Public transport...

One of the most important things to learn about Rio is how to get around. So this is what I know so far. I'll add more information to this post as I learn more.

If you want to catch a bus or a van make sure you signal or wave them down. Make sure you REALLY get the bus drivers attention because they won't always stop

Buses (Ônibus)...

Buses are the easiest way to get around the city in conjunction with vans. There are so many buses and during peak times there's probably a bus every 5 mins for the place you want to go.

You can view the Rio Ônibus website here but it is in Português. You can search a bus route by the number of the line (Numeró da linha); or from (de) where it originated and to (para) where it is headed; or simply look at all the lines (Todas as linhas) to find the one you want.

There are different types of buses. The most basic public buses costs R$2.20 and have no airconditioning. There are some airconditioned buses from around R$3.70+ and some are even direct routes. As always be aware of your surroundings and keep your wits about you when catching the buses. I've found them quite safe to catch and even caught them at 5am in the morning before, but that's not to say there hasn't been robberies and such on them before.

A typical public ônibus with line number and destination shown. Also shows fare price in the windshield (R$2.10).

Vans...

You can catch a van from almost anywhere in the city going to anywhere else. BE AWARE that the vans are registered which you can recognise by the PROPER signage and green/pink painted lines on the side. The vans will have a sign in front stating it's origin and destination and usually a person yelling out its destination from the side door. These guys/girls also collect your money and open/close the door for you.

I say be aware of which vans you catch because it has been known that unmarked white vans have picked up people before only to stop somewhere and rob them of their belongings. I've known this to happen to a friend of mine, at gunpoint; and even had a plain white van slowing down once to ask us if we wanted a ride when ALL the other normal vans just drove past.

Vans are probably one of the cheapest transport types starting from R$2.

Subway (Metrô)...

The metro here is pretty straight forward to use if you've caught trains before. The only minor problems you would probably have is finding the right exit/entry from the station you are at and where to catch a connecting lines. Because some "metrô" lines (like the Yellow line out to Barra) are actually an ônibus (buses) that you can catch from a particular station (estação). You can also pay to catch the metrô and a connecting public ônibus but you will have to state that when buying a ticket (bilhete/cartão).

You can view the Metrô Rio website here but it is in Português. Mapas e estações will show you the map and stations in Rio de Janeiro. Tickets for the Metrô start at around R$2.70+ and connecting tickets to ônibuses will be valid for about 2hrs after purchase.

Taxis...

Are pretty widely available, safe and reasonably priced. As always you could get ripped off by the driver if they know you're a tourist so it's good to learn a bit of português and know your destination before you go.

Some useful words when catching a cab or van:

Left - esquerda (ey-scare-da)

Right - direita (jeer-et-ah)

Here is ok - aqui ta bom (ah-kee ta bomb)

Stop - pare (par-ee .. or par-eh ... i can't remember which)

Buying a bike...

If you are staying longer term (3+ months) or want to buy a bike I recommend you DON'T buy a cheap one. I've had the experience of buying a cheap (R$250) bike and bits and pieces not working or falling off while I'm riding it. There are also places that give you the option of renting out a bike, although I'm not sure how that process works.

One of the back brakes on my bike fell off (twice), the wheels were a bit crooked and one of the pedals unscrewed itself off when I was riding it. However I took it to a bike shop to get the wheels changed/fixed, cost R$60 and felt A LOT smoother when riding it after. I feel they did a pretty good job and it wasn't a dodgy looking shop either so maybe that's another option too.

Travel Tips...

It's always good to ask where a bus or van is going. I've had the pleasure of catching the "wrong" onibus 3x in less than a few days. Because unbeknownst to me it was some different direct/rush hour route. You can ask if the bus/van passes a certain landmark near your stop.

By saying "passar (landmark)?" or

Are you going to go - você vai ir ___?

Rio Metrô website

Rio Ônibus website

Fight event...

Watched some Vale Tudo fights last night because one of the black belt instructors (Zoro) at our gym was fighting at the event. Not sure of the name of the event but the big sponsor was Rip Dorey.

The venue was somewhat small but meant that people would be packed closer together, which imo provides a better atmosphere. It's kind of lousy when you go to "big" events only to find that there are so many empty seats that really only half the place is full.

Overall I thought the show was well produced. They had quite a few sponsors, and VIP seating where the VIP's get food but also free drinks and a event T-shirt, which I thought was cool. They had a couple amateurish fights (with headgear and shinpads) on first before the "pro" or full contact fights.

