What journal do you use? What kind of coffee do you have? Hey, are they cool shoes? Should I get some of those? Yeah, yeah, like, and you start to realize, fuck, I've actually got. I want this. Yes, right, and that's what got them in for the session, cause that's what you were offering.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Now, sure, people are there for jujitsu and all those things, but the coach really does become that person that students will idolize, like, idolize in many ways, and so you are a person of influence and they want to. They also want to be great at jujitsu and they want to be confident, like you are, and they want to be nice and friendly and fucking happy like you are. And so your influence extends well beyond what's being taught right now in the class. And I think the biggest challenge there is that when you're a coach, you do end up spending a bit of social time with your students and, just like anything, as we grow up, like you know, we learn more about our parents. We spend time, we come to understand them more as people, not as these people up on a pedestal, and either maybe we get on with them or maybe we don't, because we're like, oh, you know, and this is the biggest challenge, because you don't.

Speaker 1: 9:49

I think we don't think of this when we become coaches. We think of our passion for jiu-jitsu or whatever we might be teaching, but we don't realize we're putting our whole life on display. Because they see you having a heated conversation, they're like, oh, who's that? It's like, ah, you know my landlord or these different things, and you're like, oh, that's oh, okay, that doesn't seem very positive and over time, this does affect how you are perceived and received. And it's not to say we're saints or you have to even pretend to be like that. Your students, you looking after you and having a practice of that very in a in a subconscious way, lets the student know that they also should be doing that. Yeah, and if that's not communicated in your behavior, then what the fuck like? You're not going to take financial advice from someone who's broke? Yeah right, they're just not showing you what you came for.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Now, I believe this is a byproduct of commitment to the art. People who just like they're all about jujitsu, so because they're so all in on jujitsu, they've neglected other aspects of their life. So people are like, wow, they're so wonderful at jujitsu, they must be great at everything else, and that's just not true. But I think correct me if I'm wrong here, joe it wouldn't even take more than, say, 5% of a person's time or effort to start to do this thing of looking after themselves better. Just look after yourself, hold yourself to a higher standard, go and see a fucking physio when you, when you fucking feel that shit snap, and to do 10 minutes of rehab work because you're already in the fucking gym anyway. Yeah, you're living there, right? Um, yeah, the. I think to the the what like?

Speaker 1: 11:46

What we fail to realize is that like well, two parts to this one the under. Most academy owners aren't happy with the performance of their academy. Most are going to be potentially right, I would say. I would say most it's their gym is not a capacity they're not super stoked with where it's at, it's okay. Well, by uh allowing this culture to only become further entrenched, then you're shooting yourself in the foot because your students are copying more injuries and they're not doing anything about it and they're taking long chunks of time off. Probably more people are canceling than would have had to have canceled if they had have dealt with their injuries. Right, yep, um, but also like, fuck, I lost my train of thought there. That's right, um, but my point is that, like, so many benefits come from doing this thing yes, right, and so do the fucking thing.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Other part on that that I want to mention is like, think of this as an example coach's got an injury, everyone's aware. But coach's got a bad elbow, coach's been talking about it for you, everyone. And then coach is like, ah, fuck, it's time to roll, put some time. Fuck, I'm jumping in tonight, right. And you're like, oh, you're rolling tonight. And they're like, yeah, fuck it, just gonna fuck it. You know, I haven't trained, haven't rolled for two weeks. And you're like, oh, you're rolling tonight. And they're like, yeah, fuck it, just go Fuck it. Yeah, I haven't trained, I haven't rolled for two weeks. And you're like, oh, awesome, coach is in, yeah, and then coach rolls. And then you're like how's your roll? Oh, it's fucked, it's really bad, yeah, yeah, looks like I have to take another couple.

Speaker 1: 13:09

But the other thing it tells you is that, like coach is really irresponsible when it comes to taking care of themselves. Like it actually communicates both something good and something bad. Yes, and I would say that the juice is not worth the squeeze. They already know you're a tough cunt. They already know you're committed to the thing because you show up here every fucking day to teach us.

Speaker 1: 13:28

So why not just be responsible when you go to a commercial gym? There is a very small percentage of people there that actually know what they're doing. Most people are just wasting their time, and this is why we created the Bulletproof for BJJ app. It's so that everyday grapplers like yourself could benefit from our multiple years of experience and not waste time when they go to the gym. So if you like the idea of becoming strong and mobile and being better resistant to injuries on the mats, get the Bulletproof for BJJ app and start following a proven plan in the gym. You get a 14-day free trial and we offer a 100% money-back guarantee To start the free trial. All you got to do is go to the app store, search Bulletproof for BJJ and get the app. We will see you on the inside. Yeah, I think it's difficult.

