ADCC silver medalist Brianna Ste-Marie isn’t one to shy away from difficult conversations on the mats anymore, but it wasn’t always that way. In a recent appearance on the Jits and Giggles Podcast, the elite grappler opened up about the uncomfortable reality of addressing hygiene issues in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu—and how her approach has evolved over the years.
Ste-Marie recalled a particularly challenging experience from earlier in her career when she rolled with a training partner whose breath was so bad it affected her entire game.
“Truly his breath was like going to knock me out,”
she admitted. Rather than addressing the issue directly, she spent the entire roll trying to maintain distance, treating it like a constraint drill where she could never be face-to-face with her partner.
“My open guard retention was like on fire,”
she joked, explaining how she immediately tried to stand up whenever he passed her guard. While the situation may sound humorous in retrospect, it highlighted a serious issue that many practitioners face but few are willing to discuss openly.
Looking back, Ste-Marie recognizes that her inability to speak up stemmed from a lack of assertiveness common among newer practitioners. She now understands the importance of addressing these issues directly, comparing it to having food stuck in your teeth.
“It’s kind of like when you have [stuff] in your teeth and it’s like, ‘Oh, why did no one tell me?’ You know? So, it is nice to just tell people,”
she explained.
The evolution from her “non-assertive era” to her current direct approach reflects a maturity that extends beyond her technical skills on the mats. These days, Ste-Marie has become much more forward about hygiene expectations, recognizing that temporary discomfort in having these conversations is far better than the alternative.
The Canadian athlete now actively works to create an environment where such conversations aren’t taboo. When teaching classes, she makes a point of normalizing boundaries and making students comfortable with saying no to training partners—whether for size differences, skill disparities, or yes, hygiene concerns.
“Sometimes I don’t want to roll with that guy either,”
she’ll tell her students casually, removing the stigma from declining a roll.
This approach aligns with a growing movement in the BJJ community to take hygiene more seriously. Ste-Marie emphasizes that basic hygiene—clean gear, showering after training, and being vigilant about potential skin infections—should be non-negotiable in the sport. She’s not shy about pointing out suspicious marks on people’s skin or asking questions when something looks concerning.
Ste-Marie’s candid discussion adds her voice to an increasingly vocal conversation about hygiene standards in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She joins other high-profile athletes like Mikey Musumeci, who called out practitioners for poor hygiene habits in a viral video.
“I’ve been to some gyms where guys clearly haven’t showered in days. You can smell them from across the mat,”
Musumeci said.
“It’s nasty and completely unacceptable.”
Musumeci emphasized that the constant physical contact and sweat inherent to grappling makes cleanliness especially critical.
“We’re rolling around with each other’s sweat and gripping each other’s gis. If someone isn’t clean, it’s incredibly disrespectful to your training partners,”
he stated. The jiu-jitsu phenom called on gym owners to set clear expectations, making regularly washing gis, clipping nails, and showering before class basic requirements.
Veteran instructor Tom DeBlass has taken the conversation even further, issuing a blunt reminder about the dangers of training with skin infections. In a recent Instagram post, DeBlass called out practitioners who train while knowingly carrying skin conditions as
“selfish”
and
“careless.”
“If you knowingly train with a lump, rash, or anything suspicious on your skin without getting it checked out, that is a selfish move,”
DeBlass wrote.
“You are not just risking your own health, you are putting your entire academy, your teammates and their families at risk.”
DeBlass emphasized that skin infections such as staph, ringworm, and impetigo can spread quickly through close contact, endangering not just training partners but their families at home.
“People go home to their children, their spouses and their loved ones. Bringing an infection onto the mats because you did not want to miss a day of training is not toughness, it is carelessness.”
The instructor urged students to act responsibly and communicate openly with coaches about any suspicious symptoms.
“If you notice any kind of skin funk, show your instructor. Do not try to hide it. That is not cool and it is not how a real teammate acts.”
Even elite competitor Gabi Garcia weighed in on the conversation, commenting on DeBlass’s post:
“I’m super scared of this. It’s rare in Brazil, maybe because of the weather there. I’m kind of obsessive with cleaning. I really hope I never catch it.”
What these conversations reveal is a sport coming to terms with the fact that hygiene isn’t just a personal preference—it’s a fundamental aspect of respect and safety in a martial art built on close physical contact.
The message from the community’s top athletes is unanimous and clear: addressing hygiene issues isn’t about being difficult or confrontational—it’s about creating a safe, respectful training environment for everyone.
