Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu
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Do you have to limit or modify what jiu jitsu techniques you can do because your body can’t move the way you need it to?
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After years of jiu jitsu have you accumulated chronic joint injuries and can’t move the way you used to?
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Do you have a lot of joint pain after years of tapping late to joint locks?

Are you interested in a body maintenance program so that you can do jiu jitsu for a long time?
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Welcome to Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu
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I will teach you a body maintenance system specifically designed to maintain joint health and improve your jiu jitsu.
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@kinstretch is a joint training practice based on from scientific research to maximize joint health and performance.
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My next live Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu workshop while be next month in March at @precisionjjacademy . If you are interested in attending DM me for details.
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Not in Northern California but want to know more? Check out my Online Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu program which should be available shortly. Clink the BIO for details.

Hip Mobility for Martial Arts
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Hip and groin mobility is essential for jiu jitsu and kickboxing. Purposefully moving from position to position is a great way to reinforce mobility (active control) of your legs.
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Here I am demonstrating an iso movement pathway from Straddle to 90/90.
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This is a quick teaser for my Online Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu program. Check my BIO for information on how to sign up!
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I also teach live kinstretch for jiu jitsu classes. Next one will be Sunday February 21st 9am at @precisionjjacademy . The focus will be on improving hip mobility for open guard and knee health for leglock injury prevention / mitigation.
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Space is limited! DM me if you want to reserve a spot!

Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu
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A movement enhancement system that develops maximum body control and improves flexibility and USABLE ranges of motion.
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I will be taking Kinstretch concepts and applying them directly to Jiu jitsu, teaching you how to maximize your joint health, longevity for grappling, joint strength and athletic performance for jiu jitsu.
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Upcoming class Sunday Feb 21st 9am at @precisionjjacademy DM me if you are interested in attending.
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If you are not in Sacramento and are interested in learning more check out my online kinstretch program that is almost ready. Go to my BIO to sign up for more information.

Straddle to 90/90 Movement Pathway
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Hip and groin mobility is essential for jiu jitsu and kickboxing. Purposefully moving from position to position is a great way to reinforce mobility (active control) of your legs.
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Here is a quick teaser for my Online Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu program. It should be available early 2021.

Patellar CARs: Knee cap health
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Controlled articular rotations generally involve ACTIVE movement, however one joint that will benefit from passive movement is the patella. .
Why is movement important for knee health?
✅Movement and load are how the knee cap repairs itself.
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Between the knee cap (patella) and the leg (femur) is articular cartilage, which allows for smooth motion between the two bones. Unfortunately unlike other structures in the body there is no blood supply, meaning articular cartilage has a limited ability to heal or repair itself. .
If the ability to repair itself is limited then what can you do to help the process?
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“Joint motion and load are important to maintain normal articular cartilage structure and function. Inactivity of the joint has also been shown to lead to the degradation of cartilage. Regular joint movement and dynamic load is important for the maintenance of healthy articular cartilage metabolism. The development of disease such as osteoarthritis is associated with dramatic changes in cartilage metabolism. This occurs when there is a physiological imbalance of degradation and synthesis by chondrocytes. (Fox 2009)”
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Patellar mobility is essential for general knee health however for activities like Jiu jitsu it is extremely important. In Jiu jitsu often excessive weight bearing occurs through kneeling which forces a lot of practitioners to wear knee pads to reduce the load. Gentle joint movement helps reduce wear and tear.
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Learn how to take care of your body!
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Reference:
Sophia Fox, A. J., Bedi, A., & Rodeo, S. A. (2009). The basic science of articular cartilage: structure, composition, and function. Sports health, 1(6), 461-468.

Movement is medicine
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Movement is essential for joint health however is it ANY movement or specific movement?
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@drandreospina noted in a lecture that the phrase “movement is medicine” may be Incomplete advice. Spina’s suggestion “specific movements to maintain articular health in specific joints”.
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Controlled articular rotations or pain free rotational movements at the outer limits are the basis for specific joint training.
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Purpose of utilizing CARs in your daily practice:
1️⃣Joint “Flossing”: What is the point of dental floss? To clean / reach areas of your teeth that are not easily assessable and to reduce the accumulation of “bad stuff”. Full joint motion helps to preserve the health of the joint and reduce the accumulation of aberrant fibrotic tissue.
2️⃣Joint Assessment: A health joint should have full pain-free motion in whatever ranges the joint can move. If one is unable that gives you an idea that maybe you need to address your joints. If someone has “pinching” or some kind of block it is an indicator that you may need to see a healthcare professional / @functionalrangerelease as the aberrant joint motion needs more than just training. Never continue motion through a pinch or block, always move around the painful area.
3️⃣Joint training: Following manual treatment or passive stretching one may temporarily have more joint movement. If you do not begin to train that new range it will be just that, temporary. CARs are an excellent tool to start to train this new pain-free movement. Irradiation and isometric tension are ways to progress to move from maintain joint health to joint specific strengthening.
4️⃣Joint isolation: As one gets better at performing movements they will realize how they compensate with neighboring joints. People always want MORE motion even if it isn’t what the goal is. The true goal is more ISOLATED joint motion, if you make sure each joint moves well in isolation then compound movements will be much more free. When one lacks motion in one area of a compound motion it may start to lead to excessive stress somewhere down the chain.
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Take care of your joints for both longevity and performance

