Training with Rigan Machado

[gzk]

At our school we were lucky enough to have Rigan Machado run classes for a week. Unfortunately I missed the Monday classes due to a cold but Wednesday's were pretty cool. He showed us a few finer points of the cross-lapel choke which should come in handy. What I will never forget though is doing 720 grip exercises (clenching and unclenching fist) with arms extended in front of my body. You need a good grip for chokes I also took the beginners' class and we did loads and loads of armbars, from mount and guard. With Rigan, I certainly learned the value of paying full attention, as he doesn't repeat instructions much (unlike our regular instructors - not that i don't pay attention to them!). He's a great guy and a great instructor and hopefully he will be back.

To top it all off he presented our Monday BJJ instructor with his black belt and he also presented a purple belt to one of our blues who had just won the Mundials.

[ps1]

That's Awesome!!! Sounds like fun. I love the Machado Brothers. If I'm ever on the west coast, I will surely look them up.

[bushido_man96]

That sounds like a great training opportunity. That is great. We don't get many opportunities like that through my area.

[ps1]

That sounds like a great training opportunity. That is great. We don't get many opportunities like that through my area.

Bushido,

You could always affiliate with one of the great instructors out there. Then you could bring them in once or twice a year and practice their stuff between that time.

As far as who to go with... it's hard to mess up. Machado, Gracie, Sauer, Ribeiro, Maguilla ect... Just do some research. Some are pricier than others. It's worth while and most will be happy to come to schools that are primarily Karate schools.

If something like that were to interest you...

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the info, ps1. That is quite intriguing. After I get tested for my next rank, I could look into something like this. If I could generate enough interest in my school, perhaps I could get the cost covered. I didn't know that those instructors were interested in doing that.

There is an NCAA Division II college here in town that I attended for quite some time, and they have a good Wrestling program. I have been tempted to inquire about some kind of training with the team or something. Conveniently, the coach lives just 2 houses over from me.

[gzk]

You can get a surprisingly high return in terms of skill acquired from those sessions too. One night we had a Kempo black belt whose dojo hosts grappling seminars from our head instructor every few months come to training and he did pretty well. Obviously it's not the same as regular classes, but definitely worth it.

[NightOwl]

Sounds like it was a wonderful experience! It was also cool that he ended up handing out the belts (congrats to your instructor on his black).