I’ve been following the Mendes Brothers pretty closely the
last couple years; more specifically once they launched their online training
site. Being a lighter weight grappler
(Feather) their style has been very appealing to me. One of my training partners also has been
using their training site the same amount of time and had mentioned interest in
visiting their gym to train some time ago.
Fast forward to March 2014 and I was lucky enough to receive a planned
and paid for trip to visit Costa Mesa and the Art of Jiu-Jitsu from my
wife. On top of this she was thoughtful
enough to coordinate the trip with my training partner Martin.
Just a few weeks later we flew out to Costa Mesa. The gym had recommended we stay at the Ramada
Inn in which is less than a mile from the gym and reasonably priced. You’re not staying at a high priced resort
but it’s not a dump either. It is more than
adequate for those looking for something comfortable, yet affordable. The hotel has a heated pool and Jacuzzi which
came in very handy during our stay.
There is a small bar and restaurant in the hotel which is nice for catching
breakfast (no Continental breakfast here).
You can eat there for about $12 or less at breakfast. Before I go any further let me emphasize
that the cost of living in California is higher than where we are from
(Texas). Unless you are living on fast
food expect to spend $12-20 on most meals out.
That being said the hotel room does have a small fridge and there is a
Sprouts grocery store nearby on the way to the gym. If you want to save some money you could
easily pick up some deli meats, bread, etc. and make sandwiches to avoid eating
out all the time.
 |
| Birthday gift (itinerary) |
 |
| Flight into California |
We opted to rent a car and I feel this is a must for
transportation. We didn’t notice cabs so
unless you plan to rent a bicycle or something you are going to probably want a
car. Fortunately with the gym being
close by you shouldn’t have to do a ton of driving unless you plan on
sight-seeing a lot. While we were there
for four days we drove less than 40 miles and definitely got out to see the
town. Something you need to know about visiting the Art of
Jiu-Jitsu is that you will more than likely have to attend the competition or
advance classes unless you are a white belt.
I think the only other exceptions are for students visiting from
affiliated academies.
We arrived on Monday and used the first part of the day to
get our car, hotel room, and a little shopping to pick up water, along with
whatever we needed to be comfortable during our stay. We made it to the evening advance class for
our first training session. Most people I know that have seen the gym from
pictures and videos have described the look as “Jiu-Jitsu Heaven.” I can honestly say that the pictures don’t do
it justice. It’s really well designed
and laid out making it functional and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. The gym has two separate mat areas which
allows for two classes to be run simultaneously. They are separated by the front desk and
locker areas giving enough space to not make noise from either side a
distraction.
The students and staff at the gym were very friendly upon
our arrival. I imagine they are
accustomed to visitors on a regular basis.
Class started promptly and little time was wasted jumping straight into
De La Riva drills as a warm-up. We did
4-5 two minute rounds of pulling DLR guard and hitting a sweep of our
choice. After a complete round with a
training partner we would find a new one until completing all the rounds. For the technique portion we focused on
removing the DLR hook (from a standing position) and using a knee slice to pass
the guard on the non-DLR hook side. From
here the training partner (guard player on bottom) would catch half guard with
a knee shield into the hip (Z guard). We
then worked a couple submissions from here:
baseball bat choke and then a brabo choke option when they defended the
previous choke. The other option was a
leg drag pass. The remaining portion of
class consisted of 4 four minute rounds of grappling.
My initial impressions were about what I expected. The blue belts were like purple belts and the
purple belts were like brown belts. It
was a really good class and we were pretty exhausted from the travel and time
change. It was much later for us with
the two hour time difference by the time class was over.
 |
| Me & Martin beat after first class (long day) |
Tuesday we woke up, ate breakfast, and found a laundry mat
between our hotel and the gym. We opted
to use the laundry mat rather than the gym’s gi washing facilities. For $10 the gym will launder your gi which is
a really convenient option and is made available in 24 hours. The only problem is that they will run it
through the dryer which is a problem for me as my gi’s can’t afford to shrink
anymore since they are mostly competition fit and normally air dried. It
cost $3.75 to use their front load washer or $1.75 for a top loader. They have dryers as well that are $0.25 for
three minutes and you can add as much time as needed. This was a cheaper and overall better option
for us. We had plenty of time to do it
during the day.
Alpine Cleaners
253 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
 |
| Walter White & Jesse Pinkman also doing laundry |
253 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
During our visit we ate at a few different places specific
to the area. We found a great taco dive
called Sancho’s Tacos. This was by far
my favorite meal during the stay.
Sanchos Tacos #2
3014 W Balboa Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 723-8226
Sanchos Tacos #1
602 Pacific Coast Hwy
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 536-9226
Banzai Bowls
488 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 722-8329
We also tried Green Leaf which is a sandwich/soup/salad
restaurant close to the gym and it was good.
Healthy food options and reasonably priced.