Posted @withregram • @ydiogenes In this episode my guest is Doctor Michael Piekarski (aka @doctor_kickass ), Doctor of Physical Therapy, Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, Former MMA Fighter and Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. With vast experience recovering athletes and martial arts practitioners, Doctor Michael shares some insights around injury prevention and recovery. He also talks about the importance of taking the appropriate time to rehab to avoid re-injury and the importance of planning each step of the rehab for optimal results. Thanks for your time, Mike!
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Listen to the entire episode at:
Spotify: overcomepodcast.us/spotifypod
Apple: overcomepodcast.us/applepod
YouTube: overcomepodcast.us
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#podcast #physicaltherapy #recovery #rehab #martialarts #bjj #injury #resilience #recovery #overcome

Heel Hook Rehab
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Case study following an injury sustained from a heel hook.
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This is meant as education not meant as medical advice. If you have an injury seek a medical professional.
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Posted @withregram @coach_christinamarie “You always regret not training the position you got injured in” – @drandreospina
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Lucky for me, and thanks to @functional_range_conditioning I do train my knees in rotation.
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A few weeks ago I injured my knee training. My knee was massive (think grapefruit size, and then imagine my leg being nearly the same size all the way down).
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There are two messages to convey here:
1. Injury prevention is not possible, but injury mitigation is.
✨I train my knees specifically knowing they are at risk in the activities I enjoy doing most. Thanks to doing so, what was thought to be a torn PCL turned out to be an MCL + PCL sprain, and the orthopedic telling me that aside from that, I actually have quite a healthy knee despite having done martial arts most of my life, and bjj for the past 9+ years.
2. Rest + ice is incomplete.
✨Unfortunately I didn’t take videos of what my knee flexion looked like in the beginning, but I promise you (and you can ask @hunterfitness and @drlocrao ) it did NOT look anything like it does in the above video.
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So what have I been doing?
✨CARs in a pain free range
✨Knee Capsular CARs in a pain free range
✨Positional Isometrics
✨ @functionalrangerelease with @drlocrao
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In part one I was primarily focused on regaining knee rotation, and working positional isometrics (PAILs & RAILs) in varying degrees of knee flexion (knee bend).
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My focus has recently shifted to adding in low level PAILs for knee rotation as well, because I need my knee to be able to understand all the degrees of freedom a knee has (meaning I need to be able to not only flex and extend, but rotate as well).
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My knee flexion has drastically improved while in hip extension (bending my knee while standing).
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Not pictured: long duration, low effort bouts on the stationary bike to get some more circulation going through knee stuff.
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Happy with the progress, but there is still more work to be done. Isometrics are just the start.

Importance of an Assessment
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It is fairly common that people will ask me for medical advice about an injury. My response will always be the same:
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✅Without a proper assessment I do not know how to help you.
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I may recommend broad concepts to follow but to give individualized advice without an assessment is just guessing. When it comes to medical advice often the risk of giving wrong advice is fairly detrimental and may delay the recovery process!
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I feel most people do not understand the role of a rehabilitation provider. Often people go to “get fixed” but really the role of rehab is to guide someone along the injury management process.
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The assessment involves a proper understanding of the individual’s physical capacities to determine the impairments interfering with the individual returning to their activity or sport.
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Many times and injury will heal on its own, however the role of the rehab provider is to minimize compensatory responses, further enhance tissue remodeling and guidelines on how to return to your activity safely and with a decreased risk of re-injuring the injury you are currently managing.
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Here is a clip of a modified FRA of my good friend @lionheart_shaw . Sean is a kickboxing instructor at @dynamixmma looking to improve his capacity to throw head kicks and address joint limitations that have developed from a lifetime of martial art training.
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If you are an injured athlete and want to get back as soon but as safe as possible I highly recommend you get an assessment and work with someone who can get you back on track.

