2025 Training Log Part 8

On the stereo today- Complete shuffle. Could not think of an album that matched my mood.

No training last week. I took a holiday and travelled to Edinburgh, which, let me tell you, is pretty hilly, so it really should count as training. Great spot though. I also went to London for the IBJJF event there at the weekend.

So this log entry is about injuries and how I manage them.

I seem to have a disposition to spinal issues. Might be genetic, might be postural, might be luck, might be the game.

Currently I have a trapped nerve in my neck which is improving slowly, and while it is a bit miserable, it’s going to take patience and time. It just requires a bit of Zen and a bit of grit in whatever proportion the day requires. I expect to be back to training in about 2 more weeks

I love to train, so I’m going to use the time to build my lower body and core to make myself more injury resistant there. Which brings me to…

Low Back Issues

Last year I was getting some persistent low back and hip stiffness, so I went to see my physio hoping, as always, that with a little prod here and a click there, my hip would be brand new. Instead, he told me I had a degenerative disc issue, which I sort of already knew. At that point, I couldn’t sit without pain, and training was severely effected. I couldn’t even walk my dog for Christ’s sake. You should have seen his face every morning.

I set about managing it, knowing that most of these issues will improve in time and with no stupidity. I improved my mobility slowly, using resistance training and mobility work.

The issue was that I couldn’t really do anything. Axial loading like deadlifts and squats were completely banned. Anything that’s going to compress the spine at all was a terrible idea, but that assumed I was going to be able to do them in the first place. The pain was just too much, and I was losing leg strength and muscle mass from the glutes and quads, which was only going to worsen the issue.

BFR- Blood Flow Restriction Training

I needed to keep my legs strong and maintain muscle safely while I did the work to heal my back. I had seen some stuff about BFR, also called Occlusion training over the years, mostly in terms of bodybuilding. The basic premise was that you used lower loads and higher reps. Some of you will read that and think, well, yeah, like all Hypertrophy training. A shorthand for those not up to speed on Strength and Conditioning would be basically-

Low reps and high loads= strength
High reps and low loads= growth

But the reality is that everything is along a continuum. You’ll get somewhat bigger using just Low Rep/High Load, and you’ll get somewhat stronger using High Rep/Low Load. That seems like an aside, but it’s important in terms of BFR/Occlusion.

Essentially, and I’m going to butcher the science in the name of brevity here, BFR straps restrict blood flow out of the muscles back to the heart. Arterial blood still flows in, but veinous blood moves more slowly due to the restriction. What then happens is your body can’t clear the muscle as quickly, and under that duress there’s a release of Growth hormone and IGF-1 (Insulin Growth factor), which pool in the muscle under restriction.

It sounds like the bro-science playbook, but it’s actually been used fairly successfully in rehabilitation environments for a long time. Look up the work of Dr. Chris Gaviglio for some more on this.

I started taking measurements and noting increases in quad/ham size in the upper and lower segments of the thigh. There’s no great way to assess glute size unless you’re planning on cracking walnuts, so I just had my wife squeeze from time to time. Within 6 weeks of starting, I was convinced. I was capable of more and more work, and I wasn’t feeling exhausted from just walking around. That’s a symptom of low back pain they don’t tell you about- you’re fucking knackered all the time. It’s literally such a pain in the arse.

The only issue is that the workouts are fucking brutal. The loads are low but you’ll be crying when you look at your sheet and see rep ranges like 30-15-15-15-15. The worst ones I do are the interval cycles in the things. Your legs are on fire from about a minute in.

Look, the main result, aside from the nutcracking gag is-

Last Friday after some lower body strength work, I was frog jumping down the mats easily. I can pistol squat for reps on both legs. Now and then I feel a little stiffness in the region, but who doesn’t? Last year, thought of doing a small hop on one foot would have been awful. I’ll always have to keep an eye on it, but I’m feeling decent.

The Future Scenario

I’m mid 40s. My plan is to train until I die. So I think I’ve got about 45 years to go. The men in my family go a long time.

The juice is worth the squeeze. A little pain now and then for something I truly love.

I just need to be smart. Pick the battles more and more carefully. Know when to rest.

I can’t remember where I heard this first. I have it in my head that it might have been when I was reading about apartheid years ago, but it got credited to Martin Sheen a while back which seems unusual. Anyway, it’s probably a bit wanky to say it about Jiu Jitsu when it’s been used about the fight for equality in South Africa, but it goes something like this-

A man walks up to St. Peter at the pearly gates, and St. Peter asks him, “Show me your scars”. The man, thinking that the saint would be impressed by his lack of them, proudly says “I don’t have any”.

To which St. Peter replies, “What a shame. Was there nothing worth fighting for?”.

Like I said, a bit wanky for a Jiu Jitsu blog.

See you on the mat,

Barry