Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blog
05/08/10
There was an awesome Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar today here in Houston, given by Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti. In case you don't know, Romero is the co-founder of Team Alliance. And he gave Fabio Gurgel his black belt back in 1989. We did a lot of guard passing
and a couple of single-leg takedowns as well. But the coolest part was the private lesson I did with him before the seminar. I think it's always better when you get to work on what you want. We did some cool split-guard sweeps that I can add to what I learned from Fabio Gurgel. I learned a couple of other cool things that I can't wait to try out at the academy this week. While you're here check out the new Amazon.com powered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu store.
04/15/10
I went to Brazil again for a couple of weeks, and I just got back about 2 weeks ago. I had an awesome time. I spent my birthday there. I ate some great food, spent time with some wonderful people and learned a few new words in Portuguese. But that's not what you want to hear about. You want to hear about my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training.
If your in Greater São Paulo for vacation or business and want to take some time to boost your game, then you should definitely visit Eduardo Telles. The NineNine Academy which he teaches at is a short walk from the subway station, about 5 minutes. I had the opportunity to take a couple of private lessons while I was there and it was well worth it.
The first time I scheduled a lesson with him I was a little unsure what to work on. There were a few areas I wanted to focus on, but when I arrived there I thought to myself “If you’re going to get a lesson from the Turtle Guard Master then you should probably ask to work on Turtle Guard.” So that’s what I did. Before that time I had only learned about 2 attacks form bottom Turtle and I really only felt comfortable going to the position against white belts. But after that lesson I was a Turtle Guard fanatic. I had the chance to watch his Turtle Guard DVD months before I went to Sao Paulo, but I didn’t take the time to really learn the techniques. I only browsed through them. I wish that I had so I could have asked better questions. But 5 months later I had my opportunity and I was determined to make the most of it.
About a week before I left for Brazil I found out that Telles was in town and would be available the day after I arrived. So I grabbed my copy of this Turtle Guard DVD series and studied it like crazy. I practiced and trained with my roommate for about 7 hours over a period of 3 days. I went into the academy early to try techniques against my instructor and I practiced Turtle Guard against students while sparring. I felt that Turtle Guard cram session really paid off, because I now had a list of thoughtful question to ask.
When I met with Eduardo the second time I explained the studying I had done and began asking my question. I asked one question at a time and he would answer each one in great detail, adding in details I couldn’t have thought of. It was funny, because I would ask him about a problem that someone would give me and he would say something like, “I love it when guys do that.” And then he would show me how to turn that negative into a positive and dominate my opponent with it.
Anyways, about 15 minutes into my 1 hour lesson, I was out of questions. He answered my questions too fast. So we sparred. I told him I would try to play a lot of Turtle and asked if he could point out my mistakes as well as my missed opportunities for attacks. It was a lot of fun. He spars so relaxed. Playing the Turtle Guard so much has made him great at defending the back mount and chokes from that position. Rolling with him made me not want to attack the back anymore. It was a really awesome experience that I would recommend to anyone who practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
I’ve been working a lot on the Turtle Guard since I’ve been back. It’s a complex game with a lot of opportunities and it will take a lot of practice to really master it, but I think it is a game well worth it.
10/15/09
There hasn't been much to report lately about Jiu Jitsu because I was sick for 2 weeks. But I'm feeling better now. I had an awesome training lesson with Eduardo Telles today at the Nine Nine academy. We went over a ton of Turtle Guard stuff (of course) and some Octopus Guard as well. It was a really good session and I think I have most of it written down, so I'll be bringing that back with me.
I went to the Museu Paulista a few days ago. It was pretty cool. The building is amazing. I got some cool pictures of it, but not the inside. They won't let you take pictures inside. But it was fun.
The Museum is in a big park, and on our way out we saw a few small monkeys. And we fed the monkeys, whole wheat crackers. So they should be pretty regular for a few days.
I drove my second brand-new car the other day. It was a nice 1.6L VW Gol. It's pretty fun driving manual transmission in hilly São Paulo.
