Thanks to Jason, for donating gis to kids in Moldova.
As you may have read on my blog, some friendly people are trying to help the kids in Moldova get some BJJ started there. I did a fundraiser seminar in New York the other day and raised some money for them, but they also need some gi’s and stuff.
Jason Vasquez emailed me and said he had two Keiko Raca gis he didn’t use anymore, that he wanted to donate to the kids. He just shipped them this weekend and I am sure they will be used well!
If you have not yet read about my experiences in Moldova, you can do it here :)
If you wanna read about the project – and maybe want to donate a gi – you can do so on Georgette Oden’s blog.
Southern style camping in Virginia.
Coming almost directly from the busy streets of Manhattan, I suddenly found myself in an interesting change of scene yesterday, as I took the bus to Richmond, Virginia and met up with Robert and Amanda. Robert took me around Romania, Moldova and Transnistria, when I was in Eastern Europe, so when I had the opportunity to meet up with them here in the US, I didn’t want to miss that.
We drove a good hour out of town to a little campsite by the river, where I met the whole family. It was an authentic camping experience with tons of seafood (for dinner, breakfast and lunch), beers, hamburger barbecue, country music, bonfire, marshmallows, sleeping in tents, driving pocket rocket motorbike and playing dominoes.
I wish I could stay with them longer, but I have to keep moving on. Camping in Virginia was very a short but very cool experience to have in my trip. Thanks to the family for inviting me – probably don’t need food for the next few days with all the stuff they fed me there :D
Elyse and Scramble
I stayed with Elyse in Arlington. She was very kind to pick me up by the bus, take me to training and let me sleep on her couch. All she wanted in return was a photo of her in her Scramble hoodie, a project she had failed to complete for months since she got it. The conditions and preparation taken into consideration, I think it turned out pretty good.
Training with Ryan Hall & hangover. Bad idea.
The bus ride to Washington DC was a good five hours. There was supposed to be wifi in the bus, but it didn’t work, so I basically looked out the window for five hours, just waiting for the hangovers from hell bustrip to end.
Right off the bus, I went to Ryan Hall’s 50/50 gym. The bus was 45 minutes late, so I didn’t get to do much of the technique part of the class. It was looking very interesting though, Ryan had lots of details on taking the back from a scramble position, super interesting.
With only four hours of sleep, a hangover, five hours sitting in a bus and a body that probably has been pushed a little too much recently, sparring was horrible today. I felt the worst I have felt in a very long time. I rolled first round with Ryan and he would normally make me feel like a white belt, but today he made me feel like I had never even heard of BJJ in my life. It was pure survival on my side, struggling to breathe and stay in the game.
Showing up to class in a shape like today, I can only blame myself that it would be tough. I wanted to get on the mat regardless, and I was happy I did. It was a healthy reminder from my body, that I should not expect any love from it, if I treat it like shit.
Tomorrow, I am leaving for Richmond, Virginia to meet up with Robert and Amanda, who I visited in Romania. There is training at noon which I will try to make, but might be a little difficult when I am also trying to make it to Richmond in time.
Goodbye, New York.
Today, I left New York with the bus to Washington DC. Last night, I met up with Daniel, the scottish guy I went roadtripping with for a week in Taiwan. I originally planned to leave the city thursday, but since he came, I stayed for another day to meet up.
It was good to visit New York again. I have been there six or seven times before, so there wasn’t many new experiences for me, but just meeting up with old friends was cool. My girlfriend came to visit me too for the week, which was really nice.
I have decided, that New York should be the last spot, where I am lazy with my pace of travel. I have spent almost a week in each of the last five or so places I have been to, and I miss the high pace traveling I did the first month and a half of the trip. My plan for the upcoming weeks is pretty ambitious, but I think I can pull it off. Planning to buy lots of tickets soon, check back soon for update on my crazy itinerary ;)
$285 for the kids in Moldova!
Tonights fundraising seminar in Ronin Athletics got us a total of $285 for the kids in Moldova. They will really benefit from this money, bringing them someone to teach, new shelves for their equipment and a tournament in the summer :)
Thanks to everyone who chipped in!!
Training with Marcelo Garcia
I originally decided to skip Marcelo’s gym because it was a little over my budget. However, several people offered to help me out with the mat fee, including the academy itself. They emailed me and said I was welcome to stop by, which was really awesome of them.
I have been studying Marcelo’s game for many, many years. I don’t often watch or follow BJJ competitions, but I always seem to study Marcelo’s match to try and figure out what he is doing.
The result of this was an interesting experience at the gym the other night. It was like grappling with clones of myself, they did exactly what I had been working on for years, just much better haha. All my signature moves were being pulled off on me, it was really weird. Sometimes I stopped in the middle of a roll, laughing because I knew exactly what happened but still couldn’t defend it :)
I also got to roll a round with Marcelo, which of course was quite an experience. Writing about it in the book, too much for here :)
Nice gym, cool people, very clean and world class instruction and sparring. Highly recommended!
Location:W 23rd St,,United States
I am doing a fundraiser seminar thursday in NYC!
