Category Archives: Training

Metamoris 6

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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This week Metamoris announced their next PPV event line-up, set to take place on May 9th, headlining Josh Barnett vs Roberto Abreu Cyborg. Lots of big names but surprisingly no women! Out of six Metamoris events, including the upcoming one, only one has had a women’s match.

The first time Metamoris had a women’s jiu-jitsu fight on the card, was back in June, 2013. Michelle Nicolini and Mackenzie Dern fought hard, and the high-intensity match resulted in a draw. Hopes were high that this would open doors for other female athletes. Sadly the doors remain closed, and viewers are getting grumpier. Why no women are invited to compete at Metamoris remains a mystery. It is really not that hard to find top-notch, hard-working grapplers; just look around!

Last weekend Michelle Nicolini in Arizona and Texas…

Beatriz Mesquita in Los Angeles…

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and Luiza Monteiro in San Francisco…

Could this be the next big thing in women’s jiu-jitsu and grappling? Possibly.

Meerkatsu artwork

Meerkatsu artwork

What Makes Your Jiu-Jitsu Unique?

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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Day after day we see Facebook status updates from jiu-jitsu women who are having the most amazing training. Everything is awesome and great. This makes us wonder what really is behind this non-stop awesomeness.

We want to know what makes your jiu-jitsu unique. What are you known for? Are you a clone of your instructor or do you have your own distinctive style? Are you a super athlete? Are you a submission machine? Or are you a slow learner who struggles day in and day out always being the last one to be picked for rolling? What makes you good, different or both? How would you describe your jiu-jitsu without the following words: awesome, amazing, fierce, sick, and beast?

Please comment as long or as short as you wish, and you will have a chance to win a Fenom gi. Good luck!

The-Art-of-Being-Different

Pregnancy and BJJ Part 2

17 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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In part 2 of the pregnancy article Melanie talks about the changes and challenges during the second and early third trimester. She also gives a few tips for women who are considering training while pregnant. We hope her story has been helpful to women who consider training during pregnancy as well as to their training partners, and families.

bumpWith my second trimester came the three B’s, the bump, the boobs, and the butt. Seriously, when I’m pregnant, I swear my bum grows at the same rate as my belly does. It’s all fine and dandy, except when you are trying to squeeze everything into a gi that you thought was huge before you got pregnant. Second trimester training was pretty uneventful. I tried to begin training with only partners I really trusted. Rolling with the newbie was a no-go as well as takedowns. I continued to roll but managed to be careful while doing so. Being careful does not mean you cannot give 100%. It means that you are more methodical with your actions, and reactions. I noticed that I was thirstier than ever, and really tried to keep up my water intake both before, and in class. I had to start wearing a different sports bra, and different shorts underneath my gi for optimal comfort, and agility. Anything super tight pressing across my hips was bothersome.

My pregnancy began to fly by but as I began entering the third trimester, I really found that no-gi was a lot easier to manage. With a changing body, growing by the millisecond, I was able to move more easily, and fluidly during our no-gi training days. I changed from my usual rash guard, and spats to a tight-fitting tank, and looser shorts over a slightly bigger pair of tights. As I mentioned, growing out of your gi is heartbreaking, even though you are growing an amazing life inside you, and you know that it is for the better. Trying to train in a gi that feels constricting is not fun. I had to tighten and re-tighten my gi top all the time, and that my gi pants were beginning to feel tight across the bum, and legs. You know how big gi pants are, right? Haha! I definitely should have ordered the curvy Fenom pants for pregnancy for sure. If you have multiple gis in multiple sizes, you are good to go but perhaps you won’t be like me, and you will be able to wear the same gi size your entire pregnancy.

