"Gracie Garages"

cpdtpa

cpdtpa

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Just got this in the Gracie Academy Newsletter:

Gracie University Update: Gracie Garages

The Gracie University objective is to give you the opportunity to go through the complete Gracie Jiu-Jitsu curriculum from anywhere in the world. We realize, however, that the only way to ensure that your at-home training sessions are as effective as the live classes enjoyed by our students here at the Gracie Academy is for you to recruit one or more dedicated training partners that will commit to taking the journey with you. To help you with this process, we developed a concept called
 
You might want to buy some Gracie Liability Insurance if you are running a Gracie Garage on your personal property.

Other than that, I think grassroots training is a good idea. I don't like a lot of stuff about the Gracie University, but I am definitely in favor of grassroots clubs where there are no better options.
 
My buddies and I kinda do this anyways cause only one of us can afford to actually train there anymore.
 
So the "leader" a.k.a home owner puts up all the expenses (purchases "Gracie" grappling mats..ect.), and the dedicated partners get to reap the rewards and train for free?
Sign me up...as a training partner of course.
 
I'm sure Rorion and Royce charged for lessons from their garage, and they charge for the the instruction, the mats, the online belts, etc. But I can't charge my friends to come roll in my Gracie garage! Damnit!
 
Wrestleben said:
I'm sure Rorion and Royce charged for lessons from their garage, and they charge for the the instruction, the mats, the online belts, etc. But I can't charge my friends to come roll in my Gracie garage! Damnit!
Click to expand...

But, they can make a donation.:icon_neut

lol
 
Do you have to let Gracies sleep in your Garage if they come over?
 
I think it's a great way to get people who want to train together. Up until 3 years ago there was no one that new BJJ in my area. I wanted to train, but had no where to go within an hour of my home. I would have loved to have had a way to meet others that wanted to train and get started. I don't agree with the online belting, but I definitely like this idea and hope it takes off.
 
sethk said:
So the "leader" a.k.a home owner puts up all the expenses (purchases "Gracie" grappling mats..ect.), and the dedicated partners get to reap the rewards and train for free?
Sign me up...as a training partner of course.
Click to expand...

Yeah, boy, that's a horrific thought, ain't it? *Gasp* why would anyone do something to benefit others if their wasn't anything to gain from it? Of course, I own my own school with 700+ square feet of mat space and a 22" 5 Rope MMA ring that people train at, and I don't get ANY money for it...

Your attitude is exactly what's wrong with a lot of people that are practicing right now.
 
sethk said:
So the "leader" a.k.a home owner puts up all the expenses (purchases "Gracie" grappling mats..ect.), and the dedicated partners get to reap the rewards and train for free?
Click to expand...

Obvious thing to do would be get the group of training partners established first, then club together to buy the mats.

I also like the idea of supplemental training outside of class, so you can practice drills, get in some extra sparring etc. Similar to Bullshido's throwdown concept (which is also cool: I've been attending several a year for a while now, and its definitely been beneficial to my training), but on a more regular basis.
 
^^^Hence, donations do not prevent your participation.

Ranking up without a qualified instructor is really just silly in my opinion, but I too support the general idea. Getting a bunch of people together to train using instructional is way better than nothing and a great way to make the sport accessible to more people.

Obviously, it provides an enlarged market for the above academy, but as long as they don't try to lock you into buying everything from them I support the idea.

Heck, I train 10+ hours a week and I'd love to join something like that if it were near my home just so I could get more drilling in.
 
"garage training" is similiar to "open mat" that almost all schools offer to their students.

But, there's that giant pink elephant in the room...

Where is the qualified instructor? Where are the higher ranked belts who mentor the lower belts? I'm sorry, but white belts can't teach white belts. And a video isn't going to catch your technical flaws, it can't see the inches and centimeters.

I assume this is for teenage boys who want to "learn UFC". Call me old-fashioned, call me old school...but I still subscribe to the whole "learning from the master" philosophy.

Think of it this way...if I gave you an instruction manual on how to "fix a car", are you and your buddies playing around in your garage on pop's old chevy going to become legit mechanics??
 
I don't care what you call your training, backyard on sheets, mats in garage or a hella nice gym, someplace to train is better than none. I think we all are lucky that someplace close to us has great instructors. I was just taking class/assisting Relson Gracie yesterday teach self defense class, not for money other than pure enjoyment to brand new students. The school uses a karate school and just has class on the times karate is not happening.

The question of qualified teachers always comes up with garage grapplers. I say, if there is no one around within driving distance, screw it, make your own place, post ads in craigslist, grocery stores, free internet sites, high schools, etc. You never know who will show up. Pool the resources on guys that want to train, make rules on times and instructions, go in on mats together and train. I like Stephan Kesting videos to learn from just because its cheaper and I understand what he is saying. Of course I have others but if a group of friends are starting off of videos better to have it explained in english.

Since joining sherdog, I have supported two such garage grappling places, one failed and one succeded that was run by a sambo guy who cross trains with bjj. But at least both tried.

A brown belt of Relson's left Hawaii due to job reasons and arrived in a location that had no one teaching jiu jitsu. He opened a little school and had to move to a bigger location. School has grown really well but started small.

So if you don't want a Gracie Garage and have no place to train. Don't get caught up with the buying everything Gracie, at Relson's school we don't have any Gracie grappling mats or Gracie juice bags or Gracie contracts, just train if you train, compete if you compete just don't stop. Get Zebra mats, buy Stephen Kesting videos and train. Help one another, drill moves, learn one new thing a week and make it work or adjust it for your body type.

If you want to say you are a Gracie Garage and pay the money to do it. Do it. Share the costs with others that want to train too. Do it too.

There is a saying that a black belt is a white belt who did not stop learning/training. I also say that a good grappler is one that started and took every chance he could to train whereever it may be. Better to have a garage gym than nothing at all.
 
It would be cool if the Gracie's did something to promote this old school grass roots practice besides saying "get mats, open your garage, put our name on it." It would be great to see them say something more along the lines of, "if you do this, the Gracie name will help by ____." Perhaps offering free instructional videos, free webinars to the hosts etc. I imagine there are plenty of things they can do to help those who help themselves and the sport. Yeah it's missing an opportunity to make money, but so what, it's furthering the sport where nothing is now. And guess what's going to happen if one of these takes off to a gym? It's probably going to open as a Gracie affiliate and they get money in the long term.

Didn't Helio originally want people to advance and further the support, help those who needed it, etc.? Great idea by the Gracie's, but it would be really great to see them truly stand behind it and put forth a little of their own effort and sacrifice to help it move.
 
Darkslide632 said:
Yeah, boy, that's a horrific thought, ain't it? *Gasp* why would anyone do something to benefit others if their wasn't anything to gain from it? Of course, I own my own school with 700+ square feet of mat space and a 22" 5 Rope MMA ring that people train at, and I don't get ANY money for it...

Your attitude is exactly what's wrong with a lot of people that are practicing right now.
Click to expand...
Whoa guy, take a deep breath and try to relax. I was kidding around.
Edit--You own your own school and don't charge dues? Must be nice to have that kind of cash.
 
Wait? so what is the point of this? Are they trying to sell mats? I dont understand why anyone would need to send a video to the Rorian if they want to train in there own house. I must be missing something here. Are they going to mail you a black belt 10 years in your garage?
 
This is a great idea...until someone gets hurt and sues the crap out of the homeowner. I hope GracieGarages has a disclaimer and insurance printout for these people to give peeps.
 
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