María José García, 25, from Lanzarote, has been crowned the best jiu jitsu athlete in Europe. In the IBJJF European Championship No Gi held last week in Rome, the conejera has won the gold medal with the blue belt in the feather weight category 56.5 kilos.
This sport is one of the martial arts that mixes combat and self-defense and that originated in Japan, but became popular in Brazil.
After her victory, García was very happy for the effort involved in this achievement. "I feel very happy and fulfilled, behind this medal there is a lot of effort and sacrifice, in addition to the fact that it is one of the most important titles in the sport," she says.
And physical preparation is vital for the demands required by jui jitsu and this type of championship. "When I have a competition of this level, I usually train twice a day and there are even days when I train three times combining it with physical preparation," she says.
In addition, training not only focuses on the physical level, but also involves nutrition. "I have to follow a nutrition plan that I have with my nutritionist to always stay at the weight. Especially, for this competition I had a preparation of five months, training almost exclusively the no-kimono modality," declares the athlete.
Now, García is preparing to face the next challenges of her career. Her next goal will be to participate in the Abu Dhabi World Cup that will be held in November.
