Cobrinhas LA

[Zankou]

I'm coming from the mid-west and never have really lived in a big city before, so maybe I will have to reconsider public transportation, point taken. And yeah when the opportunity came up for a chance to live in LA I was stoked. For a competitive BJJ player and a huge Cobrinha fan, it is pretty sweet. I know I'll learn a lot and I compete at lightweight so I think it will be a good fit for me. Not a millionaire yet so a house in Hancock Park is out of reach, but thanks for all the help guys. It looks like I have to change my expectations about either where I'll live or how much I want to commute.

Not with that attitude ....

but seriously if you are scheduling 3k a month for rent I assumed you come from money or are raking it in because that is a massive rent payment. I would not spend that much on rent if neither is true. Either buy a house in the boondocks + commute to train (if you are thinking long term) or rent an apartment.

 

[lonewolf210]

Yeah it's hard for people that have never lived in a big city to fathom that something like 10-15 miles is a significant commute and can easily end up taking over an hour if there is an accident.

Your first time being in traffic that's so bad you turn the car off because your not moving is always a good one. And that will happen if your in L.A long enough.

 

[Reggie Pish***]

Definitely do not come from money, that is for sure! I don't now what you would consider "raking it in" but I do alright for myself now a days. Upon doing the leg work and calculations 3k is the top of my budget and still allows me to be able to save and enjoy life, pay bills, go out once in a while etc. Is that good for LA? I was kind of under the impression it was just sort of OK? Zankou, what areas would you consider to be the boonies?

 

[PoundSand]

After doing a little research though I am still kind of confused on what makes LA such an expensive place to live? It seems like food costs, electric & water, gas, are are all fairly comparable to where I'm at now. So where is the cost of living higher? Is it just rent/mortgage and taxes or am I missing something?

gas is comparable to where you are in the midwest? you sure about that? it's pretty exciting that you can find premium for under $4 for a few weeks now...
http://gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

food and utilities are only a bit more than other places (and the nice climate helps with utilities), but taxes are probably going to kill you (9% sales tax and high state income tax rates).

housing... varies a lot. you're going to need to figure out how nice a place you want and balance that with what sort of driving you're willing to do to be near the places you want to be. tough to say.

 

[PoundSand]

Definitely do not come from money, that is for sure! I don't now what you would consider "raking it in" but I do alright for myself now a days. Upon doing the leg work and calculations 3000k is the top of my budget and still allows me to be able to save and enjoy life, pay bills, go out once in a while etc. Is that good for LA? I was kind of under the impression it was just sort of OK? Zankou, what areas would you consider to be the boonies?

$3M is pretty good, even for LA. ;D

while LA isn't the most expensive city in america for cost of living, it is the most expensive city in america for living well, according to esquire.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/07/los_angeles_most_expensive_living.php

 

[Zankou]

Definitely do not come from money, that is for sure! I don't now what you would consider "raking it in" but I do alright for myself now a days. Upon doing the leg work and calculations 3000k is the top of my budget and still allows me to be able to save and enjoy life, pay bills, go out once in a while etc. Is that good for LA? I was kind of under the impression it was just sort of OK? Zankou, what areas would you consider to be the boonies?

I would probably look in the San Fernando Valley, Burbank/Pasadena/Glendale also. But you would be better off renting a nice apartment/townhouse in the city, as opposed to renting a crap house in the Valley. I really don't understand why a single guy would rent a house in LA unless he is rich, that makes no sense to me at all. Either rent an apartment/townhouse in the city or buy a house in the Valley (for 3k, you can easily afford the mortgage), those are the only two options that make much sense, and if you aren't going to buy, then I'd rent.

 

[Kenny from MD]

Yeah it's hard for people that have never lived in a big city to fathom that something like 10-15 miles is a significant commute and can easily end up taking over an hour if there is an accident.

Your first time being in traffic that's so bad you turn the car off because your not moving is always a good one. And that will happen if your in L.A long enough.

How tough is LA on motorcycles? I know they have a reputation for really cracking down on bikers, but for example if there is highway traffic, will bikers just split lanes and ride through it?

 

[Zankou]

How tough is LA on motorcycles? I know they have a reputation for really cracking down on bikers, but for example if there is highway traffic, will bikers just split lanes and ride through it?

Legal and you see it all the time, tho it borders on suicidal IMO. A good 5% of LA drivers are phenomenally stupid and incompetent, so that's 1 car in every 20 you pass. Sooner or later, you gonna be killed.

