Gracie University

I briefly mentioned this in my last training update post, but I wanted to take a few minutes to elaborate on it in more detail. About 3 months ago, I found this website called www.gracieuniversity.com, and I was curious to find out more about it, so I signed up for the free account. I wasn’t quite sure what Gracie University was at the time I did. I actually thought it might be some sort of fly in camp or week long seminar. After I joined the site I realized that the Gracie’s had developed an online distance learning program, and my first impression was to be disappointed in this concept. I had the same reaction that many other skeptics do, and thought that the Gracie’s were “selling out” and watering down Jiu Jitsu by creating this. It was only recently that I realized it was the exact opposite. I’ll explain in detail in a moment, but first I want to kind of explain how the process of me transforming from a skeptic to a believer took place.

About one month ago, I received an email from another member (Bill) of Gracie University in the area. He wanted to put together a “Gracie Garage” and had contacted about 10 other members in the local area who had expressed an interest in finding a training partner. So I read Bill’s email and responded, and set a time to meet. Bill has a personal training studio not to far from me, and I drove down to check it out and meet with him. Bill had explained that 2 other people were also coming to meet and later that same day I met both William and Rex. Rex and I actually share a love and appreciation of Muay Thai as well, which was cool. Bill, William and Rex are all great guys and are now my training partners in our own “Gracie Garage.”

At this point I had not even seen one of the Gracie University videos, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I met the following week and Bill and I went through Lesson 1. Each lesson shows about 20-30 minutes of demonstration on several variations of one specific technique. The videos are hosted and taught by Rener and Ryron Gracie, who are the Grandsons of Helio Gracie.

The way Gracie Academy is set up, is that it is broken up into 2 parts. Part 1 is called Gracie Combatives, and it teaches you 36 “Core Techniques” of Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Upon Mastery of these techniques, you have the opportunity to record and submit a video test with specific guidelines and upload that video to Gracie University.com to be graded by one of the instructors. If you pass the test, you are rewarded with a Blue Belt, and approved for Part 2, which is called The Master Cycle. Part 1 is set up very logically and has a nice, seemless flow from one technique to the next.

Now, I realize that some people may think that you are taking a shortcut by taking your test via a video upload, but in reality, you will find that the tests is more difficult and graded harder this way. I have actually taken online college courses in the past, and I have always found them much more difficult than the classes where I went to class once a week. Here are some examples of the Gracie University Blue Belt Qualification Tests.

Now, after you pass the Blue Belt course, as I said, you can begin Part 2, which is the Master Cycle, and will allow you to continue your distance learning via Gracie University, and take various tests for belt stripes and eventually a Purple and Brown Belt. You will continue this path all the way until you are ready to take your test for your Black Belt. In order to take your Black Belt test, you actually have to fly out to California and take a 5 day evaluation at the Gracie Academy in Torrence, CA. While I can’t tell you anything about this path yet, since I am not on it, I can tell you that I am excited to eventually pursue it. On the bottom of this post I have included a video tour of the Gracie University website which is hosted by Rener Gracie. Check it out, and if you are into the concept, surf over to www.gracieuniversity.com and sign up to begin your training. You can actually purchase the individual lessons on DVD or as individual online video streams, which is pretty cool also.

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