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At the beginning of the third trimester, I finally told everyone in my tight-knit school at Brasil Wellness Center, Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu in Aldergove, Canada. I had been really nervous to tell them because how do you tell someone you have been rolling with for months that they have been rolling with a pregnant chick? Needless to say the guys were shocked but took it well! It is amazing what you can hide under a gi. I guess they just thought I was putting on weight. After a bit of teasing they all accepted it, and assured me that my little baby would be born trying to arm bar his umbilical cord. I feel so lucky to train with such an amazing bunch of guys! Around week 23 I began to make some changes. Avoided knee on belly, avoided take downs unless it was with a controlled partner, and took it a little easier in rolling.

Well, here I am at week 32/40, and still training. I may be a lot bigger, and wearing my coach’s gi but I’m still training! As the weeks go by, I ‘m beginning to feel slower. To be honest, it is hard to sit out of certain aspects of the training or warm up but at least I am there, and still learning every day. I try to do what I can, and improvise when I cannot, and that’s really the best any of us can do, right? It is hard when your mind is able but your body just cannot, and should not do what you want it to. I guess my midwives were right when they said to listen to your body. Our bodies are strong and capable, and we really do not give them enough credit.

A few tips for you pregnant BJJ women out there:

  • Always bring water to class. Stay hydrated both on and off the mats.
  • Invest in a few good sports bras. For 2-3 training days a week I ended up ordering 2 sports bras in a bigger size than I usually wear, and then a few months later an even larger one. Not just to reign those bad boys in, but because I was finding that the tight band was digging into my ribs and making it harder to breathe.
  • Get a few looser pairs of compression shorts for under your gi. My Under Armour type shorts that I had been wearing, began to dig into my hips and across my belly, and really started to bug me during training sessions. 
  • Borrow or buy a huge bigger gi. I tend to carry my babies really low, and by week 27/28 I had finally outgrown my beloved Fenom Kimonos gi, and had to wear my coach’s gi. Let me tell you, when you outgrow your gi, it is a sad, sad day.
  • Listen to your body, consult your doctor or midwives throughout your pregnancy, not just at the beginning. Involve your coach, and let him or her know your limitations. Ask for recommendations, and keep him or her informed. Only do what you are able to. Try not to feel guilty if you have to sit out. Do what you can, and modify what you cannot or do something else. When everyone is doing leap frogs during warm up, you do push ups!

We wish Melanie a great rest of the pregnancy and a complication free child-birth. We cannot wait to see the baby pics!

lucUpdate 10/15/2014: The beautiful baby boy, Luc Evan Thomas, was born on September 16th at 1:28am, weighing 7lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. Congratulations!

Pregnancy and BJJ Part 1

11 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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Stretchy pants, mood swings, and insane food cravings are what most people think about when they hear the word pregnancy. Some women view pregnancy as the nine-month-eat-all-you-can vacation, some continue strenuous work-outs to the motto “no pain, no gain”. When you mention pregnancy and BJJ in the same sentence, emotions flare, and discussions get heated. Some support pregnant women in jiu-jitsu, and some are completely against it. Sophia Drysdale, and bloggers Meg and Ana have written extensively about training during, and after pregnancy. Black belt Emily Kwok also had a positive experience training, and teaching while pregnant with her first child. To train or not to train is a personal choice which should be respected.

When Melanie from Vancouver, BC, sent us a picture of her growing baby bump in the gi, we asked her to share her story. She is 31 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, and writes a two-part article about how training has been possible for her*.

pregnant

I must admit, when I first saw the double line on my pregnancy test that I had just taken in the bathroom at Starbucks, I nearly fainted. Selfishly, my first thought was, but I just got back to jiu-jitsu! Seriously, after three kids in four years, and five and a half years away from BJJ, I was just beginning to get my groove back. I thought I was going to have to quit cold turkey again, and that was going to be the end of it. No more jiu-jitsu for Mel ever, ever again. During my first pregnancy I had no idea that pregnant women could do anything other than swim, walk, and go to special mommy-to-be yoga classes.