I'll be coming home this weekend. My flight arrives at 5:30am Sunday morning. Does anyone want to come greet me as I arrive? No? That's ok. I wouldn't do it either. I don't sleep on planes (they're too uncomfortable) so I'll be sleeping most of the day Sunday. But I'll be back at the Team Tooke Academy on Monday. I look forward to seeing everyone.
09/25/09
Unfortunately I'm sick this week, so no training for me. But I'm still having a good time. There are these little bakeries called Padarias. I've been told that most Padarias are run by Portuguese families. Here are a few of the goodies I picked up there.
São Paulo is quite a bit different from Houston, as I'm sure you could imagine. So many people use public transportation here. They have buses, trains and subways like the one below. Because it's so hilly here, the subways are not always underground, but most of the time they are. You see a lot of people walking also. But trust me, there is plenty of traffic here from cars and motorcycles. There are also lots of favelas (ghettos) spread throughout the city, whereas Rio has one big favela (and maybe some smaller ones, I'm not sure).
09/19/09
This past week and next week we are doing all no-gi in class. They are getting ready for ADCC. We worked some pretty cool takedowns this week - double legs, ankle picks and some other stuff. I'm going to try to get a private lesson or two in before I come back home, but I'm not sure what Fabio's schedule is like yet.
I've had a chance to do some driving around São Paulo. I've been driving a little 1 liter Fiat hatchback. It's pretty fun, but it feels a bit dangerous as well. People drive very different here. They have two different types of stop signs. Some are like the ones in the U.S. and some are just painted on the ground. But "Stop" is more like a suggestion here so you need to be careful when passing interesections. And there doesn't seem to be any traffic laws for the motorcycles here, except when there are police around. It's pretty crazy.
09/12/09
The Alliance Team has been doing a lot of sparring in class, getting ready for a competition this weekend. The guys and girls here are really tough. The warm ups are proof of these guys toughness.
Things are pretty cool here. There are a ton of motorcycles and most of the cars are pretty small. It's very hilly here and everyone drives manual transmissions, which is pretty impressive to me. I'm sure it's a real challenge to start driving when your stopped at a light going up hill.
09/05/09
Sorry it's taken me so long to get you guys updated. I arrived in Brazil with zero sleep on the plane, which was expected. I took a two hour nap before going out that night and it took me over a week to catch up on sleep. My sleep schedule is still a little off, but I`m pretty rested for the most part. My first day at the Alliance Academy with Fabio Gurgel was on the following Monday. The school is about 3 hours away from where I`m staying, so training there takes about 7-8 hours out of my day.
Mondays are sparring days in the advanced class. We did a 15 minute warm up before moving on to 8 minute sparring rounds. I was lucky to go with Fabio the first round. I was pretty tired when I arrived there so I was pacing myself. I spent most of the round watching what he was doing. He went pretty easy on me though. I can't wait to go hard with him. Have you ever been excited to see how badly you could get beaten?
My trip has been pretty awesome so far. The food is amazing. There is this place that serves lunch just down the street that we go to almost every day. Amazing. They have McDonalds and Burger King and a Arabic fast food place called Habibs. I went there once. It's not bad, but I'll stick to Brazilian food while I'm here.
I'll try to get some pictures for you soon. I have a really nice SLR camera, but it's too dangerous to take most places. But I'll do what I can. And I'll try to keep you updated at least weekly from now on. Take care.
08/10/2009
I'm planning another trip to Brazil soon. I will be leaving August 22nd and I will be back in Houston in October 18th. I will be training at with Fabio Gurgel in Villa Olympia. I look forward keeping you up to date on my training in São Paulo.
June 2009 in São Paulo, Brazil.
Me and Fabio Gurgel in São Paulo, Brazil. - June 2009
Private Lesson with Fabio Gurgel. - June 2009
More private lesson pics. - June 2009
- June 2009
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Private Lessons