At one point all the teenagers in the area where I was sitting were going for a guy from their gym and when the opponent did his entrance and walked passed them they yelled some kind of put downs, well something negative for sure. This would of been good and well IF they're mate had of won the fight, or even put up a good fight. But pretty much he got beat down in stand up; GnP'd and subbed (I can't remember if the ref stopped from GnP or a sub, but it was a quick finish probably no more than 2mins into R1). After the fight had been called one of his cornermen turned to where all the kids were sitting and put his fingers to his lips with a smile. Talk about silencing the critics.

Zoro's fight...

Zoro is a black belt from our gym and usually takes the morning (8am) classes. My impression of him is he's a quiet, intelligent guy. He doesn't speak much english but is trying to learn and always greets me with a smile. He's like that nice guy you wouldn't assume could fight until you see them actually fight. I've rolled with him once and he was nice to me but owned my ass, then I saw him roll properly with Thiago and realised how "nice" he was being to me.

From the fight I'd have to say that jiu jitsu would be his obvious strong point but it's only his second fight.

His opponent was from BTT and apparently a muay thai specialists if I understood correctly. He definitely had sharper stand up skills than Zoro and no takedown defense although his ground game wasn't too bad because he had Zoro in his guard for a bit, worked high guard and some loose sub attempts (triangle/armbar).

Both fighters really tired by the 2nd and the pace slowed to almost a stall when they hit the mats. I think for a time Zoro was on his back but managed to reverese near the end of the 2nd, get mount and started laying in some GnP. Nothing heavy but his opponent had nowhere to go and then the bell rings, signalling the end of the round. Talk about being saved by the bell.

3rd round both guys breathing heavy and their punches become more pushes to the face. The fight becomes a mental game of who will break first and it looks like it was going to be Zoro as he tried a takedown then slowly rolled to his back and an open guard. Scrambles then Zoro manages to get on his feet. Both fighters exchanging punches and it looks like BTT guy is landing cleaner punches (albeit no power behind them) as Zoro throws his own and then the BTT guy slowly falls/sits down to his back and looks like he's tired as hell and as if he couldn't be stuffed anymore. Zoro moves to pass guard, eventually passes and gets full mount. Throws about 20 punches that don't hurt the guy but the guy has no defense other than flailing his arms and weakly trying to buck/bridge. Ref eventually calls the fight as Zoro rolls over and both fighters; exhausted, try and regain their breath. You can see how it ended here.

Zoro (in black shorts and mount) getting his GnP on.

I'm really glad Zoro won, but in the finally round I think if the other guy had of lasted he could of won on points.

After the fight we went to eat at Camachara, (spelling?) a nice café near the gym and they're open quiet late (maybe 24/7 I'm not sure). After a Filé mignon sandwhich I walked to the bus stop and saw a guy with a charcoal bbq in a shopping trolley cooking satays. So being a meat lover and feeling like a fat kid in a cake shop, I thought I'd try one. While waiting for the satay to cook the guy cooking them got into a big, looong argument with another lady that was selling snacks from her trolley. Basically I think it was over her wanting to temporarily borrow one of his chairs for her clients and him denying her or saying pay for it, at least I think. Either way it made for some good late night entertainment because she was getting really frustrated and cussing, making a fuss while he was more pissed off but holding it inside.

Today's weather looks like perfect weather for the beach. So after a few errands I'll make my way down to Pepe beach to chill out in the sun and catch some eye candy from all the lovely ladies there.

Beach life

Since the weather has been cloudy and rainy lately I thought I'd post about something I think most you would like to know about are how the beaches are in Rio. Well they're f**king fantastic.

Ipanema & Barra...

If it's a weekend and it's sunny and the skies are clear, then you can be guaranteed that the beaches all over Rio will be packed. Mostly I've been hung Ipanema beach so I can really only talk about Ipanema beach at the moment, but I'll let you know how Barra is once I've gone. Posto 9 is where all the young people hang out (and where alot of people smoke weed), Posto 8 is for the families, Posto 7 and around Arpoador you'll find alot of surfers and at Posto 8.5 you'll find the gay section which is easy to spot because of the rainbow flags. Pretty much anywhere you go here you'll see some beautiful bodies.

At Barra I've noticed that there's alot of kite surfers and surfers. The waves here don't break as close to the shore as they can along Ipanema beach. And I've been told that the place to be is near Pepe beach where alot of fighters and girls hang out.

Beach Vendors...

You can buy food, drinks, beer, beach towels, hats, sunglasses and hire chairs and umbrellas all at the beach. Pretty much anything you'd want is catered for you. Vendors are constantly walking up and down and will try to sell you all kinds of knick knacks, you can bargain a bit with them too if you like.

Prices are reasonable for everything and I don't feel too bad if I pay a little extra because these guys are working there asses off. There's been times where I've been at the beach at night (10pm etc) and had vendors walking up trying to sell some beach towels. If I had money at the time I would of bought one out of sympathy for the guy, talk about working long hours!!

