Our gym was fortunate enough to host Gustavo Dantas in December 2014. We are affiliated with Robson Moura so during that time we have developed a relationship with many of the current and former Nova Uniao gyms throughout the country. Gustavo is the President of Nova Uniao USA with his gym based in Tempe, Arizona. Gustavo is a 4th degree black belt under Andre Pederneiras.
The content covered in this seminar was very good. Rather than show a series of moves from a particular guard or position Gustavo focused heavily on concepts. We began with his most successful closed guard sweep, the "Roleta sweep." After spending some time breaking down the move and the timing of how to execute it properly we switched things up a bit. Gustavo spent some time showing proper posture in the guard when trying to stand up. A lot of emphasis was placed on doing this properly and how if the posture was not very good it would be easily exposed by the Roleta sweep. This method of teaching really made it an "ah ha" moment because while we were learning the Roleta sweep it really drove home the importance of good posture when trying to break the closed guard.
The other concept we covered worth mentioning was chaining the guard breaks into passes without much delay. Obviously hanging out in the open guard is not going to be favorable for the guard passer. Gustavo showed us a slick way to control the pants sleeves and prevent spider guard bicep control. I had not seen this particular variation. Importance was placed on being purposeful with your grips and not hesitating to initiate the guard pass. A good deal of time was spent working situational guard passing with the guard player trying to defend.
One thing I liked was during specific moments throughout the seminar Gustavo would queue up matches online that we could review and he would point out specific examples of executing techniques in competition. He has a very analytic approach to teaching which is very refreshing.
Something some people may not know about Gustavo is that he is a Certified Mental & Life Coach and excellent public speaker. He has developed a DVD series: The BJJ Mental Coach "Inner Discovery for Outer Success." Gustavo described how he himself experienced a lot of performance anxiety competing in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in the past. Through this series he is trying to help others achieve their goals by taking a more mental approach to competition. I personally purchased the DVD set and watched a good portion of it however I have not completed it so I will review it at a later date. After hearing his speech at the seminar about the program and some of the free videos he has put out on his YouTube channel I felt like I could benefit from it both for Jiu-Jitsu and in my personal life. A lot of the concepts discussed do not have to only apply to the sport.
If you get a chance I highly recommend checking out some of his BJJ Mental Coach videos and see if you can benefit from them. To wrap things up, the seminar was great. I'm a huge fan of Gustavo Dantas, his analytic teaching style and wish he was more local to us. If you get a chance to drop in at his gym in Tempe, Arizona or attend one of his seminars I highly recommend it. There is also an excellent three part series he participated in on Budovideos Rolled Up from late 2014 that I have linked at the bottom of the article.
So Keenan is in Denmark for a seminar (BJJ Globetrotters Fall Camp) this week...that's right there are 151 people in attendance! I once attended a Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti seminar once and thought that was a big seminar. I'm not sure what the BJJ culture is like in Denmark but clearly they know a superstar when he visits. After watching the first couple of rolls I can relate to how those black belts must feel. I've had the pleasure of being dismantled by really good grapplers like Robson Moura and Sean Roberts. It's kind of like a regular human vs a superstar. A good reminder of the difference between a regular, everyday grappler and a professional. Who doesn't dream about being able to effortlessly handle black belts like this?
This seminar review has been a long time coming. I was fortunate enough to train with Reilly about a year ago during one of his visits to the Dallas area. I've managed to stay in contact with Reilly since then and was able to help coordinate a seminar at our newly opened gym in June. If you are not familiar with Reilly he is primarily a nogi grappler with a big concentration in sambo and leg locks. He offers a very fresh point of view when it comes to grappling as I personally am very gi oriented and more accustomed to competing under a more strict rule set than he prefers.
The subject material for the seminar focused on leg locks and attacking the seated guard. Reilly has a very cerebral approach to instruction that I can appreciate. Rather than diving right into the "legal leg locks" most of us wanted to see he spent a good deal of time teaching "illegal" leg locks. Why might you ask? Well it's important to understand what makes them illegal in most BJJ competitions and why they are effective. Reaping ankle locks and heel hooks. Explanation and demonstration about inside versus outside heel hooks were covered. To finish up leg locks he showed us how to escape the positions which was refreshing. Lots of time was allotted to drill and explore the positions/attacks.
