Gracie Barra Pelham Alabama | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu | Self-Defense — Local services in Pelham

10 Stars if I could!! Very Clean! I just can’t say enough about this business. It all starts with the owner Professor Kaliffa Oliveria. He treats every student and customer with respect, understanding, patience and kindness. The Instructors and Professors are Amazing! Starting with Instructor John in GB1. He is very patient, teaches in a step by step approach which is very helpful and is just a friendly guy! Professor Leo teaches the kids and also some GB1 classes. He always has a positive attitude, always has a smile on his face and you can tell has a genuine love for teaching kids! Professor Pedro teaches mostly the GB2 classes. He also always has a positive attitude, a deep understanding of BJJ and is overall just a great guy! Saying all that I do understand that Professor Leo and Pedro are from Brazil and english is not there first language so now and then a word may get lost in translation. If that bothers you I would suggest exercising some humility and meet them halfway in learning some Portuguese seeing that it is the native language of BJJ and can only help. Your not going to find a perfect instructor or teacher but there pretty close! The people at the front desk which for most part is Mrs Lindsey is very hardworking, will help you with whatever you may need and is very prompt in responding to any questions you may have. Also inside the facility there is a gym that is ran by Mr. Greg and is a Great place to workout! Just a...

I went to Gracie Barra to inquire about taking bjj classes. Honestly, my experience was pretty bad all around. I felt like the young lady was very pushy on trying to sell me on classes even after I told her that the class times didn't really work for me. I told her I'd need to consult with my significant other before I agreed to commit to 3 months of classes... I let her take my information with the agreement that my card would not he charged unless I told her I had decided to go ahead with the commitment. She didn't charge me for the classes but did charge me for the uniform. My thing is, why would i be ok with paying for the uniform if I hadn't agreed to even take the classes yet? I admit I was very confused as to why she was sending the uniform home with me in the first place. I guess it's a sales tactic to get you to go ahead and sign up. You've already paid $80 bucks and been given a uniform... hard to opt out after you've done that. Honestly I was interested in taking the classes until this situation came to be. Once I realized what was going on I decided check out a different gym. I would suggest you checking out a different place to start training martial arts.

Side note: the entire time I was there the guy runs the gym was giving me the dirtiest looks. Or at least that's how it came across. I was extremely uncomfortable the entire time...

I'm coming up on a year of training at Grace Barra - Pelham and I cannot express enough how grateful I am that I took that first step into this sport and into this gym. I could go on and on about the physical and mental benefits Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has given me, but I want to really focus on the great work done here on a daily basis by this Pelham team.

I've been able to visit a handful of other Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies, and none have met the high quality of standard and care that is shown here at the Pelham location.

The facilities are always immaculate and clean including the mats, the bathrooms, and the showers. As a working professional this is extremely important to me because I often leave straight from practice to work.

The staff are genuine and were a great resource for me to help me feel comfortable taking on this new endeavor.

The instructors offer world class instruction and all of them have the heart of a teacher and show tremendous passion and interest for the art and their students. My five year old also wanted to start classes and LOVES his professors.

This sport has changed my life for the better, and I am 100% convinced there is no better facility or staff to have helped me make it one year in and I look forward to many more to come with the team at Gracie...