Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Are You Suffering From Injury Shame?
You've gotten injured, and you're terribly embarrassed about it. Maybe it was not your fault, maybe like our friend Icarus, you flew too close to the sun, or maybe you had a 30 hour travel day and tried to do 90% max lifts immediately after touchdown. No matter how it happened, you might feel like an idiot. We're here to tell you that you are, but you have also learned something very valuable and you are not alone!
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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. The shame of injury why jiu-jitsu folks want to hide the injuries and don't address them. I believe there is an embarrassment around injury and I have recently suffered this. Can I give a reframe? Believe there is an embarrassment around injury and I have recently suffered this. Can I give a reframe title there, please?
Speaker 1:Why JT is ashamed of being injured, maybe, maybe, why you got to like disperse it around the community. This is a fucking new thing, bro. No, dude, no, well, it's an us thing. It's an us thing. It's an us thing, but the framing is your recent shameful behavior. I wouldn't say it's shameful, oh, I would say it's very shameful. I will let the audience be the judge. How fucking dare you cunt, how dare you try and shame me? I am being open and honest about a thing and I believe it to be I've been waiting for a couple of weeks now, but please Get the fuck out of here.
Speaker 1:I would say that with this, it is something that people experience and that is often why we don't address our injuries Because it feels like weakness In a way. It is when you're injured you feel weak, and if you're someone who likes to train and doesn't want to complain or doesn't want to talk about because it's also it sucks to talk about, it's like, oh, you're injured, how's that going? It fucking sucks, but you don't, you don't want to have that conversation. I honestly don't want to have that conversation. Some people do like to malady and talk about I don't know about that shit, I don't know about that shit, I don't want to get into it. I'd rather just, you know, carry on. You know, that's the kind of thing. I made a miscalculation, folks. I did actually injure myself.
Speaker 1:It's very rare that I have been hurt in the gym. That's where it happened. That was the Like lifting. Yeah Right, it's very rare that happens. I think there's probably only one other serious time in my lifting career where I hurt myself. It's mainly been in jiu-jitsu that I would get an injury in the heat of the moment, you know, and so I had just got off my many hours of flying. I think it ended up being about 28 hours all up, almost 30 hours of flight time and just sitting down and just sitting, and so I was pretty jet lagged. But I was like you know what, I'm fucking stale and I've got this strongman comp in eight days. And you know I had been doing some lifts while I was away. This is a fight back from Kazakhstan, right? Yes, from Ayiga and I got in the gym and it was like I had to do a 90% effort across all my major lifts for the strongman comp.
Speaker 1:So I did my deadlift ladder and the last rep. I didn't hurt myself deadlifting, but it's a ladder where you do like 200, 210, 220, 230. You have to do a rep, put the plates on, step back, do it again and because in the competition you have to do it as fast as you can Right, working up to a max weight of 240. And I've done 240 before, but not in a ladder format. So I did my last rep at 230 and it felt pretty hard, whereas I'd done it previously for a couple of reps. So the fact that it was hard should have told me, hey, you're probably not, you're not 100% today. But I was like, no, fuck it. You know, like I'm here, I've got to get this work.
Speaker 1:So it was max sandbag to shoulder and so Did you do the 240? The 240 was for comp day, oh right, so that was it's kind of 90 something. Stopped at 230. 230 is where it needed to stop and I did it. I would have done 240. Continue. I appreciate that about you, joe, but you weren't there. So that's how it goes. Sometimes Max sandbagged the shoulder, so the sandbag I had was a 125. And I've done that shoulder a couple of times before. How much 135? How much 135. 125. 125. That's a big fucking sandbag dog. Well, yeah, there's some weight to it. But in the comp there was going to be like 130, 140, 150, like you know, like bigger bags, right. And so, because I'd done 125 easier, I thought, oh, you know, maybe I can do more than a couple of reps. Right In the warm-up felt fine, like just lighter sandbags and bringing it up to my right shoulder it was a bit harder than usual and I could have stopped there and just gone.
