Q&A For BJJ: Accidental B*tch Slap, Rolling Blind & Can You Over Stretch?

Episode 320: Have you ever accidentally whacked a friend in the face during a roll? Friend of the podcast Toby was escaping an armbar and lost his defensive grip resulting in a slap to the face of his mate. What do you do in this situation and what is the etiquette ? Can you stretch too much? Have you ever injured yourself stretching? The boys address where is the best place to stop before going too far but damage is part of both improving your flexibility and BJJ so you need to find your sweet spot.
Do you feel socially awkward about asking others to roll? What if you were blind? Having people avoid you for one reason or another sucks- you need to get yourself an ally to help you. Whether it be a coach or a higher belt assisting you to bridge the gap and expand your rolling circle. JT & Joey offer some suggestions on ways to include everyone when it comes time to roll.

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Transcript

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Speaker 3: 0:17

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Speaker 2: 1:15

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. Q&a for BJJ. You have the questions, we have the answers. Results may vary. Let's hear them First one coming in from our boy, Toby.

Speaker 4: 1:28

Hey guys, my name's Toby. I'm a white belt from Grafton, massachusetts, usa. Last week I was rolling with my buddy and he started to get me in an arm bar and I linked my hands and I start to work my shoulder out and I think to myself okay, I think I can let go with my hands now, and I do, and the arm that he's pulling on flies up and smacks him in the face and he was fine and I apologize and he's like it's all good and we keep rolling. But I'm wondering what the etiquette is around this situation. Is there something I should be doing so I'm not smacking him there, or is this just like part of the game? Thanks, appreciate it. Love the podcast. Bye.

Speaker 2: 2:06

I mean, fuck bro, he's trying to break your arm, smack him in the face. No, seems like a fair exchange. Shout out Toby. It's a good question, man, because this can happen in different positions. Like you're trying to get your guard, the person pushes your foot down and with no intention, just the elastic tension in your leg they let go. It flicks up and kicks them in the face. You're like that was totally unintentional. As long as I think, as long as your partner gets you weren't just like and just like giving them the bitch slap. Like, as long as there's no ill intent, I think all's fair in love and jujitsu right. Like it can happen, oh, absolutely, yeah, it's part of it. I mean, I would say that when that happens, it could be an indicator that maybe you're like you might have, like they've been trying to sneak out but left your elbow in.

Speaker 3: 2:53

Yeah, it was still kind of they've got the elbow line.

Speaker 2: 2:56

Then there's this lever that like that to me. I'm like well, it's more of a red flag about maybe your elbow was under threat, you weren't as safe as you thought you were, yeah, but yeah, yeah, it happens. Just say sorry, dude, and yeah, on you go I.

Speaker 2: 3:08

I think we come to accept over time that I've even been full shin kicked in the bridge of the nose. But because I was so intent on passing the guard, the person was trying to like make sure I was okay and I'm like, I'm fine. I'm fine, like yeah, just shake it, like let's go, let me pass your guard, bro, like I didn't, concussions be damned, let me fucking pass. So I think it's also a thing as you experience more rough and tumble jiu-jitsu. Getting slapped in the face is the least of your worries. Yep, but thank you, toby.

Speaker 3: 3:36

Uh, next one, callum so every time I think a question for for you. You see me answer it Like in your show. One of them was your lower back. Now I've Sort of fucked my lower back. I'm a stonemason and I was stretching the other day and I fucked the bottom of my back Stretching. Now I've how far have you gone before you know you've gone too far stretching? How ruthless are you guys? Have you guys ever injured yourselves stretching? Thanks, guys are awesome. Keep up the good work. Cheers, bye.

Speaker 2: 4:18

Callum, the Scottish stonemason Non-stop to the top, Shout out my guy, Callum. I had a chat with Callum actually. Did you Lovely guy, hard-working man.

Speaker 3: 4:27

I don't know a stone.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Ever met a stonemason that doesn't work hard? Eh, not only is he a stonemason, he also does scaffolding. Nice, the guy is a beast. Now, you can stretch too much. Yes, this is true, it is possible. It's not usually most people's issue. Now, the thing about callum he's actually pretty flexible. I input his head on his knees like he can. The guy can stretch.

