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 my current game. 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 Costa Mesa 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 free meals). You can eat there for about $12 for
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 and make sandwiches to avoid eating out all the
time.
We opted to rent a car and I feel this is a must unless you have
some other plans 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 spaces 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 was very friendly upon our
arrival. I imagine they are accustomed
to visitors on a regular basis. Class
started very 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. We then
worked a couple submissions from here: baseball bat choke and brabo choke option. 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.
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. 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 loaded 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.
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. My
buddy Martin had read all about Banzai Bowls and was dying to try it. We had it twice during our stay and it was
excellent and better than I expected. 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.
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. 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 is nearby and there are a lot
of things to get into. 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 do 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 RVCA, Volcom, and Hurley gear.
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. 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. 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. 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 is that they are not only really good but they have
a huge influence from 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.
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.
