In today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with Julie Kedzie. Julie is a retired MMA fighter who has now works as a fight commentator, interviewer and matchmaker for Invicta Fighting Championships. In this episode she shares her experience of meeting Vladimir Putin, unaffiliating yourself from bad people (like Vladimir Putin), the importance of role models, what drove her to start … [Read more...]
Women
Jiu-Jitsu and Grief
The Grit to Work through Grief: How Martial Arts Gave Me the Tools to Work Through Pregnancy Loss A Guest Post by Rachel Honeyman Imagine 200 pounds of weight holding you down on the ground, compressing your ribs, preventing your lungs from expanding. You panic. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. You feel like you’re going to suffocate. And then, you remember that, while your torso is … [Read more...]
Averi Clements on the State of Jiu-Jitsu
Averi is a BJJ brown belt who has written extensively for the Jiu-Jitsu Times. Together we go deep into why jiu-jitsu is popular for women, coming back from injuries, some recent high profile sexual assault cases in the sport, and much more. Follow Averi on Instagram @bjjaveri, on Twitter @BJJaveri, and/or at the Jiu-Jitsu Times. And while you're here, have you downloaded my reference guide … [Read more...]
In Depth Interview with Dominyka Obelenyte, 4 Time Pan-Am and World Championship Black Belt Gold Medalist.
Dominyka Obelenyte was born in Lithuania, emigrated to the United States at a very young age, and became a 4 time Pan-Am and World Championship black belt gold medalist. In this interview we talk technique, injury recovery, mindset, effective training, the use and misuse of 'loyalty' in the BJJ world, mental resilience and more. I think you'll really like this interview and find it very … [Read more...]
Vanessa Wexler, Black Belt BJJ Champion, Mother, School Owner, and Model
Vanessa Wexler is a BJJ black belt and a multiple no-gi world champion, PanAm champion, and Masters champion. She's also a mother, a school owner, and a model. I caught up with her shortly after she won Gold in the Pan Ams competing with a completely destroyed ankle. We talked dealing with injuries, pre-competition visualisation, how running a school does NOT give you unlimited training … [Read more...]
BJJ Self Defense for Girls
I believe that every girl should have some basic self defense training. Yes, defeating a larger, stronger, male aggressor is a high bar to clear for a smaller girl, but it's not impossible - I've seen lots of trained women choke out bigger guys on the mat. The key word here is 'trained'. As in having spent many hours on the mat training, drilling and sparring. Now there are lots of self … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 138: NFL Yoga and BJJ with Jessica Huneycutt
Jessica Huneycutt is the yoga instructor for the New Orleans Saints football team. Yes, you read that right. A professional NFL team, full of gigantic athletes who make a career of smashing into one another, has it's own yoga instructor! Oh, and did I mention that Jessica also trains BJJ? In this episode we go deep into how Yoga and other techniques are used at an elite level to help … [Read more...]
Taking Responsibility for Your Own BJJ Training
A Guest Article by Kaeli Sweigard When you choose your actions, you choose your consequences. I used to work with “at risk” youth, and this was something I constantly re-iterated to them. They would break into cars, and then complain about having to go to court. I wanted them to really grasp the fact that they could make a different decision, and they would get different results. I wanted them … [Read more...]
5 IBJJF Competition Mistakes You Don’t Have to Make
by Guest Author Joanna Trindade I'm a BJJ blue belt, and although I've competed in local tournaments before I recently had the opportunity to step it up a notch. The plan was to compete at my first IBJJF tournament at the 2015 Chicago Summer Open. My teammate, coach and I drove the 1.5 hours from Milwaukee to Chicago at 6:30 in the morning. I wasn’t nervous for most of the drive except for … [Read more...]
9 Rules for BJJ Self Defense
I recently worked with a female friend to teach her a little bit about jiu-jitsu for self defense. Obviously I believe that jiu-jitsu is super important for self defense in general, but when it comes to women who want to defend themselves, well, it's completely indispensable. We can argue all day about what percentage of real fights end up on the ground (like the Gracies I believe it's very … [Read more...]
The Secret Subversive Power of BJJ
by Valerie Worthington, Emily Kwok, and Lola Newsom Groundswell Grappling Concepts We have a hypothesis about some women who grapple. We may be projecting, but our wholly unscientific data collection and analysis supports it. Namely, Brazilian jiu jitsu affords women who are looking for such things a mechanism for subversion. … [Read more...]
A Girl’s Guide to Grappling What You Need to Know Before You Start Rolling
Although the sport and art of grappling is currently mostly a male activity, many female readers have commented on how important it is for women to learn to grapple (see Why Should Women Grapple?). In this article Liz Bader, an active mixed martial art competitor and instructor, explains what women should be aware of before they step onto the mat for the first time. … [Read more...]
How To Get More Women Into Grappling
by guest author Krista Scott-Dixon I am often asked two questions by well-meaning male instructors: How do I get more women to join my school? And once they join, how do I keep them? … [Read more...]
How to Defeat the Bigger Stronger Opponent NOW AVAILABLE
It's here! The How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent DVD set is in stock, and ready to ship right now. Emily Kwok and I have been crafting this 5 DVD set for a long time, and it's one of the best instructional sets I have ever seen. … [Read more...]
How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent
Today is a very exciting day! For the past few months I've been working like crazy to get my new DVD series finished. In these videos I'm collaborating with my friend, and former teammate, Emily Kwok. She's one of the best known competitive grapplers out there! For a lot of different reasons. … [Read more...]
Life’s not fair (but these tips will work for just about anybody)
Life just isn't fair!! BJJ is the art of leverage, but there are techniques in the grappling repertoire that require you to be at least as strong as your opponent. … [Read more...]
Some recent pics; see me get choked!
Emily Kwok is a BJJ black belt who has trained with some of the best people in the world. And she's been very successful at the highest levels of competition in BJJ, Submission Grappling and Women's MMA. And she recently choked me silly for the camera... … [Read more...]
Podcast EP7: Sarah Kaufman, Top Female MMA Fighter, Reveals All!
Sarah Kaufman is one of the top fighters in women's MMA. And she is officially amazing! Here's an in-depth interview and podcast with Sarah. I grilled her pretty hard (I hate interviews where you don't actually learn anything about the fighter or about the way they train). But the information she gave out went way, way beyond what I was expecting. She revealed: • how a top level … [Read more...]
Podcast EP5: A Woman’s Jiu-Jitsu Journey from White Belt to Black Belt
In this feature interview I talk with Emily Kwok who is a very smart, very talented jiu-jitsu practitioner. She's been involved in the woman's competition circuit for a long time, having competed both with and without the gi, and in MMA overseas. Her ability as a teacher of jiu-jitsu - to both men and women - is proved every time she steps on the mats at her BJJ Academy in Princeton, … [Read more...]
Why Men Should Grapple Women (and Smaller Men)
Here's a very interesting email from a female reader that I thought I'd pass along... Hi Stephan, I just read through the article called "Why Should Women Grapple?" … [Read more...]