Speaker 2: 4:49

And what I was actually saying to him is I think flexibility isn't his problem. I feel like maybe his job is so loaded that his tissues are overloaded, so stretching every freaking day isn't necessarily what he needs. And yeah, I've overstretched before, but it was almost like ego lifting for stretching. Yeah, I had a good level of stretch and I'm like no, I want more, I want subsplit, I want, I want it. You know, I want more and it wasn't necessary. I think the point at which you go too far with stretching is your body's letting you know hey, I feel like you feel, even feel like a small t, you know, oh, it's all right, and then you persist.

Speaker 2: 5:32

The jiu-jitsu mentality persists. Have you had something similar, joe? Yeah, like I was thinking about it, I have definitely injured myself stretching nothing super bad, but just like a little. That didn't work, you know. But I've injured myself. Lifting weights, doing doing strength training. I injured myself regularly at Jiu Jitsu. It's part of the process.

Speaker 2: 5:52

I think that pushing to that place is important because when you get to a certain level with it because that's where you're learning your boundaries and another thing that I know is when you train jujitsu, that puts your like, if you change it to yesterday and then you come to training today to do some stretching or some lifting, that might be one experience. But then if you train jujitsu on the same night next week and then go to do the same training the next day, you'll be in a different situation because you get these little leftover bits of damage or tightness or trauma from jits. So it's kind of part of the game. And you're like, oh fuck, I pushed, okay, I pushed my hammy a little bit too far today. That tells you all right, I got to respect that a little bit, you know. So I don't, I don't think it's a bad thing.

Speaker 2: 6:38

Yeah, provided, provided, you're not like, hey, I detached the glute from the hip bone. You're like, okay, that's pretty bad. Yeah, you know, the injuries we're talking about are usually minor. Yeah, and the other thing too, is, if you do a really heavy stretch session, probably best to not go. Then do a full day of stone masonry Like don't you know, don't get me wrong, don't you know, don't get me wrong. I think there's heaps of value to getting up in the morning and moving your body and stuff like that, but I have found myself to feel a bit weaker and a bit sore after like a you know, a 45 minute hour intensive lot of stretching oh, it's usually end of the day before bed, yeah

Speaker 2: 7:13

so you can recover from it. I'm not then gonna go lift weights or something. No, absolutely. Yeah, um, the you know to your point, callum, uh, which was you said, like how do you know when? Yes, and I think that you you get better at knowing when by having experiences like what you've just described. Yeah, you pushed it a bit. Okay, what can you take from that? What were you stretching specifically? What were you feeling like the sensations, like the thing that you're embodying at that time? That's going to help to educate you. So over time, you get better at understanding your limits, and that is just something that takes mistakes and corrections and time. Yeah, you've got to find the sweet spot which is just the right amount for you. Next one coming in Anonymous guy always leaves his messages and love this guy.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Hey guys, my name is Ryan and I'm from central illinois over in the us.

Speaker 1: 8:05

We got you and I was listening to a podcast you guys just put out recently about a guy asking about approaching enrolling with women and without coming across creepy, and I have kind of a similar question, with the twist I myself am completely blind and have issues with finding a decent amount of rolling partners. I've got the instructor and about three other guys that are willing to roll with me with no qualms, but the other ones kind of basically seem to try to avoid me if they can for the most part, and I mean, I'm kind of used to that treatment, being blind and being different just with regular society. But I'm just interested if you guys have any advice at how I should approach this to find more rolling partners, because I'm trying to train for a competition in May and would like to get exposed to more styles and techniques and whatnot. Thanks for any advice you guys may have, thanks for the podcast and I hope you guys can keep putting out great content like you have been.

Speaker 2: 9:04

Fuck, what a legend. Awesome Good on you, ryan. That pulled on my heartstrings, by the way. Just him saying like I'm used to that being treated differently Damn that sucks.

Speaker 3: 9:12

I get it.

Speaker 2: 9:13

I get it. It's a very good question. It's tough. I think you need to enlist an ally, whether they be somebody who's just a training partner in the gym or your coach, because even though people might have whatever their qualms are, I don't know what their qualms are. Fuck them Like. I mean. Obviously it sucks because you're at a direct disadvantage in terms of social interaction and people avoiding you to roll with you is kind of dumb, I found, unless I mean we don't know how big this guy, ryan Ryan, happens to be the Hulk.

