Cobrinhas LA

[PoundSand]

i live in san diego, but i drive up whenever i can because i love the instruction there.

what's the mat fee there?

 

[ur2submit]

Wutang's being modest, @ "advanced belt." I'd say you're more than advanced. Btw, the Kool Aid reference was because a number of the people I've met there were overly proud to the point that they expressed that BJJ anywhere else was inferior. I've never gotten this from Cobrinha or Fabbio, nor do I think he teaches or encourages it, but it was very prevalent with some of the white and blue belts.

PoundSand - I believe the drop in fee is $35

 

[deadlizard]

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

You're a black belt and you kick ass. Of course everyone is gonna be cool with you.

 

[luisgi]

what's the mat fee there?

I went a couple of months ago, and it was $35 for 1 class or $65 for a whole day.
I did beginner and advanced class, paid $65. It was steep but totally worth it.

Everybody was super friendly to me, got tapped by pretty much everybody there (I am a relatively new blue belt), everybody was super technical and was pushing the pace, rolls were competitive and very enjoyable.

 

[BJJ Coffee Drinker]

It feels very corporate. I don't mean that necessarily in a negative light, but it felt factory-like. It is stone cold silent during drilling, they have sign-ins with attendance cards because a class could easily have 50-60 students, and there is a timer to switch turns drilling. Depending on how you like to approach your training, these things could be a good thing or a bad thing.

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

I visited Cobrinha's school just to train there for 5 weeks. I can confirm that it is silent during drilling and the timer is there to signal turn switching for drilling. I don't see how these can be bad things in any way no matter how you approach training. During drilling, it should be quiet and the conversation that happens should stay relevant to training. Even if it is quiet, it is okay to ask questions during the drilling time. I have seen at far too many schools that are more laid back that allow talking during drilling involve conversations take the training to a halt quickly and the mindless chit chat ends up taking away time from training. This causes the students to lose focus and the quality of training quickly degrades.

Also, the timer to start drilling and when to switch is excellent. How many times have you seen at other schools that don't do this have students that do the move a couple times, decide they understand it and then switch turns after having just done the technique to go through the motions. After both guys have done this, they just sit around or end up starting conversations that aren't training related.

For the guy that said it is oddly quiet before class as no one socializes with each other-the training is freaking hard. Everyone is probably just relaxing or mentally getting ready for what is to come. The competition classes easily go 2hours+ of hard and constant training. I remember once it was an intense 3hour drilling session with no breaks at all. Of course everyone is just going to quietly sit around before that. Once the training is finished however, the mood lightens and conversation starts about whatever.

Competition schools kind of do form cliques but it is more of a natural occurrence as you tend to train day in and out with the same group of people busting your butt every day, you do tend to develop an appreciation for those helping you through to your goals so you get closer to your teammates. The school however I found that everyone just tends to be friendly with each other and if you need help, people are willing to pitch in. However, I did not find Cobrinha's to be cliquish at all. Everybody trained with everyone

 

[Jawa]

If you commute from Pasadena or Burbank it will take you at least 1 hour to get to Cobrinha's during rush hour. I'm 6 miles away and it takes me 30 minutes during rush hour.

 

[famousking]

Does anyone know the cost per month at Cobrinha's?