You will also finds lots of little kiosks lining the sidewalks alongside the beaches. The offer a seat and some shade out of the sun and sell alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Some even have a little grill/kitchen to cook you up something. You'll also be able to find tents on the beach closer to the sidewalks, where you can hire chairs, umbrellas and buy more food and drinks. Pretty much you got everything covered when going to the beach, just bring a few $$ and you'll be fine.

Bikinis...

You know I had to make a little comment on this. Some of the bikinis that the girls wear are tiny! But who's complaining? Apparently it's illegal to go topless in Brasil so I guess they made up by wearing as little as possible. The girls here show a lot of cheek and I would say it takes a bit getting used to, but how long do you need to get used to looking at some fine bodies all day? Oh, and it's perfectly normal for a straight guy to stroll along in a pair of speedos here. Proof that not everything can be perfect.

At night...

At night the beach is deserted. Even though the little huts are still open (I think some are open 24/7). It's nice to go down with a few friends for a night swim although be careful of strong currents. I also find it's well lit and relatively safe to walk along at night, but don't take my word for it. Last Friday I went down to the beach with the Piratas hostel crew for a Beer-b-que which was very awesome, and Rafa really cooked up a storm. Beers and bbq on Ipanema beach makes for an awesome beginning to a Friday night!!

Improving...

Minor achievement...
The other night I felt I made a small achievement. We were doing some drilling from Closed Guard where the guy on bottom tries to sweep and the guy on top tries to pass. I was rolling with a blue that had been rolling pretty hard with another guy before. I managed to get into half guard when I remembered some of the things I had learnt from a half guard pass and had tried a few other times but not really succeeded.

This time when I did it, it felt things kind of clicked (more like the guy was too tired to fight) and I nearly passed when the guy regained a kind of half guard but I persisted and tried the same pass and it worked. From there I managed to transition to side then full mount. I'm very sure he let me off easy, and was just way too tired, but I felt a little surprised/proud that it had worked and felt a small spark of accomplishment of actually using what I had learnt. But then I got my guard passed like I was an amputee, but I was still smiling on the inside.

As Bruce Lee once quoted, "Knowing is not enough we must apply, willing is not enough we must do."

I was browsing through some JJ clips on youtube when I came across this talk a BB was giving on grappling the "anti-you." Basically he talks about not taking it hard about tapping out in class and to be technical over being a knucklehead. I thought it was a pretty good little prep talk, especially since I'm tapping to a techno drum beat everytime I roll with someone which can feel very demoralising and makes you feel and wonder if you've even progressed at all.

I find that some blue belts I can hold my own against to certain limits. Others just tap me out seemingly with ease and lets not even mention the higher colour belts. Some give me space to roll but dominate; others that just sub me, after sub, after sub. Most times I take it on the chin and smile and think "that's the only way to learn," but sometimes you can't help but feel sh*t and question your ability and if you should continue. When that happens I just tell myself to "man up" (and thank god at least i'm not dodging bullets) and that tomorrow is another day :)

Good advice...
Got some good advice from Thiago after class today. Which is something I've heard of doing before but forgot about. He complimented me and said I had been improving (which feels good to hear from someone else). Then he told me how every week he sets a goal for himself and works on it through the week. For example: for one week he'd just work the half guard and sweeps from that position, even if he knows he sucks at it but by "forcing" himself to work from that position he's improving on it.

Now I got to come up with a goal for this week...

Crime and safety

Last night two young (19yrs old?) Belgium girls got robbed just 20m from the hostel I used to stay at. I was just there catching up with friends and chilling when we heard some girls screaming close by. Needless to say people ran out and some of the staff chased and caught the guy. Apparently what happened was the robber tried to take one of the girls cameras and hit her in the face a few times either before or after the girl threw it over the fence. Now I feel quite sorry for the girl that got hit but at the same time it's almost like she had it coming.

The previous night I joined a group of backpackers from the hostel to go to the Lapa Street party which is notorious for pickpockets and muggings and I think is even mentioned in some of the Lonely Planet books. Last time I went even our guide, a local carioca, told us to leave our cameras and jewellery at the hostel and just to be wary because Lapa is a bit ghetto in some parts. Everyone had been drinking before we arrived and some people were already a bit drunk (which isn't the best thing to do in a foreign country or place at least until you're familiar with the area).

But this girl kept pulling out her camera and taking pictures with everyone, doing the touristy thing; but she kept dangling it around and taking her time putting it away after she'd taken the photo. Fair enough some people that take their cameras do whip it out and take a snap or two but put it away straight after they've finished. I'd told her, my friend told her and even some of the staff at the hostel told her to be careful and keep it out of sight if she's not using it. But some people being young (and a bit drunk not to mention a few puffs of weed) just have no common sense at all, it's like you can only tell them so many times before it becomes "I told you so."