Speaker 1: 14:18

Most coaches I know most black belts feel that not rolling for any reason is soft. It indicates a lack of commitment to jujitsu. Whatever you say about self-preservation, you know, like as if to show that level of weakness, that you're human or that you can't roll because you're a black belt, that then makes that hurts your brand as an instructor Deep values yeah, like, oh, that's a bit fucking soft. You know, like, actually the thing that occurred to me which was very interesting, with um Lachlan Giles, actually after he had done a fair bit of wrestling training with Talgut, and Talgut was um, our wrestling coach, who's was one of the best wrestlers ever out of Uzbekistan but wrestled for Australia. Eventually he was all about the smart training and he said to Lockie, you should train a bit less.

Speaker 1: 15:17

So it was kind of at a critical point in the training. I'd say to Lockie, are you training later? And he's like no, I was like what? You're not training twice a day? He's like no, I trained this morning, I'm good, and he was totally fine with that, yeah, and he would stop a round or two early and I was like, oh, do you want to go? And he's like, no, I'm done for today. And he just had really good discipline about it. He didn't feel self-conscious, you know, and I was like, oh, I was actually more impressed by his ability to stop, because I have such a compulsion to like, no, I gotta, I gotta, just leave it all on the mat.

Speaker 1: 15:53

And actually it's, it's incredibly like, yeah, it's quite undisciplined, because I think the difficulty is obviously your student is there and you want to satisfy the student's need, but you also have to teach multiple students across multiple sessions, day in, day out, and this is the thing the student doesn't see. You've got to show up at 6 am the next day. You've got to show up at lunch, you've got to be everything, which is so. That's why being a coach is so demanding and if you're going to have longevity there and you're going to show up in a consistent way, it's got to be a little bit more moderate, which is so hard to, especially when you have a great passion for jujitsu, which is, I think, every coach's kind of calling. Is that passion, yeah, great.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Third point here, and this is a real practical one have a basic equipment package in your gym. Yes, now, most academies probably don't have the luxury of having, like, an area for strength conditioning, so we're not talking about that though, though that would be sick. But let's say you've just got this small kind of room and you've got your mats there, and that's sort of all there is. You can still have a few items of equipment that live in there that are going to allow you to do the majority of any kind of rehab work you're going to need to, and it's not going to get in the way, it's not going to damage your mats, and it's also going to be an asset for your students to come into the gym when they're injured. Rather than having to fuck off to some other place and not come to your gym, they can come and do it alongside the class. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1: 17:27

I think you see it more now like a roller, like there might be a roller or two, like a softer one and a harder one, a layer of dust on it, but no, no, they do get used. You do see it Like it's not always everyone using it, but there's a couple people use it. Or a lacrosse ball or a massage ball. Sometimes you see a band hanging off a pull-up bar or like you're like, oh, someone's using that. Or there might be a small basket or something that gets put away that has like the kind of booty band for the knees for abduction, or I do believe that there is a bit more of a shift in the jiu-jitsu community that we are starting to embrace or open up about the nature of jiu-jitsu, including injuries.

Speaker 1: 18:10

Therefore, as a retention method and I think we can talk about this as, like you were saying, instead of someone going somewhere else, right, I believe the hardest part about people getting injured in Jiu-Jitsu coach or anyone is that it breaks that link and that if you're a coach, you're always trying to include people, right, and as a business owner like retention's number one, like you work so hard to get these people in. Once you've got them, you want to keep them. Giving someone an excuse to come to the gym, uh, to do their rehab, keeps them connected and so in that way, like that's that's a nice way for them to stay seeing their mates as well as looking after themselves. And if they, if you say, hey, I'm doing my knee rehab too, come in before class and we'll kind of do it together. You know, I think this idea. It makes people feel less alienated when they get injured or they feel they're not like, oh, I don't want to show weakness. They're like, oh, no, I'm part of the crew now, yeah, yeah, because without that, the kind of unspoken belief is that, well, I'm only part of this community if I can do jujitsu, so I can go hard. Yeah, but if you're not able to like, if you're not able to roll, then you're not part of the community. And that's where, like, oh, I'm not rolling at the moment, so I'll just wait till I can roll again, then I'll go back. Whereas, like no, you can be in this community if you roll, if you want to sit off to the sides and stretch, if you want to do your rehab, like, that's culturally, that's what this is, you know. And so, yeah, like it's, it's um. You mentioned the retention thing. Um, most gyms don't have a retention process. Yes, they're not running a report every month of like who hasn't shown up much in the last few weeks? And calling them. And so if you're not prepared to do those things, at least by doing something like this you increase your attention without actually having to get on the phone.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Yeah, yeah, and for some of you out there, you may be aware, if you have a physical job or you work in a factory, they will have like a. If you get injured at work, they'll maybe put you on light duties. You know like it's a, a return to work method, because they don't want to get sued and they also don't want you to quit. Uh, you know, like, once they've got you and you're trained and stuff in a in a workplace, they want to keep you. So they've invested in you exactly, and and they know like big companies know it costs them so much more to get a new person train them and do the whole thing. So most big workplaces will have some kind of return to work approach.

