Category: Uncategorized

Gym Name: Tenerife Submission Grappling

Location: Adeje – Tenerife, Spain

Head Coach: Cam & Diego Petkoff

Class Types: No Gi, Wrestling

Mat Fee: 10eu

Review:

Following on from the successful landing and meeting up and training with Judith, she invited me to come to train at a more local (to her) gym up in Adeje town. As is often the case with women in BJJ, we tend to flock together especially when it comes to classes – if we know a few of us will be attending a class, more of us will try to get to that class specifically! 

So, another lady from the SurFight class – Asta, came to the class up in Adeje town. As the name suggests there is no Gi classes…wait, no it’s NoGi. That’s the same thing. The class was taught in English though of course finer details for individual students were done either in English or Spanish as the brothers are fluent in both. I enjoyed that it was a progressive format from standing to a submission or two – and a few counters. The pace of. the class meant there was plenty of time to get reps in as we stacked each movement on top of another so by the time we went into drill specifics rounds the flow was certainly easier to pick up and maintain. 

That said I still fell back into bad habits as and when bigger blue belt guys hadn’t figured out how to roll with like 40-50% intensity and I just defaulted back to full defensive Turtle/Panda guard. I got the opportunity to roll with Cam and it’s always fun to experience someone’s explicit style of Jiu-Jitsu. Whilst I’m still new to Catch Wrestling, I’m aware enough to understand the moves and the intensity it has. 

The venue itself is Radical Fitness and Self-Defense, so the whole space is equipped for a few different martial arts and fitness and conditioning classes. 

The changing spaces at the back have a dedicated female changing space and unisex showers and toilets with adequate space. The ladies’ changing room is closed off and has benches and would probably fit 5 women comfortably. 

After the class, I went and sat in a coffee shop around the corner from the gym that did great little post-workout pots of fruit or you could get a smoothie. The aesthetics were IG-worthy kitsch and it was right next to the bus stop…which I was facing looking at the busses regularly showing up. Until I needed to get one at around 1.30 pm. Dear reader, this is the worst time to get a bus as everyone’s clocked off for an afternoon siesta and schools are done so timings are off and buses are full to the rafters. I had to wait a good 90 minutes until a bus showed up with space in the right direction. 

So…bear that in mind.

Gym Score: 6.5/10

Gym Name: Surfight Club

Location: Los Cristianos – Tenerife, Spain

Head Coach: Luiz Mendoça

Mat Fee: 10eu

Review:

This was my first gym visit of the entire tour, after a few Instagram messages and discovering a Facebook friend was also on the island, I made my first visit on February 13th by taking a bus from El Duque (where I was staying at a Nest Hostel) to Los Colombos and walking over to the gym. With the sun up, the walk was relatively safe, but I wouldn’t have done the same route back at night. 

For the Gi class, Pietro was leading and there were other visitors from the UK dropping in too. Whilst English wasn’t his first language, he did really well in explaining as much as possible with a purple belt who’d further explain the moves. As far as belt, it was broad from white belt up to visiting black belts. I actually got some good rolls with everyone and had a very fun roll with a purple belt who was within the height and weight range I’d likely face in Open/Absolutes. 

I also managed to get a class with the Head Coach – Luiz who was more fluent in English and his attention to different details for moves I was familiar with and how these moves were stacked with modifications and progressions in the class made the flow of the class effortless. 

Looking at amenities, this is unfortunately where it falls short a little bit just because of the nature of the building. There was dedicated individual male and female toilets within the training area to the side. However, changing spaces didn’t really exist – not a problem for the guys, they’d just change outside before getting onto the mats. For women, you can either ninja change in the space too, or there is a shower room round the corner where you’ll need to get the key for the padlock. It’s a very basic shower/cleaning room but they have one! 

To describe the venue itself, you’d walk up a promanade to find a cluster of cafe’s and bars with a staircase going up to the first floor. A sign for Surf Fight Club to the side is your main indicator of its location. As you enter the first floor it’s very open (whilst enclosed) with a few bits of gym equipment you walk around and a short corridor leads you to seats facing  the opening to a beautiful array of light teal and black mats, good lighting and a wall of windows where you can peer out and see the beach as you’re catching your breath in between rolls. 

I revisited the gym a few times to experience No Gi and Open Mat with the lady friends I had made. I won’t miss up the opportunity to roll with similar body/sized women in my travels. 

If you’re not too bothered by basic amenities and want a great location and great vibes and zero silly BJJ politics whilst in Tenerife, this is well worth the visit. 

Gym Score: 7.5/10 

You’ll need to keep checking back to see when I explain the weird /7 score above!