Side note: I've found, and was a bit a surprised, that Brasilians smoke weed quite openly here and by "open" I mean public. At Lapa you can definitely smell it in the air in one of the side alleys (of course close to where the reggae music is playing haha). Also at the beach in Ipanema, Posto 9, there's always a cloud of marijuana floating around. Even saw a dude just standing there all chillaxed in his speedo's (because that's how they roll in Brasil) looking out at the waves puffing on his joint. So if you're marijuana you might be a bit shocked in some places here (but then if you're against it how would you know what is smells like?).

The time I got mugged...

I got mugged with a mate probably about 2 weeks ago. We decided to walk home from a bar to our hostel which would of probably been a 20 maybe 30min walk (it's hard to tell the time when you've been drinking). He was drunk and I'd had a bit to drink so probably not the best decision to make at 4am in the morning. But hey we only had R$8 between us so wouldn't of been able to cab it home.

We've walked around in the area before in the day and I was familiar with it (being a bit more sober). But still when we were walking by a square (Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz) in a shopping area in Ipanema we were approached by a guy asking for money. I thought he was another beggar so told him "I don't speak portugues," in Portugues of course, and so he turned to my friend (a guy from Norway and typical European looking) to ask. The guy asked "money, money" and when my friend said no or something along those lines he pulled a knife and was more confronting and demanded more aggressively "Money! Money!" to which we both quickly threw whatever we had on the ground and quickly walked off as he went to pick it up.

Neither of us have had a knife pulled on us before or been mugged so it was a bit hairy at the time but we quickly laughed about the "luck" the robber had of relieving us of our $8 Reals. It was probably his first robbery and he thought he was going to score big picking two "easy targets" (we weren't sober and were probably talking pretty loud in english) but little did he know we were just another two broke ass drunk gringo's.

It's funny now but we're VERY lucky he wasn't a crack addict and stabbed us for not having enough money. I'm also very lucky he didn't check our pockets and find my travelx card (which I didn't know I had on me at the time) and take me to a ATM and make me withdraw money (I've heard of that happening to a few friends of friends).

Lessons Learnt...

Like every city in the world there are parts that are unsafe and where you should be very careful and watch yourself. But in the whole I've found that Rio de Janeiro isn't bad at all IF you use some common sense and street smarts.

The following are just some basic things that everyone should know or follow. Some are things I do or have been told to by others.

• Don't flash your jewellery around
• Don't carry anymore cash than you need
• Walk in well lit areas and become familiar with a place before venturing out at night. If possible don't walk around alone.
• Ask the advice of locals
• Have some money to give incase you do get robbed (wouldn't want to get shot/stabbed for nothing now would you? :))
• Don't carry bank/credit cards with you all the time
• Be aware of your surroundings
• Carry some spare cash R$10 or R$20 in your shoe.

One of the things I do if I have to go to the ATM and get large amounts of money is wear a pair of boardshorts under my shorts or jeans. So I keep all the cash and bank cards in the pocket of the boardshorts and maybe like R$10 in the pocket of my jeans.

Overall I've found Rio isn't as dangerous as anywhere else in the world if you're sensible.

Another day in the office...

Yesterday I was the only guy in the morning class apart from the instructor and another BB. Rolled with the BB and then to just rub salt in the wound he rolled with me with one arm in his belt and still got me in bad positions and worked for subs haha. I found it kind of amusing though and really felt more of the gaps and holes in my game. Hopefully the more I roll here the tighter and smaller those gaps get.

Did some more rolling today during the Open Mat (10am -12pm) session. Alot of people show up to these as most are too busy during the week to catch all the sessions so they get more training on the weekend. I got chosen to roll with a purple and I could almost see the disdain on his face; that he had to roll with a white belt and not get some serious training in. Nevertheless he was helpful when he saw that I didn't know much on advancing some positions so showed me some techniques. The more techniques I can add to my arsenal the better.

They also have guys that do boxing sparring upstairs so I joined in on that. It's been a couple months since I trained any stand up so I was shithouse in that department too. Not to mention my right elbow still feels a bit stiff when I extend it.

Here's a couple pictures of the Gordo Jiu Jitsu gym. The mat space was smaller than I thought it would be, but they are knocking out one wall to extend it to double the space. They also have an upstairs where all the muay thai/boxing and mma takes place, I haven't got pictures of that yet though.

In yesterdays morning class we were shown a basic sweep from full butterfly guard when sitting up, then a flow on to counter if your opponent post on a leg and hand from the first sweep attempt. You got to love the flows and the limitless options jiu jitsu gives you. I don't know much at the moment, but starting from the bottom I can only grow >:D.