My second thought was, FOUR KIDS! What the heck was I thinking! Hey, big families totally rock. Just think of the little jiu-jitsu clan I will have on my hands in the next few years. I just never pictured myself as a mom of so many. Not long after I met with my awesome midwives, and I was fully prepared for them to shoot me down, and tell me that I was crazy for even wanting to continue with jiu-jitsu. I tried to prepare my thoughts, how I would try to argue my thinking, my rationalizing.

However, they totally surprised me, and told me that I should just listen to my body, and continue within reason for as long as I was able to. Um. What? Mind blown. Listen to my body? They reassured me that my body was used to the intense training, the drills, and the movements. It would be entirely different if all of a sudden at four weeks pregnant I decided to start running marathons or something completely brand new. My body was used to jiu-jitsu, it was part of me. They reassured me that I was low risk since I had no previous injuries, and that the baby was fully protected inside my body. I could continue for the time being, and we could always re-evaluate as needed at my regular midwifery visits.

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Next I talked to my main coach. He laughed at me at first, but then told me he supported me 100%, and would help me continue training for as long as I could. Another score! I was so afraid that he would tell me I was a hazard to the club. You know how your mind just always jumps to the worst conclusions first. With a big sigh of relief began googling pregnant jiu-jitsu girls, and started to feel less nervous, and upset about being pregnant. I know this makes me sound completely selfish.

However, if you are like me, jiu-jitsu is your outlet. Especially after becoming a mother, and feeling like you have to re-discover who you are all over again. It is your time to re-charge, to feel human again, to be a better human again, and to de-stress.  It is your time to think about the moves, and where your body should be next. There is no drama on the mats. Jiu-jitsu doesn’t care if you have one baby or four. Turns out a lot of women train during their pregnancies, so I wasn’t so awful for wanting to continue. Here is an article about an awesome running mom, and here’s one about Alysia Montano competing at 34 weeks pregnant.

My first trimester was rocky but not awful. I actually found that I felt better when I went to class. I could go from being dead tired, and feeling nauseous to energetic, and happy within minutes of my feet touching the mats. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is magic, I tell you, magic! I found that my body was just as capable as before. Pregnancy actually has relaxed my muscles, and increased my flexibility! The only thing that I found especially challenging in the first trimester, and into the second one was the shortness of breath. When I was rolling, and my training partner’s gi was covering my face, I could not breathe, and I felt panicky. I had to tap or just stop.

Breathing during pregnancy is affected due to the increase of progesterone, which may make it feel as if you are working harder than usual to get air. In my case, I found this to be the case times 1000. It is important to remember that even though your baby bump may not be showing yet, your uterus is becoming bigger. It takes up more space, and creates pressure against your diaphragm. I tried to keep calm, wear looser fitting tanks, and sports bras under the gi, and breathe deeply.

Part II of the article can be found here.

*Training jiu-jitsu while pregnant is not for everyone, please contact your doctor to discuss your work-out plan.

Pay It Forward

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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We asked one of our favorite bloggers, Mrs. Ibarra, to be the guest writer this month, and she was kind enough to say yes. She shares her experience at Girls in Gis and training with women. Enjoy everyone!

On December 2, 2012 Girls in Gis celebrated its 3-year anniversary.  It was spectacular! Never before have I seen so many women and girls on the mats together, 74 total in attendance.  It was a colorful blur of gis, belts, women, and little girls, and a whole lot of sweat. I can proudly say that my daughter and I have been to all three Girls in Gis anniversary events.

In March of 2010 I took my daughter to her first Girls in Gis.  She had just started  jiu-jitsu three months earlier and I thought it would be a good experience for her to train with other women and girls. At the time she was the only girl in a kid’s class full of boys.  Fast forward a few months, I started jiu-jitsu myself, and then in September 2010 my daughter and I went to the first anniversary Girls in Gis event.

