The AC Joint.... Friend or Foe?

I find my AC Joints switch allegiences on a daily basis! Usually on a Tuesday and a Saturday!!! I played chiropractor/doctor and found a bit of info in relation to AC injuries and the one I reckon I suffer from! Jeroen will correct me if I'm wrong!!!!

Impingement Syndrome is the most common non-sport related rotator cuff injury. If the supraspinatus tendon passes beneath the acromion, the bone on top of the shoulder, the tendon and the lubricating tissue, or the bursa, is then pinched when the arm is raised into a forward or upward position. Repetitive impingement can make the tendons and the bursa inflamed, resulting in the disease referred to as impingement syndrome.

Factors that put people at a high risk for impingement syndrome:

• Shape/Thickness of the acromion : as discussed in the biology section, the shoulder is a ball and socket type joint, the acromion being the socket, and the humeral head being the ball. In some people the space between the undersurface of the acromion and the humeral head is very narrow, and thus is more likely to pinch the supraspinatus tendon.

• Bone Spur : Some people have bone spurs on the front of the acromion, which increases the risk of impingement syndrome.

• Muscle Imbalance : Either by injury or atrophy, the muscles in the shoulder may become imbalanced, which affects the shoulder motion, especially in the forward direction. Any change in motion increases the risk of impingement.

The symptoms of impingement syndrome are as follows:

• Pain : Impingement syndrome begets an aching pain in both the front of the shoulder and also the outer side of the upper arm. The pain will increase on contact as it is tender to the touch, and also certain movements will result in sharp searing pain.

• Weakness : Due to imbalance, and improper shoulder movement, the shoulder will become weak.

• Lack of Mobility : Some movements may pinch the tendon in such a way that the shoulder will not be able to rotate sufficiently to allow the arm to complete the action. Other motions may simply be too painful.

Impingement syndrome breaks down the supraspinatus tendon near the attachment to the humerus bone. In most severe cases, the tendon may pull away from the bone completely.

Wednesdays.....

Trained with Jeroen today and he gave me some great pointers for defending guard passes. It seems I've been turning the wrong way and really getting myself into a bad position! Me being the youtube addict that I am managed to find a nice video of a brown belt defending guard pass attempts by a purple belt. The purple belt looked very familiar.... I'm pretty sure he was Jeroen's first roll last Saturday! Anyway the brown belt does a very nice job (or so i reckon but then what do I know?) of defending. See what you reckon...

2007 Australian Jiu Jitsu Champions Cup

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Wow what a day!!! At the 2007 Australian Jiu Jitsu Champions Cup at the Aquatic Centre today Jeroen and Jason both took out gold medals in their respective divisions. Loaded the car up with my 3 kids and Dave and his 2 and off we went. We got there just after Jason won with a flying armbar (I can't believe I missed it!!) I was revved up to see Jeroen compete! This is the first jiu jitsu competition I've been to so I was looking forward to seeing how they are run, etc. Pretty relaxed but a bit all over the place as far as whose fighting who and when! But what do i know? Regardless I really enjoyed myself and seeing how I had my 3 young kids with me, thats saying something. Niles and Chris from Mornington were there and it was great to see the guys from Extreme Chadstone and Ringwood competing and overall they all did very well. Jeroen flowed well and squashed the absolute shit out of his competitors, dominating every match and winning two gold medals. Well done again to all!!!!

Sharing the love......

Got these in an email from grapplearts.com and liked them. More of what Jeroen has been telling us. I've added a link to Jason SCULLY'S site as well.

16 TIPS FOR YOUR CLOSED GUARD, BY JASON SCULLY

These are very important aspects of the closed guard to remember and practice. These tips are especially helpful with no-gi.

1. DON'T GIVE HIM SPACE. When having your opponent in closed guard you don't want to give him any space. Space for him means more opportunities to work a pass.

2. DON'T LET HIM POSTURE. When he has his posture he is able to get his elbows in and head up to work out of your guard.

3. You want to GET CONTROL OF YOUR OPPONENT'S HIPS, HEAD AND UPPER BODY.

4. CLIMB YOUR LEGS HIGH up on your opponent's waist, closer to his upper back. When they are higher up it is much harder for him to sit back and get his elbows in. You also have your hips off the ground, which allows for better movement on the bottom.

5. KNOCK HIS HANDS OFF YOUR BODY. When he has his hand flat on your body he has the opportunity to push off of you. As emphasized before, if your legs are higher up his waist/closer to his upper back it is much harder for him to push on your body and regain his posture.

6. PULL HIM IN WITH YOUR LEGS. Do not rely on using just your hands to pull your opponent in close to you. It will not work. Your hands against his whole body are not an even battle. You want to close your legs tightly around your opponent and bring your knees into you:
this will cause your opponent to lunge forward.

