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Josephine GroundFighter Linz

I miss BJJ

/in /by

I haven’t posted in ages, but I see neither have many others (for those reading in the far future, note: COVID-19). Many gyms around the world have closed temporarily, but I’m sure there are fight club arrangements going on somewhere. 

Just going to get to the point real quick. I’ve been back home in Toronto, Canada since mid-March. Over here, we’ve been in a state of emergency ever since. We’re supposed to ease restrictions mid-June if they don’t push it again. Yes, as the country slowly opens back up again (keyword: slowly), what have YOU learned over the last few months?

Because this was what I learned.

  1. BJJ Deprivation is a real thing. I’ve been dreaming a lot about going to any gym, putting my gi on, squatting on the balls of my feet and grabbing thick cotton. Alas, just a dream. I’ve even worn my gi at the dinner table one evening.
  2. Don’t suppress. Release in another way. Okay, so it’s obvious that I’m going insane. Raise your hand if you are, too. I’ve begun doing yoga, attending live HIIT workouts on Zoom, joining stretching classes… find another way to release your stress that you’d usually release with a chokehold.
  3. …It’s okay to not porrada everyday. 2020 has been… it is the year no one wanted but perhaps, something everyone needed. I feel like as the years passed, people became busier and busier. But enter 2020, they just threw down a large sign that said, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE STOP FOR ONE MINUTE.” Society teaches us to ‘go hard’ in all aspects of our lives – at school, at work, do your best, or don’t even try at all, ‘go hard or go home’. Getting out of the mindset of having to porrada in every aspect of my life has been one of the most difficult things, but frankly, I think it is worth the effort discarding.
  4. You are not alone. It’s not like you’re the only one who’s held up at work for many evenings, preventing you from going to training. No, a majority of people are in the exact same boat. Unless you live in a BJJ family. Then maybe you can train together and actually dominate the gyms when they re-open.

So, I’ve been meaning to document my last few BJJGlobetrotter adventures – I remember my last day of any BJJ was March 10th in Stuttgart, Germany. Long story short, I had a job where I got to travel to create content. My first leg of travels started in Europe. As a result, I ended up dropping into numerous gyms, meeting so many new training partners and friends. Here’s a quick glimpse into my list:

Ireland

First stop, Ireland! I started there in January. But I had visited not too long prior, back in August 2019. I knew which ones I wanted to drop into (hint: read this).

Portugal

My next stop was Portugal, and I dropped into Five Elements JJ – Rato. What stood out to me was their inclusion of self-defense in their training sessions. It taught me that if I were ever equipped with a stick-like weapon in my hand, I would probably still lose any battle seeing that I don’t actually know how to strike properly.

UK

It’s been a dream of mine to roll in London. I know there’s a bunch of great schools, and thankfully I was staying quite close to London Fight Factory, so I got to try out a couple of classes there. I couldn’t travel with my gi, only borrowing/renting as I went along and praying that no-gi classes would fit my schedule.

The Netherlands

Team Agua in Rotterdam was super welcoming, and also the first place I’ve been where it was a shared gym space where they were laying and packing up mats every class. I had good conversations with a few people who were about to compete in their first tournaments. Speaking of which, I wonder if they ever got to do that, or if timing was too tight and COVID canceled everything.

Linz

So the paid Google ads are working really well for Groundfighter Linz. They pop up on top when you google “BJJ in Linz.” I don’t think it was hard to rank for top keywords, since there’s not too many gyms in the area. But it was great to see so many people come out and train!

Vienna

Of course, WOM (word of mouth) works. That’s how the BJJGlobetrotters community continues to thrive. The guys up top ^ told me to check out Science of Jiu-Jitsu. When I visited, it was their grand opening week!

Stuttgart

Falcões-Top-Team gi and no-gi was my final drop-in. They also share gym space like Team Agua in Rotterdam, but the mats are permanently put in place. Of course, little did I know that when we took these photos that this would be one of the last BJJ photos I’d be taking for the time being. Thank you for being so welcoming, everyone!

Anyways, til next time. I’m excited to write future post-COVID-19 BJJ blog reflections. How will our new normal look like?

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Strange Injury. Do I Still Deem This West Coast, Best Coast?

/in /by

TL;DR – Messed up my neck/shoulder, but the recovery is going well. Although I am not training right now so I’m lowkey depressed. You live and learn. Also talking about some gyms in Las Vegas + The Bay Area. 

