What BJJ is:

• Fighting in Kimonos - chokes, armlocks, all of that

• Fighting without Kimonos (No Gi) - also known as submission grappling

• Great for building strength and resilience

• Exercises the mind - much like chess, BJJ is a mental game also

• A place to connect with awesome people and have laughs

• Confidence building through hard work

What BJJ is not:

• Easy

• A place where you’ll progress belts quickly - you can expect around 10 years of training 2-3 times per week til Black Belt

• A place for tough people that want to prove they’re tough - we’re mostly middle aged men and women looking for a healthy, empowering hobby

“There a few things in life harder than holding a grown human down that doesn’t want to be held down” - me, probably.

The art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uses intelligent body positioning to leverage ones physical capabilities. I would like to give you an analogy to illustrate what I mean.

A somewhat common sight at a BJJ club is the big trial class guy getting completely dominated by the female brown belt that has been training for 8 years. He gets rolled over, pinned and choked again and again, despite his efforts. In fact it seems the more aggressive he gets, the easier she is able to find his weaknesses and capitalise on them.

That guy has 2 options now:

• He can hold on to what’s left of his ego with excuses such as “I wasn’t going as hard as I could” or “If punches were allowed she wouldn’t stand a chance” (which is likely true, although we do train for punches as well);

• OR he can take a moment and acknowledge how remarkable it is that somebody smaller than him can overpower him through technique and diligent training. His curiosity will be sparked and his journey in the martial art will begin.

That is a constant reality in Martial Arts and in Life. No matter how good one thinks they are, there is always someone better than them. It’s not that one has to be humble, but humility will look for them again and again, as the layers of ego get exposed.