I went to the late evening class 8-9:30pm but it was only myself, the instructor and a purple belt (Thiago) that speaks good english. I rolled with our instructor first and he was being sooo nice and gentle giving me so much space, you could park a truck in it, but he was still all over me setting up submissions then changing to a different position only to set up another submission. I was like a deer in headlights, I could see or feel it coming but was powerless to the inevitable. After that Thiago and the instructor rolled and I saw how nice the instructor was going on me by how hard he and Thiago were rolling.

After Thiago and I rolled where once again I was dominated. But he really helped and showed me some defences to all the submissions he got me with, or reversals. He was also happily showed me some basic defence moves when someone's got your back with hooks in and explained the reason behind each action, which really helps when learning.

Today's morning session consisted of sweeps from the spider guard, starting from a basic position then a flow on and sweep to counter the opponents moves. We also did more spider guard stuff tonight and the instructor was showing/telling us how it was a great position for when you're very tired because once you got one arm hooked and your shin across their belly they could pass the guard to that side but you have a "second chance" to regain the guard. I really should bring a camera down and take some video of these techniques, which would really compliment the notes I try write down after each class.

Pacquiao...

I've also kind of gotten the nickname "Pacquiao" amongst some of the Brasilian guys in the gym. Yesterday I was sitting waiting for the morning jiu jitsu class to begin when the guys in the boxing class upstairs came down after they finished and one of the teachers saw me and found out I was Filipino then called me "Pacquiao" and now that's what the instructor of the morning class has been calling me as well as a couple other guys. Go figure :) but I think it's quite cool.

Sweet ride...

I bought a bicycle the other day so now I got a sweet set of wheels to take ladies for a ride. Oh yeahhh, they know they want it. It saves the R$2.20 bus ride each way and turns my 40min walk to the gym into a 15 or 20min bike ride. That all depends on how many stupid people I have to dodge around that are walking slowly and hogging the foot path. I have to pass by a couple bus stops each day and what pisses me is the amount of people standing there that see me coming but don't bother to move. When I see a bike coming I at least try to give them some room because some people are ride bikes stupid and bump into you (I should know because I did that to a guy today haha).

Ok I lied on how "sweet" my ride is, it's a "cheap" (R$250) bike with an uncomfy seat and already a pedal unscrewed itself and came off on my way home. Luckily I was able to put it back on. But now I'm thinking of getting a new bike seat, and maybe pedals. My roommate suggested I just return the bike and get a new one from his mates store. I wonder if they'd accept a bike that's been ridden around for 2 days?

Making friends...

Brasilian's are a friendly people. At least all the ones I've met so far, except of course for the dude that mugged me and my friend (I'll save that for another post). For example: yesterday I was walking around Shopping Barra when minding my own business when I noticed a security guard approaching my direction and stepping into my path. I thought to myself "I haven't stolen anything wtf is going on?" When I looked up he was smiling and asked if I was just looking around (I think). Then I noticed his EARS. Yup all cauliflowered up and pretty so I figured I'd met him at the gym before, smiled and shook hands. I felt bad that I didn't recognise him straight away and that he recognised me and was nice enough to stop me and say hello.

Also after a morning session the other day I hung back to do some stretches and some guys were waiting for a MMA/Muay Thai class to begin and one of the guys began talking to me asking where I was from etc. I got to practice a bit of my Português. If I understood correctly, then he told me some of the most important information about Gordo's. That Gracie Fusion (referring to the MMA class I think) had 4 girls to every guy. Time to start MMA classes :)

Looking forward to the weekend. There's forecast for good weather on Saturday so maybe go the beach for a dose of eye candy or Centro for some cheap shopping. Trying to find a store with some MMA clothes.

Tchau

Fight Zone

As promised some photos. The first is look at the entrance to Fight Zone (the green gate) from across the street. As you can see it's a pretty unassuming building. No big flashy signs or nothing. Next door to the left is a Hair Salon and across the road is a Zona Sul supermarket.

A look at the mat space from the front of the gym. There's another couple of square meters off to the right in the middle (basically the gym is T-shaped). That's Lekky mopping up the floor after class and killing them nasty bacterias!!

Marco (I think that's his name?), one of the many BB's I have met while there. I've only talked to him a couple of times (he speaks good english) but he's a very friendly guy and was very helpful pointing out my mistakes and giving me tips on how to improve my technique.

I've read on other blogs the surprise people had at the number of high coloured belts at classes, but was still very surprised myself when in classes with up to 7 or 8 BB's, 4 browns, 4 purples, a handful of blues and just myself or another 2 guys at white!

L-R... Miguel(I think's his name? Brown belt), Catatau (Purple) and Marco (Black).

