Many people ask me how I got started “teaching” Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so I thought I’d share that here in part 3.  It was actually Rorion Gracie’s idea.  I was a student at the Gracie Academy for almost 3 years, and was about to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio for a new job.  In October 1993, I met with Rorion in his office a few weeks before moving, and he presented me with an idea he had about starting training clubs or associations across the United States, as this would be a good way to spread Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  He said he first needed to get the UFC project off the ground, but would take on that task the following year.  Meanwhile, he got me in touch with several martial arts schools in the Cincinnati area, (schools that were on his mailing list, or that had instructors that attended Gracie seminars), and he suggested I try to hook up with one of them and see if they would be interested to have me start something at their dojo.  When I arrived in Cincinnati, I contacted a Tae Kwon Do school owner named Tom Federle, who he and a couple of his students were familiar with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, by attending a seminar in the past, and they were very happy to have me train with them at their academy.  Initially it was just a few of us training on Sundays, but over time it grew to about 30 people.  Meanwhile we would also attend Royce Gracie seminars in the region, and as well, had him come to our place.  Ad... Read More

This is a continuation of some of my memories and stories about the old days at the Gracie Academy back in the early 90’s.  After exactly one year of training at the Gracie Academy, in January 1992 during one of my classes, Royce had us spar for several minutes near the end of the class.  He didn’t do this all the time, but occasionally, I think to evaluate students.  While we were sparring, Royce left the room for a brief moment, when he returned he presented me with my Blue Belt.  They didn’t do belt testing back then, and it was generally known that you’d be a white belt for at least a year.  I don’t know what ever happened to my original white belt, I probably lost it, but since then I’ve kept all my other belts.  Back then there was no stripe system within each belt color.  You wouldn’t know if someone had been a blue belt for 3 weeks or for 3 years, but the best indicator was how faded and frayed their belt was.  Also,  I only remember there being just a couple purple belt students around.  The Gracie’s didn’t start using the stripe system until 1993 shortly before I moved away from southern California.  In all the classes Royce began notifying the students to sew a black patch at the end of their belt.  Slowly I started to see other students, including myself with black patches on the ends of their belts.  Then it came down to my last class before I... Read More

     Greg & Helio Gracie

I started taking lessons at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, CA almost 32 years ago in January 1991.  This was 3 years before the first UFC, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was mostly unknown at that time here in the United States.  The UFC platform helped propel the Gracie family name and their style of martial art into mainstream America and the rest of the world.   A friend of mine, and long time martial artist of several disciplines, first told me about the Gracie’s, as he had already been taking lessons from them for a couple of months.  He couldn’t believe the effectiveness yet simplicity of the things these skinny mild mannered Brazilians were teaching him.  He said that what he had learned in those few months of practicing jiu-jitsu would be much more beneficial to him in a real street fight than the many years of his other martial arts experienced combined.  He encouraged me to come to class with him to check things out, and said the Gracie brothers were very nice and welcoming to everyone.  So, I did just that, I went to the Gracie Academy with my friend one evening and I immediately knew it was something I wanted to be involved in.  I was the Gracie Academies 197^th student.

Back then students started out with privates lessons.  The academy had 2 small rooms, and a larger room for bigger classes.   For the first 6 months or so all of my lessons were one on one with either Royler,... Read More

At some point on your jiu jitsu journey it will be time for you to start participating in open mat or sparring sessions, often referred to as “rolling” in jiu-jitsu.  Some schools don’t advise of it until a student has sufficient background, which may vary from just a couple months to several months of practice.  In any case it’s an integral part of the learning process, and it will put you on the path to increasing your proficiency in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Initially your training may start with technique learning and repetition, but eventually your training should consist of these 3 basic parts:  Technique learning, drilling, and sparring.  

Some people might have the mindset that sparring is just for those who desire jiu-jitsu competition. That is far from the truth.  Sparring has many benefits as I will share some with you, whether you’re intending to compete or not.  Nothing else prepares you for a real fight, or competition as well as live sparring.  It’s a great way to get and stay in shape as it is a high cardiovascular workout.  Keeping your body in shape has all the health benefits, but more importantly if you are attacked on the street you’ll have the endurance to properly defend yourself and go the distance to achieve a successful outcome, likewise in competition.  

Regular sparring als... Read More