There are times when you’re training and the Force is just strong that day: everything you do is right, your training partner can’t land a shot on you, you’re the reincarnation of Bruce Lee, Musashi and Bodidharma all in one.
Usually, just around the time you think nothing can go wrong, something does. If you’re lucky, only your ego gets a dent. If you’re not, it’s injury time. Sometimes, it’s your own damn fault that things go South but not always. Bad things can happen for no reason. Here are two examples of mine.
- I was sparring with one of my students who was in preparation for a competition. We were working on getting him used to fight an aggressive, hard-working yet elusive opponent. So I was moving in and out constantly, throwing both long and short combinations, changing angles and targets all the time, etc. I was feeling pretty good about myself because I managed to block almost everything my student dished out and landed a lot of my techniques. Next thing I know, he blocks my leg kick perfectly on his raised knee and it feels like I broke my shin bone. I look down to check it isn’t dangling off my leg in two pieces and I’m lucky after all; it isn’t. It just hurts like hell. So I suck it up and keep going. But I couldn’t kick with that leg anymore for two weeks.
- I train at home every day and have a set of warm up routines I do. I often change bits of them to experiment with new ideas, but the core is the same. I’ve been doing them for over 20 years now. One day, I go through them like usual. I don’t mean going through the motions, I’m doing things right and my body is warming up well. After I’m done, I sit down on a small chair to put on my other training shoes (lighter ones so I don’t mess up the heavy bag) and blow out my back. I didn’t drop down on the chair, I wasn’t carrying anything heavy, nor did I twist my spine. I just sat down as I always do and felt my back give out on me. It took months and months of work to get it fixed.
So, what are your training bloopers or incidents where Mr. Murphy came along?
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Dan says
Well, the more, ahem, advanced I get, the more I realize that a) most of my chronic issues are related to poor technique back in the day, b) a single injury no matter how small is more counterproductive than a sub-par workout, c) stuff happens.
To add another data point on backs, I sent my lower back into protective spasm for a couple weeks by bending over to get a water pitcher full of dry dog food.
Wim says
Yup, and then some. I have an extensive collection of smaller injuries that came back to haunt me. All because I focused on hitting hard too much instead of hitting right.
Ouch, dog food did you in. Well, it’s at least a little better than me just sitting down to put on shoes… :-)
Dan says
Well, the more, ahem, advanced I get, the more I realize that a) most of my chronic issues are related to poor technique back in the day, b) a single injury no matter how small is more counterproductive than a sub-par workout, c) stuff happens.
To add another data point on backs, I sent my lower back into protective spasm for a couple weeks by bending over to get a water pitcher full of dry dog food.
Wim says
Yup, and then some. I have an extensive collection of smaller injuries that came back to haunt me. All because I focused on hitting hard too much instead of hitting right.
Ouch, dog food did you in. Well, it’s at least a little better than me just sitting down to put on shoes… :-)
Loren Christensen says
Back in the old days (1965) when my first style had us doing a lot of deep horse sitting and punching straight out – left, right, left, right – I punched the back of my returning hand and broke a small bone.
Story I told all my friends was that I was in a bar fight and killed six guys, and my hand was my only injury.
Wim says
Damn, that sucks! But the story was pretty good. :-)
Loren Christensen says
Back in the old days (1965) when my first style had us doing a lot of deep horse sitting and punching straight out – left, right, left, right – I punched the back of my returning hand and broke a small bone.
Story I told all my friends was that I was in a bar fight and killed six guys, and my hand was my only injury.
Wim says
Damn, that sucks! But the story was pretty good. :-)
shaun eastman says
I was sparring 3 people and thought I was doing well, they couldn’t really get ahold of me and I was landing a lot of my techniques. I was thinking this is great, as I did that I didn’t notice that my foot was next to one of the guys outside foot and as I went to move the other guy stepped right next to my foot trapping it between their feet. It was at that moment i decided to turn, well the top half of the leg turned and the bottom half did not. Needless to say I blew out my knee pretty good. It is fixed now but it took most of a year and surgery to fix.
