I’ve been asked several times by people new to Korea as to which gym they should join. I find myself giving the same advice consistently, so I thought I’d post it up here. Hopefully you’ll find it helpful!
If you are going to train in Korea, I recommend you join the Korea Jiu Jitsu Facebook Group, which is very cool and not affiliated with any particular alliance. One of the guys made this map of Jiu Jitsu academies near Seoul. One option is simply to choose the academy closest to you, but if you’re in the heart of Seoul, you have several choices.
[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=212829735949346684073.0004c2b2adbce6ae93ae4&ll=36.395442,127.965682&spn=2.518669,2.264685&t=m&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
If you’re a soldier stationed at Yongsan, you can grapple on Yongsan, but from what I understand, it’s not a structured class, more of an open mat. There’s a Yongsan Grappling Facebook group.
Aside from that, my two general recommendations to people are usually to either join Korea BJJ Academy or a John Frankl affiliated gym. Yes, there are other affiliations, but these are the ones I’m most familiar with.
Why Korea BJJ Academy? It’s headed by Hee Sung Lee, 1st degree black belt, who was one of the first Koreans to become a black belt. He’s promoted up to brown, and has several good upper belt students – several purples, browns, etc. So if you are a brown or purple belt, you’ve got more chance to roll with people better than you. This is, I believe, the oldest academy in Korea, which is why they have a higher amount of upper belts.
Why John Frankl? The instructors at John Frankl schools are all students of John Frankl. Most of them are run by black belts. Each of these schools is newer because his students went forth and started their own academies rather than all staying in one location. However, in order for the instructors to continue improving, there are weekend team trainings at Apgujeong available FREE for JF students, and there are regularly 4-5 black belts, several browns and a large number of purples who train. The weekend classes are usually taught by John Frankl or Steve Capener, and it’s one of the few times in Korea when you can train with black belts as fellow students.
I also appreciate that in the JF academies, the teachers generally pair the students for sparring. My first academy did not, and I often felt like an outsider, or like the ugly girl at the dance that no one wanted to dance with. When the instructor chooses for you, it alleviates that, and people don’t refuse to roll with you. It’s a small thing, but a good thing and promotes teamwork rather than small cliques.
Most of the schools I’ve been to in Seoul have had a wonderful comradery and have promoted a teamwork and gym rolling rather than super competitive, aggressive style of rolling. I had a bad experience at one gym, but I’d prefer not to write about that here. You can message me if you need details about that.
I wouldn’t be too worried if the class is all in Korean. There are a lot of expats who train in Korea, so the instructors and students are used to people who can’t speak Korean. In general there are usually a couple of bilingual students, so if you need a translation you can usually find one. I also find that the instructions are physically clear. My instructor teaches in all Korean, but I don’t have trouble following his directions.
If you’re a woman, you may be interested in finding a gym with more women. Unfortunately, as with many jiu jitsu academies around the world, we’re few and far between. I think my gym has 5-6 women total, and usually you’ll see another female face or two. In Seoul, I’ve been treated very well by the male students, and have always cared about my teammates.
I would recommend you try out the different schools. First, figure out what is most important to you? For me it comes down to more social aspects: which make me feel the most welcome? Which instructor remembers my name? How did people roll with me? For you it may be straight up where are the highest belts, or which have the most competitive rolls. In many ways, choosing a gym is like getting married – the jiu jitsu community is small enough that you will run into the same faces consistently, so choose wisely, padowan!
Oh, and if you need a gi, you can usually buy one at your academy or go to the Isami store!
[…] that you will feel excluded I felt like the ugly girl at a school dance when I started. It felt like no one wanted to be partnered with the fat girl. And maybe it’s true, but […]
hey, about hee sung lee. there’s a lot of bad rumors that he’s assaulted female students at his school. i don’t know if this is true or not but ppl need to know that this is out there. if anyone knows anything about this pleas post it. this stuff is importment and we shouldnt sweep it under the rug. please help.
I had heard some rumors about him, which is why I stopped recommending his academy, but not enough to write any accusation on my blog.
yeah, its kind of a difficult thing to deal with. in korea, there’s a big stigma on women that are victims of sexual aasault so a lot of it doesn’t get reported. and i think a lot of rapists rely on this. but i’ve heard from some pretty reliable and multiple sources that something is not right at Korea BJJ Academy. i’ve also heard he can act really aggressively to anyone who talks about this like he’ll come after them for slander.
women should at least know the rumors so they can protect themselves if they think they’re at risk. i’ve heard that Hee Sung Lee will force certain female student to take rides from him home, then that is when stuff happens. in korea, a lot of the bjj gyms go drinking together and have parties so there is definitely opportunities for things to happen.
thank you for allowing this comment on your site. i don’t want to spread bad rumors about anyone but its not right for the bjj community to make this a taboo topic. especially in a place like korea where the system doesn’t deal with these kinds of situations.
bjj is great and its great for women too. we need to protect that
Any information about gyms in Suwon? I am currently moving to South Korea and I`d love to get in toush with BJJ practitioners there…
Suwon is fairly close to the air force base (iirc). There was a Saulo school there on base when I lived in Korea.
Was it inside the base? Isn’t it just for the air force guys?
Hi I will be moving to Korean January 3rd 2017 train right now under Ralph Gracie San Francisco for years and Atos San Diego for one year I am looking for a place to train in Seoul more of a competition style training thank you
Hey Edward! Congrats on your move. In the time I was there, I found that the John Frankl team was very active. DK in Itaewon was particularly active in the competition team. If you check out his school, you can ask him if he still competes. Holy moly they were crazy on pressure! He might be able to point you into a more competitive school if it’s not a good fit.
Hi There. I read your post about the Jujitsu academies. it was really informative and useful, Thanks for putting it up. Im definitely looking to train in BJJ and really am looking to try and master this skill set. Im an english teacher and i live in Namyangju area. about 40 minutes from Jamsil. im looking to find a good John Frankyl academy to join thats within commuting distance. on the weekends. right now the John Frankyl website is down so i cant see the locations and training times. could you send a link for any good places near Jamsil or Gangnam?
Hi Andrew, the academies are John Frankl (not Frankyl), which might be why your websites are down.
The Korea Jiu Jitsu group gave you the map, and the map is on this article as well. I don’t know if you read Hangul. It’s incredibly helpful, and it takes a day or two to learn the letters, and it’s completely worth your time if you’re living in Korea.
I send the suggestion to go to Sinsa. I also liked the Apgujeong gym. I haven’t lived in Korea since 2012, but I’m pretty sure it’s still there.