T
his question got me thinking: how would my
perfect jiu jitsu class take shape?As with all good stories, it’s important I set the
scene for you.
I get out of bed at 7:30. I’ve never been one
for sleeping in late, so by 7:45 I’m sitting in
my living room with a pot of coffee on the go,
journaling a few lines while trying to fend my
puppy off my lap. After 30 minutes of reading
(usually non-fiction) I take the dog for a walk,
before returning home and getting stuck into a
decent breakfast. I’ll answer emails, write some
stuff, make a few calls, before getting my gear
together and heading to the academy.
Having recently moved out of London, it’s an
hour before I’m at the gym, but I actually find
the trip quite enjoyable. I decided long ago
never to answer my phone while in the car; in-
stead I listen to podcasts, with some person-
al favourites including: The Tim Ferriss Show,
Love & Radio, The Infinite Monkey Cage and (of
course) The Joe Rogan Experience. By the time
I arrive at Roger Gracie Academy HQ, I’m ready
to build up a sweat and have some fun.
So, my perfect class; let’s start with the warm-
up. I’ve yet to meet anyone who actively enjoys
the warm-up, but we all know how important it
is, especially as we get older and the aches and
pains tend to build up.
In an ideal world, I’d incorporate a combina-
tion of two approaches: yoga-style stretching,
followed by flow rolling. Our technique guru,
Nick Brooks, is not a man known for his warm-
ups. His classes are quite often kick-started by
shouting, “just flow roll to warm-up,” and as
long as I’m paired with someone who respects
the notion of ‘flow roll’, I find this the perfect
way to get the blood going.
After 10/15 minutes of stretching and flow roll-
ing it’s time for the class to begin. Two posi-
tions are enough for me. I struggle big time
with information overload, so focussing on one
or two techniques per class is ample. Once the
instructor has covered his positions and we’ve
all drilled them for 30 minutes or so, it’s time to
get down to the nitty gritty.I LOVE sparring; it’s the reason I fell in love with
jiu jitsu. In my perfect class, we would kick-start
things with specific training, focussed around
the technique we’d been shown earlier. Because
jiu jitsu is my hobby I want every session to be
fun – I don’t find drilling fun. My coach, Roger,
never drills but he’s a huge advocate of specif-
ic training, so I would always include this as the
preamble to full sparring, as opposed to drilling.With a couple of short rounds of specific spar-
ring in the bag, we’d move on to the main event- full training. My ideal: five rounds of six min-
utes, totalling 30 minutes. I find that the flow
roll warm-up, paired with the specific sparring,
leads perfectly into a half-hour tear-up. I’m
lucky to train at a big academy, with plenty of
bodies on the mat and a huge variance in abil-
ity. I love this famous quote from Frank Sham-
rock: “you need training partners you can play
with, training partners who will give you a war
and training partners who completely humble
you.”
Bearing this in mind, of my five full rounds of
sparring I like to try start off with a relative
beginner, progress to a couple of rounds withguys of the same level as me, then (ideally, if
they’re up for it) a couple of rounds with some-
one who will kick my ass. Which reminds me of
another reason I love jiu jitsu: name another
combat sport where you can get smashed in
training, wear a smile the whole time, before
walking away unscathed and in complete awe
of your opponent.I find the cool down is often neglected, but
I’m aware we’ve pushed my 90-minute class to
the limits here. If the time was up, I’d stay and
stretch for a further ten minutes or so on my
own. After all, we want to rinse and repeat the
whole process again tomorrow!Despite the London traffic, my drive home from
the academy is probably when I feel the most
at peace. Instead of listening to podcasts, I lis-
ten to music, completely content with my day
no matter what happened during training. It’s
in these moments that I like to take stock; what
an amazing gift I’ve stumbled upon. I can’t im-
agine what sort of person I’d be without jiu jitsu
in my life.Thanks for tolerating my ramblings, and thanks
for picking up our latest issue.CALLUM MEDCRAFTMY PERFECT DAY ON THE MAT
If I were to be asked what my perfect day looks like, it would
obviously revolve around a good 90 minutes rolling about
with mates at the academy.
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR
“NAME ANOTHER COMBAT
SPORT WHERE YOU CAN
GET SMASHED IN TRAINING,
WEAR A SMILE THE WHOLE
TIME, BEFORE WALKING
AWAY UNSCATHED AND IN
COMPLETE AWE OF
YOUR OPPONENT”