How do I avoid getting hurt?

Most beginner injuries do not come from the fighting. They come from a crowded room, a partner who does not know what he is doing, and pride.

One on one takes most of that off the table. I watch every rep. Nothing comes at you that you have not been taught and drilled first. The intensity only goes up when you say it can, and there is no stranger swinging at your head to prove something to his friends.

The rest is on you, and the list is short:

• Tap early and tap often. A tap is information, not a defeat. The people who get hurt in grappling are the ones who waited
• Say something the moment anything feels wrong. Stopping a drill early is never a problem
• Warm up properly, and longer if you are over forty or carrying an old injury
• Sleep and eat. Tired people get hurt
• Nails short, cuts covered, gear washed. See keeping gear clean
• Wear the gear the work calls for: mouthguard for contact, shin guards for kicking a person

The tap deserves more than one line, because it is the entire safety system of grappling and it only works if you use it early. What tapping means and when to tap is five minutes well spent before your first live round.

The other big lever is volume, hard sparring especially. Most people do far more of it than they need and get hurt doing it. See how much sparring is in a camp.

And a lot of what people call an injury is really just accumulated fatigue that never got cleared. Sleep, food and an easy day between hard ones does more than any brace. See how to recover between sessions.

Tell me about every injury and condition before we start, and tell me again when something changes. I am a coach, not a doctor. Anything sharp, swollen, or still there after a few days goes to a doctor, and I train around what they say. See old injuries.