Bayley Martin: The Road Back to the CrossFit Games
CrossFit athlete Bayley Martin returns to the Games with an Event 19 victory. Explore the role of consistency, mobility, recovery and physiotherapy in his performance journey.
Read More
Blog
ATHLETE STORY
From Injury to the Podium: Steve’s BJJ Journey
Steve’s journey from injury to gold at the Queensland BJJ State Championships shows how physiotherapy, consistency and resilience helped him return to training and earn his blue belt.
Share this Article:
For Steve, 2026 has been a year of progression, setbacks, resilience and ultimately, reward.
After working through injury and gradually building his training load with the support of targeted physiotherapy, Steve returned to consistent Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) training and decided to test himself in a competitive environment. The result was a memorable one: gold in his division at the Queensland BJJ State Championships, followed shortly by another significant milestone — his promotion to blue belt.
While the medals and belt promotion are tangible markers of progress, Steve’s journey to this point has been about much more than competition results. It has involved learning to trust his body again, accepting setbacks as part of the process and recognising that meaningful progress rarely happens in a straight line.
Building Towards Competition
At the beginning of the year, Steve’s primary goal wasn’t necessarily to compete. Instead, he wanted to increase his training load and spend more time on the mats.
“Initially the goal this year was to increase my training load and time on the mats through targeted physiotherapy,” Steve explains.
As his consistency improved, so did his confidence. With more time on the mats came the opportunity to challenge himself in a competitive environment — something Steve had been considering for some time.
That progression wasn’t accidental. It was built around gradually increasing his capacity, managing his injuries and developing the strength and confidence required to train consistently.
For Steve, physiotherapy became an important part of that process.
Steve’s BJJ Journey: Learning to Trust His Body Again
Like many athletes, Steve’s biggest challenge this year wasn’t necessarily the competition itself. It was getting to the point where he felt physically and mentally ready to compete. A back injury proved particularly frustrating.
“Even once I could train again, it took much longer before I could completely trust my body,” he says.
Returning to sport following an injury isn’t simply about reaching the point where pain has settled. For athletes, there can be another hurdle: rebuilding confidence in the injured area and trusting that the body can tolerate the demands of training again.
For Steve, building strength and capacity through physiotherapy was an important part of overcoming that hurdle. “PEAK played a major role in getting me back to training more consistently after my back injury. The biggest thing was helping me build strength and trust in the area, and having a professional guiding me in that helped.”
That process also required patience. There were periods when Steve questioned whether he was progressing at all, particularly when setbacks interrupted his training.
“I’ve become better at accepting setbacks without assuming I’ve gone backwards.”
It is a mindset that can be just as important as physical preparation when returning from injury.
The People Behind the Athlete
Although BJJ is an individual sport when competition day arrives, Steve is quick to acknowledge that very little about the journey is actually done alone. BJJ is an individual sport when you compete but virtually everything that gets you there involves other people. For Steve, that support network has included his family, coaches, training partners and the team at PEAK Sport and Spine.
Consistency with physio and training has been one of the biggest contributors to his progress, alongside having good coaches, training partners and the support of the PEAK team.
At PEAK, Steve worked with the team to progressively build his physical capacity and confidence. Tommy, who had spoken with Steve about competing for some time, regularly encouraged him to take the next step.
“Tommy would often encourage me to sign up. His encouragement and confidence that my body could handle it gave me confidence.”
Nathan also played a role, putting up with Steve’s perfectionism during group physiotherapy classes — a reminder that rehabilitation and performance training isn’t always a perfectly linear process.
A Different Kind of Strength
Winning gold at the Queensland BJJ State Championships is an achievement Steve can be proud of, but perhaps one of his biggest takeaways from the year has been what the process taught him about himself.
“I’m more resilient than I sometimes give myself credit for,” he says.
At the same time, Steve has developed a greater appreciation for the reality of athletic progression: there will be peaks and troughs.
Rather than viewing every setback as a sign that he has lost progress, he has learned to accept that fluctuations are part of the process.
That perspective has helped him navigate both injury and competition preparation, particularly during the lead-up to his most recent competition, when mental fatigue began to creep in.
“There were moments leading into competition where I was mentally fatigued and questioning whether it was something I wanted to do.”
Yet when competition day arrived, Steve found himself in an unusually calm state.
“Probably my composure during my last competition,” he says when reflecting on what he was most proud of. “I was unusually relaxed and calm which allowed me to focus on technique.”
That composure ultimately allowed him to execute what he had been working towards.
The result? Gold in his division at the Queensland BJJ State Championships.
What’s Next?
Having recently been promoted to blue belt, Steve isn’t rushing to set another ambitious target.
For now, he is looking forward to taking some pressure off himself and simply enjoying BJJ.
“I would like to keep developing and getting stronger so I can continue the sport for a long time, as it can be quite demanding on your body.”
That long-term perspective is an important one. For athletes involved in physically demanding sports like BJJ, staying healthy and continuing to build capacity can be just as important as chasing the next competition result.
Steve hopes to compete again in the blue belt division early next year, but for now the focus is on continuing to train, getting stronger and enjoying the sport.
His journey this year is a good reminder that progress isn’t always measured by medals or milestones. Sometimes it is measured by returning to training after injury, trusting your body again, staying consistent through difficult periods and having the resilience to keep moving forward.
For Steve, the gold medal and blue belt are certainly worth celebrating — but they are also markers of a much bigger achievement: building the physical capacity and confidence to keep doing something he enjoys. And that’s a journey that doesn’t end with competition day.
Keep Building. Keep Progressing.
Steve’s journey shows that progress takes patience, consistency and the right support. If injury is holding you back from the sport you love, our PEAK team can help you rebuild strength, confidence and capacity.
Your Comeback Starts Here.