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Opinion, method, and news from the mats. Straight from the coaches.
We've officially affiliated with BJJ Globetrotters, an affiliation built around the idea that jiu-jitsu doesn't need traditional affiliations. What it is, why it fits Rebel, and what it means for members and visiting Globetrotters.
Most of what you're shown in a grappling class is gone by the time you get home. Learn is where we write it down: a study guide for every no-gi session, the curriculum, a glossary, and a record of your own training. It comes with every membership.
How to make the most of every training session at Rebel Combat Sports. Four minutes after the coach shows a technique, half the room has decided they've got it. They haven't. Start slow, fail, keep going, then turn three dials: speed, space and resistance.
Every combat sports club in the country runs the same pitch: train with me, because I've been where you want to go. It sounds convincing. It's also one of the weakest arguments for coaching quality. Why medals don't transfer, what coaching actually is, and the three questions worth asking instead.
There are gyms where your next stripe depends on leaving a five-star Google review. Five things I think don't belong in a grappling gym, five things you should expect instead, and a tally you can run on your own club — starting with ours.
Nearly every grappling room in Eastbourne, and many across Sussex, traces back to one man. Tolly Plested started 1st Generation in 2010, brought BJJ and submission grappling to a town that didn't have them, and coached it all as a sport a decade before that was normal. This is what I learned in his room.
Launch week is done: six sessions, fifteen people on the mats, forty-plus live rounds, both sports running from day one. What we covered, who turned up, and what happened at the pub afterwards.
We're open — bookings are live and the first session is Monday. Here's what's on this week, what this club actually is, and why everything I've spent the last four weeks claiming in public is now something you can walk in and test.
The gi classes finally have times: Tuesday 9:00–10:30 and Friday 19:00–20:30, from opening week. Adrian on why those two slots, what a gi session actually is, what you need to bring, and how rank works across both sports.
Before we open on 3 August, the best way to see what Rebel is really like is the free Sunday open mat. No membership, no booking, no sales pitch — just the people you'd actually be training with.
We open on 3 August. This is the plain version of what we're actually building here — the kind of grappling room I wanted in Eastbourne and couldn't find, and who it's for.
Grappling is both, depending on who's talking. The distinction I care about isn't the word — it's whether the claims get tested. Here's what changes in a room that treats it as a sport.
Starting a contact sport at thirty-five is a different problem to starting one at fifteen. Here's what actually gets in an adult's way — time, ego, an older body — and how to start anyway without wrecking your week.
Adrian on what strength work actually does for a grappler — why the weight room is there to keep you training, what to lift, how little of it you need, and why most 'grappling-specific' exercises are a waste of your time.
Every gym says it's for everybody. Here's what we've actually built so that it's true — how the room works for beginners, for women, for people well past thirty — and where the honest limits are.
"Get genuinely good at grappling" is the first thing we say on the front page — so here's exactly what I mean by it: what good actually looks like, how we measure it, and the honest amount of work it takes.
Nervous about a first grappling class? Here's exactly what happens — what to wear, what the hour is shaped like, and what the rolling is really like — so nothing about day one catches you off guard.
I got demoted once — by one coach, for nothing to do with my skill. Here's what that taught me about how belts really work, and how we run rank at Rebel so it can never be used as a leash.
We don't bow, we don't run belt ceremonies, and we don't organise the room by rank. None of that is disrespect — it's us refusing to spend your training time on things that don't make you better.
No jacket to grab — just you, the person in front of you, and what actually works. Here's why I coach no-gi, and why it gets you good faster.
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