Miguel has awesome jiu jitsu, I always felt he's in control when rolling with him. Sometimes he'll let me get into good positions just so he can sweep or reverse me, or at least that's what I think hehe. He does alot of cool spider guard stuff; sweeps etc and rolls. Sometimes he'll be upside down in the spider guard and roll into me in a close or half guard somehow, it's like he half knows where I'm going and half wings it, pretty cool to see in action.

Catatau is an awesome guy. I like that fact that he's about my size or smaller (I'm prob 5'6" and 63kgs) but so relaxed in his jiu jitsu, but can "turn it on" when he wants to. He'd let me get side control or mount and look all defensive then reverse me easily, then when he wanted he'd go for a sub or lapel choke and mean it, just to show that he's still in control :). He was also one of the first guys to help me out with my technique and point out my mistakes using basic english and body actions.

A pic of Lekky and I. Lekky was pretty much there for every lesson I went to. Whether it was early morning (7-8:30am), morning, afternoon or evening classes I'd see him in the gym. He wasn't always in a kimono or training but he'd come by and watch etc. He takes alot of the classes and even though he only speaks a few words in english he makes himself understood. Great dude.


Rico and I. Ricardo is a really cool guy. I was kind of surprised at how young he was to be running the gym, I don't know why. Probably because most guys would be too busy competing still? Nevertheless I'm grateful he is teaching as his instructions were simple and easy to understand and I liked how he flowed things together. So if we were working half guard sweeps there would be sweep 1, but if the guy did this -> sweep 2 or variant -> sweep 3

There's other people and characters at the gym that have helped me or that I wanted to mention and take a picture with but they weren't at the class I went to today. So I'll definitely be back to catch up with them and get a picture before I leave Rio.

On a side note...

It's quite inspiring when you see the higher belts rolling (at any jiu jitsu academy) and you look their face you can almost see them thinking, calculating and weighing up their options from each position then choosing an action to which their opponent counters with a calculated action of their own etc. etc. all this in split second. Which took hours, months and years to program into their system so it became almost second nature. That's the level I'm hoping to achieve.

Até proximo.

Fight Zone Copacabana
Rua Francisco Sá 36 (ground floor)
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
Ph: +55 21 7825 6500
Email: ricoviera@hotmail.com

BJJ Training...

I'd like to spend a bit of time talking about what training here is like. Note that I've never trained in a proper BJJ school or with a professor/teacher, let alone with a gi/kimono so I didn't really know what to expect or how I'd cope with the language barrier. First couple of sessions it was like "monkey see, monkey do" with the warm ups which is pretty straight forward and then. I've spent most of my time at Fight Zone in Copacabana because I was staying at Piratas in Ipanema, but from now on will be based out in Barra da Tijuca at with Gordo's.

Both schools are awesome and I'd like to share some of my experiences and impressions of both, although I haven't spent enough time at Gordo's yet to give a justified recount. We'll start where my jiu jitsu journey started which was at Fight Zone.

Fight Zone:
I had the address of the school and walked about Ipanema/Copacabana to find it, but walked right pass the school a couple of times. You won't really see the sign for it unless you look for it, so I'll try get a picture next time I'm there. The school is situated on the bottom floor of a building but you got to walk inside a small corridor to get to it. I met Rico Viera, the master and that runs the academy and he was very welcoming and told me the times, prices of classes and kimonos (because I didn't have any).

I came back for my first class and met Lekky (spelling?) who was just quietly sitting there eating a guava fruit watching the kids capoeira class finish up. I think Lekke wore a brown belt the first day I was there so I had no idea he was BB even though he was running the class, but wasn't surprised the next day/session when he had a BB on. He didn't speak much english but it was easy to understand him and follow what everyone else was doing in classes.

The following applies for both academies: Everyone I met has been friendly and most will help you out with techniques if they know you're having trouble with certain things or are more than willing to show you things if you ask. More than once people have pulled me aside to practice a technique on me then show me how it's done. Alot of times higher belts (purples, browns, blacks) will let you get some positions and give you room to roll, but at all times I've felt that even if I'm in a good position they're still in control. You can tell by how relaxed they are when they're rolling even if in a "bad" position, it's quite awesome to see and experience that. Other times they just constantly tap you out with ease which can be very frustrating, but still a learning experience nonetheless.

An average training session at Fight Zone would be something like this:

stretching and warm ups which included some jogging around flapping your arms, forward & backward rolls, shrimping, sit ups (abdominal) and push ups (flexão)

then we might drill some techniques

drilling from a set position e.g. half guard and the guy on top would try pass while the guy on bottom tries sweep.

Points sparring where the person that scores the point stays in and the “loser” goes to the end of the line (a lot of times I’d be in for just 10secs or less then back to the end of the line haha)

Then some normal sparring

After everyone bows and gets in single file to shake the master's and then each others hands.

