Start Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art where technique beats strength. You do not need to be fit, flexible, young or brave to begin — those are things training gives you, not things it asks for.
Free trial classes run on Mondays at 08:00 and at 18:00 — the schedule shows which Mondays. No experience, no equipment: a gi is lent to you for that first class. All adult classes are taught in English.
Why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
It works for every body
Most martial arts reward size and strength. Jiu-Jitsu rewards knowledge. A smaller person with better technique will beat a larger person with poor technique — that is not philosophy, it is leverage. It is why Jiu-Jitsu attracts people who would never set foot in a fight gym: office workers, older adults, women, people coming back from injury.
The lever doesn't care how much you weigh.
You control the intensity
On your first day, you choose how hard you train. Want to go easy? Perfect. Want to test yourself? Also perfect. Training partners respect that choice, and that respect is the foundation of every class. You are not in competition with anyone but yourself.
It's a conversation, not a lecture
Jiu-Jitsu is problem-solving on the mat. An instructor shows a technique. You and a partner work on it together. You fail, you adjust, you try again. No yelling. No "warriors." Patience, repetition, and small improvements every class. That is how real learning works.
People stay
In most gyms, people arrive, train for a few months, get bored or hurt, and disappear. This academy is built the other way around: everything about how it teaches is aimed at people who are still training in five and ten years. Sixteen black belts have been developed here — each of them roughly a decade of the same patience.
What happens on day one
You arrive 15 to 20 minutes early. An instructor is at the academy at least half an hour before every class, and will meet you at the door, show you where to change, lend you a gi and explain how the academy works. You step onto the mat already knowing what is about to happen — that is what the early arrival is for.
The class itself is technique and movement. Beginners classes are frequently a full hour of technical instruction with no hard sparring. Your job on day one is to learn how your body moves, get comfortable on the mat, and understand a few basic positions. You will be stiff the next day. That is new movement, not injury.
Who teaches: the academy is led by head instructor Marcos Flexa, and classes are taught by Marcos alongside Professor Olga Lyashevska and Professor Desmond van den Berg.
The path forward
Weeks 1–4 · Foundation
You learn the basic positions — guard, mount, side control — and how to get out from underneath someone. Your instructor knows your name, your fitness level and what you came for. Classes feel calm. You are learning, not proving anything.
Months 2–3 · Confidence
You start to recognise positions before they happen. You know three or four escapes. You are not thinking about your breathing any more; you just breathe. You train with white belts, blue belts and higher belts who slow down and show you the detail you are missing.
Months 4–12 · Real progress
You have a toolkit. You can put techniques together, and you understand why they work rather than only how to do them. You have tapped out a few hundred times and learned that tapping is not failure — it is the mechanism that lets you train tomorrow.
Somewhere in the second year, most people who started with no experience reach blue belt. Roughly two years is the average here, and it depends entirely on how often you train and how you develop. It is not a schedule and it is not a promise — nobody at this academy is moved along a timeline, and that is deliberate. A blue belt that arrives on time and is not earned is worth nothing on the mat.
Year 2 and beyond · Long-term student
You stop thinking about achieving and start thinking about refining. Some students compete. Some go on to teach. Some train because they like it and never do either. All three are the same success. The point was never to finish — it is to still be training in ten years.
The practical answers
How old do you have to be? Adult classes are for 18 and over. Under-18s are sometimes accepted, individually, and always with the written authorisation of a parent or legal guardian — ask before booking. Children have their own program, run independently by Professor Laszlo at bjjkidsamsterdam.nl.
How many people are in a beginners class? Up to forty. It is a large room and a large group, and that is a real part of what training here looks like — you will always find a partner near your size and level, and you will not be the only new person.
What do I wear, and do I need a gi? For your first class, normal sports clothes and water; the academy lends you a gi. From your second class you need your own. Gis are sold at the academy.
What language is the class in? English. Every adult class, including Friday's Women's Only Class.
When can I come? The free trial is Monday, 08:00 or 18:00. Women joining the academy for the first time can also start free in Friday's 18:00 Women's Only Class, taught by Professor Olga Lyashevska.
The Monday classes are free once, per person. They exist for people arriving for the first time, so nobody trains free week after week, and Monday does not take paid visitors — those two hours belong to whoever is walking in for the first time. A small number of Mondays in the year do not run the free class, which is why the schedule is the page to check before you plan around one.
If Monday does not work, you can pay for a single class at €25 in one of these sessions:
| Day | Time | Class | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | evening | Beginners & Intermediates | Anyone |
| Wednesday | morning | Beginners & Intermediates | Anyone |
| Wednesday | evening | Beginners & Intermediates | Anyone |
| Thursday | evening | Beginners & Intermediates | Anyone |
| Friday | morning | Beginners & Intermediates | Anyone |
| Tuesday & Thursday | 19:00–20:30 | Advanced | Blue belt and above |
Those are the only sessions that accept a single paid class. The Advanced bar is about safety, not exclusivity — ninety minutes of advanced training is not a place to learn how to fall. The full timetable shows what runs when and who can join each one.
Questions beginners ask
I'm not flexible. Can I still train Jiu-Jitsu?
Yes. Most people are not flexible before they train — flexibility is a result of training, not a requirement for it.
Am I too old to start Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
No. Adults begin here at every age, and every student develops at their own pace. Tell your instructor about any injury history and the training is adjusted around it.
How safe is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for beginners?
Beginners classes are frequently a full hour of technical instruction with no hard sparring. You learn how to move and how to fall before anything demanding is asked of your body. Tapping early is taught as normal and expected, not as giving up — it is the habit that keeps people training for years. You should expect to be sore. You should not expect to be hurt.
What if I'm terrible at it?
Everyone was. Every black belt on this mat spent a first class not knowing what was happening. Being bad at the start is not a problem to get past — it is the entry point, and it is the same one all sixteen black belts developed here walked through.
Come and see
Questions first? WhatsApp +31 6 81911917 — a straight answer, no sales pitch.
Getting here, parking, what the building looks like: plan your visit.
What the classes actually are: see all classes · see the schedule · see the prices.