Paulo Miyao's hands

[Raksas]

As a someone who doesn't practice Jiu Jitsu, are severe cases of arthritis like this common in the sport?

I've been doing rock climbing and bouldering for almost 10 years now and have seen my fair share of fucked up hands but nothing to the level some Jiu Jitsu practitioners seem to suffer from. These look like the hands of a 90 year old who has been doing construction all his life.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

After 10 years or so of pro Bjj, making a fist is the ultimate challenge

 

[Zankou]

IMO most of that looks like the calluses you get from gi grips ... it’s not a joint thing, it’s the pads you get on the back of your fingers where they grind against the gi.

 

[TheMood]

I wouldn't say that hands that bad are common. Most of the people that practice bjj do not put in the hours that the Miyaos do.

 

[Raksas]

After 10 years or so of pro Bjj, making a fist is the ultimate challenge

I'm wondering how guys like the Miyao bros or Keenan can still compete at the highest level with joints that fucked up. Again, I'm a total newb

 

[tekkenfan]

lol thought this was gonna be a vid of paulo hitting mits

 

[closequarters]

I’m at just a little over 10 years of hobbyist level bjj 99% of the time in the gi. There are days I can barely make a fist. Other hobbyists at my gym don’t have too bad of arthritis but yeah, everyone with 10 years of gi jiu jitsu has pretty bad arthritis. The guys who train 7 to 8+ sessions a week and compete regularly, are even worse off. Almost all of them have to tape up their fingers to roll. I don’t really know how much pain they are in though because they rarely complain, unlike myself and other hobbyists lol.

 

[nefti]

Open guard guys have it the worst

 

[georgegreece]

IMO most of that looks like the calluses you get from gi grips ... it’s not a joint thing, it’s the pads you get on the back of your fingers where they grind against the gi.

Yes gi sucks, noobs exploit the gi instead of learning real technique.

 

[yetanother]

As a someone who doesn't practice Jiu Jitsu, are severe cases of arthritis like this common in the sport?

No. The Miyaos train more the almost anyone and they don't really care about the joints. Also they are tiny and hard holding sleeves when bigger people try to throw them around. You do get calluses on your skin from holding gi sleeves.

 

[yetanother]

I'm wondering how guys like the Miyao bros or Keenan can still compete at the highest level with joints that fucked up. Again, I'm a total newb

Keenan stopped playing spider guard. I don't think his joints are particularly fucked up I think he had like 1 serious injury. He claims BJJ is a lot safer at the pro level because he doesn't do the stupid shit that get hobbyist injured.

 

[Raksas]

Keenan stopped playing spider guard. I don't think his joints are particularly fucked up I think he had like 1 serious injury. He claims BJJ is a lot safer at the pro level because he doesn't do the stupid shit that get hobbyist injured.

He said he can't close his fist anymore. That doesn't compromise you when going against the best?

 

[mattemate]

I've really worked to develop my overlook game.

Why?

Most of the injuries to your hands, acute or chronic like this, come from gripping sleeves. I still use grips, but go for belts, collars and lapels. If I'm gripping an arm I prefer to go for the elbow when possible.

Also, stretching the hands and getting them aligned is SO important

 

[yetanother]

He said he can't close his fist anymore. That doesn't compromise you when going against the best?

He claimed in a later post that his hands are actually fine and all this using no gi grip in the gi to protect his hands is bullshit.

"I can’t make a closed fist anymore which has forced me to use bas rutten open palm self defense strikes when things go sour in the streetz" - I'm not sure how serious this even is I don't think he bas ruttens people.

 

[yetanother]

Most of the injuries to your hands, acute or chronic like this, come from gripping sleeves.

Guards where you grip both sleeves suck for the fingers.

 

[Bubblun]

That's why i don't do spider guard.

But BJJ is nothing compared to high level judo

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Two of my fingers are kinds messed up because of aggressively going for and holding basebat chokes and loop chokes.

 

[JagRoss]

That's why i don't do spider guard.

But BJJ is nothing compared to high level judo

$6000 on tape...

Holy shit.

 

[MaxMMA]

Bjj is pretty hard on the body. Just make sure you're not over doing it. Weight lifting helps a lot with injury prevention and post injury recovery. This includes S&C for your hands/forearms and feet.

Can be hard to balance bjj and conditioning though so make sure you have realistic goals/expectations with the conditioning side of the sport. Some of these dudes are trying to be bjj champs while simultaneously trying to max out 500lb DL and squats. Condition for cardio/strength and if you have trouble areas cut by your routine to build up/improve your problem areas.

In the case of hands, work knuckle push-ups, wrist push ups, theraputty/balls, etc until your hands are feeling good then go back to your overall conditioning routines.

Those fingers look like they've been broken a few times each, never heard of getting fucked up hands like that from grips.

 

[MaxMMA]

That's why i don't do spider guard.

But BJJ is nothing compared to high level judo

This is what I'm talking about. This guy needs to take a few weeks off, work on building up his hands/forearms and his feet/ankles instead of relying on tape to hold his joints together.