Cost of Renzo Gracie DC Academy?

I don't see how it's such a big deal. My instructor doesn't give out pricing over the phone and he's the only blackbelt in the city, the only other academy is run by a recently promoted purple belt and he charges nearly the same amount.

I pay $150/month, no wrestling, no judo, nothing else. If he would have told me that over the phone, I would have never shown up. After the first class and especially since I put some time in (well...close to 2 years now) I feel anything less would be an insult to my coach. I didn't think I could afford it and I was hesitant signing on to a 6 month contract, but it's easy to make payments with a few minor sacrifices. The instructors make the school, price couldn't be less relevant IMO. Trust me when I say that too, it sounds like you have 4 good schools to choose from, there's no way that 1 school is going to price themselves out of the market. There's usually a going rate per area/in general.
 
there are better schools in the area i think. I dont think that school is bad (i dont really know anything about it other than the fact that a purple belt teaches) but there are better options I think.

I would check out 5050bjj.com instead, or beta academy. i wouldnt train with a purple belt when there are world class brown and black belts around.

I'm so lost here...

There are "better" schools yet you now nothing about the place?

Now that you know Cesar Cabrera is a Renzo Brown Belt does that move the school into the "good" column?

I train at a Renzo affiliate so I'm biased on the subject, that being said check out all the schools in the area. Realize though it's going to be pricey as your in DC.
 
Lol, thanks for the lesson man but I'm not a complete newbie. I'm an advanced white belt (three stripes). That doesn't make me a world beater by any means but this isn't my first rodeo either.

I just have a hard time with them withholding that info from me when:

a) other schools in the area have given up pricing info over the phone, b) I know how expensive Renzo's NYC academy is (pretty high although it is in Manhattan), c) all they offer is bjj, no MT, wrestling or anything d) it's not even that close to where I live or work.

And on top of all of that there's a new brown belt teaching?(Not that that's a bad thing)

The fact that you have already trained does change things somewhat, but why would the fact that you happen not live/ work close to the academy have any bearing on their strategy not to disclose prices over the phone? There's nothing they can do about how convenient their location is for you -- that's something for you to consider, not them. Similarly, with regard (a.), there is a good argument to be made that if other schools do disclose their pricing, that makes a strategy of not disclosing your prices even more effective.
 
Cesar Cabrera is a pretty good instructor and competitor from what I hear. If you can make it, try out his free class. There are other schools in the area too. Yamasaki and Lloyd surely have affiliates in the area. If you are near Sterling, Synergy MMA is where I tend to visit, though FightWorks and Fairfax BJJ are fine schools in the area too. If you are near Arlington, try out 50/50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu too.
 
Lol, thanks for the lesson man but I'm not a complete newbie. I'm an advanced white belt (three stripes). That doesn't make me a world beater by any means but this isn't my first rodeo either.

I just have a hard time with them withholding that info from me when:

a) other schools in the area have given up pricing info over the phone, b) I know how expensive Renzo's NYC academy is (pretty high although it is in Manhattan), c) all they offer is bjj, no MT, wrestling or anything d) it's not even that close to where I live or work.

And on top of all of that there's a new brown belt teaching?(Not that that's a bad thing)

Thanks for the info man, I've checked with Lloyd Irvin's Arlington academy and Capital Jiu Jitsu so far and I just want to weigh my options. I haven't heard of 50/50 but I will definitely give it a look. I really like Lloyd Irvin's Arlington Academy so far.

I would definitely recommend 50/50 over lloyd's in arlington or capital. 100%

50/50 is ryan hall's school and he is an incredible instructor, as is Seph Smith, the other guy who teaches there. You will definitely not regret choosing that school
 
I'm so lost here...

There are "better" schools yet you now nothing about the place?

Now that you know Cesar Cabrera is a Renzo Brown Belt does that move the school into the "good" column?

I train at a Renzo affiliate so I'm biased on the subject, that being said check out all the schools in the area. Realize though it's going to be pricey as your in DC.

I'm a big fan of Renzo, don't get me wrong. But going to a school where a no name purple belt teaches over a legit black belt or a world class brown belt doesn't make sense to me.

I KNOW 50/50, Yamasaki DC, and Beta have great instruction. All things considered, I'd rather go to a school with a brown or black belt over a purple. So yea, the fact that hes a brown does give the school more credibility.
 
Out of all of these Arlington and close gyms, who has the best coaching for bjj, and produces the best competitors for bjj?

Same for mma?

Just interested.
 
Ryan Hall and 50/50 school = good option. No bullshit.
 
Ryan Hall and 50/50 school = good option. No bullshit.

