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Training report: Absolute MMA (Melbourne, Australia)

After nine months of backpacking and living in hostels in Asia, I decided to change things up and have a routine in my life for a while. With my Australian Working Holiday Visa in hand and no job secured, I arrived in Melbourne, Australia. Luckily, I found a full-time position as a bartender rather quickly (although I had a few other jobs in Melbourne). There I absolutely (no pun intended) fell in love with training at Absolute MMA.

Please don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for recent updates: @jwwseo

City
Melbourne, located in Southeastern Australia, is the second largest city in the country. From one of the oldest cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria to famous annual international events including the Australian Open and the Australian Grand Prix, the city is full of creativity and energy. Melbourne combines historic buildings and cobblestone alleys with its beautiful natural surroundings. Also, popular tourist destinations such as the Great Ocean Road and Yarra Valley’s fine wineries can be easily reached from this wonderful city.

Overview
Absolute MMA is one of the well-known academies in Australia, and it offers a variety of combat sports from Brazilian Jiujitsu and MMA to Boxing. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu program is headed by Thiago Stefanutti, a 3rd-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, and other instructors include Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones, Livia Gluchowska, and Peter Vela. With qualified instructors, the club has produced top BJJ practitioners who frequently place in international competitions such as ADCC and EBI and maintained a high quality of training for students at every level.

At the same time, one of my memorable parts about Absolute MMA was its people. Despite its large class size due to the popularity, the instructors and other students always knew you by your name and paid attention to your progress. Further, from local MMA fights to Christmas parties, the academy organized events to create a community for its students and instructors. As someone who moved to Melbourne without any connections, I instantly felt included into the community whether during classes or outside of the gym.

Absolute MMA has an extensive schedule with classes offered from 6 am to 9 pm in 3 different convenient locations in Melbourne so you cannot make an excuse not to train. Currently, AMMA is in the process of expanding its reach internationally. The academy established its presence in Shanghai, China and Phuket, Thailand. In Phuket, AMMA offers Jiu-Jitsu camps run by Craig Jones and Lachlan Giles and an intensive women-only training camp taught by Rikako Yuasa and Livia Gluchowska so stay tuned for possible opportunities to train with Absolute MMA!

After four months of training and making new friends in Melbourne, the list of people I need to thank will go on and on. Thank you, everyone at the club for making my Working Holiday experience in Melbourne unforgettable. It will always be my second home in my heart.

Location
The academy has three facilities in Melbourne: Melbourne CBD, St. Kilda, and Collingwood. All gyms are located within 30 minutes from each other, and they can be reached via public transportation. (Google Map: Link)

absolute mma

Schedule & Facility
Absolute MMA’s most recent training program can be found on its website. The facilities are equipped with MMA octagons and enormous training spaces that could hold multiple sessions concurrently. With its weight training equipment, Absolute MMA completes the training for your fitness objectives.

Visitor Fee
Visitor passes:

  • Day Pass: $35 AUD (~$25 USD)
  • Week Pass: $65 AUD (~$47 USD)

<<Exchange Rate: $10 AUD=~$7.2 USD as of September 29th, 2018>>

Miscellaneous

Tourist Attractions

  • Hosier Lane — Located near the Flinders Street Station, this famous laneway completes the Melbourne urban art scene filled with graffiti street art created by local and international artists. This street remains one of my favorite landmarks in Melbourne.
  • Yarra Valley — The valley, located east of Melbourne, is known for boutique wineries producing Chardonnay, Pinot noir, and sparkling wine. You can join an organized tour, visit a few wineries and spend your day surrounded by the scenic mountains while drinking Australia’s famous wine.
  • National Gallery of Victoria — Commonly known as NGV, the art museum is the oldest and largest art museum in Australia. The museum hosts fine arts collections and exhibitions.
  • Great Ocean Road — The road stretches about 240 km along the southeastern coast of Australia. Combining 12 Apostles limestone stacks with a winding road through the coast, the Great Ocean Road attracts tourists from all around the world.
  • St. Kilda — Melbourne’s beachside suburb is located 6 km south-east of Melbourne’s Central Business District. It is known for its St. Kilda Beach, which is surrounded by lowkey bars and restaurants.

Bonus Section: Jobs I held in Australia!

  • Bartender
  • Dog Walker
  • Carny
  • Festival Crew

Source
Google Maps
Website

Big thanks to everyone at Absolute MMA!

20180603_024531 - Edited

BJJ Globetrotters Camps Part 1: USA Camp & Visiting Toronto

Greetings from all over the World!

It’s been a while since my last posts, so long in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought I gave up on writing these or fell off a cliff or something. I promise I’ll get back to the Odyssey and finish telling you my story of traveling around the world, but first let me tell you about the adventures I’ve had recently and the reason I haven’t been posting lately. Over the summer I’ve been to several BJJ Globetrotters camps, 4 to be exact, as well as visited a few friends in between. In the last few months, between May and August I’ve been to 5 countries, knocked off some items from my bucket list, met some awesome and amazing people and also got to visit old friends to catch up with on this past year’s events. Also I recently held a couple seminars for the first time ever, but I’ll cover that story another time. 