Moving on from here Reilly showed various ways to attack with straight ankle locks over a seated opponent in open guard and the De La Riva guard (belly down ankle lock). I can attest this is very effective. I have seen him and his students pull these off in competitions. I've also had good luck using the belly down ankle lock against teammates in rolling sessions to counter the De La Riva.
Reilly has a pretty interesting philosophy about guard passing and attacking. He states that 'there are guards worth passing and guards not worth passing.'
"The purpose of a guard is to defend yourself against attack. This is true for any combat sport if it's boxing, fencing, or grappling. If a boxer leaves their hands to high or too low, then it is obvious for their opponent to attack them when they are open. This is true for grappling in a way." "Many guards that people employ are designed to stop the pass but not to stop the submission attacks on the legs. The natural conclusion is that if the guard is not protecting the legs then there is no point to go out of your way for a pass when the nearest submission is right there."
"So I break guards up into three categories: 1. Guards that you pass 2. Guards not worth passing 3. Better guards that require an attack to see what opens up first...the pass or the leg lock"
So moving on from the leg attacks Reilly showed an excellent way to attack for the kimura over a seated opponent. Specifically if the opponent attempts a single leg from the seated guard. The situation sets up perfectly for a kimura from the standing position. Even if the kimura cannot be finished a quality passing opportunity/scramble is initiated and option to get the back of your opponent.
Reilly has an excellent DVD on leg locks "Sambo Leg Locks for Nogi Grappling" that has been around for years. You can purchase it directly at his website: http://www.rdojo.com/.
He also has digital downloads that you can purchase from his site. The cool thing is you can pay what you want. That is a pretty innovative offer you don't see very often. That being said if you download I do recommend paying what you feel is fair as the material covered is very good. Something worth noting is that Reilly only shows techniques that are functional and have been competition tested. I have rolled with him and can tell you that he doesn't waste time on techniques he doesn't use himself. Reilly is very open-minded when it comes to grappling as he cross-trains in various arts and is always looking to add tools to his unique and effective style. If you get the opportunity to train with him or at a minimum study/train his instructional videos I highly recommend it.
I've been really fortunate this year to attend a few excellent seminars that have been incredibly affordable; each of them costing less than $50 for three hours of training. A good friend of mine, Collin Grayson, runs a Caio Terra affiliate in Rockwall, TX and was planning on hosting Gameness sponsored athlete Manny Diaz for a weekend. For those not familiar with Manny he is a high level, world champion brown belt from Caio Terra's academy. What makes him a little different than the "average" high level competitor is that he doesn't train Jiu-Jitsu on a full-time basis like it's his primary job. Manny is married, has children, and a regular job that has him traveling from time to time. He's one of those few guys that is able to balance all of that stuff and somehow compete at the highest levels with success.
Not knowing what the focus of the seminar would be covering I felt like attending was a no-brainer. We were lucky enough to host Manny and Collin for a Friday night rolling session at our own gym. Knowing that Manny has a great top game I expected to get crushed the entire time but found that he has an excellent half guard game. He was fairly playful during the rolls for the most part but had no problems tuning us up and doing what he wanted. It was a really good experience to see what parts of our A game wouldn't work on him and he was helpful to point out things we could do differently.
The next day we met up at Collin's gym in Rockwall for the seminar. I managed to get a few guys from my gym to attend as well. Much to my surprise the first half of the seminar was focused on how he likes to play half guard, maintain distance control, keeping your opponent grounded in the half guard, and 3-4 sweeps from here. I think most of us expected to see Manny's crushing top game but this was a welcomed surprise as half guard is one of my favorite positions. To finish up this position he showed us some Williams Guard options and submissions from half which will work very well for my own game.
