BJJ Black Belt Almost Has Leg Amputated Because of a Dirty BJJ Gym
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Today's question comes from a Blue Belt who recently started training at a new gym.
He says the actual training is good, but the gym isn't so great with hygiene practices. He sees things like long nails, people not wearing shoes off the mat and even unwashed gis being used for training.
His question is about my thoughts on it and whether or not I'd train at a BJJ gym like that.
So in this video I share a story of 1 of my good friends, a Black Belt now, who almost had a nasty infection in his leg that got very serious years ago. I also talk about 1 of my students who had damage done to his eyes because of long, untrimmed nails.
Which leads me to my bearded opinion that good hygiene is just good training.
Thanks for watching the video.
-Chewy
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Long story short, training at a dirty gym could make you immune to leg locks for the rest of your life
This comment should have more love
I stopped training at a BJJ school on the east coast after less than a month because I never saw the owner clean the mats, ever.
Cleansliness should be the first thing looked at when joining a gym.
As well, should be one's own daily and usual hygiene practices.
@nicks.901 True, but you can't manage another person's hygiene. Which is why gym owners need to be diligent in keeping their mats clean.
Yeah, all safety issues imho…
beta male.
💯
I was a judo instructor at my old academy, in the span of 3 months I had to do something about 2 people having horrible personal hygiene. One guy's gi was YELLOW, and a girl stank like a sewer. You did NOT want to be in her guard, that tuna scent could make a sailor cry.
😂😂lol grosss
Start calling him Big Bird, and her Lil Sushi
Omg.. you guys are hilarious 😂
Got paired with a smelly Indian once. Took the best shower after training ever and still smelled it in my mind. Never again will I roll with smelly people I’ll just walk away
It’s sad but true my professor is nice but honest it’s leave your feelings at home and go do some laundry and take a shower
Bro, that story was me, but I was a blue belt. Literally. My mom came down. But she’s not a doctor. I almost lost my right leg, and had a midline for a month, IV Vancomycin. Also, my name is Dave
What gym? Where at?
Why I’m so appreciative of my gym. Good training, excellent hygiene from the mat to each person, and people in the gym are superb
FYI: If you train BJJ and you think you got a spider bite....it's probably staph
We use to have a lot of people from other schools come to our open mat on Sundays cause none of the other local schools had open mats in that same time frame on Sundays. All of a sudden people started getting staph left and right and people started bling our school. Of course when we stopped allowing these people to come and everyone healed up no one got staph infection anymore. This was about a year or so ago and once this happened there hasn’t been a single incidence of staph at the gym. Be careful with who you let come to your open mats!
In the thumbnails, just like the "stinky partner" thumbnail, Chewy has the perfect expressions for the frowny text-emojis, like D:
The no shoes thing in the bathroom is so gross. Some people do that at our gym despite signs saying to wear shoes off mats.
Solution=heel hook.
@@richardgallagher4880 touch their feet after they went into the bathroom with no shoes? Nah brah
I tell people to put shoes on nicely when off the mats the first time....the second time I mention it to someone get ready for me to be a dick about it. You all should do
the same
@youmang
You object to touching feet but not to exploding peoples knees.
I like you already😆
@@richardgallagher4880 i just meant dirty feet but yeah either way. i say wrist lock them but if they don’t care about the feet they prob don’t wash their hands either
This video just came out for me personally at the right time. Strange coincidence. I joined a popular mma gym in St. Louis and know the owner everything was great, however I’ve never seen them personally clean the mats. I came from a previous mma gym that cleaned the mats after every practice the fighters and coaches all contributed. This current gym I’m at right now has everything from bjj to judo to kickboxing and a full weight lifting gym on the top floor. When I brought my concern to the owner he said they have a maintenance guy who cleans the mats twice a day. Fast forward I was lifting weights and noticed a young guy had a huge boil on his arm. I called him out on it, he left and thanked me told me it was staph. This was back in the summer. Last month I was in the urgent care for what two doctors thought was for sure staph as I had a boil under my armpit. They put me on strong antibiotics for over a week. Turns out it was an E. coli infection which still isn’t good. I brought this to the owner and he confirmed again this guy cleans the mats twice a day. When I explained I’ve never seen him clean the mats he said he does it before the gym opens then again mid afternoon right before night classes.
