Adult Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Farnworth, Bolton

If you've never trained before, you're in good company. Most of the adults who walk through our doors have never rolled in their life, and a fair few were nervous about it. BJJ looks intimidating from the outside — all that grappling and submissions — but the way we teach it, you're not getting thrown into deep water on day one. You start with fundamentals: how to move, how to escape bad positions, how to control someone bigger than you using leverage instead of strength. The submissions come later, once the basics are second nature.

We run both Gi and No-Gi classes through the week, which is one of the things that sets a proper BJJ programme apart from a gym that just bolts grappling onto its timetable. Gi training — in the traditional jacket and trousers — teaches grips and control that translate directly into self-defence and into No-Gi. No-Gi strips that away and speeds things up; it's closer to what you'd see in MMA. Training both makes you a more rounded grappler, and most of our long-term members end up doing a mix of each.