Disclaimer: We strongly recommend withholding from strenuous, physical activities (like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and avoid bacteria covered surface areas in an effort to protect your tattoo and safeguard against infection for up to 2-3 weeks. This article isn’t meant to promote unsafe aftercare but to emphasize the importance of being realistic and adapting your aftercare to your daily life. For those who still feel obligated to train, please do so wisely, understand the risks and read on.
With the growing popularity of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the physical and mental benefits the sport has to offer, we fully understand how difficult it can be taking time off the mats. As practitioners ourselves and a part of a community of BJJ and tattoo enthusiasts, we wanted to share some insight on tattoo aftercare while training. We’ll be the first to admit that this is a niche topic but like our article “When Can I Workout After Getting A Tattoo?” we want to emphasize the importance of curating tattoo aftercare according to one’s lifestyle regardless of their jobs or hobbies. Believe it or not, aftercare instructions do vary, and although instructions are meant to be followed meticulously, adapting your aftercare to meet realistic expectations will produce better healed results compared to half-heartedly followed instructions.
For more insight, we sit down with our good friend, tattoo collector, competition Black Belt and BJJ Instructor Alessandro Roman-Camargo as he shares with us how he implements his tattoo aftercare into his training regiment.
- As a BJJ practitioner with a significant amount of tattoos, do you find yourself adjusting your training schedule after an appointment? How soon are you back on the mats?
Being an Instructor, I’m required to be on the mats and like many of my students, feel obligated to train as often as I can for my own well-being. With that in mind, I definitely need to adjust my training schedule after getting a tattoo. I wouldn’t advise anyone getting a tattoo to head back to doing something like BJJ immediately due to how dynamic the sport is. For me, it’s about respecting the art that’s been put on me and having it heal as best as possible. Having said that, I think a solid five days is sufficient enough to have it heal before it’s ready to handle a little sweat. There’s always a risk of picking up hives or some sort of bacteria that could compromise the integrity of the tattoo so limiting mat time, focusing on positions away from the tattoo and an overall heightened awareness will allow me to safely train and lower the risk of jeopardizing my tattoo.
I strongly recommend not training if you have a fresh tattoo, particularly in an area that’s unable to be covered. For example, your hands, face and feet. Regardless of whether or not the mats are cleaned often, the risk of direct contact with bacteria is just too high and/or inevitable and can lead to infection. We also want to be considerate of our training partners and would rather not expose them to a healing tattoo which is essentially an open wound.
- How long do you leave your bandage on? Do you find yourself training before it’s removed? How do you keep the tattoo clean?
I leave the bandage on for five days that I’m off of training. I will take showers and be mindful of having water getting on to the bandage so that it doesn’t peel off. As for training with the bandage, the answer is yes but only on the last day that I’ve rested on it and for good measure. I also make sure to always wear a clean rash guard while training. The compression of the gear keeps the bandage snug and in place as well as prevent any friction against my kimono. I also do my best to pat dry of sweat with a clean towel as often as I can. After I’m done training, I make sure to remove the bandage in the shower and wash it with unscented soap and water followed by applying unscented moisturizer 3-5 times a day onward.
- Things/techniques to avoid?
Aside from not training for the first five days, I do my best to work with training partners that I’m familiar with. I’ll make sure to let them know I have a tattoo in the process of healing and I do my best to avoid positions and submissions that might conflict with my tattoo. Often, I find this very beneficial because it forces me to work on different parts of my game. You can train your game throughout the healing process where it wouldn’t affect the tattoo. If you got a back tattoo, you could play more top game or passing the guard, rather then being on your back and playing guard.
- Do you recommend sitting out of rolling?
I recommend sitting out of rolling and physical training altogether for the five days to uphold the integrity of the tattoo. You could take other measures to still learn such as, reading about controlling the mind and watching/studying matches or technique. So much to learn, so many tutorials and seminars accessible on Youtube by some real killers.
- Additional tips?
If I could give some additional tips, I’d say be transparent with your artist and let them know your workout routine. With more information, your artist can provide you with a more specialized form of aftercare that’s fitting to you.
Make sure your gear as well as your training partner’s gear is clean.
If you notice any signs of infection, be sure to contact your doctor right away.
As an Instructor, it’s my job to be on the mats so my routine strongly differs compared to others but I’m extremely cautious and take my aftercare very seriously. If it’s not absolutely necessary, hold off on training altogether and listen to your artist.
Special shoutout to Alessandro for taking the time to share his aftercare tips when training BJJ. Although highly recommended, taking 2-3 weeks off your day-to-day routine is much harder said than done. This article isn’t meant to promote unsafe aftercare but more importantly reiterate the importance of being realistic and adapting your aftercare to fit your lifestyle to the best of your ability.
