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What does a typical week of training for a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion entail?
I train Jiu-Jitsu five or six days a week and I throw in a judo or freestyle wrestling session once a week also. These classes are at least two hours long, depending on what we are training.
I spend a lot of time making sure I have correct movement in my body. Once I have prepared my body I also perform a bodyweight strength session, focusing again on correct alignment of my body and using everything properly.
Your strength training sessions will probably seem fairly basic to our readers. Can you share with us what you do, and why?
With so much of my weekly energy being taken up by BJJ I don’t have much left for hours and hours in the gym, so it’s a matter of making the most of limited time. There’s no need for one-leg BOSU cable reverse-kickbacks. I also don’t want to gain any size at all, as I am right at the top of my weight class already. Training like a bodybuilder just isn’t going to suit me and will leave me too sore to train Jiu-Jitsu.
My standard strength sessions consist of a variety of push-ups, chin-ups, single-leg squats and various core and abdominal movements.
During competition season I also add in fitness workouts that are brutal – they leave me exhausted for the rest of the day! But with my matches being so long — up to 10 minutes of non-stop action — at this level the person who fatigues first is often going to lose.
BJJ is an unusual sport for a female. With most of the teachers being men, do you think you have a unique understanding of how women should train, the techniques they should use, both for competition and self-defence?
Absolutely! I have been shown so many techniques that I know will just not work for someone my size. It has taken years to figure out what works for me, being a 60kg woman against a man. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a woman moves very differently. She does not have the same upper-body strength, but she has mobility, flexibility and can fit into small spaces. It is important to focus on these aspects when training and teaching and competing with women. A super-strong woman who is mobile, flexible and dynamic is a lethal combination!
Why do you think there are relatively few women doing BJJ/submission wrestling compared to karate, kung fu or other martial arts? How would you sell your sport to other women, to encourage them to try it out?
I think that there are fewer women practising BJJ compared to other martial arts as it is such a close-contact sport. Many women might feel intimidated or uncomfortable being on the ground and having a man that they don’t know squashing them from on top. And I don’t blame them!
However, this is one of the few martial arts which focuses on learning to defend oneself from the ground. So it deals in particular with rape prevention. These are the positions and situations that women feel most uncomfortable practising, yet in my opinion are the most necessary to learn. I try to encourage all women to learn a little BJJ for self-defence reasons. I find that even six months of training can empower women in such profound ways. Also, BJJ is a great workout and I maintain that classes will help women tone up and lose weight.
The ideal situation to encourage more women to participate in BJJ is to teach women’s-only classes, taught by a woman herself. However, there are so few high-grade females who are in a position to teach. As time passes, more and more women will be training in the sport long enough to be able to teach, which will encourage more women to train.
You started out at Dominance (under John Will/Machado), then trained with Rickson Gracie and now are with Robert Drysdale. How do instructors in the BJJ/MMA world (and in particular, your past coaches) deal with this moving from school to school, and have you experienced any barriers due to inter-organisational politics?
Since leaving Dominance in Australia at the start of 2007 I have trained at many academies trying to find my second home. It has been good as I have met and trained with a lot of amazing people, but unsettling at times also. It is harder for a female to find the perfect training environment. She needs to consider the instruction, the culture — are the men welcoming to women? — and finally, the training partners. She needs smaller guys to train with.
I trained with Rickson Gracie for a while. I was the first female ever to be accepted at the academy and it was a real honour. Everyone was very professional and the standard was very high. I enjoyed my time there. Now I train with Robert Drysdale in Las Vegas and I am an integral member of the academy, training, teaching and helping maintain the academy.
Of course, there are politics wherever you go but I made sure that I parted on good terms and that everyone was happy. Dave Hart and Cam Rowe at Dominance in Australia are always happy to have me back. It is a comforting feeling to know that I can return home and their doors are always open for me.
How does your family feel about your passion for BJJ and wrestling?
Because of my background, I don’t think my parents would have imagined me to choose this path in a million years! I originally studied to become a fashion designer. My twin sister and I even started up our own fashion label and owned a shop for a few years. I gave it all up to pursue my dreams in BJJ. My whole life I have never conformed, but my family are happy that I am so passionate about something.
What has been the most difficult obstacle you’ve overcome in getting your Black-belt?
The biggest obstacle has been my injuries, for sure. I have had some horrific injuries. In the space of one year I tore the costal cartilage in my rib, then I completely separated my shoulder in the semi-finals in the 2008 World Championship, and then I herniated six disks in my upper vertebrae. Two of the three injuries required that I be rushed off to the emergency ward at the hospital. During those times I thought to myself, ‘what is it all for?’ But this was a test to my spirit and I didn’t let it break me. I used those times to think about what was really important in my life and what truly mattered. These times were an opportunity for spiritual growth. Each time, as soon as I was healed I was back on the mat.
Living overseas on my own has been difficult at times also. There have been times that I have been really homesick. I miss my twin sister Lou Lou in particular.
What’s your next goal and how do you plan to achieve it?
My next goal is to win the World Championships as a Black-belt in the gi division. That, in my mind, is the ultimate achievement. The girls in my weight category are very experienced and exceptionally good. So far Brazilians are still dominating the sport. I would like to put Australia on the BJJ map! I would also like to travel and teach more seminars for women. I already have a lot of interest in Europe and in Australia also.
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