Originally Posted by
Tyler Woolsey
I had the most amazing training experience of my life over the summer. I only had a two week break from school between the end of summer term and the beginning of fall term but it was spent the best way possible. My parents sent me to Rochester, NY for 10 days for the East Coast Training Camp 3 and training at 10th Planet JJ Rochester/Empire Academy! My parents are the greatest and I can't thank them enough for sending me on this trip of a lifetime! I'm also very grateful to Chris Herzog and his wife Kathy for allowing me to stay with them the entire time, because without their generosity this trip wouldn't have been possible.
I arrived in Roc on Aug. 15 and the good times began with the rubber guard club and advanced jiu jitsu followed by some great rolls that night! The camp was an incredible weekend full of knowledge and great times with all the fellow 10th Planet soldiers. I also had the incredible privilege of hanging out with Coach Herzog and Einstein the entire time which was beyond awesome. They were dropping knowledge the whole weekend and it was great to be involved in their conversations. The techniques we drilled at the seminar were excellent with sick throws, solid mount escapes, the always loved Russian Cowboy, and chokes chokes chokes. All areas of my game were improved over those three days and continue to improve as I drill these techniques.
After the training camp, I was able to experience a week in the life of Coach Herzog and take advantage of almost every class Empire Academy/10th Planet JJ Rochester/BANG Muay Thai Rochester has to offer. He is an extremely busy man with a perpetually full plate! Monday through Thursday follows a similar schedule with a 9-10 am jits or striking class, 12-1 pm jits or striking class, and classes from 4-9 at night including:junior jiu jitsu and striking, thai pad and circuit striking, all-level and advanced jiu jitsu. It was so amazing getting to train each day with such high level instruction from Coach Herzog and Coach Wally! All of the techniques were taught with the highest level of detail, making them truly game changing. The progression of the paths makes them powerfully effective and high percentage against any resistant opponent. After only this short visit I have countless hours of BANG Muay Thai techniques to drill along with a fortune of killer jiu jitsu techniques that have already caused me to totally revamp my jiu jitsu game. Every single roll was a technical war with one of Coach Herzog's certified assassins! I was forced to maintain constant awareness and implement strategy in order to survive or submit anyone. On Tuesday night I was honored to roll with Zog for 45 minutes of awesome destruction haha. I'm convinced he can do more with his feet/legs than most people can do with their entire bodies. We rolled for another 45 minutes on Thursday and it was equally outstanding. His fluidity between position and submissions and back again is insane. After the two 45 minutes sessions of dudas, armbars, triangles, and many other submissions, I learned some very important things and tightened up some big holes, especially after we discussed the rolls later on. Training with the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Rochester crew opened my eyes to new areas that I haven't given enough attention to and fueled my fire to put in more work than ever before.
The day before I flew back home was NAGA Albany so everyone drove up on Friday for weigh-ins and with all the awesome discussions and stories the 3.5 hour drive flew by. We had an interesting experience with the dumbest guy in the hotel business and then rested up for the tournament. The tournament was great and all the 10th Planet Rochester ninjas had awesome matches every time. I was disappointed I couldn't join them on the mats but I learned a lot from the team's wins and losses.
Aside from all of the martial arts knowledge, I learned many important lessons throughout the week on a range of topics from diet to women and psychology to philosophy. This trip was definitely one of the most educational weeks of my life! I really cannot thank Coach Herzog enough for everything he has done for me. I also want to thank Wally MacDonald, Scott Yokel, and all my friends and training partners at Empire Academy/10th Planet Rochester.