Speaker 1: 20:36

And I think a jujitsu gym, by including just some very cheap and simple things and making space for people to do their rehab at the gym, helps the students stay in touch and it also just gives permission. The coach is doing it, I'm doing it, we're all in this together. I think that is actually a great move from a coach to be open about it, and then it lets people know that like, be here, don't get injured and go away and I think that's strong. Just quickly, what would be that ideal gear package for you? I think, yeah, you're going to need probably one or two rollers a softer one for the tighter folks and a tougher, spikier one for those who are not.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Uh, lacrosse ball, yeah, a variety of bands, like a mini band, a medium band and a heavier band yeah, um, somewhere to attach the band to on the walls nice. Yeah, maybe like a mini band, a medium band and a heavier band. Somewhere to attach the band to on the walls nice. Yeah, maybe like a little fixture or like pull-up bar off the walls always good. Or doorway as it might be. Pull-up bar would be huge, ideally, and it sits above the mat, so it's not an issue when people are rolling. It's just mounted on the wall Because you can also hang off that bad boy. You know there's that too. People love doing pull-ups after class, you know like, just smash it out a little bit, like it's, it's there.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Yeah, I think allowing, because I know some gyms they don't like if you're not in the class, then you're meant to stay off the mat. Yeah, so if that is the case, putting a little like corner, you know how it's, it's classically the way in the gym that there's like the ab area. Yeah, that's where you go and you sit and you stretch or do sit-ups or whatever. There's actually huge value in that and for the best part I've actually seen this in good powerlifting gyms they will have an area where you can go do warm-up shit, yeah. But what's so funny in jiu-jitsu, even though we have this big mat space, oftentimes the space which is not the mat is not conducive to that at all. It's like some really weird cramped seat. That's where the parents sit while they're waiting for their kids to come on. I'm all jammed up like, oh hey, it seems like my kid's beating the shit out of your kid. Oh lovely, you know what I mean. It's true, yeah, so yeah, there's not like, hey, here's a little warm-up area. So even just, I think, saying to people, hey, if you are injured or you know you can go over there, you can use that and no one's going to roll into you or whatever. I think that could be good. I would add to that like three kettlebells oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and not particularly heavy ones, but just you know whatever like an eight, 12 and a 16 or something, or some small dumbbells for just doing some basic shoulder work as well. Yeah, yeah, I mean that package, but all very cheap. You could put that together for like less than 200 bucks. Yeah, 500 maybe. Well, it depends on where you're getting it. Yeah, true, team, who's got you?

Speaker 1: 23:25

And then last point I wanted to mention on this, which was just kind of something that that actually came to mind as we're talking about it, which is that you can still coach when you are injured. Yes, this is the thing Like I, like it's always it sucks a little bit, right, like when I was after I had my ACL surgery. Yeah, it fucking sucked to like show up and run a class or whatever. Um, you know, when I'm on crutches or when I basically have to like sit down, I hobble in and then sit down, but you can still do it totally fine. And actually it forces you to sharpen other parts of your uh communication sword because you're like okay, hey, jt, can you take joe, take jonas's back, okay now. So what we're looking at, you know you start to verbalize more. Yeah, you got a bunch of able-bodied people in your class, use them.

Speaker 1: 24:09

Um, I think for a lot of coaches there's this thing that like oh, but if I'm unable to do it myself, like the class is going to fall apart, and that is absolutely not the case. It's not true. I think we all have FOMO it doesn't matter whether you're a coach or not and we also are probably too self-conscious or judgmental of ourselves that we're like, well, if I can't show the thing, then I'm worthless. Then people will stop believing I have these skills. Well, no, that's really not true. It's just. It's just some story we tell ourselves. People know what the fuck you can do. I mean, it's only last week you were fucking all over them, right? And they're probably honestly excited to see you come back. So I think people are supportive.

Speaker 1: 24:52

I think the way we talk to ourselves is different to how people might look at us. So your willingness to help and show up, even though you're banged up, that is what people care about. You are showing your care for them by being there, even if you're not at your full capacity. I think that buys coaches all the goodwill in the world, which gives you time to come back. Yeah, spot on. There it is, fam. If you are a coach and you're like fucking hell, this is me. It hurts and you bust it up and you want some help with that. We would be happy to give you some help for free. Get in touch with us, joey at bulletproofforbjj or jt at bulletproofforbjjcom, flick us an email, copy us both in and let's have a chat about how we can help you to fix your injury. Lead by example and change the culture of rehab at your gym. Happy to help.