Grappling Pain to Performance

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I get it.

I was taking 5 Advil every day. My hip pain was so bad that I would limp everywhere, drive with my left foot, and spend hours laying uncomfortably in bed. Then I got labral reconstruction surgery on both of my hips, did my recommended rehab, and stayed off the mats. 

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I was told by the surgeon “Around 8-10 months to be back to light practicing, and about 1 year for competition.” 18 Months later, still in the same spot. 

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Surgery was a bandaid to the problem. But it didn’t solve the root cause. When I tried to do ANYTHING remotely athletic, the pain was instantly back. All I wanted to do was get back on the mats. This seemed far away, but it wasn’t. But any lifting at all caused pain. Sitting for too long, standing for too long, driving too much, and walking too much all caused pain. If I did too much of anything, that pain would last for days even weeks. My body wasn’t ready for any stress. I needed to fix the root cause of my pain. I needed to improve my body’s ability to function.

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Thankfully I turned the corner- Here’s What I do Today

I wrestled for over 10 years, have helped coach wrestling, and I now train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitively. I’m on the mats for 4-6 sessions per week and lift 2-3x per week. 

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You're probably here because you feel like you've tried everything. How do I know? I've been where you are now.

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During my life, I’ve been diagnosed with scoliosis and slept with a back brace for over 4 years, a partially torn labrum/rotator cuff that didn’t get addressed for several years, and I’ve had labral reconstruction surgery on both of my hips. 

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At my worst, I was taking 5 Advil after practice to mitigate the pain. I tried every stretch, massage, and other “recovery” modality out there. I use to put 1-hour timers on a stretch the whole entire time. If there’s a stretch out there I’ve tried it. These were simply bandaids on my dysfunctional body. None of these elicited an adaptation in my body. 

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However, had I known then what I know now it would have been different.

I am a strength coach for a Division 1 Wrestling Team, a consultant for other college/high school wrestling teams, and I own a gym in a wrestling club. I work with state champs, first-year middle-schoolers, adults who are in pain and out of shape, and everyone in between.

I have made so many mistakes with everything from pain to performance and it’s cost me a lot of missed opportunities. Not being able to practice, not being able to perform to the best of my ability, and simply being sidelined. Going through life in chronic pain is no way to live.

I’ve had to get surgery for improper care, thinking I knew how to go about the rehab process. Even after two surgeries, I couldn’t figure out how to bridge the gap to get in better shape than I used to. I needed to get back on the mats.

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How did I get here?

I saw 4 different local physical therapists and a local chiropractor, all were not helpful. I remember being told multiple times that I just needed to strengthen my little stabilizer muscles. I was told that my back is weak or that my hamstrings were weak. When I was told this, I could do over 25 pull-ups and deadlift almost 3x my body weight. This was clearly ignorance on their part of the actual issues. 

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So I researched pain, biomechanics, and physiology. For years, I’ve been spending thousands of dollars and hours of traveling for courses, seminars, mentors, and education (both a college degree and certifications). Now I let my systems and coaching guide the process. I am now out of constant pain with much higher energy levels. 

I kept refining my training model. Digging deeper into the human body and getting a better understanding of the necessary concepts. 

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I am now on the mats training 4-5 days per week and lifting weights 2-3x per week. I have created a plan for grapplers to get out of pain, and become bigger, stronger, and faster, all while staying on the mats.

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Here are 3 big things that you can take away into your own training TODAY to start moving and feeling better on the mats. Guess what, they form the foundation of the Pullman Performance approach.

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1. Pain is weird

 

I’m sure you know that by now. But it’s incredibly important that you do not associate pain with damage. Just because you have pain in a certain area does not mean you have damage in that area. There are countless amount of studies showing people with damage who do not have pain and people with no damage having pain, so there cannot be a direct correlation. Of course, it can be possible and common but do not automatically associate the two.

