Howdy.
Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts.
So, the other day, I saw a video over on Kwonkicker’s YouTube channel.
It’s titled, “Why I Can’t Train Martial Arts Anymore.”
Now, for the record, I don’t know Kwonkicker, but his situation really hit me in the heart.
Apparently, he's developed tinnitus and, according to a couple of his doctors, that could be
the result of taking too many head shots over the years.
Now, the topic of taking head shots, or CTE, or secondary impact syndrome, has been more
and more common nowadays, whether you’re talking about football, youth soccer, or of
course, martial arts.
I can’t think of a more important conversation to have if you’re training in the martial
arts, so I thought I’d turn on the camera, give you some thoughts on concussions and
hopefully, give you some advice to help you protect your brain.
Okay.
I’ve already talked about injuries in a couple of different videos.
As a matter of fact, one of the very first articles I wrote on my website was titled,
“Stop Practicing Martial Arts.”
I wrote that article because I knew three people who all quit martial arts the same
year.
Why?
They were all in their 50s.
Their bodies had just broken down.
They couldn’t take it anymore.
How tragic is that?
That’s not the way martial arts is supposed to work.
You take martial arts to make your life better, to make yourself stronger, to protect yourself
from harm.
But think about how crazy this is—most people training in the martial arts are going to
hurt themselves far more on the mats than they’re going to get hurt on the streets.
But forget about wrecking your knees, your shoulders, or your back right now.
Let’s focus on the worst possible injury—brain damage.
I don’t know about you, but I'd rather walk with a cane then lose my brain.
Depression, dementia, suicidal thoughts… brain injuries and brain disease scare the
hell out of me and they should scare the hell out of you, too.
The problem is I didn’t always worry about brain injuries.
I was almost 30 before I ever looked up the word "concussion".
Back in the 80s, that’s just the way it was.
If you took a shot to the head or you took a hard fall, what you’d hear was, “Walk
it off” or “Get back on the horse” or “Hey--no pain, no gain.”
If anything, when I would take a hard head shot, I was proud of myself.
I felt tough.
I felt hardcore.
But really, I was stupid.
Man, I hate admitting that.
But I was stupid, ignorant, and reckless with the most important part of my body—my brain.
Let me tell you exactly how stupid I really was.
In my late-20’s, I started assisting in women’s self-defense workshops.
You know, the kind where a guy dresses up in a padded suit and then a roomful of women
take turns beating the crap out of him?
Well, I was that guy.
Now, don’t get me wrong—I am in full support of programs like that.
Nice people get a chance to exercise their power, maybe for the first time in their lives,
and on my side of it, I got the chance to stare fury right in the face and stay cool
under that kind of pressure.
There was only problem—my helmet.
This wasn't just a normal sparring helmet, which I’m not a big fan of anyway.
This was a helmet covered in layers of foam padding.
It was basically just a big ball of foam padding and duct tape with some eye holes punched
in the front.
The result was that my head was three times its normal size.
You couldn’t miss this thing.
I don’t care who you are, you can’t slip punches with a big ol’ bucket on your head.
Plus, you couldn’t see anything.
You’re just getting smashed from every direction with no chance to roll with anything.
I’m talking hours of blunt force trauma here.
Palm heels, elbows, knees, kicks… and not just standing up, mind you, this is on the
ground, too.
I’d end up on the ground with this giant ball on my head, and a roomful of 20 or 30
women—nice women, mind you—suddenly cheering each other on, “Stomp his head!
Stomp his head!”
Now, I’m no doctor, but my understanding is that the brain has the consistency of Jell-O.
And you know when you put Jell-O in your mouth and you swish it around?
And it liquefies?
I’m not saying that my brain liquefied, but it definitely got swished around.
So, damage report.
Increasingly, after each one of those workshops, I would have a headache for days.
All I could do was go home, pop some Advil, close the shades because the light hurt my
eyes, and lie down.
That’s it.
And I tell you, my friend, it never once occurred to me, not until the very end, that I was
experiencing concussions or brain injuries of some kind.
I just thought I was dehydrated, or tired, or, “Hey, man— you took a little beating.
Suck it up."
Ever since then, to this day, I have a glass jaw.
I take one good shot sparring or rolling, or heck, even if I just take a good fall,
it’s an instant headache.
Now, I’m going to be totally honest with you.
You know me.
I’m a happy guy.
But when that happens, and I get that headache, I get depressed.
It’s really depressing because I remember what an idiot I was—a stupid, ignorant,
reckless idiot—back in my 20s.
I remember how I didn’t take care of myself.
Maybe that’s just how wisdom works.
Maybe to become a master, you have to be an idiot first.
You have to make mistakes and learn from them.
The only question is how many mistakes do you have to make before you learn the lesson?
Now, I hope that by sharing my story, you will suffer less and learn more than I did.
And if you let me, I’ve got some more advice for you right now.
First off, should you stop sparring?
Or rolling?
Or taking falls?
Well, I still do all of that, so, obviously, for me, the answer is no.
I still believe that martial arts training is the best investment you can make in yourself.
Is there a chance that you can get hurt?
Yes.
Absolutely.
There’s a chance you can get hurt.
I’ve had black eyes, a broken nose, a calf contusion, jammed fingers, and shoulder issues—and
that’s all just this year.
