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Josephine GroundFighter Linz

I miss BJJ

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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?

Guide for going to the IBJJF European Championships

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If you’ve never been to Lisbon this guide will help you prepare for your trip. If you’re a regular Euros goer check if you’ve missed anything cool and let me know if I have!

Flights and Accommodation

IBJJF European Championships always take place in January, which is far from the high season in Lisbon. Unless you’re travelling from another continent the trip is very affordable. Booking your flights one month in advance will get you return tickets at around £100 from London Heathrow or up to 50% less than that from smaller London airports.

Airbnb is usually the best accommodation option in Lisbon. It’s much cheaper than hotels, you get access to the kitchen, which can lower food costs and is crucial when watching weight. Lots of places can be found all over the city.

There is just one thing you have to remember when booking an Airbnb in Lisbon for the IBJJF European Championship – heating. Make sure the place has it and when the owner lets you in make sure that it works too. Many buildings in Lisbon don’t have central heating and while the Portuguese winter is mild, 10 degrees inside the flat is far from pleasant.

Pricewise, in Jan 2020 a private double room in a fully equipped flat near Roma metro station cost £155 for 6 days. This is a decent price, but you can find even better bargains.

ibjjf european championship

Where to Stay for the IBJJF European Championship

Lisbon has a very good tube system. Generally, staying near one of the stations will allow you to get everywhere you need to go, which is useful if you want to minimise costs as much as possible. A single ticket is only € 1.50 regardless of your destination. You will also need to buy a rechargeable card for € 0.50 on which the tickets are stored.

If you want to stay in an area, which will let you enjoy Lisbon the most and guarantee easy access to the venue check out the map below. Bairro Alto is the most popular and touristy one. It’s close to many attractions and full of cool bars, restaurants and shops, but you need to be prepared to walk up and down numerous stairs. A bit further North there is the Roma area, which I stayed in this year. It’s halfway between the venue and the centre. It’s quieter than Bairro Alto, but there are still plenty of great food places and services available.

The Euros venue is now in the same hall in Odivelas every year. If you’re only flying out for a day or two to compete yourself you may want to stay next to the venue. If you’re staying any longer than that, choose somewhere closer to the centre as there is absolutely nothing else in Odivelas.

Fifty shades of tiles

Travelling to the Venue and Getting Around

If you’re a commuting Londoner at the IBJJF European Championship, you likely already have Citymapper on your phone. For those who don’t use it, it is a public transport app that’s more accurate that Google maps (it shows you which end of the train to get on, which side of the street to walk on and has a much more responsive gyroscope). It is great for figuring out your route and it’s very precise with public transport times. It works very well in London, Lisbon, Stockholm and it saved me in LA!

The easiest way of getting to the venue by public transport is to go to Senhor Roubado station and then walk for about 10 min. You might be tempted to take a bus from the metro tube station, but bear in mind that they don’t run very often.

Uber is a good option too. Depending on demand it costs around € 10 to get there from most areas close to the city centre.

Things to Do

I won’t go into the details of the biggest attractions, because this post describes all of them better than I ever could. A true no-bullshit guide to Lisbon’s landmarks.

I will say though, that if you end up having a free day it’s worth it taking the tram 15E from the centre to Belém (the first area described in the blog post above).

Belém is where the most famous custard tart place, Pasteis de Belem, is located. The first time I went to Lisbon, I was very skeptical of travelling somewhere to stand in a famously long line just to eat the original egg tart. This time around I gave it a try and definitely didn’t regret it.

When you get off in Belém do start your exploring by trying the original pastel de nata. But! There is nothing special about the cafe itself, so feel free to join the takeaway line, which moves very quickly and you’ll be supplied with your pastries, cinammon and sugar to have them with in under 7 min. We decided to enjoy them in one of the stunning parks nearby, which is what I’d recommend. Once you’re done with your pastries, the Monument of Discoveries and the Belém Tower are just a short walk away.

With the Belém Tower in the background

What to Eat

There are lots of amazing food places in Lisbon, so instead of trying to list any specific ones let me tell you about the types of local food worth seeking out!

  • Pastel de Nata – they can be bought all over Lisbon, but make sure to get them from a bakery for the full experience of the soft crunchiness that melts in your mouth. The cold ones are lovely too, but it’s not quite the same.
  • Churrascaria – aka the Portuguese barbecue, where the waiters walk from table to table carrying around freshly grilled pieces of various meats, which they carve straight onto your plate. They are all-you-can eat places, so be prepared for a big meal and prebook your table to avoid waiting.
  • Grilled octopus with potatoes – if you like seafood, this is to die for.
  • Pastel de Bacalhau – these are cod cakes filled with warm goats cheese. You can also find similarly shaped cakes filled with meat and cheese, which are even better.
The food pictures aren’t mine. I always get started on the food before I remember to take them…

Other Useful Tips

Locals don’t do anything in a rush, so make sure that you have enough time for everything.

There are many luggage lockers in the city, which are handy if you can’t leave your luggage at the Airbnb after checkout. These ones are particularly well-priced, but avoid making my mistake of not bringing coins.

