There were two privates even before class, so I was really warmed up and ready. The class was awesome. The hip escape drill at the end of class - nice touch, huh? I know it was intense, but you all did a great job!!!

Would you travel 2295 miles for a Jiu-Jitsu class? You would if it's at Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Stamford! Big ups to Arturo for training hard at the MMA class and with me. Great work! And by the way, the coffee, candy and t-shirts are outstanding!!! Thank you very much!

Our Kids classes are getting better exponentially! The kids are learning at super fast speed and are really doing a great job. Congratulations to all of the students on a job well done!

The techniques are getting tougher and you guys are all responding. Daisuke and Carl from Renzo Gracie NYC were here training hard. Gino's classes are always great and today was no exception.

We've added a couple videos from Saturday's training and eight photos. Check them out on YouTube and Facebook!

Kinda like how Rudy (you know from Fat Albert) would say it - "You're like school on Sunday... No Class!". Instead now, there will no longer be class at 7:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Big ups to Chris from Cape Cod. Another great training and a Friday morning class. He'll be coming down more often to train with everybody!

Mario taught us all some really great moves at this Thursday's wrestling class at Renzo Gracie Academy in NYC. Remember, everybody is invited to go to NYC after the Tuesday & Thursday MMA class. It's a great way to spend the day... Training! Anyway, we all get a little rest on the train!

Get your gi looking fantastic with an authentic Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu patch! Come in to the academy to get yours!

However you phrase it, we did it today with an awesome drill. Check out our video on our YouTube channel! You guys are looking super relaxed and everybody is doing great!

No, not the band. The way we reward our students for hard work, determination and focus. Congrats to Matt and Nate!

The training was intense - and the soccer game in the middle was too! Jaxon, Hunter, Bayler, Austin, Jaggar, Chandra, Amari and Kevin - we are all so proud of the growth and learning! Everybody is doing a super job! And, we can't forget to send big thank you's to Nate and Chris for their Guest Professorship (is that a word?).

We will have a wrestling seminar very soon. Email me to sign up and for more information...

It's a song (sort of). Is it stuck in your head now? I'm sure it will be. Anyway, the day was very good to me. Hope you all enjoyed it too. Now, about this upcoming week. Monday I'll be showing a few positions that I've seen you guys trying - there are a few adjustments to get them right. On Tuesday, Danny, Terin and I wil be training wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu at Renzo's academy in Manhattan. Directly following the MMA training, we'll jump on the train. Everyone is invited... Check back for updates about the rest of the week.

Congratulations and Parabens to Vasiliy and Daniel for their respective promotions to Blue Belt. Way to go guys!!!

It was a bit of a surprise visit from the Master himself, Renzo Gracie. He is very excited about the academy and he spoke at length with us about his big plans for the academy, the seminars, the schedule and more. It was a really awesome way to spend the afternoon! Thanks, Renzo!

We had a great MMA class today. Thanks to all the students who came and trained hard. Also, a very special thanks to Marcio of Gracie Sports USA and his academy in Norwalk, CT. He brought a couple of his students to train today and we all enjoyed it!

We've added another MMA class for everybody. Immediately following the 11 am Jiu-JItsu class, we'll have an MMA class from 12:30 till 1:30. This is a Mixed class - all are welcome! The class starts this Saturday the 17th!

More strong training today. The morning and afternoon classes saw good progress, the kids class was great again and the evening classes - Gi and No Gi - were great, too. We got in our t-shirts - they're $15 each. This Friday, we'll have the morning, afternoon and kids classes. After that, we'll be heading to Manhattan to the Renzo Gracie Belt Ceremony. Everyone is invited to come. So, just to be clear, we won't have the evening adult classes. Back on schedule Saturday!

Gino had an awesome day of teaching today and I was happy to hear that so many students were training. Today's MMA class was also great. We have good news coming about the locker rooms. Keep it locked to learn more.

Always good to see Chandra, Hunter, Jaggar, Jaxon, Amari and Austin. The kids class is looking great. I was really proud to see all of the students doing the sweep (the one pulling the ankles) so well. You guys are doing great in each and every class! We know that Bayler had a baseball game (and maybe Wednesday and Friday, too) so we wish him luck and can't wait to see him in class next time!

Great training you guys. The spinning arm bar is an important position and you were all doing it well by the end of training. I want to see everybody trying these submissions in training. Keep training! See you on the mats!

