Livia Giles, (formerly known as Livia Gluchowska) is from Melbourne, Australia and started training BJJ at age 25 years old. Her introduction into grappling came after years of sprint cycling claiming “I retired from sprint cycling and wanted to keep fit. I did MT for 2 weeks and then started BJJ and never looked back.” Earning her black belt eight years later aged 33, this was awarded by her husband and teacher Lachlan Giles alongside Thiago Steffanuti at the gym Absolute MMA St Kilda where she currently trains. It is also Lachlan who she lists as her biggest influence which can be seen through her style and affiliation with heel hooks.
When asked about her favourite BJJ positions, Livia claimed “It changes depending on what I’m working. Currently, it’s K guard and bolos.” and that she prioritizes pressure passing when on top. Her main submission is also the inside heel hook which also ties in to the use of K guard.
Livia is also active on the competition scene and typically competes at below 53KG (light feather) – she lists her biggest competition achievements as ADCC Trials winner, Silver at Nogi worlds and World Pro as black belt, three times World Champion at blue, purple and brown belt. Livia also lists Bianca Basilio as her hardest opponent to date. Having said this, she is not done with competing yet and adds “I want to medal at ADCC and Gi worlds, continue to teach seminars and keep developing my team at Absolute MMA”
However, as with many practitioners, there is often hardship that goes alongside the glory as she has torn her ACL twice, together with a torn MCL and LCL, meniscus tear and tibia fracture all in one. With this said you could describe her as mentally tough because these knee injuries are notoriously lengthy and complicated, some even argue they are the worst injuries to obtain whilst training.
We then asked Livia about her previous sporting background and how it potentially influenced her BJJ. For instance, she previously trained gymnastics and we wondered if this gave her strength to avoid injuries, or whether that was down to her background in physiotherapy. This was her answer “I think that 12 years in gymnastics and 6 years in sprint cycling has taught me to stay disciplined and how to train hard which is sometimes to my detriment. Perhaps I am better trained at skill acquisition or proprioception, but I am not sure how much that translates to BJJ. I don’t think I can attribute my strength to gymnastics which I did over 15 years ago – I do strength work and roll every day which makes me strong now. In regards to physiotherapy, it helps to know which angles I can put certain joints in and which
injuries are dangerous and which I can keep training through and how to rehab.”
Elsewhere, we also asked about the rise in Australian grappling. Several years ago Australian talent wasn’t as known, but now there are various grapplers with many coming from the Absolute MMA gym – she claimed “We have quite a few grapplers that have the potential to be the best in the world in the next few years. Nogi has really taken off and we have up and comers like Jeremy Skinner, Mikael Yahaya, Kaya Rudolph, Izaak Michell. We have incredible women climbing up the ranks as well like Chisaki Akiyama and Sarah Chapman. In the gi, watch Ari Tabak and Hope Douglass.”. With this said, the future of Australian grappling looks quite bright. She also went on to answer our questions about the future of womens grappling which has also started to take off, mentioning “I think women’s BJJ and matches are super exciting to watch. There is more talent coming through and the divisions are getting bigger and bigger. There is still a way to go in terms of depth of each division at black belt, but I think now that women can make a living out of BJJ and be professionals like the men, there is nothing stopping us!”
Finally, we asked if there where any closing thoughts and Livia ended by saying “My husband Lachlan Giles partnered up with Ariel Tabak to make a Guard Retention instructional, which as absolutely changed my game for the better. It was released yesterday and I want to share it with everyone, as I really believe it will change your game for the better:”
The instructional can be found here: https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/new-releases/products/the-guard-retention-anthology-by-lachlan-giles-ariel-tabak
You can also catch Livia training at her gym here
