JIU JITSU LOU

Natalie Day is a Mum of two, and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt who shares her story from being a Social Worker, feeling lonely and having not yet discovered her tribe, through finding her calling, to now having found human connection and growth in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.   Natalie took the brave step in giving up her career as a Social Worker, to go all in on learning how to teach jiu jitsu....

Professor Salvo joins me to talk about jiu jitsu for community, and welcoming new students. Travelling around the UK, and all over the World to teach, or train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is something that grows our game, both in the art and in life.   Progressing skills in Jiu Jitsu, is done by training more jiu jitsu is very wise advice shared by Salvo in this episode, and whilst we can find ways t...

Jolie joined a Women's Open Mat at the age of 33, and is now a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu having had an amazing journey. She shares her experience of training, and testing her jiu jitsu at both open mats and competitions.   Getting through sad times in life has been helped by training jiu jitsu for Jolie. Over time, she has increased her ability to listen and act upon intuition, as muc...

James Gwinnett is now a Blue Belt, who needed a new challenge when he started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Having spent years doing Ultra Marathons, it was seeing and hearing Tom Hardy competing, and describing how life changing BJJ was in dealing with addiction. James was inspired to begin his journey of sobriety back in 2016, after 3 years of heavy addiction and depression due to injury, and be...

Craig Young is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu having started training by-chance. Craig shares that very first experience; all the bad, and all the learning. Finding an outlet for his mental health was supported with training jiu jitsu regularly, and now has an incredible amount of focus, dedication and gratitude for competition.   Moving gyms as a new Black Belt, can be intimidating. Cra...

Mike started martial arts as a child, albeit 'McDojo' martial arts, and it wasn't until he first experienced UFC that his love for the all-round approach of martial arts came into play. Mike took a period of 8 years out of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu due to life experiences, and now trains as a Blue Belt at Stealth Teesside.   Being a Nutritionist for the last 16 years, Mike now serves Athle...

Simon Morgan is a Black Belt and has just returned to training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from an Arthroscopy, and a bit of an ACL repair, and he shares his experience of his last 15 years practicing the art, for Simon, BJJ is a way of life.   Attending 40+ BJJ events gives Simon the opportunity to keep hold of his limbs and not get injured as much! Seeing friends and having fun really is a priority...

Dan Lester is a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and started his martial arts journey back in 2014, during the time of the infamous Ice Bucket Challenge. One of Dan's specialism is leg locks, and combining that with his mission to support a mental health charity with seminars and open mats, he really is doing amazingly.   We talk about Blue Belts being the 'Buffet Belt', where one might hav...

Julia Scardone Livesey is an icon in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Judo in the UK. She now is moving to Thailand to continue her journey, along with the rest of her family. Julia shares her competition story, which began back in Brazil as a child. We talk about competing, winning or losing and the benefits of testing out your BJJ skills, together with some of the barriers that are faced when taking par...

Zoë is a Purple Belt who eats, sleeps and breathes Jiu Jitsu. She started Judo as a kid, and has since overcome the frustration of learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the beginning as she observed no purpose to it all. Zoë has an incredible confidence in her standup game from her Judo experience and she also has incredible skills at taking the back. Her goal is to be a well-rounded fighter.   Hav...

Spencer is now a third degree Black Belt after starting martial arts during his childhood, and ended up injuring his back boxing, losing his muscle strength until he started training and sparring in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Spencer shares the challenges of going from being very active and physical, to losing his confidence, a drop in mental health, and changing careers.   The story of learning to...

Dan Strauss is an experienced commentator, and talks about his recent experience on Polaris 30, along with some of the technicalities of the role. He talks about the 50-60 matches commentating on Cage Warriors available on UFC Fight Pass since 2020.   Dan was first interested in martial arts as a teenager, starting with Japanese Jiu Jitsu in Mill Hill, and he's been training Brazilian Jiu Jit...

