The Gracie experience?

Question

I have a Royce Gracie training center near where I live and was wondering if anyone had some experience training at one of their sites. I have never had any martial arts training and am considering it now in my mid 30's as a hobby and way to stay in shape. Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Answer 1

As a hobby it may be fun, but they are not very honest about their history, or present.It's a con game. If there is sambo or Judo around and you don't want to do it for self defense I would recommend going elsewhere. The Gracie schools do not allow for independent thought.

Answer 2

I believe the best way to find a good school is see which wins in tournaments. Gracie schools will always be good.

Answer 3

While I never officially trained in Gracie's school (they're expensive) I had experience training with their students and visiting their schools.

Yes, they're a very good school with great instructor when it comes to Brazilian Jujitsu.

If you have lots of money and the school is near where you live, then by all means do take the class.

If money is a consideration factor, I would say go with a smaller school, lots of grappling school out there that charge less. If you have no Martial Art training before, you won't get much more from training in expensive schools.

Most of the biggest reason why people are willing to pay lots of money to train in big name school is a chance to spar with the best in that field. The basic will be the same, so is the training.

If you just start out, training in a gracie school won't make you better faster.

And yes, like the answerer above said, Gracie do hype up their name and doctrinate their students that their style is the best and all that. They're good at marketing and very successful in doing that.

But like I said, if money is not an issue and the location is great for you, Gracie school do have good instructors for grappling art.