The reality is that we are all only one significant injury away from ending or permanently altering our martial arts careers, or lives. I know we do not like to think about it, but it’s true. I’ve been training in Karate for 21 years and Jiu-Jitsu or 13 years. My belief has always been that you leave it all on the mat, whether training or fighting. This belief has left me with a few bumps, bruises, cuts and breaks over the years, but nothing that I could not completely recover from.

Having survived hardcore training for 21 years, I never dreamed that doing a simple kata in a tournament would change my martial arts career forever. I had stretched out prior to the opening ceremonies and was good to go as always. But by the time it was my turn (I just happened to be the last one of 10 Black Belts to compete) some 20 minutes had gone by. I lost my stretch. I had done this kata and the techniques within it thousands of times, with zero injuries. The last thing that was on my mind was an injury. Sure I was a little tight from sitting there for so long, but so what, who gets hurt doing kata? Then it happened, I had a triple butterfly kick sequence that was the highlight of the kata. At the peak of my first butterfly I heard a loud “snap,” almost like a leather belt smacking a wall, the pain was unreal as I felt the muscle tear. I completed the second butterfly and wrapped up the form. I showed no pain or injury, because you canŐt.

The next day the pain was not as bad as I thought it would have been. I felt very optimistic. On Tuesday (the tournament was Saturday) I trained like always, minus the kicks, with one of my Black Belt students who happen to be a doctor. He felt my hamstring and told me that some of it appeared to be detached and told me to see a specialist ASAP. So the next day I went to the specialist. It just so happens that on the side, the specialist works as a cut man for some very well known MMA fighters and is also a ring doctor for MMA events. Small world eh? He gave me the news point blank. He told me that he suspected I had a “severely” torn hamstring. He said he feared it was so shredded that he did not even want me getting off the couch until I got a MRI. The MRI was done the next week and the doctor was right, I had a severely torn hamstring. He said I would be able to walk and run, albeit a little slower. Then he assured me that the hamstring would not and could not ever be the same due to the severity of the tear. It’s now 8 months later… and he was right. I still train, but it’s not the same. My right leg drags when I try to run fast and my kicks, once way above my head, are now barely waist height.

The point of this article is to remind everyone, myself included, that we are all only human. And being human means we are all only one injury away from never being the same. So please always train safe… Every time.