But you know what?
You can hurt dancing, or lifting weights, or just getting out of bed.
Life is a contact sport already.
So, I’d rather stay active and gain skills, gain wisdom, and have fun instead of sit on
the couch and do nothing, gain nothing, and then end up having a heart attack, or needing
a knee replacement, or losing a limb to diabetes anyway.
It all comes down to costs and benefits.
I trade a little cartilage here for a little information there.
I trade a little time, money, sweat, and blood over here, for skills, self-knowledge, and
understanding over there.
For me, the benefits of a smart, responsible training program far outweigh the costs.
But the key here is understanding the concept of diminishing returns.
More is not always better.
The goal is to train hard enough to make a gain, but not so hard that you’re in pain.
The golden rule—exert yourself, don't hurt yourself.
Another tip—choose your teacher and your training partners wisely.
Now, this one gets me angry.
I sometimes get emails from students who say they just joined a gym and they’re doing
full contact sparring right away.
What?
Of course, they get knocked down or knocked out and they fell embarrassed because their
coach is yelling at them and the other idiots in the gym are laughing at them.
The question is—is this normal?
No.
That is not normal.
That is criminal.
Listen to me—if you get injured during training and the people around you yell at you, blame
you, or laugh at you, then get the hell out of there.
As a rule, if you find yourself feeling too embarrassed, or too scared, or too damaged
to go back to class, you should not be in that class.
Find people who will encourage you and challenge you, not punish you.
Another tip about teachers.
Look–your teacher may be a great person, they may be very skilled at martial arts,
they may love you like a son or daughter, but the odds are they’re not a medical doctor.
So, that means if you have an injury during class and your teacher says, “Yeah, I think
that’s okay.
Keep going,” that doesn’t mean that you’re okay and you should keep going.
Listen to your body or check with a doctor.
Now, I’m going to warn you, when you check with your doctor, the doctor may tell you,
“Hey, stop practicing martial arts," but that’s probably because he or she is not
a martial artist.
So, my advice--don’t take martial arts advice from doctors and don’t take medical advice
from martial artists.
Next tip, give yourself time to heal.
I know I just said you shouldn't take medical advice from martial artists, but this is common
sense.
It wasn’t in the 80s, but it is today.
Look, if you take a really good shot to the head during training, that’s it.
You’re done for the day.
Remember—you’re in a gym or a dojo.
You’re not on the street fighting for your life.
You don’t have to keep going.
The odds are you’re also not fighting for a half-a-million dollar prize so you can buy
your mom a heart on the black market.
If you want to jump back in there after jacking up your elbow or your knee, okay—I wouldn’t—but
maybe your muscles and your bone can heal up later.
But your brain?
Nope.
There’s nothing that anyone can do to fix your brain.
So, if you get rocked, don’t try to walk it off.
Don’t get back on that horse.
Take off your gear, relax, and figure out if you need to see a doctor.
By the way, you should know that brain injuries don’t always show up right away.
They add up over time.
That’s actually true for all kinds of injuries all over the body.
Wear and tear is a silent killer.
So, focus on long-term success, not short-term success.
That means giving your body time to recover from hard workouts and heal from injuries.
Your goal shouldn’t just be to dominate the dojo in your 20s, it should be to dominate
the dojo in your 70s, your 80 s and beyond.
Another tip, don’t think that taking hits makes you hardcore.
It doesn’t.
It makes you stupid.
I hear people say things like, “Oh, I like getting hit.”
Or, "I can’t even get fired up until I take a few hits.”
Really?
Wow.
I say if you think like that, you’ve taken too many hits already.
Look, I get it—standing toe-to-toe with someone, hands down, talking trash, “Come
on, sweetie pie!”—it’s pretty bad ass.
But let me tell you what’s not so bad ass.
Sitting in a wheelchair wearing a name tag and a blanket over your shoulders while a
nurse feeds you applesauce.
Not so bad ass.
Show your body and your brain some respect.
Don’t take hits if you don’t have to.
Last tip, no matter what martial art you study, protect your head!
That should be your #1 priority even if your school doesn’t allow full contact shots
to the head.
Even if your school doesn’t allow striking.
Still, protect your head.
Look--any time you’re in motion, particularly with another person, there’s a chance that
you’re going to take a shot to the head.
Believe it or not, I’ve taken shots during grappling to the head that were just as hard
as any shot I’ve ever taken on my feet.
So, keep your guard up at all times.
Hide your head.
Chin down, jaw closed, and at least one hand up at all times.
Don’t make it easy for anyone to hit, grab, or slam your head.
All right.
Let’s wrap this up.
I don’t want to scare you off from training in the martial arts.
Quite the opposite— I want you to train for your entire life.
I don’t want you to quit in your 50’s because your body is broken, or you always
feel depressed, or you can’t remember who you are because you didn’t take care of
your brain.
Remember this—the greatest enemy to your health and your safety isn’t someone out
there.
Usually, it’s you.
Sometimes you have to defend yourself FROM yourself.
Your ego.
Your ignorance.
Your bad habits.
So, train smart.
Protect your body, protect your heart, and protect your brain.
If you like what I’m saying here, thanks for giving this video a thumbs up and subscribing
to the channel.
Until next time, watch your head and keep fighting for a happy life.