Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu @ ATOS San Diego, CA

The ATOS Experience

On Friday, December 3rd, 2017, after having lived in California for less than 3 months I said enough! It was time to head down to San Diego to the widely known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training facility, ATOS.

The day could have not been any more perfect. It was a sunny yet cool morning in So-Cal. Fundamentals Gi class started at 09:00. Since it was my first time, I figured it was better to arrive slightly earlier since you have to fill out a waiver and answer a few of the regular questions people ask when you are visiting their BJJ gym; Where do you come from? What belt are you? How long you in town for? etc.

Upon entering, you can usually get a vibe right off the bat for the place and what to expect. Everything looked clean and well kept. Moreover, the guy at the front desk was really friendly and welcoming - so far so good. The class pass is $50 and the daily pass is $60. I don't know about you guys but unless you can only do one class, for whatever reason, the daily pass is much more worth it because if you attend every class, at least on Friday, you per class cost will be $20 (Fundamentals Gi at 09:00, Nogi at 10:45 and Fundamentals Gi at 18:00). 

Front Desk

Main Training Area

The Fundaments Gi at 09:00 was run by Michael Liera, Jr. I met Liera back around 2015 when he gave a seminar at Gracie Barra Jacksonville, FL. I took him and his girl, at the time, under my wing for a week and housed him during his stay in Jacksonville. I got to pick his brain about techniques, competition, struggles, etc. After that, I would see him in tournaments like the Pan-Ams or the IBJJ Atlanta Open and tell him that I would come down to San Diego and train with him and the ATOS crew. He would shake his head saying" yeah, yeah..." so I don't think he actually believed me until he walked into the ATOS changing room and I was putting on my Gi. Liera showed a couple of techniques from the Butterfly guard, one in particular that I found very useful and powerful if done correctly. In this technique, as the opponent grabs your pants from the top position, you cup the triceps from the arm they are using to grip your pants with both hands and try to force yourself up (but not really). Once you get your butt off the mat, you push yourself back using your heels, almost like you are doing the leg extension work from a rowing machine workout (that's how Liera explained and it made sense). Once you have around 3-4ft of space in between you and your opponent, drag the arm you are controlling to the opposite side and you get a clean back take from it. It's hard to explain in words so if you guys have the budget, check out ATOS online subscription, which runs at $25/month.

Michael Liera, Jr.

Something I have found in particular to be a detriment to students' progress, especially newcomers, is not having enough time to drill the technique; whether it is because class started late and there is an obvious time constraint the instructor needs to adhere to or worse, trying to shove in too many techniques at once. How many techniques are too many techniques? Well, that is subjective but a healthy benchmark per class I would say its 2-3. Liera only covered 2 techniques and gave plenty of time for us to work on the technique. Before hitting the next technique, he asked if someone had any questions about the one he just showed; a few people raised their hand, questions were answered and the next technique was taught.

After Technique, it is R-O-L-L-I-N-G time. Something I loved, and I was a big advocate of when I coached in Gracie Barra Jacksonville was short rest in between rounds. We did 5 rounds for 5 minutes with 45-second rest; just enough rest to tie your belt and deeply exhale a few times. All the guys are in great shape and there are no easy matches. One particular roll stood out to me and that was against the stud, Andris Brunovskis. As soon as that timer started it was complete domination from his part and complete impotence from mine. After getting his grips and snatching me down a few times, he pulled guard straight to a sweep and within a blink, I found myself levitating over the ATOS training area with no available limb to post or break fall - ouch! From there on I felt pretty much like a white belt. Andris guard passing is so intense and non-stop that everything I did was a few seconds too slow. I asked Andris after if he ever stopped to catch his breath while he passes guard and his response was, "I only rest when I'm playing worm guard"; seriously though guys, I wish I could have recorded the intensity Andris uses to pass guard. Afterwards, I picked his brain and was very grateful that he had a few minutes after class to answer my questions about several things, including his guard passing.

Andris Brunovskis

I wasn't the only student that stayed after class trying to get better; several other students did as well, I would say about half of the class (8-10 students). These students are the ones that always seem to be ahead of the rest. Why? It's simple, there is no better way to make progress than to get in as much mat time as you can; however, there are always extra things you can do that compound after doing them consistently for an extended period of time; such as: staying after class to tune technique details, taking notes, picking brains and oh yea, ask lots of questions.

After Fundamentals Gi class, which ends at 10:30, then comes NoGi at 10:45. I don't want to spoil it too much, but if you are looking for a mental and physical challenge, make sure you attend this class and do exactly what the instructor, on this particular day was Fred Leavy, tells you to. You'll probably hit mental and physical exhaustion several times, but the team atmosphere will give you that extra boost to push right through it.

To sum it all up, If it's within your budget and you are in the San Diego area, and you are serious about training, make sure you check out ATOS - it would refresh your training and attitude so you can hit it hard at your own Martial Arts gym, in my case, that is Gracie Barra Costa Mesa.

Thank Y'all for taking the time to read this post and hope you got something useful out of it. If you did find something useful and you think other people can benefit from it, please share the post with them or leave comments below on what your thoughts are - I promise I won't leave you hanging!

Oss