Speaker 3: 9:47

Like you know the rock, I kind of look like that.

Speaker 2: 9:49

I'm the rock, but I'm just can't say but the thing is, mate, I would say this I've I've rolled with a couple of sight impaired grapplers and they're awesome and they move so well and I actually really respect anyone who's got the courage to do something as intense as jiu-jitsu and have this kind of thing. And the people I've spoken to they said I don't see it as an impairment and I'd also encountered it at a judo tournament where there was a gentleman who was completely blind and what they do is they just start with grips and that's cool and I think they do that in jujitsu as well. Yeah, depending on if the person agrees for a competition, you need an ally to help bring more people into your sphere of rolling. So if you feel like it's difficult, or maybe you can't talk to people, whatever it is, or they're avoiding you, having your coach or someone in authority, get more people to roll with you. I believe is the key or potentially, which might be hard in your part of the world, potentially finding some other grapplers who are maybe sight impaired or something else could be an opportunity to expand your, your rolling circle.

Speaker 2: 10:56

Yeah, I would think I can identify with the people who are not asking you to roll. I can identify that because, comes time to roll, you got three rounds or something, and usually that's. You're making selfish decisions at that point, sure. And so you're like I'm looking for the best role my counterpart, right, you, you, you, right, or the person I want to test against, or whatever. And so there's a blind guy and I say this with complete neutrality, respect, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 11:23

But people can be like, oh, I don't know how to approach that. I don't. Do I need to change the way I roll with him? Do I need to do something different? These unknowns are probably just enough for them to go too hard basket. I'm going to roll with jt, right, but it's not coming from a bad place, right, it's just coming from. I'm not sure how to approach that.

Speaker 2: 11:42

And what I also don't know is how aware you are, ryan, of who else is there on the mats right now. I'm guessing you're pretty cognizant of, like, who's in the room. This is going to sound kind of weird, but this is what I could see would be. One sort of solution to that was, um, if you were able to have an exchange with each person in the gym, like when they join the gym, which is hey, man, my name is Ryan, just letting you know I'm blind. It doesn't change anything about how I train. I might not be able to see you, but I want to roll with you, so can you come and invite me to roll anytime? Yes, you're letting them know. Don't change a thing, you don't have to worry about this, and I want to fucking roll. Change a thing, you don't have to worry about this and I want to fucking roll.

Speaker 2: 12:24

Yeah, so they're like okay, great, if there was a way to let people know of that, then that would seem to me a really like easy way to just get people yeah, and so whether that's something that the coach does when he onboards people hey, just so you know our boy over there or it's something like you go and introduce yourself to new people, or it's like a fucking notice on the clip on the wall, you know, but just telling people like, hey, dude, like I can't see, but it doesn't change shit.

Speaker 1: 12:47

I'm down to roll yeah, for sure, you know, let's do it, yeah, and, and I think it's.

Speaker 2: 12:52

I think it's a communication thing and it that's not. That's not. I'm not saying that to say that your communication is poor. But with your coach, if you can get a little bit more help, or if you've got a mate at the gym, have them advocate on your behalf to get a few more people to roll with. But then at the end of the day we don't know the size of your gym you might need to go to a different gym just every now and again. You know. It doesn't mean you've got to change gyms, it's just. I think it's a challenge for all people, whatever their, their you know their gender, their, their specifics to their body. You are probably going to have to broaden your net to meet more people who are going to suit you whatever that looks like.

Speaker 2: 13:31

So, mate, credit to you, big up, big respect to have a degree of impairment and still be getting after it. So we wish you all the best with that and please let us know how you go. Love to hear follow up in the future. It's so cool we get like, well, it's two people from America, one guy from Scotland like just different accents coming through with the questions. It's so good, guys, if you've got a question, please leave it for the show. Go to our webpage, bulletproofforbjjcom. Hit, please leave it for the show. Go to our webpage, bulletproofforbjjcom, hit the podcast tab and then just there's a little voicemail section. Leave us a voicemail. We'll answer it on the next show. It's a lovely way for us to hear the voices and some of the personality behind our listeners. So, yeah, cheers, leave us a question. Talk to you next time. Thanks guys, thanks guys, thanks guys.