Taking privates from a different instructor/academy

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FIGHTER_X

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Is it bad to schedule privates with another instructor from a different academy in the SAME city?

Say you train at Renzo's in NY but want to improve your X-Guard. Is it wrong to train at Renzo's but schedule privates at Marcelo Garcia's academy for advice on the X-Guard?

Or if you train in LA at Rickson's but you want to improve your Spider Guard so you setup a private with Romulo Barral for specific details. Or how about your half guard game and you're willing to drive to Lucas Liete's school for a private.

How about the DC area and you train at Lloyd Irvin's but want additional tips for finishing and setting up your triangles, is it bad to go to Ryan Hall's for a couple of privates for details?


I'm not talking about a white belt learning new moves. It's positions or submissions that you're already comfortable with but want to improve. You're loyal to your academy, have zero intentions of leaving, but want tips from a world class instructor that may specialize in that area.

Like the X-Guard example, I think it's pretty safe to say that there is no instructor in the world that can teach the X-Guard better than Marcelo.


Is it disrespectful to your own instructor/school? What are your thoughts?
 
It really depends on the individual. some are ok and some are just the jealous type.
 
Some guys are cool about it and some guys are not.

So before someone says "ask your instructor if it's ok", let me say that even asking might not be ok with some.
 
There are instructors that are very traditional and loyal to their teams. I once brought this up to Romulo and he said "I would like to train with *world champion from Alliance but I can't" because he's Alliance. I've rolled with people from other gyms and ventured in to other academies while traveling. Hell, I left Romulo's for a couple months due to personal reasons but still stayed loyal to him and came back. I'm far from traditional and I support rolling with whoever I can gain from but being loyal to your instructor is very important.
 
I would like to keep my money all in the family honestly. IMO, if your academy has plenty of World Champions, why do you need to look elsewhere?
 
Thanks for all of the responses!

MMA junkie said:
I would like to keep my money all in the family honestly. IMO, if your academy has plenty of World Champions, why do you need to look elsewhere?
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I totally understand what you mean. Although training under a World Champion is a dream in itself, not even all World Champions are equal in their technique.

Who has the best cross collar choke from mount?

Who has the best X-Guard?

Who has the best De La Riva?

My apologies, the original post was a pretty EXTREME example.

The thread wasn't suppose to be about training under a World Champion, there are plenty of great instructors who aren't World Champions.

The thread is about taking privates from a different instructor who's BETTER than your instructor in a SPECIFIC technique (position, transition, submission, etc.,)
 
I think that it depends mostly on competition. You can be in the same city as another school yet not be in competition for students(Because of the size of the city). If the schools are fairly close and competing for students I wouldn't do it. But if they're of decent distance away go for.
 
MMA junkie said:
I would like to keep my money all in the family honestly. IMO, if your academy has plenty of World Champions, why do you need to look elsewhere?
Click to expand...

I disagree with this statement entirely. Sometimes you can gain a lot by getting a completely different perspective.

That being said, if you know your instructor is the "jealous type", then you might want to avoid mentioning it. You could also ask some of your training buddies if they've done it and if they've mentioned it to the instructor before.

Either way, I'd say go for it!
 
I would just move to whichever school in my area has the best instructor. IMO the best instructor is the one with the highest credentials. When you train with or learn from World Champions it is extremely different than from any one else. They have an attention to detail that is barely (or not) comprehended by those who don't compete against them. Even if I didn't compete, I'd rather learn from someone who was successful at it as that is the only true test of knowledge.

I train with Ryan Hall, he is the best instructor/competitor for miles around and I am extremely loyal to him and to the academy, but if Marcelo Garcia moved down the street, I'd be over there in a second.
 
Depends on the instructor and ow you get along with them.

Works both ways though. Your instructor knows you the best. I've taken a few with other people way way way overseas just to get a new set of eyes on my game. Unfortunately sometimes some problems become the "norm" and accepted and it takes someone else to remind you of it or show you a new way of doing it.
 
mweaver123 said:
I disagree with this statement entirely. Sometimes you can gain a lot by getting a completely different perspective.