Green Leaf Gourmet Chop Shop
234 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA
(949) 200-3950
After the Monday class we hit up Pitfire Artisan Pizza
before they closed at 10pm. Lots of
local drafts on tap and tasty single serving sized pizzas around 10” with
plenty of options to choose from. They also have a lot of beer if you are into
that.
Pitfire Pizza
353 E. 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Tuesday we attended the afternoon competition class. Let me preface this by saying we expected it to be very tough. This gym is loaded with guys that do nothing but compete and train for a living. How they get by on a daily basis I have no idea but I can tell you that class is not for the weak of heart. We showed up and were by far the oldest guys there; 37 and 45 respectively. The format for that day was warm-up drills of take-downs for two minutes alternating, then a couple two minute rounds of pulling DLR guard and hitting a sweep of choice. The bulk of the class consisted of 10 six minute rounds of rolling taking a 1 minute break in between rounds and one water break after five rounds. After this we did 4 three minute rounds of situational DLR attempting to sweep or submit. This was by far the most difficult class I’ve done since I started training Jiu-Jitsu. Unless you are accustomed to training like that and in phenomenal shape it’s going to be pretty rough. What made it so tough was the students were in such good cardio shape and never stop attacking. Also they are very good so you don’t get to take a lot of rounds off if you know what I mean. We had initially hoped to hit the nogi class later that evening but there was no way that was going to happen after the tough competition class. We both took the remainder of the day off and relaxed.
Fortunately for us the beach was very close to the hotel and
there are a lot of things to do. The
temperatures were in the 60’s during the early part of the day and warmed up to
the mid 70’s. The water temperature
seemed too cold for us so we spent some time walking up and down the Newport
Beach area which is only 10 minutes from our hotel.
Wednesday we skipped the competition class so we'd be able to participate in the evening, advanced class. This gave us time to visit Huntington Beach which seemed a lot busier than Newport the previous two days and offered a lot more in the way of shopping. I wasn't about to go home empty handed. There are a lot of nice shops fully stocked with brands like RVCA, Volcom, and Hurley gear.
 |
| Sushi for lunch |
That evening we had a great training session. The warm-up consisted of two minute rounds of
DLR sweeps and two minute rounds of DLR sweeps taking the back. Rafa showed some examples of what he was
looking for then turned us loose. He
emphasized being creative and using different methods for sweeping and taking
the back. The bulk of class was spent doing
situational sparring for three minute rounds:
closed guard, half guard, side mount, and full mount. After each round was completed we would
switch to a new partner. The end of
class was spent doing 4 two minute rounds of attacking the back with a seat belt
grip. Two sets without hooks and two
sets with one hook. The focus was
escaping the position or submitting from that particular position instead of
transitioning to mount, side mount, or knee on belly.
This was a great Jiu-Jitsu vacation. I would have loved to do more classes but
would have to be in much better shape to keep up with the younger competitors
there. I’m not sure that the competition
classes are something I’d be in that kind of shape to do and manage to get in
for an evening class all in the same day.
I’m glad we did that class but in the future if we visit I’d probably
stick to the evening classes. My impressions
after rolling with the students of this gym are that they are not only really good
but they tend to play the Mendes style game.
Very good DLR game and excellent knee slice through the half and RDLR
guard. I really appreciated the
structure of the gym. It was clear from
the beginning that they have a strict curriculum that focuses on using the DLR
guard to sweep and take the back…or defeat the DLR guard.
The warm-up drills were run as if everyone
knew them already because in the advanced class everyone does. The fundamental classes we saw focused
heavily on the DLR guard and would be an intermediate to advanced class in most
gyms. The other thing I liked was they
didn’t waste any time during training.
Class started promptly and there wasn’t an excessive amount of time
spent explaining the techniques. There
was plenty of time dedicated towards drilling and rolling. The instructors
always kept timers running to make sure that time wasn’t wasted in between
rounds and water breaks.
After talking to some of the students we came to find out
that a good bunch of them have moved out to southern California just to train
at with the Mendes Brothers. Some
commute up to 1.5 hours each way to train here. There is no doubt that Rafa and Gui have had
a huge impact on the skill of the students here but it’s also apparent that
these students are constantly making each other better with their ridiculous
work ethic. I hope to visit this gym in
the future and highly recommend it for anyone ranging from the serious,
hobbyist Jiu-Jitsu student to the high level competitor.
Budovideos recently released a new episode of Rolled Up featuring both Rafa & Gui Mendes. They discuss their gym, philosophy, structure, etc. There are a couple really nice techniques shown at the end.
Budovideos recently released a new episode of Rolled Up featuring both Rafa & Gui Mendes. They discuss their gym, philosophy, structure, etc. There are a couple really nice techniques shown at the end.
Link for mobile users: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhps4AkeM0U
No comments:
Post a Comment