Fitness Clubs
Toronto BJJ
Toronto BJJ sits directly between Ossington and Bathurst at 813 Bloor Street West. The two storey blue and gold brick building opened its doors in 2006, and now instructs over 600 students. At 9000 square ft (3000 of which is pure mat space), it's the area's largest Jiu-Jitsu gym.
I had a difficult time reaching anyone through e-mail, but a phone call was answered by friendly staff. Trial lessons are by appointment only, and require at least 24 hours notice, so I booked an appointment for a BJJ Basics class.
For trial lessons, there's also Muay Thai or MMA (mixed martial arts), and women-only options exist for BJJ and Muay Thai. Once you sign up, submission wrestling and Judo become available.
The following Saturday, I arrive for my trial lesson and get handed a loaner gi (uniform). The friendly clerk gives me a tour.
Tournaments (and winning them) are common here, as evident by the trophies found in each room, Toronto BJJ recently won 7 medals at the 2011 IBJJF World Championships.
But competing isn't just for students: Head instructor Jorge Britto (a 2nd Degree BJJ Black Belt) is a World No-GI Masters Absolute champion, as well as 5x Rio State champion. Britto's teachers have included BJJ founder Helio Gracie, as well as Royler Gracie and Saulo Ribeiro.
The actual training area spans the entire second floor. Every inch is rubber coated, including the walls, and houses a caged corner for MMA training.
Class begins, the warm-up is just that: enough activity to get the blood flowing, but not so much that you're exhausted before class begins.
Being my first class, one of the senior students takes me and another prospective student aside, running us through some basic techniques. Rather than expect us to jump right in, we get one-on-one instruction. The guy teaching us has the tell-tale cauliflower ears of someone who has trained hard, and doesn't for a moment act like he'd rather be somewhere else.
Somewhere in this, Jorge Britto runs over and tries a new technique on our teacher. Satisfied, he returns to the class, using what he just tried as a lesson for the rest of the class.
This tells me something: The school houses champions, and knows what works, but is still adapting and learning new skills at any moment.
Watching his students, Jorge sits and drinks coffee. But, far from being passive observer, he repeatedly comments on students' technique and jumps up to physically correct them, shifting a shoulder or changing a hold to make it more effective.
After the class is over, I'm asked if I'd like to sign up for another. During my entire experience, I have never been hard-sold or pressured to sign up for anything beyond my trial.
My one gripe: no one will tell me class fees. Reception doesn't know, and the only way to find out is to book an appointment with staff. While they offer a 30 day free trial, as well as a 60 day money back guarantee, a little more transparency would be appreciated.
Writing by Dan Cosgrove. Photos by Jesse Milns
Discussion
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I second the nice logo on the white gi.
They have a 239$ "membership fee" if you take their trial and don't sign up within the first week (they say it's a fee that's waved if you sign up in the first week).
If you sign up for 6 months, it's 849$... if your lucky they might throw in a free month.
Too expensive in my opinion :/
But here's the bad part: I had to pay a large fee up front. I injured myself a couple of weeks in and had to take some time off. I tried to come in to talk to someone about suspending my membership while I recovered as a good gesture. I was told the only person I could talk to about this was JOSH RAPPORT. He was never in and when I tried emailing him he completely ignored me. I know this because I had friends email him about joining and he responded to those immediately.
In my mind this is a terrible way to do business. If you can't do it just be honest and say so.
That being said, I wonder how this blog developed this ranking system to begin with. Did they have a bidding war to determine who took what place? Sounds suspect to me.
For a couple years now the procedure has been to email ryan@torontobjj.com with any injury time or membership freezes.
It's never talk to Josh. So that is suprising. If you were misinformed please email ryan@torontobjj.com and he will be happy to take care of this.
Since this was over a couple of years ago I was not misinformed and it was "talk to Josh." I'm mentioning it now because I noticed this posting on blogto.com and thought it was something that readers should know and be aware of if they should choose this gym.
In the future handle all of your clients with care. If I had had my emails (notice the plural, I sent more than one) answered then I would never have posted this publicly.
Good luck to everyone on finding the right gym.
Asking if they have gay-only classes is a legitimate question--especially considering they have women-only classes.
Or, do you think that gays don't belong here?
The striking program was decimated with the loss of Dida and Veio, and is an obvious afterthought after BJJ.
Dealing with the staff was difficult, there were some shady advertising tactics and the atmosphere was not as friendly as you would expect from a martial arts gym.
Lastly, it's run more like a traditional martial arts gym then a modern MMA gym.
The simple fact is this, TBJJ is the top ranked competition Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school in Ontario, that is a simple proven fact, the Muay Thai program is young and will grow, so in the spirit of true martial artists, or someone that is trying to be a martial artist, which is what all of you are claiming to be, then don't knock a gym just because things don't agree with what you want.
Dave clearly did his trial over 7 months ago and we have improoved a lot since then. In addition to the improvements listed above, we have reduced class sizes in BJJ, added more class times, and put more instructors on the floor per class.
As for not being "a modern MMA gym", hey we have helped prepare more than one fighter for UFC fighter for a title fight. If being traditional means not being a bunch of meatheads, making sure everyone feels welcome, and having our classes run smoothly, then hey that is us.
