BJJ in San Francisco or San Diego

I will be driving down the West coast in a few months and wanted to visit a club or two either in San Francisco or San Diego. I normally train in England. So what places can you recommend? I don't necessarily have to train with a world champion, just a nice relaxed atmosphere and an easy to get to academy. Wanted to visit Kurt Osiander's but I'm seriously out of shape and I have heard they do killer warm ups. I ain't lazy but I'm just not a very athletic person.

I was also thinking about Gracie Humaita in San Diego because I thought it might be interesting to see the other side of BJJ for once as in England you mostly have sports BJJ academies.

 

stop by Rebellion in SD. it's just east of La Jolla and run by Jeff Baldwin, fucking beastly Judo and BJJ Black belt.

 

Really only one guy from SD around here? Nobody from SFO?

 

If you're not interested in Kurt's academy, I would recommend 10th Planet SF, Romulo Melo, Bay Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Sapao or Evolve.

In SD, besides the usual recommendations for ATOS or University of JJ, I would recommend Fabio Santos, Rodrigo Medeiros, Eduardo Telles or Victory MMA

 

This, also check out Studio 540 in Solana Beach. I train at University of JJ with Saulo and Xande so I'm biased there

 

The warmups at Ralph's aren't bad enough to avoid training there altogether IMO. If interested in Nogi, there is El Nino(Gilbert melendez) and 10th Planet(Denny Prokopos). Bay JJ has really friendly people and so does Evolve. I will say that Ralph's by far has the most high level grapplers around SF though. There is a wide range too so you can find partners of even level regardless of your level.

 

I actually did something similar I worked out of San Francisco(also from the UK). And did a BJJ trip hitting up some main academies along the way. Atos jiu jitsu (san diego) and Ralph Gracie(SF) were my main gyms when I was in cali.

Do not be afraid of Kurt's gym. I wasn't in the best shape easily 15 pounds overweight and I made it through. Yes the warm up is tough but it is far from impossible. I trained out of Kurt's for 3 months and it was a awesome experience. My passing game got a lot better and so did my chokes.

Do Papa's class on Saturday morning you will feel pain and fatigue during it. But once you make it through all the other classes will be easier.

 

You have tons of options esp. in San Diego
University of Jiujitsu- Saulo&Xande Ribeiro
Gracie humaita soutbay- Leticia Ribeiro&Fabricio Camoes(Ufc vet)
Gracie Humaita San Diego- Regis Lebre(Royler Gracie goes around Gracie Humaita gyms in San Diego)
Victory mma- jeff glover, dean lister and jocko willink(dean's bb and retired navy seal
Atos- Andre Galvao&Keenan Cornelius
Clark Gracie San Diego
99HQ- eduardo telles
Studio 540

 

So many choices! You almost can't go wrong.

 

Are there any experiences you guys can share from Gracie Humaita? I'd imagine it's a lot different than your regular sports BJJ gym.

 

Has anybody ever trained with 10th Planet in SF (Denny Prokopos) or with Romulo Melo (apparently a student of Royler) or at Bay JJ?

What can be expected from a 10th planet club compared to a regular BJJ academy, is it just nogi or does it differ significantly (besides funky names for techniques)?

 

What's the atmosphere like at Kurt's. I have read on these boards that there is some kind of tough guy attitude there.

 

I haven't experienced or observed that at all. I believe alot of that reputation is from years past when BJJ was still very new in the US in general and visitors were seen as "challengers" or opportunities for students to prove themselves to their instructor or classmates. Ralph's SF actually gets quite a few visitors and I haven't seen that attitude since i've been there. In my observations, the more visitors a school gets and the better the students do in competition, the less they try to be tough guys to visitors. I will say it isn't really a family friendly school though because there is alot of profanity.

 

I train under Denny
Yes all no gi. You will find self defense and sport
Advanced classes have defined warm ups that can be intricate and hard to follow if you don't know them. It can confuse people. They are all posted on YouTube for free though
Plenty of good colored belts on the mat, though not as much as kurts gym

I know the teachers/ upper belts at bay. Good guys. Good training. Can't go wrong there. Gi and nogi. Very friendly attitude

With Ralph's , you either love Kurt or hate him. A lot on both sides. Maybe the climate has changed there. Haven't been there in awhile and personally wouldn't train under him
That being said I have/ do train with a few of his black belts all super cool

 

Dave Camarillo's Guerilla JJ academy is only a short train ride out to Pleasanton. Or could drive there of course. Can't go wrong there.

 

What belt level are you? In my experience if you're a white or blue belt drop in, you're not going to get much attention at Kurt's. If you're a member it's obviously different, but they get so many visitors it's gotta be annoying. I think you'd get more attention from an instructor at Bay JJ or Romulo Melo's.

 

Why wouldn't you train under Kurt?

 

I train at Bay Jiu-Jitsu. What would you like to know?

 

What's the atmosphere and training like? Do you have nogi classes and how much is the drop in rate?

 

We have a laid back friendly vibe but the training is good and hard. Warm-ups aren't as strenuous as Ralph's. There is no gi at Japantown on Monday and Wednesday. Travis, originally a 10th Planet guy, teaches the Monday no-gi and Yukito, a Lucas Leite black belt, teaches the Wednesday no-gi. Travis also teaches some gi and no-gi at the Mission location. Drop-in is $35 but that's for the whole day. The schedule is on the website.
http://www.bayjiujitsu.com