Debra

Fast forward another year…we went to the second anniversary event.  Fast forward another year…third anniversary…you kind of get the picture.  In between we have traveled to San Antonio, Austin, Katy and Houston. When I first started participating in Girls in Gis, most women didn’t quite look like me. It was so very intimidating. I wasn’t athletic, I wasn’t thin, and I definitely wasn’t in shape.  I had some very anxious moments in those early days.  But those women I met, those amazing women, they just kept encouraging me.  They told me to keep training, don’t give up, it will get better. And you know what? They were right!  I slowly started to feel like I belonged. I realized that this “old” lady, who didn’t quite look like everybody else, had a place in this tight-knit jiu-jitsu community.

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Because of Girls in Gis I have had the pleasure of meeting women from all over the world, women at different stages of their jiu-jitsu journeys.  I’ve been able to train with black and brown belts, purple, blue and white belts, and I’ve even had the pleasure of training with women who were trying jiu-jitsu for the very first time.  Most importantly, I’ve met other women who love jiu-jitsu just like me.  And guess what? Now when I go to Girls in Gis, there are more and more women who look like me! Now it’s my turn to pay it forward.  It’s my turn to encourage and support and help all the newbies as they start their jiu-jitsu journey.

Thank you Mrs. Ibarra!

Women’s Grappling Camp in Arlington, Virginia

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in News and Events, Training

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Groundswell Grappling Concepts presents Women’s Grappling Camp at Fifty/50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Arlington, VA, over the Veteran’s Day weekend! The featured instructors are multiple time world champions Hannette Staack and Michelle Nicolini.

There will be a total of 5 female black belts from 4 different countries represented at the camp. This is the first time WGC is bringing such a talented group of instructors from Brazil, USA, Canada and Japan together. Ladies have a chance to learn from Hannette Staack, Michelle Nicolini, Emily Kwok, Valerie Worthington, and Sayaka Shioda.

All of the above-mentioned black belts are highly decorated competitors, respected instructors and dedicate a lot of their time to women’s jiu-jitsu by teaching women only classes, seminars and training camps.

Camp is fully booked and registration is now closed, but there are still spots available for a co-ed seminar, conducted by Hannette and Michelle on Monday, November 12th, from 1-3 PM.

More details about the camp can be found on WGC website and on the event FB page.

Favorite Photos

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Training, Women's BJJ

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The type of camera you use for photography makes no difference. A loving, open heart makes a photograph, not a camera. – Anonymous

Over the past few years we’ve come across lots and lots of great photographs but some are more memorable than the others. Here are a few of our favorites. We hope you like them as much as we do!

Not so gentle art…

or is it?

Feels good to break the second place curse!

I can’t believe my parents signed me up for this!

Ladies are having a blast, guys hate it  not so much!

The best part of this photo is the background, two little girls taking notes 🙂

What’s going on over there?

A hug is a handshake from the heart.

Calm but dangerous.

Winning is everything awesome!

Why, yes!

BFFs

Two friends training together…

and competing against each other.

KnuckleUp Fitness Girls Team

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Fenomenal Women, Training

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In Sandy Springs, Georgia, there is a very successful women’s team called KnuckleUp Fitness Girls Team. The team leader is Laura Hart, a purple belt, who has built it from the ground up. As many women can relate, she was the only woman at her gym for a long time, wishing to have other women to train with. Little by little women signed up and now there is a strong group of ladies collecting medals at East Coast tournaments.

We wanted to find out more about Laura, and her team, and share it with our readers.

1. Hi Laura! How did you get started in BJJ?

Ha! I started 5 years ago, I had never previously exercised or played sports and so I was an old woman stuck in a young woman’s body. I had to nap during the day and I hurt from inactivity. My husband recommended that I try working out, he suggested trying classes offered at different gyms before I committed to anything.

