brut et instructif's blog
Submissions ﹠ Strikes = Bruised ﹠ Broken
Over thirty years of combat sport experience, I was never seriously injured until I took up MMA. I started fighting when I was training to be officer in the US Army at UCLA. As an exchange student in Japan, I learned judo because that was the Japanese tradition but also as a consequence of training with Japanese judoka who had been exchange students in US high schools, I began to learn free style, from a Japanese Olympic gold medalist, not to put a fine point of this. I was lucky enough to be cannon fodder for two Olympic wrestling national teams. Wrestling was my preference, but when later I was a postgraduate at Oxford there was no wrestling club but judo was a big deal. This is where I learned to train and compete with women, a rough introduction to precision. I went to the UK nationals in the UK (the only judo blue belt in a team of black belts) on the strength my ground skills. But, to repeat, I was injured, cracked leg bone in judo, but that was it until I almost lost an eye doing MMA. That ended my competitive career. Then I joined Meetfighters where I have been confronted with two things: An endless serious of often aggressive challenges to wrestle submission style, and an equally endless series of pics of battered and bruised submission wrestlers. And this is my broad conclusion:
What are your thoughts, guys and gals?
brut et instructif (4 )
16 days agoResearch request. Can you please tell us how often and how badly you are bruised or injured. Some real world data from the mats would be invaluable here.
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luttefrance (38)
12 days ago(In reply to this)
got a lot of joint injuries from freestyle wrestling when i was young (20s) being too competitive sparring with bigger opponents. ended up tearing both shoulder ligaments and gave up for many years. got into submission grappling in my late 40s but have been much more careful so no injuries since. love mma sparring but only at 20-50% and no head shots, so just for fun really & injury free apart from the odd sprain & bruised rib
KnockoutBoxer13 (1)
16 days agoI think if someone really does this kind of thing for a long time eventually injuries add up and bodies break down. If someone's never faced injuries in combat sports or acts like they are the magic one time doesn't have any impact on, they likely have never left to world of soft play and fantasy.
Though it's not like the people who completely avoid risk and hard work end up in perfect shape. I know plenty of life-long couch potatoes, and their bodies still break down, just in different ways. Maybe I have banged up joints, but they have clogged-up arteries.
In many ways life is just a series of picking your poison and there is no path where you make it out alive, so might as well do what you enjoy.
wrestle curious (17)
16 days agoI have never suffered a serious injury (and hope not to) - short term ones, yes, almost always from accidents and usually not even during a particularly intense moment. Bruises are common and I consider them part and parcel.
PureContest (0 )
16 days agoI feel like a total wimp reading this. 😆 I’ve luckily not had a serious injury from Jiu Jitsu, which is all I’ve formally trained. I started late, and I’ve wrestled mostly with bigger and younger guys, and I’ve been exhausted, bruised, bloodied, but never sent to ER. The worst was popping a rib, which I think I did to myself trying to muscle out of something without much technique. My worst recent injury was busting open my forehead and needing 12 stitches - that was from lack of sleep and dehydration, then passing out and landing on a surface harder than my head. I wasn’t taking care of myself that day, nothing to do with combat sports.
wanttowrestle (46 )
15 days agoI've been wrestling since I was a boy and added recreational boxing as an adult. I've have had some injuries like fat lips, shoulder dislocations, lots of bruises, and a trip to the ER for head stitches (boxing). It comes with the territory. They are not wanted but expected. I accepted the risks because it was and still is fun. It's in my blood. I'm nearing age 80 and have given up boxing but still love to wrestle, although at a much reduced pace. I wrestle older men now. We understand the limitations of older bodies and the risks.
edscissors (34 )
15 days agoI've NEVER been hurt. I've been squeezed really tight - and been told I'm resilient in headscissors - but it's always been perfectly safe. And I've loved it.
Thank you, kind friends, kind "opponents" - ALL of you!