Primal Academy of MMA – Toronto, Canada
I journeyed to Toronto in Ontario, Canada to be a speaker at an academic conference. While there I decided to take the edge off of speaking among my academic peers versus the business conferences, I usually attend, by venturing into the Canadian BJJ scene. I found a good number of BJJ and MMA academies available in the downtown area of Toronto. I decided to visit Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts because it was convenient to the area downtown in which I was staying and they offered a number of classes in both Gi and NoGi throughout the day and evening. There were a few others schools with pretty good schedules, but Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts answered my calls and requests for information. Around a week before I left for Toronto, I called and emailed a number of schools and Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts was one of the few that responded to the messages requesting information I left on a voicemail.
When approaching Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts, I noticed that my surroundings quickly seemed to leave the confines of the well manicured city, that is Toronto, to a more industrial looking area where Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts is located…see the video of the area. When you enter on street level you will find a really well-equipped exercise gym and a desk being manned by some really helpful people that got me all signed and “waiver-ed up” for a a class. The grappling area of the gym is on the floor below the gym. I was shown the way to the basement and introduced to the class instructor, “Adi…just Adi…no need for coach or professor…just A.D.I., Adi”
This was a lunch time class so we got down to business fairly quickly with mat drills to warm up those joints. About 20 people showed up for class. The lunch time included black belts to trial class attendees of both men and women. Adi demonstrated a half guard progression and them we drilled that technique for about 30 mins with our partners. After some time partnered groups blended and compared notes. While this occurred Adi walked around to each group to sit and firsthand demonstrate the move so I felt I had individualize instruction…which is really a big deal when you’re a guest at a school.
We spent the last 20 minutes of class rolling and they had a really cool way of determining rolling partners. Everyone lines up on the wall. Starting with the women and then proceeding by belt level…everyone gets to choose their rolling partner. I loved this method as it prevented me from getting the wild white belt that could accidentally kick my eye out during sparring. While rolling I was able to speak with four different jiu jiteros on why they decided to join Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts with so many choices around. Oddly, enough I completely understood their reasoning. Primal is a top of the line gym with offerings from martial arts classes to weight training; however, the biggest reason I heard from everyone is the convenience of the location and scheduling…hey! that the same reason I was there. One other big reason that I didn’t experience while there but also completely understood… Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts offers free onsite parking…a real premium in any crowded city. I heard lots of good things about Primal and got to experience a great time training with a really solid and fun group.
Primal Academy of Mixed Martial Arts offers a full schedule of classes, state of the art fitness area, clean restrooms, hot showers, super nice people that return calls and emails and with only a 25 minute ride to the airport, they offer a great option for an extended layover in Toronto or a place to call your BJJ training home.
