Protein Pancake

Since the British Open back in May, my training has finally got back on track and I have fallen back in love with Jiu Jitsu. We never really fell out of love, we just had a hic-cup and had to deal with a few changes. The changes being that of now training and competing under another team.

With all the posts about 'Creonte's' on the Facebook UK BJJ group, a part of me wondered if thats what I was?
For those who don't know, Creonte was the name of a Brazilian TV soap character. He was a traitor. Carlson Gracie named those who left the team, started their own and fought in competitions against their old team, a Creonte. At least this is what I was told!

The emphasis is always on the fault of the student for leaving the team, and it's been interesting reading posts of those who had to change teams due to moving, work commitments or just generally not getting on with their coach.
We are only human, and when you have a coach, you need to respect them and look up to them and really feel comfortable knowing that they are the right person to help you on your Jiu Jitsu journey. It is after all our own personal journey, even though we are part of a team, we train, compete and put our body through hell to make ourselves better.

So am I a Creonte for changing teams? No, I don't feel like it anyway. I now train under BJJ Revolution Team International who are a branch of the Carlson Gracie Team tree. My new coach is Eduardo Gonçalves (Black Belt) and Mark Nixon (Brown Belt). I've been training with Edu in East London, and with Mark and the team in Felixstowe. Yes it's a long way for me to go for training, especially as I'm right in the middle of both academies, but when you love something as much as I love Jiu Jitsu, you will make the effort to make it part of your routine. I've known the guys a long time, pretty much all of my Jiu Jitsu life as they often trained or taught seminars at Carlson Gracie Essex.
So whats different about BJJ Revolution team training? Nothing. Everyone is there to learn, train hard and do a good job when competing. The training is tough, the students are awesome, and I've met some great people who I can call friends.  My next competition will be in Nice, France on the 4th July and I'm excited to travel abroad again and represent the team well.

This Sunday we had a ladies training session in Felixstowe. There was only a few of us. We went over basics, chokes, more advanced positions and had plenty of sparring at the end. It was a good session and hopefully the ladies got a lot from it. I certainly did.
The session was open to all gyms and it was a good introduction for beginners and a refresher for those a bit more advanced.
We will definitely hold more sessions as it was a lot of fun.

Ladies training - Jolie, Katie, Freya, Jemma & Jenny

Thanks to Katie for bringing the Strawberry Protein cookies for the end of the session. They were really lovely. I've never made Protein cookies before, so maybe I'll save that for another blog.

This blog recipe is all about breakfast!
I love breakfast so much and feel its so important to me to start the day fuelled and ready to take it on. There is another pancake recipe that my friend Haley gave me and I blogged about it a while back, but I actually feel this is so much better. Sorry Hayley!

Ingredients:

Banana
Peach or Nectarine
2 Tablespoons of flax seed
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Moringa powder
Honey
Coconut oil

Method:

Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a small non stick pan on a low heat.
In a blender, whizz half a banana, half a peach or nectarine, add 2 tablespoons of flax seeds, 2 Eggs and one teaspoon of Moringa powder all together. Add to the pan of melted oil and cook until brown on one side. When it's ready, flip it over and cook the other side for a minute or two.
Turn on to a plate and add honey and the remaining banana and peach.

Pancake with Moringa - I was told it looked like Jabba....!

This pancake honestly keeps me completely full until after lunch. It's delicious. If you don't like the idea of a green pancake, you don't have to add the Moringa, and it's perfectly fine without it.

Pancake without Moringa

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Banana and Almond muffins

Life really is moving at a fast pace, and it's only when I come to write my blog that I notice this even more. I fill my time and days with abundance and make the most of what life has to offer.

On the 10th May, I drove my friend Ashley and I up to Nottingham to the ladies Super Seminar. It was hosted Yas Wilson, Gret Zoeller, Vanessa English and Leoni Munslow. All four brilliant Jiu Jitsu Practitioners who showed something different that demonstrates their game and strength in Jiu Jitsu.
I partnered up with Lanchana Green, who I later found out is an MMA fighter and accomplished Muay Thai fighter.
We enjoyed drilling the techniques shown from standing, closed guard, half guard and spider guard. Thankfully we had enough time to drill them so that they sunk in to remember in training. Then we did a couple of minutes of sparring then moved on to the next person. I was lucky enough to spar with Yas and Vanessa, and great to Spar with Leoni who I never had the chance to before.
There was a raffle, plenty of photos and a lot of fun had on the afternoon.
The great thing was that the money raised went to the ladies fund for their trip to the Worlds. Rather than just ask people for money on donation pages, they gave something back. I'm really looking forward to the other seminar they have planned in London.

