Mike Cordero BJJ

Three years ago I almost lost the ability to teach my own son jiu jitsu.

He's nine now. Eight months into the kids' program. Last Tuesday I sat with him on the living room floor before bed and taught him a four-finger collar grip with thumb hook. We worked on it for forty minutes. He fell asleep on the couch ten minutes later still holding his small white belt. I'm not writing this because it's a cute moment. I'm writing it because three years ago I couldn't have done it. My grip was cooked. Demonstrating a clean collar grip without my forearm cramping after ninety seconds was beyond what my hand could do. I'd quietly stopped offering to drill with newer guys at the gym because I didn't want them to see my hand fail in the middle of showing technique. I was, in a way I didn't fully admit to myself, beginning to lose access to the part of me that could pass any of this on. It wasn't muscle. It wasn't age. It wasn't lack of practice. It was tendons specifically — the cable under my forearm that runs from elbow to fingers, the one that's supposed to remodel itself slowly and stops remodeling after 35 unless one specific cell stays active. That cell is the fibroblast and nothing on my supplement shelf for years was waking it up. Turmeric, collagen, glucosamine, fish oil — all aimed at different tissue. The thing that woke it back up was moringa. Single ingredient. The version is Tap-Less by Satori. I've been on it sixteen months. The hand works now. The grip holds. If you have a kid coming up, or a younger training partner, or anyone you've ever thought "I want to be the guy who shows him this when he's ready" — your hands are part of that promise. They have to keep working for you to keep being the person who can hand it on. Tap-Less. Satori. Ninety days minimum, tendons rebuild slow. Link below. My son's name is Eli. I'm Mark. I train at Pleasant Hill BJJ.