Gracie Barra America

GBA well deserved Promotions

The good training is non stop at GB America. We keep track of each and single one of our students’s attendance and progress on daily basis helping our students on their journey towards the Black Belt.

We hope all of our students understand how our curriculum, programs and attendance card work. These tools were designed by Master Carlos Gracie Jr. over the years to help Gracie Barra students to achieve their learning goals.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask any of the Professors and or Instructors during class. If you prefer you can always email our Head Instructor Professor Marcio Feitosa at feitosagb@graciebarra.com.

We are proud to see everyone training hard, improving skills and gaining understanding of our Art. Our School is not ego orientated and we are not concerned with success at competition and establishing superiority over others.

Remember: “If you must compare yourself to someone…compare yourself to yourself yesterday”.

To see pictures from our latest well deserved promotions: CLICK HERE!

Gracie Barra America: Keeping the legacy alive!

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Hello Dear Gracie Barra Students,

Today the “B in BJJ” will bring you a little bit of information about Brazilian Music.

There are a lot of different styles of music in Brazil; some examples are Samba, Pagode, Sertaneja, Forro, Olodum, Rock Brasileiro, Bossa Nova, among others. I will talk about many of these styles in the future. But the one I would like to talk about today is a style called “Musica Popular Brasileira” or MPB (Brazilian Popular Music).

It is quite an interesting challenge when I try to explain MPB to non-Brazilians. “What exactly is Brazilian Popular Music?” I ask myself. How do I define something that is a feeling, an experience, something that can only be understood through sound and emotion?

In Brazil, MPB is a household acronym that needs no explanation. To ask a Brazilian “What is MPB?” would be like asking him or her “What is samba?” MPB includes any Brazilian music not categorized as classical, which is to say, all non-classical music ever created since the discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral in April of 1500.

Brazilian music is founded upon the syncretism of European, African, and Indigenous Amerindian musical traditions—all of which contribute to its uniqueness.

The Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa (Houaiss Dictionary of the Portuguese Language) defines “popular music” as “urban music of an oral tradition, the authors of which are usually known” (2001).

This definition implies that popular music is only urban, although it is well documented that MPB arose and evolved in urban as well as rural settings. It also suggests that popular music does not include folkloric music, a genre in which many songs are anonymous.

The term MPB came into general use around 1965, when amazing singers and composers such as Chico Buarque, Tom Jobim e Elis Regina came onto the music scene. Each of these singers reflected their generation in their own way with songs that touched a nation with love, beauty, poetry—and that often also protested against the government and social inequality.

Here is a video of Tom Jobim and Elis Regina singing “Aguas de Marco” (Waters of March), a video of Chico Buarque singing “O Meu Amor” and also one of my favorites, Djavan singing “Sina”.

I hope that you guys enjoy the music and if you are interested in searching more MPB artists here is a list of some of the best ones:

-Tom Jobim

- Elis Regina

- Chico Buarque

- Caetano Veloso

- Gilberto Gil

- Gal Costa

- Toquinho

- Milton Nascimento

- Djavan

- Maria Bethania

Thank you,

-The Gracie Barra Team-

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Renato “Babalu” Sobral’s seminar at Gracie Barra Garden Grove

On Thursday, August 28th, Renato “Babalu” Sobral will be conducting a 2 hour MMA seminar at the Gracie Barra Garden Grove School.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn from one of the World’s best MMA fighters. 

This seminar is open to everyone.  The seminar is limited to the first 50 participants. 

For more information on reserving your spot, contact Gracie Barra Garden Grove at (714) 897-5425

GBA Women’s Program

We have launched the GBA Women’s Program and our 3 Times Female Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Ana Laura Cordeiro is doing a great job in teaching the girls. Our next chalenge is on getting more girls to know what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is about and all the benefits they will enjoy from training in our School.

So lets go ahead and share with the girls we know what our experience was like when we started in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. All we need to do, is let them know that by coming to our School they will learn a pratical Martial Art in a phenomenal community, get fit, make new friends and have fun to.

Food for thoughts

A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a foot step.

Reminders:

Our No-Gi Classes are happening on Mondays 8 pm and Fridays 6 pm. 
Private classes available virtually during anytime of the day and for all levels.

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GB America latest well deserved promotions

To see pictures from our latest well deserved promotions: CLICK HERE!

Cool picture from the GBA Little Champs being promoted.

Gracie Barra America: Keeping the legacy Alive.

Reminder:

Our No-Gi Classes are happening on Mondays 8 pm and Fridays 6 pm. 
Private classes available virtually during anytime of the day.