 

[PoundSand]

I'm not sure if Zankou rides or not, but I do, and a bike is awesome in LA. And lane splitting is pretty awesome if you stay aware. I actually find LA drivers to be better than drivers from most other places.

 

[TrumpetDan]

Competition schools tend to be "clique-y" in my experience. A

My friend recently moved to the area and was evaluating gyms. He is a genuinely nice person with well over 10 years experience with Jiu-Jitsu. Before evaluating Cobrinhas gym, he ran into a bunch of students at a coffee shop/restaurant and noticed shirts/bjj clothes introduced himself. They asked him his experience and he said he was a brown belt. The blue and purples at the tables reply was Cobrinha purples tap browns from other gym. While it may indeed be true and they might have just been trying to sell their gym, the conversation combined with other factors lead him away from the gym. He generally got a bad vibe from the group of students as it felt a very "clique-y". Just an anecdotal story from somebody who has been around jiu-jitsu a very long time who has over a decade experience dealing with various personalities that you encounter on the journey.

You will find very few people who have something negative to say about Cobrinha himself. Hes a very knowledgeable coach and sets a good example as a person and competitor. He seems very humble, accessible and you cant go wrong with the quality of training/instruction.

 

[Chinaboxer]

i HIGHLY recommend my good friend, Steve Cardenas in the burbank area. he is a black belt under Franginha Miller, head of Paragon BJJ. go down there and try out the class, tell them that Jin sent you down. you'll thank me later. i also believe that Bill Cooper teaches there occasionally as well.

http://www.forcebalancebjj.com/

Cobrinha's school is also very good, and my friend Fabio teaches there as well. the only problem is that the drive from burbank to mid wilshire area will take you exactly one hour. since i take this drive 3 or 4 times a week. and do NOT take the freeway. your best bet will be to get to hollywood way to barham to highland ave to wilshire blvd. Cobrinha's school is there in a high rise building on your left hand side across from a 7/11 store. parking there is also a pain in the ass.

 

[lonewolf210]

How tough is LA on motorcycles? I know they have a reputation for really cracking down on bikers, but for example if there is highway traffic, will bikers just split lanes and ride through it?

Yeah as zankou said it's lane splitting is legal, I'm pretty sure California is about the only place it is. Beyond the normal drivers tourists are super dangerous for the bikers. I know the first few times I was in LA I almost took out some bikers just cuz I wasn't used to looking for them in between lanes

 

[glassprisoner79]

My friend recently moved to the area and was evaluating gyms. He is a genuinely nice person with well over 10 years experience with Jiu-Jitsu. Before evaluating Cobrinhas gym, he ran into a bunch of students at a coffee shop/restaurant and noticed shirts/bjj clothes introduced himself. They asked him his experience and he said he was a brown belt. The blue and purples at the tables reply was Cobrinha purples tap browns from other gym. While it may indeed be true and they might have just been trying to sell their gym, the conversation combined with other factors lead him away from the gym. He generally got a bad vibe from the group of students as it felt a very "clique-y". Just an anecdotal story from somebody who has been around jiu-jitsu a very long time who has over a decade experience dealing with various personalities that you encounter on the journey.

You will find very few people who have something negative to say about Cobrinha himself. Hes a very knowledgeable coach and sets a good example as a person and competitor. He seems very humble, accessible and you cant go wrong with the quality of training/instruction.

I didn't want to paint a bad picture, but this is exactly my experience there. Many of the people I talked to have drank the Cobrinha Kool-Aid. That said, Cobrinha himself is a magnificent teacher and a pleasure of a person.

 

[ur2submit]

Bro, you do not want to live in Pasadena if you intend on training at Cobrinha's. If you live in Pasadena, you've got the Machado school, Orlando Sanchez (GB Pasadena) and Lucas Rocha (GB Arcadia).

If you move to Burbank, you've got Steve Cardenas (Force Balance BJJ/Paragon Burbank) and Romulo Barral (GB Northridge) not too far north in Northridge. Bill the Grill does not teach at Force Balance (he's at a school in Pasadena), but Franjinha, Sean Apperson, Milton Bastos, and Alfred Prado do drop in regularly.

Cobrinha's is a nice place. Super clean and a huge mat, but it does feel very corporate. Both Cobrinha and Fabbio Passos are super nice and really good teachers. The "Cobrinha Koolaid-Clique" feeling is very heavy with the white and blue belts though. I have a lot of friends that train there and they love it.

You're best off visiting every school and deciding for yourself. Xande's school is just a few blocks away from Cobrinha's as well. There's also Hollywood BJJ (Sean Patrick Flannery's/Paragon Hollywood) with tons of tough guys.