I figured as the Odyssey was coming to a close I should finish it off with a bang and what better way than to do it by hitting several BJJ Globetrotters camps in a row. There were a few places I wanted to visit that I could have done at another time and probably done it in a cheaper fashion. When the 2018 schedule for BJJ Globetrotters camps came out last Nov/Dec with camps at those same places I made a decision to re-arrange the Odyssey. Now labeled version 5 but most likely closer to version 50 in reality, the plan was made to visit these places with the camps for maximum fun training and visiting. I was not disappointed. Since attending 4 camps and visiting friends in between is a lot to write about and try to fit into one post I have broken up all the adventures into 3. Let’s begin with being back in North America, the USA Camp and visiting Toronto!

US BJJ Globetrotters Camp (Maine, USA May 30 – June 3 2018)

The first camp I attended after I finally got back home in Canada was in the USA, a summer campground in Maine, just a few hours south from me. I got back to my home town I grew up in of Petawawa, Ontario, Canada at the start of May. It was four weeks before the first camp and although it was great being home, seeing my parents and friends and resting it was also weird being in one place for four weeks straight. Before then the longest I had been in one place in the past 18 months was 10 days. I had time to rest up, heal some injuries I had and try working on getting into a routine and sorting out my life and again. All and all the four weeks went by pretty quick. 

Brock, Valerie and I about to start our trek to the Maine camp.

The BJJ Globetrotters USA camp has become a staple in the yearly schedule, with it being at a kids campground of log cabins next to a lake with bonfires and S’mores every night it’s easy to see how it’s so popular. It’s always been a camp I wanted to attend, being so close to me, but timing has always been an issue before. This year around with a few fellow Canadian friends making the trek and me being closer to it than ever I had to make it out. We quickly planned out a fun road trip to get there and back from Montreal. My teammate Brock flew in from the west coast and we both met with Valerie, piled into her car and headed south to the US. A few hours later, and many, many American flags sighted along the way and we were at the campgrounds.

The sunset view at camp.

As part of my prize for winning the 2017 BJJ Globetrotter of the Year I was awarded a free camp, but as I had bought all the tickets to all camps I could currently attend Christian and I came up with a different prize. The campgrounds in Maine are on a small slope down to the lake, the cabins are by the lake with the gym on top the hill on the other end of camp, which could make running back and forth throughout the day tiring. In exchange for a camp ticket I couldn’t use Christian got me a golf cart to drive around during the camp. This not only made it easier and more fun to get around the camp also created way to meet other campers. Before the camp I came up with an idea, if I was going to be the only camper, other than staff, driving around on a golf cart I’m going to need to have a cool golf cart driving outfit. This of course will give the image of me being an important person, a persona if you will. All this was of course an ice breaking tool to cause people to ask me why the cart and the outfit and an opportunity to tell my story and meet cool new people at this camp. I think the leopard print robe and captain’s hat worked quite well, but maybe the jean speedo was a bit much for some people.

Nothing like 3am pizza!

This was my second camp I attended so I knew what to prepare for in terms of schedule and social activities. I had never been to this campground or any part of Maine before I didn’t know what to expect for sights or scenery, although I had a picture in my head, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The drive to and from the camp was beautiful and filled with lush nature surrounding the road.  I wish we had more time to explore more of Maine. I had a lot of friends I made from traveling, or met online, since attending the first camp so I was excited to catch up with them here. The first few hours after arriving to the campgrounds was a stimulus overload of meeting everyone and getting settled and ready for everything to begin. Old friends, new friends, bunk mates, friends or teammates of my friends, people who read my blog, or people who are just showing up alone and for the first time, there was about 170 people attending and by the end of the camp you know most all of them. By the last day it’s sad to say goodbye but that first day is always an overload as you get into the swing of things. The set up for the cabins was great, Christian made good use of available cabins and limiting the camp number so we weren’t absolutely packed. It would be no fun attending a camp where we are all crammed in together using all the beds in the cabins we have available. Christian could have easily got over 200 people and filled the cabins but having 20 people, their sweaty gear and bags to navigate around in and listen snore all night for a week in a cabin with only 2 showers would not be a fun camp. Instead the cabins were roughly half full and that seemed the perfect amount of space and occupancy for the camp. We all got along quite well for the week, I know all things were good in my cabin at least and didn’t hear of any problems in the other cabins either, only of the many good times that were had.

The morning yoga classes were, as usual, exactly what I needed to start the day and get ready for hours of Jiu-Jitsu classes and open mats. Being my second camp I now knew more about the importance of pacing myself, after burning out like I did in Heidelberg last year. The goal was 3 hours a days, 2 classes and an open mat. Any extra time spent on the mats in open mat would be bonus but I also didn’t want to go too hard and burn out again. I did quite well although I did have a slow day where the heat and humidity got to me. I hit a morning class then had a few rolls at the mid day open mat and then realized I may have a problem when I was tired and still dizzy after almost 10 mins of catching my breath from a match. I had been good on staying hydrated but had been sweating so much in the first few days I hadn’t replaced enough electrolytes. I went to the corner store and picked up a good supply of Gatorade, the best option I had at the time, and headed back to the camp to watch the afternoon classes. I needed to rest and recharge for the day so I could catch up on rolling and drilling throughout the camp.

