Carlson Gracie at the fight club
I'm not a born teamplayer. When making advertising I learned that being part of a team is the only way to make truly excellent work. When sporting I've always been an egoïst. I never liked teamsports such as soccer or basketball. If I win in sports I want me myself and I to get all the credit for it and if I'm defeated I want to blame it on me only.
Therefore, whenever I did a sport it was either fitness (the number 1 ego sport) or some kind of martial arts (number 2 in the list of sports you only do for yourself). Fighting, preferably with as less rules possible, is in my opinion one of the most accurate ways to test a person's physical and mental capabilities.
When I went to the Miami Ad School I picked up fighting again. At least once a week I went to the 'fight club' as I always called it. In Hamburg I kicked my hangover away in kickboxing class, in Brussels the Mixed Martial Arts classes were a welcome break on Tuesday evening and here in Stockholm I'm doing a highly effective ground grappling sport called Brazillian Jiu Jitsu (see http://www.bjj.se/).
Today I went to a seminar with Jiu Jitsu-legend Carlson Gracie jr. Insiders in martial arts probably all have a notion of who he is. The Brazillian Gracie family is famous all over the world for their effective and technical fighting style. Whatever match they're doing, whether it's jiu-jutsu or ultimate fight, a member of the Gracie family rarely loses. Here's a link to a video about Carlson Gracie sr, the father of the teacher from today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPSCtjzco7M
So getting a seminar from an actual Gracie is a big honour. So even though I still had some beer in my body from the night before, I got up early and moved my ass to the fight club. At the seminar, Carlson Gracie showed us in a three hour seminar a lot of new strangling techniques and armlocks. By the painful look on my usual teacher's face in the demonstrations, I could see he did the techniques flawless. I'm glad I decided to get out of bed early this morning because training with such a legend is a one time opportunity that I couldn't miss.
Therefore, whenever I did a sport it was either fitness (the number 1 ego sport) or some kind of martial arts (number 2 in the list of sports you only do for yourself). Fighting, preferably with as less rules possible, is in my opinion one of the most accurate ways to test a person's physical and mental capabilities.
When I went to the Miami Ad School I picked up fighting again. At least once a week I went to the 'fight club' as I always called it. In Hamburg I kicked my hangover away in kickboxing class, in Brussels the Mixed Martial Arts classes were a welcome break on Tuesday evening and here in Stockholm I'm doing a highly effective ground grappling sport called Brazillian Jiu Jitsu (see http://www.bjj.se/).
Today I went to a seminar with Jiu Jitsu-legend Carlson Gracie jr. Insiders in martial arts probably all have a notion of who he is. The Brazillian Gracie family is famous all over the world for their effective and technical fighting style. Whatever match they're doing, whether it's jiu-jutsu or ultimate fight, a member of the Gracie family rarely loses. Here's a link to a video about Carlson Gracie sr, the father of the teacher from today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPSCtjzco7M
So getting a seminar from an actual Gracie is a big honour. So even though I still had some beer in my body from the night before, I got up early and moved my ass to the fight club. At the seminar, Carlson Gracie showed us in a three hour seminar a lot of new strangling techniques and armlocks. By the painful look on my usual teacher's face in the demonstrations, I could see he did the techniques flawless. I'm glad I decided to get out of bed early this morning because training with such a legend is a one time opportunity that I couldn't miss.
posted by Robin Stam at 10:08 pm
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