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Going All In On Jiu Jitsu
I can’t say when camp for this competition began. In many ways, it feels like I’ve lived in a permanent training camp, and that, I suppose, is the point. Believe it or not, the intensity of my Jiu Jitsu training is work-related. My employer gave me a goal, and that goal was to be all […]
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The Mind of a BJJ Black Belt: Cindy Fink
The first thing you notice is the unrelenting attack. Constant pressure. Ceaseless adjustments to the position. You’re out of options. Your limbs have been straightjacketed, your torso locked or twisted into an angle that renders it useless.
Only now do you realize that the end is near, though the endgame started much earlier. Often, there’s one […]
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Building Resilience in Jiu Jitsu and BJJ Competition
Shouts and cheers bounced off the high gymnasium ceiling. It was the typical soundtrack of a BJJ competition. I wasn’t enthusiastic, though. I was tired and hungry.
Earlier that morning, my match start time had moved up an hour, prompting me to leave New Jersey in a sprint and head for the city to compete in […]
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Am I even having fun?
By Shane McCarthy
My wife finds herself asking this question ever since she started training: Am I having fun in Jiu Jitsu? Joy. Happiness. Fun. They all describe the endorphins that flood your nervous system when something pleases your brain. Midway through a set of burpees in a gross, humid, 90-something-degree warehouse, with your muscles screaming […]
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Ode to Masters: What it Has Meant to Me
By: Emily Kwok
As I help some of my students in their last week of preparation before the IBJJF Masters Worlds in Vegas next week, I sit and slightly lament my inability to compete this year due to pregnancy, and I also reflect on why I feel this way. It’s not like I haven’t had to […]
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What Warriors Are Made Of
By: Emily Kwok
2011 – IBJJF No Gi Worlds. Emily Kwok vs. Rachel Demara
The score was 9-0 with 30 seconds left on the clock. I was clinging to my opponent, both of us on our backs, with the seatbelt grip and one hook in, trying to sink in a choke before the buzzer sounded. I was […] -
Should You Compete?
By: Emily Kwok
“Should I compete?”
I am asked this question a lot.I often respond, I’m not sure if you should, but here’s why I do.
In the beginning it had more to do with curiosity than anything else. There were so few women in jiu jitsu that I just wanted to know how I would fare against […]
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How to Bring the Best Version of Yourself to Competition
By: Joe Hannan
The man who would try to break my arm made idle conversation in the bullpen. He wasn’t nervous, but rather was sizing me up. Conducting recon. Scrutinizing what I knew and what I didn’t know about Jiu Jitsu and how he could use the knowledge to break me. He walked with the assured […]
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My Child Won’t Break and Neither Will Yours: The Insight of a BJJ Parent
By: Emily Kwok
This past weekend I got to experience being a mother to a brave little girl who decided she wanted to fight her own battles. A few months ago, one of our instructors approached us about wanting to run a small kids tournament to help familiarize them with sport rules and share a deeper […]
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Becoming the Conscious Competitor: Master’s Seniors Worlds 2018
By: Emily Kwok
“The fact of the matter is that there will be nothing learned from any challenge in which we don’t try our hardest. Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.” – Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning
Fully […]
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