That being said, if you know your instructor is the "jealous type", then you might want to avoid mentioning it. You could also ask some of your training buddies if they've done it and if they've mentioned it to the instructor before.

Either way, I'd say go for it!
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I understand what you are saying. I don't even know if my instructor is the jealous type (I have never witnessed behavior to believe so though) but I suppose it is just a loyalty thing for me.
 
Doh! said:
I would just move to whichever school in my area has the best instructor. IMO the best instructor is the one with the highest credentials. When you train with or learn from World Champions it is extremely different than from any one else. They have an attention to detail that is barely (or not) comprehended by those who don't compete against them. Even if I didn't compete, I'd rather learn from someone who was successful at it as that is the only true test of knowledge.

I train with Ryan Hall, he is the best instructor/competitor for miles around and I am extremely loyal to him and to the academy, but if Marcelo Garcia moved down the street, I'd be over there in a second.
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I understand that you want to train with the best, but if you have trained with one instructor for a long time don't you think you'd develop some loyalty towards that instructor. Eventually many people consider their instructor as a close friend or family, would you leave your friend for the new popular guy on the block?
 
Doh! said:
I train with Ryan Hall, he is the best instructor/competitor for miles around and I am extremely loyal to him and to the academy, but if Marcelo Garcia moved down the street, I'd be over there in a second.
Click to expand...

This is what my thread is about!

How many of you Sherdoggers feel the same way?

See, I wouldn't leave my instructor for Marcelo but I would love to take privates with him on the side. Now, would I be disrespecting my instructor or academy?

What if you found out one of your teammates was doing that, taking privates at another school? Would you be upset? Would you even care?

namdogg59 said:
I understand that you want to train with the best, but if you have trained with one instructor for a long time don't you think you'd develop some loyalty towards that instructor. Eventually many people consider their instructor as a close friend or family, would you leave your friend for the new popular guy on the block?
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you. I'm 100% loyal to my instructor and to my teammates. Over the years, I've developed a bond with my instructor that I don't think I could ever develop with another instructor even if it was Roger, Marcelo, Cobrinha, etc.,
 
On one hand, I would say that you should be able to train where you want.

On the other hand, if I was an instructor (and a solid black belt instructor, not just me right now teaching a class) I might feel insulted if one of my students went elsewhere for a private. It would be like him telling me "You're not good enough to teach me this."
 
I would treat it like an HMO. See your general practitioner first and if you want to see a specialist, talk to your regular doctor first and see what he/she thinks. Seems easy enough.
 
My instructor doesn't mind at all. When Abmar Barbosa was in town, a team mate wanted a private, and my instructor asked him if it was okay. Instructor told him that if he goes through with it, he'd double up with him (as in 2 people in the private lesson).

Though, my instructor does prefer it if we get privates with Nova Uniao guys. He said even if we train out of town while on vacation, it's okay if we train non-Nova Uniao, but if there is a Nova Uniao school in the area, he'd like us to at least stop by for a class.
 
I haven't even taken privates with my own instructor yet, so I'd make sure I did plenty of those first. Unless you've been training under the same instructor for 5+ years, I don't see a reason to seek out more instruction yet. Your instructor probably structures the classes to best round out the game of every student there, so there is probably tons to learn from him still if you take privates.

I have a solid relationship with my instructor, so I'd most likely ask him first if he'd be ok with me taking a private from another instructor. Also, I'd probably only do it if I was gonna be in the area anyway (vacation, etc.), so I'd explain this to my instructor.
 
I just trained with rob lovi, and in the next 30 days I'll be training with Keith Owen, Marcelo monteiro, and Rafael lovato (along with some sambo, and some striking)

I'd rather be a pariah or a journeyman than be stuck with one instructor. Carpe diem with your Bjj.
 
Whatever u think will help you learn jiu jitsu better, just do it. If you think it will hurt someone's feelings/ego then no need to say anything about it.
 
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