• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
    • Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Athlete Journal: Jess Papi, Entry 6 – 11/9/2013

I have two lessons for you this week that are helping me get better at jiu jitsu and life in general. One of them involves Dunkin' Donuts.

Jess Papi

Written by Jess Papi Last updated on November 9, 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of Jess Papi. Jess is a blue belt at Scranton MMA and also pursuing her degree in exercise science. Read her entries every week for insights on competing, training, and juggling BJJ and life.

I haven’t really been myself this week. I think I’m starting to get sick because I’ve been sneezing and sniffling quite a bit. I don’t think it’ll put me out of commission, but it has been making me a little tired. I definitely don’t feel 100% when I train, but I’ll get over it soon. I will be competing in December as long as other women enter my bracket, so I need to make my training count. I’ve had some heavy stuff on my mind lately, but I would rather talk about all the good stuff that happened this week. I‘m going to start from the least significant and work my way up.

First, I will tell you something that I find very exciting, but you probably won’t care. Ready? Dunkin’ Donuts now has the peppermint mocha flavor! I told you the first one would be insignificant, but I’m a nineteen-year-old girl so this is amazing news for me.

This next one is also not terribly important, but a little more interesting. After a nice Twitter conversation with a few of my lady BJJ friends, I decided to pick up drawing again. I used to draw a lot when I was younger but I stopped because I got so busy. There aren’t even any doodles in my notebooks. I started drawing again because it helps me release some stress. I might even do some cool jiu jitsu art soon!

The third thing is just plain amazing. You may recall from my previous entries that I was stressing about physics. I did terribly on the first test so I had to do well on the second one. I took the test last Tuesday and got it back this week. I got a 93%! I need to put this into perspective for you. This grade is so good that my friend was introducing me to random people and telling them I got a 93. It is especially awesome because I was still able to keep up with my training while getting ready for this test.

Okay, now we’re on to the jiu jitsu stuff. I’m sorry to torture you with my boring life, but I’m a nerd and I get excited about the little things.

A few of my teammates are competing on November 9th, so this week was all about getting them ready, fine-tuning their skills, and making sure they understand all the rules. I like the week before a tournament because I get to learn a lot about my teammates’ favorite moves and why they use them. It’s cool to see what positions they are most confident in. I can even pick up little tips and tricks from them.

As promised, I saved the best for last. I had a chance to train at Balance Studios this week. Like I said in my last entry, training there is just awesome. Every time I go I meet new people and reconnect with others. After a great lesson on S mount from Ricky Migliarese, I had a chance to roll with a lot of men and women. I love training at different schools because I pick up on things that we might do differently at our school. It gives me a new perspective. I especially like Balance because they are always hospitable and there a lot of upper belts to learn from.

There you go! You got a peek into my normal world and some info on my training. I have two messages for you this week:

  1. Make a big deal out of the little things in life. You can’t expect to be crowned the Queen of England or see a unicorn every day so you have to get excited about the little accomplishments and happenings.
  2. Train at different schools. I can’t stress this enough, especially if you train at a smaller school. Unfortunately there are schools and networks out there who don’t allow their students to travel and train. But if you shelter yourself, you will only learn a finite amount of information. Traveling and studying at other academies allows you to get so much more out of your BJJ training.

That’s all I have, folks. Peace!

Jess Papi

About Jess Papi

Jess Papi got her start in the martial arts world by joining a women’s only muay Thai class when she was fifteen years old. After about a year of striking classes, she started taking sporadic jiu jitsu classes, but mostly focused on her muay Thai training. A handsome young man by the name of Frank always attended the classes even though he did not like striking very much. They ended up training together a lot and he suggested to her that she train jiu jitsu more often. Jess took his advice and started going to three jiu jitsu classes per week. Jess Papi officially started her jiu jitsu career in 2011. Not long after, she started her relationship with Frank Alogna, one of the jiu jitsu instructors at Scranton MMA.

Jess is a blue belt from Scranton MMA, a Royce Gracie affiliate in Pennsylvania. As a white belt she competed in a few tournaments, but her real love for competing did not come about until a year after getting her blue belt. She has earned medals at small scale local tournaments and international IBJJF competitions. She is proudly sponsored by Girl-Jitsu.

Jess is currently enrolled at the University of Scranton and is studying exercise science. She aspires to become a physical therapist and use her skills to help understand and treat injuries that occur frequently on the grappling mats.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

screenshot2014-12-30at113049am
Varying Squat Stance for Quad Development (Athlete Journal 121)
On the Other Side of a Belt Promotion (Athlete Journal 64)
screenshot2014-12-23at22546pm
Extreme Effort Is Only Temporary (Athlete Journal 120)
jess papi
Building Confidence as a BJJ Practitioner (Athlete Journal 63)

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

86-Year-Old Powerlifter Brian Winslow (60KG) Sets Deadlift Record of 77.5-Kilograms (170.8-Pounds)

Rauno Heinla Withdraws From 2023 Europe’s Strongest Man

Joe Mackey Crushes a 449-Kilogram (990-Pound) Hack Squat For 5 Reps

Lee Haney Explains Why He Retired Undefeated After 8 Olympia Titles: “There’s Nowhere Else To Go But Down”

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About