Went to a Giva "The Arm Collector" Santana seminar.

[Title Fight Productions]

Recently went to seminar with Giva at UFC fighter Jeff Hougland's Academy (Combat Sports and Fitness).

It was great, There were 12 Black Belts present, which was great! Giva did a great job of explaining philosophies of BJJ and rolling in context of art, competition and MMA.

He showed some great stuff from Spider Guard, two submissions and three sweeps along with a great warmup drill for that guard.

And of course he took a few moments to explain certain ideas and theories he has in regards to the armbar which will change my percentage of finishing this submission.


Was pretty awe inspiring watching how fluidly he would flow into an armbar position after each different sweep.

Also took the time to show how to "manufacture" points off a sweep if you are down late in a match.

I highly recommend any seminar with Giva involved.

 

[Spoonman7]

Been a fan of his for a while, wish I would have gotten to go to the seminar

 

[Thaijitsu612]

Recently went to seminar with Giva at UFC fighter Jeff Hougland's Academy (Combat Sports and Fitness).

It was great, There were 12 Black Belts present, which was great! Giva did a great job of explaining philosophies of BJJ and rolling in context of art, competition and MMA.

He showed some great stuff from Spider Guard, two submissions and three sweeps along with a great warmup drill for that guard.

And of course he took a few moments to explain certain ideas and theories he has in regards to the armbar which will change my percentage of finishing this submission.


Was pretty awe inspiring watching how fluidly he would flow into an armbar position after each different sweep.

Also took the time to show how to "manufacture" points off a sweep if you are down late in a match.

I highly recommend any seminar with Giva involved.

what were the ideas and theories he had on the armbar that you liked so much? id really like to be able to go to a seminar of his, armbars are my favorite submission from anywhere.

 

[Town Biz]

what were the ideas and theories he had on the armbar that you liked so much? id really like to be able to go to a seminar of his, armbars are my favorite submission from anywhere.

This... You mind sharing some of it?

 

[Title Fight Productions]

Somewhat hard to explain, but had to do with not bringing the arm across the center line, especially past the elbow. If the shoulder, elbow and hand are all lined up straight it is much easier for your opponent to pull his arm out.

If you keep the bottom part of the arm bent the opposite way, it actually locks it in better.

Talked about shooting the hips to the shoulder, torquing the arm toward the shouldered leg for a shoulder lock and allowing them to defend by running in a circle to ease the pressure, which runs them right into the armbar.

 

[Title Fight Productions]

Ttt

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

Sounds awesome, wish I was there! I've always had a ton of respect for this guy. He was Ronda Rousey before Ronda Rousey was Ronda Rousey. Much respect.

 

[TriangleMan]

Really glad you attended and had a great time through learning material and BJJ philosophy. Giva is an amazing practitioner, instructor, and individual. Can't say enough good things about him. Wish him well!

 

[EndlessCritic]

Great jiujitsu practitioner, and great fighter who got into the game just a little too late.

 

[thapa]

Giva remains one of the top 5 most fun people I've ever interviewed. His description of playing golf - complete with sound effects - had me rolling and I'm still smiling today thinking about it.

I'm glad he's a terrific teacher in seminars and his student Laercio Fernandes might be the second best guy in the world at his weight (very tight matches with Gui Mendes in 2012).

 

[Title Fight Productions]

Funny story about Giva. I used to train with a guy he came up with. Total badass, BB in BJJ and Judo, Navy Seal, etc.

Well both him and Giva are going to corner Shane Del Lasario in a Fight and im driving and everyone is laughing having fun and then one of the guys we train with says to Giva, would be great to have you come in to the academy, Tony has been beating us all up on the mat. Giva goes from laughing to dead silent, looks over at this BB and says.... "oh, so now it is you who is doing the bullying on the mat? Used to be you complained I bullied you to much. You think things have changed that much? Do you need a reminder of why not to bully people in the mat?"

Everyone is dead silent for 3 seconds straight.... Then Giva and Tony start ceack'n up!

Took about a minute for everyone else to come back to normal...

 

[ItsArun]

Giva is a complete class act. He'll drive out anywhere to coach one of his students, even if it's their first tournament at white belt. I'm lucky to have him coach me at my first tournament at blue, and then again at purple.