Wim says
Ouch, that sucks. I did the same thing to a training partner by accident. I tripped him and his foot got stuck. Tore his knee out real bad. :-(
shaun eastman says
I was sparring 3 people and thought I was doing well, they couldn’t really get ahold of me and I was landing a lot of my techniques. I was thinking this is great, as I did that I didn’t notice that my foot was next to one of the guys outside foot and as I went to move the other guy stepped right next to my foot trapping it between their feet. It was at that moment i decided to turn, well the top half of the leg turned and the bottom half did not. Needless to say I blew out my knee pretty good. It is fixed now but it took most of a year and surgery to fix.
Wim says
Ouch, that sucks. I did the same thing to a training partner by accident. I tripped him and his foot got stuck. Tore his knee out real bad. :-(
Bob Patterson says
I have a two car garage that doubles as my gym. One piece of equipment I have is a freestanding bag. Usually once per week I’ll run through some freestyle bag work from the arts I’ve studied.
Well on this particular day it was very humid. This makes the concrete “sweat” which in turn makes for a slick floor. Well I was thumping away on the bag with AC/DC blaring — felt so good that I tried a reverse side kick (aka spinning side kick). At about mid-kick I started to slip and I tried to recover… ended up missing the bag totally and hopping on one leg while I tried not to fall.
I ended up stagger hopping backwards and fell into my wife’s pile of recyclables.
She heard a big crash and came running. Found me laying in a pile of plastic bottles and newspapers.
At least the landing was soft.
She just shook her head and went back in the house.
Wim says
Ha, that’s a good one. Still, she didn’t laugh in your face so it could have been worse… :-)
One time in class, a student of mine was messing up a spinning kick. So I sat everybody down and explained how you should do it. Then I demonstrated the kick, slipped and fell on my ass. My students were kind too, they only giggled and didn’t burst into laughter. :-)
Bob Patterson says
I have a two car garage that doubles as my gym. One piece of equipment I have is a freestanding bag. Usually once per week I’ll run through some freestyle bag work from the arts I’ve studied.
Well on this particular day it was very humid. This makes the concrete “sweat” which in turn makes for a slick floor. Well I was thumping away on the bag with AC/DC blaring — felt so good that I tried a reverse side kick (aka spinning side kick). At about mid-kick I started to slip and I tried to recover… ended up missing the bag totally and hopping on one leg while I tried not to fall.
I ended up stagger hopping backwards and fell into my wife’s pile of recyclables.
She heard a big crash and came running. Found me laying in a pile of plastic bottles and newspapers.
At least the landing was soft.
She just shook her head and went back in the house.
Wim says
Ha, that’s a good one. Still, she didn’t laugh in your face so it could have been worse… :-)
One time in class, a student of mine was messing up a spinning kick. So I sat everybody down and explained how you should do it. Then I demonstrated the kick, slipped and fell on my ass. My students were kind too, they only giggled and didn’t burst into laughter. :-)
Clint O says
I was training for a strongman competition, overhead press , going really good 5 x 5 routine. 4th set I dropped 315 lbs across my shoulders. hurt but I kept standing, racked the weight and tryed to shake it off. Walked three or four steps found a dumbell with my little toe and broke it . Put me off training for two weeks. What does not kill us makes us hooble
Wim says
Damn Clint, that blows!
Clint O says
I was training for a strongman competition, overhead press , going really good 5 x 5 routine. 4th set I dropped 315 lbs across my shoulders. hurt but I kept standing, racked the weight and tryed to shake it off. Walked three or four steps found a dumbell with my little toe and broke it . Put me off training for two weeks. What does not kill us makes us hooble
Wim says
Damn Clint, that blows!
Jon Law says
Re: the back, I slipped a disc a few years ago and managed to recover after a good few months. It returns to haunt me now and then, usually when i do something suddenly. The last time it really went was when I bent over to pick up a sock, huge spasm and 3 weeks no full training.