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So why are you still having pain? I like to think of it as your brain telling your body “Hey I’m getting too much stress right now” and that’s it. Just a light on the dashboard. Something to pay attention to but not something to go crazy about immediately. But unlike a motor vehicle, you can fix your problems. With proper learning, your body can adapt to the stress that you want to give it. 

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2. You need to give your body a reason to feel better. 

We must start with the understanding that your brain is the control center. If it doesn’t even know what it’s supposed to do, your body won’t magically function properly. It will rely on what’s comfortable. It will function in a way that works for the given task. It will use the muscles that are strongest and ready to go. 

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Give your body a reason to be comfortable in deep ranges of motion and in positions that make you uncomfortable. Managing the pelvis and ribcage position is paramount for this. This will unlock your body's ability to be mobile, comfortable, and strong. Sitting in a deep squat and touching your toes should be easy. When a pelvis and ribcage position is properly managed, you can use the best muscles for high efficiency. 

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3. Load Management and Graded Exposure

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Alright you feel good to go. Pain is gone, and you are feeling flexible and strong. The next problem you may run into is "too much too soon." You need to properly grade exposure to allow for your given task, getting on the mats. Your body is simply not ready for the amount of stress you want to give it. So, give it that exposure in an environment that you can control, your training. Slowly, teach your body that it can handle what you want to give.

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This can be confusing though because you need to know what to look for. Are you moving just as well as you did before your training session? Did you improve function? Did you increase readiness for performance on the mat?

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You need to do this in training so your brain can recognize it and do it on the mat. Your brain will need to be trained to subconsciously use the proper function. Your brain is choosing what it knows to complete the task and dealing with the pain after. 

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So what does actual training look like?

When I started, the only thing that mattered to me was strength and muscle; a normal thought for anybody looking to improve performance on the mat. Everybody feels strong and more experienced so that needs to be combatted. But just focusing on increasing weight can be dangerous and not conducive to better performance.

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You force it. This can cause the technique to suffer, it can cause you to push through pain, and most importantly to lose sight of your main goal… increased performance. 

Through this process, I forced adding weight to the bar. Technique got worse with that. I had less control of my reps, my reps were not smooth, I didn’t go as deep on my squats, and I pushed through pain in the weight room. Positions that I use to be just weak in, were now positions that I was uncomfortable in. 

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I lost my ability to squat all the way down and touch my toes. We both know how important those qualities can be for grapplers. I lost sight of that. The pain and difficulty in those positions only increased. So I continued to avoid them. But I couldn’t avoid them on the mat, so I just pushed through the pain.

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I’ve tried to just look through Instagram and find the best exercises for my pain. Taking different recommendations from different expert coaches who had it all figured out. I’d plug and play with different routines and drills that I thought would help me best. I didn’t make much progress. 

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I didn’t know the details. I didn’t understand how to manage, regulate, and plan my training. I didn’t understand how to add the stressor of my training on the mats. I was tired of having more pain AND worse performance. I learned all about exercise variations. I found out about the different ways to do a movement pattern, how the variations affected my movement ability, and when to make changes to what i was currently doing. I learned regressing and progressing an exercise for less pain and better performance is worth it every day of the week. 

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When I was able to confidently make switches to my exercise selection, volume, and intensity, I could get all of the performance qualities I wanted while decreasing pain. 

Let’s take a squat for example. I thought the only approach was a back squat. I saw big powerlifters do them and that allowed for the most weight on the bar, but powerlifters do not move like grapplers. The best grapplers can’t lift like powerlifters for a reason. Everybody knows that powerlifters will not automatically be strong on the mats, so there’s no reason to copy what they do. They are not as flexible as the average grappler, let alone somebody at a high level. 

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You can do goblet squats, zercher squats, front squats, and safety bar squats. You can do reps of 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 for 1-8 sets. You can do tempo reps, pauses, ISO holds, density sets, and so many others. Sometimes, it may be best to hop on a machine or even… not squat at all. Again, the question you need to remind yourself of is what will decrease pain and increase performance, those are NOT exclusive. 

