Rickson Gracie Seminar in Nashville

[shawshankfights]

I spent the weekend at a Rickson Gracie seminar in Nashville, TN.

It was amazing. I would love to share techniques with you, but seriously don't think I could do it any justice.

I will say there were no new techniques taught. It was simply refinement, extremely effective and subtle refinement, of basic techniques and concepts. For example, my scissor sweep is 200% more effective. My armbar is completely revamped.

It was inspiring and amazing to meet Rickson and to see him in action. There were some prominent names in the BJJ community there and his level of grappling instruction and technical perfection is truly unbelievable. For instance, he was able to correct Pedro Sauer in the same way that he corrected the rest of us.

If anyone else was there, I'd love to see your comments, pictures, etc...

 

[masterfighter]

How much did it cost?

 

[masterfighter]

How much did it cost?

 

[shawshankfights]

it was $250 for 2 full days of instruction.

i thought it was pricy before i took the seminar.

now that i have experienced it, i would be wiling to pay 4 times that much.

 

[Alfer23]

I think you should try to document what you remember.

Rickson isn't going to be around forever.. and you know, the internet will be.

Just talk about what you're doing differently on your sweeps / armbar etc.

 

[shawshankfights]

 

[shawshankfights]

ppp

 

[shawshankfights]

yyy

 

[shawshankfights]

 

[shawshankfights]

My Wife

 

[Alfer23]

v. nice

dude, $250 for that experience has to be a bargain. That's awesome.

 

[dcfella]

I heard there were more than a few black belts there whom Rickson seemed way above their league even.

 

[tbonejackson]

My instructor and his assistant instructor went to it too. The stuff they have shared with us is freaking insane. I didn't go only because I would have potentially risked getting fired from my job. . .I really regret going now. It would have been well worth the risk.

My instructor said the same thing about Rixon in regards to Pedro Sauer. Even saying things like "You forgot what I taught you Pedro." When I heard this, all I could think of was "If Pedro could get correction on things he is doing, what chance to the rest of us have" lol

Whatever you felt comfortable sharing would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bonez5]

I was at the seminar...

I was very hard to explain what he showed. THe seminar was about invisible jiu jitsu.

So it was more conceptual than it was anything else.

My friend hit it right on the head, he said "it was basically a master class in applied physics of jiu jitsu"

Rickson talked about line of energy, connection to the ground and to the opponent, finding the middle, balance, and my personal favorite: efficiency of motion

Like shawshank said, we went over scissor sweep, upa, escaping from kesa gatame - very basic moves but he used them to demonstrate the above concepts.

As an example - he asked people to UPA him while he had the mount. Mostly brown belts and black belts... - he was able to stop the upa on everyone by posting his opposite (non-trapped) hand - the upa should be simple right especially for black belts, right?

so he showed us that 99% of people including black belts are breaking the upa down into two steps - 1. is bridging up 2. rolling sideways over the shoulder. When you do this you break your line of energy and get 80% of your power on the bridge up and 20% of your power on the roll over - the 20% energy is the problem here. Thats why the upa can be stopped by simply posting your opposite hand.

So the solution is to go in one motion. You move your head out of the way by looking in the direction you're upaing and lift the person in the direction where your head meets your neck in ONE motion - not two. with this method the man on top cannot simply post his arm out to stop the upa

^ very hard to describe - it really is invisible jiu jitsu. this is just one example of about 30 scenarios he went through all weekend

 

[shawshankfights]

more important than the details he showed were the concepts and ideas that he presented. they apply across the board. he calls them "invisible jiu jitsu". the details are literally imperceptible and it would be absolutely impossible for me to explain. for instance:

if you are performing a shrimp (most people call it elbow escape, i think) from the mount, you must "connect" to your opponent; feel him prevent him from gaining the inch you take away from him.

one little detail that is very easy to take away from this particular maneuver is to keep one leg completely flat as you perform the escape.

i watched him mount pedro sauer (and many other black belts and colored belts as well) and ask him to escape. pedro could not do it. rickson corrected him and pedro slung him across the mats. it was amazing. the technique LOOKED exactly the same, but it was infinitely more effective.

i know that's not much description, but it's literally the best i can do with words.

 

[shawshankfights]

more important than the details he showed were the concepts and ideas that he presented. they apply across the board. he calls them "invisible jiu jitsu". the details are literally imperceptible and it would be absolutely impossible for me to explain. for instance:

if you are performing a shrimp (most people call it elbow escape, i think) from the mount, you must "connect" to your opponent; feel him prevent him from gaining the inch you take away from him.

one little detail that is very easy to take away from this particular maneuver is to keep one leg completely flat as you perform the escape.

i watched him mount pedro sauer (and many other black belts and colored belts as well) and ask him to escape. pedro could not do it. rickson corrected him and pedro slung him across the mats. it was amazing. the technique LOOKED exactly the same, but it was infinitely more effective.

i know that's not much description, but it's literally the best i can do with words.

 

[shikamaru123]

This is awesome... I'm going to a Royce Gracie seminar here in Miami... Its only $60 but just for 2 hrs of instruction... Hopefulkly its as good as Rickson's... Also do they hand out certificates at every Seminar??? I went to a Gustavo Machado seminar and didnt get nothin... A certificate and pic would be SWEET!!!!

 

[shawshankfights]

This is awesome... I'm going to a Royce Gracie seminar here in Miami... Its only $60 but just for 2 hrs of instruction... Hopefulkly its as good as Rickson's... Also do they hand out certificates at every Seminar??? I went to a Gustavo Machado seminar and didnt get nothin... A certificate and pic would be SWEET!!!!

i'm sure royce is very good, but i'm sure he pales next to rickson.

i have done seminars with carlos machado and eddie bravo as well. both excellent.

 

[shawshankfights]

bonez5, where do you train?

 

[shikamaru123]

I'm sure that Royce's wont be as great as Rickson's... Imean he is the best in the Gracie fam... But I just wanna know if u get that certificate