Amanda I actually met by chance in Cambodia over the holidays, was great catching up!

Carissa I met last year in Germany, we missed you this year!

As the camp went on I turned my sights from training to rolling. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to learn from the many teaching black belts, quite the opposite I wish I could train in their classes all day, but I realized I had been using most my energy on learning and drilling and missing out on rolling with everyone. After rolling with Kyle, a Canadian brown belt I finally met after a year or more of following each other online, he gave me advice on recovering electrolytes (add salt to your meals and water) and keeping hydrated when I started to get dizzy. We also had a talk about the opportunity these camps bring, we have the opportunity of training and rolling with people from all over with all sorts of different techniques levels, body sizes and different competitive games. As much as it’s great to learn from all the black belts and gain as much knowledge from these camps as possible, it’s also equally important to roll with as many people as you can to get used to playing against different body types and game styles and it also is a great ice breaker for socializing.

My teammate Brock, this is what jet-lag while training looks like, hahah!

Jeremy on the left and Matt on the right, two new awesome friends who are also awesome black belts.

A new aspect to the camp that Christian also added to all camps now is the lecture hall. The camp in Maine had a separate theater hall that we used to watch movies, have a comedy night and attend lectures from different black belts teaching at the camp. Christian’s speech about his business mindset and the steps he practices to keep BJJ Globetrotters moving and coming up with fresh ideas was both a wonderful look into his eclectic mind as well as inspiring to fellow entrepreneurs. Other instructors hosted lectures on many interesting topics like competitive mindset and training with injuries, they were all very well received so Christian has made it part of the camps. The lectures did run during the day when classes were also on so you had to pick and choose which to do, but it gave those choosing to rest at that time an another option from watching class during their down time. Between the training, rolling and the nightly socializing at the camp fire eating S’mores and sharing stories the US camp was another amazing experience with BJJ Globetrotters, one that I wholeheartedly believe anyone of any experience level should attend, especially if they’re in North America and unable to get over to the Europe camps.

Got to meet all kinds of cool people here, like UFC fighter Devin Powell.

And the one and only, BJJ OG Chris Haueter!

Toronto Before the Camps

The next camps I had lined up were the Greenland and Iceland camps, back to back, but first I decided to spend a week in Toronto to visit my brother and get some rolls in with guys I met at the US Camp. I lived in Toronto for 10 years, ironically I wasn’t training BJJ then, being more focused on partying at the time, and missed out on training in the biggest early Canadian BJJ scene with a lot of high level guys who have now all spread out across Canada. Now that Jiu-Jitsu is my life, and Toronto has many gyms throughout the city, I always look to check out clubs I’ve never been to before while visiting. This time around I had a whole new group of friends to visit and take up their offer to come train with them.

Team Guvna BJJ

I met a bunch of people from around the Toronto area when I was at the Maine camp and one gym that welcomed me out was Guvna BJJ. They have two locations, one in Scarborough and one in Pickering, I was able to make it out to the Scarborough location which is a nice big space with other classes for MMA and Kickboxing with a ring, a cage and a bunch of heavy bags in their gym. Lots of killers putting in hard work there. Although I had met Prof. Adrian at the camp I mostly spoke to Rob, a purple belt who taught kids classes, to figure out a good time to come visit. Training with the gym and seeing Rob and Prof. Adrian again was great, being able to see how they train and hanging out with the club and feel the love they give to a visitor is why I travel. Rob and I met up before class and had a chat about traveling and seeing different gyms and how they train and “living the BJJ life” secret: it’s not nearly as glamorous as it seems but it’s still awesome.

Great to see you again Rob, thanks for everything!

After warm up we got into drilling guard passing and then added ending with taking a dominant position. One thing Prof. Adrian focuses on in all his teaching is the importance of flow and moving with a purpose, not stopping until you’ve passed, or swept, and achieved a dominant position and doing it in a realistic manner. We were drilling at a higher, more aggressive pace, not being tough and forceful but moving in a way you would for competition, faster and without pauses for each step or in a slow passive way. As class went on we added more to the chain and then added resistance. I worked with a white belt so he wasn’t at the level some were going, and really neither was I, but we worked up to a pace out of our usual drilling comfort zone to simulate competition, it was an interesting drilling session that really showed where I am with movement. At the end we worked Judo entries in the same manner, setting up groups of three with one person working entries between the two others, back and forth in constant movement. It was an interesting way to drill throw entries and added the element of explosiveness to them. I believe in training new techniques slowly to get the core movement down but I also agree with Prof. Adrian: How are you ever going to pass someone or get a takedown if you only ever drill slowly and without resistance?

Prof. Adrian and his team of killers.

