I’ve been fortunate enough to train at many different types of academies throughout my career.
Different in their atmosphere.
Different in their focus.
Different in training philosophies and techniques.
I just want to start off by saying that there is no one best school or academy. It all comes down to whether or not it’s a good fit for you.
You could have access to the best training partners and instructors in the world. But if the training environment is toxic, it’s no good.
In this post we’re going to look at the benefits (or upsides) of training at a well known, competition oriented Jiu Jitsu academy and in the following weeks I hope to examine some of the downsides as well.
High Level Academy
Most regular people aren’t looking for the most competitive academy.
Gold medals and championship wins have no meaning to them.
That’s something that I try to drive home to any martial arts business owners or future academy owners.
Your average student is looking for a fun, safe, and decently located place to workout.
Being a world class facility only has sway over students who are: (1) into competitive Jiu Jitsu, (2) understand your accolades, (3) want to train hard.
There are lots of reasons for training at a competitive Jiu Jitsu academy but they all boil down to pushing your comfort zone.
Of course, not every student is going to compete. But there will be this culture of doing tournaments or atleast training hard that will permeat through all the programs within that academy.
During the late 2000’s early 2010’s, the academy that I trained at was one of the best academies in America and arguably one of the best in the world.
In addition to myself, we had numerous pans champions, world champions at the lower belts, and ADCC vets.
We were the quintessential competition academy. Of course, we still had a strong foundation in self defense and the fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu. But we were mostly known through our success in tournaments.
And because of this we were able to attract many like minded students from all over the U.S.A. in addition to developing our own home grown students.
1 High level training partners
The biggest reason for training at a high level academy is because you’ll have access to high level training partners.
No matter how naturally talented you are. You can only go so far watching competition video, drilling, and visualizing. Eventually, you get to a point where you will need the help of good training partners to help push you past your limits.
It wasn’t uncommon to have athletes decide to completely uproot their lives, quit their jobs, and move down to train at my academy. Some guys wanted to be world champions. While others wanted to dedicate themselves more to their practice by surrounding themselves with those who wanted to become world champions.
Everyone had their reasons.
Having access to a large stable of tough training partners. All with different body types and skill sets. Is the fastest way to improve your Jiu Jitsu.
A popular saying in Jiu Jitsu is that, “iron sharpens iron”.
And this is very true for the best academies in the world like Atos/Art of Jiu Jitsu, Alliance, and all of the other top academies. They attract the best talent which in turn helps them to do bettter in competitions.
Outside of the training aspects. High level training partners allow you to immerse yourself completely into the Jiu Jitsu lifestyle.
Not only are you be able to train hard, but you’re also able to have in depth discussion about techniques, mindset, and training.
You’re surrounded by like minded individuals that have similar goals and can help motivate you.
You also become more accountable in your training. So if you’re slacking off or taking too much time off. You have someone that can and will call you out on it.
I won’t lie and say that this is always the most fun or inviting environment.
It’s not.
But if you have dreams of reaching a new level in your Jiu Jitsu and doing well nationally or internationally. It makes a big difference training at a high level academy versus a lesser skilled academy.
2 Knowledgeable instructors
High level academies tend to have very knowledgeable instructors.
As important as it is to have good training partners. Having the right instructor(s) is the cornerstone of a great competitor and on the larger scale, a competitive academy.
Examples such as Fernando Terere and the offshoots of the old TT academy such as cobrinha, Andre Galvao, Lucas Lepri, and Michael Langhi.
We see this even more recently with Romulo Barral and his students Edwin Najimi and Gabriel Arges.
Great instructors make great students.
It’s no wonder that the top academies tend to stay on top for years. They are able to take students with potential and mold them in to champions.
Your instructor influences everything from developing your foundational knowledge as an athlete to helping you overcome the highs and lows of our sport.
High level academies are able to develop inhouse or attract many of the best instructors because of their great training environment.
I’ve written about this before, but if you’re a lower belt and you are beating the majority of your training partners (and even the instructor) then there is a good chance that academy might not be the best place for you to pursue a competive career.
I know this advice sounds harsh and it is.
3 Competitive environment
Combine high level training partners with really great instructors and you get the perfect competitive environment.
It’s hard to explain if you haven’t had the chance to experience it yet. The feeling of training hard everyday and knowing that your training is often harder than the actual competition.
The feeling of having close teammates doing well in big tournaments and having the confidence that you will do well too.
Or being able to get an invite to an exclusive tournament, or increased exposure on social media and Jiu Jitsu news sites because you train with so and so.
There are so many benefits to training at a high level academy that it’s not possible for me to list them all.
If you have plans of competing in Jiu Jitsu and want to do well at the bigest tournaments. Then training at a high level academy or moving to one could be the deciding factor.
Over the years I have met many talented grapplers. They had all the attributes of a great competitor but without the proper training environment to help you develop and grow. That potential can easily be wasted or not fully tapped into.