Saturday, July 6, 2019

Who I'm Watching/What I'm Studying/New Ideas....Shhhhh

I'm approaching 5 months post op ACL/Meniscus surgery. I'm back doing a fair bit of positional training but obviously still a lot of things I have to be wary of and mindful training. Having been through this year long process getting back to 100% with my previous ACL/Meniscus surgery helps in that I've been through the ups and downs of how long it takes to get back to form and the diligence and patience to not overdo it week to week as my leg feels better.

I've been able to resume EBI overtime back attack rounds, am learning to pass in some alternative ways, and been back training in the Gi quite a bit more as the pace is slower and obviously there's less grabbing of my leg et cetera.

So far in the past month I've watched all the available footage of Keenan at black belt, every black belt match of Brunovskis, and all of the black belt matches of 3 other guys who shall remain nameless as they have very stylized/specific gameplans that I basically don't want to reveal before I come back to competition. I've gone through entire black belt careers of a number of guys both with what's available on YouTube and FloGrappling. I've also gone back and rewatched every EBI and the last few ADCC's of what's available online.

I'm back doing some NoGi training but no leg locks as of yet and it will be awhile before I do. It's not the end of the world, I've spent the time re-acclimating to back control, and passing with some new ideas and details that are changing how I do about those positions due to the constraint of being mindful about my knee.

I've mentioned it before but both in Judo and in JiuJitsu injury has been some of the better problem solving with constraint that I've benefitted from in all my years grappling.

Prior to my first ACL surgery I didn't use knee on belly nor do I use RDLR or deep half but coming back from surgery I adjustedand adopted the above 3 into my game by the time I began competing at blue belt again, and then into purple belt not long after I returned to competition.

My game has changed immeasurably since then (both from what I changed in training around the injury and post recovery period and just my overall grappling knowledge and acumen), and the addition of different grips, increased knowledge and diligence and willingness to train positionally has already began to pay dividends in my game overall as I'm bringing some very new, but already very effective new components to what I'm doing when I will be back competing January 2020.
It's possible I may return to competition in December but I went into the surgery accepting I might lose all of 2019. It took me 10 months to return to competing last time, but I was a blue belt then and the level I compete it, and the level necessary to not only win but do so convincingly may require a bit more patience coming back. I know a lot of guys complain after ACL surgery for years afterward and have problems or additional surgeries, so avoiding either of those scenarios is goal number 1.

My first knee surgery 7 years ago was a success and I've never had any problems with it at all, so it can be done, but it requires a lot of diligence, finishing PT, and patience coming back. 

No comments:

Post a Comment