The second half of the seminar focused on breaking down and passing the uber popular De La Riva Guard. The techniques Manny showed from here were fairly new to me but seemed very good. Manny likes to remove the DLR hook and use a knee up the middle to smash through the guard, taking his time to nullify any additional annoyances from the legs and controlling the hips before sliding through into side mount. This is not a lot of fun as an uke much less during a normal rolling session...but it is super effective as evidenced in the video. This was fairly reminiscent of the Sean Roberts means for passing we learned earlier this year but Manny brought even more pressure and control to the table.
At the end of the seminar Manny rolled individually with every person that stuck around with no breaks between rounds. What a guy! I can't recommend enough that if you have the opportunity to attend one of his seminars or simply train with him...do it! He is very talented, an effective instructor, and a super nice guy. I heard a rumor (well not really) from Caio Terra that Manny plans to open up his own academy in the near future. We wish him luck with that and at the IBJJF World Championships in a couple weeks!
Big thanks to Collin Grayson of CTA - Rockwall, TX for hosting the seminar. If you are in his area please check out his gym. http://ctarockwall.com/academy/
Our gym was fortunate enough to bring in Sean Roberts for a seminar Saturday, January 25th of this year. Unless you've been living under a rock Sean has become a very familiar name within the Jiu-Jitsu community after his participation in the brown belt kumite not that long ago. At least for me, I didn't know of Sean until that tournament but he certainly caught my eye as an excellent competitor.
The Ralph Gracie black belt has been traveling all over the U.S. with his fiancee (also an excellent grappler) for seminars at a very reasonable rate...far less (a fraction) than average especially when you consider the fact that he's a high level competitor with a great deal of knowledge. I have been to many seminars with world renowned grapplers and have always come away with the hope that if I can gain a little bit of knowledge, a concept or two then I'm doing pretty well. One can't expect to implement every single detailed shown at most seminars into their game.
Sean showed up and was very pleasant to talk to. He asked everyone to grab a partner and roll at about 50-60% intensity, play your game if you will. He walked around and observed everyone periodically stopping and chatting with each person and asking what aspects of our game we want to improve, what difficulties we run across, etc. Rather than focus on one particular area for the duration of the seminar Sean showed us many different parts of his own game that he felt would answer some of the questions people were asking him during the early, rolling portion.
Sean was up front and said we were more than welcome to take pictures and video of the techniques but did reserve the right on a couple to be shown towards the end. As soon as he said that almost everyone grabbed their phones and were promptly recording. It's not often that guest instructors allow this so it was definitely a bonus.
He started by showing an interesting sleeve grip break from the standing position that I had not seen before and was very effective. He moved on to show a couple ways to pass the spider guard that were familiar with some new wrinkles added. They were simple and very effective. Sean at one point stopped to say that he feels like his game isn't overly fancy but simple. At about the mid-point of the seminar we switched from focusing on guard passing (top side) to the guard game. Sean showed us one of his preferred methods for setting up the omoplata from open guard. From here he showed a sneaky sweep when the opponent tries to hop over into side mount on top to escape the omoplata. Sean also showed a couple ways to better maintain control from the shoulder lock position and finish with a couple different submissions (shoulder lock/armbar).
During the last two techniques Sean did ask that no one record them as he preferred to keep them a bit secretive. I won't go into detail but will say that one was an excellent half guard sweep and the other was an escape from a nearly back mounted position. Both were very good and I can understand wanting to keep some things off the web.
At the end of the seminar Sean opened up for a Q&A on pretty much anything. He has a great sense of humor and was fun to talk to. Sean then rolled with every single person that was interested in a 5-6 minute rounds. He methodically picked his way through all of us upper belts until he finished up with the last willing participant. I think Sean took one, 5 minute break for a drink of water during this. It's no wonder his cardio was so good for those ridiculously long matches at the brown belt kumite. Sean was able to repeatedly hit some of the techniques (particularly the secret sweep) over and over again on everyone. People were literally laughing because this sweep was seemingly unstoppable. You could tell that he had perfected the timing and just hit it at will. I can personally say that Sean doesn't dilly-dally with what he wants to do. I know there were times where he gave up a little space for me to recover but when he wanted to pass he didn't waste anytime passing the guard if that is what he wanted to do. His size definitely put me at a disadvantage combined with his skill set was fairly overwhelming. It was a great roll and a good reminder that he is on a whole different level than most people. I did have the pleasure of rolling with his fiancee, Elizabeth, who is about a 115lb purple belt. She was super technical and had a great open guard game. It's not often I get to roll with smaller, technical people as I'm usually one of the smallest guys at my own gym.
