On Architecture and Jiu-Jitsu

Why meaningful academies are important.

Gym 1801 in Evanston, IL — One of the most beautiful academies I’ve been able to teach at.

I first started Jiu-Jitsu in 2015.

Like many people who started around that time, the academy was in a strip mall next to a nail salon.

We had puzzle mats, and below the puzzle mats was a cement floor. One time, I trained in a gym that was in an old warehouse, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

If you had started Jiu-Jitsu a decade earlier, you might have started in a garage or the basement of a commercial gym.

But now? Jiu-Jitsu gyms are changing. Some of the Jiu-Jitsu gyms in the world today are even beautiful. They’re not just places you drive by or places that you go in for a quick workout and get out. They are destinations.

It doesn’t even feel right to call them gyms anymore. Some of these places feel like small palaces.

But is this what the future of Jiu-Jitsu looks like?

Let’s talk about accessibility, aesthetics, and where art fits into the Jiu-Jitsu culture.