Sunshine, Wall Mats & Eat or Heat - 02/03/2026 E17 BJJ Weekly Newsletter
- e17bjj
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hey team,
We’re finally looking at a full week of decent weather. I don’t know about you, but I definitely need the vitamin D and I’m sure most of you do too. Lighter mornings, warmer evenings and a gym that doesn’t feel like a fridge anymore. We’ll take that.
This week is going to be a good one for the gym. You’ll start to see Unit 2, the main room, changing quite a bit as we begin mounting the wall mats and adding a few more bits. Once the wall mats are up, we’ll be able to put the mats down in their permanent positions, and after that the room should start taking shape pretty rapidly. It’s exciting seeing it all come together properly.
Community Event This Weekend
This Saturday the Ravenswood Collective is hosting a big open festival day called Ravenwood & Friends for Eat or Heat. It’s a family-friendly event with over 80 DJs, food trucks and loads going on around the estate.
After Saturday’s class, we’ll run an additional open mat so you can have some fun and get some rounds in, then we’ll head out and enjoy the event. I’ll also be doing a bit of flyering while we’re there, so if you’re around, come say hello and represent the gym.
It’s a great chance to show the wider community what we’re building here.
This Week’s Focus
Gi Fundamentals - This week we’ve got some guest instructors stepping in alongside us.
Monday, Ala will be running class and taking you through back mount defence and ways to escape to safety. Learning how to survive and recover from the back is just as important as attacking from it.
Wednesday will likely be me running class, and Friday we’ll have Chris M (a different Chris) taking the session. Always good to get different perspectives while keeping the fundamentals strong.
No Gi Fundamentals - Tuesday, Hugo will be taking you through open guard passing and key concepts around distance, posture and controlling the legs before committing forward.
The Coach for Thursday's session to be confirmed, but expect us to continue building on solid positional fundamentals and linking movements together.
Judo with Justin - This week’s focus will be Tsuri Komi Ashi.
We’ll be working on timing, foot placement and using your grips to lift and pull your partner onto the stepping leg before sweeping it away. It’s a technique that really teaches rhythm and awareness - less about strength, more about catching movement at the right moment. When done properly, it feels effortless.
Wrestling for BJJ with Mehmet - We’ll continue looking at front headlocks, but building on them further. This means not just hunting submissions like the darce and guillotine, but understanding how to use the front headlock as a control position. We’ll work on pressure, re-attacks, and how to transition to dominant positions if the submission isn’t there. Control first, finish second.
Remember we have 2 open mat this week, one on Friday and one on Saturday morning!
Tip of the Week - Be a good training partner.
Your progress doesn’t just depend on what you learn - it depends on how you train with the people around you. Control your strength. Match intensity. Let newer people work. Push higher belts when it’s appropriate.
Resisting moves when someone is still trying to get the hang of a new position in drilling, or being super floppy can hinder your partners progress and confidence to try a move!
If you help your training partners grow, the whole room levels up, including you!
One More Thing
As the gym starts to take shape properly, this is a great time to bring someone down if they’ve been thinking about trying it. New space, growing timetable, good energy in the room. E17 has always grown through word of mouth and good people inviting good people.
See you on the mats!
-Mouncif
E17 BJJ
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