Hello! I'm Quartz, the creator and operator of the Post Black Belt app. It feels like it's been a while since I last posted—how has everyone been? In this post, I'd like to share my experience of visiting a foreign gym. Since this was just a short vacation, I couldn't train as many times as last time, but I'm excited to share the enjoyable memories I made, so I hope you have fun reading!

Why I Ended Up in Taipei

To be honest, my health has been in the "orange zone" for the past few weeks (or even months). A mix of stress, eating unhealthy food, and lack of sleep all piled up, resulting in acid reflux. At one point, I even fainted and broke a tile in the bathroom with my forehead. While it sounds quite serious on paper (it was actually worse since I also chipped a tooth, haha), when I saw the picture of the broken tile, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. 😂

I don't know if it was because I pushed myself too hard this year or if my self-imposed overwork (lol) finally caught up with me, but I felt like I was getting close to giving a high five to King Yama, so I decided to take a break. I wanted to travel abroad, but I wasn’t in the condition to endure a long flight, so I chose Taiwan, which is only about a two-hour flight from Korea. I used a few vacation days over a long weekend and ended up spending six days and five nights in Taipei.

Gym Visit

Choosing the Gym

This time, I trained at Taiwan Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Academy. I was debating whether to go to Taipei or Kaohsiung, but after hearing that my instructor had previously visited a gym in Taipei, I made my decision. One of the perks(?) of training abroad is that you can center your trip around gym locations, making it easier to narrow down your options. 😎

The class schedule is well laid out on their official site, and my first training session was a Beginner & Open Mat class at 12:30 PM on Sunday. If you’re planning to visit, you can contact them via Instagram, and the training fee is 800 TWD per day (about $25 or 30,000 KRW). You can also rent a gi, and there are separate fees for morning and afternoon classes.

The First Class

I got a little lost trying to find the gym, but it’s located on the basement floor. After carrying your shoes down the stairs, there’s a shoe rack on the left. The gym is fairly large, with a reception desk, showers, and lockers. Since it was a class held after the kids' session, many families were there, and one of the members mentioned that sometimes there are over 40 people. On the day I visited, fewer people were there, as many were attending the Nagoya tournament.

Do you know what the most important thing is on the first day of training at a new gym? One of the key skills, in my opinion, is reading the room. 😆 After an embarrassing experience at a gym in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I lined up without thinking and ended up being the first to lead the warm-up, I now make sure to position myself behind the colored belts and observe. There were two mats, and it seemed like people would bow to the mat before entering. There was no formal warm-up, and the class started right on time.

The beginner class on Sunday was led by a blue belt instructor. At first, the class was conducted in Chinese, which threw me off a bit, but he switched to English throughout, so it was easy to follow. Even if you don’t speak the language, you can usually understand if you know jiu-jitsu terms. The lesson covered open guard recovery, a sweep from De La Riva, and combination submissions like transitioning from triangle to straight armbar, wristlock, and punch choke. These were techniques I often use, but I also learned some unique techniques from this gym, which made it even more enjoyable.

The class lasted a full hour, and afterward, there was free sparring during the open mat session. When the class ended, we lined up and greeted each other, lightly bumping arms and saying "謝謝 (Xièxiè)." It was interesting to see different styles of wrapping up depending on the instructor's nationality and style 🇹🇼.

Sparring Time

Sparring sessions were 5 minutes each, and as always, eye contact was the signal to start. Since there were many higher belts, most of them took it easy on me, and I had a great time. There were a few teenage practitioners with yellow and gray belts, and when I asked later, I found out they had been training for 5 and 7 years, respectively. They train almost every evening, and it was unfortunate that I only got to see them once due to my schedule. I even boasted about having two stripes to the younger kids (shameless adult, haha). One of the kids was wearing a Korean Primit gi, and when I asked his mom, she said it was a gift. I also spotted a few other members wearing Korean gi brands, which made me feel a bit proud. I wore a Shoyoroll gi, haha.

After sparring, I chatted with a member from Australia, who told me that the intermediate class on Tuesday would be taught by a Japanese brown belt instructor who had just returned from the Nagoya tournament. I wasn’t sure how many more sessions I could attend due to my condition, but based on his recommendation, I decided I had to go.

Exploring Taipei

Even though I came to Taiwan to recover my health, my acid reflux hadn’t fully healed yet. Still, I indulged in some flour-based dishes, beer, and coffee to get into the vacation spirit. The way they served coffee, like traditional herbal medicine, was rich and delicious. 🤩

Taipei has an excellent public bike system and bike lanes. Although I love walking and didn’t use a bike, a local member highly recommended cycling around the city. Maybe I’ll give it a try on my next visit.

Wrapping Up

Why I'm Building Post Black Belt

These days, I don’t find jiu-jitsu as insanely fun as I used to. Even so, I continue to invest my time and energy into this app because I want to make training more enjoyable and help people create meaningful memories through jiu-jitsu. Until about a year ago, I was building this app to help myself "get better" at jiu-jitsu, but lately, I've shifted my mindset to focus on how I can "record happy memories" and practice jiu-jitsu for the long term. I guess you could say it’s the typical blue belt jiu-jitsu slump... haha 🤣

One of the reasons I initially fell in love with jiu-jitsu was the "Win or Learn" mindset, but as time passed, I started feeling more pressured by competition and grew distant due to injuries. When I train at gyms abroad, I approach sparring with a lighter, more relaxed attitude, and it helps refresh my mindset. Although the year is almost over, I’m planning to focus on developing features in Post Black Belt that make jiu-jitsu more enjoyable and fun.

Update News / Future Plans

Recently, we had our first update in about a month. I added features I wanted to use during my Taiwan trip It’s the photo storage feature that many of you have been requesting for a long time. To better utilize this feature, I’ve added a timeline tab.

This feature is available only to Post Black Belt premium subscribers. While this decision was made partly for monetization, it’s also about sustaining the app in the long run. Running an app solo comes with significant costs, and features like photo uploads, unlimited journaling, and search capabilities are offered as premium features to help cover those expenses. Although it may cause some inconvenience, I hope you can understand that these choices are made to ensure the longevity of the service. For similar reasons, photo upload quality was initially limited, but I found it too inconvenient myself, so I’ve upgraded it to high quality. If you have any feedback or issues, feel free to reach out anytime!

To the users who subscribe to Post Black Belt, I want to take this moment to sincerely thank you. I’m working hard to make this app like a cup of rich coffee☕️—a small source of joy and happiness in your jiu-jitsu journey. Please stay tuned, and I’ll be back with Part 2 of my Taiwan jiu-jitsu travel diary 😎.