Neck Mobility Deficits of UFC fighters
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The violent nature of MMA it is not surprising that @ufc fighters would have multiple chronic injuries, inadequate joint health and suboptimal mobility.
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@ufcpi started to perform orthopedic assessments on fighters and discovered a few areas of common mobility deficits among UFC athletes when compared to non-combat elite athletes.
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Key areas to address: Average range of motion in degrees for UFC fighters (ROM range) compared to average range of motion in degrees for other elite athletes
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Cervical spine:
Flexion: 43.6 (15-68) vs. >45
Extension: 54 (20-86) vs. >55
Rotation: 68.3 (40.5-99) vs. >70
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Possible explanations for suboptimal mobility and joint health (Personal opinion, no research to support).
1️⃣Chronic injuries
2️⃣Joint Microtrauma
3️⃣Insufficient use of the range of motion.
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Cervical spine: Grapplers have an extreme amount of microtrauma to their neck from takedowns and chokeholds. It is not surprising that the accumulation of stress would eventually take its toil on the overall health of the cervical spine.
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What can you do to improve cervical motion and neck joint health?
1️⃣Controlled articular rotations: full pain-free movements in all directions: flexion, rotation, lateral flexion and extension.
2️⃣Capsular controlled articular rotations: When you find one specific segment does not move you can do more focused motion. Laterally flex away at that segment. Combine flexion/ rotation at that segment. Ultimate goal is for each of the lower cervical segments (C3-7) to have symmetrical movement.
❌Do not rotate through pain. Move in pain-free motions and see a healthcare professional to assess and treat your neck.
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Next Sunday I will be doing a @kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu Workshop specifically designed to mobilize and strengthen the neck for grappling.
Date: 11/15, 11:30am
Where: Fabio Prado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gym @association_teamalphabjj_dixon
Cost: $25.
Space is limited. DM me or @mpatrick2 for a spot.
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Reference:
A Cross-Sectional Performance Analysis and Projection of the UFC Athlete: UFC Performance Institute. Volume One

Spinal mobility
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Acute episodes of back pain often occur when one spinal segment is forced to move more than it can. Excessive motion causes the static ligaments to be stretched and the muscles of the back to spasm as a protective mechanism to prevent further motion. How can the incidence of back injuries be reduced?
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1️⃣Mobility proceeds stability.
Having the kinesthetic awareness to isolate joint movement is the first step of mobility. .
2️⃣As mobility improves stability will be required in these new ranges. Controlled active movement is the first step in developing stability.
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The goal for both end positions is to have equal motion at each segment. Often when people perform this movement there are hinges where large amounts of movements occurs and flat lines where no movement occurs. The goal is not global mobility, but adequate segmental mobility. This minimizes one segment having to compensate for the others that don’t move.
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The long term goal for a healthy spine is to be flexible and stable.
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Interested in learning more?
If your are in the Sacramento area check out my Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu workshop this Sunday where I will teach these concepts and adapt it specifically for jiu jitsu.
Sunday 11/15 @precisionjjacademy
$15 for members
$25 for nonmembers
DM me for a spot. Space is limited

Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu
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Kinstretch is a movement enhancement system that develops maximum body control, flexibility and usable ranges of motion.
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In my professional opinion this system of joint training is essential if you are training in grappling arts, such as Jiu Jitsu. Joint locks and submissions are attacks specifically designed to damage joints, therefore it makes sense to strengthen your joints to make them more resilient to injury.
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What you will get from my next workshop:
•Joint by joint morning routine
•Learn how to maintain spine mobility
•Strengthen your neck to minimize injury from chokes, neck cranks and inverted positions
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My next workshop will be Sunday 11/15
DM me for details

Spine Preparation for Jiu Jitsu
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Spine mobility is essential for jiu jitsu. Not only does the spine need the flexibility to move in a variety of positions but must also be able to become rigid an stable at end-ranges as well.
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A popular transition in modern Jiu jitsu is the act of inverting. Some people feel that inverting is too dangerous for the spine and not good for long-term practice. Inverting is not necessarily more dangerous than other positions IF your spine:
1️⃣Has the capacity to perform the movement
2️⃣You can equally load the spine, avoiding overloading an area
The problem with inverting occurs when people attempt it without adequate spine capacity and resiliency to perform correctly and force their spine in positions it cannot go or cannot tolerant.
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“You can’t move where you can’t move”- @drmchivers
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Often specific segments of the spine do not move well so the segments above and below have to compensate for the lack of movement from its neighbor. The areas that have to compensate often are the areas where spine buckling may occur.
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Movement is the key to a healthy joint.
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My next Kinstretch for Jiu Jitsu class will be Sunday November 15th at @precisionjjacademy
$15 for members
$25 for nonmembers
Space is limited. Dm me for details.
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My upcoming class will be focused on spine resilience and spine health.

The Grappling Athlete: Second Online Symposium
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Sign up before November 8th to join our panelists for a live Q & A and get instant access to 12 in depth lectures and demonstrations from some of the industry’s leading professionals.
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The second edition includes progressive presentations from the first edition along with additional guest speakers.
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@thegrapplingathlete presentations will be available through December 15th but sign up by November 8th for a live Q & A. Check it out!
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Link in Bio
@bo.sandoval
@rintala_movementflow
@eitans.g
@heatherlinden
@missus_shank
@jflojudo
@doctor_kickass