Competition, my harsh reality.

[Andrew Maxwell]

I dislocated my hip in competition this last march, fuckin sucks man and the worst part was the on site EMT tried to tell me that I just pulled my groin. How do u deal with the pain of getting it done once a week, they literally had to put me under to get it back in. I wouldn't wanna be awake for that anyway lol

EMT's have aprox. 4 - 5 mounths of training and should definately not be attempting to give you a diagnosis ever! Their job is to package and transport a patient to someone who can make a diagnosis.

[VJ Bella]

I can really relate to this thread. I've competed my whole life in sports and I came to the realization at 34 years of age that i can no longer compete at the level my body or my ego will allow me. In the last 5 years I have torn both ACL's, dislocated my tailbone, broken 5 toes, chronic lower back issues (this may be the one that affects me the most) an have an ankle made entirely of metal. The next best thing is coaching...I currently only coach 3 people...my son, my daughter and my girlfriend. I want to help them be the best that they can be and hope to one day coach them on the big stage. I still roll as well 3-4 times a week but like you said...its in a controlled setting with people I can trust.
I wish you the best of luck man...I don't think people understand the pounding that the body goes through when you have been playing competitive sports since you were 5. It all went to shit when i turned 30. Your injuries sound extreme...your doing the right thing...its not about us anymore...we had our time...that is hard for the ego to accept...on to the second phase of my life and droppin some knowledge.

[Griffin Lambert]

I have some Judos ones, I can post later. I didn't get into videoing stuff until later. So I don't have any Sambo footage on tape. Me and one of my old trainging partners from Detriot had over an 1.5hr of footage from us competeing at the Swiss Sambo Open in 2006. I took 3rd in Sambo, 1st in Combat Sambo and 3rd in Submission Grappling (I lost in the semi finals due to an ankle injury, I rolled it sprawling). My buddy Dom (who is the King of the Cage 155lb champ) took first in combat sambo and I think 2nd in submission grappling. He bought a brand new video camera just for the trip before we left, It was stolen while we were getting changed and I was being attented to by medical staff.

Yeah I'd love to see your Judo matches.

[Chris Herzog]

Heres me winning gold at the Empire State Games in 2000. This was in the Open Class. The way Empire State Games works is there are regional qualifiers (5 regions in NY) you have to win the qualifiers like 2 months before the Games.



Heres my last time on a Judo competition mat. 3 of the matches were under 21 seconds, and one was about 1 min. Winning gold in the Heavy Weight division.

[Chris Herzog]

Oh shit I forgot this one even existed:

There are a few short clips in this of me fighting at the 2002 or 2003 AmCan. I took 2nd in this event loosing to the number 3 guy in the country at the time, but I beat 2 other ranked guys in the process. AmCan was an international event and at the time was one of the biggest pointable Judo tournaments in the country. Yes I was a super heavyweight at the time In the Black Belt division you'll see one guy wearing a white belt and the other their rank, its how kept score (similiar to the green/red ankles wraps you where in submission grappling). The following year the passed the blue/white gi rules instead.

[Jesse Bell]

What more can you tell us about preventative care for injury? More importantly, is it a sure bet that those of us who expecting to compete, for the next couple of decades, will end our careers with crippling injuries, as the 30 and 40 year olds on this forum have so often discussed?

It seems that choosing to compete is choosing to sacrifice your body and overall quality of life in the second half of your life. It would be interesting to here the more high level opinions on whether it is ultimately worth it or not. This argument applies to all sports.

[WilliamGunter]

You're the man Zog. Anybody that doubts you, fuck em.

+ like a billion dude no question. Can't wait to meet you and your crew in Allentown.

[Anthony Herrera]

Hey Zog, any special stretches or warm ups u do for your bad hip? The flexibility on mine went way down after the dislocation, any tips to get it back where it was?

[Shawn Arnold]

Well I haven't known you for too long but I'm not at all sad that I don't get to see you compete. You are a great coach and everyone around you wouldn't be as blessed if they didn't have you focusing on coaching as much as competing. Thanks for all that you do bro!

[Chris Herzog]

Hey Zog, any special stretches or warm ups u do for your bad hip? The flexibility on mine went way down after the dislocation, any tips to get it back where it was?

Well mine never got back to the way it was. But I do mostly Yoga poses and stretches for it now. Lots of varations of the Pigeon pose seem to help it the most. I do some very little butterfly, too much butterfly seems to aggravate it. The range of motion between my bad hip in good hip is extreme. I can't bring my foot over my knee on the bad side, on my good side I can bring my foot to my face with any difficulty.