Road To Worlds: AOJ Training Report & Highlight

Headed up by legendary black belts Gui & Rafa Mendes, The Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy has been churning out some of the most talented up and coming colored belts in the world since they opened in 2012.  

The competition training sessions are notoriously challenging, and we saw nothing less when we dropped in to visit on our 2019 Road To Worlds tour.  The training notes below comprise a one-hour session that kicked off at 8:00am, though students were seen drilling at 7:00 am and also attended the 'standard' fundamentals class at 9:00a.  

Warmup

A light jog, some variations like skipping, shuffling.  Pretty standard didn’t last more than four minutes.

Passing Drill - Guard Counter

The class began in earnest with a passing drill that was based on countering a guard pull. Reps were exchanged 1x1, each athlete switching positions after each repetition. Rounds lasted 2 minutes. 

 Passing Drill - Finish With Submission

The same drill as before, except this time Professor Gui had the athletes add a submission to the end of their passing sequence.

Sparring - 2 Minute Rounds, 30 seconds rest.

What can’t be conveyed by the highlight video is the high intensity, high-frequency aspect of the training session. Athletes were expected to fight to their limits throughout every period. Gui deliberately paired mixed belt levels and weights, stating that for three minutes, despite any size or skill difference, anyone should be able to make themselves a tough role for their partner.  

Sparring - 3 Minute Rounds of Sparring, 30 seconds rest

Same as above, only one minute longer. Again, Gui was pushing the class, demanding they work to their limits.

Guard Retention Drill - 3 Minute Rounds

An athlete playing guard was instructed to not complete any sweeps or submissions: their mission was to retain guard (this doesn’t mean they are simply stalling though, students were also told to threaten attacks and sweeps to keep the passer off balance and uncomfortable.  

Speed Drills to End the Class

Perhaps as much of a mental exercise as it was physical, students were pushed through grueling speed drills at the very end of class; resting as not an option. All three movements can be seen in the video above.