By modern MMA gym, I'm referring to gyms that have less of a divided approach to MMA. The traditional style is to break down components of the sport and train them in a divided fashion. An example of a modern MMA gym would be Tristar gym in Montreal, home of Georges St. Pierre.
I gave my honest experience, and now I'll give my honest recommendation. There are lots of MMA gyms in Toronto, and most offer free trials. Try visiting a few before you hand over your bank info. Ask lots of questions and find the right fit for you. Important details to ask about would be: class size, instructor qualifications, COST and TERM, current fighter activity. Toronto BJJ is not the only place to train MMA in Toronto, or even in the same neighborhood.
@Josh Where do your MT fighters compete? I Haven't seen any fighters on the local Toronto scene since I moved here. Could you link me some results?
Thanks,
Dave
Most of the people who train at Toronto BJJ are not looking to be the next UFC superstar, they want to learn these awesome arts that we offer including MMA, get exercise, and have fun. We are here to help our members reach their goals, not the other way around.
On a side note, I do not wish to argue, but the guys at Tristar train or trained individual skill sets in isolation and then mix them together with Firas. Almost nobody with any great success started out by just training MMA.
You can't say anything to change the experience I had at Toronto BJJ. So you can accept my feelings and continue to work hard at improving your gym. Maybe one day I'll want to spend upwards of $150 a month to train BJJ.
I'm happy where I'm at with 85$ a month for unlimited classes at a downtown location.
Anyway - everyone should decide by himself what works for him.
Biggest one was overcrowded classes, and I'm glad to see they added in more classes to perhaps remedy this problem. Just didnt feel like everyone got equal treatment. There were even blatant cases of favouritism during training.
The staff too wasn't as approachable, like mentioned earlier.
Looking to start training again, this time I convinced a few friends to join me as well, but not entirely sure if I will go back to TorontoBJJ. Like I said, really happy to see that more classes were added but I was not pleased with the administrative side of things either and from the sounds of things (not just here but on other forums) things aren't much better on that end.
On the positive side, every time we get a negative comment it causes us to investigate the claim to see if there may be any truth to it (even if the person posting has no idea). This keeps us on our toes, and helps us become more self aware. We will continue to strive to be the best we can be.
I get it, Blog TO ranked us #1 so now everyone with something to gain by badmouthing us is coming on here.
We get rid of bad apples, and do not give in to unreasonable requests so I guess some get their payback on here and other forums.
That is another reason why our students love training at Toronto BJJ, we take a stand on principles, so that our students do not have to put up with the shady element.
http://youtu.be/gIQssZpg1TE
Of course TBJJ is a business but every transition, every sweep, every submission you learn is earned with sweat (and a little blood... maybe.. haha). Every instructor in the gym takes what they do very seriously and prides themselves on the quality of instruction.
YES - if you are yacking away about the football game while rolling you will likely be told to shut up.
YES - if you don't make an effort to learn to count to 10 in Portuese after a reasonable amount of classes it will be pointed out to everyone.
YES - if you dont learn to tie your belt properly the same will likely happen.
YES – If you think you can stroll in late for class every time because you are a “paying customer” you won’t last long.
YES - they even make you do a warm-up that will likely make you feel nauseous at some point.
YES - you will be pushed to what you think is your limit then find out you have more - time and time again.
If any of this horrifies you or offends you it is my personal opinion that this place is not for you. Have some respect for what it means to practice martial arts.
Bottom line is: read reviews, then go in and find out for yourself. That’s what I did and when my 6 months were up I scheduled a meeting and re-signed for another 12 months.
oss
Did the first free trail class and i loved it.
Then after the class some guy approched me and wanted to go over the how the 30 free trial worked.
IT IS NOT A FREE 30 DAY TRIAL
IT IS 2 BJJ classes and 2 muay thai classes a week for 4 weeks. At certain times. They advertise as if it was do as much as you want for 30 days.
First let down!
Then i wanted to do 3 afternoon muay thai classes a week every other day . They would only give me two and an evening. I could not do evening.
Second let down! (Mind you im the one that gonna pay them)
Then due to my schedule i miss the last week they call me up and ask if i am still interested i say yes how much is the unlimited training for a year? (I was willing to pay whatever didnt care because i wanted to learn)
They wont tell me, they want to meet in person.(Dumb sales tactic)
3rd and final let down!
I was willing to buy. I was so angry i did not even want to deal with them anymore. My first thought was these people are idiots. They leave money on the table.
This tells me that they cannot win on price. So it is probally really expensive(But at the time i didnt care)
They try and put you in a submissive state to get you to make a buying descision. (Probaly had some dumb consultant try and teach them sales and marketing.)
Moral of the story is honesty is the best policy.
And when someone asks a question over the phone answer it.
Looks like U of T athetic center is getting my money. Its a shame but soon they will have mma classes if they dont already.
If you were serious about signing up you would have been willing to meet in person.
We were not dishonest with you. We are a martial arts academy and do not wish to be treated like a common commodity, we treat people with respect and expect the same.
It makes no sense to attempt to discuss membership options over the phone, as they can not be adequately explained in that format.
Most of us have been burned by health club sales pitches, incentives and contracts. Not being able to provide simple information immediately raises red flags.
That said, I know someone who trains there when he's in town and he has nothing but praise. Personally, I have no time for sales b.s.
I still believe in cash, I still believe in hand shakes and I'll keep holding out that there's people out there that feel the same way.