On Sundays at 11:00 am Guillobel Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in San Clemente has its open mat.  What makes this special is that this open mat is available for ANYONE who trains BJJ and not limited to Guillobel students.  We’ve been doing this open mat for about 6 months and it has had a positive effect on whoever has been attending.  Having people come from other gyms exposes everyone to different styles, especially on the practitioner who isn’t used to training Gi (although, you can practice without one, too). It’s the next best thing to going to a tournament.  When you train at one gym you usually train with the same people who understand your jiu-jitsu all too well. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but training with new partners (especially from other gyms) presents new challenges and an opportunity to discover a fresh game and vice versa.  The vibe in the gym is relaxed and mellow.  The day usually starts with light warm ups and morning conversation.  Some people train hard, some people train easy.  Personally, this blogger digs Sunday and uses it as a technique day.  It’s a great way to make sure your game is on point or if you miss a training day that week.  The people who have been stopping by on open-mat Sundays who don’t’ normally train at Guillobel have been awesome.  We’re really grateful for bringing something different to our gym every week. It never gets boring.   If there’s anything that we try to foster it’s a sense of community.   Practicing JiuJitsu attracts many individuals who choose jiu-jitsu to express themselves and everyone expresses themselves different.  Again, this open mat is every Sunday at 11:00am and is available to anyone.  We really encourage anyone and everyone who already trains jiu-jitsu to come down, hang out and train with us.  You don’t need to be a student at Guillobel.  You just need to come in and sign a waiver.  Did we mention that it’s free? It’s free.