I’ve fallen on my arse kicking in gradings before which is fairly embarrassing but the best was my mate. In a grading he was showing his evasion and defence skills, ducking, slipping, covering etc. Now in this drill for safety the bloke moving, calls how hard the incoming punches should be. So my mate is doing very well and then calls to up the ‘volume’ a bit.
“Come on you pansy” and you guessed it BANG right on the chin! Very funny at the time.
Jon Law says
Re: the back, I slipped a disc a few years ago and managed to recover after a good few months. It returns to haunt me now and then, usually when i do something suddenly. The last time it really went was when I bent over to pick up a sock, huge spasm and 3 weeks no full training.
I’ve fallen on my arse kicking in gradings before which is fairly embarrassing but the best was my mate. In a grading he was showing his evasion and defence skills, ducking, slipping, covering etc. Now in this drill for safety the bloke moving, calls how hard the incoming punches should be. So my mate is doing very well and then calls to up the ‘volume’ a bit.
“Come on you pansy” and you guessed it BANG right on the chin! Very funny at the time.
Tater says
I suppose this is more of the same, but on my 40th birthday I was getting ready for a big party and moved my coffee table about two inches and felt my back go. I had the spend the rest of the night clenching my butt cheeks so I wouldn’t fall over crying. The next morning my wife had to roll me out of bed so I could crawl to the bathroom to use the toilet. My wife laughed so hard she had tears rolling down her face.
It was only a couple of weeks before that I was doing tons of throws and breakfalls with no problem what so ever!
Wim says
I feel your pain. Having your back go out just sucks. When is science going to invent an unbreakable yet elastic back? :-)
Tater says
I suppose this is more of the same, but on my 40th birthday I was getting ready for a big party and moved my coffee table about two inches and felt my back go. I had the spend the rest of the night clenching my butt cheeks so I wouldn’t fall over crying. The next morning my wife had to roll me out of bed so I could crawl to the bathroom to use the toilet. My wife laughed so hard she had tears rolling down her face.
It was only a couple of weeks before that I was doing tons of throws and breakfalls with no problem what so ever!
Wim says
I feel your pain. Having your back go out just sucks. When is science going to invent an unbreakable yet elastic back? :-)
Nick says
Sparring in my Karate class years ago. We had almost everyone on the mats fighting at the same time. Our task, fight our opponent and be aware of the people around us. While fighting I took a step back and my toes got caught on the foot of the guy behind my. Three toes, from the smallest over turned under my foot as I put my weight down and broke all three. It was a remarkable “feet” of agility. So was the hopping around I did after that…
Wim says
Ah, that sucks… I hope it healed quick enough though.
Nick says
Sparring in my Karate class years ago. We had almost everyone on the mats fighting at the same time. Our task, fight our opponent and be aware of the people around us. While fighting I took a step back and my toes got caught on the foot of the guy behind my. Three toes, from the smallest over turned under my foot as I put my weight down and broke all three. It was a remarkable “feet” of agility. So was the hopping around I did after that…
Wim says
Ah, that sucks… I hope it healed quick enough though.
sean says
funny story – a friend of mine use to let a homeless guy hang out in his place – the homeless guy was good company and a very funny guy. he adored training even though his joints were out of whack from sleeping rough. anyway, i use to hit the pads with him, he was ultra aggressive, thought the pads should be hit as hard as possible. i tried to convince him otherwise and most times he would listen. however, one day, in a moment of competitive, idiotic zeal i started whacking the pads with crosses and hooks. he was loving it – and so was I – until he pulled a pad away on a right cross i threw. partially ripped my rotator cuffs. a week later i made the injury much worse from training (do i ever learn!) when i should have been resting and rehabing. its mostly healed, but 5 years on it occasionally flares up when i’m overworking the joint or doing certain movements. i’ve always prided myself on training with people that felt beneficial for my body – and when solo training to discard or modify an exercise that didn’t feel right. the human body is so specific, so individual. one mistake – thats all it took. take heed, especially youngsters!