Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, also called BJJ or simply jiu jitsu, is a martial art focused on grappling with the emphasis on ground fighting. You work with positions, control, locks and holds. In BJJ there is never any punching or kicking, and for many people that makes it the most approachable martial art there is.
BJJ is designed so that someone smaller and lighter can control a bigger opponent: technique beats strength. So if you are not the strongest person in the room, this is exactly your sport. If you are looking for self defence without wanting to hit anyone, BJJ is the most direct of all the disciplines here.
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19:00 - 20:00
19:00 - 20:00
In BJJ beginners and advanced students often train on the same mat. Someone who had their first class last week can stand next to someone preparing for a tournament. That works because while drilling you take each other level into account. As a beginner you get the room to master techniques calmly, while an experienced training partner works on control, timing and technique.
As a beginner you start with the basics. You learn how to move on the ground, get up safely, create distance and get out of awkward positions. From there you build step by step towards control, escapes and eventually locks.
If you want to start right from the beginning, Basics BJJ on Friday evening at 20:00 is meant for exactly that. Everyone in that class works on the same basics. In the other BJJ classes different levels train together.
Once you know the most important positions and techniques, the emphasis shifts more and more towards connecting them. You work on transitions, combinations, timing and tactics, with more room to roll and training at a higher pace.
Because the groups are mixed, you train with different partners and styles. That forces you not only to know techniques, but to apply them under changing circumstances.
In BJJ women train in the regular groups. There is no separate ladies class and the training is not adapted or watered down: you learn the same techniques and train along the same lines.
If the step into a mixed group still feels big, you can also start with the Ladies Only heavy bag class on Wednesday. That way you first get used to the gym and to training, and you can always join the mixed classes later.
If you want to compete in tournaments, you train towards that specifically. That happens in consultation: your coach looks with you at whether you are ready and which tournament you are then working towards.
The BJJ classes are taught by Coach Leandro, Coach Harrold and Coach Angelo, with Coach Djamil at the morning classes.
Leandro earned his black belt under Wendell Alexander and is a five time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion. Angelo earned his black belt in October 2024 and has been training, fighting and teaching full time since 2015. Harrold wears the brown belt.
Mentioning that lineage is not boasting. In BJJ it is relevant information. In this sport belts are not awarded by an examination board but by your teacher, and who someone owes that belt to determines how your grading is read elsewhere. A black belt does the promoting; under Leandro that line therefore continues. You will find all Ruthless coaches on About us.
Your first class is free and you are not tied to anything afterwards. You sign up through the form and hear back within one working day.
Come a quarter of an hour before the start. That gives you a moment to see how things go before you step onto the mat.
You start with a warm up that mostly consists of moving on the ground: rolling, getting up, working out of positions. Then the coach shows one technique, one position or one lock, and you practise it with a partner, slowly, taking turns. After that you work from one situation: one tries to get out, the other tries to keep control. At the end there is room to roll.
The most important thing you learn in your first class is tapping. Two taps on your partner or on the mat means stop, and they let go immediately. Always, even halfway through an exercise and even if they were almost there. Tapping is not losing. It is the brake that keeps this sport safe, and everyone on the mat taps, up to and including the world champion.
Rolling, the BJJ word for sparring, is part of it and happens sooner than in a standing sport. It is voluntary, you are assigned a partner or you pick one yourself, and with a beginner nobody pushes hard.
At Ruthless you pay one amount per month and you train in every discipline: heavy bag training, striking, BJJ, grappling, wrestling, MMA and strength and conditioning. If you come for one class and six months from now you want to try another, you pay nothing extra.
Cannot make it every week? There is a 10-class card as well.
There is no registration fee. You choose a membership of six months or a year; after that a notice period of one month applies.
The questions we get most often about BJJ.
Not for your trial class: you borrow one from us, along with the rest of the kit. If you keep training, you buy your own gi. You start with a white belt; that is part of it and says nothing other than that you are new.
No. BJJ has no punches and no kicks. It is about control, locks and chokes.
Two taps means stop, and your partner lets go immediately. It is not losing but the safety brake of the sport, and everyone does it.
No. BJJ is designed precisely so that technique beats strength. Flexibility comes by itself.
BJJ trains with the gi, the suit. Grappling is no-gi: less grip, a higher pace.
Judo is about throwing. BJJ is about what happens on the ground afterwards.
BJJ has a fixed belt system. Adults start at white and go through blue, purple and brown to black; in between you get stripes as intermediate steps. Children follow their own series with more colours, so there is something to work towards more often. Promotion does not go by time but by what you show: technique, sparring and how you carry yourself on the mat. Here the BJJ coaches do that.
Yes. On Friday evening at 20:00 there is Basics BJJ: the class where you learn the basics without anyone expecting you to be able to do anything already. The other BJJ classes are mixed in level, and there too you are paired with someone who suits you.
Twice a week is the point where techniques stick.
Yes, through Ruthless Kids.
You can compete, and you do not have to start with it. About four times a year we go to a tournament as a club, with coaches alongside. Those are competitions such as the Lion’s Cup, Grapple City, AGF, Versus and the IBJJF. If you want to come along, tell your coach; they will look with you at whether you are ready and which competition you are working towards. Most BJJ members never fight a tournament and that is completely normal here.
Nails short, clean clothing, flip flops up to the mat. We are strict about that, and rightly so.
Grappling: the same ground work but without a gi, at a higher pace.
Wrestling: deciding where the fight takes place.
MMA: ground work combined with the standing game.
Striking: the standing game, if you want to learn to hit as well.
Everything is included in the same membership. View our programs
Come and join one of our training sessions, no strings attached, and see for yourself