Gamebred Academy
I came across this quaint little gym in Eagle Farm purely by accident. Well, I purposely followed the Wimp 2 Warrior program (review to come) from it’s humble beginnings in Sydney to the global behemoth it is quickly becoming and upon registering for the Brisbane event, happened upon Gamebred Academy.
Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed Martial Arts is the predominant focus at this great gym. Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling (the on the ground kind, not the jumping from the top rope or “the people’s elbow” kind and the occassional Krav Maga (in case you are wanting unleash your inner bad-arse and become a super-spy, then this israeli defence force martial art is for you).
BJJ
Some would automatically think of smoothly shaved areas or volleyball players with fantastic derrieres, but I liken Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to Kinetic chess. Always having to think several moves ahead of your opponent and oftentimes using feints or tests to push your opponent into doing something drastic, but here the difference ends – in chess, you lose a knight or your queen, in kinetic chess (or BJJ), you are choked into unconciousness or forced to tap submission as your opponent twists and contorts your limbs into something akin to a human pretzel (or other twisted morsel). The plus-side is that you get to do the same to them.
Size goes out the window with this one, so you could be the biggest, strongest, toughest son-of-a-bitch wherever you are from and suddenly you are upside down, lying on your head, getting teabagged while having your arm twisted into the infinity symbol while struggling to gain air – all by a 5 foot lady who is smiling serenly while she does it or a bookish weed who is calmly telling you where you went wrong as he wraps his legs around your torse….tightly.
Wrestling
Super important. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
No tight colourful outfits. No luchadore masks. No long dark duster coat and widebrim hat. No sock puppet. A severe lack of gold chains. These aspects all remove the Gamebred Academy wrestling classes from what you’d expect when you speak of wrestling. Jason won’t be teaching powerbombs or hurricanas. No tombstone piledrivers or boston crabs…..ok, maybe a boston crab, you never know.
Mostly the artful activity that is movement. Leg placement, foot placement, knee placement, where to lean while rolling on your shoulder, when to post up on your hand and when not to. When to grab with a Gable grip (named after legendary American freestye wrestler Dan Gable) and when to S-grip. When to push and when to give ground. When to change levels with your legs and when to change levels with your upper body.
Muay Thai
Kicking things is fun. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, it is fun. Whether you are a boy, a girl, undecided or just plain indignant and don’t want your gender decided for you, kicking is fun. Gamebred Muay Thai classes will have you kicking low, it will have you blocking low kicks, it will have you throwing body kicks while learning how to check body kicks, it will have you giving your best head kicks while tactically avoiding getting kicked in the head yourself…all with a smile on your face, because (say it with me now)….kicking is fun
Crossfit
Whether you are a fatty boom batty, whether you are shredded and look as though you are chiseled from ancient granite or whether you are just rocking the dad-bod (reminiscing about your youthful days where you played in the grand-final in that sport that you were amazing at before you hung up your boots for good) – there is something for you at Crossfit 4009.
Crossfit 4009 is the garage that helps to tune the well trained weapons into machines of brilliance. Through running, rowing, olympic lifting or hanging off a rig trying your hardest to complete copious amounts of repetitions, you will gain strength, stamina, power and looks…..ok, While Gamebred is a magical place, it can’t work miracles, if you’re ugly already, there isn’t much it can do there.
Everything is scalable – can’t do a pull up? use a band to assist. Can’t do it with a band? stay grounded and use the rings to perform ring-rows. Can lift 100kgs in a power clean? no, you can’t….yet – but you can start with what you can handle and develop it from there. The supportive team of people who are either just like you or were just like you, are there to assist you in your wins…and failures…to help you win more.
Boxing
The gentlemen’s sport of pugilism. Gamebred will have you throwing a flurry of punches to either develop your fight skills or purely to focus on fitness. Ducking and weaving for boxing defence. Jabs by the hundred could turn you into the next Floyd Mayweather or if you are a lefty and Head Coach Jason has anything to do with it, the next Vasyl Lomachenko.
Fitness in boxing is extremely important and this is an amazing opportunity to build your fitness to the next level. Little did I know that just holding your hands up to protect the old money maker is such hard work while wrapped in 20oz of padding and leather, let alone throwing and punches.
Variety is the spice of life
With all of these options available, you couldn’t possibly get bored. You can join just for the crossfit and be throwing tin like a roided animal in no time. Or you can stick to the rowing machine and improve your stamina to keep up with the kids around the house during the weekend. You could even bring them down with you, tire them out with some Junior Jitsu or crossfit (sans weights) and then keep up with them around the house even more easily.
With great coaches to provide you with fantastic education, development and improvement opportunities (and the occassional laugh or opportunity to choke out a black belt), there is nothing more to say other than…
Great place, great people, great times – Great gym
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