Dear Legion,
In the previous edition, we looked at injury prevention tips and I promised injury management tips. I’ve typed out a guide based on my career. Keep in mind, I’m clearly not a doctor, but I’ve gotten injured more than most of them.
I’ve included two Matches of the Month, the attendance leaderboard, this month’s promotions, new upcoming events and more!
Injury Management Tips for Jiu-Jitsu from a Former Professional Injured Person
Injuries are part of the game, but how you handle them can make all the difference in your recovery time and timeline to return to the mats. Too many people rush to a doctor, wait for an MRI, or get fast-tracked for surgery—without considering all their options. While doctors are important, they’re just one piece of the puzzle.
Here’s what I’ve learned in the last two decades about recovering from injuries.
Right After the Injury Happens
I’m fortunate to say it’s been over three years since I was injured badly enough to need a recovery protocol. I think the last one for me was a heel hook that caught me off guard in competition. Lets take that injury as an example. I don’t really put ice on injuries. This comes from the RICE method. Rest, ice, compress, elevate. The problem with the method is that even the doctor who came up with it no longer stands by it.
Cold, in theory, reduces inflammation, but inflammation is a part of the body’s response to injury. However, ice packs are great for holding something while you sulk about your bad luck.
The next thing I do is prepare for tomorrow to suck. After the adrenaline wears off and the body cools, the injury will start to hurt more, especially the next morning. The injury is the most acute on the second day. One thing to pay attention to is throbbing. I’ve suffered three bone fractures in my life, one from skiing, one from punching in an MMA fight and one from competing in jiu-jitsu. What those had in common was a throbbing pain which I haven’t found present in ligament and muscle injuries.
Now that we know we’re injured, who should you see?
Doctor or Physio? Know Who to See
A primary care doctor will often refer you to a specialist. If you have a serious structural issue—like a locked-up meniscus tear—surgery is probably unavoidable. But many surgeries are recommended simply because that’s what surgeons do. The best ones will exhaust all options before operating. With surgeries, you should also get multiple opinions from other surgeons and physiotherapists as well.
A skilled physiotherapist, on the other hand, is focused on restoring movement and strength without or post-surgery. Even if surgery is necessary, prehab (strengthening the area beforehand) can dramatically improve recovery, and post-surgery rehab is essential for getting back to training faster.
Work Harder Than Your Physio
Seeing a physio once or twice a week won’t cut it if you’re not putting in the work. If you have a couple thousands of dollars lying around, you can pay for daily sessions with hands-on guidance—but for most people, the real progress happens between appointments.
- Record your physio’s instructions so you can review them later
- Track your progress and increase intensity as you heal
- Stay consistent—you can’t rush healing, but you can maximize it
At the end of the day, you are responsible for your recovery. Your doctor and physio are just guides—you have to put in the work.
Lifestyle is Everything When You’re Injured
Whenever I’ve had a serious injury, I’ve taken my recovery beyond just medical treatment. I’ve always doubled down on controlling every factor within my power—and I believe it’s made a huge difference in my healing time.
- Eating clean, whole foods to fuel recovery.
- Staying hydrated—every cell in your body depends on it.
- Using sauna, ice baths, and mobility work and even breath work to speed healing even if just through the underrated placebo effect.
- Moving in ways that promote recovery instead of just resting.
Injuries happen, but how you handle them determines how fast you get back on the mats. Take ownership, train smart, and recover the right way. You can make big gains while injured by also:
Plan a gradual reintegration into class. Work with a physio and your coach to slowly return to normal training.
Watching lots of jiu-jitsu matches and courses
Coming to classes to observe the teaching and do as much as you can
Getting absolutely jacked. Oh, your ankle’s hurt? Pull-ups, bench press, curls, come back strong as hell.
Visualize jiu-jitsu. It sounds boring but every mental rep is like a third of a real one, don’t sleep on visualization.
Match of the Month
Watching great jiu-jitsu is a great way to get better at jiu-jitsu. Shocker! That’s why going forward this column will have one gi match, one no-gi match.
Gi match of the month – Adam Wardzinski vs. Roberto Jimenez
This match is from last weekend’s Pan Ams where Poland’s Adam Wardzinski met up with Ecuador’s Roberto Jimenez. Adam is known for his butterfly guard sweeps and crushing top pressure. Roberto’s known for his incredible dynamism and creativity. This match has it all, enjoy.
