Straight Blast Gym

12/22/07

Not my experience at all... Great gym, great value

Contributor at Insider Pages

- Recent remodel

- All new mats

- Competitive instructors

Great community spirit.

Classes in BJJ, Western boxing and clinch. Gi and No GI.

Open 7 days a week.

10/28/09

Best in Portland

by BurgerKorg at Citysearch

I've trained at Straight Blast for just over a year now, and I can't sing it's praises enough. It has truly changed my life. Learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

If you're not familiar with what goes on on the mat in BJJ, you are in for a treat. It's like . . . ballet, or gymnastics, or any other area of life where the physical body somehow manages to create art out of it's our movements. And it is TRUE, in that way that so few things are these days. It is REAL. You will sweat, and grunt, and run out of breath.You will submit, and be submitted. And you will love every minute of it.

But why should you train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Straight Blast? Because of the welcoming, humble, ego-free environment. The attitude is more like an old-school athletic club than some gym full of tattooed young hotheads. Some guys are young and out of shape, some guys are old and in shape. Ages go from 5-55. If you want to get in better shape, take the Combat Conditioning classes. You want to punch? Take boxing. If you want to mix it up, take the wrestling and MMA clases. Or, just come to one class a week, they're all equally common routines.

It's hard to explain, but Straight Blast is just a bit more cerebral than some other gyms in the area. For example, I've never seen a single Affliction or Xtreme Couture shirt at the gym. Honestly. Swear to God. If other gyms drank Red Bull, we'd be sipping an espresso. If other gyms drove a big truck, we'd ride a Triumph. Other gyms might be in the suburbs, we're in the middle of the city, rocking steady.

I've lived here for 26 years. This is THE Portland BJJ/MMA gym., accept no substitutes. Get in here and check it out.

PS: It's on 43rd and Sandy now, it expanded. Update the address!

• Pros: Fantastic coaching, easy to learn
• Cons: Not a damn thing

06/03/08

Great gym for me...

by pantophobia at Citysearch

I trained for a couple of weeks while in town on business. It is a nice gym. Lots of mats and a ring in the back. Some weights and heavy bags. I took some clinch classes and boxing classes. I wanted to do the bjj as that was what I heard the gym was known for but got busy with work. I really enjoyed the way the classes were run and enjoyed the instructors and staffs laid-back friendly attitude. I recommend this gym.

• Pros: Nice mats, lots of classes and coaches
• Cons: Not much gear for sale

06/03/08

Fantastic school!

by alanroberts29 at Citysearch

Wow, I really don't know where that last review could have come from? But I guess that is something that you can expect from anonymous accounts, or competitors? Very weird.

I have trained at this school for almost two years now. It has been one of the best things in my life.

The gym was re-modeled about a six months ago and has wall to wall mats. The mats and training area are spotless, and washed several times a day. The instructors are all top notch people. They are the only BJJ school in Oregon that features multiple BJJ black and brown belts. Everyone has been super cool with me. And the community itself is really supportive. Everyone seems to make an effort to be friendly and help newcomers. As someone that doesn't come from an athletic background I was really happy with the way the classes were taught. I was able to keep up, and feel myself improving. I felt welcomed right away.

I can't recommend this school enough. Come in and check it out for yourself. It's world class for sure!

• Pros: Nice people, world class instruction, clean facility.

05/25/08

Disorganized, horrible experience, don't recommend

by 13dragonflys at Citysearch

This place is dirty and a useless waste of time- CLEAN YOUR MATS SICKOS! The instructors don't really teach, because they are lazy, ragging alcoholics. DO NOT GO HERE! Disorganized instructors and management.

• Cons: dirty, disorganized

04/16/08

This gym is respected internationally - Pro and amateur MMA Fighters worldwide travel to it for training - Couture, Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Adam and Rory Singer and many more all trained here.

by stlouismmaclub at Citysearch

I live in St. Louis MO, and in 2003 I went to my first Straight Blast Gym seminar. I was blown away not only by the level of instruction and coaching ability - but also by the community and fellowship amongst the coaches, instructors and fighters attending. Boxing, BJJ, and wrestling are made up of a series of movements and reactions - these movements are understandings that a person gains from practice and good coaching. Coaching ability does not necessarily come with fighting ability - lots of fighters cannot truly coach a beginner.. not well, anyway.

At Straight Blast Gym, a high level of attention is given to teaching coaches HOW TO COACH. When you attend a seminar, you see guys with purple belts from other schools commenting that they "learned more here than they have in the past couple of month of their own training organization." I heard people saying that , personally. And *I* learned LOADS about combat sport in those two days. Loads.

