Gracie Barra Bellevue

I work in western Washington, north of King County. I would advise you to deep dive into WA state criminal law. Google for a few weeks to get a feel of what policing in WA state is like, which is vastly different than nearly every other state, other than Oregon. Kent and bellevue are complete and polar opposite cities and departments. Figure out if you want to pursue vehicles, probably fight people every day, and work a murder every other night (Kent PD), or if you want a hot towel and an acai bowl after your department provided jiu-jitsu session while working on duty (Bellevue PD). The ch source, 2025 ↗

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10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Seattle (really in Bellevue though). Good team, positive environment. source, 2025 ↗

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Seattle is a very large area with famously bad traffic during rush hours, so unless you keep a weird schedule or are willing to spend a lot of time in your car, you'll be limited by where you live and work. 10th planet Seattle which is really in Bellevue. Nathan is by far the toughest guy I've ever rolled with and is really fun as a teacher. Seattle jiu jitsu academy in the stadium district is a really cool space, professor stegman is a savage and they have a very serious competition culture, mostly in the gi Marcelo Alonso the original black belt in PNW, in the U-District I've not trained source, 2024 ↗

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How is my attitude fucked up? Have you seen cops try to subdue a suspect. It’s fucking embarrassing. They should all be trained in wrestling or jiu jitsu. And yea they should make an effort to protect the community. The thing about herding cats I don’t understand. What I do understand is that the people of Seattle have such different priorities and thought processes that it likely hinders results in the name of being pRoGrEsSiVe. source, 2023 ↗

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Ten Kicks up in Bitter Lake, or any other reasonably reputable MMA gym, will prepare you better than about 99% of all spots. I've personally liked them, Mat Chess, and a few others when I've been in the area. Muaythai Iyarin / Renzo Gracie Seattle (they are in the same space if I recall correctly) are also pretty damn good, or used to be. Being able to both strike and grapple is generally better from a self defense perspective (I'd argue) than either one by itself, but a straight kickboxing gym or grappling gym is also probably fine. Marcelo Alonso and Brian Johnson's Northwest BJJ Academy and source, 2023 ↗

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I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m glad you’re thinking about ways to stay safer and empower yourself through self-defense. I got attacked by a random guy on the street and started taking Jiu-Jitsu classes, specifically for women’s self defense. Even after a few classes I felt more confident in my ability to defend myself. The school I go to is the Gracie Academy in West Seattle. You learn the 15 most common attacks women face and how to escape, plus some really cool submissions. They do a 10 day free trial, so you can check it out with no pressure to sign up. I highly recommend to all wom source, 2023 ↗

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>If you’re new to jiu jitsu or have been training I HIGHLY recommend coming to train at Gracie Barra Seattle. You will be welcomed with open arms 🤙🏾 The last time I attended a class there a couple months ago I heard the instructor I'm talking about say to an Asian student "I couldn't do that because I'm not Asian so I don't have a tiny penis", I've heard him say other offensive things (and been told by 2 others), some of which were homophobic. If you haven't experienced that, great, I hope you never do. But I heard/saw it happen several times and after sitting on it for a couple months I g source, 2022 ↗

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West Seattle is tough since the bridge closure. CAA might be willing to put more nogi on the schedule if asked and other folks showed interest. Worth trying. Otherwise, you’re kinda stuck commuting either to downtown, eastside, or south. And that’s gonna be a tough 30-45 minutes unless you’re already making the commute and it’s on your way home. Edit to add: Schools in Seattle downtown with more than 2 nogi classes are gonna include: * Renzo Gracie Seattle in North Queen Anne * Ivan Salaverry’s in SLU * Mat Chess MMA in Ravenna If you’re okay with only training 3 times a week or so, th source, 2022 ↗

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