I’m stuck in a contract and I loved training I was doing bjj, kickboxing and weight training. I’m stuck in the contract for another year. Fortunately, I can use the gym to lift and spray down all the equipment prior to use and post use. Unfortunately, I don’t feel comfortable at all to step foot on those mats again.
Long post but thought I’d share my experience. Any of you think I’m over thinking this? Or should I stick with just lifting and then cancel as soon as my membership is complete?
Contracts like that can imply the owners using scummy practices…
That figures considering the mats..
I think it’s best to avoid those mats..
Thanks for your response man! Yeah I think so too. I also I’m very clean lol clean my gi and fight gear literally after every practice, shower immediately using defense soap etc.
@mattcooper1193
This is normal.
It was strange students used to clean the mats.
Have you asked the janitor dude if he actually cleans them?
Which gym?
I’m so grateful that my head instructor of our academy, as well as the culture overall, is very militant and diligent about cleanliness.
Ultimately it ended up being skin infections which made BJJ not worth it after 10 years. You train with hundreds of different people- many do not care about hygiene.
Same here... Had to different ones at the same time. Ruined my life. Now I only train solo or teach friends that I trust.
@@wiezumteufel9024 I got tired of discovering various skin infections hidden under wraps, duct tape, under gi's, under rash guards. I've seen ring worm so many times. Did you know you can get herpes on your fingers? Yeah. Staph a few times, Lyme once, but the most annoying was fighting to prevent multiple individuals with giant warts caused by HPV all over their right thumb and hands (the size of a small cauliflower plant) from rubbing all over my face and nose, neck...it just gets old after a while when the game becomes: establish a 2:1 grip to prevent the infection from touching me.
I've been sick with stomach issues the past week, while I was intending to finally train today I'm not quite there yet. However, last night I checked to make sure everything was clean and I was trimmed, so I ended up clipping my finger nails right before bed. "[JiuJitsu] gets to be your reason for going to the gym and keeping your hair cut short and cutting your nails."
Also, Make sure you FILE your nails to be round too! Despite being trimmed short, a point on a poorly trimmed nail can still do damage.
Tips from someone who suffered BADLY from two different bjj infections (plantar warts + scabies):
1. always wear long clothes and sambo shoes (even under Gi or in summer)
2. avoid rolling with new guys or fuckboys / stick with 1-2 training partners that you trust
3. throw your training clothes in the washer asap and dont wear them a second time
4. shower asap after training (soap up EVERY part of your skin and then rub for 30+ seconds)
5. if you shower hot then use a high quality lotion afterwards (helps maintain the shielding function of the skin)
6. take zink and vit-D if needed, drink green tea, spend time in nature and get at least 7h of sleep each night
If you have any further questions feel free to ask!
i don’t know what a fuckboy is …😵💫🥸
How 1 training partner working out for ya?
@richardgallagher4880 it was never just 1 for me. Years ago I trained with everybody, built my skills, got those infections and then dropped out. Now I just train students in my home gym. Working and rolling 1 on 1 here really works out great for me as my students are generally much bigger and stronger than me. But in a classical gym you might have to expand that 1-2 to 4-5 people. For the smallest infection risk of parasites I would suggests to stick to older people that you know are in monogamous relationships and don't work with kids or elderly in their professions.
I agree with most of this but I don’t think rolling with multiple people is the problem. I’ve met people who go get a drink after training without showering. Always go home and shower first
Drink Apple Cider Vinegar as well
This is why I stopped training at pedigos. I visited the old gym with some friends and that place was disgusting. The dirtiest gym I’ve ever stepped foot in. I kid you not.. pools of sweat on the mats and they used dirty l sweaty gis to try and soak it up… woke up the next morning and there were still pools of sweat. People not showering, people using the bathroom without shoes, just a disgusting gym.
