📍 Tay’s Travels & Trains (5): Zona De Combate

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📍 Tay’s Travels & Trains (5): Zona De Combate

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🕰️ [Past Story]

I decided to reach the end of South America to compete..

Finally, I made it to Colombia from Canada..

I trained at Gracie Colombia, and then headed to another gym in Medellín..

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🥋 [Gym Info]

   •   Date: March 2025

   •   Name: Zona De Combate

   •   Location: Cra. 49 #16-16, El Poblado, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

   •   BJJ Globetrotters Affiliation: No

   •   Facility:

  – Huge facility with two floors and a cage

  – Parking, showers

  – Great central location

   •   How to get there: Walking distance

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🧾 About

Medellín has heavy traffic during rush hour,

so I was lucky to find this gym in a great location near my new place.

They had a great wrestling class taught by Coach Sebas.

His coaching really helped me at that time.

I was surprised to meet someone from Calgary like me at this gym.

It was great to connect with him — shoutout to #bxbyboy3!

I also met Coach Santiago again here, and I really love his classes.

Follow him at #santtiago9008.

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🤯 Impressions

   •   Not just a BJJ gym — they also offer MMA and striking

   •   Coach Santiago teaches at both here and Gracie Colombia

   •   Santiago’s mouthguard said “NERD” — I loved that 😂

   •   Their warm-up routines made me sweat hard

   •   And they actually do proper cool-downs too — rare and awesome

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💡 What I Learned

   •   New warm-up methods from Coach Sebas & Santiago

   •   Tackle setups

   •   A bit of Williams guard

   •   Details on guard passing — especially using elbow and knee together after the pass

   •   Coaching techniques from Coach Santiago

   •   How to use animal movements for BJJ

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🤔 Thoughts

   •   Since I broke my arm, I hadn’t drilled wrestling —

  but I realized here that I really need it again.

   •   After a shot — especially a double leg —

  I learned that my posture should lean more forward,

  rather than staying in a middle stance.