I recently returned from training for a week with Marcelo Garcia at his new school in Hollywood, Florida. As I eluded to in my previous blog, last year I had the opportunity to spend a week training in New York with Marcelo and it was the single most exciting and inspirational week in my jiu jitsu life. Anxious to re-capture that energy, last week I hopped on a flight to Florida for a week of hard training, technical exchange and inspiration. Just like last year, I was not dissapointed.

The first training was wrestling practice at American Top Team on Monday morning. There was lots of drilling, some great technique taught and then training. I trained with Liborio and was very impressed with how solid his wrestling is and how well he mixes judo without the gi and single and double leg takedowns of freestyle wrestling. Marcelo's takedowns have always been good but were looking awesome in practice. I really liked the atmosphere and culture Liborio and the crew have created at ATT - there are no big egos and everyone seems very hungry for knowledge. Liborio had very good things to say about Marcelo and how he is adapting to the mma training and contributing as a team member. I also got to meet Gesias Calvalcanti which was awesome - I have been a big fan of his for a long time and now even more so - he is one of the nicest, most down to earth people you will ever meet.

Later that night we went to Marcelo's academy for evening class / training. Monday, Wenesday and Friday class is with the kimono and Marcelo started the week by showing a very simple and effective omoplata set up from the closed guard and a slick way to continue the omoplata attack (on the other arm) when your opponent rolls. I wish Kon was there with his blurry camera to post pictures! After technique, training started and I trained with a really good brown belt named Jonathan and then got schooled by Marcelo. He got me at least 4 times - two of which were wristlocks :(

If you've never taken a class from Marcelo you are really missing out. Not only is he a master technician but he is an incredible motivator. The warm ups are really fun, hard and high energy. He's awesome at getting you to believe that you can go as far as you want in jiu jitsu - all it takes is alot of sweat and hard work. And you get to see first hand that he practices what he preaches and dosent cut corners. Drawing from Josh Waitzkin's 'The Art of Learning', it is embracing a long term, organic learning process that leads to mastery. Marcelo embodies this by really putting himself out there both in championships and in the academy - fighting with his game wide open, constantly looking for the kill and simultaneously looking to refine and simplify his game. This was important for me to see because one of the problems in my jiu jitsu is that I love jiu jitsu techniques so much, I make things too fancy and get lost in the forest of strange and beautiful jiu jitsu techniques, grips and positions. Jiu Jitsu is the best because it is so efficient, and jiu jitsu is at its best as a three or four step positional ladder consisting of sweep/takedown, pass, mount and finish. Although Marcelo uses some very technical positions like the x guard, he follows this positional ladder to the submission with beautiful simplicity and efficiency. As John Danaher has said "Jiu Jitsu is the science of control that leads to the submission". Anything else just isnt jiu jitsu.

Tuesday night training was without the gi - working on passing the half guard. Again I was impressed with how simple Marcelo makes it look. What is amazing to me is everything he shows works. Passing the guard without the gi is one of the hardest things to do in my opinion. Marcelo just dosent give you any space to move - its hard to believe that he's a middleweight.

Wendsday - back in the gi, we worked escape from side control. This has always been a really difficult position for me. The techniques were very straightforward and actually, kind of what I already do. What I really took away from the class was the proper attitude with which to apply the techs and the importance of timing. In the training portion I went two rounds in a row with Marcelo, trained with a good brown belt John and then straight back to Marcelo. He was still a step ahead me but I felt like I was finding my rythmn and getting to my strong positions. Trying to insist on my A game and working to keep up with the transitions and changes in position. I still ended up tapping more than once but definately started to have that 'sharp', technical feeling again.

Thursday - last night of training for the week. I asked Marcelo if he could show the guillotine the way he does it and he showed several variations on the finish. I can't believe how much pressure he puts on the neck. I think the guillotine is one of those things where if you don't stay aware and prevent the position in the first place; you're done. If the guy has a great guillotine like Marcelo or Jake Shields and you let him sink it in, it's almost as bad as a tight mata-leon (and worse on your neck). At the end of training, I rolled one last time wih Marcelo and although he caught me twice - both times with the inverted guillotine from north-south, I felt much improved from the beginning of the week. Actually I felt I trained better than I ever have without the gi. At the same time it is humbling because I realize that if I were to ever compete against Marcelo, I doubt I would be able to last three minutes. His reputation as the best pound for pound grappler in the world is well deserved. (note: I am also a huge fan of Roger Gracie who has notched two victories over Marcelo with impeccable technique and an overwhelming weight advantage, I really think there is absolutely no way of knowing what would happen in a match between them if both were equal in weight).

Friday, somehow it took me 16 hours of travel to get from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco. Between airport delays and a missed connection I was so exhaused that I almost forgot to throw up when I saw the sign for the FOX NEWS store in the Dallas Airport. I couldn't sleep at all on the flight home because I had so many techniques and bjj ideas going through my head. I visualized all the matches I've ever lost all over again looking for ways I could have applied what I learned over the week to change the outcome. Overall I had an incredible experience. I am extremely thankful to Marcelo and Tatiana as both friends and instructors and can't wait to get back for more training. Hopefully I don't have to wait a year this time.

I get asked alot who I learned jiu jitsu from, who I consider to be my bjj instructor. I think this is a surprisingly difficult question. After all, I started jiu jitsu here in Santa Cruz with Claudio Franca but since 2001, I have split my time between Santa Cruz and Rio de Janeiro, Brasil where I was influenced by many great fighters and instructors.