Coffee sizes in Lisbon are 1/3 of what you’d expect in the UK. If you can’t live without normal sized cups (I like to enjoy my coffee for longer than just 2 min) check out places like Dear Breakfast or if desperate, seek out a Starbucks.

What is your favourite thing to do/eat in Lisbon?

Scraping Off the Rust in Prague

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Rehabbing from Injuries while Traveling

8 weeks ago, I hyperextended my elbow in Serbia. 3 weeks later in Portugal, I jumped on the mat for the first time and something in my knee popped. I finally accepted that I had to stop rushing my recoveries and give my body some time to heal. Otherwise, I may not be able to train at all for the last six months of my world trip.

 

 

Pros and Cons of “Resting” While on the Road

After only one class at Gracie Barra Benfica-Lisboa, I was out of commission simply because I had bad footing and pressure was out on knee at just the wrong moment. I humbly sat on the sidelines during sparring, limped (ironically across a hospital campus) to the metro, got home and started to RICE. Now I had to figure out how I was going to rehab with my hectic schedule.
While you’re travelling, you want to see and do everything. There is no time to sit on a couch and lick your wounds. This has its benefits and curses.

When you’re at home and hurt, you have a huge chunk of your life and normal schedule thrown off when there’s no BJJ. You get restless at work and wish you could do more than patiently sit on a couch waiting for parts of your body to stop complaining about being bent the wrong way. The lack of schedule and constant new experiences associated with travelling totally negate this restlessness. I may have been slowly getting out of shape but at least I was having fun doing it.

All the fun does take a toll though. If you’ve ever been to Lisbon, you know that anywhere you want to go is at least a 20 minute walk uphill on cobblestone streets… and somehow it’s still uphill on the way back. Not an ideal situation for someone with a knee injury. Also, I couldn’t resist fulfilling a BJJ stereotype by learning to surf. (Now I get to say I learned to surf in the shadow of a castle on Portugal’s coast!) Side trips to Budapest and Vienna were also too good to turn down. The non-stop adventuring and partying definitely added some time to my recovery, but I wouldn’t do anything differently.

Teaching local Portuguese how we celebrate independence day

You can see the giant castle in the background right on the beach

Successful day surfing

Learning how Out of Shape I Got in Prague.

After 5 weeks of “taking it easy” I was finally ready to get back in the gym. Penta Gym was recommended to me by Mark Magpusao, a fellow BJJ Globetrotter I met up with in Lisbon. It’s an MMA gym, and the only place to offer the afternoon classes my work schedule demands.

The first day back was amazing. Even though I had minimal MMA training, it felt great to throw a few guillotines and practice the boxing tricks I learned in Thailand. I felt a little ashamed to call it quits when it came to sparring, but they were focusing on kicks and I didn’t need sit out another 5 weeks because I wanted to look tough.

My face after a few kicks and punches. I guess I’m more used to chokes and knee mounts.

I’ve been to a few classes since and I’m ecstatic to be back. The only bad part is I’m learning how terribly my cardio is and my striking game is basically non-existent compared to my training partners. My plan is to keep at it and build my intensity and stamina so I can dominate some rolls next month in Bulgaria!

Recovering in Lisbon

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I’m six months in and almost halfway through my year-long trip. For the next 30 days, I’ll be living, working and training in Portugal – mostly Lisbon.

 

Dealing with Sickness and Injuries

I started my BJJ packed adventure six months ago in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. I hit the ground running with training sessions 4 to 5 times a week at Monarchy MMA for the whole month. Unfortunately, that was the most consistent I have been since.

I only trained once in Vietnam because of pneumonia; then lost almost two weeks because of another cold in Bangkok; another two weeks gone in Serbia because of an arm-crush induced hyper-extended elbow. Now, I just got back on the mat at one of the Lisbon Gracie Barra locations and my knee popped. – I feel more like a human punching bag than an athlete at this point.

By far, the worst part of these setbacks is losing my flow and trying to get it back after such inconsistent training. Anyone who’s trained for a while knows the feeling of not being able to even remember moves that you used effortlessly execute a few weeks before.

These past few months have been a major reminder of the need for humility in this sport. I’m trying to stay positive and using these gaps in training as an opportunity to relearn and reaffirm more basic techniques that I took for granted before. I know that I can always rely on fundamentals when I’m out of shape and forget advanced sweeps and submissions.

For now, I’ll nurse my knee for a few more days and try to get back to rolling as soon as possible.

 

Downtime Adventures in Portugal

Since I’ll have to take it easy for some time, I’m planning a few non-athletic adventures. This weekend, I’m participating in a local start-up event to boost my entrepreneurial skill set. Right after, I’ll be renting a camper van with a few buddies and driving up Portugal’s coast for a few days. It even has Wifi so I can literally work on the road. After that, if my knee is feeling better, I’m hoping to become an even more stereotypical BJJ bum by learning to surf. By the time all this is done, I should be healthy enough to start training again!

Rocking my custom blazer from Vietnam and a mustache during my layover in Munich.