Tim Trevail - Jiu-Jitsu Rehab Specialist

04/09/2026

The Lower Body BJJ Injuries Practical we recorded for Learn.Physio is now live.

This is the first online professional development resource of its type (that I'm aware of) designed specifically to help physiotherapists and other rehabilitation professionals understand the nuances of working with grappling athletes.

The aim with this practical was to make something useful for the growing number of clinicians working with these athletes, rather than simply discussing theoretical approaches to rehabilitation.

We spend time looking at how lower-limb injuries actually occur in jiu-jitsu, and why the demands can be quite different from the field sports many of us are more familiar with. From there, we work through rehabilitation in the gym, including movement preparation, plyometrics, strength work, and developing the physical qualities needed to tolerate the specific demands of grappling.

We also cover objective testing, some of the limitations of relying too heavily on limb symmetry, psychological readiness, and how to transition back onto the mats using sport-specific return-to-play strategies while managing re-injury risk.

Thanks to Melbourne Grappling Academy for providing the space, and to the athletes who helped us demonstrate everything. Also thanks to Mick Hughes and Learn Physio for giving me the opportunity to put this together.

For those interested in this space, this practical also complements our book chapter 'Rehabilitation and Return to Sport in BJJ' in Routledge's 'Science and Methodology of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu', which is due out next month.

Available now at:
https://www.learn.physio/home

24/08/2026

In competition, your opponent is trying to win. Don’t put your safety in a position where it depends on them making the right decision for you.

If you can be lifted, if your head or neck is becoming a potential landing point, or if you no longer control the position, recognise it early and change the situation.

That does not excuse the slam. The person doing the lifting is still responsible for their actions.

But good injury prevention also means recognising when you have handed control of your safety to someone else.

If you see someone putting their safety in the hands of other people in the training room, call it out. Fix it before a catastrophic injury exposes it.

24/07/2026

Returning to jiu-jitsu after injury should not mean jumping straight from rehabilitation into live rolling.

The control-to-chaos continuum provides a structured way to reintroduce the sport’s demands by progressively increasing resistance, speed, intensity and unpredictability.

At the controlled end, the athlete performs planned movements in a predictable environment with little or no external resistance. As the athlete progresses along the continuum, intensity and resistance increase, predictability decreases, and the demands become more reactive and representative of live rolling.

The progression may include:
- Solo drills: Self-paced BJJ movements with no partner resistance.
- Technical drilling: Known sequences performed with a cooperative partner and gradually increasing resistance.
- Flow training: Continuous, semi-predictable exchanges without finishing submissions.
- Positional sparring: Goal-directed training with defined constraints and increasingly reactive demands.
- Live rolling: Unrestricted training with full scrambles, submissions and maximal uncertainty.

The objective is not to avoid chaos, but to prepare the athlete for it.

Progression should be based on tissue tolerance, physical capacity, confidence and the athlete’s response to each stage, rather than time alone.

Mike Piekarski and I explore this framework in detail in our chapter, “Rehabilitation and Return to Sport in BJJ,” in The Science of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is expected to be published later this year.

16/07/2026

Coming to the end of my first week coaching at Melbourne Grappling Academy.

I'm loving the energy and atmosphere on the mats already and excited to see the community that we can build together.

Save the date: grand opening August 2nd from 10 a.m.

📸 Thursday 6pm no-gi class

14/07/2026

Uncontrolled falling bodyweight is one of the clearest ways a normal training exchange becomes a serious injury.

This does not only happen from standing. If your partner cannot move, post or protect themselves, dropping your weight onto them can cause life changing damage to trapped joints.

Higher grades should be the safest people in the room. Control your descent, protect your training partners and do not risk someone’s health for a round or a reel.

📩 Share with a training partner, and let's reduce career ending injures on the mats.

08/07/2026

Really excited to share this one. I'm working with Learn.Physio to film two practical rehab sessions, walking through my go-to, effective rehab strategies for grapplers and combat sports athletes.

One will cover the lower limb and one the upper limb, and the focus is on what actually works in practice, particularly through the mid to late stages of return to sport where the sport-specific detail really matters.

If you're a physio or rehab professional, I'd love to hear from you. What areas do you struggle with? What would you like to see covered? Leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll do my best to work it into the filming.

It's also a great chance to show off our strength and conditioning space at Melbourne Grappling Academy, which has just launched. Filming rehab for jiu-jitsu athletes in a dedicated jiu-jitsu environment will give us opportunity to work through late-stage rehab and practical returning-to-training strategies.

Filming at the end of the month.

Learn.Physio
Melbourne Grappling Academy

06/07/2026

After countless calls over the past 18 months as we prepared to launch Melbourne Grappling Academy, it was great to finally catch up in person.

It was great to get a behind-the-scenes look at London Grapple and see the impressive academy the team has built.

Looking forward to getting back to Melbourne next week, getting stuck into coaching at MGA, and finally giving Tom Everett a day off.

I'll be having my ACL re-scanned shortly after I get back, then putting together a plan for a gradual return to some very light mat time alongside coaching.

27/04/2026

This is something I think about a lot.

I have two daughters (two and five), and as any parent is, I am acutely aware of the minefield they will face throughout their young lives.

As a father, and maybe because of my line of work, I feel obligated to give them the tools they might need to face those difficult things.

Athleticism, muscle, and physical capability are increasingly being framed as positives for women and girls rather than something to apologise for, and that shift matters.

I feel a duty to do what I can to help them grow up confident, kind, and capable. Strong in body, and strong in the things that strength quietly underwrites, like self-trust, resilience, and the willingness to take up the space their lives need.

There are signs this is already landing with my oldest, and her little sister is starting to imitate it. That makes me want to double down on these lessons.

A capable body is not confidence by metaphor, it is the actual biology that supports mood, sleep, and stress resilience.

Strength gives them options, and options are freedom.

23/04/2026

16/04/2026

Two weeks into my non-surgical ACL journey.

For those who missed the earlier posts: I tore my ACL in jiu-jitsu, along with a complex medial meniscus tear and a low-grade MCL sprain. After working through the evidence and getting input from people I trust, I've decided to pursue non-surgical management - at least as a first line.

I've also got a referral for an orthopaedic consultation and a few more conversations lined up with people whose input I value. I'll continue to refine the plan as the evidence, professional input, and my own experience of the process guide me.

I'm going to share snippets from this journey as I go. Partly to keep myself accountable, partly because there's not enough openly documented non-surgical ACL rehab out there, and I know a lot of grapplers and combat athletes end up making this decision with limited information.

I'll be as open and honest as I can through the process — including the setbacks, the rethinks, and the moments where the plan changes.

This week's slide covers what I'm focused on in Week 2 — load tolerance, what I'm training above and below the knee, how I'm loading the joint itself, and brace settings. Gym session examples follow.

If you've got questions about the process, the decision-making, or anything you see along the way - drop them in the comments.