BJJ was the first class I attended, it was the most fun thing I’d ever done! I didn’t attend anymore free classes, I didn’t need to :). Once I signed up I was nervous, there were no girls who attended regularly and as such it was a little intimidating, but I was encouraged to attend by CJ Wilson, then manager now owner of Knuckle Up. I never looked back. My coaches now are Master Ricardo Murgel and Jim Abrille.

2. What do your friends and family think about your training?

I don’t know to be honest… my mom and sister love it! They love that I do a martial art, they love that I love it (but to be honest I could play ping-pong and if I was happy they’d be happy too!) My dad and the rest of my family like that I’m happy but definitely don’t understand my obsession.

My friends all love it! Most of my friends are competitors, not necessarily fighters, but they do something so they under stand the dedication that comes with loving what I do. Of course I have the team, all of it, men and women, who love what I do, they are my primary support, in and out of the gym!

And my husband? He’s proud, he loves me and he’s happy when I’m happy, he struggles with the time and effort that training takes but since he is an athlete as well, he understands.

3. What’s your biggest accomplishment so far?

The Girls Only Team is definitely my biggest accomplishment, being a part of other women discovering BJJ, Thai, and MMA.

When I first began BJJ there were no other consistent women and it was hard to train with men who weren’t always happy to partner with me, it was also discouraging to see the camaraderie the men had and know that I didn’t have that, so very early on it became important to find other women to train and share with.

I was lucky enough to have an owner, CJ Wilson, and finally another woman, Moe Travis, who is a female Thai fighter, who encouraged and supported me in the dream of a team.

4. You’re the leader of Knuckleup Fitness Girls Only Team. Can you tell us a little bit about the team?

Definitely don’t feel like the leader, if I am it’s only because I’ve had the desire to have a team the longest, we all learn from each other, we all respect each other.
We train and hang out together, watch each other’s kids, listen to our complaints, BJJ and non-BJJ related, we have girls nights, and carpool to tournaments. I think the reason we’re such a good team is because we’re always there for each other, no boundaries, no questions. The one thing that comes up the most is how much we all waited for a woman who understands, now we have a team of women to turn to and depend on, BJJ is just one part of all of that.

I feel that I should mention that we have a lot of guys on our team that are excellent MMA and BJJ fighters and we make sure that we continue to support them like they support us, as much as I love my girls, we wouldn’t be here without the boys!

5. Your team is quite known on the East Coast competition scene. Do you focus a lot on competition training and do you require that all your girls compete?

We focus a lot on training, period and we like to win, those 2 things have led to us being seen as a competitive team. The one thing we always try to remember is that we do it because it’s fun, and winning is just one more aspect of it to enjoy!

We definitely don’t require that all of our women compete, but I do encourage it, I think that competing is an aspect of BJJ that needs to be addressed, there is no way to duplicate the feeling of a tournament: the adrenaline; the excited nerves, learning how to win or lose admirably, and the feeling of conquering something outside of the norm.

That said, I try to encourage anyone who wants to compete to do it according to their timeline, based on their desire and trust of BJJ, forcing someone who isn’t ready isn’t worth a win.

6. How do you keep the girls motivated to keep training? Is it hard to get new girls to stick with it?

We seem to motivate each other, we want to train, and more importantly, we want to train together, so we show up.

I think about half the girls that try it, stick with it but even if they’re not doing BJJ they still stay on our team, we also do Thai, and we have a smaller MMA team, so just because they’re not in gis doesn’t mean they’re not on the team, once we know you we are pretty hard to shake!

7. What are the plans for 2012 for your personally and for the team?

We trying to expand our competition experience, 3 of the girls and I are going to Pans at the end of March, Tyra Leigh Parker is our first professional MMA fighter, she’ll be fighting in May, we have a bunch of girls going to IKF (kickboxing competition) in Florida this summer, I am planning on going to no-gi Pans in October and Worlds in June! All of that in addition to the local BJJ tournaments and fights that come along.

