Women’s No Gi Jiu Jitsu at Airlock Jiu Jitsu – Bastrop, TX
When we opened Airlock Jiu Jitsu in Bastrop, TX, we knew there were a few particular groups that we wanted to make sure had access to excellent no gi jiu jitsu training. One of those groups for sure was the women in our community!
Our women’s class instructor Andrea experienced and is still experiencing tremendous personal growth since starting her training in jiu jitsu, and she wants to encourage all women to pursue the same transformative experience through training. There are some unique aspects to training jiu jitsu as a female that Andrea and other women have pointed out, and we thought we’d dive into a few of them here:
- Training jiu jitsu with other dedicated women
This is the key! We set aside our Friday evening class to be by women, for women. Across the board, you’ll hear jiu jitsu practitioners talking about how women who learn jiu jitsu are often more technical and precise at it than most men. This is often attributed to necessity, the theory being that since women are generally smaller, they have to learn and practice techniques in deeper detail than men who, let’s face it, can fall into the trap of relying on strength and weight in grappling (more on this later). When a group of women comes together at a regular training session like our Friday nights to work on technique, support each other’s jiu jitsu, and push to new heights, those women begin to excel, and quickly!
- Dealing with dudes
Elephant in the room (or sometimes, several elephants in the room): Namely, giant heavyweight dudes doing jiu jitsu with women half their size, even with similar training experience, is not a fair fight. Regardless of gender, strength and size do matter in jiu jitsu – that’s why there are weight classes in competition. But the incredible thing about jiu jitsu is that experience in training leads to imbalances in the opposite direction. To win, a smaller person generally needs a greater differential in experience when rolling with an opponent who is bigger than them, and eventually, there is a ratio at which skill and technique can beat brute strength every time. Don’t believe us? We’ll give you a list of small female champion jiujiteiras who could absolutely obliterate a heavyweight male, and often do.
All that said, jiu jitsu does tend to be a male dominated sport – but that ratio is changing as more women enter the arena and start their journey. Our very own Andrea is even producing a documentary all about women in jiu jitsu that will be released later this year called American Jiujiteira – so stay tuned.
In our gym, any female who trains can jump right in and spar (roll) with the dudes, but it’s not at all required. Coach Andrea makes it a personal goal to be at every class so that any women who are new to jiu jitsu and who want to train with another female will always have a partner. But just know that as your skills in jiu jitsu increase, you will have more control with bigger and stronger partners!
- Empowerment & self-esteem
This effect is not at all limited to the women who train jiu jitsu – everyone who begins their training in martial arts is likely to experience a huge personal growth in their own feelings of empowerment and self-esteem. Ask anyone you know who trains, and you’re likely to hear similar answers. We have heard so many stories of training jiu jitsu changing people’s lives for the better, and we think it’s because engaging in physical conflict in a safe environment tends to carry over to the rest of your life, fueling personal confidence. It’s the same effect as any practice that requires heightened discipline: When you embrace hardship, your confidence grows, and we may be partial, but we believe that jiu jitsu is one of the hardest practices someone can work at. You will evolve as you apply yourself.
We sincerely hope you think about giving jiu jitsu a try with us at Airlock Jiu Jitsu and get to experience these amazing effects firsthand! We offer women’s classes every Friday evening, and we have a special upcoming event with our friends at Strive Strength & Conditioning – their monthly Babes Night is set to be a jiu jitsu event starting at 7pm on Friday, July 28 at Airlock Jiu Jitsu – 303 Martin Luther King Dr Bastrop, TX 78602! All women in the community are welcome to attend and give jiu jitsu a shot.
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