Even at the new one ( I have friends there full time) there is always rampant staph infections.
I used ti cringe watching some of those daisy fresh episodes!!! The irony of it being called daisy fresh 😂
One reason I left gym 3. Burned out lights, filthy bathrooms, unpainted walls, overflowing garbage cans, dog brought to class. Just a dirty run down place I would not want to introduce a friend to. I had an infection like that in my arm and hand. Fortunately IV antibiotics as an out patient for a week worked. I was close to being admitted.
This is why I left a gym. Some days I wanted to do wrestling practice it was immediately after the jiu jitsu class and they wouldn’t clean the mats. I started getting flare up on the back of my head. At first I thought it was the barbershop but it continued happening. I stopped going for a couple of weeks and my flare up went away.
Most gyms don't clean mats between back to back classes.
Modern medicine has made people very lackadaisical about infections, but like, when you read about people who ' caught a fever and died,' they usually had an infection. They’re are no joke.
I told one of the new students, way older than even me, "hey, just for information, you should buy some slippers for the restroom because some people miss the toilet."
His response was, "Oh its fine, i don't mind that stuff. It doesn't bother me"
That wasn't what i meant. 😅
Hygiene is really important. Where I train we don't have issues with bare feet in the bathrooms or stinky uniform issues. And I know the mars are clean because I have personally cleaned them. I guess I'm lucky.
Ever since I started BJJ my immunity has been under attack in several different ways. I come in clean and I leave with hand sanitizer, a mouth full of mouthwash, baby wipes on my face and neck... and I go straight to the shower, double cleanse, throw my gi in the washer as soon as humanly possible!
Senior surgeon here :) 100% agreed on the importance of hygene. But before any leg would have to get amputated if the "experimental drugs" (=they probably just changed the antibiotic regime because they did not or could not gather good samples from wounds), you would undergo surgery to drain the soft tissue infection.
So.. do they call you doctor pain at your gym? I know I would if I found out I was rolling with a surgeon 😂
😉 well, there is another physician in our gym, and he does have the reputation of injuring more people than he would heal...
@@Xeovail
Sounds like he took the hypocrite-oath.
" I will do no harm, except for when it's on mats for medals and glory. "
Hygiene is the most important, it is a sin not to do hygiene.
Scissor take down is that “theoretical” move you speak of
Staph is no joke almost lost my left eye because of it.
It's definitely scary stuff. I'm glad where I train we don't have these issues. Guess I'm lucky.
I got it on my face, scratched by a dirty mma glove. Had no idea at the time how lucky I was that it wasn’t worse
Facts got marks on my arm due to it
That must’ve been the most scary thing ever.
I hate whenever gyms don't clean mats between classes. And BJJ competitions mats are disgusting they should do quick clean ups between certain amount of matches.
Brother, I literally just experienced this. A nasty bacterial infection on my knee that spread all the way down my shin up to my hip. My leg would throb with so much pain and agony as it swelled leaving me to use a walking cane for 3 days. Worse part is that I regularly practice good hygiene by skipping everything and anything without a shower following BJJ. It left a sour taste in my mouth about the sport I enjoy most 😢
Nice beard bro. Should keep it tight like that. Looks good.
Got MRSA once, put me in the hospital and was no joke. Hygiene should not be taken lightly.
beta male.
@@teena-tz7lr contact MRSA and get back to us a week later
Long story short. When I was a white belt, I got stung by a stingray, I took several antibiotics because it caused me an infection. When I went back to train, I got MRSA because my body was not ready to go back onto the mat due to the bacterial colonies not being established again in my body. It’s OK to take time off from the mats to heal. Conversely had an open man a guy had a gigantic staff sore on his knee. I refuse to roll in the black belt and charge looked at it and kick the dude off the mat immediately. The guy went to urgent care and was in hospitalized for three weeks as a staff was making its way into his bloodstream.
This similar In New Jersey, use to train at camal cruz judô BJJ , caught ringworm, the mats weren’t clean. The students didn’t care of safety.
