To be part of the Panda Nation you don’t have to be a medal chaser, like sambo wizard Reilly Bodycomb – whom we spoke to last time. Some of our sponsored athletes are regular folks with day jobs, who use jiu-jitsu to...
Posted on January 04, 2017
Daniel Bertina
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A new year is upon us, and in gyms around the world a new crowd of well-intentioned members are getting memberships and trying to make a change in their life. Jiu-jitsu schools across the country will see an influx...
Posted on January 03, 2017
Marshal Carper
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In a previous article, I observed that the jiu-jitsu community is moving into what I refer to as Women’s Jiu-Jitsu 2.0, where women not only train but also take on leadership roles in increasing numbers. This is happ...
Posted on December 27, 2016
Valerie Worthington
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Part I: Knowing Is Half the Battle and Most of the Problem
Question: I recently heard someone call purple belt “purple purgatory,” and it seems to fit. When you were a purple belt, did you start to question everythin...
Posted on December 20, 2016
Valerie Worthington
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20-year-old me,
Happy birthday! In a few days you will head to Hooters with your friends to watch UFC 79. Besides the epic war that Silva vs Liddell will be, GSP’s win by armbar will plant the MMA and submission grap...
Posted on December 15, 2016
Nelson Puentes
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We like to give some insight in what drives our sponsored athletes, and why we are proud to support them. Previously, we talked to Eric Sian, Guam’s first world champion grappler. For this installment of Meet the Pan...
Posted on December 14, 2016
Daniel Bertina
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The jiu-jitsu world is rich with instructionals, and in the early years, swapping bootleg VHS tapes and tattered magazine techniques—many of which were in Japanese or Portuguese—was the only way schools in remote l...
Posted on December 13, 2016
Marshal Carper
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It’s that time of the year.
A few weeks ago in the United States, families gathered on a special Thursday to celebrate each other and what their thankful for in their lives. But the Friday that follows is just as im...
Posted on December 09, 2016
Nelson Puentes
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The holidays are upon us! This time of year can often be stressful, and this is true for grapplers as well. The holidays often mean travel and thus a disruption of our favorite method of stress relief: training. Whil...
Posted on December 07, 2016
TP Grant
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is tough -- physically, mentally, emotionally. Most people quit, and those that don’t can still spend years feeling clueless.
If you feel that way, I have good news for you: You’re learning even o...
Posted on December 06, 2016
Matt Kirtley
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When I was coming up through the ranks in jiu-jitsu, I was routinely the only woman or one of maybe two or three women in class. I trained with anyone who was willing to train with me: man-mountains, scrawny kids, an...
Posted on December 01, 2016
Valerie Worthington
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When jiu-jitsu tourism was sort of my job, I was in Hawaii training at the BJ Penn Academy. I was still new to the sport, working on getting a blue belt, which meant that I was simply too fresh to understand some of ...
Posted on November 29, 2016
Marshal Carper
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