Prof. Adrian got straight into running class as soon as he showed up so I didn’t get to chat with him until after training. We did however have a thorough roll after class where I completely fell into Prof. Adrian’s trap. From training guard passing with a purpose all class and with his stiff grips I fell into playing a faster pace than my usual game looking for a pass. It was a fun 2 minutes that quickly became my death. The match turned to me now on bottom trying to defend while Prof. Adrian, who’s not a big guy, felt like a ton of bricks on me, controlling me and giving me just enough to move to the next position in his series of control. This went on for at least 10 minutes as he sapped all the life out of me while coaxing me not to give up and to keep moving. I was completely dead by the end of his show of superior control then I was honoured by his kind words to me as an ‘ambassador of Jiu-Jitsu’. It’s funny when people call me that but I guess it is what I do. Anyways I was revitalized to have one last roll with Rob, or so I thought. I worked my usual game looking to use my top pressure to pass, and then quickly found myself in a reverse triangle. I had nothing left to get out or continue so after tapping to the submission Rob and I chatted a bit about training some different techniques before calling it a night and giving me a drive back to a nearby subway station. It was truly a great visit and I hope to return in the future.

Matt’s Garage

Matt is another guy I met in Maine, he was in a cabin next to mine with the other guys, it was the ‘Canadian Cabin’ although they forgot to add Brock and me. Matt has been training for a long time, I think he had his brown belt for 4 or 5 years before being awarded his black belt at the camp by the “Council of Traveling Black Belts” and he really knows his stuff, particularly the mental mindset for the long game of training martial arts. It was great being able to meet up with him again in the Toronto area, meeting his group and training together. Because of club politics Matt doesn’t train at a local gym anymore and instead has mats set up in his garage. I dropped by on the weekend for some rolls with Matt and his group and I must say the garage gives a real old school Jiu-Jitsu feel.

Good times were had meeting and rolling with the group, we had a round robin of rolls and then went over some techniques afterwards. No one was there to be a local hero or mat bully, everyone was there just to roll and have fun and share knowledge, no drama, no politics, just Jiu-Jitsu. After rolling with everyone Matt went over the smaller details of the Rear Naked Choke (RNC) and some foot lock details. I, with his permission of course, added some variation details I picked up while traveling and it snowballed into some great talks about different games and body types and the basic elements behind the techniques. It’s amazing how many ways you can come up with to finish a RNC. If I lived in Toronto I would drop by Matt’s for the garage open mat every weekend.

great catching up with you Matt, thanks for having me out!

I set up my GoPro to film some of the rolls we had together, head over to the Panda’s Odyssey YouTube Channel where you can watch it and all my other videos as well. While you’re there show some love, like, share, comment and subscribe!

Toronto After the Camps

After back to back camps I was very tired when I got back to Canada at my brother’s place in Toronto but also at the same time I was so energized from the experiences and full of stories to tell. I hung out with my old friend James and regaled him with the (mis)adventures and tales of me fighting a giant viking, visiting the isolated town of Nuuk Greenland, and of course all the beautiful people of Iceland, most of which thought I was a local (More on that next post). Sometimes it’s hard not to boast about what kind of a crazy life I lead but I’m so glad my friends take the same interests and love to hear of the stories, actually James is one of the guys I would have my childhood talks with about what places we would go train at to be ‘the best fighter in the world’. Other than that I just relaxed with my brother at his place and had a quiet few days before heading back home and staying in my room for a week to decompress and rest for the last camp: the return to Heidelberg Germany. 

Can't visit Toronto without dropping by Sneeky Dee's for the King's Crown nachos!

Body of Four BJJ 

I did manage to make it out to one class while resting in Toronto. My friend Steven, who used to teach English overseas and helped me out greatly when planning out my visit to Taiwan, used to train MMA and even fought smokers on the weekends in the malls in Taipei but since getting back to Canada gave that all up. Recently Steve has gotten back into BJJ after many years off and trains at a local club very close to him and my brother. I remember seeing Body of Four BJJ opening up a few years back when visiting and have always been curious to drop by, now with Steven training there it seemed the best time to make the visit. We talked and decided on the Friday evening No-Gi class, my last night in Toronto. I met Steven outside and we made our way upstairs to the BJJ mats to find out the No-Gi class had been cancelled. Instead the gi class was continuing and there was an open mat session that I was more than welcome to attend. It being a gi session and Steven and I only bringing No-Gi attire we were thinking of declining but the head coach, Prof. Marco Costa offered to lend us gis to wear. Happily I accepted and got changed. There were no blue belts available for me to wear but I didn’t care, I wore a white belt with the white gi I was lent and everything fit fine. I was just happy to not have to cancel my only chance training with Steve.