For a recent work trip, I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas and San Francisco. I was so excited to check out the fight capital and the big-name gyms in the Bay area. All very exciting until I realized:

  1. Traveling for work is NOT traveling for fun
  2. Scheduling is a big issue
  3. Work won’t cover my Ubers/Lyfts to training
  4. So… the conversion between CAD -> USD is heartbreaking 
  5. Also, drop-in fees! I was taken aback. Sigh, all done within reasons I understand.
    But still. 

After taking all this into account, I was only able to drop into 3 gyms – Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu in downtown Las Vegas, Guardian Gym in Oakland and San Francisco BJJ in San Francisco.

Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu – A gym tucked away in a little plaza on Oakley Blvd. You can see the Stratosphere Hotel in the background. I gotta say, walking west on Wyoming Avenue from the Strip was sort of sketchy. I was told that they’re gentrifying the entire area (think – quiet street, boarded up shops everywhere, missing coats of paint) – I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into. Glad I made the trek though. It’s a really friendly place. I participated in the no-gi class with their teacher Rodrigo. We were going over side mount escapes. On top of getting decent rolls and no injuries, I was really happy with my experience here. Of course, if I had the time, I would’ve loved to check out Sergio Penha or Robert Drysdale’s gyms too. 

CKBJJ

Rodrigo and I @ CKJJ

San Francisco BJJ – I heard that Caio Terra would be around. If you don’t want to finish reading this post, I’ll be the first to tell you that he was NOT around the Tuesday I visited. I stayed for 2 sessions of no-gi with Denny Prokopos (I believe this used to be a 10th Planet SF) and had a good chuckle, as Denny’s lessons had a dramatic/comedic flair to it. I drilled technique with the only other girl there. It was nice to drill with someone my size- it had been a while since I’d seen another girl on the mats (which speaks to my inconsistency). Overall, I had some challenging rolls (everyone’s hooks were quite sticky- I had trouble passing one guy for the entire round). Again, if I had the time, Bay Jiu-Jitsu, Empire Jiu-Jitsu and Ralph Gracie were on my list too (oh well, next time!).

SFBJJ

Kristen, Denny and I @ SFBJJ

Guardian Gym – I found the gym via the Matsurfing map and really supported the nonprofit work they do. Kids train free there and supports a lot of youth programs. They accept donations for drop-ins. A very honest environment and cool space, but they’re apparently moving to a larger location (a bit further into Oakland, though) soon. I attended an incredible no-gi open mat on Sunday with my friend Ivo. I had a great time, and could tell that I landed a great group of higher belts because I came out injury free! I rolled with someone 3 times because we were roughly the same size and weight – I could truly practice my techniques and movement a lot more. So seeing how successful Sunday was, I opted to come back on Wednesday with Ivo’s coworker who actually trains at Guardian.

Open Mat @ Guardian Gym

Ivo and I. Been told my mouth guard makes it look like I'm missing teeth.

We did a beginner’s no-gi class. I partnered with someone roughly my size. Everything was going well- technique and drilling all worked fine, it was all great, until the roll. I don’t know what happened (typical BJJ answer) but I was in side control at some point and perhaps it was from the pressure (because there was no hint of submission) but the joints in my neck cavitated (these are all words from my friend in Chiropractor school). Imagine knuckle cracking. Except on my neck. It sounded like a semi-automatic rifle going off (too soon?) and my partner kind of dropped me and screamed. Again, never had this happen to me before. Here I am trying to catch my breath and refocus my vision, and everyone’s stopped to make sure I have no numbness or tingling sensations flowing through my fingers. I was even foolish enough to try drilling with someone, then realizing that the pain had traveled to my shoulder/I could not even complete the motion of leg dragging. I sat out for the entire round, very frustrated but not stupid. It just sucked that it was my last night before going home and I really wanted to get some good rolls in. But I’m not stupid.

If there’s anything I learned, traveling for work is not traveling for fun. I work in media production/marketing/communications/creative. That field. What if I had to run some type of production the next day? Oh sorry, I can’t do my job because I messed up my neck and shoulder in jiu-jitsu? I’m not out here to get fired (especially also since I just started a new gig). I’ve learned that I need to be more careful and stick to rolling with higher belts, especially if I am away from home. 

Pro-Tip: Unless you’re on some insanely expensive travel/medical insurance coverage, BJJ is usually NOT covered. My company will definitely not buy me the highest level of World Nomads Insurance, let me tell you that!