Speaker 1:No, that's me for today, but I didn't. It's always when you go, ah, just, you know one more like what's, you know, like what's the worst that could happen, joe, you know what could possibly happen. That would be bad about this, about getting stronger, and so I was like I'll just do my left shoulder, I'll do my left side. And coming up, it wasn't as easy and I was kind of you know, I wasn't like super clean to my shoulder, it was definitely like top effort and I just went to adjust it and you kind of jimmy it up onto your shoulder and you've got to take your hand off for it to be like a clean lift, you know Right.
Speaker 1:And so as I was jimmying it, I kind of went a bit wrong and instead of going like over my shoulder, it kind of went to my neck and it just kind of pulled me sideways and I honestly just felt like this fucking whack in my hip. The thing is, I couldn't have imagined what had actually happened. It felt like a 10 kilo weight plate had fallen out the top of the bag and somehow pendulum swung down and just smacked me in the hip sideways. Wow, it felt like I got fucking kicked and it was audible. It was like bah, snap. And I just went, oh dang, dropped the sandbag and then I tried to put weight in my left leg and I couldn't, couldn't stand. My hip was completely unstable. So I had to like stagger and sit down.
Speaker 1:And Sean, who's one of the coaches. He's a big, strong man. He was sitting there. He's like he came out. He's like what was that sound? Like what just fucking happened?
Speaker 1:I was like, oh, I think I just popped my hip. I don't, I don't actually know. And I was like what the fuck have I done to myself? I'm a week out from this strongman comp and now I've got this crazy pain in my hip and I can't stand. What the fuck? So I sat there for a moment and just took stock and Sean's like dude, do you need to go to the hospital? And what's going on right now? And I was like I don't know, let me try and stand up. You in pain, a little pain, yeah. And I tried to stand up and I tried to put some weight in my left leg and my hip wouldn't stabilize at all. Like I was just going to fall over. It's like I didn't have a leg and so I sat back down. He's like mate, do you need help getting home? Like what's going on? I'm like no, no, no, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, it's good. No, it's just a bit sore. Sweet, I'm sweet. Thanks, shorty. Yeah, see you later boys. Yeah, there's no one around, it's just Sean so limped my way out Like I just couldn't put weight in that leg.
Speaker 1:I got to the car and I was having a bit of a fucking crisis Cause I'm like, is this really serious? Is this like a surgery level injury, or is this going to be okay in a couple of days or whatever the fuck? And I didn't, I didn't know. So in that moment I did it was kind of scary, cause I thought, fuck, am I going to have to have hip surgery? Cause that is not what I want right now or anytime ever. I want to avoid surgery at all costs. So yeah, it was a bit of a moment and I did not want to talk about it. But here we are, we're talking about it.
Speaker 1:Fuck, I mean a collective head shake from the audience. Just JT, we expected better. You fucking idiot. 28-hour flight Mate. I just I'm not the person to ask Going 90%. I'm not the person to ask If someone goes, do you reckon you could do that?
Speaker 1:I'd be like, yeah, I just yeah, I know I can see. If someone posted in the coaching group in the Bulletproof app like, hey guys, I got hurt doing a workout. Oh, what happened? I got off a 28-hour. You're like you fucking idiot. It would just be a torrent of responses from JT. Some hardcore coaching would be fucking ensuing, okay, so I fucking contacted my various physio friends and I couldn't. No one was available, right, it's like a fucking thursday, and I'm like, could I still compete? Like I'm a week out, like how is it? But the pain kind of continued and I couldn't walk properly and I couldn't stand properly, and I'm like, well, fuck, if I can't even stand up, there's no way I'm doing farmer's carries with 125 kilos in my hands or anything else like that. But I I've been training for the Strongman comp for months, my whole life, basically.
Speaker 1:I really wanted to do something like this, so I had to admit I'm fucked, but I did not want to talk about it. I was embarrassed, one because I hurt myself, two because I should have known better, and three because she's fucking dumb. I don't want to admit how fucking dumb I am, joe. Fuck, now everyone knows. Fuck, bro. So, anyway, I was able to get You've been able to hide it for like 400 episodes, and now the mask has come off and they know no man, fuck, I mean, look, you guys know I am.
Speaker 1:The beauty of this is, though, is that no one's immune right? Like even and I mean, fuck, I don't even know how many times I've been injured, you know, over a recent year, and it's often something stupid. It's often something that you maybe had some intuition about. There was some rumblings yeah, you're like, maybe I shouldn't. No, I'll do it, you know. Or you know it's like, no, no.
