BJJ doesn’t require much equipment to start with. Most people can do with a gi and a belt, or perhaps a mouth guard. There are some other items that are also pretty useful.
While BJJ is actually quite a safe sport, there are lots of strong tensions involved, and when dealing with dealing with different guards or when shifting between holds, it’s quite possible to be knocked in the head by one of your opponent’s limbs. If you train for a time with a mouth guard, and without one, you will immediately see the difference and realize how much protection a good mouth guard can give you.
There are all sorts of benefits to using a good mouth guard. It prevents your teeth from being damaged in the course of sessions on the mats, and greatly reduces the chances that you will bite your tongue. A good mouth guard will also help to protect the jaw by providing support to it, as well as reducing that chances that you will suffer a concussion.
I used to find that I got out of breath when I first starting using the mouth guard, so I recommend that you use it regularly and not just when you’re competing. This way it won’t trouble you when you’re exerting and breathing hard.
Everyone knows about the simplest “boil and bite” mouth guard. Custom mouth guards are quite expensive, but are actually much preferable to any other alternative. However, this is not an alternative that you can go for if you have financial difficulties, in which case I would say that the “boil and bite” mouth guard would be adequate for your purposes.
I refer, of course, to simple wrapping tape that can be used to prevent injuries or to support a joint if you have injured it. Since such injuries to the joints are common, you need to support the joint while it heals.
Tape serves both these purposes by limiting the motion of the joint to a range of motion that will prevent further injury. Well wrapped tape also compresses the joint, thereby further preventing injury and increasing healing. Of course, wrapping tape is something that is best done with some experience in it. However, in this age of the internet there are lots YouTube videos that will show you how to do it.
Wrapping a finger or a wrist is relatively easy, while protecting and supporting much more complex joints like the shoulder can be considerably more difficult.
Joints that are wrapped up much more than they should be tend to get weaker rather than stronger. Essentially speaking, you must not train your joint rely upon support, but must provide support only when it’s really needed. If you find that you cannot avoid injury unless you tape, then it’s possible that you’re taping too much.
Well, make sure that you apply enough tape and tightly enough to provide support, but not so tight that your taping the joint actually affects the circulation of the blood. Tape should always allow sufficient blood flow to the limbs.
Try different variations of tape and buy something that turns out to be cost effective. I find that it becomes much more cost effective if you buy tape in bulk.
It’s always great to have tape around, because even if you happen to be fit at the moment, there is always someone in the gym who might have an injury and whom you could help with a little taping.
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