I waited 1.5 months to leave this review to ensure it was not out of emotion. My main reason for writing it is to save the hassle for another beginner and help someone not get hurt. The overall vibe of this gym and theme of my experience is highly unwelcoming and competitive. Most people I interacted with there that worked there, especially the instructor, clearly did not care about teaching.
For context, I am a beginner. I have done some online classes to try to develop some context for jiu jitsu, so that I don't get hurt. My number one reason for attending class is for better personal safety.
I am trying to start up Jiu Jitsu, so I trialed 7 gyms in the area. I figured this one would be a safe pick as Renzo Gracie seems like a good name and there were very good Google reviews. This was my last stop of 7 gyms. 5 of those 7 gyms were really good. 2 were not. This gym was by far the worst.
They established the culture of unwelcome from the beginning email. They took a week or so to reply to my inquiry about coming by for a class with a brief "sure" as a response. No details on the class, no information, etc. I show up 30 minutes early to the class to get a lay for the land and hoping someone can give me a tour and explain the class schedule. There is an army of people still rolling from the last class and several people sitting around in various places of the gym. No one greets me. I can't figure out who actually works there, so I sat down in the nearest chair to try and scope it out. Everyone that is not rolling looks like they are in some intense conversation, so I figure I will just chill to see if someone comes to the desk. I sat there for the entirety of the 30 minutes without anyone interacting with me. This plus the email, I was thinking I should just get out of here, but I stayed to try to give it a chance.
Eventually someone comes to the desk and I sign waiver, etc. They don't really tell me much about the gym despite a few questions I asked. The only real substantive thing they said was " Hopefully class starts on time, xx usually goes over his time." This must be a habit, because we started class 30 minutes late. I did not know who our instructor is or when class was actually starting because again, no-one spoke to me and all the people from the class before were still rolling competitively. Eventually a depressed looking man steps onto the mat and begins to disinfect it. The competitive rollers are not moving, so he just sprays disinfectant on/over them and they scatter one by one. When he is done soaking the mat with chemicals, he sits in the middle of the mat and 4-5 other people come up and sit around him. I assume this is class starting and I am correct.
We get right into it. No warm-up, no introduction, not stretching, no greeting. He just starts doing an example choke. Mind you, the mat is still soaking wet with disinfectant. There are only 6 of us total in this class, so I figured the upside of it being later is that there will be some more time for instruction. Boy was I wrong. This instructor ran through a complex choke really quick and then got up and sat against the wall, leaving the rest of us to find partners and start. Luckily I got paired with someone who was somewhat helpful, although smelled like he had not washed his rash guard in months. This was possibly the only advantage of him and I being covered with disinfectant. The class goes on without any help from the instructor. I don't know what I am doing because this is a complicated movement and he doesn't say a word. He is watching from the sideline and my partner is trying to help me with some of the body positioning, but he is also a learner and is only so helpful. This goes on for 30 mins. I don't learn a thing. My next partner is WILD. Doesn't respect the tap, twists on my neck, and completely jacks up my throat. Instructor does nothing. I eventually just got up and left before I got hurt.
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Atmosphere
Posted 2 years ago