The academy where I train i see people get called out for being anywhere off the mat with no shoes, the professors are constantly cleaning. Hell I get a nose bleed & they automatically said "go take care of that & let us know when you come back"
I once had a MRSA infection after a few hard rolls. I woke up with this horrible pain in my wrist. I thought maybe I sprained or fractured it. Throughout the day, it swole up and got worse. Urgent care visit and suddenly I'm on antibiotics and had to have it drained and re-packed for 5 weeks. My takeaway though is, I didn't shower right away. I had no visible cuts or anything.
I had a coach once who was super paranoid about cleanliness, but when he got an obvious infection on his face, he kept training. This is a good topic, but the hypocrisy and ignorance that i see is bothersome. Best practice is to shower before and after class, and wash your gi ASAP. If you feel a strange bump or color change in your skin, scrub it with soap and water until it's squeaky clean. Learn how to use things like alcohol and hydrogen peroxide to clean wounds.
I keep some sort of body wipes in my training bag for that specific reason. I definitely want to wipe off after class because I'm not really interested in bringing nasties into my truck for the ride home. Especially after no gi. That is just a sweaty mess in general. I also keep a pretty comprehensive first aid kit with me as well. Just in case someone gets cut, nose bleed, mat burns, etc. As far as washing right away I generally do one load a week. The uniform for the evening gets hung dry before getting put on the to be washed pile. I have enough gear where I can wear it once and then toss it in the laundry. I am a fan of Clorox laundry sanitizer. Seems to work well.
I feel yea it truly sucks if your gym doesn’t have showers, some of my favourite gyms had loads of personal showers… many of those are bigger metro gyms though
Neither alcohol nor hydrogen peroxide are used to clean skin or even wounds. Soap and warm water, or if you need something antimicrobial betadine or saline solution for wound. Hydrogen peroxide makes wounds worse, not better.
This is all bro science
Most staph gets in your hair follicles and nobody really knows how to stop it
I’ve used Alcohol and HP all my life to clean wounds… I bet Nicky Rod has also
My first bjj class, I literally didn't even realise I'd be taking off my shoes till I showed up. Luckily my feet weren't thaaat bad, but it was a totally random thing, I'd just finished 3 hours at the gym, I saw a guy with a bjj top, asked him about it, he said there was a free class that night, I went, and almost immediately, I felt all the ways in which I was not clean enough for what we were doing
I'm not habitually a very clean person. But since that very first class, I've been so paranoid about hygiene, I completely wash, brush, floss, all of it before going, I shower when I get home, and immediately wash my clothes, then hang them out right when they're done.
Bjj instantly made me a way more hygiene focused person. Nobody needed to tell me, it was obvious
I CANNOT stand if I see someone walk barefoot outside on the asphalt and tries to step on the mats with their now completely black feet.
wow. scary.
Reminder; everyone at the gym is responsible for cleanliness, not just your coach or professor. If you have a skin rash or something, stay home. Pick up a mop or cleaning product after class. Wear a long sleeve rash guard. ❤
My gym's hygiene is really good, but I still got a staph infection. The bacteria is everywhere! Obviously it's worse at dirty gyms, but I wasn't careful with covering any grazes or breaks in the skin etc. That's the only way it gets in - so lesson learned.
hygiene at gyms is really serious. its important to shower with soap after, wear flip flops, and wash everything everyday. Treat your injuries properly and cover with bandages and finger tape. once you get an infection you can literally spend months in treatmentand recovery, and it can easily spread and cause serious or deadly health issues. Its an important medical problem. If someones gui looks overly dirty and they look like they dont wash themselves you should very seriously consider not rolling with them. I ended up with a serious viral skin infection and had to spend a lot of time and money recovering. I now believe that not having access to soap was a factor, because I shower after every session and I still got something. This idea that you don’t wash your gui or your belt or any of your gear is clearly wrong. gyms that do not have showers are a problem, you should be showering right away ( dermatologists recommendation ).
I've gotten exponentially more infections than I've been in fights. The tradeoff there just isn't worth it.
Chewy what's the name of Dave's gym in Tucson? I have family wanting to get into BJJ and looking for a good place for them.
