I almost broke my arm

Injuries can happen all the time in Jiu Jitsu, if you train hard enough, you will get injured but the good thing is you will get better at it. You will learn from your injuries and improve your game. I hope I don’t scare you guys away but this is from my own personal experience. However, there is also a way to prevent the injuries on the mat.

I almost broke my arm once in the competition; it was my bad because I didn’t want to tap. I was being so stubborn and I thought that I could handle the pain and escape. The match just started and I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone by tapping.

So my opponent put me in an armbar position, where my arm was bended. But it hurts so much so I decided to tap to stop the match, if I had stayed in that position longer than 5 seconds I sure will have a broken arm and wouldn’t be able to train at least 3 months, definitely not worth it. What I had to right away is to ice my arm and keep pressing it to prevent my arm from swelling.

So please, seriously, don’t hurt yourself, it’s not the end of the world if you lose. Tapping is really important in jiu jitsu, try to be optimistic about it. I like what Robson Moura, a third degree black belt in Jiu jitsu has said, “If you are getting tapped out - be happy - it means that's one less time you're going to get caught in that move. Tapping doesn't mean you're doing badly, it means you are learning.”