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Some cool changes on the GBA Black Blet program

We were having a lot of No-Gi BJJ training on our Black Belt Program for the last 4 weeks, we did it because we were preparing for the No-Gi Worlds 2008 that happened last weekend. Our Team had a great performance on the No-Gi Worlds 2008, we brought home lots of medals and we had so much fun on the two days of competition.

Soon we will post all the pics and more info about the competition, for now make sure to give a big hug and congratulate our Dear Elias, he fought with all his heart 8 TIMES (he could barely walk at the end of the last fight) and won the gold medal at the tough open division for the Blue Belts.

It is time now for us to start preparing for the Nationals 2008 that will take place September 20th and 21st 2008, in Carson, California, CA. The tournament will have both Gi and No-Gi competition, for that reason we will have to balance well our classes and preparation between the two styles.

Here are the changes to take place today for us to be ready for the Nationals:

Mondays and Wednesdays at 12pm - Gi BJJ Class
Mondays 8 pm - No Gi BJJ Class

All the other classes will stay the same.

See you on the mats!

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No-Gi Worlds up to date info 

Today during the no-to worlds, we will be doing our best to share with you the most up to date information and photos. 

We will showcase the brown and black belt finals and we plan to talk to as many people as possible. Tune in to www.graciebarrapodcast.com as often as possible.

Have fun!

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No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu World Championship

One more big Jiu-Jitsu event approaches. On the 9th and 10th of August the 2nd No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu World Championship will be held, and the stage will again be the California State University Dominguez Hills gymnasium.

Many Gracie Barra competitors, instructors and friends are in town already for the competition. We had a great time on the mats with some of them visiting and training at the School last few days.

Here are a few pics from some of our dear guests:

Resting after the competition training session.

Professor Gregor Gracie.

Professor Roberto Tuca.

Professor Samuel.

One more win for the Team

Last weekend Professor Ricardo Guimaraes from the Gracie Barra Temecula School took the first place by teams at the South Bay Open Tournament for kids.

Congrats for the great job Professor Ricardo and GB Temecula Kids!

Here is Professor Ricardo and a GB Temecula Champ.

Here is a GB Temecula Champ after a hard day of work.

Gracie Barra: Keeping the legacy alive!

Gracie Barra Podcast

Have you listen to the Gracie Barra cool podcasts?

To listen: CLICK HERE!

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First GBA Women’s class was outstanding

GBA mats were packed with girls training hard and having fun on the 60 minutes fundamentals class. Instructors Ana Laura and Vivi started with a warm-up followed by a front choke scape technique, after that they went for the ground-fighting to show the girls how to protect themselves from the bottom position, applying the arm lock and the triangle choke.

We would like to congratulate Instructor Ana Laura Cordeiro and Assistent Instructor Viviane Feitosa for the great job they are doing on the GBA Women’s program.

Big thanks for the San Clemente students for coming in to support our program.

The next women’s class will be tomorrow ( August 6th ). To see our summer schedule of classes: CLICK HERE!

Good job girls…keep training hard!

To see more pics from the GBA Women’s program: CLICK HERE!

Gracie Barra America: Keeping the legacy alive!

Welcome to the “The B in BJJ”

Twice a month we will bring to you this bulletin rich on information about Brazil. Always something cool related to the Country, the culture, music, people, art, sport, culinary and more.
The “B in BJJ” has the goal of getting Brazil a little bit closer for all of us, and to share the love for this country that we all have with our special students here overseas. It should be interest and fun to know more about the place where the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu comes from, to understand more about the Brazilian Culture and certainly it will help you on your journey for the ultimate dream of a black belt on this art.

Have fun and enjoy your trip!

I would like to quickly introduce Brazil;

Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,491 kilometers (4,655 mi). Providing a lot of great places for surfing.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. This is the reason why Portuguese is the official language in Brazil.

Brazil is the world’s tenth largest economy at market exchange rates and the ninth largest in purchasing power.

Brazil is also home to a diversity of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.

The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities. The Capital of Brazil it is “Brasilia” located on the Central-West region and it was build 48 years ago just to be the capital. Brazilia was plained by Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. It is a beautiful place and the city is shaped like a airplane.

Congress Building

The largest city is Sao Paulo with 11 million people, it is a great place to visit with everything that a big city can offer, including museums, parks, clubs, business, restaurants, etc. Sao Paulo never sleeps, it is a 24hs city.

The second largest city and the most famous one it is Rio de Janeiro (”River of January”) with 6 millions people. Very famous for its natural beauty the city has a nickname; A Cidade Maravilhosa — “The Marvelous City.” It is famous for its natural settings, its Carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana and Ipanema. Some of the most famous local landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer (’Cristo Redentor’) atop Corcovado mountain, which has recently been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival; and Maracanã stadium, one of the world’s largest football stadiums.

