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3 Ways to Protect Your fingers When Training BJJ and Judo

3 Ways to Protect Your fingers When Training BJJ and Judo

Written by Matt D’Aquino, a multiple Australian and Oceania Champion and a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian. He has been studying Judo for over 23 years. He is a 3rd Degree Black belt and a black belt in BJJ. 

 

I just read on the BJJEE website that multiple time world BJJ champion Keenan Cornelius is struggling to keep his fingers free from injury. He says that at the ripe old age of 22 he has already lost 20% of movement in his hands. And if you check out the picture on the left you can see that both Judo and BJJ will surely damage your fingers and this is why it is critical that you look after your fingers.

In this article i am going to be sharing with you 3 ways to protect your fingers when doing judo and bjj. By doing these 3 I believe you will be able to protect your fingers and enjoy a long judo and bjj career.

 

1 – Tape your fingers

Sports like rock climbing, wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu, BJJ, volleyball, and basketball can sprain fingers or put gradual wear and tear on your knuckles from the daily grind.

Thin medical tape specifically designed and cut for fingers, such as Tape Armor will provide you with the necessary support to prevent injury and help recovery.


This is one of the easiest ways to protect your fingers. Tape is worth it. There are a heap of ways to tape your fingers but here is a quick and easy way to tape each finger for judo and bjj.

 

 

Although if the ends of your fingers get bloodied and sore try using the method of taping that I do. Although be warned this video is when i used to compete so I am super skinny in it. (I can’t believe I used to make -60kgs).

 

2 – Avoid grip fighting and spider guard as much as possible

Both grip fighting and spider guard play havoc on my fingers, so i try to avoid them as much as possible. Unfortunately they are part of judo and bjj so you cannot avoid it all together but what you can do is loosen your grip on the gi. Then if your opponent attempts to break your grip it hurts a lot less than if you were holding on with maximum effort.

If you enjoy spider guard try and hold on using a  pistol grip opposed to a cuff grip on the end of your opponent’s gi. Yes the cuff grip is stronger, but the pistol grip is a lot better for your fingers.

3 – stretch your fingers
Yes, you will need to stretch your fingers as well. Your fingers have muscles, ligaments and tendons in them and this need stretching regularly.Often after practice we concentrate on the forearms but we neglect the fingers. So start doing some finger stretching. The best way to do this is to google some finger stretches used by musicians. Here is a great video I found that helps stretch your fingers.

Well thats it from me today, Have a great week and if this article helped you please let me know by commenting below.

With These Techniques You Will Throw More People in BJJ Competition Than Ever Before and Instantly Gain an Edge Over Any Guy in Your Weight Division.

  • Matt D’Aquino is not only a Judo Olympian, 4th degree judo Black belt, but also a competitive BJJ black belt.
  • Simple and easy grip breaks that can break even the strongest of grips Throws and takedowns that almost guarantee a dominate position afterwards.