The Science of Striking

24/02/2023

5. Upper arm fractures
Less common than the clavicle fractures and AC joint injuries discussed in the previous posts, a fracture of the upper part of the arm (humerus) may occur with a direct fall onto the side of the arm, as well as with rapid twisting motions involving the shoulder.

These injuries may present similarly to other shoulder injuries such as rotator cuff strains (to be covered in a future post), but the telltale sign is significant bruising on the side of the arm. Any traumatic injury to the shoulder region should be x-rayed straight away to rule out a humerus fracture, particularly if this bruising pattern is observed

Despite the name of the bone, these injuries are no laughing matter, and depending on the degree of displacement of the bone, may require surgical intervention. Those treated non-operatively will still require a long period of immobilization, graded rehab program and a slow progression back to full function.

Suffering this injury will unfortunately spell the end of the season, so the focus should be on enjoying some quality onsen time, and managing the injury properly so that you are ready to go for next season.

If you have suffered a shoulder injury on the slopes then contact us now and let us help guide you on the path to recovery.

02/01/2023

Getting out of Japan and back to Australia for the first time in 3 years has been wonderful. Seeing family after such a long time apart has made for some truly special times and strengthened my appreciation for the amazing people in my life.

Getting fully away from work for a period of time has allowed me to free my mind and start clearly working on goals and strategies for both the next year and the years ahead. As the covid cloud continues to slowly lift, I envisage an exciting period of growth for our business and for me personally.

I feel refreshed, invigorated and so f**king pumped for 2023!

#2023

20/12/2022

Still Standing.

In January of 2020, Club 360 opened our second full-time facility after almost 7 years in our original location. This was a great achievement for us at the time, and expanding our operation gave us a sense of growth and maturity in our business. We had lofty goals for the new expansion in terms of the numbers of people we wanted to help through our services.

2 months later the pandemic hit. We had double our overheads in terms of rent and utilities and now faced the possibility of having to suspend our operations. We had to close our doors for 7 weeks, and even upon reopening, people were hesitant to come into a health and fitness facility, particularly one located in the basement. On top of this, the expat population in Tokyo started to diminish, as people were leaving Japan with the usual cycle of employment, but new workers were not allowed into the country due to covid restrictions. We also had a high turnover of staff, with people leaving the country due to a variety of reasons, and again, due to visa restrictions we were unable to bring new people in.

There were many times over the last 3 years when I have worried about the future of our operation, but each time reverted back to our mission and core values. I had confidence that our commitment to helping improve the lives of others, and our unwavering work ethic would somehow get us over the line. We made use of quiet times by continuing to optimise facets of our business, better educate ourselves, and work on new projects to broaden our reach.

Thanks to the support of our wonderful staff and clients we are still going strong, and with the borders now open and people returning to our amazing city, I am excited about what is to come. The pandemic has given many people a new lease on life and a better understanding of the importance of health and fitness, and I am excited about the opportunities this will provide our industry.

Running a business is hard. Really hard. But I still wake up every day feeling blessed to be able to do what I love for living; “changing lives through health and fitness”

Club 360. Still here. Still standing.
#2023

28/11/2022

14/11/2022

There are many different techniques and modalities that we can use to optimise hip flexion mobility. Here is a quick test to help decide which may be effective!

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The "Mastering Mobility" course is a detailed and step-by-step course covering the fundamental theory and practice of training for enhancements in mobility, specifically as it relates to resistance training and athletic performance.

Part 1 of the course is a lecture series that explores the mobility and stability requirements of each segment of the body and they relate to the overall function of the system, and explains the rationale behind the use of different mobility interventions.

Part 2 is a practical demonstration of the many mobility techniques that may be used to address restrictions at each joint.

The course features 3 hours of audiovisual content, as well as PDF notes for each section. A must for any trainer, coach or therapist looking to maximise their programming and exercise effectiveness.

07/11/2022

Multi-tasking has almost become a sin in some circles. Many experts claim it reduces work productivity in the long-run. I think it is a very individual thing. For me I know I operate most efficiently when I have several things on the go. This is likely a natural personality thing for me, although it may also be related to the attention focus work I did as but of my psychological skills training I did as a fighter.

I work best, both in terms of quality and quantity, when I am darting between browsers, switching from task to task and jumping between points from different projects. I'm personally energised by the feeling of making progress on multiple fronts and this keeps me alert and focused, even when this focus is frequently switching. When I am start on one thing for too long I start to become stressed about the other things that aren't receiving my attention. I know this style isn't for everyone but I make it work:)

02/02/2022

Having an understanding of injury prevalence is of great importance to athletes and coaches, as well as medical and performance specialists working with those particular sports. This study contributed to the growing body of combat sports injury prevalence literature through a questionnaire based study of injury rates in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).

