Find a Reality-Check Friend: How to Avoid the Trap of Believing Our Own Hype

There is a scene in the underrated film Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping in which beleaguered former boy bander and current solo star Conner4Real starts to question the motives of the people around him. He worries ...
Valerie Worthington
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On the Problem of Sexual Harassment and Coercion in BJJ: Five Ways to Be Part of the Solution

This is a difficult topic, but for our sport to grow, we need to keep working to make our communities healthier and safer. Val has more.
Valerie Worthington
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Give It a Try, They Said. It’ll Be Fun, They Said: How Learning Jiu-Jitsu Is Like Learning a Language

In her latest article, Val explores insights from language-learning that might help your BJJ.
Valerie Worthington
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The Transtheoretical Model of Change

Don’t be intimidated by Val’s latest blog. In addition to her real PhD, she has an unofficial PhD in making deep insights accessible to jiu-jiteiros.
Valerie Worthington
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How to Refuse a Dance Partner

Val Worthington’s Ask a Panda series is back! In this installment: How do you decline someone’s request to roll?
Valerie Worthington
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What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know about Jiu-Jitsu

Val has put a lot of miles on her jiu-jitsu wheels, and here are some unexpected lessons she has learned along the way.
Valerie Worthington
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Eight Reasons Being a Woman in BJJ Is Awesome

Thanks to people like Val, more women are finding and enjoying jiu-jitsu, and Val has 8 reasons for why that’s awesome for women on mats around the world.
Valerie Worthington
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Let 'Em Feel

“Cheer up.”“It’s okay.”“It could be worse.”“Don’t feel bad.”Have you ever heard any of the above after you lost a match, had trouble nailing a technique sequence, or got injured? I have no doubt that the person who s...
Valerie Worthington
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Geeking out on Teaching Jiu-Jitsu: How Instructional Design Tools Can Enhance Your Classes

Geeking out on Teaching Jiu-Jitsu: How Instructional Design Tools Can Enhance Your Classes
One of the many hats I wear says “instructional designer” on it. Instructional design is the process of creating and coordinating all the moving parts (content, interactions, expectations, assignments, assessment) of...
Valerie Worthington
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What Is Your Security Blanket?

For the longest time, I thought I had a good bottom half guard game. When I put people there, they had a very difficult time passing, even people who had significantly more experience in jiu-jitsu than I did. I consi...
Valerie Worthington
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Meet the Pandas – From Grasshopper to Valhalla – Valerie Worthington, PhD

The Panda Nation is not only comprised of mat savages and sneaky-jiujiterios like Alex da Silva, who we introduced earlier, but it also includes true warrior-scholars. For this edition of Meet the Pandas we talk to V...
Daniel Bertina
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Ask a Panda: How do I stop overthinking?

Question: Could you do a post on “pulling the trigger” when rolling? The most common feedback I’ve gotten (across multiple gyms) is that I think too much. I especially get told this when I roll with higher belts. For...
Valerie Worthington
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