Training Wheels: How a BJJ Road Trip Jumpstarted My Search for a Fulfilling Life
Memoir/travelogue about my third-life crisis, which prompted me to quit a lucrative job and sell a valuable condo to drive around North America training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and finding myself. Details the exhilaration and terror of experiencing true freedom, the joy of reconnecting with old friends, and the challenges of achieving true contentment.
How to Love a Grappler: A Guide for People Who Love People Who Love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
A free download that explains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to people who don’t train but who want to understand one or more people who do. Helpful for anyone who cares about someone who is pursuing a passion and “just doesn’t get it.”
Breaking Muscle
A health and fitness website to which I have contributed stories, interviews, and articles since close to its inception in 2011.
The Secret Subversive Power of BJJ
An article positing one of the reasons women are drawn to BJJ.
Inverted Gear
A company that sells jiu-jitsu gear and also participates in the broader conversation about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu through its blog, to which I contribute regularly. Click the links below to read my posts.
- Ask a Panda: Purple Belt Purgatory Part II: Feeling the Itch and Showing the Grit: This follow-up to a post about the challenges of purple belt status investigates the source of the challenges and ways to address them head-on.
- Women’s Jiu-Jitsu 2.0 Part 2: Supporting Women in Leadership Roles in BJJ: This follow-up to a post about how women are taking more of a leadership role in jiu-jitsu provides suggestions about how each of us can show support.
- Ask a Panda: Purple Belt Purgatory Part I: Knowing Is Half the Battle and Most of the Problem: Earning the purple belt can be a challenge for many of us. This post explores some of the reasons.
- Women’s Jiu-Jitsu 2.0: From Participation to Leadership: Women are in jiu-jitsu to stay. And as more of them progress through the ranks, more of them are poised to assume positions of leadership in the community.
- Ask a Panda: How Do You Cope with the Ups and Downs of BJJ? If we train for the long haul, the going can get rough. Read on for ideas about how to stay tough.
- Heal Up or Jump Back In: Getting Back on the Mats After Injury: How can we get back on the mat after injury as quickly and safely as possible?
- Can You Be Addicted to Jiu-Jitsu, and Does It Matter? Many of us who train often want to do so to the exclusion of other responsibilities. When does a passion become an obsession, and when is it a difference that makes a difference?
- Introducing Ask a Panda with Val Worthington: Start of a new feature on the IG blog–an advice column covering all things jiu-jitsu lifestyle and philosophy.
- Hope Springs Eternal: Famous Last Tournament Words:What we intend to experience at a tournament and what we actually experience can be two very different things.
- EZ Rock Your Way to Being a Better Training Partner: Advice for the “training dummy” on how to support your partner’s learning.
Valerie Worthington, PhD 