I was tired and aching from the 2 weeks of camps I just got back from and as much as I was happy to finally be able to train with Steve I was hoping for a chill night with light rolls and decided to play mostly defensively. I did not know how much work was awaiting me. Everyone there just did a class on passing with the Prof. so all the white belts sent my way were excited to try their skills they just drilled against new big guy. The only break I got was against the purple belt who was way faster than me, I played a bottom defensive game looking to counter hum, that seemed to get to him psychologically and most of the match was stalled with him over thinking how to get around my defenses for a submission. I was no match for him if I tried chasing him down in his own game so I was happy for this draw. Steve and I also had a few matches were he worked to getting me into a crucifix, several times in fact, I was both surprised and kicking myself to land into it both times. Really though I was happy to see him training again and for us to get to roll in a gym finally, the last time we rolled was years ago on a drunken Saturday night on my brother’s hardwood floor. We were both very sore the next morning. This time around worked out much better for our bodies. Thanks Steven for bringing me out and thank you Prof. Costa for having me at your gym, I’ll return again one day!

Prof. Costa on the left and my friend Steve on the right, good times on the mat, thanks guys!

After Toronto I returned home for a week to rest before heading to Germany, but before that and between my short visits to Toronto I went on one of the best trips in all of my travels: visiting both Greenland and Iceland with the BJJ Globetrotters. I can’t wait to tell you about all the adventures we had but you’ll have to wait for the next post, BJJ Globetrotters Camps Part 2: Greenland & Iceland.

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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Ramblin' Road Brewery local crafts

Blog 4 — Post Surgery & Prepping

We are now less than 2 weeks away from hitting the road again and heading West to begin our next 8 month journey. Our last route took us on a clockwise loop of the coasts of Canada and the US. This time we are heading to the West side of Canada first and will then continue to travel the coasts counter clockwise. 

This is a simplified version of our route.

As usual, right now we are super busy; rental properties, RV upgrades, weddings, training, preparing for our next trip, and visiting some rural breweries and wineries as part of a potential business venture. All of this on top of the remote work we do online.

The one and only suit I have while traveling lol

The surgery I had last month for a hernia I sustained while training went fantastic. I was up and walking around the same day after the surgery! That’s about all I was able to do though. I actually had to shuffle around like an elderly man for a few days. Four weeks of recovery was the Dr.s recommendation to take before training again. I followed his advice and am thankful to say I’m back to training 100% with no issues. Not having to worry about a potential emergency surgery situation while training feels great.

My surgeon Dr. Slater and myself the morning after surgery. I look like I’m having a great time but I’m actually in a lot of pain and on prescription meds

I’ve been spending as much time as possible at my gym Gracie Barra in London ON, since I’m only in Canada for a few months every year. Training has been great and we had one of our bi annual grading ceremonies where I obtained the third stripe on my purple belt. I’m so thankful for my training partners and already miss them.

Will miss these guys.

Aside from training and working, I’ve been spending time on some upgrades and maintenance to a couple rental properties we own as well as making some upgrades to our RV. We added another battery to our solar system setup to ensure we always have more than enough power and won’t have to monitor our consumption as attentively as our prior trip. A few more things to take care of and we will be ready to go. Our main concern at the moment is how safe the drive down the West coast will be in November. We prefer to not drive through mountains on snowy roads in a 4500kg RV but as we know, you can’t predict what the road will bring.

Bangkok Fight Lab

Training report: BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab (Bangkok, Thailand)

Bangkok, Thailand — After spending a couple of weeks in Europe, I returned to Southeast Asia. As much as I enjoyed Switzerland and the Czech Republic, I missed affordable and delicious street food and tropical weather in Southeast Asia. What else could I ask for when there are $3 pad thai and Jiu-Jitsu? In Bangkok, I decided to stay away from Khao San Road, which is an infamous haven for drunk travelers. Instead, I decided to focus on training at BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab, which I ended up revisiting before heading to Australia next month.

Please don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for recent updates: @jwwseo

City
Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, is the largest city in Thailand. The city offers not only magnificent temples and palaces but also modern high-rise buildings and vibrant nightlife. You can visit the Grand Palace and a sacred temple of Wat Pho on a hot and humid afternoon. Then, you can head out to busy night markets for incredible street food or Khao San road for a crazy night out. Bangkok has something for everyone, and you will have to decide what that is going to be for yourself.

Overview
Located in the heart of Bangkok, Bangkok Fight Lab offers a variety of classes ranging from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to Muay Thai. The academy is led by Morgan Perkins who is a BJJ black belt under Master Pedro Sauer. He received all of his belts under Master Sauer, and Professor Perkins is one of the pioneers that introduced BJJ to Thailand.

It was common to spot expats and visitors from all around the world on the mats, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes were taught by Morgan in English. Whether you are simply dropping by after the tour of Bangkok or preparing for your upcoming MMA fight, Morgan and BFL’s students created a welcoming training environment for everyone, which complemented excellent coaching the academy offered.

Training at BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab led me to diverse opportunities to connect with fellow BJJ Globetrotters as well. For instance, I accidentally ran into Vara who happened to be at the dinner table with fellow students from BFL. It was immediately after I started to write for BJJ Globetrotters, and I have not shared that news with anyone else. Vara simply asked “How’s blogging going?” without introducing her, which confused the hell out of me. Also, I became friends with Javier Trujillo who is an active MMA fighter, and I randomly reconnected with him again in Koh Tao, Thailand at Nathan Orchard’s 10th Planet BJJ camp. Building a new friendship via Jiu-Jitsu like this is why I travel and train!