Check out the new exterior to Renzo Gracie Academy - it now has some blue! Hope you all like it!

We spent the day at the Aquarium in Norwalk and we went to a local bar and ate a lot of seafood. I know, I know. But we were really craving fried calamari even before we went to the aquarium! See you all tomorrow for class!

Great training you guys. Each week, each day, each class I see a tremendous improvement. Everybody is working hard. The more often you come to class, the better you'll be. See you on the mats!

It's good to see the students coming to so many classes each day. We are working hard to even add more classes once the demand begins. See you all tomorrow!

Gino, Sean, Jesse, Terin, Rick and Danny. A great team of tough guys who left it ALL on the mat today. We trained hard and learned a lot! See you all on the mats!

We now have our own Facebook Fan Page - Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Stamford. Check it out!

Daniel showed everybody how Chris Lytle won and why Shane Carwin lost. Jiu-Jitsu. You need to know how to effectively do the positions and also how to effectively defend against the positions. The UFC consistently illustrates the importance of the ground game. Get your game tight!

Videos. Videos. Videos. Check out our new channel on YouTube for Jiu-Jitsu and MMA videos.

We had another great kids class. Lots of good times and great Jiu-Jitsu! See you all on the mats Friday!

It takes three people who want to leave it all on the mat. One, constantly attacked by the other two. Think you could stand it in the middle? Of course you can. So come to class next time to find out how much fun it really is!

Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy is on Twitter. Check it out for updates, news, pics and more. Click here.

Hey everybody... we want to see you all in class this Saturday. We'll be taking pictures for the website and we want to represent all of the students on our site. Bring your gi and smile!

Yes, today is hot and tomorrow is going to be even hotter. Be sure to drink lots and lots of water. Hydration is key to strong training. And speaking of training, classes were good today. The kids class was great today. The game of bulldog was pretty cool!

We all had a great time last night. A few surprising UFC fights. Congratulations to the victors. This week we're going to cover the positions used in the fights. Several fighters could have gotten out of those submissions, had they known how to defend! Learn defense at our No Gi classes on Wednesday in the morning and evening and in our No Gi / MMA classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays in the afternoon. See you on the mats!

Today's class was intense with great training. We also want to welcome our newest student, Charles. He was training and looking really strong. A big congratulations to new Black Belt Seth. Seth is a Jiu-Jitsu student from Cape Cod. I recently had the honor of awarding him his well deserved Black Belt. It was great to have him in class today.

Here's how I see it:

Carwin defeats Lesner - round 2 KO
Akiyama defeats Leben - decision
Lytle defeats Brown - round 1 submission
Bonnar defeats Soszynski - round 2 TKO
Sotiropoulos defeats Pellegrino - decision
Schaub defeats Tuchscherer - round 3 submission
Romero defeats Petruzelli - round 1 KO
Grove defeats Reljic - round 1 submission
Branch defeats Harris - round 2 submission
Roberts defeats Petz - round 2 TKO

Leave your comments on how you see the fights! Just so long as everybody sees David Branch victorious! Go Team Renzo Gracie!

They are the toughest students you'll encounter at any elementary school, summer camp or playground. They are our dedicated athletes who are learning a centuries old martial art. Big ups to the kids. Great training today. Everybody, enjoy your holiday. See you on the mats 5pm sharp on Monday! Our guest instructors today - kids class regular Chris (Jaxon & Jaggar's dad) as well as Gino, who actually stayed at the academy after teaching his 12:30 class so he could be here for the kids. Thanks to you both!!! Have an extra hot dog over the weekend. Be sure you're ready for training!

Before the holiday starts, you'll need to come in to class to learn the Americana with Daniel and impress all your friends at the BBQ. After the holiday you'll need extra training to work off all those hot dogs. Come in to class to exercise your right to train!

Big shout out to Jason for his awesome idea! Let's all get together this Saturday to watch the UFC at Buffalo Wild Wings. Be sure to wear your Renzo Gracie t-shirt. We'll be there to support our school and watch Team Renzo Gracie Middleweight David Branch. Leave a comment, send an email, give a call so we can all meet up.

And onto the celebration of our Nation... Happy Fourth of July! To celebrate this annual holiday, be sure to be in class on Saturday when Daniel will show you his all time favorite Americana. Yeah, there's more than one way to get it so be in class to learn. And we're open with the regular schedule, no holiday for us so come to RGA and train hard!