Update w/ Decision - Need opinion on these BJJ gyms in Houston Area, TX

[Corso10tx]

I live in Houston Downtown and work in Missouri City. I like to start training in BJJ after prolonging it for few years due to work and schedule. I am in my mid-40s. At this moment, I interested in Self Defense and not interested in BJJ competition BUT maybe one day if I feel confident with BJJ, I would.

Over the past few months, I have been to FOUR gyms for a day trial each gym and here's my experience. Please feed in your personal experience you've had. Long story short, I want to be good, and I am committed.

I prefer to be to training from work during lunch on weekdays. All gyms have evening class every evening.

brazil 021 (15 mins from home/ 25 mins from work) - Marcos Cequiera - 2 noon classes

- Prof Marcos is a super nice guy, spent an hour and a half to walk me through the principles of BJJ both sports and self-defense aspect of it. He oversees the curriculum of the classes, and he remembers all the student's name, he claimed.

- He always has an assistant to help in the adult class.

- He said that there is no difference in sports vs. self defense BJJ, I noticed that he spent more focus in grappling than focus on self-defense against punches.

- Both gym and Prof gets a lot of positive reviews on the internet.

The gym is clean, and he has a rule where no bare foot is allowed outside of the training area, and it's separated by a door. The reason is to prevent cross contamination with many children training there as well. This is the ONLY gym among the four gyms that do it.

LX BJJ (7 mins from work/ 25 mins from home) - Leonardo Xavier - 2 noon classes

- Prof Leo is a no bullshit highly skilled instructor. He will tell you if you are wrong and will not sugar coat anything.

- He is the only instructor that instructed in Gracie Humaita, Brazil (not sure how teaching in this place who develop a good instructor). I really like his training approach as it is more towards reality based BJJ but not so much Of his personality.

- He is even on Wikipedia.

- While the reviews are positive, he is not talked that much about in sherdog.com. WHY is THAT?

Rillion Gracie Academy (5 mins from work/ 25 mins from home) - Romulo Reis - 2 noon classes

- Prof Romulo is a very nice guy as well. Instructions are clear, and it feels like training with your own family. The staffs are super friendly and approachable.

- He seems to teach both self-defense and sports BJJ depending on the schedule. Self-defense in Fundamental class and you train "Sports" BJJ as you become better.

- All the reviews are perfect, and kids love him!

Gracie Barra (50-60 mins from work/home) - Draculino

- Prof Draculino is the most well-known instructor of the bunch. He is located the furthest, and I had to check him out because of his reputation.

- The class is structured based on a progressive program that could progress you to a better fight incorporating MMA styles because the gym also has kickboxing class.

- Many world/ champions were raised from the gym which is a great thing. Does it mean that it's geared towards sports competition?

- Prof Draculino has a great personality and charisma. Sherdog warriors gave him a lot of credit.

Thank you for reading, commenting and please do feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[TheMood]

I never met any of these people or visited any of these schools. Based just on youtube and other social media I would most likely go to Draculino's school. He seems like a very cool dude and an extremely knowledgeable practitioner. He still competes as well. I know he coaches Soca on occasion. My instructor is under Soca so there is that connection as well.

 

[Calibur]

Unless you are training to really knock someone out, training with punches has very limited application after a few months.

That's why gyms will tend to focus on grappling since that is something that CAN be practiced full force.

That said,Brazil 021 sounds perfect for you. The biggest obstacle to improvement is not being able to get to the gym. This gym is the closest to you and it sounds good.

I've trained at Draculinos and he's awesome but the drive would probably burn you out especially if HWY 59, BLT 8 or 610 is crazy.

It's more important you train with people you like. If the vibe is welcoming and the teaching is legit, go there if it's close.

 

[selfcritical]

Realistically, would you most often be heading to training from work or from home?

 

[Corso10tx]

Realistically, would you most often be heading to training from work or from home?

I would be going from work. I try to squeeze in during my lunch break and most have 11-1pm training.

 

[Dogstarman]

In reality you need to go to the one that is most convenient for you. If shit is to far it makes it easy for you to say fuck it.

It's true too that you don't really need to worry to much about the self defense aspect about bjj. Sure people complain about hipster guard play. You won't even understand their application until you become more advanced. Shit like berimbolo, and other stuff people complain about are designed for advanced grapplers to defeat other advanced grapplers.

You will learn the basics and when you start to understand the basic positions and how submissions work then you will start to understand why self defense and training bjj are one in the same.

Edit.

Please don't come at me with, but multiple opponents, broken bottles and lava arguments. For multiple opponents you better wish you are faster and have better cardio than them and that you aren't boxed in. For the broken bottles and lava arguments people, fuck you, deal with your wound later and you should really try to be on top if you get into an altercation, if you end up on your back-do the best you can.

 

[raspar]

LX BJJ (7 mins from work/ 25 mins from home) - Leonardo Xavier - 2 noon classes

- Prof Leo is a no bullshit highly skilled instructor. He will tell you if you are wrong and will not sugar coat anything.

- He is the only instructor that instructed in Gracie Humaita, Brazil (not sure how teaching in this place who develop a good instructor). I really like his training approach as it is more towards reality based BJJ but not so much Of his personality.

- He is even on Wikipedia.

- While the reviews are positive, he is not talked that much about in sherdog.com. WHY is THAT?

I started training with Leo and moved away many years ago. On occasion when I return to the area I drop in and say hi to Leo. He's by far the most technical instructor I've trained with and the details he teaches can change your perspective on any position.

