The Warrior Method

+ D O U B L E S I L V E R + Incredible experience at Grappling Industries yesterday. My second comp, and first nogi comp. The adrenaline is insane. The exhaustion is real.

My competitors were tough on the mats, and lovely off 😊 Some great matches and lots to learn from which is, after all, the main reason for doing these.

Thanks to the Apex Jiu-Jitsu HQ tribe whose shouts of encouragement were much appreciated, and to and for all the coaching 💕

PS. How cool is the medal??

+ B J J F L A T L A Y + All* the things I took with me for the Grappling Industries comp…

• Apex Jiu-Jitsu HQ Gi
• Belt
• Shorts to wear under my gi - I like the extra coverage
• BetterYou Magnesium drink - hoping it’ll help me stay calm…
• Mouthguard - I didn’t wear it in the end but I figured at least I’ve got the option. I find mouthguards so hard to breathe in 😬
• Lucozade Dextrose Energy Tablets - remember taking these as a kid at Sports Day and thinking this was all I’d need to win 😂 It didn’t work… I also found that too much sugar during the comp just made me feel a bit sick!
• Earbuds - only used these on the journey there and back - think headphones would have been better for during the comp but earbuds were just too fiddly
• 2 x rashguards so I could change between gi and nogi
• Sweets - I carry these in my bag for emergencies anyway. You never know when they’ll come in handy.
• Spats for nogi. It was super hot in the hall (there’s no air con at UEL Sports Dock) but I felt more comfy in spats. Spats are essentially leggings but they’ve been made to be especially hardy for when people are dragging you around on the mats 🤣
• Sports bra - this one’s from MAAREE | Sports Bras - I like that you can connect the back straps for more support.
• Deo for my BO
• Tape bag - I’ll always have some scissors and K-Tape. It’s so useful for taping toes, ankles, knees etc to give support to commonly injured areas. I usually use SPORTTAPE | UK’s go-to sports tape or ROCKTAPE UK I’ve also got fingertape and things like nail clippers in there. Can’t be too prepared 😂

Anything else I should have taken?!
A lot of people had fans as it was so hot - think that would be a good addition for hot days.

* Also brought along my water bottle, phone charger and kindle! And a bag of honey roast cashews from M&S Food , plus a pot of overnight oats to eat after weigh-in. But realised when I started eating it that I’d forgotten to put the oats in 🤣 so it was just Greek yoghurt, chia seeds and PB. Still delicious!

+ P A R K R U N 03.07.26 + The Warrior tribe ran at Highbury Fields parkrun and Malahide Castle.

At Highbury we were cheered on by (so lovely to see you 🫶🏻) and my eldest joined me which obviously meant it was NOT a chilled out run 🫠 even though he promised me he’d take it at my pace. I’m still quite miffed at how much faster he is than me 🤣

Got some family staying with me at the moment so of course I persuaded / dragged him along 😃

Malahide Castle is on my list of parkruns to do this year - I’ve heard it’s gorgeous!

What parkruns are on your ‘must-run’ list?

+ F A M I L Y + I was up in the Lake District for my half sister’s 40th wedding anniversary and bumped into her AND my half brother at which was pretty awesome. Keswick parkrun is a gorgeous there and back loop.

And Emma bumped into her cousin at Fairview Parkrun, Dublin, which was also pretty epic.

Who’s the best person you’ve bumped into at a parkrun?

+ H E A T W A V E T I P S 😎 + I’m not made for hot weather 🫠 But we’ve found some ways to make it more bearable. Especially living in a London flat where we’ve not yet managed to find the electric fans since we put them into storage…

How are you surviving?

And perhaps most importantly, please check in on others who might be struggling in this weather 💕

+ P A R K R U N + The Warrior tribe parkran (a legit verb, right?) Highbury Fields parkrun and the gorgeous Malahide Castle. There were blue skies and it was rather lovely and toasty. Malahide had a pretty unusual briefing (take a look at the 6th slide 😂)

Highbury Fields celebrated its 700th parkrun which is pretty epic. It was also pretty cool that there were cookies there too (swipe to see why!)

I don’t stray from my parkrun home that often. But if I did, which should I go to?

+ J O Y E O U S + I love the Mum Strong sessions. I love seeing mums do their first workout after having a baby and enjoying that feeling of moving with purpose and doing something for themselves.

I love seeing all the babies grow. And mums getting stronger and more confident.

I love the chats we have about that stubborn mum tum, how ridiculous it is that babies were once INSIDE YOU, the offloading about lack of sleep or how your body has changed, how cute babies are when they sigh (or sneeze. Or cry. Or do pretty much anything).

Yes, the sessions are about fitness and strength but they’re also about confidence, camaraderie, chats, self-worth and so much more.

Want to join?
Fridays 10.30am
By the Swing weights in Highbury Fields
Bring your baby (or not!)
Must be 6 weeks postnatal and have had GP sign-off
Mums-to-be also welcome 😊
£15

to book or message me and I’ll send it to you

+ S T R I P E S + Boys got some stripes today at training! I’d better watch out - they’ve got more than me now 🙈 Thanks and team for your great kids classes and all the fun challenges you set 😊

They also look like they’re as crap as me at tying their belts 😂

+ S U R V I V E D ! + I’ve only ever trained at Apex so it was pretty scary trying out somewhere new. I had a million anxieties running through my head - what if everyone is so much better than me? (They were - and that’s ok!) What if it was too full on and I get utterly smashed?! (That didn’t happen but I had marked my escape route if I needed 😂) etc etc But I’m in Norwich for a few days and reckoned that would be a good opportunity to continue my training. Plus, I’ve somehow put on several kgs (damn you iced matchas and ice cream 🤪) and it’s good for my sanity.

Dear old Google pointed me to and the nogi session was a blast. Instructors were great, the group was friendly and I learned a couple of new moves which I’ll try incorporate into my future rolls 😊

Thank you Helton and team for a great experience!