7. CONTROL HIS HEAD. This is a really important point. Where the head goes the body follows, so you want to try to control your opponent's head most of the time, at least until you have moved onto something better. If you have ever experienced someone constantly pulling down on your head while you were in their guard, you would probably agree that it is very frustrating. Also when you pull down on their head you want to pull down on the upper back of their head because that is where you get the most leverage. It is much harder to pull down on your opponent's head once you get closer to his neck area. Don't control directly on the neck

8. TRY TO CONTROL HIS ARMS/SHOULDERS. Immediately after controlling your opponent's head and bringing him close to you you want to get control of at least one of his shoulders or arms. This gives you a lot of control. You can either overhook one if his arms or underhook one of his arms, but always remember to keep control of his head.

9. After you gain control of your opponent you want to START MOVING YOUR HIPS out so you can start working some attacks. Most attacks are going to come from the side or with your hips out, so you need to be a step ahead of your opponent and start moving your hips out right away.
Many people make the mistake of not angling out while having a closed guard, but it is very possible to have tight control with a closed guard and work angles at the same time.

10. You want to STAY TIGHT at the same time as making your movements. An example of this would be placing one of your feet on the ground to aid in scooting your hips out, but retaining control of your opponent's head and shoulder/arm as you do it so he can't sit up. Once you get your hips out you want to immediately get your legs tight around your opponent's body again. Think of yourself as a Boa Constrictor, always on the move but staying tight at the same time.

11. If you feel you can't stop your opponent from getting his posture and opening your legs. then you need to OPEN YOUR LEGS VOLUNTARILY BEFORE HE FORCES YOU TO DO IT. Remember you want to always be a step ahead. If he forces your legs open, he will have the upper hand and will most likely be able to control your legs and hips.
Always be ready to react and go into a position if you feel your opponent is going to open your legs.

12. When he sits back, TRY TO SIT UP WITH HIM. Remember you always want to be tight. When he goes to push you back, lots of times he will open up an opportunity to gain control.

13. ALWAYS PRACTICE REGAINING GUARD CONTROL. During your practice sessions allow your partners open your guard and work passes. Then fight your way back into guard. To do this always practice your hip escapes (shrimps), this is a really important fundamental movement that is used in a ton of techniques involved in grappling. Also do not let your opponent get control of your legs above your knees, close to your waist. You are in a bad spot if your opponent gains control of your legs close to your hips, or even worse gains control of your hips all together.

14. IT'S IN YOUR HIPS. Remember a lot of the grappling game, especially on the bottom, is in the hips.

15. Always PRACTICE YOUR BACKWARD ROLLS. These are very important in getting back to your knees if your opponent stacks you up and there is no way for you to stop him from passing your guard. If you can roll back to your knees, you're in a much better position. Also work on getting back to your knees during your grappling sessions so you can increase your reaction time.

16. Always PRACTICE YOUR SHOULDER BRIDGES. These are very important should your opponent pass your guard and you need to escape or prevent the pin. You can develop the right mechanics and reaction time to bridge into your opponent and back on your knees, or make at least enough space too scoot back into guard.

Finally remember that the closed guard can be a great tool and many attacks and advantages can come from it. Remember to work with it. Too many people use the closed guard to just hold their opponent and stall.

It Actually Works When You Commit To It....

Very good training session last night.. It's always good to learn something new and then have it work for you on the mat. Having said that it's the same story that as I go along I'm remembering more and more, you have to go for it or it aint gonna work!!! As I learnt when trying to half heartedly pull Dave on to his stomach from seated position and having him go straight into side control on me. My comment to Jeroen was, "I didn't think it was going to work" and that's why it didn't!!! I defeated the move before even trying it! Not that my moves (limited at the moment) will always work, but if I don't give them a fighting chance, they never will.... I've got a new knickname for Niles as well, "The Fucking Monkey"!!!! Added to my list of "always try and do" is, prevent Niles from taking my back.... See you on the mat!

All Hail The King......

What a fight!!! Randy Couture and Gabrial Gonzaga UFC74 live at Las Vegas. With a great supporting undercard we were set for an enjoyable afternoons entertainment. Jeroen, Jason, Bruce, Dave, Tom, Chris and Niles came over to my place for the fights and we all had a great time. To top it off randy "smashed" Gonzaga to a stoppage in the 2nd round much to the relief of a nervous Jeroen.... I had a "couple " of friends around as well for a bit of a bbq and they all only had nice things to say about the boys. Things like, "they are all very handsome" and "do they teach girls as well?" were the comments most used by the women, where the guys tended to say things like, "what a great bunch of blokes" and "you're all crazy". Of course now that they've tasted a bit of MMA that's what we do at training.... Bash the shit out of each other and bleed all over the place. Even my wife Anna is a bit worried!!! I must say it was a pleasure to have the guys around and as I was saying to Jeroen, now that I understand a bit of ground fighting, MMA fights are a whole new ball game as a spectator! Roll on UFC75, we'll do it all again and this time bring your wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, significant others, etc along as well.