In 2005 I left everything behind and moved to Portland. I didn't have much money for it, and I didn't know how it would turn out - but I left anyway. Even with a couple of Gracie schools in my area, I couldn't find anything that compared to the coaching available at Portland SBG. I was only in Portland six months before returning to Missouri. But while there I learned so much about MMA - not just the techniques of MMA but HOW TO TRAIN.

I see some of the negative reviews below and I wonder if they are genuine. The school has a great informal atmosphere. There is no weird ritual of bowing to the teacher. You learn as much as you want to learn. If you show up regularly and devote your attention you are bound to advance - and faster due to the informal environment allowing more flexibility in your training. I really liked that.

Look around the web at the other reviews of SBG on martial art forums and the like. They are all OVERWHELMINGLY positive. It's a great gym.

• Pros: Professional level, internationally recognized MMA instruction at a great price, fun, community, fitness, flexibility
• Cons: I loved it. My only complaint is that I live several states away from it now.

04/15/08

Best sports experience of my life!

by jumpjive at Citysearch

As someone with no previous martial arts or wrestling experience I was a bit hesitant to start classes. And as a female I was a little concerned that the environment may be a bit too macho for me. But training at sbg has been one of the most positive experiences of my move to Portland!

The gym staff is great, everyone is so friendly and the classes are taught in a manner that makes the whole thing fun. The owner Matt Thornton is a great teacher and still teaches basic classes every week. The other coaches are also really good, and they all try hard to help new people. As an educator myself I have to say they all seem to have a really solid understanding of how to communicate and teach.

I highly recommend sbg to everyone, you will love it!

11/22/07

The Best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA in Portland!

by dnd007 at Citysearch

The gym has been recently remodeled with new mats, and they are putting up a cage and putting the boxing ring in the back. The gym itself is a great family atmosphere, defenatly does not feel like a 24 hour fitness which the previous gym I trained at felt like.I have the pleasure to train with the world renowned Matt Thornton a second degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and one of the best MMA coaches. All the coaches are talented and i improved at a drastic rate! this is a great gym to learn all ranges stand up, clinch, and ground. All the members and coaches are really friendly and you learn a lot just from your partners. There are no egos at the gym and the feel is truly like family.

• Pros: Great Instruction, Training with Matt Thornton, Completly Remodeled Gym, Family Atmosphere.
• Cons: Might be a little pricey, but it is worth it.

08/19/07

Nice staff, disorganized program

by stripp at Citysearch

I briefly tried SBG, but was super disappointed with almost my entire experience there. They require a large fee up front to "join" the gym in addition to other monthly fees. The staff I met (including owner Matt T) were very friendly, but there was absolutely no organization whatsoever to the training regimen or classes. I was put with someone for a brief one on one training the first time I was there, and then just thrown into a class after that. There didn't seem to be any real help for beginners, and when I inquired more than once about a class series that would teach things in some sort of organized sequence, I kept getting told that one would be starting "in a few months." The owner was very understanding when I explained to him how uncomfortable (as a female with only a moderate amount of past kickboxing experience) I was feeling there, and offered me some private training time with the gym manager. The manager however, then never bothered to show up for the appointment time we set up. Needless to say, I quit going not long after that. I think my up front investment was the biggest waste of money I have ever spent on a gym/fitness class etc, as I feel like I got almost nothing for it.

• Pros: friendly staff
• Cons: disorganzied management, inconsistent instruction, expensive

06/26/07

A Seedy Gym in a Seedy Part of Town

by wormpaste at Citysearch

I have been a member of this gym for several years. It is very low value and the gym and equipment are in various states of disrepair. The owner, Matt Thorton, is extremely talented and provides excellent instruction, but he is never there. The instructor turn-around is very high, there is a different person each week with no consistent training routine. Some of the instructors are very unskilled and unsafe. After being a member of the gym for several years I felt it impossible to get any individualized attention or for even Matt to remember my name. I guess I sucked, but on the other hand I never did pay over $3000 to become a member of the inner circle "The ICC". Unless you paid that money out, you never got any real attention or individualized skills training, you just pay a hundred bucks a month to wrestle around with a bunch of sweaty, unskilled guys in a poorly maintained gym in a troubled neighborhood. I bet it was a good gym at one point of time but not anymore as the founder, Matt Thorton, just doesnt seem to care.

• Pros: Good exercise
• Cons: Poor management and poor facilities