Training Martial Arts When Injured…

So far, it’s been a year of constant lower-body injuries. On the plus side, I am trying to retain some form of martial arts training while doing what I can to give myself the best chance of healing up.

So here’s some things I have learnt both recently and through 15 years of picking up various knocks, strains, breaks and pains.

DISCLAIMER: Please bear in mind I am not a medical professional. The following are my thoughts on retaining some form of training programme if the injury is not severe. If the injury is severe, then stop training and don’t start again until you are properly diagnosed and told that you can by somebody suitably qualified. This does not include your mate who has access to Google or some homeopathy twat who thinks they can heal cancer with a twig.

Rant over. Here’s some things I have learnt about training with injuries:

i) You can always train something!

Most injuries – even really bad ones – will allow movement in some part of your body. So you may no longer be able to perform tornado roundhouse kicks or spider guard drills ad infinitum because they require too much body movement. You may be able to slowly drill a front kick or an armbar, though. I broke some floating ribs a few years ago and that was very limiting in terms of movement, so I watched technique videos, did grip strengthening exercises and played with standing wrist locks until I healed up. It kept me occupied and I even learnt some stuff. I also didn’t fully stagnate.

ii) You don’t have to miss classes!

I currently train in two martial arts, one for 15 years and the other for five, and I’ve also boxed for a couple of years. I’d never claim to be a world-beater at any of them, but one of the great things about all the places I've trained is that injured students are welcome. And that’s particularly true of the martial arts schools. Both my hapkido and my BJJ instructors will quite happily work around me and my injuries, and it’s the same with my fellow students. Can’t do spectacular aerial falls any more when that’s what everyone else is doing? Fine. Do something else. Or just watch that bit of the class, then take part in the bit you can do.

iii) You don’t have to miss classes!

This is not a cut and paste error. It’s a continuation of the previous point broken up for page aesthetics. If your injury is so severe that you can’t make it on the mats, then there is another option. Sit on the sidelines and watch a class and analyse what’s going on. It gives you a different perspective and you’d be surprised what you can learn by actively watching other students. It also means you're not distanced from the environment and, for me, one of the worst things about any long-term injury is that it can distance you from the environment, not just in physical terms but also in mental terms. This way, you're at least involved in some capacity and you’ll be less worried about coming back because you haven’t really been away.

iv) Listen to your body!

The human body is an amazingly complex organic machine, honed over (depending on your point of view) millions of years of evolution and the process of natural selection… or some deity who likes smiting, dislikes homosexuals and sits on a cloud. The body has a beautiful system of pain receptors and neurons that fire pain messages to the brain. So don’t think you can ‘man up’ and train through these messages if they are repeatedly registering. One injury can often lead to another because the body is compensating for the bit of it that doesn’t work at the moment. Do not make matters worse by letting your ego override the clear messages that something else is wrong. Stop it idiot!

v) Strapping!

Supports, strapping and taping is something I’ve had to get quite good at over the past decade and a bit, and the science behind it is now much more widely available thanks to the inter-web-net. Finding a way to support an injury can make the difference between training and not training. This is something that’s definitely worth exploring if you haven’t done so. Just make sure it’s a credible source giving the advice. Please see earlier comment about Doctor Google and homeopathy frauds. A nettle and a vial of wee cannot cure a fucking brain tumour. Cousin JimBob’s YouTube channel where he shows you how to wrap a calf strain with a bloody rag, then he introduces you to his wife and his mum who are the same person, is probably not as good as a more recognised expert either.

I think that’s about it. The only other thing I would add is not to give up hope or get too frustrated. I’ve had bad injuries and I know many people who’ve had much worse injuries. If training is the thing, then injuries are only a thing. They are part and parcel of martial arts training and most martial arts students I have had the pleasure of training alongside for any length of time have an injury story.

So work out what you can do and do what you can do, but don’t push too hard and too fast.

That is also excellent advice for sexual injuries, too. But I am a multi-tasker.