Gordo's:
Another place that might be hard to find if you're not looking for it. From the outside it just looks like another house on the street in a quiet neighbourhood. Luckily they got the Academy logo on the door. Here's a pic from the outside:

The first time I went there was last Saturday for the 10am open mat session. I was on time (so pretty earlier by Brasilian standards) and there were about 4 guys sitting talking in Portuguese, they were friendly and said hi but continued talking. I just sat quietly and waited till the class would start. Gordo arrived and saw me sitting there then asked if I wanted to train and if I had a kimono to put it on. He asked where I was from etc. then put in me in to roll with some guys. I met Jeremy aka Gerbil from sherdog, which was really cool because I'd been following his blog almost from the beginning, which was a big influence on my decision to come over here. Also met a few other "gringos" from US, another Aussie and some German guys.

Today's training...
I went to a morning class (8-9:30am) today at Gordo's but I arrived a bit late, probably 30mins. But “brazilian time” offset that by about 15mins or so (?) because when I got there they were still in the warm ups. Note: that Brazilian time could be anywhere from 30mins or more late e.g. if a carioca tells you they’ll meet you at 12 then they’ll probably be there about 12:30. Which isn't so bad because it’s just like “filipino/asian time” which I’m quite used to.

After the warms ups of push ups and sit ups we drilled two submission from the back with hooks in; a lapel choke and an armbar. Even though not everyone can speak good english they're more than happy to help you out and give you pointers. After both partners had drilled that a few times each side we did some rolling.

I rolled with a couple blue belts and a white belt. With the blues (and every other higher belt) I could "feel" them trying to set things up and go for sweeps or subs but not as fluently or efficiently as a purple or brown would. It's funny spending most your time getting tapped while trying to defend sweeps and sub attempts then sparring somebody where you're able to get some sweeps and subs of your own. Certainly boosts ones ego a bit to see that some of the things you've been learning really do work.

I decided to go out to Ipanema/Copacabana and catch the afternoon no-gi class at Fight Zone. Chico runs the no-gi and gives good instructions and can speak english fairly well which helps. Generally it we'd drill a few techniques then just roll. Only problem is he hasn't been there lately (prob busy with work?) so the 4:30pm classes have been gi lately. Even though I didn't have my gi with me Lekky let me join in the class, did some takedown practice then some rolling for position. Then just normal rolling.

A bit off topic but I have what some might call double jointed elbows. Meaning my arms can bend a few more degrees past 180º. This could be a good thing because I can hold out longer on armbar attempts, but also a bad thing because then the guy might just go harder. Which kind of happened today. One of the guys went for an armbar on me which I didn't feel any threat from, partly because I think he saw my arm and was like "WTF?" but the next time he caught my arm from the guard instead of going for a straight armbar he twisted it to the side and I felt a little pop before I could even think to tap. Oh the joys of jiu jitsu! My arm's fine now, just feel the tiniest amount of pressure when I extend it, I guess the only way to learn to tap before it's too late is the hard way. So from now on if I get caught in a bad spot I'll be ready to tap even if I could hold on a bit longer.

After classes...
One of my favourites and almost certainly a requirement after training would be to get some Açai. The purple super berry. It comes out like a slurpy but sometimes the consistency can be a bit runny but I personally think it's better when it's thicker mmmmm. I gotta take a picture just to show what it's like but you can either get it on it's own or mixed with granola, honey and banana.

Also while here I’ve gotten into the habit of taking notes of the things I learnt in class in the hopes that it will “stick” in my memory better. I also note what might of worked for me and most importantly mistakes I made, areas I need to improve and things I need to remember. It REALLY helps when I sit there and contemplate what happened during sparring or how to word out a technique/drill step by step. I realize things I might be doing wrong or things I could fix that I wouldn't of realized if I hadn't sat down and thought of a way to explain it to myself.

Things to come...
I got alot of things I'd like to add in future posts including tourist activities and places to go and see around Rio de Janeiro, cultural observations and differences, some Português words that might be useful, pictures and video of course and some stories and experiences I think might be interesting. If anyone has questions or wants to know something, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer you.

Rio so far...

I’ve been in Rio now for about 3 weeks and have been meaning to start a blo documenting the training and lifestyle here, because if I don’t do it now then I’ll leave it till too late and regret it just like many other things in life.

But where do I start? I guess a good place to start would be with the boring stuff at the beginning. Like how I got here.

The start…

Basically I was on a temporary contract for work for 6 months, which was extended by a year, then finally another 6 months (ending June 09). I got the heads up that the final 6 months wouldn’t be extended to which my response was probably a little too cool because I had long been planning to take a break from working and just travel and train. I only needed an “excuse” to go do it. Which also makes me wonder if the contract had of been extended again would I of quit and pursued something for myself or not, but that’s a whole other story.