Speaker 1:Like last night, you know, I'd cooled down, but it was an open mat, and we stopped to do the grading ceremony, and then we got another 40 minutes of rolling or whatever, and I was like, I'm good, I've cooled down now. We just had 30 minutes off. Yeah, um, but I was like, oh, I'll jump back in with so-and-so, and then I was like, no, don't. But you know, any grappler can vibe with part of me that moment. Where you're, where you go, yeah, go on. Yeah, you know. And. And then you get hurt, and you're like I fucking knew it.
Speaker 1:In the back of mind, there was a little voice that said don't do it, it doesn't make sense. Like, my name is Jeff. The irony is too, though, is that your Push to get stronger? Well, I mean, yeah, that's a great irony, but the other one is that, like, you're not the irony, but maybe the other side of this point is that your physical readiness and physical capacity allows you, permits you, to make reckless decisions Sometimes. You know, and it's probably served you well 95% of the time, but it fucked you up the other week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know you'd love to be stronger. We all want to be a bit stronger. I know you'd love to be more flexible. I mean, when is being flexible and strong not an advantage, whether you see yourself as a powerhouse grappler that's just putting crush on fools or you just want to have like a nice passive, chill sort of game. But have the confidence that your knees and your hips and your ankles and your elbows are protected and fortified. Strength training is the answer and we have the best programs for you to follow that are going to build you a strong, flexible body that can perform on the mats.
Speaker 1:You can start a two-week free trial today of the Bulletproof for BJJ app and if you stick around and you want to become a part of the thing, you can even get coached directly by JT, myself and the rest of the coaching crew. To start your two-week free trial, all you got to do is go to the app store, search Bulletproof for BJJ. Download the app and get started, and if you do end up subscribing and you don't love it, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee. Go download it now, we'll see you on the inside.
Speaker 1:And look, my mentality has got me to where I am right. My willingness to just fucking do it, even though I felt a bit shit, has enabled me to get stronger. But when you are playing at the top end whether that be a really hard role against a really good opponent or it's you trying to really push your weights or whatever it is that's the danger town. You're very close to the red line and you push your limits and you'll fucking find them. So I think that many people in jujitsu experience this, because if you've told yourself because it's all a story, you tell yourself right, you look in the mirror, you go I'm fucking, I'm tough, I can do this, you can do this. You do things to reaffirm your sense of identity. And so what I've done over time is told myself nah, fuck, how you feel, do it anyway. It's just a very undercurrent thing in me. So I don't even think I won't work out, I'll just go do it. I could have easily just backed it off a little. But the program said like 90%, so I'm like well, I'm going to go to 90%, you know. But the fatigue meant I was probably not, you weren't at 100%, I wasn't at 100%, so 90 was 100. Yeah, exactly, exactly right. And this is the things we don't consider.
Speaker 1:And I think for many jujitsu folks, when you do get injured, it can be embarrassing, especially when it's I don't know if you've ever had this. Folks, it's early in the morning and maybe you open a cupboard or maybe you're a bit tired and you lean forward and then you stand up and you bang your head on the cupboard you just opened, or you know, you're like you hurt yourself. Yeah, it's fucking dumb, you only have yourself to blame and you're mad because you're hurt and you're like why am I an idiot? Why didn't I? You know, like I set myself up there. It's like some fucking comedy of errors. Right, joey, saw it coming a mile away. But I guess the thing Whenever I have a thing like that, misa goes ooh, like you know, she hears me hit my head or whatever, like kick my toe or something, and she goes ooh, and I immediately go to this thing and then she says are you all right?
Speaker 1:And I'm like don't bring attention to it, just don't Act like nothing happened, don't talk about it. And I'm like I got the fucking shits with myself, I don't need to talk about it, let's just fucking move on it self. I don't need to talk about it, let's just fucking move on. It's hard right. And so I didn't want to talk about it either, because I'm just like, yeah, I guess you know I am a little bit embarrassed because, one, it was in the gym, which is very controllable, and two, it meant I couldn't do my strongman comp, which is something I had built up and or something that I thought I could be proud of, because I thought I could do well at it, and and I fucking sidelined myself and and so, yeah, it's disappointing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as much as I didn't want to talk about it, I figured like you know what, in all honesty, yeah, I'm doing fucking rip rip, I'm doing hip rehab. Now I've gone from fucking strongman Marius Pudzianowski type shit to Jane Fonda fucking leg holds, like I can't even. It's fucking so humbling. That's the truth. So what have you actually done? What's the injury? So I've got like a middle thickness tear to my medial glute and a grade two tear to the tendon. So middle thickness of the ligament, no, of the medial glute Of the muscle, of the muscle Of the muscle. So I've got a muscle tear and a tendon tear and a tendon tear. How about that? It's kind of-. Yeah, it's fucked, it's reasonable.