Come hang out with us in Tucson y'all. We'd love to have you.
I moved to a new city and a new gym and the hygiene was so bad i stopped going because i got a staph infection from scratches... you could smell the place so many unwashed Gi... it was bad nearly lost my arm antibiotics for a month..
Which is also a good reason not to bone feet.
My coach/gym owner is super OCD about hygiene. He scrubs his gym constantly. 6 years of consistent training and not a single case of staph or ring worm that I know of. He warns us too. Anyone who knowingly trains with a communicable infection is gone. Nothing to say, no discussion, GTFO......gone. That's the way it has to be!
my boy sunny gave up training in shoes lol since he got a foot issue in thailand where they don't use shoes
This is why I never took up BJJ and just stuck with karate and TKD type schools. Rolling around in puddles of other dude's sweat was bad enough but the skin infections you're open to as well not to mention all the injuries finally just scared me off.
Deal breaker for me. That is how the gym I go now got started. Gym is fucking immaculate. No nasty dark spots on my elbow or knees on my white gis. It just isn't worth it... we ain't no next best thing.... find another gym.
I had rashed neck skin for 2 yrs. Something about the gi or not immediately taking a shower afterwards
There's got to be more to the story if you're suffering for 2 years.
Diet can cause rashes if you have a food sensitivity you don't know about. Also some people just have sensitive skin. If I scratch my skin just slightly too aggressively I'll get rashes.
@anonymous071985 I have to immediately shower afterwards. Not doing it causes infection + dirty gi collar rubbing it when rolling
Funny you should say that about the very dangerous technique. Heel hooks are exactly that. Its a knee destruction waiting to happen.
What about guys showering with bare feet after training instead of using shower flip flops? Thoughts?
I recently realised I've got a bunch of little scars on the top of my hands. I was wondering for a second where the hell they came from, and I realised it's from whitebelts with long nails clawing at my hands lol. I just counted 11 scars in total.
I bet you anything. This gym is in Florida 😂
“We’re going to try this experimental drug”
Me “We’re, We’re going what?”
It's usually a bad sign if physicians are throwing the kitchen sink at an infection, it's not working, and they move on to experimental treatments.
I offer my students free Kenshield Athletic Laundry I mix from concentrate. You bring me an empty jug and I will gladly fill it!
lol look up that Misfits BJJ (yes, the same one that went viral..) in MN. The reviews show photos of their brooms and mats and it’s absolutely gross. Looks like you used the broom on your front lawn and then used it on the mats
that is nasty as hell.
Many JKD people comment on the body odor in BJJ schools. 😆🤣😂
Unfortunately for this guy, moving to a new gym is probably gonna be the answer.
If a coach/owner is already lax about something as basic as hygiene, it’s doubtful a new student is going to convince them to do a 180.
I live in Tucson what gym is Dave’s
I think every gym I've ever trained at, MMA, BJJ, Muay Thai, etc, all had poor hygiene practices. Can't count the number of times I've seen people go in the toilet with bare feet.
When working at a franchise gym, EVEYBODY and I mean everybody stood at urinals in bare feet then went straight into the sauna.......
I'm glad it's not just me that gets annoyed by this because everywhere I've trained or worked it seems like it is.
CUT YOUR NAILS EVERY 3-4 days!!!!
Caught ring worm no less than 10 times on the mats . Quit BJJ at Brown .
beta male
big fan but i couldnt get past 3 minutes of this video, get to the point man.
With all due respect, F FutureKimonos.. worst bjj company ever
Oh of the kids i have to roll with wears the same pants that smell like cat pee 😢
Watched your matches why the DQ i didn't see what happened?
what bracket is Chewy in?
@youmang masters 2 heavy or medium heavy i don't remember
Chewy needs some facial care products
Quit that gym.
Shouldn’t do leg locks lol jk
Pansy?
No showers at my gym. Thoughts?
Dirtiest gym I’ve trained in is owned by a rock star 🤔
I am glad to say I no longer put a contact back in 🥸that falls out of my eye while rolling anymore without cleaning it first