Overall this was probably the best seminar I have attended in terms of value. The techniques Sean covered were not overly difficult for an experienced white belt all the way to black belt. I spoke with almost everyone after the seminar and got the impression that everyone left with some knowledge and nothing but good things to say about Sean.
Metamoris 3 is right around the corner and will be featuring Sean Roberts vs Zak Maxwell on the PPV card.
Caio Terra is easily one of the most visible and vocal competitors in recent years. His gym, Institute of Martial Arts is based in San Jose, California. He has not only built a gym with excellent competitors and instructors but he has been spending a great deal of his time traveling the globe giving seminars. In addition to this he has established over a dozen affiliates throughout the country.
I have been following Caio Terra for the last 4 years both in competitions and his instructional DVD's. Being a small grappler myself, I can relate to a lot of the techniques that Caio teaches and uses with a a lot of success. His dominance in major tournaments speaks volumes about his abilities and I have found his teaching methodology to be fairly easy to follow.
When I heard a local gym would be bringing him in for a two day seminar I jumped at the opportunity. Caio has never visited Texas for seminars and considered myself lucky that he would be in my own backyard.
Day 1 (Gi portion)
Caio gave our group about seven topics of things we could focus on for the gi portion of the seminar. The majority vote would decide on the focus for the techniques he would show. We chose to work the De La Riva/Berimbolo stuff. Caio made a comment about this before starting. He said, "most of the time everyone wants to work really hard techniques because they think they are better...the reality is they are just harder." That seemed funny at the time but was a great point. I think sometimes we tend to over-complicate Jiu-Jitsu and lose sight of the importance of executing clean, basic techniques that are high percentage...or at a minimum easier to achieve a higher level of understanding.
Caio began by showing how to initiate and maintain the DLR guard. He also pointed out that dragging your opponent to the ground for Berimbolo can be very laborious (which I totally agree with) and that it is vital to break down your opponent in order to get it. One might not necessarily go straight for it by pulling/yanking on them and trying to force but first to hide your intentions with lapel and/or sleeve grips. His methods for initiating the sweep were a bit different than what I have previously studied. I have spent a great deal of time utilizing the Mendes brothers stuff so it was good to see a different perspective. In some ways it was a challenge to execute his technique as I tended to get confused on occasion due to my muscle memory. So over the course of day one we covered the following from DLR guard:
1. Back take (Babybolo)
2. Leg drag from Berimbolo (probably my favorite)
3. Back take from Berimbolo
4. Mount from Berimbolo
This may not sound like a lot of techniques but it really was. The amount of detail Caio shows could be overwhelming for a white belt but necessary. We ended the day with Q&A over anything we wanted, even techniques which were not covered during the seminar. This was excellent as he showed us how he sets up and finishes his secret ankle lock attack from DLR guard. Video below shows him hitting this same ankle lock in a recent IBJJF tournament. He has used this same submission against Fabio Passos (Cobrinha black belt) in competition a little about a year ago.
Caio Terra vs Fabio Passos
Caio rolled with pretty much everyone that was interested after pictures were taken. It was apparent pretty quickly he intended to triangle choke every single victim opponent. When it was my turn we exchanged some pleasantries. I attempted a sitting guard-->single leg technical stand-up which he quickly shut down. I joked about it and he actually allowed me to attempt it again which I managed to get and sweep he let me. As I was attempting to pass towards the back he started to invert a bit and forced me into 50/50 guard (see exhibit A):
Exhibit A
That week I had been working on some 50/50 guard stuff from his half-guard DVD (specifically the ankle lock) and was pretty nervous in this position with him as he's known to be a killer with leg locks. As I was battling for grips he stood up and began removing the 50/50 guard and moved quickly into side mount. As I was preventing the cross-face he slid into mount, trapped an arm, and threw up a triangle rolling to his back. This happened so quickly I really didn't see any of it coming. I defended pretty well but he transitioned into an armbar to finish the roll. I lasted maybe 2 minutes. I can honestly say that he is the smoothest I have ever rolled against. I have experienced world class black belts pressure, explosiveness, etc. but Caio never exhibited any of those traits. He was just smooth as can be. There was nothing wasted...simply efficient.