In the beginning I would train three or four nights a week with Claudio. Claudio is the one who put me on the path of jiu jitsu and who inspired me to aspire to a real 'jiu jitsu lifestyle'. For this I will always be grateful. At the academy we really focused on self defense and fundamentals which is a great way to build a functional base in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At the time Garth Taylor was Claudio's right hand man, instructor at the school and top student. For those of you who don't know, Garth is one of the most decorated American bjj competitors ever. He's medaled at every belt level in the world championships, taking silver in the black belt. Garth breaks down jiu jitsu like few people can, making it simple and straight forward so anyone can understand the underlying function and depth of the movements and techniques. Even today, I am constantly learning from Garth and am lucky enough to teach with him at UCSC.

I trained hard and became a competent blue belt. Still I considered jiu jitsu a hobby, prefering to focus on surfing and school. My next move was to go study photography for a semester at the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston where I trained with Roberto Maia and everyone at Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I had such a great time and still count Roberto, Pat and Kenny as my friends and teachers.

The next big thing to happen was that Garth gave me some mundial tapes. I was completely blown away by what I saw - I used to watch the matches of Roleta, Nino, Gordo, Margarida, Leozihno, Shaolin and Saulo - over and over and over again. I still have a box of 50 or so vhs tapes in my closet (thank god and otm for dvds). I made up my mind to go to Brasil.

Brasil opened my eyes. I found my second jiu jitsu home at Gracie Barra and made lifelong friends along the way. I got to train everyday with my idols. What other sport do you get to have access to the worlds best like we do? If you're a golfer and you want to play a round with Tiger, how do you set that up? What if you want to go surf with Slater or play one on one against Jordan? In jiu jitsu its easy, you show up at the academy, respectfully introduce yourself and be absolutely honest about who you are and what your intentions are and nine times out of ten you will given a warm welcome. Jiu Jitsu is the best. At Gracie Barra, some days I would just sit on the sidelines and watch, not wanting to train because I didn't want to miss any of the action because simultaneously Gordo was training with Roleta, Gordinho with Nino, Soca with Feitosa, Carlinhos with Bruno Fernandez some brown belt named Roger Gracie and talented kids like Tunico, Xarupinho and the academy phenom Sal were just tearing people apart.

Sal became my teacher. He watched my game and constantly corrected my grips, movement, positional progression and strategy. To this day, I have never (repeat NEVER) seen anyone ever EVER pass Sal's guard. Feitosa, Gordo, Gordinho and Bruno also helped me alot. Back to California.

Hard training with Claudio and Garth. Thousands (literally) of hours studying tape. Back to Brasil.

In successive trips Brasil I was lucky enough to have Gordo take me under his wing. I cannot describe how much it has meant to me to have Gordo as a role model - both in jiu jitsu and in life. If I were forced to chose one person who epitomizes brazilian jiu jitsu to me it would have to be Gordo.

Another mentor was Rillion Gracie. Besides being perhaps the most technical jiu jitsu mind I have ever seen (honorable mention John Danaher), Rillion's jiu jitsu is grace in motion, his guard absolutely second to none. Being around Rillion, one can see that jiu jitsu is something much bigger than a competitive sport, it is a way of life, a martial art and a profoundly efficient and beautiful system of self defense. I cannot recremend Rillion Gracie highly enough. Before the 2006 mundials there would usually be 5 or 6 black belt world champions there asking questions. This time really opened my eyes to the fact that there is a level far beyond black belt world champion - it made me really shift the goal posts. Jiu Jitsu is for life.

Since 2005 I have also been helped tremendously by Dave Camarillo who I really consider to be one of my jiu jitsu mentors, good friends and one of the best jiu jitsu / judo fighters in the world. No one can match his speed and his precision is second to none.

Ever since the historic 2003 abu dhabi in brasil, I like most bjj'ers have become a fan of Marcelo Garcia. He is in my opionion the best pound for pound grappler in the world. He has created a unique expression of jiu jitsu, incredibly efficient and incredibly well suited for his body type. His agressive style of hunting the submission from start to finish should be motivation to all jiu jitsu athletes. These days I study Marcelo's game constantly - and he has facilitated this by being incredibly open with his techniques - making them available for everyone in 4 excellent series of instructional dvds and an awesome book on the x guard. Before the 2007 abu dhabi, Dave Camarillo and I went out to New York to train with Marcelo for a week. It was an incredible experience. Marcelo went out of his way to teach and train with us twice a day. Although I was tapping alot, I was learning even more. No matter who you are or what school you're from, I think it's crazy not to be studying Marcelo's jiu jitsu - I really believe that he is the most influential jiu jitsu player today - both for the sport itself and for my own path to be the the best bjj athlete and best person I can be.

I have a long list of teachers and each has been every one has been very important to my development. Someone else who I forgot to mention but I am really thankful to is Ze Radiola - anyone who gets a chance to go to Recife and spend a few days at his academy will really get a chance to see how champions are made. Ze and his stable of fighters were very instrumental in my success at the 2006 mundial.

So a big thank you to all my teachers - Claudio Franca, Garth Taylor, Roberto Maia, Sal, Gordo, Feitosa, Rillion Gracie, Ze Radiola, Dave Camarillo and Marcelo Garcia.
Jiu Jitsu!