NoBeltMMA

Fabio Duca Gurgel do Amaral (born January 18, 1970 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an 8 time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World champion.

He has been practising Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) since the age of 13. He received his black belt at the age of 19 from Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti. Along with Cavalcanti he is co-founder of the Alliance Jiu Jitsu Team.

He is the teacher of BJJ and ADCC World Champion Marcelo Garcia. He is President of the Brazil based Professional League of Jiu Jitsu.

He has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, at UFC 11…. and he is inviting you to train with him.

The great thing about being a Vagabond is being able to travel the world to visit other gyms and you get amazing opportunities that are otherwise very hard to find if you are stuck in one place.

One of the things I have heard over and over from people that have traveled to Brazil to learn jiu-jitsu is that if you don’t know anyone, its a tough place to get around and find the right places to train.

For as low as $300 you get accommodation and a weeks training at a jiu-jitsu legend’s gym.  For $700 you get all of that and a private lesson with the man himself Fabio Gurgel.

Whether you are looking for a week vacation or a great way to meet some amazing contacts in Sao Paulo for Jiu-Jitsu this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss out on.

Gym Name: Shanghai BJJ (SHBJJ)
Website: http://www.shanghaibjj.com
Main Instructors: Tony Lima (BJJ Black Belt), Stanley Tam (BJJ Purple Belt), Ryan Melchiano (BJJ Purple Belt)
Location: Shanghai, China

The Google friendly gym that is Shanghai BJJ was one of the first gyms I found when I started looking for a gym to train at in Shanghai even before I had moved to Shanghai.  Although I found a few other gyms while looking for a gym to train at in Shanghai a few things stuck out in my decision to lay down the money to train with them.

First Impressions:

When I emailed the school, I got a response exactly 1 hour from when I had sent the original email from Ryan Melchiano, one of the three instructors featured on the website.  I had asked about training with them even though I had no idea how long I would be in Shanghai for.  The response was as if talking to a friend, “Good to hear from you. Come in when you get to town. Hope to see you at SHBJJ”.  No sales pitch, no bullshit, just a simple response that instantly made me realize I wasn’t dealing with a sales pitchy, rexkwondo, McMartial Arts Gym.

Putting the I in Team:

When I made it to my trial class, everyone was very welcoming and it was encouraged to include everyone as Ryan Melchiano introduced the two new white belts and said “After class get to know them, introduce yourself, make them feel welcome”.  This is the attitude you need in a gym while Vagabonding in a new city.  I knew nobody, and instantly I was part of the team, personally meeting about 10 of the students as we shared stories once the class was finished.  They say you can’t put I in team, but I was definitely part of the team after this.

I Got Schooled:

Although I could hang in there with some of their Blue Belts (still losing both on points and submissions), I got a chance to roll with Stanley Tam, another one of the Instructors featured on the website and currently a Purple Belt.  Stanley is about 10 pounds lighter than me, but I have never felt the weight of a person while rolling like Stanley put on me.  This is the type of instructor I am always looking for, someone my size that has the knowledge and technique that makes you fiercely competitive no matter the size of you or your opponent.  After we had finished rolling, he was encouraging and helpful offering a few tips on our session.

After checking into a few other places, including a Muay Thai Gym call Oz Body Fit, I ended back at Shanghai BJJ signing up for a 3 month Membership.  A 3 month unlimited membership costs ¥2,400, which comes out to be ~$125 USD per month.  Which for a MMA gym,  is around the upper-middle level when it comes to cost.

The first class I attended was an advanced gi class, where we went over 4 techniques.

1. Guillotine Choke Defense from Standing to Take Down. (Defense + Takedown)
2. Side Control Escape when arm is stuck between opponents elbow and leg from bottom. (Defense)
3. Side Control Arm Bar from Back. (Attack)
4. Side Control Roll Sweep from Back. (Sweep)

After techniques, we did positional rolling and then an hour of rolling, where I once again was schooled by some pretty dominant Blue Belts.  I blamed my lack of Gi experience on this, and got to roll No-Gi where I was able do a lot better.

The second day of training was the Striking class which is only once a week and seemed to be more focused on cardio, more so than technique and seemed to combine mostly Muay Thai mixed with some weird variations of Karate and Savate.  Although I am biased when it comes to stand up techniques, favoring Muay Thai,  my philosophy is to enjoy the techniques taught and put 100% effort into learning them even if they involve spinning and jumping to kick.  The day ended with some sparring and then an open mat session.

Overall Review:

First Impressions:
(4.5/5)

Gym Facilities:
(3.5/5)

Instructor Knowledge:
(4/5)

Membership Fees:
(3/5)

Vagabond Friendly:
(5/5)

Overall Rating:
(20/25)

My overall thoughts on joining Shanghai BJJ are quite good.  They are an open and friendly environment specializing in BJJ.  They offer a class that seems suitable for all experience levels that will help you reach your fitness goals whether they are to fight in tournaments or just up your fitness level in a fun and inviting way.  They encourage their students to welcome new students not only to class but to Shanghai making me feel like I already am gaining some friends in this giant city where I don’t know anyone.

I started in early January of 2010 to work for an Online Fashion Company that I had been in love with since I had met the CEO at a business unconference in Vancouver in 2007.  I had stayed in touch with the CEO Kyle Vucko, and when I was ready to move on from my SunPoker job, randomly an opportunity came up with Indochino and I jumped on it.

Close

This moved me from my little Caribbean Island of Antigua, where I was training with Ahssan Merrai, back to Vancouver where I was told I would be going to Shanghai for 1 month to become acquainted with the new business.  1 month turned into 2 months and now the goal is 6 months to a year that I will be living here.

I had found Shanghai BJJ when I first came here in January and went to one class, where I felt I held my own while rolling with the blue belts, even though I have little to no gi experience.  After that class I didn’t have a chance to go back, as work became super busy, then Chinese New Years happened and I traveled to the Tropics of China to get the sun I was craving since I left Antigua.  After I came back from Hainan, I decided it was time to get back into shape and that I was going to start training that week.  I did a small workout which consisted of Burpees, Situps and Push Ups and went to bed.  The next night I started to feel terrible pain in my chest and back but shrugged through it for the night, but after an hour of terrible sleep,  I woke up, hardly being able to breath or move.. I felt like my lung was punctured and my spine was broken.

After realizing I had no idea how to even say “hospital” in mandarin (phonetically: ee-ywen by the way) and none of my Chinese friends picking up their phones, the other co-founder of Indochino saved the day and with his broken Mandarin, got me to the hospital.  Turns out, I had fractured my rib while training either in January at Shanghai BJJ or when I was helping Brad Causey train for his fight at Pride Gym when I was back in my hometown of Rossland BC, Canada during Christmas, and the burpees, situps and burpees managed to somehow turn that fracture into a bigger fracture.

So once again my training was put off for another few weeks as I was put on some of the cheapest but most potent pain killers I have been on in my life.

I have felt a lot better for the past week with no sign of pain at all.  I even did 1 situp, 1 pushup and 1 burpee to see if I would keel over in pain, but so far all systems are a go.  So tonight I have decided to sign up with Shanghai BJJ and start my Mixed Martial Arts Training in China there.

The cycle begins again as I move back to the bottom of the gym’s ladder and start again as a white belt.