How much training time do you have there?

From the looks of the school's website, it's small, has a mediocre set-up, a couple of name coaches who probably are at seminar's making money often, limited high level training partners from guys who jumped ship elsewhere, a great opportunity to train with high level visitors, and a small competition team.

I'm sure people aren't just jumping on a bandwagon.
 
The going rate is actually pretty consistant throughout the entire country, between $120 AND $180 should get you all the training in any class all week, of corse there are exceptions to every rule.
 
Out of all of these Arlington and close gyms, who has the best coaching for bjj, and produces the best competitors for bjj?

Same for mma?

Just interested.

It's hard to argue that Lloyd doesn't produce the best and most competitors in BJJ. They are constantly at the top of team points at almost every local tournament in the area.

That being said, ALL the major gyms in the nova/dc/md area have absolutely amazing instruction. Not everyone is looking to be the next Ryan Hall of Fowler. I think environment is even more important. If you don't like who you're training with, you're not going to train hard.

I know Lloyd has a very strict competition team. They push you to compete a lot and there's not a lot of room for casual BJJers (please correct me if i'm wrong, I'm basing this off a few people I know both competitors and casual members). Thus the great results in the area.

50/50 opened less than a year ago, but are already putting up great demonstration of skill in local tournaments. They're a lot smaller, but that just means you get more one on one time with great guys like Ryan and Seph.

I honestly don't know much about Capitol, so I can't comment much on them.

Yamasaki has been here forever and it's a great group of guys. Check out Dave Jacobs out in fairfax, or Luis in DC. Both still compete a lot and are super nice.

The greatest thing about training in this area is that there's not really any beef between gyms. I'd recommend any of them, not just the one I train at.
 
How much training time do you have there?

From the looks of the school's website, it's small, has a mediocre set-up, a couple of name coaches who probably are at seminar's making money often, limited high level training partners from guys who jumped ship elsewhere, a great opportunity to train with high level visitors, and a small competition team.

I'm sure people aren't just jumping on a bandwagon.

I visited their academy a few times when they were at their old location. They weren't bigger or smaller than any other school. Indeed, it was like most other academies. I haven't been to their new location yet; however, I heard it had more mat space and more facilities.

When I visited, either Ryan, Seph, or both were there. Very often they have people from other academies cross-training there - good people too. Some of them "names." Their training partners are just as good or better than other places, I can vouch for that after competing against some of them.

There are many good places in the Northern Virginia area. 50/50 BJJ is one of them from my experience.
 
How much training time do you have there?

From the looks of the school's website, it's small, has a mediocre set-up, a couple of name coaches who probably are at seminar's making money often, limited high level training partners from guys who jumped ship elsewhere, a great opportunity to train with high level visitors, and a small competition team.

I'm sure people aren't just jumping on a bandwagon.


They aren't just jumping, well okay maybe some of them are, but I'll respond anyway...


1. 50/50's new location has somewhere around 1700 sq ft of mat space and has 24 classes per week.

2. It already has over 90 BJJ students and has been open less than one year.

3. No we aren't the biggest around, but we do have more students consistently in BJJ classes than I've ever seen at any of the places I've trained around the area (which is an extensive list I assure you).

4. Of course we don't have a big Muay Thai program, BUT it's steadily growing and we just got a new coach who has experience coaching MT since before most of the people on this board had ever heard of MT or BJJ.

5. No one is claiming that 50/50 is at the top yet - although 11 CBJJ medals and 1 ADCC medal by 6 different individuals all training at one location in the first 9 months of its existence is not bad. (And maybe we can borrow an additional few earned by the guys who now train with us but received their CBJJ medals while training elsewhere, eh? eh?)

6. Oh and Ryan and Seph teach every single BJJ/grappling class except wrestling and the women's classes. Ryan tries to schedule his seminars on weekends and/or link them up with other training/competing opportunities because he doesn't like to be away from the gym much.

Anyway, moving on. This thread was about the pricing of the gyms around DC, which you will find are all fairly comparable. If you are set on the city of DC, I'd definitely second the idea to go to Nakapan's (BETA-Lloyd affiliate) or Luis' (Yamasaki affiliate) over the others. If you aren't so set, your best bet is to try all the gyms out in the surrounding area. (But trust me, stay away from that fake BJJ place - Capital Combat or whatever it is called in Adams Morgan.)

Each gym has a different vibe and each instructor is unique. Everyone prefers different styles so don't just visit one and sign up right there, compare them, but compare them based on the teaching, atmosphere, desired program, and success, not on price - because the differences on price are negligible.
 
