Women: Resources

A page to list BJJ women on the interwebs. Suggestions always welcome.

Quotes

Sensei Keiko Fukuda

Be gentle, kind and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically.

Hillary Williams:

As a purple belt, I hadn’t yet come to terms with guy-girl strength differences. I was at Cyborg’s training 3x a day, cutting 15 pounds for ADCC trials, and basically surviving with ibuprofen and ice. A new blue belt (albeit 180 pounds) was catching me, and my ultra-competitive ass just couldn’t do the math to suck it up. Of course, my hungry-upset-insecurity made me think, “Why am I going to trials if I can’t handle a blue belt, I suck! I’m going hoooome!!” I got frustrated and went upstairs (to the gym’s upper room/apartment thingie) to cool off, at which point Cyborg followed me. I explained why I was upset (I swear it made sense at the time) and he started laughing.

*Insert his raspy, thick Brazilian accent and inability to let anything be serious, ever*

“Are you focking crazy Gringa? You want to beat dudes? Then be a focking dude! Take a ton of steroids, they have surgeries for that! I dunno though, I think you make a better girl. Shut up girl, come train!”

Blogs

See the sidebar to the right, which includes an entire section of all female BJJ blogs that I know of. (It’s easier to keep that list updated.)

Homepages

• Felicia Oh
• Alaina Hardie
• Lana Stefanac
• Penny Thomas
• Tara LaRosa
• Kyra Gracie
• Emily Kwok
• Hillary Williams
• Hannette Staack
• Beatriz Mesquita

Webpages

• Gis for Girls
• VJJ BJJ
• Fightergirls.com
• AthenaMedusa
• Women’s Grappling
• GirlsOnlyBJJ

Interviews, Articles, & Threads

• Safe Training Rules for Women
• Interviews on AthenaMedusa
• “Women in BJJ, BJJ in me”
• Women and BJJ (with advice for men)
• The Jiu-Jitsu Sisterhood
• Women and the Jits
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for Women
• Interview with Shanti Abelha during Girls Only grappling camp
• KombatClinic’s interview with Helen Currie
• KombatClinic’s interview with Valerie Worthington
• Abby Bork’s 10 Tips for Female Grapplers
• No Holds Barred’s interview with Felicia Oh
• KombatClinic’s interview with Emily Kwok
• Interview with Brianne Genschel
• Treatment of Women in BJJ and Meg’s followup
• No Holds Barred: Felicia Oh on Women’s Grappling Camp, and Everything Else
• Female grappling camp in Cali a success
• Tips for Female Grapplers: when a (small) girl meets a (big) boy
• Top 10 Reasons Women Should Train BJJ
• Sherdog thread: Another Question for Hillary
• Girls Just Want To Have Fun … With Armbars: Hold My Medals While I Triangle Your Boyfriend
• Lady Grapplers (on the benefits of a women’s only class)
• BJJ for Women: Why I Think All Women Should Do BJJ: and Why I NEVER Recommend It
• Pregnancy & BJJ: Interviews with Rosi Sexton, Part 1 and Part 2

Fightworks Podcast:

• #180 ADCC Preparation with Kid Peligro & Rafael Lovato Jr., Women’s Jiu-Jitsu and #181 ADCC 2009, Women in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Emily Kwok, Felicia Oh, and Val Worthington
• #169 2009 BJJ World Championships with Lana Stefanac
• #139 Emily Kwok, Robert Drysdale and #140 Roberto “Tussa” Alencar, Emily Kwok (two-part interview with Emily Kwok)
• #133 Changing BJJ Schools with Elyse Goldberg
• #132 Penny Thomas
• FightWorks Podcast #112 Luciana “Luka” Dias & the Grappling World Team Trials
• #109 Felicia Oh
• #103 Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and women with Valerie Worthington
• #88 Shayna Baszler, Saulo Ribeiro
• #69 Kyra Gracie Interview & Never Submit Writer James Hergott

Training for Women

(not necessarily BJJ)

• Becca Borawski’s Blog (Crossfit)
• All round strength training
• Stumptuous
  • Mistressing the Pullup
  • Mistressing the Pushup
  • Core Training for Martial Arts
• Cassandra Forsythe
• Mark’s Daily Apple: Strength Training for Women

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