Bushido Notebook

The Gracie Academy has been able to reach out and gain influence in the jiujitsu community effectively acquiring schools through a de-facto affiliation.  The attraction has been through marketing their teaching methods via Gracie University, using that as a tool to gain and retain students and to grow your school and profits.  The gateway is Gracie Combatives (GC).  I recently completely and passed the GC online test, scoring high enough to qualify to attend the instructor certification course held at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, CA.  Currently a brown belt with over ten years jiujitsu experience I found the program surprisingly challenging and effective as a tool for teaching good self-defense techniques and providing an organized baseline by which to engage and measure my progress.  The good, the bad and the..the "it's up to you": The Good: There is an organized curriculum with highly detailed instruction on the philosophy of the training ethos, the r