The club is open seven days a week offering multiple classes per day, so you will have no excuse not to train when you are in Bangkok. I would highly recommend BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab after sweating a bucket in Bangkok’s humid weather and right before joining crazy parties at Khao San Road. Thank you, Morgan, Vara, Alex, Javier, and Tammi for an unforgettable experience in Bangkok!

Location
The academy is located in Sukhumvit 50 near On Nut BTS station, and you can easily walk to the facility within 10 minutes from the BTS Skytrain station. The public transport system is relatively inexpensive and well-connected, so you should not have any problem visiting the gym from anywhere in Bangkok. Also, taxis (I would recommend using a mobile app “Grab” in SE Asia) are cheap as well, but be aware of Bangkok’s infamous traffic jam. (Google Map: Link)

bjj bangkok

Schedule
BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab’s most recent program is posted below:

Visitor Fee
Bangkok Fight Lab is a BJJ Globetrotters affiliated gym. However, it is always courteous to reach out to the gym before your visit.

Miscellaneous
They have an English website that you might find helpful.

Tourist Attractions

  • Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace — The palace complex and the Temple of Emerald Buddha is a must-see sight for visitors of Bangkok. The Grand Palace was the home of the Thai King and the royal court for 150 years although now it is only used for occasional ceremonial purposes. Located within the precincts of the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand with its famous Emerald Buddha. Note that this area is extremely crowded with tourists.
  • Rajadamnern Stadium — Along with Lumpinee Stadium, this sports arena is the place to watch Muay Thai matches at the home country of Muay Thai. The stadium offers matches on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. The ringside tickets are about 2000 baht (~$60 USD).
  • Khao San Road — Khao Sand Road is known as a mecca for backpackers. Stretching about 1km, it offers various inexpensive hostel and restaurant options. Khao San Road has something to offer to everyone from fake Raybans and T-shirts to cheap beer and Thai food. At night, it becomes filled with liquor buckets and drunk backpackers that will help you create unforgettable (or forgettable) friendship and memories!
  • Wat Arun — Commonly referred to as the Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun is located directly opposite of the Grand Palace across the river and regarded as one of Thailand’s most revered temples. It is best known for its massive spire.

Source
Google Maps
Website
Bangkok Map
Khao San Road

Big thanks to everyone at BJJ Bangkok Fight Lab!

JBJJ

Jungle BJJ (Prague, Czech Republic)

Prague, Czech Republic —While visiting Switzerland, I decided to hop over to Prague, Czech Republic. Thanks to Korean Dramas, Prague is one of the most famous cities visited by Koreans as various romantic K-drama scenes were filmed in this city. As expected, you can easily spot tourists in Prague everywhere. With its beautiful medieval architectures and rich Bohemian culture, you cannot argue why tourists from around the globe (not just Koreans) visit this city. After walking through narrow and winding streets of Prague for hours, I had a chance to stop by Jungle BJJ.

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City
Located on the banks of Vltava River, Prague is the capital and largest city of Czech Republic. It has served as the capital of Bohemia for centuries. With its unique baroque buildings and Gothic churches, the city is nicknamed “a City of a Hundred Spires.” Prague is not only rich in traditional Bohemian culture but also full of local music and art. It was memorable that, as soon as I walked into a traditional Czech restaurant, the server asked “light or dark (beer)?” before asking anything else. You will understand why Prague attracts countless tourists from all around the world once you visit the city.

Overview
Jungle BJJ is led by Fernando Araujo who is a 4th-degree black belt under Francisco “Toco” Albuquerque (Nova Geração). Before opening the club, Professor Araujo spent a year in Norway spreading BJJ around the country. He was one of the pioneers to introduce Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the Czech martial arts community. As he builds his Cezch BJJ army in Prague, he encourages his students to participate in competitions around Europe to challenge themselves regularly. As a result, the club is home ground to well-known European BJJ grapplers.

When I visited, Jungle BJJ was still located at Lublaňská 125/20 in Prague 2, and it had a limited class schedule. It seemed that the facility was shared with other martial arts gyms. The gym was quite crowded although the mat was spacious enough. Fortunately for you, JBJJ recently relocated to a new location in Prague 7 (Tipsport Arena -Za Elektrárnou 419, Praha 7) so space should not be a problem, and now offers a variety of classes. It was one of the largest gyms I have come across during my BJJ journey around the world with a fair mix of color belts as well as white belts.

