While BJJ is renowned for improving the mental/physical health of many, the factor of injury is always lurking and it can be initially seem impossible to improve your grappling while injured. Thus we must fully investigate what is at our disposal in order to make improvements if we’re ever rendered unable to physically practice.
Three Ways to Improve Your Grappling While Injured
Listening to Audio
From podcasts to audiobooks there is a multiplicity of readily available material to give one different perspectives and new methodologies to approach martial arts. Podcasts such as BJJ Mental Models, the Shintaro Higashi Show, and Tristar Show are dedicated to help streamline the learning curve of martial arts. In addition, audiobooks like the Inner Gamer of Tennis, the Courage to Create, and the Art of Learning all provide a more generic conceptual outlook that applies to grappling as well as any other physical undertaking. Perhaps you cannot give your body to the pursuit, but you can always give your mind.
Visit the academy
While being on the mat might not be within your doctor’s recommendations, there is a very strong likelihood that you can still enter the academy. Being on the benches is not the most illustrious of seats, but the vantage point still provides the art on display. All combat sports are individualistic in practice, however we all come together and you can still build rapport with your teammates. From a more pragmatic standpoint: by continuing the ritual of coming to the academy you will not fall into the habit of avoiding going to begin with. For some people, the hardest part of coming back to grappling after being injured and unable to improve is actually returning at all, but that then becomes easier if you choose not to leave in the first place.
Reviewing Footage
In our day and age the amount of visual information to pull from is staggering. Knowledge being the greatest equalizer, without it we would never have anything to demystify martial arts and it would constantly appear to be ‘magic’. Study like someone admiring a painting or a scientist at whatever you find intriguing: your own competitive footage, your favorite competitor’s Patreon, last year’s Mundials, YouTube breakdowns of specific techniques, or of course; lengthy instructionals going through entire topics.
Summary
In conclusion, the idea of this article is to not just see martial arts as solely a physical practice. Through more than a few methods, we can constantly train our eyes and minds for the art. Although these three methods will definitely allow you to improve your grappling when injured, the list is not exhaustive. Do not feel limited and feel free to seek out additional methods that might work for you.
