It was the following line from Sam Harris that convinced me to finally take the plunge: "No matter how naturally tough you are, and no matter how skilled you are in any striking-based art, a swift return to childlike humility awaits you in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: Simply step onto the mat with a higher belt."
In the earliest stages of training it is crucial to be able to trust the good intentions of your instructor. Grapplers with high levels of skill, talent, and experience can be found in every gym. For a higher belt to dominate a lower one is unremarkable; this does not indicate an effective teacher. The better measure of an effective teacher is a capacity to convey insight. This is precisely the kind of trust Tony inspires in his students at Corvo, by bringing the lesson to the level of his audience. Tony can roll on your level - he will meet you where you are. As an instructor, Tony can dominate a round with an advanced student twice his size, and then in the next round roll with a 4 year old - and in both cases maintain a deliberate level of mindful, calculated control to maximize that student's uptake of the material.
Tony surrounds himself with quality people - in David, Ben, Justin, and Brandon you will meet the same good will and eagerness to share. These guys fight professionally, and with spectacular success. They appear super-human while competing, yet you will find each of them approachable and sincere in their roles coaching at Corvo. Together they create a welcoming atmosphere that rewards consistency and hard work. Whether you are training to compete, to survive, or just to achieve greater self-actualization, Corvo provides the environment for you to make it happen.
It would be remiss to not mention the time investment involved. Whether you train once a week or 5 times a week, progress is slow & brutal. Grappling is analogous to learning Boy Scout knots. You can watch a complex knot being tied a dozen times, but accurately reproducing that knot with your own hands requires redundant practice and long-term dedication. This analogy is imperfect though, for in a fight your best efforts are being undermined by opponent who is actively working to undo your knot while simultaneously tying his own. When your opponent is larger or more powerful than you, your primate instincts & intuitions are simply not sufficient. If you have not already made yourself intimately familiar with the right winning combination of knots, then you just won't know what to do in that crucial moment. Repetitive drilling is how you learn the knots, but this is not enough in itself. The goal is to develop your own autonomous capacity for winnowing down the chaos into a manageable set of inevitabilities. This is what you will find at Corvo: that winning combination of competent coaching, incessant drilling, and exhaustive rounds of rolling.
There is a chasm between effective grappling vs relying on strength, instinct, or aggression. Your first few weeks of training will be [ego-crushing] lessons in all the ways that the latter is utterly useless against the former. I routinely deadlift more than 2x my bodyweight for reps without breaking a sweat. I do 50 pull-ups every morning as a quick warm-up to my workout. Yet I am reminded daily at Corvo - sometimes by opponents who weigh 50 lbs less than me - that strength means next to nothing against superior technique. Sam Harris offers the analogy that stepping onto the mat as a beginner is analogous to being thrown into deep water without knowing how to swim - it doesn't much matter how strong you are. As a fresh white belt, you will quickly learn that 'surviving' the roll is your sole concern. Each round will serve as an exhibition of the myriad ways you utterly fail to protect yourself in a fight. You will, as a matter of principle, be submitted over and over, ad nauseam.
The mat is deep water; Tony and his Corvo crew will teach you to tread with a mindful calmness. read more