 

[Mike Piekarski]

I went to Cobrinha's once, and the gym definitely had a weird atmosphere. Cobrinha himself was very nice and polite but the overall school atmosphere was fairly cold. Aside from Cobrinha no one was particularly friendly, not just to me but just in general no one was social with one another. I got there early and people just sat on the mat stretching for a few minutes without talking until class started.

That being said I liked the way class was run, Cobrinha is an excellent teacher. Also none of the students were bad training partners and tried to take my head off because I was an advanced student.

Also Cobrinha has an awesome dog that hangs out in the office.

 

[Reggie Pish***]

Wow, awesome insight both into the gym's and cultures that permeate the LA BJJ scene and also living in LA itself. Huge help, thanks F12, I will try and be active here more often!

 

[arsena1]

I went to Cobrinha's once, and the gym definitely had a weird atmosphere. Cobrinha himself was very nice and polite but the overall school atmosphere was fairly cold. Aside from Cobrinha no one was particularly friendly, not just to me but just in general no one was social with one another. I got there early and people just sat on the mat stretching for a few minutes without talking until class started.

That being said I liked the way class was run, Cobrinha is an excellent teacher. Also none of the students were bad training partners and tried to take my head off because I was an advanced student.

Also Cobrinha has an awesome dog that hangs out in the office.

This was my experience there as well. I visited Cobrinha's on a LivingSocial.com coupon that let me train there for 8 classes for $60.

I was there for the "fundamentals" classes that run from 6-7pm and 7-8pm that are taught by Fabio Passos. He's a very good, technical instructor and I liked him a lot. I never took an advanced class so I don't know how Cobrinha is as an instructor actually. But he was almost always on the mat in gi observing and helping with Fabio's classes.

One thing that I noticed was how quiet Cobrinha was in general. He seemed to not say much at all. Yet at the same time I could tell he was extremely observant because he would walk over midconversation w/ other ppl (seemingly not observing the mat) just to correct someone's technique from all the way across the other side of the mat. This did leave a good impression on me on him as a teacher. He also seemed to be intently watching his students rolling as well even when he was not leading the class himself.

 

[ur2submit]

Since you will be traveling, keep in mind if you join one Gracie Barra (Romulo, Orlando or Lucas'), you can train at ANY GB school. The same goes for if you join Force Balance or Hollywood BJJ. You'd be able to train at any Paragon (Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Santa Barbara also).

 

[Wutang]

I joined Cobrinha's school about 8 months ago and as an advanced belt. I'll give my point of view.

First off, Cobrinha and Fabbio are fantastic teachers. There are others that teach there but I've never taken their classes so I cannot comment on their teaching. The classes are challenging with a heavy focus on drilling techniques. Each technique is taught for almost a month sometimes so you will work on something for a very long time. For me, I really the amount of time because it allows me to really understand the technique and build my sensitivity for it. I enjoy taking the beginner and intermediate classes from time to time to work on the "basics", which is slightly different than what I've seen at many other schools.

I'm not exactly sure what that purples here tap browns elsewhere means. None of that really means much to me, honestly. I'm more concerned about improving myself. I'll tap 100x in training if that's what it takes for me to learn how to get out of an attach.

Cobrinha has an open drop in policy so there are a lot of visitors that could be where the "cold feeling" comes from. The kids will warm up to you after a little bit of time when they see you're sticking around. I got the same feeling and I knew, probably, 15-20 people that already trained there. Also, anytime you go to a new gym there's an period where you don't feel like you quite belong and depending how often you go into train is how long that period may be.

I'm not really sure what the cool aid is about?

A few other things about the school I really like is

1. You can get on the mat anytime and drill, even when another class is going on. All you need to do is find a training partner. Most people are willing to drill with you if they don't have a partner.

2. Academy is open all day so you'll find something that will fit your schedule.

3. If you're a lightweight and below you have a lot of different people that you can spar with that are small.

4. The mats are cleaned regularly. I like clean places.

5. If you like competing, you get a lot of help from your teammates and the instructors whether is tips on your competition game or just a ear to listen to you bitch about dieting. People are sharing your pain there. They also come to support you at tournaments.

Just my $.02

 

[dschinghiskhan1]

i live in san diego, but i drive up whenever i can because i love the instruction there. the people are all great and Cobrinha is an amazing teacher. i've even gotten to roll with him several times, that is, if you want to call it rolling - it was more just me getting completely destroyed.