Thinking about BJJ

[Itachi]

I am new to this forum i love martial arts. I am from chicago and i am curently taking Taekwondo I get my black belt soon so i will be teaching with that money i want to start taking BJJ. I was looking at a Barra Gracie dojo i know gracies have a very good reputaion. I want to learn BJJ for a vearity of reasons i enjoy martial arts in general if i could i would study all of them, Ground fighting is a necesity to any well rounded martial artst, BJJ is a beautiful art,I enjoy wrestling with my friend who does MMA and i want to excell further, and competition wouldnt hurt either. I am still trying to decide what BJJ place in chicago to go to so if any one can help please do. Thanks

[aseepish]

I've trained with Gracie Barra instructors in Canada and Australia. Great people, great classes, great instruction. If the Chicago club is anything like the ones I visited, you will learn solid fundamentals - a great place to start.

[sapatiero]

Most BJJ clubs are excellent - try out a couple, do a little research on the instructor & check their pedigree, then go with your gut instinct. IMO the quality & attitude of the instructor is more important than the club name, although if you're with a big club like GB, you're more likely to see some big names visiting & doing seminars.

[Itachi]

thanks for the helpful information.

[SweepEm]

There is no one great school that will appeal to everyone.

Your best bet is to keep your eyes open, go to each school, see how they teach, ask lots of questions.
Talk to the students to see if you get along with them.
Besides the personality and teaching skills of the instructors, there's the facilities of the school, commute time, pricing and many other factors in judging what school is best for you.

Go to Carlson Gracie Jr's school. There are many great guys there.
Aaron is a BJJ black belt at the school and he's got one arm that's stunted in growth so when he competes, he tucks the small, weak arm in his belt and is a one armed competitor. He's come to our school a few times, he's a great guy and an awesome teacher.

Since every BJJ school offers a free class, take advantage of that offer by going to every school that's within your circle of where you live.

I had one friend who's El Cheapo. He quit one job, had 2 weeks before he started his new job, he went to 8 different BJJ schools to train, taking advantage of the one free class....

[Aaronblue]

Not all areas offer a free class, my school in Orlando doesn't. You can either watch the class and see if it's what you want to do, or you can pay a 25$ mat fee to join in before you sign up.

[Itachi]

those all sound like good idea's since i am in theb berbs of chicago the coutie will be long no matter what. I will check out all of them i come from a very nice taekwondo school the master and students are helpful and facility is the best so i my standards are higher.

[SweepEm]

Originally Posted by Aaronblue

Not all areas offer a free class, my school in Orlando doesn't. You can either watch the class and see if it's what you want to do, or you can pay a 25$ mat fee to join in before you sign up.

Damn, your school sucks!
HA

I guess if you can charge and get it, why not...

Here in LA, there's a BJJ school on every other corner.

Ok, so not as many as that but there are many schools around LA so the competition is really tough and that's why there's a one free class offered.

Who do you train with?

[nunu]

It seems that there is hardly a free school , at least i have never seen it .

[Aaronblue]

I train at the Marcio Simas school in Orlando. The school didn't use to be like that but BJJ has been growing in popularity so fast the school can't handle the growth. It's moved to bigger locations twice in the last year already and it's already at capacity again. I think that's why they are taking more of a straight business approach to it as opposed to the wine and dine your customer approach most places would take.

Marcio is a 5th degree black belt and the school itself has about 15 black belts that train regularly so almost every class has 2-4 black belts in it that you can grapple with. If enough people don't show up to a class which happens from time to time it's like getting a private lesson for free and several of the black belts have won national championships like Anthony Tolone was the Naga U.S. National Champion.

The school also has Muay Thai taught by Bobby Robare, the best Muay Thai instructor in the area so the school attracts a lot of people. In the 2 years I've been there we've had 5 UFC fighters training out of the school and from the research I've done, it's really cheap in comparison to other schools of similar quality. It's about $100 a month for unlimited BJJ and Muay Thai classes for people joining now.

For the most part, the school has a monopoly on most of the BJJ talent in the area so they kind of get to do what they want.

[gaittec]

Be sure to check out Curran Martial Arts in Crystal Lake if you are anywhere near that side of the Chicago area. Jeff is a great guy and an excellent teacher. He is a Black Belt under Pedro Sauer (6th degree under Rickson Gracie). Jeff is also a very successful MMA fighter and trainer.

[Itachi]

i will check alot of places within this next month

[sapatiero]

Originally Posted by Aaronblue

I train at the Marcio Simas school in Orlando. The school didn't use to be like that but BJJ has been growing in popularity so fast the school can't handle the growth. It's moved to bigger locations twice in the last year already and it's already at capacity again. I think that's why they are taking more of a straight business approach to it as opposed to the wine and dine your customer approach most places would take.

Marcio is a 5th degree black belt and the school itself has about 15 black belts that train regularly so almost every class has 2-4 black belts in it that you can grapple with. If enough people don't show up to a class which happens from time to time it's like getting a private lesson for free and several of the black belts have won national championships like Anthony Tolone was the Naga U.S. National Champion.

Sounds like a great school. A friend of mine has a place in Orlando & asked me what the guys in Rio think about Marcio before he went there. They had plenty of good things to say about him, and my friend enjoyed the classes. I think he's back there in November.

[B78NY]

i dont know where you can train but i just joined a gracie jujisu place. I'm a 2 Dan in TKD and 1 Dan in HKD. I thinks its definatly neccesary for your ma arsenal. Personally i dont think hapkido graplling is enough.

[Itachi]

Hapkido i very impractical there are some good theorys but not enough real life use in it. A person HKD will not know what to do on the ground with a person who trains in BJJ