There’s a certain age you hit where every second person you know has taken up jiu jitsu, and every single one of them will not stop talking about it. Mine was a mate who spent an entire barbecue explaining the difference between a guard pass and a sweep to a group of people who just wanted to know if the sausages were ready. I nodded along, said “sounds great” and privately assumed it wasn’t for me.
Then I actually went and tried it, and now I understand why nobody at that barbecue could talk about anything else.
Why St Kilda East, of all places
For anyone around South Melbourne, this isn’t the trek it sounds like on paper (about fifteen minutes if the lights behave). If you’ve already worked your way through the usual gyms and pilates studios in South Melbourne, it’s worth heading a suburb over for something with a bit more structure and considerably more grappling.
The club in question is Zero Point Jiu Jitsu at Level 1, 244 Inkerman Street, which turns out to be one of those places with a lineage it takes fairly seriously. They represent Master Rickson Gracie, and head instructor Chris Burns is a black belt under Professor Jason Roebig, who trained under a Rickson Gracie black belt out of Tokyo. I went in knowing nothing about belt chains and came out understanding why people care.
What actually happens in a free trial class
They run a free trial jiu jitsu class, which is a sensible way to find out if you’re built for this before signing anything.
Beginners go through a program called Gracie Fundamentals, a self defence course covering 46 techniques over one hour lessons, each one built around a single standing move and a single ground move, broken down slowly enough that a complete novice doesn’t feel like the slowest person in the room (I did, but that’s on me, not the coaching). There’s no competitive sparring in these sessions either, which took the pressure off considerably.
The bit that sold me on the place
It wasn’t just the training, it was the setup around it. The mats comfortably fit up to thirty people, the change rooms are separated and hold eight each without anyone feeling cramped, and there’s a proper 70 square metre gym attached with free weights, cardio equipment and a rowing machine, so you can turn a Saturday morning class into an actual workout rather than an excuse to sit in the car park.
If you’re weighing up jiu jitsu classes in St Kilda East for anyone in your household, the general guidance is that kids can start around age five, and watching the junior classes, that tracked. There were some genuinely small kids holding their own on the mats, which was equal parts impressive and mildly alarming.
Would I go back
Yes, unreservedly, though my body has some opinions about the frequency. If you want to see what the fuss is about before committing to anything, book the free class and go in with low expectations for your own performance. I did, and I was still outmatched.