A 67-question online survey was completed by 1140 BJJ athletes, detailing injury history over the preceding 3 years. Injuries were defined as episodes that resulted in an absence from training for >2 weeks.

Over a 3 year period, 31.2% of athletes stayed injury-free, 48.7% suffered 1 injury, 16.6% 2 injuries and 3.5% 3 or more, for a total of 308 injuries per 1000 athletes/year.

27.1% of injuries occurred to the knee, 14.6% to the shoulder. The most common specific injuries were ACL tear, ankle ligament tear, MCL tear, meniscus injury and rib injury.

In terms of mechanism, 29.7% occurred during submission, 26.4% during takedown and 24% during guard pass. Of the submissions, the most common techniques causing injury were armbar (22.4%), kimura (12.6%) and heel hook (11%).

Contrary to previous research in BJJ and other sports, 77.6% of injuries were cited to occur in sparring and only 9.6% in competition.

Age was a significant predictor of injury, although average weekly training time was not. Brown belts had the highest incidence of injury, white belts the lowest.

Although a major limitation of this study is that it is based on retrospective data that was not confirmed by a medical professional, the large sample size provides a valuable contribution to the knowledge base in regards to injury epidemiology in this sport.



https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23259671211062568

Hinz, Maximilian, Benjamin D. Kleim, Daniel P. Berthold, Stephanie Geyer, Christophe Lambert, Andreas B. Imhoff, and Julian Mehl. "Injury Patterns, Risk Factors, and Return to Sport in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: A Cross-sectional Survey of 1140 Athletes." Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 9, no. 12 (2021): 23259671211062568.

18/01/2022

The Impact Monitoring Mouthguard (IMM) is a wearable device used to measure head trauma during combat via linear and angulation kinematic recording via 4 accelerometers, each transmitting 3 channels of data. This study used the above-mentioned device to quantify and compare head impacts between boxing and MMA training and competition.

23 participants (19M/4F) were fitted with custom IMMs and data was collected over 54 sparring sessions and 6 matches. This data was correlated with video footage to exclude false positives. The athletes went about their normal sparring sessions and matches were conducted under regular conditions (including the use of headgear for boxing matches).

The average number of impacts per session was similar between the two sports. Peak linear (forwards and backwards) acceleration (PLA) was non-significantly higher in boxing, whereas peak angular acceleration (PAA) was significantly higher in MMA. This matched the distribution of impact location, which in boxing were more in the front zone, while in MMA impacts were more evenly spread. As expected, competition data revealed a lower number of impacts but greater PLA and PAA than sparring. This is relevant, as angular impacts are thought to be more deleterious to long-term brain health.

These findings may reflect the differences in technique, including punching technique, between the two sports. More specifically, this may relate to the fact that as MMA athletes have to master a greater number of skills, their boxing skill is likely to be lower than boxers of a similar level, leading to less accuracy and/or control with their punches.

This study was not performed in professional athletes, and as such should be repeated in higher levels of combat sports athletes, it does provide useful information that can be used to inform training practices.

Furthermore, once this technology becomes more mainstream, it may help coaches quantify athlete head trauma as part of a preventative approach for long-term brain injury.



Jansen, A. Elizabeth, Morgan McGrath, Sergey Samorezov, Joshua Johnston, Adam Bartsch, and Jay Alberts. "Characterizing Head Impact Exposure in Men and Women During Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts." Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 9, no. 12 (2021): 23259671211059815.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23259671211059815

13/01/2022

New belt time!
#空手 #新極真会

10/01/2022

Goal Setting for 2022

I like to re-post this at the start of each year. Many of us enter the new year with ideas regarding what we want to achieve over the course of the next 12 months. The ability to achieve our goals, however, depends on approaching them with a systematic process.

The blog posts below outline the different types of goals (process, performance, outcome), smart goals, and the importance of follow-up and reassessment. Link to part 1 in bio.

A full discussion regarding goal setting is featured in "The Science of Striking", available on amazon in paperback and kindle formats.

http://www.thescienceofstriking.com/mental-training/goal-setting-for-2019-part-1-types-of-goals/
http://www.thescienceofstriking.com/mental-training/goal-setting-for-2019-part-2-smart-goals/
http://www.thescienceofstriking.com/mental-training/goal-setting-for-2019-part-3-goal-setting-as-a-process/

#2021