Are there any Brazilian instructors that have created a system/philosophy/curriculum of teaching BJJ similar to American instructors like Matt Thorton, Lloyd Irving, Eddie Bravo, Michael Jen, ect.?
no. none that i know of.
that is a huge negative. yes, there are those that would say, "go w/ the flow, you will know when you are ready!"
i get it. and it works for sure, but some people just don't work like that. they need a set of rules and guidelines and something to shoot for. that's how they work.
i'm type b, i go fine w/ either method, but type a people go nuts.
Dave Camarillo's Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu, and more judo/sambo but Gokor Combat System also comes to mind. Some of the more "old school" academies I'm sure have a big emphasis on self-defense or stripe requirement before newer students get promotoed or have access to "advanced" classes.
If Im not mistaken, I think Pedro Sauer has something like that. I might be wrong, though.
More are doing it than you probably realize but mainly the instructors keep it to themselves and it isn't an advertised thing where you check out what you missed when you miss a couple days.
Isn't a set curriculum what Gracie Torrance is all about?
Also, I've heard that some Gracie Barra affiliates have a poster or something that charts X number of classes or whatever until your next belt.
^^^I agree.
Sylvio Behring has developed what he calls the "Progressive System". It is a series of techniques for the guard, passing the guard, and inside the guard. It forms a core part of the white -> blue promotions in his schools.
Wrapper - Sylvio Behring has developed what he calls the "Progressive System". It is a series of techniques for the guard, passing the guard, and inside the guard. It forms a core part of the white -> blue promotions in his schools.
lurker alert.
Flavio Almeida has a curriculum for Gracie Barra I believe. It's part of their DVD marketing system and franchise deal.
Gracie Torrance is still the leaders in the curriculum department. imo.
Empire is correct!! The mindset of:
"go w/ the flow, you will know when you are ready"
Will do very little for recruitment and definately less for retention.
Knowledge of a curriculum is the most important thing for new students. Im pretty sure most schools would not shy away from getting new students. Schools who are promoting based on tournament activity od other criteria do so simply because they lack a curriculum. As they say they are really "missing the boat".
The Gracie Academy continues to lead the way with their curriculum!!
Actually I think quite a few Brazilian instructors have created and developed curriculums and systems for Bjj.
I know Mansur, one of Helio's students, developed a curriculum. Slyvio Behring, as already stated, also developed a curriculum for his students.
I know many Brazilian instructors, particularly the older ones, have college degrees in Physical Education and have used that experience and knowledge to develop methods and curriculums for teaching Bjj.
In my personal opinion it seems much of the sound and scientific methods of learning and teaching Bjj is deeply embedded in the art itself. There is so much about learning Bjj that is intuitive. I think much of it is taken for granted by some of the Brazilian instructors which is why it is not "spelled" out for some of those students who seem to "need" it.
No offense to Empire but I don't think most of the Brazilian instructors thought Bjj to be that complex or comlicated that it needed to be reduce to "easy to follow" curriculums.
If young children can learn Bjj than adults shouldn't have that much of a problem. I personally feel many adults "make" Bjj and similar physical activities more complicated than they are or need to be. For some reason adults don't seem to "trust" the natural learning process and, to make things worse, seem to be in too much of a hurry to learning, understand and master everything.
Gracie Barra has a 16-week fundamentals curriculum that repeats after the 16th week is completed. It preps beginning students for the advanced classes. The DVDs of both fundamental and advanced curriculums were put out to supplement what is taught in class.
as far as orudis's comment, the card they issue each student is used to track class attendance and progress.
Ha! Didn't realize I had registered almost a year ago. First time poster, long time reader...
m.g - No offense to Empire but I don't think most of the Brazilian instructors thought Bjj to be that complex or comlicated that it needed to be reduce to "easy to follow" curriculums.
no offense taken. i was just pointing out my experiences over the last 10+ years.
i like either approach. there's a definite plus though to having a gameplan versus just winging it. granted, it is simple enough provided the instructor showed you enough to wing it correctly.