Gracie University

[graciejj2000]

I would check out he first school for sure...Training with a Pedro Sauer BB for $35 a month!?!?! thats an unbelievable deal.

Thanks Rufio for finding those schools. I wasn't aware of most of them. I looked into the Pound 4 Pound Jiu Jitsu and I think I'll go check them out, as well as continue working my Gracie Combatives.

Avenged- It seems that there is a purple belt and blue belt there teaching. The Pedro Sauer BB is out of Utah and comes down once in a while to visit. That's better than nothing though!

[The Don]

see there is always someone near by if you look and or ask others who may have better resources for locating schools.

[CDRPyro]

A purple belt will be able to teach you infinitely more than a video. Provided, of course, they can actually teach.

[Rufio]

At my school there were 4 purples and nothing more when I started. One was moved up to a brown belt recently. At a white belt stage, you really dont need to learn from a black belt. It wont hurt, but a purple can convey the basics while correcting you on your technique.

Glad I could help.

[Mdrnsamurai]

Gracie University is exactly how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu started. So why not return to it's roots? Brazilian Jiu Jitsu isn't and shouldn't be about Rank or who your Instructor is. It's about the training. Kodokan Judo started with Four (4) members so by having Eight (8) guys in your garage your ahead of the game. Best of Luck to you guys! Gracie Combatives is a good thing.

Train Hard, Stay Safe,
Good Luck

[CDRPyro]

Gracie University is exactly how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu started. So why not return to it's roots? Brazilian Jiu Jitsu isn't and shouldn't be about Rank or who your Instructor is. It's about the training. Kodokan Judo started with Four (4) members so by having Eight (8) guys in your garage your ahead of the game. Best of Luck to you guys! Gracie Combatives is a good thing.

Train Hard, Stay Safe,
Good Luck

I agree it's not about your rank or pedigree but regardless of the number of people you have, without someone who knows what they're doing it's the blind leading the blind. I had a guy come into class last night who had been training with his friends via videos and they started a Gracie Garage and have been training Gracie Combatives for almost a year. The guy had zero base. I must have swept him 20 times in a 5 minute period simply because he's never had someone who could test his base. I went knee on belly on him and he said he just normally throws people off from there. Unfortunately for him he spent a good amount of time under said knee. Again, because he's never had someone who had the good balance like I do and like my instructor did with me. I'm not saying Gracie Combatives is bad, not at all. I just think it gives people a false sense of security. It should be used as a supplement to training not as an instruction manual.

[360OmApLaTa]

i agree completly

[graciejj2000]

The way they have us hold class is exactly as they do at the Gracie Academy in Torrance. The whole point to everything we learn is gearing us to perform these techniques against someone who does not know jiu jitsu. It's completely focused on street self defense and focuses on not being able to be punched 100% of the time. One interesting note about the way we train is that they recommend we don't roll like a normal class, as they don't want us learning bad habits that we'll have to break down the road when we do start full on rolling. (We being white belts during the Gracie Combatives curriculum) Right now the focus is 100% on technique and a more focused way of sparring called the Reflex Development Drills and Fight Simulation Drills Here's our class process, please feel free to mention how you guys do class, I'd be interested to read it.

Here's how our class process goes:

Class begins by watching the instructors video lesson and then after each splice of video we practice the technique. While performing the technique we have a looping video of them performing the technique on the monitor so that we can look up and watch it if we need to. This ensures that we are doing it right. If we still have questions there is a forum that we can post to that they will answer our questions. After the technique portion we begin reflex development.

How the reflex development drill portion works is like this. So two people start and the "bad guy" attacks the "good guy", and as the GG gets better at the techniqe the BG will increase intensity and resistance to the techniqe. The BG will only attack within the limits of giving indicators to moves the GG already learned. After this we begin the fight simulation portion of class.

In the fight simulation portion we run through scenario's that could happen in a fight, and we string certain techniques we have already learned in a sequence to finish the mock fight. This more than anything isn't sparring, but just gives us practice at stringing techniques we've learned so far together so we can understand the flow and transition between techniques.