8. This is what the team members had to say about Laura!

Katrina Norman
Laura Hart challenges my endurance and pushes me to the limits consistently. She is an amazing coach who encourages me to do my best and kicks my ass when I’m not giving it my all. I consider it a privilege to learn from her. She is not just a coach. She is a friend to everyone she meets, one of the most caring coaches I know.

CJ Wilson
Laura Hart is one of the most dedicated Jiu Jitsu players I have ever had the pleasure to know. As a woman, a mother and a provider, Laura has never had it easy, but her persistence and love of our sport has kept her focused on her training for all these years and her dedication has brought her from being one of the only women competitors at our school to being the coach of a highly competitive women’s team.
I for one am extremely proud to have Laura as a teammate, friend and employee. The KnuckleUp Fitness BJJ program is better for having her and she is an inspiration to many.

Monica Osorio Hyatt
I was very intrigued but intimidated to try out Jiu Jitsu, Laura encouraged and introduced me to it. In class you can feel how much she wants to share her knowledge. I have seen her train for years, at times with pain and frustration but her determination to improve her technique and her passion for this sport seems to always come on top. I am very grateful that she leads the women’s team and look forward to learning from her.

Moe Travis
I am very grateful to be on the same team as Laura Hart. I thank her for helping me understand and appreciate BJJ. I was super frustrated at the beginning but Laura was there to help guide me. If I wanted to drill or had a competition coming up, she would make the time to meet me and explain step by step for me. Regardless of what was happening in her life, she would show up and help me. She loves BJJ and it is very obvious when she starts speaking about it. She lights up and smiles a lot! Not only is Laura a very tough, strong and determined person, she is a very technical purple belt and I feel blessed I get to train with her. She is an awesome coach, mother, friend, and teammate. I am lucky to have her in my life and I can’t wait for the day she receives her black belt.

Women’s Jiu-Jitsu in Lakeland, Florida

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in Fenomenal Women, Training

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Every so often we have the pleasure of blogging about another blogger. Allison McClish shares her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey with other women on her blog and contributes her time to a small group of dedicated women training with Fabio Novaes in Lakeland, Florida. We caught up with Allie to learn a little more about our friend on the East Coast!

Hi Allie! Please tell us about yourself. 

If you saw me outside of class, you probably wouldn’t expect me to be involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I’m short, a stay-at-home mom and when I’m not at BJJ, I’m either chasing after my six year old son Noah (or my husband JJ), or else I’ve got my nose buried in some book. But, I absolutely love BJJ and am a blue belt under Fabio Novaes at his school in Lakeland, Florida.

Before I started BJJ I had no idea what it was. I was not looking for a martial arts class. But I was a youth pastor and two of the kids in the youth group were taking an after school BJJ class and they basically harassed me until I agreed to come. I went to one class and was instantly addicted. That was two years ago. The after-school class was taught by two of Fabio’s students; a brown belt named Ben Aubin who has since gotten his black belt and a purple belt named Mario Menchaca. I still train with them at Fabio’s.

What do you do besides train BJJ? Work? School?

I spend most of my time with my husband, JJ, and my son, Noah. They are the loves of my life. Other than that, I am pretty nerdy. I love to read and write books. I love movies and going out with the girls. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do. Horseback riding is also a passion of mine.

Do you do any other sports?

All through high school and college, I played a lot of different sports: softball, volleyball, racquetball and lacrosse. But now, BJJ is the only other obsession I really have time for!

You started the girls class aka barn-jitsu. Tell us more about it and how it became an actual women’s class in your school.

Barn-jitsu happened kind of by accident. Me and a few of my fellow bjj-obsessed friends, Stephanie McClish, Phil Richardson and Kara DeBats, had talked for a while about turning my old barn into a bjj gym for our own use. But, as we started working on it, we decided it would be fun to open it up to our friends. I was a youth pastor at the time and several of the kids were interested in trying bjj out. For some reason, the way things turned out, we had mostly girls—and mostly college age girls, at that—coming to the barn to learn.

