New Breed Training Center

Buckhead resident here (39M - married). It’s a good question, and one that I see getting asked more frequently in big cities like NYC and Chicago, as well as smaller regional centers with 100-500k populations. I think the challenge of meeting new people has less to do with the city/town itself and more to do with our society’s recent inability to wander into a “third place” and just shoot the shit with a stranger to the point that you may ask him/her if they wanted to hang out on the weekend. With that said, some places lend themselves more to these types of social interactions than others. source, 2025 ↗

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Also found this: In the April 1942 edition of *Western Horseman* magazine, horse owners were told that if they owned a mare, it was their patriotic duty to breed it. In Chicago, 3000 women on horseback trained to be part of the Military Order of Guards, a home-defense group that learned Jiu Jitsu and cavalry-style riding. [https://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunday-entertainment-spike-jones-song.html](https://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunday-entertainment-spike-jones-song.html) source, 2025 ↗

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Molinaro, double five Chicago, movemento, and Northside bjj all aren't too far. The biggest in the area that is new breed but they're just outside the city in Niles. Best nogi open mat is in lombard at 10th planet, just a fun suggestion. source, 2025 ↗

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Lots of good gyms in the area. There is u/serafin, there is new breed, valko, double five, uflacker, Southside, any of the redzovics, comprido, 10p chicago, 10p lombard, team kuma, vuk, pica pao, 3d mma, pure bjj. I've had experiences with almost all these gym or have friends that train there. Chicago really is a great city for bjj. source, 2024 ↗

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I trained MMA/BJJ for a year like ten years ago, it was a small school in the suburbs of Chicago. The grappling coach was an interesting guy, something was always off but he loved and was passionate about grappling/BJJ. I drove out to Indiana to support him and his MMA come up. He got TKO’d via equipment, he kept taking his moth piece out mid fight, and when the ref told him to put it in, he refused and the fight was called. Literally drove two hours to watch a guy lose because he decided fight night was a good day to use a new mouth guard for the first time and it was disrupting his breath source, 2024 ↗

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Doing Muay Thai and bjj in Chicago. A new Brazilian au pair chick who is in her early 20s came to bjj in like April. She lasted like a week before she started dating of the coaches who is at least 15 years older than her. These coaches are just all over any new girl student. source, 2024 ↗

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A few things! 1 - BJJ, my jujitsu class is a great place for meeting new interesting people. 2 - Salsa! My fiancé and I are taking salsa lessons and have had a ton of fun making casual friends there 3 - Music! I’m a part time musician, and have met plenty of friends going to jams, and gigging. 4 - Rec Beach Volleyball. Plenty of fun leagues in Chicago. My friend group is doing “Players”. 5 - Cooking classes. My fiancé and I had a ton of fun meeting people at a cooking class at Wooden Spoon. 7 - Comedy! My fiancé has met plenty of friends taking classes at second city and doi source, 2024 ↗

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Sometimes, the teacher makes a bigger difference than the style. If you are starting over, it might be worth trying something new. source, 2020 ↗

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