Gentle like cotton, sharp as a sword Being a martial artist that happens to be female, I have always marveled at the stories of historical warriors that happened to be female, such as the Onna-Bugeisha (女武芸者) or Female Martial Artists in Japan. As a little girl I wore princess dresses but was concealing at least a few plastic or wooden weapons such as katanas and daggers (I mean, you never know what or who you meet during...
Nowadays foam rollers are extremely popular. In order to get rid of specific tensions in the body, become more flexible and mobile, many BJJ practitioners foam roll before and after training. But what does actually happen with our bodies or with those areas we foam roll? Additionally, I usually bruise very easily whilst sparring, especially when I haven’t been sparring for a while due to sickness or an injury. During my Yoga teacher training I did not properly train BJJ for...
Recently, Yoga, or rather Asana, which is the physical aspect of Yoga, has become increasingly popular in the BJJ community. My boyfriend, Alex, and I are in that respect a prime example of this trend as we just graduated from our RYS 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Course under Yogacharya Lalit Kumarat Himalaya Yoga Valley, Goa, India. Even though I practiced Yoga before BJJ, it was only after my BJJ-related lower back injury that I started to comprehend and appreciate the...
On the 16th of August 2017, Role Bonito published my interview with teenage BJJ girls about how BJJ impacts their lives and those around them. I received various responses in which one request was repeated frequently: whether I could also conduct such an interview with BJJ boys as a small comparative case study. My answer to that request was of course yes! So here it is and let us listen to what these boys from Team Laurien & Alex affiliated...
Recently, Jiu Jitsu Times revealed the results of their survey regarding sexual abuse in BJJ gyms. At the same time, in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s exposing, we read countless of accounts of women and men who are survivors of sexual abuse. #MeToo and #IHave movements show how real this problem is and that it not only “can” happen to anyone but unfortunately most likely already has. The first step to solving anything is to acknowledge that there is a...
In the beginning of September 2017, active competitor Rose El Sharouni received her brown belt from head coach Luiz “Maixinha” Ribeiro (London Fight Factory) at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy Amsterdam affiliated with Checkmat. Off the mats she studies full-time medicine and holds already a Master of Science degree in Sports Sciences. On top of that she makes herself strong for her fellow BJJ ladies by striving with Johanna Tavares to create an online platform as well as organize events by...
In February 2017 during the Munich Open in Germany I entered the competition with lower back pain. Many people in my gym suffer from lower back pain too, so I did not pay much attention to it in the beginning. That was over six months ago and the complaints steadily increased. During the fight I realized something was really wrong and visited my doctor soon after. After a MRI scan it became clear: I had a herniated disc. Having a herniated...
Buzz. Buzz. WhatsApp message. I open the app and see that I received a message from one of the young ladies of my BJJ class, Sarah. It is Monday and 20 minutes to 7 O'Clock. Normally her training would start in 20 minutes on that very day if it had not been summer holiday. Two weeks ago the holiday started. “I am bored”, she writes, “We are somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I wish that I had to go...
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