Day 2 (Nogi portion)
At the beginning of the second day, Caio reiterated that we chose a difficult topic the day prior and he would pick for the second day...something much easier. We spent the entire second day working from the side mount. The focus was on moving to north-south, trapping the far side arm with an over hook and moving into side mount on the far side to eventually finish the armbar. We worked the following scenarios:
1. Finishing same side armbar (2 different methods)
2. Switching sides to far side armbar (2 different methods)
3. Finishing the armbar many different ways on the far side based on your opponents responses to defend and interlock their hands.
The nice thing about this particular series was that after each variation, he would add a layer or option depending on your opponent's response or attempt to escape the submission/position. It is worth noting he covered the armbar he managed to finish with against Jeff Glover at Metamoris earlier this year. (Video is linked at the bottom of this article.)
Again, it may not sound like a lot of material but it really built layer upon layer from beginning to end. I probably got more out of the second day for some of the basic concepts that I had not seen before. There was no rolling at the end of the second day but again he allowed questions which I took full advantage. I asked how to finish the ankle lock from 50/50 when your opponent hides their feet really well (particularly figure four). He showed multiple ways to attack the non-hidden foot by way of ankle lock and toe-holds. One of the great concepts I took away from it was almost anytime your are working the 50/50 guard...if you want to sweep, submit, escape you have to be willing to make space with your hips.
Overall I think it was a very good seminar. Caio showed some excellent techniques and details. I do get the impression that Caio is a perfectionist while showing technique. There were some moments when he appeared to get a little frustrated with his training partner while trying to show technique. Some positives to take away from those moments that should be applied during training are the following:
1. The training partner should never feed any moves; don't make the technique easy because the reality is most techniques will not be easy to apply on a resisting opponent.
2. The training partner should react naturally (not necessarily defend) but use good posture when stuck in DLR guard rather than slumping over, don't just lay flat on your back while your partner attempts Berimbolo, etc. These are not natural during a live roll so why would you do this while training? Giving that much natural resistance makes it more real for the person attempting the techniques.
Something else worth noting. After circling up to review some of the covered techniques, if someone had a question about a detail he would have them perform the move in front of the group and then correct the issue. This is good for both the people directly involved and also the group. Being able to evaluate what others are doing or having issues with may answer some questions for everyone involved.
All in all it was an excellent two days of training. I might not recommend a Caio Terra seminar to a white belt but every one's learning curves are different. I've seen my fair share of blue belts that have a hard time keeping up with the level of techniques during some seminars.
Things Caio has upcoming:
1. World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in November. I asked him if he had an opponent and he said that had not been determined yet. Stay up to date on this event here: https://www.facebook.com/worldjiujitsuexpo
2. Pan Jiu-Jitsu Nogi Championships the last weekend of September.
3. Rumor has it that Caio will be launching an online training site. I confirmed with him via Facebook that he indeed plans to launch the site. No target date was provided.
I'd like to extend a huge amount of thanks to Collin Grayson for hosting the seminar. He provided most of the pictures for this article. He is also now the first and ONLY Caio Terra affiliate in Texas! http://www.ctarockwall.com/
When I first started training Jiu-Jitsu I felt that training with a variety of high level guys would no doubt enhance my progression in the sport. As a white belt I managed to attend a few seminars and even though the amount of knowledge I gained was minimal it was definitely a fun experience. After five years of experience I can honestly say that the average person probably doesn't stand to gain as much from seminars until you've reached an intermediate level (blue belt). I don't think that should discourage newer grapplers from attending seminars but one should keep things in perspective. In my experience seminars are usually three hours and tend to be a little overwhelming on the amount of information.
