Just wondering, but I recently joined a BJJ club and had a grip on someone. He jerked away and half of my nail ripped off my finger. Not that it's a serious injury, but I was surprised because my nails were trimmed, and I hadn't had that ever happen in my 1 year of Judo. Do you guys think that the cause could be something like lack of calcium? Or does it "just happen" sometimes?
(I also realize that I should have been holding with my fingers rather than finertips)

Ouch!

I don't know if you've heard this one or not, but coating your nails with clear nail polish/protector is supposed to provide some strenghtening. I've heard of American Football players using it to keep their nails from ripping off on someone else's jersey.

Never tried it myself.

--Dallas

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dallas:
Ouch!

Never tried it myself.

--Dallas [/QUOTE]

.............. he added hastily [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]
Sharon

I think its just something that happens in Judo. I've seen it happen only once (and I've ripped enough toenails off to know how it feels). I think Judo just puts a **** load of pressure on our fingers and things like this are biound to happen. I'm always ripping the callouses off the top of my fingers, its actually happened once during a circle drill (where your run round the circle throwing every person) by the time I'd realised every single person training had their gi colar smeared with blood [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]

I find those top of the finger calluses fascinating. Only a judo gi can give you calluses on top of the first joint of your fingers.

Yeah, Sharon, real judoka don't need fingernails (just lots and lots of tape and ibuprofen).

--Dallas

Never had my finger nails rip off..but I did have the back of my ear tear....twice....fun stuff...now I have to wear...ear protectors...
Ed

Yikes! Isnt judo supposed to be a safe sport? haha

Goliath, it happens to the best of us, and other than keeping your nails short, and possibly changing your grip(as in not digging into the gi with the tips of your fingers), I dint think there's much you can do. If you're prone to getting your nails pulled off there's always tape...