Super Seminar

The Worlds tournament was the weekend just gone. Although Leoni was the only British lady to bring home a medal, I know that the others fought their hearts out and gave it their all. I respect and admire them so much, and their painting a brilliant picture of inspiration for the ladies in the UK who train and compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Lanchana, Vanessa, Leoni, Jolie & Gret

The following weekend was the British BJJ Open in Coventry. I had fought up a weight category to light weight. It gave me the opportunity to work more on my strength and build muscle for future competitions. After the Europeans, I knew that strength was what I was lacking. If I'm serious about competing, working on my flaws is crucial. I dropped a Jiu Jitsu training class and added another strength class to my weekly program. The only down side was that when I weighted in at the British, I was at the lower end of the weight, where I'm usually the top end of the lower weight. It was a huge challenge, but I was up for it.
My first fight was with Kate Jackson, and MMA fighter and a very good purple belt. She won by 3 points for passing my guard. She had amazing strength. Although I lost, I was happy with the fight.
There were only 4 ladies in the division, so I was given a default Bronze medal. This gave me the opportunity to fight again in the open class.

Female Purple Lightweight Division

It was the luck of the draw, and I got to fight Kate again. This was a better fight for me, even though I lost by more points, I escaped an arm bar and almost got a sweep and tried for an inverted guard sweep.

Escaping an arm bar

Dickie Martin from Carlson Gracie Team coached me from the side of the mats, as he did for everyone in the team. He gave me some valid points, and new things to learn. You might think it's crazy that I could be happy with losing, but this is just the beginning of another journey for me. I'm happy to make mistakes now, so I can work on them and come back better and take home the gold again.

Absolute Champion Kat Hill

Since the British Open, I've been spending more time in my strength gym Mi-Gym in Chelmsford. I've been attending Power Strength classes taught by Will Wayland. The class focuses more on technique to help you lift more. After the first two classes, the weight I lift on my back squats and bench press had increased by 5kg. Will said I'm stronger than I think I am and need to believe in myself more. I've noted the weights, and each week I will see the progression I'm making.

Hanging out at Mi-Gym

In the past week my diet has been back on track. At the start of my clean diet I had weighed 60.3kg. This is more than I've weighed in 2 and a half years. After the British Open, I ate everything in my path!! It's something I do and have always done after competitions. It's like I'm congratulating myself with food and getting prepared to eat super clean again. I need that time to eat whatever I want before being strict with myself again.

The Bank Holiday 'Murph' team

When I do get back on track, I forget how good clean food makes me feel. Sugar gives me a massive high, then a massive low. Healthy food keeps the stability of energy running throughout the day.
In a week I had dropped 1.7kg through eating good healthy food and I wasn't hungry at any point. I've been keeping a note of the food I have been eating and will post the plan that works for me on this blog.

My next competition is the Nice International Open in France. It's on the 4th July and although I have a month to get to my comfortable competition weight of 56kg, I need to keep my strength and skills training balanced and keep eating clean so I can feel in great shape for the competition.


Yesterday I made some gorgeous Muffins. I took them to training last night and I had to explain to everyone that they were healthy. They are fresh, gluten free and the only sugar in them was the natural sugar found in the honey. These are proof that you can have goodies when keeping a healthy diet.

Here is how I made them.

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas
3 eggs
1/3 Cup of Coconut flour
1/2 Cup of Ground Almonds
Heaped Tbsp of honey (melted)
Heaped Tbsp of Almond Butter
1 Tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Tsp of Cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a food processor, mix the bananas, eggs, vanilla extract, almond butter and honey. Whizz until everything is completely combined and there are no lumpy banana bits.
In a bowl add the Coconut flour, ground almonds, soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix these well then add the wet ingredients.
Combine everything, then add to 12 muffin cases. I used silicone cases as they don't stick.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until they are brown. Cool in the cases for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a nice cup of afternoon tea.

Jolie x