Two Weeks To Go - E17 BJJ Weekly Newsletter 18/05/2026

e17bjj
May 18
3 min read

Hey team,

We are now only 2 weeks away from the completion of the refurb and our official Grand Opening on Saturday 30th May.

Now that the plumbing and drainage work is finally getting sorted (a major source of headaches behind the scenes), it means we can finally go full steam ahead with the changing rooms. Hopefully by the end of this week you’ll start seeing some really big changes with both the male and female facilities... trying not to jinx anything, of course.

The place is really starting to come together now and it’s exciting seeing it slowly turn into the vision we had from the start.

Open Mats

A reminder that open mats are not just there for hard sparring rounds. They’re one of the best opportunities you have to actually improve properly.

Use them to:

Drill with people
Ask questions
Experiment with positions
Co-operate with training partners
Sharpen things you learned in class

Think about coordinating with other members beforehand and using the time intentionally. Some of the biggest improvements happen during unstructured training time.

This Week’s Focus

BJJ Gi Fundamentals with Mouncif & Juan (Monday & Wednesday)

We’ll be looking at shin on shin guard, exploring how we can use the lapel and our body weight to constantly off-balance our partner. It’s a really frustrating guard to deal with and can slow down even the quickest passers when used properly.

BJJ Gi Fundamentals with Hugo (Tuesday & Thursday)

You’ll be looking at how to stay safe and begin passing from established guards, focusing on posture, positioning and not getting pulled into unnecessary danger while trying to pass.

No Gi Fundamentals with Hugo & Juan

We’ll continue looking at front headlock attacks, building further on guillotines, follow-ups from the position and continuing to improve our escapes and defensive understanding as well.

Gi Mixed with Christopher Macken

Topic to be confirmed in class, but as always expect a technical, concept-led session with lots of useful details.

Judo with Caveman

Expect a high-paced, action-packed session as always from Caveman.

Wrestling for BJJ with Mehmet

We’ll be looking at chaining hand fighting into single leg entries and sharpening up arm drags to create cleaner attacks and reactions from standing.

Teens with Hugo & Juan

The teens will be looking at passing when your partner is supine, along with some technique work and direction-based games for Lava Legs.

E17 BJJ Hero HQ & Combat HQ

The childrens classes will begin working toward grading preparation. We’ll revisit our first takedown, the Osoto Gari, and continue looking at taking the back, building on the work they did with Hugo last week.

Grand Opening Reminder

Don’t forget our official Grand Opening:

Saturday 30th May

From 12:30pm

We want to make this a really big event and properly celebrate what we’ve built together.

There’ll be:

Open mats
Food and coffee available
Filming and photos
Ribbon cutting
Great vibes all day

Invite your friends, invite your family, invite anyone who might want to come down and see what we’re building here. Whether they train or not, everyone is welcome.

Let’s absolutely pack the mats out for this one.

Quick Favour

If you haven’t already left us a Google review, it would really help us out heading into the Grand Opening.

Lots of you already have, and thank you so much for that. We’re trying to build as much momentum as possible going into this next phase of the gym and every review genuinely helps. Even a quick one will be fine and greatly appreciated!

Click to leave a review :)