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| The view of Barra and Recreio from the top of Pedra Bonita |
Another great
week down in beautiful Rio de Janeiro! I had some excellent training,
saw some new parts of the city, and got to work a bit on my tan over
the weekend. We were even surprised to have UFC Heavyweight Gabriel
Gonzaga stop by the house for a bit. One of his students is staying
at CR and Gabriel stopped by to pick him up and took the time to say
hi to everyone and chat for a couple of minutes. Just another example
that in Rio you never know who is going to walk through the door.
Week in Training
As always it was
a great week in training, my ankle is feeling good and I was able to
push it hard both in wrestling and in BJJ. I've even been devising
some pretty ingenious (if I do say so myself) ways to get in some
hard lifting. There were a couple of days that stand out though.
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| Dennis explaining a guard pass detail. Photo by Hywel Teague. |
On Tuesday Dennis taught a great class,
we drilled and reviewed several techniques, and also learned a
vicious punch choke from guard. To make things better he also brought
in Fabricio “Predator” (Pride Fight Wear owner and black belt
under Gordo) and Pedro Duarte, an accomplished BJJ competitor and
instructor from BTT. Dennis made sure that everyone had the chance to
roll with them. Both guys have a devastating top game. Against Pedro
I was amazed by his agility in guard for a big guy, and how he used
his sweeps to get into a crushing top position. Again and again I
would fight to get my grips and not allow him to set up his grips;
only to find myself somehow back in them. From there I just got
tooled on---- omaplata, sweep to arm lock, sweep to kimura, sweep to
Americana, repeat. The cool thing was after our roll he took the time
to show me what he was doing and how to counter act it. He told me “I
could see you were trying to counter act my grip and attacks but you
were just a step behind...very good though.” It was great to have a
to a top notch BJJ blackbelt whom I had only just met, show me keys
to his game and how to defend. He did it purely for spreading
knowledge of the art.
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| Controlling from the top, working to pass. Photo by bjjpix.com |
On Wednesday I went to Rafael's class
where he showed a reguard and a back take from countering the single
underhook pass. The back take was awesome, I (and the other guys in
class) never thought you could take the back from this position. The
back take is a bit complicated but Rafael explained in a way that
broke down every little detail step by step so it would flow
together. The rolling was great- I felt good attacking from guard and
controlling on top. On Friday one the the CR guests, Chris, and I a
great drill session in. He worked on some sweeps he had picked up (or
learned new details on) during his two weeks here. While training
here he had multiple sessions at Gordo's and the Gringo Class, as
well as getting some training in at Leo Teixeira's and at Gracie
Barra. I drilled several reversals to submissions I learned in
Dennis's class plus repped out some of the new back take I learned
form Rafael. It was great to not only get to drill but also exchange
some ideas and pointers on techniques.
On a side note it was also hilarious to
hear Chris's story of how he punch choked a 2 or 4 stripe (I'm not
sure the story changed a bit every time I heard it) orange belt at
GB. To put it into context Chris is a seasoned blue belt in his 30's,
who is a ship captain in the oil industry; and the kid was like 14
or15 and skinny as a pole. I assure you he didn't do it with malice
but the thought of a grown man punch choking a kid made me laugh.
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| Nicole and I at the top of Bonita. |
Hiking Pedra Bonita and Pool Side
BBQ.
On Saturday Nicole and I went with
Antoine Jaoude to do some conditioning up Pedra Bonita. Pedra Bonita
is a large rock in Sao Conrado, which is most famous for being the best hang gliding site in
Rio. People take off from Bonita and sail over the area eventually
landing on Sao Conrado Beach. We started up the trail at a fast pace
and worked our way to the top. The path isn't overly long but it
winds back and forth at a pretty steep incline so by the time we
reached the top both our legs and our lungs were burning. The view
from the top was amazing! To one side was the vastness of Rio and on
the other was Barra and Recreio. We made the hike back down, watched
a few hang gliders take off and then headed back to Barra. Nicole and
I capped off the afternoon with a great BBQ and relaxing poolside
with most of the CR guests over at HQ. We spent the evening talking
training, swapping stories, and laughing. It made for a great day.
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