Hey Jeff. Me and our mutual acquaintance E.E. were just talking about you not long ago. We were going over some no-gi chokes and I showed him a couple I've seen on your vids. Eddie doesn't spend nearly as much time on the net as I do (good for him).
Anyway, sounds like you may have popped a tendon or at least badly strained it. I did up my middle finger while climbing and it was just like you describe for several months and very painful.
Yea, do we want to leave a pristine corpse in ou coffins? Or something where other people look and say "Man, that guy must have LIVED!" :)
i know lots and lots of older judoka whose hands have arthritius later in life, but not nearly as badly as many in the general population of people their own age. their hand and grip strength is still phenominal, their pain tolerance much increased, and honestly not once have i ever heard an older judoka complain about not being able to pick things up or write with a pencil, etc...
^That's good the hear.
You're probably not going to damage your hands as bad as some boxers do, let alone those karate guys who break massive quantities of tiles and bricks.
And yeah, you could get arthritis anyway.
My knuckles are definitely thrashed. Glucosimine/chondroitin helps, so do isometric exercises like opening your hand then making a fist repeatedly. Someone told me that old tai chi masters has a belief to the effect that if you use a brass hinge often it will continue to operate smoothly. This they analogize to the body's joints. Is that a scientifically validated point of view? I have no idea, but it seems to work for me and a lot of old Chinese dudes.
I come from a no-gi background so I don't care too much if I lose a gi grip. I just switch to another grip, be it some type of cloth-grip or a wrestling grip like an underhook or head grab. Don't death grip, people!
what kills me isnt the future arthritis, its the hangnails i get. they hurt so badly its insane. mind you, this is strictly a me thing-- im the only judoka i know with such terrible fingernail issues.
but, the truth in gripping is that there are very definite techniques behind grips. i dont just mean patterns, but actual techniques on how to hold and use the gi that one must learn and practice repeatedly to become effective in gi gripping.
Ed,
Yes, that's sort of true...
You CAN have joint problems from NOT using a joint often or thoroughly enough. But, on the other end of the spectrum, you can also have problems from over-using a joint.
So "use it or lose it" applies, as does "over-use it and lose it".
Doing Tai Chi or yoga everyday is "using it", while long jogs 7-days a week is "over-using it" (at least for your knees & hips).
I switched from no-gi to gi about a year ago, and it took at least 6 months for my hands to get used to it. For awhile, the morning after training, I could barely hold a coffee cup, but I eventually got used to it, and now I have some minor soreness occasionally, but that's all. In 10 years, who knows?
When they go to break your grip, don't fight them too hard, just let go and transition to something else. Struggling to maintain a grip when they have enough leverage and angle to break it -- that's the same thing as muscling a technique, no?
Matt Freedman - Struggling to maintain a grip when they have enough leverage and angle to break it -- that's the same thing as muscling a technique, no?
No. It's called being a God damned man!