John Danaher

[All In Fighter]

I want to join Renzo's Academy in June and I want to train with John Danaher. I've heard nothing but great things about him. I've never trained in BJJ so I will be starting in the Blue Belt Program. Does anyone know if Danaher teaches this class? I've read some things about a morning class that he teaches but don't know what level. I want to get a lot of bang for my buck. Nothing against the other instructors but I've heard some differing opinions about overcrowded classes and getting lost in the bunch. Does anyone have any info on his teaching schedule ? How are they as far as answering questions before you join? Am I going to get a straight answer from them if I let them know of my intentions on wanting to train with Danaher? Thanks!

 

[Spoonman7]

there are quite a few people on this forum that train with him so a good answer should be coming shortly. From what I hear, his morning classes are the best classes offered all day and are usually quite full.

 

[infamous mattyd]

you will not be able to train with John until you are a 3 stripe white or above.

 

[infamous mattyd]

ot you can do his sub grappling class in the morning

 

[infamous mattyd]

ot you can do his sub grappling class in the morning

 

[infamous mattyd]

or you can do his morning sub grappling clazss

 

[TalkShowOnMute]

or you can do his morning sub grappling clazss

twice is enough gnub.

 

[Goat Meal]

I heard somewhere you can do his morning sub grappling class... Not sure about that, though.

 

[J Storm**]

you do clazss sub morning can ot grappling

 

[Graunie]

decaf matty, decaf

On a serious note, you won't be dissappointed with any of the instructors. Plus, I'm sure you could always get a private in.

 

[infamous mattyd]

John's classes are not I repeat NOT for beginners. I snuck into his class once when I was new and I wanted to quit bjj. The man is on another level and is the best instructor I have ever had. You just need a solid base before you train with him.

 

[StevieSparkZ]

John's classes are not I repeat NOT for beginners. I snuck into his class once when I was new and I wanted to quit bjj. The man is on another level and is the best instructor I have ever had. You just need a solid base before you train with him.

What made you wanna quit? Just too many advanced moves?

 

[grdstorm11]

I used to take John's and Shawn's classes on the regular back a couple years ago. Hes got so much insight into technique its amazing. I would highly recommend anyone to train with him.

With that said, if you are a beginner then I've heard being at Renzos nowadays is rough. You have to go through the beginners program which sucks major balls. They teach you good stuff but its not the meaty jiu jitsu that you want to learn.

You have to learn the basics though but for some people that already know the basics, its kind of a waste of their time.

 

[lethalweapon]

I used to take John's and Shawn's classes on the regular back a couple years ago. Hes got so much insight into technique its amazing. I would highly recommend anyone to train with him.

With that said, if you are a beginner then I've heard being at Renzos nowadays is rough. You have to go through the beginners program which sucks major balls. They teach you good stuff but its not the meaty jiu jitsu that you want to learn.

You have to learn the basics though but for some people that already know the basics, its kind of a waste of their time.

I was at Renzo's years back before they started structuring their program classes. As a total newb, I was absolutely lost and quit after a month, because no one taught me the basics. Forget the subs, I'm talking about positioning, posturing, etc... I tried it out again a year or so later did a lot better with these programs, because I was learning along side of other newbs. You rolled with people a notch higher and a notch lower, which was a great balance.

I can understand your perspective, but the way they have it now works better for some people.

 

[Soid]

I was at Renzo's years back before they started structuring their program classes. As a total newb, I was absolutely lost and quit after a month, because no one taught me the basics. Forget the subs, I'm talking about positioning, posturing, etc... I tried it out again a year or so later did a lot better with these programs, because I was learning along side of other newbs. You rolled with people a notch higher and a notch lower, which was a great balance.

I can understand your perspective, but the way they have it now works better for some people.

I agree and yeah you can train with John in the submission grappling classes but I wouldn't recommend it for a white belt.

 

[Spoonman7]

all of this continued danaher praise makes me want to fly out to new york to train with him.

 

[radman]

You definitely got to get the basics, because its builds a base or a starting point to maneuver into a good position or submission.

 

[FrankieM]

I train under John Danaher also, and TRUST... You need to have strong fundamentals before attending John's class. He moves extremely quickly and only goes over the sequence of moves twice, that's it. After the training of the moves, there is live grappling starting from the standing position. You will grapple with 4 people, with each round lasting 6 minutes. The morning submission classes follow the same format.

As a previous poster indicated, you will need to learn the fundamentals in the Blue Belt program before moving on to John's or any of the Gracies that teach the Purple Belt program. Don't worry, if you show dedication and advancement in your game you'll get your 3rd stripe soon enough. I was in your shoes last year and the knowledge I learned from the Blue Belt program, I apply every single training session.

I doubt you want to go to the Purple Belt program just to get beat up and frustrated every training session. If people are continuously passing your guard, sweeping you, submitting you, and you are having problems maintaining side control, mount etc.... You will not be getting your money's worth.

 

[Tony Manifold]

Nice reference to Fairbairn btw TS.

 

[fiftysvn]

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I have to give praise to John Danaher as well. He is an AMAZING an instructor and like another poster said, he provides awesome insight into moves.

I was lucky enough to take one of his classes because he subbed for another instructor on Friday. He didn't start off with the usual warmups that we do in class. Instead, he had us do front rolls and back rolls only. After he made us do a bunch of that for warmups (not that we don't usually do those, but that was the only warmup we did that lesson) he went on to explain WHY knowing how to roll was so important.

He proceeded to demonstrate how to apply the roll when you have your opponents back while he is turtling up. Then he also showed how it could be applied when an opponent is grabbing you from behind.

After that, he went on to another basic. He explained how in his opinion, the single most important thing in BJJ is mastery of the elbow escape. What might possibly have been a mundane drill was filled with amazing insight. The class was so good it almost felt like a private lesson. Not that I've taken one before, but I'd imagine that's how enlightened I'd feel afterwards.

We also learned a little about grip fighting and did some drills on that as well.

I could tell the other white belts were equally awed by him. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to take that class with him. It was actually quite fortunate of me, since I took that Friday off and decided to go to the class at noon instead of my usual 6pm class.

Anyways, I just wanted to give Danaher some more props. Awesome guy!