Also, Jungle BJJ has expanded its reach and has affiliated academies across Europe including Ufa and Kirov, Ruissa, and Dublin Ireland. Jungle’s affiliated gyms are BJJ Globetrotter friendly, and, being one of the most visited cities in the world, it is not uncommon to see travelers dropping by. That said, I was welcomed to the community by Professor Araujo when I walked into the door. With detailed instruction from Professor Araujo and friendly students at Jungle BJJ, I wish that I could have extended my stay in this beautiful city. If you are ever in Prague, Jungle is the place to train.

jungle bjj prague

Location
The academy is located in Tipsport Arena, which is a multi-purpose arena that frequently holds sports events and music concerts. Next to the fan shop on the side of the building, a VIP entrance leads you to the gym. Although the gym is not located in the city center, you can easily access the academy via public transportation within 20 minutes. (Google Map: Link)

Schedule
Jungle BJJ’s most recent program is posted below:

Visitor Fee
Jungle BJJ did not charge for my visit. However, it is always courteous to reach out to the gym before your visit.

Miscellaneous
They have an English website that you might find helpful.

Tourist Attractions

  • Prague Castle — Dating from the 9th Century, Prague Castle is the largest existing ancient castle complex in the world, and this UNESCO World Heritage site was home to Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia. The castle is an iconic tourist attraction in Prague, which attracts visitors from all around the world. It is worth spending a whole day in the complex.
  • Old Town Square — Prague’s Old Town Square has remained relatively undamaged since the 10th century despite the history of foreign invasions in Prague. The square remains a mixture of cobblestone streets and countless church spires. The Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the signature tourist attractions, can also be found in the square.
  • Charles Bridge — This medieval bridge is one of the most famous bridges in the world, and it connects the Old Town and adjacent towns. Every afternoon, the bridge is packed with tourists who fight for the best views of the Vltava River.

Source
Google Maps
Website
Prague Map

Thanks to everyone from Jungle BJJ!

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spinal tap.

Survivor Series, one of the pinnacle events of the WWF of yesteryear. It was also the name given to a submission only 5 man grappling event held in little old Christchurch New Zealand. The brain child of the Scott Hamilton doppleganger himself, Jason Koster.

It was the first of many things. First time all the gyms came together and competed in this format. First time I had experienced a true “open mat” situation with all the grappling community (nearly) in Christchurch and even a school from Dunedin taking part. First time Paul Eathorne wore a gi to compete, and Kerry Saggers had gi pants on! First time we all came together as a community of grapplers. It was an awesome concept that really has taken off now all over the grappling world.  Looking back now at details to correctly document this historic event, Jase was a bit of a pioneer!
It was truly a monumental day. I am actually very lucky to be alive as I just realised that the event was on the day before my first wedding anniversary, grappling aside, my wife probably should have done the peoples elbow on me, even Hulk Hogan couldn’t have gotten up to shake the finger after that!

So, Jason had the dream-child, it was a 5 person team event so the first 2 would match up, if there was a winner, they would stay on like king of the mats styles and the next member of the opposing team would be up. There was a recipe for some awesome match ups here, Alison Holsts herself could not have dreamt up a better one!! I couldn’t wait. The Groundworx team was new, Hayden Wilson, Jase Ringdahl, myself and ……(another dude, blue belt, didn’t keep training with us). Only Hayden and I had been in a grappling event before, I had only been training for just on 18 months, a 2 stripe killer lol. This was early days for BJJ in the 03 though, the teams were young but very hungry and now looking back, there are some of these good people still rolling today! There are too many to name them all but I will do my best as we go through this post.