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To get OUT of Pain and Increase Performance, you need to change your MINDSET.

I used to be all about suffering, the traditional wrestler mindset. I loved to watch the videos of wrestlers pushing themselves, wrestling coaches pushing their athletes, and all the motivation that went along with it. 

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There’s a time and place for that stuff. They can be great a lot of the time. But I have pushed through a lot of pain because of the traditional wrestling culture. At the end of the day, it made me perform worse. I was told that pain is normal, everybody has “beat up” shoulders, knees, hips, etc. 

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You won’t feel amazing all of the time with grappling, but do not let somebody else decide your pain tolerance. You are the only one who knows how you feel, so make the decision and understand that your performance on the mat and quality of life are way more important than what somebody else thinks of you. 

I made a change because I was tired of how I felt both on and off the mats. I couldn’t practice for extended periods of time, I couldn’t do certain moves or get in certain positions, and it was only getting worse, becoming more and more limited every day. There needed to be a change for long-term success. 

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It was the best decision I ever made. I opened up to my coaches and they were very supportive. They helped me through the process of figuring out how to become better at both rehabbing and progressing my skills. I learned more and more about rehab and how to blend it with performance on the mat. 

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I wish I had known then what I know now. It would have been different.

It’s my reason for coaching grapplers out of pain. I feel cheated that I was unaware of what Health and Performance truly look like. So many PTs, doctors, and other professionals needed to be better, that’s why I am here. I am obsessed, spending thousands of dollars and hours of traveling for courses, seminars, mentors, and education (both a college degree and certifications).

 

My name is Eric and I help grapplers to get out of pain, so they can perform better and not be constantly plagued with pain and injuries. If you’re looking for results without all of that leg work, you’re in the right spot.

 

Your pain score will reduce by 50% in the first month, here's how we'll achieve that

50% reduction in pain... sounds big, right? Let me tell you exactly all the steps that go into this process and why we’re able to make such big claims.

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Personal training rate- $100/hr. All figures represent the dollar value of the time I’ll be investing in your training.

 

• Initial consult- ensure we’re the right fit to work together- we won’t work together unless I’m 100% sure we can get you pain-free ($25)

 

• Gather and process baseline data ($50)

 

• Individualize your plan of action ($50)

 

• Introductory consult- troubleshooting, Q&A, explaining the program, etc. ($50)

 

• Implement training: ($150)

  • Warm-ups

  • Elastic strength

  • Ballistic strength

  • Max Strength

  • Hypertrophy, LME, accessory work

  • Rehab/prehab/mobility

  • Conditioning ($50/mo)

  • High-intensity conditioning

  • Off the mat habits ($30)

 

• Weekly check-ins ($60/month)

 

• Video-based exercise form coaching/feedback 

 

• 24/7 support

 

• Individualized adjustments as and when needed

 

• Smart phone friendly sessions- no paper, always have your workout to hand

 

• Video demonstrations for all training exercises and activities

 

• Easy-to-follow workouts and weekly progressions

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The price for 1 month of training: $150 or $100 for students

 

Here’s what athletes have to say.

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Every exercise and movement under the sun is available on the internet. But do you even know what you’re looking for? Do you have a framework to filter health and performance? It’s managing, critiquing, and progressing all while understanding the science to get the athlete to their goal. That’s what makes a helpful coach. A coach that gets results. 

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If you’re at least average at following directions and being consistent, this coaching will save you a lot of time, money, and discomfort. You can stop looking for the next best exercise or stretch. You can ditch the expensive massages and cupping. You can practice harder knowing that you are comfortable in every situation. You can compete better with more strength, power, and speed. You can get started immediately. 

 

Or…

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Do what you’ve been doing and stay exactly in the same spot you are in. Be honest with yourself. Is it really worth it to be in the pain that you are in?

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You have read this far because you are in pain and want to get better, so commit to the coaching program. I guarantee that we will lower your pain in the first 3 months or your money back. If you log your pain score daily, I guarantee that it will be lower.