New Year 2007

It was in Rio de Janeiro where Jiu Jitsu start to became really big with the great work of the Gracie Family. And specifically in Barra da Tijuca which is a administrative region located in Western Zone (Zona Oeste) of the capital city of Rio de Janeiro. Its beach is 18 km long.
Barra is well known for American influences in its style of life, and is commonly seem like Miami Beach. It is in Barra da Tijuca where our Head Quarter is located. When Master Carlos Gracie Junior opened his first school, first well know as the “Gracies from Barra” and later “Gracie Barra”.

Now please, take a look on this great website called BR 360, You will find a interest 360 view of some of the famous places in Sao Paulo. http://www.br360.com.br/

I hope that you liked the first edition of “B in BJJ” and bi-monthly you will have always something cool about the Brazilian Culture.

Cheers!

-GB San Clemente Team-

Thank you Professor Flavio for that great initiative!

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 Professor Phillipe wins in Chicago

Professor Phillipe Della Monica stayed in Chicago for couple weeks: competing, training and teaching at the Gracie Barra Countryside School.

Here are couple pictures from Phillipe participating on a local tournament in Chicago and winning the first place at the Black Belt light weight division.

Congrats Professor! Keep training hard and good luck on the No-Gi Worlds 2008.

Professor Babalu wins at the “Affliction Banned”

We would like to congratulate our Dear Professor Renato “Babalu” Sobral for his outstanding performance on the fight against Mike Whitehead.

“Babalu” won by unanimous decision. It was very cool to see ”Babalu” using some good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on the ground and aplying couple nice guillotine chokes  and dangerous omoplattas that almost finished the fight.

Congrats “Babalu”! Stay on the path.

Well deserved promotions

To see the GB America latest well deserved promotions: CLICK HERE!

New DVDs on the GB Virtual Store

Cool DVDs like the 2008 Pan Jiu Jitsu championships featuring some of the biggest names in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competing in the 2nd largest Jiu Jitsu tournament outside of Brazil are available on the GB Virtual Store.

To see the DVDs available: CLICK HERE!

Reminders

- Women’s program starts August 4th. Your loved ones are very welcome to come in and try a free class.
- Gracie Barra Gis with 50% discount when you bring your old Gi in. For more info talk to our Dear Avi Rubin.
-Black Blet Private Classes available during any time of the day and for all levels. Please ask our Dear Elias or one of the Professors for more details.
-No-Gi Worlds 2008 Championship coming up August 9th and 10th.
-New fans for the upstairs mats were installed. Feels much coller during classes.

Gracie Barra America: Organized like a team, fighting like a family!

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GB America student training in Brazil

Our Dear Eugene Char is visiting Brazil and made sure to save some time on his trip for some good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training. Eugene is taking classes at one of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Schools out there “Gracie Barra Recife” under the guidance of the renowned Professor Ze Radiola.

Here is a portion from the nice email we got from Eugene:
 
“I just wanted to give you an update on my trip here to Recife. The GB Recife team is simply awesome! Professor Ze Radiola and Otavio Sousa are the nicest guys. I’ve been training with the guys on the competition team and they have been warm and hospitable. I’ve made some really good friends here and I’m looking forward to meeting with them again when they come to our Irvine school for the big competitions. Ze tells me that he will be visiting our school next month!
…
I’ve been learning all kinds of neat things here and I’ll miss everyone when it’s time to leave. I only wish I could stay longer.
…
I’d like for more Americans to know about the school here in Recife since most do not know of any other places in Brazil besides Rio and Sao Paulo. 

Eugene thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Come back safe!

Here are couple pictures of Eugene having a blast in Brazil:
 

Construction

Our sign is up in the roof but it is not finished yet. When the sign is finished it will have lights on each letter making it very visible at night time from the 5 freeway. That visibility should help bringing in more people to enjoy our BJJ Lifestyle and to help the growth of our School. This past week we also got more lights and new fans for the downstairs mat area. The next steps in improving our new facility will be:

1 -More lights and fans for the upstairs mat area.
2 -Build the GB Pro Shop store.
3 -Finish the main entrance floor.
4 -Shelves and hangers for the changing rooms.

There are many other net improvements about to take place at our School. We must never stop striving to improve! We will keep you guys informed as this things happen.

Reminders

Women’s program starts August 4th. Your loved ones are very welcome to come in and try out couple lessons.
- Gracie Barra Gis with 50% discount when you bring your old Gi in. For more info talk to our Dear Avi Rubin.
-Black Blet Private Classes available during any time of the day and for all levels. Please ask our Dear Elias for more details.
-No-Gi Worlds 2008 Championship coming up August 9th and 10th.
Gracie Barra America: Organized like a team, fighting like a family!

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