0. Meet the Instructor and Sign a Waiver

Before class starts, you’ll want to meet with the instructor. He can tell you about the school and answer any questions. If you want to join the class, you’ll need to fill out a waiver and you be lent a gi and shown how to tie a belt.

1. Line Up and Bow In

The instructor will call everyone on to the mats to line up by belt rank and experience level. He’ll make any announcements then everyone bows to start class and warm-ups.

2. Warm-Ups and Conditioning

To prevent injury and build endurance, the class will do warm-ups that usually consist of running, push ups, sit ups, body weight exercises and BJJ-specific movements like breakfalls and shrimping. You’ll have a minute to get a drink then get back on the mats before the next part of class.

3. Instruction, Demonstration and Drilling of Techniques

Each night you’ll learn 3-4 related techniques from standing and on the ground (e.g. defending a standing headlock and three ways to escape a headlock on the ground that work in combination). Students will line up around the instructor as he demonstrates and explains a technique and answers questions. You’ll pair up with a training partner and drill the technique. The instructor will go around and fix any mistakes and tell you when to switch and let the other person drill. After drilling, you’ll have a chance to get another sip of water.

4. Live Positional Sparring

The instructor will arrange the students for a group drill. People will be told to hold certain positions on each other and be given goals. For example, you may be told to lay down and have someone pin you. Your goal is to escape using the techniques you learned that night; their goal is to stop you while trying to improve their position and get armlocks and chokes. If either of you succeed, you go back to the starting position and try again. The instructor will be running a timer and telling people when to switch and who to partner with so everyone has a chance to do both sides of the drill. (In advanced classes this positional sparring is followed by free sparring.)

5. Line up and Bow Out

When live drilling ends, the class lines up one more time and the instructor will make any more announcements and award promotions, then you bow out and shake hands with your training partners.

6. Sign Up for Membership

If you enjoyed class and want to join Gracie Barra Clearwater, now is the time to talk to instructor again and get the paperwork filled out to enroll in classes.

Still have concerns?

Contact us with any questions you have about Gracie Barra Clearwater or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

At the heart of the Gracie Barra Family’s extraordinary success over the years is our strong philosophy and mission as a group, a foundation which our masters laid many years ago, but is constantly made stronger by all of the great people involved in our community.

Jiu-Jitsu is a beautiful art, and we have a vision of how it should be taught, as well as how our community should work together for common, powerful, and positive goals. To achieve this vision, we must remember to come together as a family, always putting the team in frong of oneself. For that, we will fight to the end for what we believe is right.

—By Master Carlos Gracie Jr and Professor Marcio Feitosa

The History of Gracie Barra

Professor Carlos Gracie Jr. is the founder and head instructor of the Gracie Barra Academy, the largest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in the world, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The son of Carlos Gracie, the pioneer of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Gracie Jr., has produced well over 200 black belts in his tenure, which today includes numerous world class instructors and athletes.

At the heart of the Gracie Barra mission statement is the goal of training both the body and spirit, going beyond the ‘winning-losing’ or ‘contest’ philosophy present in other martial arts. Instead, Professor Carlos Gracie Jr. emphasizes the fundamental principle of Jiu-Jitsu: “Minimum effort for maximum efficiency,” a method of utilizing strength through gentleness, an expression exemplifying both the mental and physical aspects of Jiu-Jitsu. In Professor Carlos’ mind, Jiu-Jitsu was in fact a method of education, which could be used to foster one’s personal development. Professor Carlos considered the goals of Jiu-Jitsu to revolve around three aspects: physical education, personal achievement, and ethical growth. In other words, through the practice of Jiu-Jitsu, one would complete their personal development through the training of body and mind, becoming a person better able to contribute to society and the world. Recognizing the never-ending quest for self-perfection, even today Professor Carlos continues to study these techniques and principles with his students. The constant development of techniques demonstrates Professor Carlos’ adherence to these principles, continuously striving for further progress and knowledge.

In spreading the values of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Professor Carlos is also the head of the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) the largest international organization for overseeing the growth of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The IBJJF is the organizer of the largest competition tournaments in the world including the World Championships of Jiu-Jitsu (“Mundials”), held in Rio every July, the Pan-American Championships held in Dominguez Hills, California, the European Championships held in Portugal, also held annually. This year also marks the first Asian Championships to be held in Japan

In the last days of the 19th century, some Jiu-Jitsu masters emigrated from Japan to other continents, teaching the martial arts, as well as competing in fights and competitions. Esai Maeda Koma, also known as “Conde Koma,” was one such master. After traveling with a troupe which fought in various countries in Europe and the Americas, Koma arrived in Brazil in 1915, and settled in Belem do Para the next year, where he met a man named Gastao Gracie. The father of eight children,among them five boys and three girls, Gastao became a Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast and brought his oldest son, Carlos, to learn to fight from the Japanese master.

For a naturally frail fifteen-year old Carlos Gracie, Jiu-Jitsu became a method not simply for fighting, but for personal improvement. At nineteen, he moved to Rio de Janeiro with his family and began teaching and competing in the martial arts. In his travels, Carlos would teach classes, and also proved the efficiency of the art by beating adversaries in competitions who were more physically strong. In 1925, he returned to Rio and opened the first school, known as the “Academia Gracie de Jiu Jitsu.” Since then, Carlos started to share his knowledge to his brothers, adapting and refining the techniques to the naturally weaker characteristics of his family. Also, Carlos taught them his philosophies of life as well as his concepts of natural nutrition. Eventually, Carlos became a pioneer in creating a special diet for athletes, “the Gracie diet,” which transformed Jiu-Jitsu into a term synonymous with health. Having created an efficient self defense system, Carlos Gracie saw in the art a way to become a man who was more tolerant, respectful, and self-confident. With a goal of proving Jiu-Jitsu’s superiority as well as to build a family tradition, Carlos challenged the greatest fighters of his time, as well as managing the fighting careers of his brothers. Fighting opponents fifty or sixty pounds heavier, the Gracies quickly gained recognition and prestige.

Attracted to the new market which was opened around Jiu-Jitsu, many Japanese practitioners came to Rio, but none were able to establish schools as successful as the Gracies. This was due to the fact that the Japanese stylists were more focused on takedowns and throws, and the Jiu-Jitsu the Gracies practiced had more sophisticated ground fighting and submission techniques. Carlos and his brothers changed the techniques in such a way that it completely altered the complexion of the international Jiu-Jitsu principles. These techniques were so distinctive to Carlos and his brothers that the sport became attached to a national identity, and is now commonly known as “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,” practiced by martial artists all over the world, including Japan.

With the creation of a official body overseeing the administration of the sport, the rules and the ranking system started the era of sport Jiu-Jitsu competitions. Today, Jiu-Jitsu is much more organized, with an International and National Federation, founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. Through his work with the Confederation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Carlos Gracie Jr. contributed to the growth of the sport by holding some of the first organized competitions. Currently, the Confederation holds competitions in Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Asia, realizing Carlos’ original dream to spread Jiu-Jitsu around the world.

—By Steve “Sakuriba” Kim

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy

The application of traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu transcends the practice of chokes, joint locks immobilizations, throws and strikes. A true Gracie philosophy prepares men, women and children for life, showing them paths to a healthier life and the most effective use of physical, mental and spiritual strength. Eating well is Jiu-Jitsu, taking care of your body is Jiu-Jitsu, saying no to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs is Jiu-Jitsu, as well as keeping a close bond with relatives and friends. This philosophy, which can be called a “way of life”, has been propagated by Grand Masters Carlos and Helio Gracie for almost a century.