Old Injuries ... Small Victories

Old Injuries

I learned something about myself last night. I discovered that I don't always find it easy to motivate myself. I was scheduled for 20 rounds of kick-boxing on the bag after a full training session of Kyokushin Kihon and conditioning. It wasn't easy to get into it last night though. Why? With me it's always the same problem - old injuries.

Now seems like a good time to outline my rather embarrassing list of injuries incurred during the last 9 months of training:

- Right foot broken in two places (twice!)
- Right hamstring torn (not pulled... ...torn)
- Torn abductor muscle (groin area)
- Torn rotator cuff in the left shoulder (bad landing out of an O Goshi)
- Dislocated both thumbs (they still don't work correctly)
- Fractured metacarpal left hand (little finger)
- Two broken ribs (another bad landing out of an O Goshi)

Of course, these are just the ones worth mentioning. In addition to these more worthy noteables, there have been countless minor mishaps (like toes getting caught in face guards). Whilst I am not proud of my little list of self inflicted injuries (clearly a number of them are a result of poorly executed technique), I am proud of the fact that they have never stopped me training. I've never missed a session through injury - not one.

Last week we did 'a little bit of board breaking'. No cloth, just boards. I must admit, it was great fun! In order to prepare ourselves for the breaking, we first 'conditioned' our knuckles a little; bare knuckle pushups outdoors on the concrete, bare knuckle 'wheel barrows' on the concrete, bare knuckle jumping pushups... ...on the concrete. By the end of it, there was literally no skin on my Tsuki knuckles (the first two knuckles) and I was bleeding like a gutted pig. Still, those boards were pretty aggressive and I had to be sure that I was ready for them!

As you can imagine, 20 rounds of kickboxing (without boxing gloves) on a heavy bag is no fun with very little skin on the knuckles. So, last nights training was a bit of a problem. Combine that with the fact that my thighs and shin bones are permanently bruised - as a result of 'low kick conditioning' - and the thought of unloading on a bag was not something I was looking forward to.

We regularly - pretty much every session - condition our legs for low kicks. In other words, we stand there like lemons and allow our training partners to unload load low kicks against our waiting - though not always willing - thighs. The end result is that my legs are permanently and fairly severely bruised. But, I must admit, I really don't feel it if a low kick gets through during Kumite. It's training that causes the problem. The slightest touch - when adrenaline isn't pumping - feels like I'm getting hit with the pointy end of a hammer.

Here's a quick look at the current (and ongoing) condition of my legs:

I have to admit it, with bleeding knuckles, bruised up legs and an absent training partner, it wasn't easy to give myself the mental nudge needed to start bag training.

Small Victories

Round one of twenty (two minute rounds) began with the best of intentions but my knuckles weren't interested. Small messages of pain were stabbing me in the brain and saying, "This is only going to make things worse. Go home!" I nearly listened too. I was alone in the Dojo and no one would have had any idea if I just quit. No one except me. I needed a solution. I need these bag workouts in order to maintain and improve upon my conditioning. The problem is, these damn injuries keep getting in the way. That's when I came up with solution number one... ...soft gloves.

I really don't know why I thought 3mm of leather was going to stop the pain or the continued demise of my knuckles but it was worth the shot. Of course, it didn't work, my knuckles tore up a little more and my gloves just got wet on the inside (blood can do that). "Forget it!", I thought. "I'm going home". I wasn't really in the mood anyway.

Although I didn't want to aggravate my injuries, I really do need the conditioning. That's when it hit me. Damaged knuckles are not a reason to stop training, they're just a reason to stop using the knuckles. I took off my gloves and did the entire workout using Shuto (knife-hand), Shotei (palm-heel) and Hiji (elbow) techniques - for all 20 rounds. Perfect! All the benefits - in terms of cardio - without the downside of further damaging my knuckles.

My legs still hurt like hell with every kick of course. But, the trick there was "not minding that it hurts". Pain is something I could ignore. It was further damage that I was trying to avoid.

Last night, I almost quit. But, with a little thought, a lot of determination and a sheer bloody minded refusal to know when to give up, I managed to hold off the excuses. As a bonus, I improved my open hand techniques immeasurably and they now pack as much power as my punches. Not a bad turn around. Not bad at all.

Last night was an evening of small victories. My mum puts it best, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Thanks for the advice mum. It came in handy.

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