CONTACT: Gabrielle Drinard
(415) 722-2762 or Gabrielle@alivemma.com
ALIVE MIXED MARTIAL ARTS, A VERY DIFFERENT GYM
Ever Try to Pay for a Gym Membership with Vegetables?
Portland, OR - Walk into Alive Mixed Martial Arts/Brazilian Top Team Jiu-Jitsu on South East Woodstock Boulevard and you’ll see plenty of what’s expected from an Mixed Martial Arts gym—athletes wrestling, playing Judo or Jiu-jitsu, boxing, and kickboxing. Then, a charismatic man with cauliflower ears welcomes you in an almost suspiciously warm manner. Next, you start noticing things like the basked of fruit and bread at the front counter, free to anyone that might need it. In fact, depending upon whether the catch has been good, there may literally be loaves and fishes there to be shared.
Longtime coach Bill Bradley opened Alive MMA last February with a great deal of good will but very little capital in the depths of the Great Recession. More than a few members had lost their jobs, and given notice to terminate their membership, only to be offered “union-wage work trade” building the gym community. Mobilizing his background in economics, social work, union, community, and cooperative organizing, the former founder of the Red and Black Cafe and Portland Collective Housing has been able to build his new gym from scratch as an exercise in what he calls “Venture Communism,” along the “Tough Times gym model.” Naturally, when a paying job comes to his attention, Bradley takes note and consults his mental member list to think who should know about it. It’s kind of like an informal employment agency, with sweat all over it.
“This is where really seeing people pays off,” Bradley smiles, “I start noting people’s talents, abilities, and interests, from the moment they walk in the door. Some communities raise barns; ours remodeled the old machine shop into a fully functional weight room, fashioned a massage space, and built a beautiful sauna.” Likewise, there is a farmer who pays his dues in the form of produce for other members and a tattoo artist who expertly administers free ink to members every month. Established instructors pay for their membership through teaching classes on by far the most extensive schedule in town (see for yourself at alivemma.com)
“People in or out of work, over-or-under-
Beyond fighting, Bradley is constantly expanding gym ventures to match member and community needs, for example by founding AMMA Least Force Necessary Tactical Security or by joining with Allegra Drum Crafters, next door, to launch a cage manufacturing enterprise. There’s a class on the schedule called “Adaptive Movement”, which was originally made up for his mother-in-law to make exercise fun for seniors. A Google calendar is being created for female gym members to facilitate finding a like-gendered workout buddy. Alive MMA has also been key in helping to re-shape not only the bodies of its members but in some cases, their whole life missions. Some members have moved from obesity to fighting trim, from substance abuse to healthy recovery, or from depression to active engagement in a vibrant community.
Alive MMA even hosts its own monthly grappling tournaments and cage fighting productions, including Milwaukie MMA/First Friday Fights, held monthly at the Milwaukie Elks Lodge. At this intimate setting, site of decades of Golden Gloves Boxing, Bradley reveals yet another surprise, a past career as a radical stand up comic. The result has been called the most unique and entertaining mixed martial arts production in memory, where the “fun” has been put back into “functional self-defense.”
Alive MMA is located at 5607 SE Woodstock Boulevard in Portland. For class information, please contact 740-3004 or visit www.alivemma.com. For media inquiries, please 415/722-2762.