Speaker 1:And when I said to Nick I think I've torn my medial glute, he was like nah, he was like yeah, yeah, sure, sure, see me and we'll see. He's like whenever anyone says they've torn their medial glute, they haven't. And then he like was testing me, he's like fuck, congratulations, I think you've, uh, you've torn your medial glute. He was like you did it, you've arrived. And I was like yes, and so what that means is because there's tendon damage there, I, I, I'm not meant to be stretching, I can't actually do reps, I've got to do just ISO work, like side plank, kind of lateral leg holds, yeah, like banded clam shit, but just you just hold it, yeah, just to form tension, to try and repair it.
Speaker 1:And it's going to take six weeks or more, depending on the scenario. And so deadlifting and stuff is off the menu for a while. Um, yeah, yeah, like a bunch of stuff's off the menu. He said I can do some leg extensions, hammy curls, but it's just gonna get fucking upper body jackness. Yeah, um, so funny.
Speaker 1:I was telling uh, big benny prags, um, like king, king, bench press monster of our gym, uh, that I'd hurt my hip. He's like oh, it's great, you can do bench press with us. You get so good at bench press, bro. He's like oh, it's great, you can do bench press with us, you get so good at bench press bro. He's like, oh, when I hurt my knee and I couldn't squat, my bench press went from 180 to 220, bro, like, like that could be me. And I'm like, bro, my bench press is garbage. But it was so funny.
Speaker 1:His mentality was like, nah, you got something else you can work on, so good, injury is always an opportunity and you can. Yeah, it's. It shortens the scope of what you can work on and say, oh, I'll just dive in on this, yeah, and and I definitely look at it in that way you know, um, yeah, doing the rehab every day and I'll go see nick this week and just get see where it's at. And yeah, it's just confronting because, like, I can't stand on one leg to put my shoes on, you know, like just basic shit, and then it just brings you back down to earth and, honestly, I the reason why I didn't want to talk about it is because people feel obliged to give you a degree of, uh, sympathy or pity or, and I don't want any of that.
Speaker 1:I honestly just want to get on the conversation. I'd rather be like oh, what are you, what are you doing man? But people like oh, why aren't you squatting, why aren't you deadlifting? No, admit you made a stupid decision. I need you to admit you're a fucking idiot. No, no, I will never admit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was definitely an error in judgment. Take from that what you will. Yeah, yeah. But I think that the challenge is that admitting you made a mistake and then it's not repeating the mistake. I think this is this is you? You demonstrate your learning by not repeating. So we'll see where we are in 12 months.
Speaker 1:Ah well, um, I hope, I hope, I honestly hope that you can make it back to that strongman comp. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening that just want to fucking hear about the heavy shit you lifted, and if you made it onto some podium, that'd be dope. Nah, man, I think it's like Go on next year, bro. No, 12 months. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1:In complete honesty, I thought before the strongman comp I'm not strong enough, like I know how strong some of the guys are who were there. But strangely enough, I went to the strongman comp and there was two very strong guys there. One of them got injured during the comp. So if I'd shown up healthy I could have got on that fucking podium. Bro. Apparently like 10 dudes pulled out, I was one of them, but like there ended up only being like five or six dudes in my category and the two strongest guys one of them got hurt during the comp, which is very unpredictable and the rest of the guys were not that strong. So here's the fucking lesson, bro Sign up and don't train, because that's obviously the most precarious. It's the lead up to the comp, right, it's the training. That's the problem. Training is the problem. No man, give me 12 months I'll be ready, but in the meantime, folks, do not be ashamed of your injuries, but definitely you've got to learn the lesson. There it is.