If you have been following my blog, you might have read about my experience with the kids in the village of Burlacu, the official middle of nowhere in Moldova.
Read the blogpost about my experiences in Moldova here
They only have a few old gi’s and a non-heated sports hall with some old mats. They do have a passion for grappling though, and we are going to help them continue to do this sport. Some helpful people from Romania are going to go there to teach and set up a small tournament for them. They will also build a shelter for their equipment.
For that, we need a little bit of money, less than $150, but more will also help of course.
I am doing a fundraiser seminar in Ronin Athletics on thursday at 8:00 pm. It will be with the gi, but no-gi can participate too. Price is $5 or whatever you want to donate for the kids. All the money will go directly to the project in Moldova.
If you are in New York and want to support the kids, please show up on thursday. Everyone is welcome and all help is appreciated!!
Visit to Ronin Athletics
Straight after training at Renzo’s, I went to see my old friends in Ronin Athletics. It was the first gym I visited in New York back in 2004 when I got here first time, and I have come back to train with the guys many times since. Last time was 2008 though, so it’s been a little while. It was great to see my friend Christian Montes again, he has done such a good job of building up the gym. When I came first, they were only four people there.
I rolled a bit with the guys, then taught a short class on sweeps before I had to go.
Training at Renzo Gracie’s academy today
A while back, I got an email from Jeff Knight, who trains at Renzo’s place. It is a gym I’ve always wanted to visit, but it was a little over my budget for this trip. Fortunately, the guys there were super nice to invite me as a guest during my stay here in New York, so I went there for an afternoon class with John Danaher. The gym is beautiful and three floors, it is huge!
A friday afternoon class at 1pm would probably draw a handful of guys in my own gym at home. This one had so many, I couldn’t even count it, it was amazing. Tons of good guys and lots of black belts there. The only downside to being so many was, that it was difficult to find room to roll, and people were bumping into eachother all the time.
I happened to be there for a black belt promotion, which is something very special and rare in this sport.
I hope I can find time to go back there for more training, but with my super tight schedule it might be difficult :,(
P.S.: I am still working on, what facial expression says “call me” most. Didn’t quite get it with Renzo this time.
Location:E 23rd St,,United States
Open mat training at Clockwork BJJ sunday
I was looking for a new gym to visit sunday, but my plans didn’t really work out, so I went to Clockwork again for an open mat session. A handful of guys were there, my host Kyle included, and we had some good rolls for an hour or so. Nice gym, I like it! :)
Article in newspaper about trip
The Danish newspaper “Ekstra Bladet” has published an article about my trip today. It is in Danish, so most of you probably can’t understand it though :) Basically, the headline is that I pay for a trip around the world by getting beat up LOL
Check it out on http://ekstrabladet.dk/ferie/udland/article1551164.ece.
No training yesterday
I needed a break from training yesterday. The jetlag and all the training had been hard on my body, so I thought I would take a rest day and do something else. We went to a baseball game instead. Have never seen baseball before so it was cool to do that for the first time.
Trying to plan where to go train the rest of my stay here, there are do many options, wish I could do them all! Definitely going to Renzo’s Monday afternoon and probably Matt Serra’s on Tuesday. Looks like I will go to clockwork again this afternoon and trying to find out when to train at Ronin too. Wanna go to Marcelo’s really bad, but the $40 mat fee is a little over my budget :-/
Location:E 23rd St,,United States
Looking for BJJ gyms in Latin America
I have about two months left of my trip and is trying to figure out where to go. I like it here in the US, but I have been here several timed before, and it is not much different from the world I already know.
It is important to me on this trip to push myself to visit places, that I don’t know anything about. Places, that are different from what I have seen before.
I haven’t travelled much south of the United States. In fact, I have only been to Jamanica, Cuba and Mexico, so this is an area I would really like to spend some time in.
Brazil is an obvious destination for my trip, but where else can I go?
If you train anywhere in Latin America, or know someone who does, please feel free to contact me on graugart@gmail.com asap. Size of gym, level or location does not matter, I am interested in training or teaching any place I can. All I need is a gym, couch or floor to sleep on :)
The amazing around-the-world burger project: Honolulu, Hawaii.
The burger from Hawaii was competing out of “Teddy’s” gym. It had great base, many years of experience and a solid game based on fundamentals. Nothing fancy, but it worked.
I ranked it a purple belt!
Arrived in New York, first training done.
Arrived in New York last night. Staying with Kyle, a reader of my blog, who lives in Manhattan and trains in Clockwork BJJ. They had a class today at noon that I went to. Really impressed by the amount of people on the mats at that time on a weekday, there must have been 40 or so. Friendly people and lots of good guys to roll with, I had many good rounds despite being quite jetlagged today.
I am trying to plan my time here in NY. There are so many places to train, I will try and make it to as many as possible. Planning to stay here for about a week, after that I plan to really get up in gear and visit as many places as I can for the last two months of my trip. Or at least before the world goes under the 21st.
Article in Jiu Jitsu Style magazine
Check out the feature about my trip in latest issue of Jiu Jitsu Style magazine. Subscriptions are available both in print and for iPad!
