Does Kron Gracie workout?

Assuming the question is meant to ask whether Kron does any traditional forms of exercise such as boring cardio and/or resistance training, the one-word answer is “no”.

The three sentence answer can be heard at the very end of the Universal MMA seminar video footage . His answer was that he doesn’t do any specific cardio exercise or other types of resistance training. He just trains jiu-jitsu.

Also note that Kron Gracie is the fittest human being I’ve ever seen in my entire life, so yes, BJJ is the only form of exercise you need in order to get fit and stay in shape. Helio Gracie (Kron’s grandfather and one of the founders of BJJ) lived to be 95 years old and continued to train BJJ right up until the week that he passed away.

My reaction to seeing that Universal has affiliated with Robert Drysdale is that the affiliation is a tremendous idea because Robert Drysdale is one of the top BJJ fighters/instructors in the world, and I don’t doubt that affiliating with him will vastly improve the BJJ program at Universal.

But what struck me as odd was that on the most prominent areas of their website where they advertise the services and classes they offer, Universal changed “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” and “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” to “Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu” (not sure if that was a condition of their affiliation). I didn’t even realize that Robert Drysdale had his own “brand” of jiu-jitsu.

My reaction to seeing “Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu” all over the Universal website is that I don’t think most potential BJJ customers in Vancouver will even know what Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu is. Yes, Robert Drysdale is is a world champion and he’s as skilled of a BJJ fighter/instruction as you’ll find anywhere in the world right now, but I question whether the average person in Vancouver who’s interested in learning BJJ follows the world of BJJ close enough to know about that.

I think most potential BJJ customers are people who became aware of BJJ through watching MMA (in most cases, the UFC), and decided they wanted to learn “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”, and therefore started researching gyms in Vancouver that teach “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”. I can’t help feeling many of those people who end up on the Universal website will see “Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu” and assume that’s not what they’re looking for.

So I figured I’d just write this post help out anyone who’s looking for a BJJ gym in Vancouver and is wondering what Universal MMA’s “Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu” is all about. Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu is simply a brand of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu offered by BJJ world champion Robert Drysdale. So if you choose to learn Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu at Universal MMA, you’ll still be learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, just the brand that’s offered by one of the most skilled and successful BJJ fighters in the world.

It’s not difficult to find workouts that are intense (although I promise you that Sina’s wrestling workout is more intense than most workouts; hell Sina’s warm-up is more intense than most workouts), but it can be extremely difficult to find workouts that are both intense and enjoyable (the enjoyable part is subjective and will vary from person to person). So if you find a workout thats’s intense but also fun, you’ve found a winner.

After trying one of Sina’s wresting workouts, I was hooked and planned on attending them every Saturday. Unfortunately, shortly after trying that first workout with Sina, I suffered a bad meniscus tear in my knee while doing a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu workout. My knee injury required surgery to fix, and that caused me to take a long break from training and I haven’t managed to make it back to any more wresting workouts with Sina.

I’m not sure if Sina is still running wrestling workouts at Universal, but if he is, I highly recommend that you stop by and try one sometime. The workouts are intense, but also fun as hell (a very hard combination to find), and are perfect for anyone looking to burn calories and get in shape without having to suffer through boring gym workouts.

So if you’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s a Rickson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Acacemy in Vancouver, your information is out of date. There is currently no Rickson Gracie BJJ Academy in Vancouver.

If you’re in the Moncton area and you found this page while looking for information on Shane, I can tell you that he’s an amazing BJJ instructor. I trained with Shane at Universal for about a year, and it was lots of fun, I learned a tremendous amount from him, and I highly recommend that you train with Shane if you’re looking to learn BJJ safely and effectively from one of the best instructors in Canada.

Friday night is BJJ open mat at Universal MMA in downtown Vancouver. Something unique about the Friday open mat at Universal (compared to most other BJJ academies) is that the Friday open mat at Universal is open to students from other BJJ academies in Vancouver (or anywhere else) that want to stop by for open training (there’s a small drop-in fee for non-members). I enjoy seeing the new faces at the Friday open mat and having the opportunity to train with people from other BJJ academies in Vancouver. If you’re currently training BJJ at another academy in Vancouver, consider stopping by Universal MMA on Friday for the open roll.

Just the warm-up was a killer workout. I was covered in sweat before we even started the wrestling workout. And there were parts during the wrestling training that I honestly didn’t think I was going to last until the end of the workout. We were drilling single-leg takedowns — working with a partner taking turns shooting for the takedown, and defending the takedown —  and towards the end of the workout I literally could barely stand up. Super intense, but fun as hell, and absolutely more enjoyable than going to the gym and lifting weights or doing boring cardio.

That wrestling class I did a few months ago was the first time in my life I’ve ever done a wrestling workout, and after one workout I was hooked and looking forward to making it a regular part of my weekly exercise routine. But unfortunately a knee injury I sustained the following week (doing jiu-jitsu) has prevented me from training any wrestling since then, but no doubt about it, as soon as my knee gets better, I’ll be back at the Saturday wrestling class at Universal MMA.

