Things to do in Portsmouth: I tried Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with Gorilla Grapplers at Hilsea's Basecamp Gym

I attended a class held by Gorilla Grapplers at Basecamp Gym in Limberline Spur, Hilsea. The class comes included as part of the gym’s £60 ‘Black’ membership option. The group, which started two years ago and has amassed around 70 students, meets at the gym and another Chichester location and is led by head coach Adam Gunning.

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The martial art sees competitors ‘grapple’ one another into submission with techniques such as joint locks and choke holds. I was excited to learn more about the sport, which I had heard had physical and mental health benefits.

Adam has been practising BJJ for about 10 years. He explained that Gorilla Grapplers, founded in 2021, is named after himself as his wife often remarks that he looks and acts like a gorilla.

Adam said: ‘Brazillian Jiu Jitsu initially came around in the 1920s, so as far as martial arts go it’s actually fairly new. It was built around a smaller person being able to take on a bigger, more dominant and physically imposing individual with the use of wrestling them to the ground and then using different submissions like choke-holds and joint locks. From there, it’s obviously grown because of the likes of MMA, and people realise it’s a good way to finish a fight wherever it goes.’

Upon joining the class and getting some sparring experience, I was impressed by the techniques on display from my classmates, but couldn’t help feel they were going easy on me – at first. Then, later on in the class I was paired up with a 14-year-old, who I was told competes on behalf of his class. He demonstrated a rear naked choke which helped me appreciate the power of the skills on offer from the class – and how unskilled I was.

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You can find out more about Gorilla Grapplers and Base Camp Gym by visiting its website.

Watch the above video to see how I got on.