When I stepped down from my position at the church and found myself with a whole bunch of extra time on my hands, Fabio suggested that we start a Women’s Class at his school. I had to stop myself from jumping and down I was so excited. We started the class almost two months ago, now, and I have been loving every minute of it.

What were the obstacles and how easy/difficult has it been to keep the ladies coming back week after week?

Wow, that’s a good question. BJJ is hard, both physically and emotionally. I think the first hurdle that women have a hard time getting past is the issue of personal space. Men seem to wrestle around with each other from boyhood on, but for many women using their body weight to hold another person down and invading someone else’s personal space is pretty foreign. That’s one of the reasons why we started the Women’s Class, so that these ladies would feel more comfortable during the initial space-invasion crisis.

Another big hurdle I have noticed is that many women feel bad about being aggressive. They tend to be more concerned about their training partners comfort than about using their weight to keep pressure or about applying the technique correctly. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “sorry” and “I don’t want to do that because it might hurt her”. Once they realize that they are not “being mean” and that they can practice these moves safely with their teammates, they become more confidence and start to assert themselves. After they get over that fear, they turn into what the boys at our school affectionately call “Bear Traps”. They look so nice and sweet and then the next thing you know they’re tapping you out.

The last big hurdle I’ve seen doesn’t hit the girls until somewhere between 6 months to a year. I haven’t seen it yet in my girls because they are still new. But for me, and my other training partners at Fabio’s, I have seen a pattern where you start out in BJJ and become quickly infatuated with it. You’re learning so much and seeing so much improvement because you’re going from knowing nothing about the world of grappling to discovering all the positions and submissions. But then, once you’ve started to make progress, you hit a wall. Suddenly you feel like you’re not getting better or actually getting worse. You think you suck and that BJJ might not be for you. We call it “hitting the wall”. But from what I’ve seen and experienced, that usually happens when you are learning new ways to move and are actually getting ready to take your game to the next level. I always tell my friends who feel this way to keep pushing through. That feeling that you can’t get anything right will pass and you’ll feel like a whole new world of grappling has opened up to you. And then you’ll hit the wall again.

Do you compete? Do you push your women to compete? How much of the teaching is focused on self-defense and how much on sports Jiu-Jitsu?

I do compete, but only once or twice a year. So far, I’ve done four tournaments. For me, competing has been instrumental in helping me overcome my fear of failure. It has taught me to do my best but to be ok with not coming in first all the time. It has also helped me see what areas I need to work on more and where my strengths lie.

I make sure to let the girls know that they CAN compete in tournaments, but competing is totally optional. Most of the girls are surprised to know that they can compete even at a beginner’s level and want to try it at least once. To me, anyone who steps out on the mat to compete has my respect whether they win or lose because they were willing to face something so intimidating. But if a person has no interest in competing, there is no pressure for them to do so.

As far as the focus of the class, I tend to lean more toward self-defense. We talk about what you would do in different scenarios or how bjj techniques would be applied in a real-life situation against someone bigger and stronger. But, for the girls who do want to compete, I’ll mention things during technique drilling and grappling like, “That would get you four points in a tournament” or “you would have just lost two points for getting swept,” just so that they are thinking about it.

At this point, since most of the girls in the class are new to bjj, we are focusing on how to move between positions and establish control as well as how to escape from bottom positions and submissions.

What do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Still teaching? Training?

Oh man, I really hope so! I love learning BJJ as well as teaching it. For me, the two go hand in hand. Teaching helps me solidify my own technique when I have to explain it to someone else. Plus, nothing beats that moment when you see that light bulb come on when someone “gets it”. Their excitement is contagious! The more passionate a student is, the more they are having fun and gaining confidence, the happier I am. As far as training goes, I will keep showing up at Fabio’s until he kicks me to the curb. 😉

Thanks for sharing Allie and good luck at the Miami Open!