No-gi match of the month – Deandre Corbe vs. Josh Cisneros
This match was the finals of a $100k tournament, a prize amount that is incredibly rare in jiu-jitsu. Josh Cisneros is an ADCC Worlds medalist and one of the best in the division. Deandre and his brother Gavin who was also in the tournament, are known for coming from a gym that is known as a proponent of the ecological approach. On his side of the bracket, Deandre went through Diego Pato, the #1 in the division. Also, this one ends in a $100,000 submission. Find out who got the tap.
A Letter From Thailand
As you may know, coach Sloan is currently in Thailand sharpening his striking skills for his MMA career, but he did send in a letter with an update of how he’s doing.
To all my students back home,
My experience so far in Thailand has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve teeped with the Thais, wrestled with the Russians, but avoided love from the ladyboys.
The training is intense. Conventional Muay Thai practices are a solid two hours, usually consisting of jump rope, stretching, pad work, sparring, clinching, and conditioning. It’s unlike any training I’ve done in America. On average, I train twice a day, 5-6 days a week, with two to three jiujitsu/wrestling practices sprinkled in there.
Once I felt fully acclimated here, I decided to take my first professional Muay Thai fight. The whole experience was epic. I won by knockout in the 2nd round. I hope to get one more fight before heading back home.
I miss you all very much and can’t wait to get back to teaching/training at Legion. I will be home by the first week of May.
Stay sharp! See you on the mats soon.
Sincerely,
Sloan
March Attendance Champions
All the class check-ins get stored in our database, which gives us the ability to create leaderboards for attendance. This past 30 day’s podium:
🥇Robert Suesserman – 36 classes
🥈Kristina Rogovoya – 33 classes
🥉Van Shiroma – 31 classes
Long time attendance leader Jason Bunch was pushed to #4 with just 29 classes. He is still the GOAT at 1453 classes total. Stop slacking and resting on your laurels, Jason, jeez.
Recent belt promotions
Frequent attendance also plays into promotions of which we’ve had a lot in the last couple of weeks. Here are some of your colleagues who have leveled up recently! With consistent attendance (which doesn’t have to be at the above leaderboard levels), your appearance on this list is inevitable.
Brown Belt 🟤
- Wei Jie Chia
- Ilya Rogovoy
Purple Belt 🟣
- Michael Correa
- Sebastian Davis
- Luke Stengler
Blue Belt 🔵
- Daniel Cook
- Kunal Patel
- Andy Tran
- William Taboas
- Mason Muro
- Patrick Brown
Upcoming Events
April 4th, 6pm – Coach Eric Black Belt promotion.
You don’t see that much footage of Eric because he’s the one typically holding the camera. However, he has also been training for over a decade, has competed extensively and he’s taught plenty of private lessons, especially with people who couldn’t do the Beginner Course because of their schedule. Join us for his black belt promotion and learn a couple of his favorite moves.
April 12th – Jiu-Jitsu World League.
This is one of the biggest local tournaments, held in Del Mar. This edition is sold out, but come support your teammates if you don’t have plans that day. There are about 20 Legionnaires competing. It is also a good competition to scope out if you plan to eventually sign up yourself, they come around about three times per year.
April 19th – 12pm – In-House Tournament.
This isn’t a high-pressure championship—it’s a chance to test your jiu-jitsu under controlled pressure and improve. Whether you’re here for self-defense or competition, this experience will make you better. For this edition we have gotten some custom medals that may or may not be as prestigious as an IBJJF Worlds medal. Registration fees are 20% of what most competitions charge and the tournament will only take a few hours. Click here to sign up.
TBD May – Justin Flores seminar
You heard it here first, but Justin will be teaching a seminar here in early May. Typically Justin only teaches professional fighters and does two pro invite-only classes at the academy where your coaches hone their takedown skills. He will be teaching no-gi judo for everyone, stay posted for details!
- Written by Miha Perhavec
P.S. I hate to put an ‘ad’ in the newsletter, but I do want to ask for a favor. As some might know, I published a book last year – Modern Submission Grappling – A No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu manual. The goal was to have it become an all-time bestseller and stay high on the Amazon charts. To help with that, it needs lots of reviews, which are very hard to come by, despite thousands of copies sold (right now it has just 130 reviews, which include some haters).
Trade offer: If you’d be so kind to 1. Buy the book on Amazon, 2. Leave a verified review and 3. Send me a screenshot of the review to [email protected] , I will use that email to give you free lifetime access to the No-Gi Video Manual, a 10+ hour collection of courses and mind maps that sell for $119.