Here it was, the day was on us, it was a really sunny day, February 27, 2010. We had teams from Strikeforce Canterbury, Groundworx BJJ, Academy of Combat, MyBJJ (Dunedin BJJ then), Canterbury Judo. Some of the bigger gyms had 2 teams but I believe there were 9 teams all up. We each got 2 match ups for the teams, Groundworx first went up against the Judo team and to be fair, I was nervous about this one. The judo team was Graeme Spinks, Kerry Saggers, Andrew Butterfield, Andre Pinkert and Peter Broom. These aren’t typically names that we associated with BJJ at the time but they were all very experienced grapplers, me, the white belt 2 stripe killer weighing in at 70kgs was not such a formidable force. The first match for our team was Jason Ringdahl and Kerry Saggers. It was maybe the 2nd month of BJJ for Jase, we had already decided we weren’t going to stay standing with the judo team for fear of being thrust at a great rate of knots into the earth and Jase had pulled closed guard. Kerry did what he does very well and he put Jase out cold with an ezekiel choke. Hayden went out onto the mats to put him in the recovery position and he said something I will never forget, “Hayden, what are you doing out here?”. He had done very well to grapple against someone of that calibre and in his defense, he had never seen an ezekiel and thought he was doing well with the guard and he was! This was also the time that I really saw first hand how good at newaza the judo players are. Even without the focus being on the ground game, the control and concepts are very similar even though now I am trying to learn judo, it doesn’t seem as obvious to me but then again I am a special little boy, I did punch myself in the face the other day whilst grappling! I ground out a draw against Andre Pinkert, though in the 4 minutes I can remember defending the entire time and never really getting any chance to try and launch an effective attack! Still, I didn’t lose! Peter Broom went up against Hayden for our last match in this round and again, it was a draw. These Judo dudes weren’t going to be as easy as we all thought!
The Strikeforce team (Forrest Goodwin, Gareth Ealey, Jason Koster, Paul Eathorne and Simon (sorry can’t remember last name) was coached by Deane Brewer and led by the grappling stalwart Karl Webber and we all knew they were not going to be beaten easily! I had already trained with the Strikeforce team for a year before Groundworx opened up so I was good friends with them already and knew how good they all were! They had a very strong MMA fighter base and these guys were all great grapplers. I watched them up against the Dunedin BJJ team who, even though I had never seen them before at this point in time, were a very strong team led by Stuart Marks who is now a 1st degree black belt and an excellent coach for the MyBJJ team in New Zealand. I cannot recall who else was in their team unfortunately, hopefully we can get a recount of this from some other people who took part to fill in the gaps! In these matches, it was the Strikeforce MMA champion Gareth Ealey who was leading the charges, he had submitted some of their team and was up against Stuart Marks in the last match and being that they had team members still left, Strikeforce walked away the victors. Team Judo and Strikeforce both had a win.
I was also excited to see the Academy of Combat teams (Cam Steer, Scott Benson, Jason Branks, Slav and John Erskine) compete, I knew who they all were, everyone in Christchurch did as Geoff was the only BJJ black belt I even knew of in the area and the team were all high grades with plenty of experience!
At this point in time, John Erskine and Gareth Ealey were both at the top of their weight class in MMA and were having epic battles there, today was another treat for us all when they faced each other in the Academy vs Strikeforce semi final match. Gareth had already submitted 3 people in a row before facing John and the battle was amazing! There was no slowing down and I can vividly remember Gareth getting an omoplata only for John to roll out and it was rolling in and out of these from both of them before John escaped to launch his own attacks!! This was a draw that we all really won watching! Again, with team members still remaining, Strikeforce had the win.
With Strikeforce having secured their place in the final, they needed to have someone to face. The Judo team squared up against the Academy team now to see who it would be.
The Academy of Combat teams did not disappoint us at all again, they were in full force. Unfortunately for them, Slav was submitted by Andre and they were just edged out by the Judo team to make the epic final between Judo players Graeme Spinks, Kerry Saggers, Peter Broom, Andre Pinkert and Andrew Butterfield and the Strikeforce team of Forrest Goodwin, Gareth Ealey, Jason Koster, Paul Eathorne and Simon.
We all took our places to witness the final, you could have cut the tension in the room with a knife, or a well timed judo chop.
Kerry Saggers vs Paul Eathorne was first, Paul and I have been friends since high school and I knew he was better than the white belt he always wore! It was a great back and forth match with Paul getting good positions but Kerry always turning the tide and not allowing him to get the control he needed. First match was a draw. Next up was Simon vs Andrew Butterfield, great match between 2 very strong and skillful grapplers, It went back and forth with great technique and submission attempts from both but neither could finish in the 4 minutes that they were given to work with. Draw. This brought out probably one of the most sought out match ups – Jason Koster vs Graeme Spinks. The coach vs the pupil, it was fought on the feet for a long time as we knew it would, both judo players not allowing the other the grips they needed. Once it did hit the mats, it became a battle for the footlock from Jason but with it just not quite on, it also ended up in a draw. If you watch the video below of the final, you see Jason at 2:13 looking to set up an inside heel hook with a cross ashi garami, like I said, pioneer of the grappling! It was used to set up the straight footlock which in turn brought the draw.
Now, next up was Andre Pinkert from the Judo squad and Forrest Goodwin, the lean, mean, string bean, always clean grappling machine from Strikeforce. Forrest used his insanely long legs to play guard and then, from a back escape himself, he managed to secure Andre’s back with a body triangle lock and RNC under the chin, this caused a tap. There was also a discussion about the use of the body triangle but it is not applied as a spine lock, it is just a form of control that is very painful when used correctly. It also brought out Peter Broom for Judo to take on Forrest next. This was the last player that team Judo had and Peter did not disappoint either. Forrest played his game well but Peter blasted the go go gadget legs out of the way to advance with great control to the arm bar position, Forrest clung in there and worked his way out and, when Peter took the face down position thus exposing his back, Forrest managed to get the full back control and again apply the body triangle. Tap. Win for Strikeforce.
It was an awesome event to have been involved in, I believe it really did serve as a platform to help launch the grappling community in Christchurch, we all made new friends, saw some amazing matches and really saw that we have a common ground shared, not a club vs club rivalry. The friendships I established in this time are still strong today. There were some amazing throws going down with the judo teams doing what they do so well, Graeme Spinks sending players into orbit with well timed tomo nagae throws, a bad trap for inexperienced standing grapplers but so well played by him! I am sure that all of us who were there took away our own highlights but these were mine.

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” – Forrest Gump

 

I have posted below two videos that the Pro Judo YouTube channel put up, good insight showing the judo teams matches on their way to the finals. I even got a short clip holding Andre Pinkert in my guard at 4:28 in the prelim video, clean shaven was my first mistake….
See how many people you can spot and name!

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