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.