I dont know about the other schools- but I do know Ryan Hall is a nice guy and an incredible teacher. That is probably where I would go.
 
I'm a big fan of Renzo, don't get me wrong. But going to a school where a no name purple belt teaches over a legit black belt or a world class brown belt doesn't make sense to me.

I KNOW 50/50, Yamasaki DC, and Beta have great instruction. All things considered, I'd rather go to a school with a brown or black belt over a purple. So yea, the fact that hes a brown does give the school more credibility.

I agree those are great schools, I just think it's stupid to say one school is better than another especially since some schools require longer periods of time between belts. All things being equal if I had to choose between a 5 year brown and a 8 year purple, I would lean twoards the purple.

Before I say that one school is better than another I would try them out. I'm definetly not going to comment on a school based purely off what I can find on the Interweb.
 
The above the waist photo is usually used when the coach is avoiding showing of his rank.

Washington DC Thai Boxing | Washington DC Brazilian Jiujitsu | Washington DC Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)| Washington DC Thai Kick Boxing | Thai Kickboxing in Washington DC | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu | BJJ | Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Virginia | BJJ Marylalnd This gym is also close to that location.

Google maps also turned up a number of other gyms closeby. A bunch of posters on this board train at a couple gyms within 15 miles. I'm sure they'll offer more advice.
 
Anyway, moving on. This thread was about the pricing of the gyms around DC, which you will find are all fairly comparable. If you are set on the city of DC, I'd definitely second the idea to go to Nakapan's (BETA-Lloyd affiliate) or Luis' (Yamasaki affiliate) over the others. If you aren't so set, your best bet is to try all the gyms out in the surrounding area. (But trust me, stay away from that fake BJJ place - Capital Combat or whatever it is called in Adams Morgan.)

Each gym has a different vibe and each instructor is unique. Everyone prefers different styles so don't just visit one and sign up right there, compare them, but compare them based on the teaching, atmosphere, desired program, and success, not on price - because the differences on price are negligible.

Capitol Combat Sports has no legitimate BJJ lineage according to their instructor bio's located at Capitol Combat Sports: Val, J., Victor, Stefano, Juan -- infact it appears that the only one of their instructors who might have some legitimate BJJ rank is a blue belt named Val (bio claims he trained at a place called Alive BJJ in Japan). Interesting, since they have promoted students to blue belt, and last time I checked, a blue belt cannot promote anybody. Maybe they call it something else like combat sport ball-twister jiujitsu but their students have shown up to academies with bonafide BJJ lineage wearing their belt (before attempting a cross collar choke and americana on me from inside my guard)...

That Bartman BJJ place appears to be run by a purple belt from some gracie lineage. Probably more legit than Capitol Combat Sports. I haven't heard of it, but that doesn't mean anything. It could be the super awesome BJJ secret of the DC metropolitan area as far as I know.

Regarding the original posters question, I have never heard of a school giving out their pricing over the phone. As another poster stated earlier in this thread, if it's not on their web page, don't be surprised if they ask you to come into a class before they dish out the information. Cesar is a good instructor so give him the benefit of trying out one of his classes before you bash him for not giving you his prices.

Atleast try out BETA/Dalla's/Lloyd's, 50/50, and a Yamasaki school. All of them are good, competitive schools with excellent instructors and students. The price structure for all of those schools is going to be similar and if you expect to pay under $100 a month for unlimited instruction, move to Kansas.
 
I agree those are great schools, I just think it's stupid to say one school is better than another especially since some schools require longer periods of time between belts. All things being equal if I had to choose between a 5 year brown and a 8 year purple, I would lean twoards the purple.

Before I say that one school is better than another I would try them out. I'm definetly not going to comment on a school based purely off what I can find on the Interweb.

I have trained with ppl from the other schools, and they were good. I have seen them all at local competitions. However, I never see the guys from the Renzo school at local comps or see them mixing with others much. It seems like they started mostly as a "club" type of team - nothing wrong with that, but thats not the first place I would recommend.

First place around there I would recommend is 50/50, followed by Beta Academy, followed by Luis's school (Yamasaki DC). This is based on my personal experience. Knowing nothing about Renzo DC, I can't recommend it.
 
I agree those are great schools, I just think it's stupid to say one school is better than another especially since some schools require longer periods of time between belts. All things being equal if I had to choose between a 5 year brown and a 8 year purple, I would lean twoards the purple.

Before I say that one school is better than another I would try them out. I'm definetly not going to comment on a school based purely off what I can find on the Interweb.

oh and I would usually go with a 5 year brown over an 8 year purple, depending on the lineage.
 
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