5 Elements Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal was originally an eight hour layover on my way to Spain. I identified a couple of BJJ schools close to the airport, that offered an opportunity to train since I was going to try to catch some site seeing between flights. Because of my timing in the city I booked an inexpensive Airbnb room in the center of the city so I could nap and clean myself if needed. Once I landed and left the airport, I fell in love with the feel of Lisbon and decided to delay my departure from Lisbon to a couple of nights and take in a bit more of the city.
Lisbon is a city of hills from hell…I felt like I was walking through a Dr. Seuss drawing. My Airbnb was built in the 1600s near the city’s center and a 20 minute walk to the BJJ academy. However, after walking up and down hills for 45 minutes, I knew I was close to the academy when I saw a bunch of guys wearing black rash guards walking into an inconspicuous door in what appeared to be the back of a building.
5 Elements is a full gym with weight training, boxing, cardio equipment and of course a large matted area.
This was a noon class and about 20 guys were in attendance….I didn’t notice any women. Class was starting as soon as I walked in, but the professor introduced himself and showed me to the dressing/locker room. It was a No-Gi class, so I was ready fairly quickly but class had already started by the time I made it back to the mats. It was a noon class and there was no time to waste before lunch was done.
The class started with instruction followed by slow drilling and with partners and the professor sat over his class attentively watching and walking around as we all drilled his demonstrated techniques. He was equal with all the students and spent as much time with me as he had shared with his students. I was happy that he was able to ask my devil’s advocate questions as well because with every technique, I have learned there is always those situations that will change everything and he showed patience and knowledge of how to handle those situations.
After about 45 minutes of drilling the day’s curriculum. It was time to roll, but instead of releasing us to full-on sparring, there was time to roll using mainly the day’s techniques for real time practice and application. After three rounds of technique application sparring, several students left as their lunch hour was up but about half the class stayed to roll a few extra rounds.
I rolled with “new to BJJ” students and a few that had been in the game as long as myself. The veteran BJJ fighters had started at other schools but gravitated to 5 Elements because of the professor and his style of class leadership, which I had to admit I liked as well. The professor had traveled around the world training BJJ and even spent time in the U.S. training.
The noon class was great and had break in it to be able to get a quick workout and enough people staying behind to get in some extra training. There were plenty of showers with hot water and the locker room area was extra clean. And probably the best part was a small café about 30 yards away with great expresso and cold bottled beer. The Uber ride to the airport was only about 10 minutes from the academy so this made it a no brainer place to train the next time I have a layover in Lisbon. Thanks to all the great guys at 5 Elements…I will be back!