List of high level grapplers I have trained with (in no particular order):
1. Marcelo Garcia
2. Robson Moura
3. Bruno Bastos
4. Rico Bastos
5. Romero Jacare Cavlacanti
6. Jamil Kelly
7. Robert Drysdale
8. Reilly Bodycomb
9. Caio Terra (next month)
How can you get the most out of a seminar?
I can't stress the importance to take notes either during the seminar or immediately afterwards. Most seminars cover a lot (sometimes too much) and details will get lost if you don't take notes. Recently after a Robson Moura seminar a training partner and myself recorded ourselves drilling all of the techniques so that we could go back and review it. This is far better than just taking notes.
Something else to consider regarding seminars is scheduling a private lesson with the instructor. One on one instruction is really hard to beat and one of the best way to take your grappling to the next level. Seminars are often packed with over thirty students on the mat and it's hard to replicate the kind of individualized attention you can get during a private lesson.
Another consideration is will they allow video? In my experience, most do not want video taken during seminars but it never hurts to ask. Don't be a jerk and just assume they won't care and create an awkward situation. Politely ask the host of the seminar ahead of time and/or the person giving the seminar. They may allow it but ask that you not make it public.
Which ones should I attend?
Early on during my training in Jiu-Jitsu I would attend every seminar I possibly could with a high level superstar. I didn't necessarily know what the content would be and just tried to absorb whatever it was that they were teaching. Through my progression I've learned that as you become more advanced it is much easier to learn new concepts or find ways to implement them into your game. I am fairly picky about what seminars I will attend these days. I ask myself will they offer something that fits my game? Do they offer something that is lacking in my game? If the answer is yes then that is a great motivator to attend and gain new knowledge. Would I be better off just scheduling a private with the individual?
Another type of seminar that isn't typical but can be very beneficial are training camps. Many high level schools will hold training camps that may last a few days or even a week. These are often put together prior to a major event such as the IBJJF Pan or Worlds tournaments. This is not only a great opportunity to work with multiple high level black belts but can also help you get ready if you plan to compete at those tournaments. This can go a long way to teach you how to prepare for tournaments in general if your gym doesn't have a program dedicated to tournament preparation.
In the Spring we had Bruno and Rico Bastos at our gym for a seminar leading up to the Pan 2013 tournament. It was the first of that type I attended and it was a great experience. The techniques focused on passing the open guard and how to deal with the dreaded 50/50 guard that so many competitors like to use these days. The training was grueling compared to most seminars as the repetitions were very high paced and focused on developing muscle memory under tough situations. There was lots of rolling at the end of the seminar to end the day. This was one of the best seminars I have attended to date.
Here are a couple clips from the Bruno & Rico Bastos Pan Camp seminar.
50/50 Guard Pass
Spider Guard Pass
Which ones should I avoid?
One of the first seminars I had the chance to attend when I got into Jiu-Jitsu was an Eddie Bravo/10th Planet seminar. I didn't know much at this point in time, did some research, and quickly realized that this was a pretty specialized system that I didn't intend to focus on. I skipped it and certainly glad that I did. This is a pretty extreme example but you need to consider the content that will be covered during a seminar if at all possible. Imagine a multiple time World Champion is in town teaching the 50/50 guard and you're not a fan? Why attend it if you don't want to learn that aspect of Jiu-Jitsu? Will you learn something? Most definitely but don't throw your hard earned money somewhere you won't find good value.
I highly recommend researching and looking for reviews from other people that may have attended a particular seminar. There are plenty of valuable resources such as Sherdog's Grappling forum: http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f12/ to ask questions and receive feedback. Sometimes we get enamored with the success or style of grappler only to find out that their seminars are lackluster or they simply aren't the greatest instructors. I've heard plenty of horror stories of instructors that show up, have everyone do cardio for 30 minutes, show some techniques, and just not really show a lot of fire or interest in being there. These are the type of seminars I try to avoid.
Whatever your training preferences may be I think there are great opportunities to learn from training with a wide range of people. This can be accomplished by attending seminars, dropping in at other gyms, or even switching up the training schedule at your own gym. Getting to train with a variety of training partners and even instructors can help elevate your game to another level.