Mahalo
I almost decided not to go to Hawaii, since the tickets where so expensive because of the Japanese holiday. I am really glad I decided to go anyways.
I bought the ticket two days before getting there, and I knew no one before I came. A week later, I am honored to consider many Hawaiians to be my good friends and I have so many good and valuable experiences with me in the backpack from there.
Yet another world far, far away from home, that proved to possess everything I could wish for. I hope I will be back there one day.
Last day in Hawaii, off to New York!
Today was my last day in Hawaii. Last night, I moved to Ryan’s place. I met him the first day at HMC and he offered me to stay in his apartment right by Waikiki beach.
When I woke up in the morning, I went surfing for an hour, before going to train a little bit with Steve and Victor. After that, I went back in the water for two hours, making sure I got as much as possible out of my last few hours here.
Today’s surfing went good and bad. I broke my own personal record for longest ride, that one today felt like forever. Paddling back out took ages :D I also got some other firsts, such as pissing off a local hawaiian (unintentional of course, probably broke some etiquette lol), cut my open toe on the reef (bad!), saw a huge sea turtle come up for air right next to me, and falling off the board landing balls first on the edge of it. A day of adventure!
In thirty minutes, I am off to the airport for a looong flight to New York.
Location:Kamoku St,Honolulu,United States
Rest day on north side of Oahu
When I woke up this morning, I had a visit from an old friend: Overtraining. Every muscle in my body felt sore and was screaming to me for rest. I have been ignoring my body’s signals for a while, but today I made the decision to listen a little bit, so I skipped all physical activity for the day and just relaxed.
I had so far spent all my time in Waikiki, staying with Steve and had a great time. Staying in the same place is so easy when I have no plans, so I thought I had to push myself to do something different as well. I had met up with Andrew, a half danish guy, surfer black belt and BJJ white belt, who invited me to come over to Kokokahi for a day and check it out. I took the bus there in the evening and spent the night there, during a CRAZY thunderstorm. In the morning, we drove to the north shore, where he was working for a few hours, while I just checked out the area. Went swimming a little bit and walked around too. Very nice, quiet and relaxed compared to busy Honolulu. I also visited a small surfboard factory, very cool to see how they made them.
This evening, I moved again, this time to Ryan’s place. I met him first day in HMC, the place I trained with a ridiculous jet lag, and he invited me to come stay with him. So this is where I will spend my last night in Hawaii, before flying to New York tomorrow! I am flying in the evening though, so there should be time to rent a board and also to roll a little bit before heading to the airport ;)
More white belt surfing, now with HD fisheye cam.
I was really tired in my body when I woke up today. In Japan, I trained like crazy and told myself, that I would rest in Hawaii. That didn’t happen. I feel like I am right on the edge of overtraining, but I keep telling myself “juuust a little bit more” and today I ended surfing for almost two hours. My shoulders and upper back are DEAD from all the paddling. It really takes some time to condition those muscles for this workout, I need to do some more swimming when I get home I think.
It was not the best conditions today. A little much wind and inconsistent waves. I caught a few, but just sitting out there relaxing, talking and learning a completely new skill is exciting enough for me. I feel like a white belt again, eager to learn something new and improve in every single class :) Rylan had a super nice little HD fisheye camera with a suction cup to attach to the surfboard, and I got some fun shots out of it. Lots of video of me falling and getting beat up by huge waves :D
This evening, I moved to the other side of the island to stay with Andrew, who is half Danish. Don’t know what we’ll do tomorrow, but my best guess is that it will involve surfing and/or rolling.
Location:Kaneohe Bay Dr,Kaneohe,United States
A day of surfing and rolling with Rylan
I got a mail on facebook from Rylan Lizares, who runs a gym here in Honolulu called Gracie Technics. He asked me if I wanted to drop by for some training, and of course I cannot say no to that :)
He picked me up early and we went surfing for a few hours before going to the gym. I managed to do my first turtle dive under a big wave. I know it is like a white belt hitting his first sweep, but I was still pretty proud :D not many good waves, but I caught a few. Still learning a lot every time I am out there.
Training was an open mat session with a handful of guys. Rylan has a very, very good game, I was really impressed. Wish I could train more in all these good gyms, but I have to move on, it is the nature of my trip :-/
I have been pushing my body pretty hard lately and I can feel it. I am really sore everywhere, especially shoulders and upper back from all that paddling on the surfboards. Not complaining though! :):)
Location:Waialae Ave,Honolulu,United States
Training at Relson Gracie’s school today, then UFC barbeque!
Victor was kind to pick me up this morning and take me to an open mat session at the Relson Gracie gym. A small group of guys were there and it was a nice little training. I went some good rounds with some very good guys. They did cardio workout with gasmasks on, that was pretty crazy :D don’t know if I will take that idea home haha
After, I went with Steve and his girlfriend to the Kahalu to watch UFC and have a BBQ with some of Steve’s friends. It was cool to watch it live there and the food was great too :)
Tomorrow, more surfing and BJJ is scheduled!!
