I had to pull out of the adcc west coast trials this weekend due to another injury. It’s frustrating because last year was an injury filled year and I was slowly working my way back.

Injuries are part of the game but if you’re getting hurt all the time, you’re doing something wrong. Usually it means your intensity is too high, you need to back off the gas pedal and practice using your technique, even at the expense of losing rounds or tapping. I feel like I’ve been pretty good with jiujitsu, the last ten years was quite injury free. It’s just been freak accidents that I just couldn’t avoid.

In my case the injuries were more just incidental accidents that, in my opinion, were inevitable. The only thing I think that could have led to prevention was/is in increasing my range of flexibility. Flexibility and make biliary of a joint can do great things when it comes to injury prevention.

I believe my range of motion is pretty good, but maybe can be better to be available in the extreme ranges. Many Olympic coaches in weightlifting and gymnastics will talk about the importance of having a good range of motion in the shoulders, hips, and ankles. These allow for the body to take possible injury inducing moments and avoid injury. Increased range of motion means increased protection from injury.

My advice to everyone is start increasing your range of movement in your shoulders, hips, ankles and wrist. This will give you an advantage in protecting your body from injury. Already injured? You know what to do as you rehab and work your way back to the mat or continue to drill while you are injured.

I’m optimistic about recovering and being strong to compete in more events in 2019. Although it doesn’t seem like the adcc championships will be on schedule for me this year, I look forward to being back in competition soon!