Once we've mastered the 36 techniques in the combatives curriculum we can video tape and upload ourselves performing the blue belt qualification process to them. I will just go down there and test in person though. Once we move into the Master Cycle (blue belt - black belt curriculum) then we will begin doing more actual sparring.

So it doesn't amaze me that the gentleman who had been training for a year in the GU got sweeped by CDYRPYRO multiple times, because he probably wasn't sparring like everyone else in the jiu jitsu world spars, he probably had very little experience in actual regular sparring. And everything he knows is geared to using the stuff he knows against a person who doesn't know jiu jitsu. Learning the counters to techniques and learning to out do your jiu jitsu brother is learned in the Master Cycle.

Anyway, I see everyone's oppinion above regarding having an instructor who has higher knowledge teach us, and I couldn't agree more. I wish there was someone who was more skilled working through the Gracie Combatives with us, we would learn much faster. One thing not having a higher belt does for us is cause us to have conversations between each other regarding techniques, and exploring the reason why things are the way they are. Along with the forums to answer our questions it works pretty well.

How do you guys hold class?

[Rufio]

Classes are always: 15 min warm up, 35 min technique, and 40+ min of rolling

Rolling is where you learn and get punished for your mistakes. Everyone develops bad habits, but most of them get dropped quickly because people know how to capitalize on them. Not rolling causes you to know a lot of techniques, but no practical experience using them. It could be compared to a doctor going to school and never practicing, then wanting to jump right in to an open heart surgery. You wont be nearly as proficient as if you had been practicing the whole time. The reason most people have a problem with G.Combatives is because of what you just said. Not rolling untill you get your blue belt? At a blue belt, people have been rolling for 1-2 years at 3x per week most of the time. I worked out the math and that is 78 hours if you only roll for 1/2 and hour for one year. That is a lot of experience.

Gearing towards someone who doesn't know BJJ isn't a smart idea anymore. 15-20 years ago it would have, but not anymore. Every drunk idiot at the bar has watched the UFC at one point or another and knows something about BJJ. If you train against someone who knows what they are doing, then the people who don't know what they are doing will be easier to handle. Think of it as preparing to fight BJ Penn and then fighting some amateur. You would always be better off preparing for someone who does know what they are doing.

Once again, I never want to criticize a person and what they are doing, but no rolling experience is crazy. You need the rolling experience, and a lot of it if you want to get experience.

[graciejj2000]

I think the way the combatives classes are layed out I will be effective against someone who doesn't know jiu jitsu. Even though reflex development drills aren't regular sparring, they are still sparring. It's just that the bad guy has to stay within certain boundries of attacks that the good guy knows. Eventually the good guy will learn enough techniques to cover almost every situation. Then the BG will be able to attack anyway he knows how, without using jiu jitsu. Make no mistake though, that at the point we're at now we are sparring at full speed. It's basically regular sparring but the "BG" can't use jiu jitsu and try's to punch anytime he can(of course with punches we use gloves and he still doesn't punch at full speed). It is good preparation for what we would run into in a real fight. I feel confident if someone attacked me I would have no problem handling him, providing he didn't know more jiu jitsu than me. One thing I don't worry about is some guy who watches ufc. I imagine that guy would try to take top mount and then punch, because he doesn't know how to do anything else if he attains top mount. That's still someone I consider that does not know jiu jitsu. So I wouldn't say we don't have any rolling experience. It's just we don't have any rolling experience against jiu jitsu attacks. That comes later.

So on one aspect I disagree with you, I think that the Gracie Combatives is an excellent program, which is why I will continue to do it. On another aspect I do agree with you on that regular sparring and the lack of it, will hinder my progress. Which is why I plan on starting up and that Pound 4 Pound Jiu Jitsu club that you had found for me earlier in this post (Thank you very much for that ). This way I'll be learning both jiu jitsu curriculums, and getting up to 6 days a week of jiu jitsu in if I want it. I'm thinking 4-5 will be my schedule though. I just don't think people have the right perception of the combatives unless they have done it. Rufio I know you have done the combatives program. Is this the way you guys trained when you were doing it at your university?