Ian Butler is fresh off of Polaris 30, having brought his family to London for his debut at Polaris Professional here in the UK. He fought to the very end, and very much delivered the joy of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Ian reflects on his match performance and like many of us, being stuck in a really tight closed guard!   Reflecting on every match you participate in, win or learn, you have to refres...

Dani's journey of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu started in Qatar shortly after her Mother suddenly passed away. Taking steps to grieve, heal and grow through the art of Jiu Jitsu is something many of us turn to. One of Dani's friends during this time took her to her very first class, that she describes as 'Jiu Jitsu Heaven'!   Working through grief for Dani brought her a physical connection that was ab...

Jade Barker always wanted to be a Power Ranger, and ditched Ballet for Taekwondo at the age of 5. She trained with kids who were much older than her, and they became an inspiration to Jade, as did seeing, and wanting the large competition trophies. Growing up, Jade found a passion for fighting and striking during her teenage years and then met Colin Howells and began her jiu jitsu journey.  ...

Andy trains at Checkmat Plymouth under Ian Harrop, and is a Brown Belt. He brings his extensive years of coaching to the mats and always works on his A-Game.   Topics: Training hours Bottom game One-to-One Training Guard Player Route to Submission Coaching Boxing Competition Prep Strength and Conditioning   Andy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harris.a.bjj_and_fitness/ The Jiu Ji...

Jon Bell is a competitor in Freestyle Wrestling, and also trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because he was unable to find places to continue his wrestling after returning from Afghanistan. He is now a Purple Belt and trains in and around York, UK.   He is also a Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and is currently running a Grappling Injury Research Study, where he is trying to further understand i...

Michael is a Black Belt, and started his return to competition with a very smooth inside heel hook at Impact Invitational, albeit injured. He is also Head Coach at Gracie Barra Salisbury. The return to competition was something Michael wanted to do, to test the quality of his Jiu Jitsu, regardless of any barrier on the day.   Being a smaller guy, Michael has built up a personal brand and posi...

Corey is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete and competitor who is based in The Isle of Wight. Being diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3, and knowing he has been different, and struggling with many things in life, including feeling confused, and in his younger days dealing with anger. Corey shares inspiring insights into his Autism and how he successfully manages it in his life today.   Having a...

Jason is a Brown Belt and Host of WhiteBasementPod, who started out their martial arts career with Kung Fu in the days of Karate Kid, until he discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Jason shares his moving and inspirational story of his love for UFC, and his very first introduction to BJJ.   Listen to the origins of Jason's podcast show, WhiteBasementPod, how it got its name, and how it's going now....

Well, this has been a journey. I am so grateful to be here, and having had a full weekend of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I'm fired up! Reflecting on my first Interclub as a new Blue Belt, joining over 40 Seminar / Open Mat.   I answer your questions, talking about my biggest challenges and the best bits of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Thank you to everyone I have already rolled with and the many mor...

Laura opens up with her fears of starting to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, let's see whether we can get her on the mats as this show airs! She talks about her fears of getting into a BJJ gym and her journey through sobriety to confidence in sparring with other women in Muay Thai.   We talk about choosing a jiu jitsu gym, what it's like to train in the Gi or No Gi, and Lou offers lots of ana...

Emilia is a Mum who decided to support her children, by encouraging them to train martial arts. She then became interested in training herself 7 years ago, and is now a Brown Belt.   Having a mindset of always wanting to do better is an intrinsic part of Emilia's jiu jitsu practice, as is having support to enable her to focus on being successful. She shares a competition story that might send...

Katy is also one half of Her Fight Network (HFN) doing her bit to encourage more women to fight, along with Mill from the last episode. She shares issues that relate to her, and trains Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA. Having started Taekwondo as a child at a family run gym, she now works to enable and offer such positive experiences for fellow women in martial arts through Her Fight Network...

Mills is one half of Her Fight Network (HFN) doing her bit to encourage more women to fight, she lives in Greece, is a Purple Belt, and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Coach. She shares her fighting journey from MMA, through Boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.   Inspired by the disconnect between Fight Promoters, and Female Fighters, Mills started up the network bringing them both together. Mills shares he...