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if you’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s a Rickson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Acacemy in Vancouver, your information is out of date.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.