I need some advice.

[JeffRace727]

Alright, so I'm an exclusively no-gi jiu jitsu guy. But I have no formal training just books/dvd's and on the job training. I'm trying my best to master the 10th planet system and I'm getting my reps in, tearing people apart with my rubber guard and my half guard is pretty solid now and all that. But I'm very limited as to whom I can train with in eastern upstate NY. There really is nothing going on up here for Jiu Jitsu, except this one place that is Gi mostly. The teacher is a Renzo Gracie AND Ricardo Almeida black belt and he is like a 10-0 MMA fighter. Should I break my 10th planet only mentally and train with this guy or should I keep on trucking along in the system? What I'm afraid of is that, by learning with the gi, whatever I learn from this guy would be for naught and it'd be a big waste of money and time cause I'm not learning what I've set out to learn.

[langara]

Train with him... Learning to work with the gi gave me so many more tools to throw into my no gi game. Also, you gotta roll with many other ppl in order to really learn anything

[Eric Martinez]

Don't limit yourself to 10th Planet only. You have to expand your game, by rolling and learning with others. The GI also helped out my nogi game as well. You want to be as complete of a jiu jitsu practitioner as possible. BASICALLY WHAT LANGARA SAID.

[JeffRace727]

I might have to take your advice guys, thank you. I found there website and it actually looks like they have a no-gi program on a couple days of the week. So I might do both gi and no-gi, to try to get that help you guys got using the gi as well. Hopefully I can teach a few things to these guys about the RG and what not. Who knows, maybe they'll even let me teach there if they like it.

[Harry Evans]

I strongly encourage you to train at that place. The gi will help you learn BJJ fundamentals, and I'm sure any Renzo student, Ricardo student, or MMA fighter will answer whenever you ask "how do I do this move without a gi?" I suggest you check out the comments from Eddie and the other strong fighters from a recent thread of mine entitled "Do TPJJ Guys Make the Same Mistakes..."

[Ryan34]

Take the opportunity Jeff. Renzo is a great teacher of jiu jitsu and you will learn a lot from him. Also both Renzo and Ricardo are experienced in MMA so they can work no-gi with you too. Good luck.

[JeffRace727]

I strongly encourage you to train at that place. The gi will help you learn BJJ fundamentals, and I'm sure any Renzo student, Ricardo student, or MMA fighter will answer whenever you ask "how do I do this move without a gi?" I suggest you check out the comments from Eddie and the other strong fighters from a recent thread of mine entitled "Do TPJJ Guys Make the Same Mistakes..."

I will do that, and thanks guys for the advice.

[JeffRace727]

Here's the real reason why you should train there: you are currently training by yourself. Having regular training partners that have a good coach will help you improve faster. Gi doesn't necessarily make you better at no-gi...

I'm not training by myself, I learn by myself. I know the basics from what I've been told. Since I rolled with a guy who trained with BJ penn, quite often last year. I picked up on a lot of stuff and I'm constantly honing techniques and doing my reps on wreslters and other submission grapplers such as Army combatives trainee's and Sambo fighters. I don't think I've fought anyone really professional but I've worked with skilled guys and most of them outweigh me, some by 100 pounds. I don't want to blow smoke up my own ass but I'd say I'm doing good for a guy who has been doing this for just over a year. I've researched the Mastering the Rubber guard DVD's like a thousand times, took notes, and broke it down. And have always been on the lookout for new tricks, constantly working on whatever gaps I may have in my current game. But I'm glad to have you guys to ask for advice.

[Chris Herzog]

Jeff you can always make the occasional trek to Rochester, your not that far away. I have a number of student that drive over an hour to class, and some that drive up a few times a month at 2+hrs.

[JeffRace727]

Jeff you can always make the occasional trek to Rochester, your not that far away. I have a number of student that drive over an hour to class, and some that drive up a few times a month at 2+hrs.

I plan on doing that soon enough. I am directly on the border of Vermont, I can walk down the street and be in Vermont. It's a 5 hour drive, but I'm okay with that. I'm sure you guys would make it worth the while.