My background…

So now it was a choice of where to go to train, which also covers a bit of my training/martial arts background. Pretty much I’ve been doing martial arts since I was a kid. Started out with karate (as most kids do), then did some kung fu, kickboxing, grappling, wing chun kung fu (3yrs), boxing (2yrs), judo (1yr) and finally more kickboxing/muay thai.

My first introduction to grappling was around 2003, through some friends and I had the usual strikers attitude of “just hit them before they get you on the ground” until I found myself tapping out to a RNC and thinking “wtf was that?” I learnt from a friend that had learnt bits and pieces from other people. Then I busted my knee during a training session, which put me out for at least a year. In which I continued with wing chun training and began doing some boxing where I had a few amateur fights. While doing boxing I also began doing a bit of judo until I began getting amateur fights in which I pretty much stopped the judo training. About 2 years ago I switched to kickboxing/muay thai training and began having fights in the ring. In between I’ve found some time and places to grapple with people but there’s never been a BJJ school or professor in my hometown so it was hard to improve skills in that area.

Decisions, decisions…

So now it was deciding where to go and where to train. I had ALWAYS wanted to further my grappling/BJJ skills so I could get into MMA so somewhere that offered that was obvious. I narrowed it down to the Tiger Muay Thai gym (that offers MMA) in Thailand and somewhere in Brasil. So seeing that I had been to Thailand last year for muay thai AND that Brasil has BJJ, Brasil was the obvious choice (even though Thailand would have been cheaper).

Getting organized…

The internet REALLY helps when looking up information on where to train in Brasil which lead me to a few blogs. Two of them (Dynasty’s and Gerbil’s) from Sherdog. Just reading the experiences alone was enough to make me decide 100% on Brasil. Rio sounded like the place I’d want to be because of the number of gyms to choose from PLUS the beaches! Which are a bonus for me because I’ve always wanted to learn to surf, and looking at girls in bikinis all day after training ain’t a bad thing at all. After deciding where in Brasil and getting a list of gyms I’d want to train at I had to find where to stay once I arrived which somehow led me to Piratas de Ipanema Guesthouse. I thought the first week or so I could spend at a hostel and get my party/gringo tourist on and out the way (while also finding longer term accommodation) before more serious training. More about Piratas later.

Next was finding longer term accommodation, where I caught word of www.easyquarto.com.br. The site is in Portuguese but has a limited English option (so the Pimsleur’s listening tapes I had been listening to and google translate really helped in that department). I was also told that August/September was the slower season so I wouldn’t have much problems finding accommodation, which I didn’t. The site is for those that have rooms to rent out and those looking for rooms to rent. Basically you create a profile about yourself including how much you’re willing to pay and the area you’d like to rent a room out.

A good tip would be to ask to look at the room you’re staying at before paying anything up front, also be wary of paying with Western Union etc. Sometimes if you’re staying for a few months or pay for few months in up front they will even give you a discount on the rent.

Another easier option (if you’re staying in Rio) would be to go through Dennis aka ConnectionRio at www.connectionrio.com.

I eventually chose to train at Gordo’s and stay in Barra da Tijuca which pretty much sums things up on how I got to be here. Now that we got that out the way I'll share with you some of the things that I have done while here so far:

• Chilling at the beach
  
• Training at Fight Zone in Copacabana (it's an 5min +/- walk from Piratas)
  
• Climbed Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf mountain) and enjoyed the views all the way up to the top
  
• Walked the streets of Santa Teresa and enjoyed breathtaking views from Parque da Ruinas
  
• Favel Funk.. listened to baile funk music and watched girls shake their booty
  
• Bodysurfing/boarding at the beach
  
• São Cristovo markets
  
• More jiu jitsu training
• Met ALOT of cool people through training and the hostel
  
• Salgueiro Samba Clube
  
• Watched a futebol/soccer match at Maracanã stadium
• Lapa street party and Afro club
  
• Got mugged after a night out drinking
  
• Watched a MMA event that had Renzo Gracie & Big John McCarthy reffing, Anderson Silva, Minotauro as guests and Jeff Monson, Pedro Rizzo, Paulo Filho, Ricardo Arona, Marvin Eastman and Murilo 'Ninja' Rua fighting.
• Lazed in the sun on the beach…

Basically any clear sunny day… especially on weekends.. is a good day for going to the beach. So much has happened since I've been here (but I can't remember them off the top of my head) and it's only been under a month!

Before climbing up the back of Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf mountain)

The spectacular view from the top at sunset. Definitely worth the 3-4hr hike/climb.