Jiu Jitsu Gym Near Me in Hammersmith: Roger Gracie Academy HQ

Roger Gracie Academy HQ occupies the ground floor of Glen House at 22-24 Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith W6 0NG, and its beginner induction is free: fifteen minutes one-to-one with an instructor, then a full hour of BJJ Fundamentals. Visitors who already train pay £35 for a day pass, and the doors open at 6am on weekdays. For anyone in west London searching for a jiu jitsu gym near me, this is the academy run under the name of a ten-time IBJJF world champion.

Roger Gracie, a grandson of Carlos Gracie and son of Mauricio Gomes and Reila Gracie, won world titles every year from 2004 to 2010 and retired in 2017 after beating Marcus Buchecha. He told BJJEE that he opened his London academy at 21, two years after earning his black belt and moving to the city. The academy lists him as a fourth-degree black belt, and he sits in both the IBJJF and ADCC Halls of Fame.

His father is part of the story too. Master Mauricio Gomes, now an eighth-degree red and white belt, received his black belt from Rolls Gracie and, according to the academy's biography, set up the first Gracie Barra gym in the UK in the late 1990s. The current instructor list includes Bruno Zancaner at fourth degree and several other black belts, so the person teaching your 8am fundamentals class is unlikely to be the founder, but the curriculum carries his name.

Beginners do not jump straight into a group class. The FAQ requires an induction first, and the timetable shows FREE Intro Adults slots several times a day, for example Monday at 9:45, 11:45, 17:45 and 18:45, each leading into a Fundamentals hour. Newcomers receive a welcome pack with a gi and a bottle of water. Women who would rather start in a smaller room can book the FREE Intro BJJ Ladies Only slot, which feeds the Tuesday 6:30pm and Saturday 12:30pm ladies-only classes.

Booking opens 48 hours before each class through the academy's Gymdesk portal or the Roger Gracie HQ app. The three pages that mention arrival time disagree, with 10, 15 and 20 minutes all quoted, so plan on 20 for a first visit and use the extra minutes to change and find the mat.

The timetable is unusually strict about who goes where. BJJ Intermediate is for white belts with at least three stripes, BJJ Advanced needs a blue belt, and the Thursday 7:30pm session is gi sparring only for blue belts and up. The Competition Class is invitation-only and closed to visitors and general members alike. A visiting white belt should aim for Fundamentals, No-Gi Fundamentals or the Sunday 6pm all-levels class rather than trying to talk their way into the advanced room.

No-gi gets real space here: No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu runs Monday 11:00 to 12:30 and again at 8pm, open mats are Tuesday and Thursday from 11am, and a Tuesday 1pm takedown class fills the gap between morning and evening sessions.

The visitor information page lists a £35 day pass, a £99 week pass and a £299 month pass. Gi rental costs £10 and a new academy gi is £159. The academy uniform is not required for visitors, but the sign-up page says members must wear an RGA gi in all gi classes, which is why new members get a gi and belt with their first membership.

Adult membership on a rolling monthly contract is £179 a month plus a one-off £50 registration fee, or £2,019 paid annually, which the academy describes as one month free. Children aged 4 to 15 are £159 a month plus the same fee, for up to six classes a week. One small warning: the sign-up page quotes 30 days' notice to cancel while the FAQ quotes 60, so get the figure in writing at the desk before you sign.

Feet must stay covered between the changing rooms and the mats, so bring flip-flops or keep your trainers on until the mat edge. A T-shirt or rash guard under the gi is mandatory and the academy does not hand them out. Gis should be washed after every session at no more than 40 degrees and kept away from the tumble dryer. Visitors need their own padlock for the lockers, though padlocks are sold at the front desk and towels can be rented.

The desk also stocks water and coconut water, and the shop carries gis, rash guards, shorts, backpacks and T-shirts, so a forgotten rash guard is an inconvenience rather than the end of your session.

With more than 100 classes a week, the early slots are the quiet ones. Fundamentals runs at 6am, 8am, 10am and noon on weekdays, and the 10am and noon classes tend to suit shift workers and visitors with flexible days. The 6pm and 7pm Fundamentals and the 7:30pm advanced class are when the mats fill after office hours. Skip Sunday morning if you want to roll: published Sunday hours are 9am to noon, but the timetable puts yoga at noon and the all-levels BJJ class at 6pm.

The children's programme is split by age: BJJ Kids for 4 to 6 year olds on Monday from 4:15pm, Youth for 7 to 10 at 5pm, and Teens for 11 to 15 at 5pm. Teens can add kickboxing three times a week, and Friday competition classes exist for youth and teen students. Parents waiting for the 45-minute younger classes usually have just enough time for a walk to King Street and back.

Turn east from Glenthorne Road and you reach the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre on Lyric Square, King Street, W6 0QL. Head west along Glenthorne Road and King Street for roughly 1.5 kilometres and you reach Ravenscourt Park, a good place to stretch out tired legs after a morning of drilling guard passes.

Roger Gracie Academy HQ, Ground Floor, Glen House, 22-24 Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, London W6 0NG. Opening hours are 6am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 3pm on Saturday and 9am to noon on Sunday. Hammersmith station on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines is a short walk away, with the District and Piccadilly line station in the Broadway shopping centre a few minutes further. Avoid an older directory listing at Freston Road; the academy's own contact page gives Glenthorne Road.