I absolutely recommend that you try out a wrestling workout if you’re bored with traditional gym workouts and are looking to try something new to help motivate and challenge yourself to take your fitness to new levels.

Despite the lunch hour BJJ workout being incredibly intense, at one point during the workout I recall saying to Dave (owner of Universal MMA) that “I didn’t know it was possible to have this much fun while working out.” I wasn’t kidding around. It was a serious comment. I had a blast during one of the most intense workouts I’ve ever done. Sure it was grueling and difficult, but it was way more fun than just going to the gym and lifting weights or running on the treadmill.

The easiest way to get fit and stay fit is to find an activity that you enjoy that also doubles as a fantastic workout. If you can find an activity where you’re doing one of the most intense workouts of your life, and saying “I didn’t know it was possible to have this much fun while working out”, you will truly have found yourself a workout program that will produce lasting results.

If you’re in Vancouver and are interested in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from one of the top instructors in Canada (Shane Rice, BJJ black belt under Rickson Gracie), I highly recommend you check out Universal MMA.

Kron Gracie is a decorated BJJ competitor, and is also the son of the legendary Rickson Gracie. Kron runs the Rickson Gracie International Jiu-Jitsu Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Going into the seminar, I was expecting to learn various BJJ moves and techniques from Kron, and I certainly wasn’t let down in that regard. Kron is an incredible instructor with a real knack for breaking down complicated movements and techniques and explaining them in a way that a beginner like myself can understand.

But Kron’s seminar also included so much more than I was expecting.

Much of what Kron was teaching at the seminar went much deeper than just BJJ moves. Throughout the seminar he often talked about the mental aspects of becoming proficient at BJJ, and how the mental toughness developed from training BJJ (and martial arts in general) transfers into your everyday life. To paraphrase Kron, if you can learn to be calm and relaxed while someone is trying to choke you, you can also be calm and relaxed when someone cuts you off while you’re driving in your car (or whatever other stresses you’re presented in your day to day life).

It was great to hear Kron talk about how BJJ training can benefit you in so many more ways than just being able to defend yourself on the street. I’ve personally experienced many of those benefits, so it was nice to hear Kron reconfirm the things that I felt I’ve been getting from my BJJ training. Since I started training BJJ at Universal last fall, I’ve been less stressed, had higher-energy levels, less aches and pains, I’ve slept better at night, increased confidence, and perhaps most importantly I’ve been having fun and enjoying my BJJ training. It’s been great to find a new hobby that I enjoy and look forward to, and that also provides me with all of the other great benefits.

The Kron Gracie seminar was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I’ve done in a long time, and I want to thank Kron for coming to Vancouver and putting on such a great seminar, and I want to thank Shane Rice at Universal MMA for putting on the seminar.

About three years ago (November 2006) I started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) but I quit after less than two months because I found the instructor to be inattentive and completely uninterested in the class. It was very difficult to learn from an instructor that didn’t seem like he wanted to be there, I constantly felt like I was going to get injured, and frankly it was a miserable experience.

Roughly a year later (January 2008), I made another attempt at learning BJJ at a different martial arts academy with a different instructor. Again, I quit after less than two months, this time because the program wasn’t remotely tailored towards beginners like me. I was being taught complicated sweeps and transitions to submissions from positions I had no prior experience with, and this was before I had a basic understanding of the fundamentals BJJ. The result was that I was overwhelmed, constantly discouraged, and I quickly lost interest and quit again.

Roughly two years later (October 2009), still interested in learning BJJ if I could find the right instructor, I became aware of a very highly regarded BJJ instructor named Shane Rice who had recently moved to Vancouver from Los Angeles where he had been the head instructor at the Rickson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Rickson Gracie is widely regarded as the greatest BJJ fighter who ever lived, so I felt it was a very unique opportunity to learn from Shane Rice, who earned his BJJ black belt from training directly under the great Rickson Gracie.

I figured surely if I was ever going to safely and effectively learn BJJ, it would be from Shane Rice, and if I quit this time, I would be certain that BJJ just isn’t for me.

After three months of training with Shane Rice at Universal Mixed Martial Arts, I have only positive things to say about the quality of instruction I’ve received from Shane. I’ve been doing a combination of private lessons and group classes, and I finally feel like I am making real progress towards learning the complicated martial art of BJJ.

Injuries are still frequently on the front of my mind, particularly when learning throws (which I have a very hard time with), but I am slowly but surely getting more comfortable in these areas, and Shane’s instruction has been instrumental for me in making progress in these areas.

I finally feel like I have gotten past the initial period of being overwhelmed and discouraged trying to learn something as complicated as BJJ, and as I start to better understand the basics, BJJ is finally starting to become fun and I am excited to continue training and learning.

If you are in Vancouver, BC, and are interested in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I recommend Shane Rice at Universal Mixed Martial Arts.