To answer your question, I think a large part of why he's not talked about much in Sherdog is because he changed his school's focus to self-defense rather than MMA/competition. Sherdog in nature has a MMA/Competitive focus while at Leo's school you'll likely see businessmen, lawyers and doctors training there focusing on traditional techniques, self-defense and staying in shape.

 

[Questions]

You could always come check us out at Pablo Silva BJJ HQ on 5233 Bellaire Blvd. We have many practitioners in their 40's who train with us of all weights and sizes.

We regularly have 40-50 ppl on the mats and around 60-80 on competition sparring days.
If you drop in just say Steve sent you.

We also have 6 a.m classes, judo, full service gym, dressings rooms and showers. Hope to see you soon

 

[Corso10tx]

Update: Sorry for the late update as I was swarmed from work. Anyway, after having trials at these locations to see how it fits me, my schedule, here's my update and my decision.

Here are my exact questions to the Professor or the manager for each location once I finished my trial:
1. How long is my contract?
2. What if I break the contract and how much would it cost?
3. What is the cost of the gi?
4. Can I use my own gi?
5. How many gis do I need if I train more than twice a week? *Noob questions but I have not trained before.
6. How does one rank up?

Brazil 021
Pros
- I went to a 5 am class and trained with a purple belt instructor and learned some basic moves. The instructor was nice and focused on the fundamentals with me.
- I also went to a 3.30 pm class and trained with a brown belt instructor. The class was great and the instructor took the time to focus on my fundamentals. I got to learn a lot.
- Mat is cleaned every session by the white belt
- Purple belt sparring partner was very nice.
- Closer to where I live.
- Competition focused. Good if you want to compete. Lots of drills.
Cons
- If you break the contract you, the penalty would be 3 months of the monthly fees.
- All Levels class only.
- Not taught by Professor Marcus himself for 5 am and 3.30 pm class. However, the instructors were good though.
- You pay for per day class for each week. If you miss a week, it's on YOU.

Decision: Not joining because although I ended my training feeling excited to sign a contract I do have ask the questions to the office manager. Because I really going to join, I even let them take a picture of me for their profile. However, this time Professor Marcus interrupted our conversation. He came to me and interrogated me of my intent of asking so many questions. He thought I was shady and while there were no heated argument, he accused me of a "guy" that just come asking questions. I have only been there twice for the class and they are two different times slot and locations. Long story short, he said he needed to protect his "family" and shook my hand. I assumed he didn't want me there. *Professor Marcus was so nice the first time. All the 5 stars reviews he have was probably from those folks that just "visit" and "sign" without considering all the options. At the end, I was very very disappointed because I really liked the class.

LXBJJ
Pros
- Self-defense focused.
- Instructions were very detailed.
- Taught by one and only instructor from Gracie Humaita in Houston, TX.
- Friendly students as the students tend to be older due to focus in the self-defense class.
- Nothing against my questions. Prof. Leo was making sure I get everything answered.
Cons
- No set curriculum and All levels class only.
- Limited class per week ie no morning class.

Decision: Not joining because of the limited class and no set of curriculum. I do really like to join them but I am not feeling it.

Rilion Gracie
Pros
- Unlimited class for 3 locations.
- Very friendly professors especially Prof. Romulo.
- Classes are taught by black belts only.
- Very patience with the students.
- Flexible schedule with morning, noon and PM.
- Very patience with my questions.
Cons
- No set curriculum and it's based on the class. I felt like I could either SWIM or SINK.
- You can only wear their Rilion Academy GI and it cost about $170 each.
- Staff can be sound like a sales rep trying to make you sign the contract.

Decision: Joining because it is the most convenient for me in terms of schedule. I could miss a class due to work and still be able to join another class without paying a dime more. The convenience outweighs the SWIM or SINK because I feel like I could make it up by going to more classes.

Thank you for the inputs and I hope my findings could help to those who are interested. I am so excited with my journey in BJJ.

 

[Corso10tx]

You could always come check us out at Pablo Silva BJJ HQ on 5233 Bellaire Blvd. We have many practitioners in their 40's who train with us of all weights and sizes.

We regularly have 40-50 ppl on the mats and around 60-80 on competition sparring days.
If you drop in just say Steve sent you.

We also have 6 a.m classes, judo, full service gym, dressings rooms and showers. Hope to see you soon

HI Steve, thank you for replying. I think 40-50 people on the mat could be too overwhelming. How many instructors are teaching or monitoring? Accidents could happen.

 

[Corso10tx]

Another review of Texas 3rd Coast MMA gym that I went but didn't join due to their schedule.

Pros
- Professor Joe and Jason Soliz is top notch. They were very very patient and spend the time with you until you get it right.
- It is family oriented therefore the culture is both relax yet can be challenging because it is an MMA gym with BJJ, Boxing, Kickboxing and JKD/Kali
- You buy your own gi with no restriction at all. It can be as fancy as you want. Heck, if you don't have the money or unsure about training in BJJ, you can borrow the gi each time you train. It is always cleaned after you train. I know a couple of students that were given a gi due to their circumstances.
- There is a BJJ fundamental class that you have to attend before moving to the advance group. This is managed by Prof. Joe and it is very well structured. It will take you from 6 months to 12 months to graduate. There is a belt promotion test and you probably won't fail because you will be asked to progress once you mastered the techniques in the fundamental class. Very impressive.
- You get a private one hour with Prof Joe as an introductory class at your preferred time.

Cons
- The mat may not be as clean due to the amount of back to back classes they have on the same mat.
- Limited schedules. Only evening classes.
- Probably the most expensive gym if you want to train BJJ more than 4 times per week but you will also get all the other disciplines.

Conclusion: Top notch school that I will definitely attend if I live 10 mins from them.