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Drills for a (kind of) beginner coming back from injury

Stumpf

White Belt
@White
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
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Howdy: I sustained a pretty serious neck injury years ago but am now ready to get healthy and start training again, and would appreciate some advice. I think what I need is a list of a limited number of fundamental techniques so that I can drill at home to (efficiently) get myself to the point of being able to protect my injury, and to get very clean on the basics. Here's a little background to help you decide how to answer (and thanks for taking the time):

• I'm your typical used-to-be-athletic guy in his mid-50's.
• I'm in the process of trying the free trial classes at four local bjj schools to find the one that's right for me. I've been in two classes so far.
• My primary goal is to become as healthy as I can be (and not be in pain most of the day, which is my current situation).
• I wrestled in high school and did bjj for two years in the late 90's. I also spent 20 years training and competing in a traditional Korean martial art.

My experience in the two classes this week was that the instructor demoes a technique a few times, and then I pair with a less experienced guy (than the instructor) and we sort of feel our way through the drill. I'm not complaining about that as I understand the 'why' behind it, but I've done well in other sports by drilling technique into muscle memory outside of class, so I can focus more on the nuances in class, and I also think that getting some fundamentals into muscle memory will reduce my chance of getting injured at this beginning stage.

So I'm looking for recommendations of a couple fundamental techniques each for takedown, takedown defense guard, passing guard, side control, etc. (both gi and no-gi) that I should drill over and over. I need to stay away from power moves so technical is better. If you have a link to a video that you think best represents that technique, that would be icing on the cake.

Of course, I may be asking the wrong question altogether, so please feel free to educate me if I am.

Thank you.
 
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"In pain most of the day" Are you sure JJ is gonna help that? My experience has been the opposite.
 
Good point, and you may well be right. I feel like the pain I'm feeling at this point is due more to inactivity, and what I'm feeling is inflammation from being out of shape, and previous injuries that didn't hurt when I was in shape.

The bottomline is that, while yoga would typically be the answer for someone like me, I love combatives, and can't help myself from giving it one more try.
 
Honestly there are only so many drills you can do solo. I like to drill sit-outs from turtle and shoulder rolls from turtle, as well as throwing up triangles and i do other dynamic stretches. I think you would be better off searching youtube for something like 'bjj solo drills' and incorporate the ones that you like most.

Here's one, i use alot of these drills:

 
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"In pain most of the day" Are you sure JJ is gonna help that? My experience has been the opposite.
Opposite for me. So long as I rest when I have an acute injury, bjj keeps me feeling good (except my knuckles of course!).
 
Opposite for me. So long as I rest when I have an acute injury, bjj keeps me feeling good (except my knuckles of course!).
But that was my point, rest with injury and currently he's in constant pain. Doesn't sound like a good time to roll around with dudes.
 
But that was my point, rest with injury and currently he's in constant pain. Doesn't sound like a good time to roll around with dudes.
Yeah, well, sometimes there have been instances when I had pain from a lack of activity-- mostly from sitting in front of a computer for several hours a day. Neck, back, hip. He didn't say the nature of his pain. I was thinking it may be that. But your point is taken and makes sense, especially if his pain is basically from grappling injuries.
 
Thanks for the replies..well...looks like my question isn't as relevant now. Four classes in, just started rolling at the end of class, I was passing guard and must have been gripping and pushing too hard because I felt a pop and my arm collapsed. Next day a big bruise on the bicep, had X-rays and the doc is pretty sure it's a torn pec tendon. Had my MRI today and will find out tomorrow if it's surgery or not. So bummed, I was so excited to be back on the mat.

My partner had nothing to do with it either, it was all me. The lesson is: I should have forced myself not to roll for the first six months back.
 
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