New Faces, Nova Uniao, and The Carioca Lifestyle

Rolling at Nova Uniao. Photo by BJJpix.com

This week has been an exciting week down here in Rio. We had our first guest arrive down here at CR Baixo Barra. There is a couple from England, Liam and Roseanna; and there is a group of French luta livre and mma fighters down staying here for the month. The head of the team Nicholas Reiner has been coming to Rio multiple times a year for the past 10yrs and training with “Pequeno” and Leozada Nogueira. Most of the guys (there are 5 total) have also been to Rio at least once. The guys are solid….very solid. I had a great time training with them on Fridays luta livre session and they are a great addition to have down here at the MMA camp.

Week in Training
This weeks training was great and I got a lot of time on the mat. Monday morning’s wrestling class involved a lot of pummeling and reversing your positions against the cage and then attacking the takedown. We finished session doing king of the mat with takedowns and there were some awesome scrambles, it’s amazing how far some of these guys’ wrestling has progressed in a relatively short amount of time. On Tuesdays luta livre session we covered attacking from the turtle position, first breaking down your opponent and then attacking for the choke. It’s really interesting how a lot of the techniques are just slightly different from those in collegiate wrestling. For instance one of the break downs came off of a cross wrist ride and near ankle, and was executed almost exactly like a far arm near ankle. The main difference is instead of going for the pin, I am now going for the choke.

On Wednesday morning my friend Dawud from over at CR HQ made the short walk to the flat and we got a drill session in. We both just focused on one standing pass and broke it down and drilled 100 solid, technical reps. While it might not sound like much, hitting 100 PERFECT reps is hard work; both mentally and physically.

The CR crew and member of team Nova Uniao. Photo by BJJpix.com

Wednesday evening a large group of us went on the weekly academy visit, this week we headed to Nova Uniao. While most people know Nova Uniao for their top notch MMA fighters like Jose Aldo and Renan Barao, they are known in the BJJ world for having top notch grapplers, especially in the lighter weights. It was really interesting because so many of the guys were MMA fighters and don’t training in the kimono as much, you will have blue and purple belts that have just tattered belts and roll well above the “common” belt level. After an extensive warm up, which included jogging, cals, tumbling, and 30 sec positional sparring with the higher belts, Master Andre Pederneiras (whose black belt is so worn it actually looks white) taught technique. Unlike a lot of gyms where you will learn multiple techniques, we only covered one technique. The technique was a standing pass from when your opponent sits up into a single leg. It wasn't a complicated or flashy pass, but it applied simple positional changes, in a way I wouldn't ever think of, to very easily pass your opponent. The moved was drilled extensively for 15-20 minutes and then came the live rolling. Because a lot (not all but most) of the guys are around my size, they have aggressive fast paced attacks, which made for some fun sparring. The 100 reps I drilled earlier helped a lot for my passes, while I didn't hit the exact pass I had worked on earlier that day my positioning felt a lot better and I was able to work off of it to other passes. The class was huge (at least 30+ people) which gave us all opportunities to work against many different styles of BJJ. The team at Nova Uniao was super friendly and I hope I can make it back there to train in the future.

Thursdays wrestling class covered mainly the crack down position and chain wrestling off the high crotch. Towards the end of class we briefly covered what to do off of a stalled out shot. We finished with short 30 second goes of positional wrestling. In Fridays luta livre class Pequeno built off of the wrestling techniques we showed from a stalled shot and went through some luta livre techniques for both the guy sprawling and the person trapped underneath. It was great work that helped combine the different disciplines to create a fluid system for MMA. The rolling was intense and fun. The first roll I sparred against Leozado, Pequenos brother. That family is crazy talented in luta livre. I got my ass handed to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t roll well, I was on the offense and was working solid technique, its just he was that much better then me. At one point from a couple tight chokes I began to get a little dizzy, but I carried on, forcing myself to battle through and trying to mount an offense. It was a fast paced battle, and I have to say overall it was one of my favorite rolls so far down here in Brazil. It’s hard training like that that will my game to the next level.

Working a standing guard pass. Photo by BJJpix.com

Embracing The Carioca lifestyle

Carioca- A Portuguese adjective used to describe a person from Rio De Janeiro

With all the hard work I’m sure some of my family back home wonder if I have time to relax. I admit sometimes its easy to get caught up training and thinking of what needs to get done and forget to slow down and enjoy the ride. That’s what makes the weekends in Rio so nice. Typically on the weekends I get one training session in and the rest of the time is spent relaxing and doing something fun. I’ll give you a quick run down on this past weekend to give you some idea what the Carioca life is like down here.

Saturday was an atypical day with rain and over cast skies, but right before sunset the sun came out, giving Nicole and I all the incentive we needed to head outside. We walked down to the beach at the end of the street (took all of about 3 minutes), stopping at one of the many little beach bars here in Rio. We ordered a couple of caiprinhas ( a delicious Brazilian cocktail made from cachaca, limes and sugar) and watched the waves crash onto the beach as the sunset. We then headed back to the flat and made dinner, then got dressed and headed to Bar Do Oswaldos, a local bar owned by Rommel an excellent BJJ black belt and instructor at Gordos. Here we met up with people from all of the CR houses and watched the UFC fights. After the fights we headed home, while some went out and enjoyed some nearby clubs.

Sunday morning brought the sun. Nicole and I went out for our Sunday morning breakfast at BigPolis Sucos, a restaurant almost directly across the street. Their café da manana (breakfast) has a wide variety of options and you can choose either 5, 7, or 10 item from the list for fixed prices. For about 7 USD I had a coffee, 2 scrambled eggs, fresh squeezed OJ, a piece of cooked cheese, a fresh fruit salad, yogurt, and granola. Being a big meal it normally last us most the day. We then donned our beach attire Nicole- new Brazilian cut bikini and a sun dress, Myself- a sunga board shorts, and headed to the beach where we met up with some of the people from the flat. I went for a nice run down the beach and grabbed a workout one of the stations before joining Nicole, Liam, and Roseanna for soaking up some sun and swimming. Once we got back we threw on some cloths and headed to a small sports bar, Alves (literally a minute away) to watch the CR Flamengo vs. Botofogo futbol game. While not avid fans its fun to watch the game, the crowds gathered around the T.V.’s cheering, and enjoy an appetizer. Returning home we talked with the guys from France before they headed out for a bit, and now we are just relaxing and getting things ready for the week. Not a bad life.

Enjoying a ice cold tropical energy concoction in true Carioca fashion