brazilian jiu jitsu classes in pinnacle gym

philip graham

from march 31st new brazilian jiu jitsu classes have been added to the pinnacle gym timetable. there will be 3 evening classes mon, tues and thurs 8 to 9.30. the morning classes will be wed and fri 12 to 1.

along with the added classes is the option of paying monthly and not just by the class, even though we are still keeping the option of people paying and training casually.

kindest regards,

Philip Graham

adonis

hey...whats the price of the lunchtime classes? you can pm me if you like..
cheers

shantor

is there a good BJJ reference site out there can anyone point me to?

or just whats the ratio between striking/submission/grappling in this discipline?

ta!;p

Nothingcompares

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Jiu-Jitsu

100% grappling, all about submissions.

goo

Where's the Pinnacle Gym, sorry?

philip graham

Pinnacle Gym, Rear 27 Camden St, Dublin 2, Ph: 01-4789252.

Nothingcompares

If you're walking down camden street coming from wexford street, gp past the palace but on the opposite side of the street, there is a lane way to your left. Go down and take a right down another lane and it's just there. If you're on harcourt street and you're walking towards copper's from grafton street take a right down that lane and then a left.

Rock99

If anyone is serious about learning bjj with a good instructor here is a bit off advice. avoid this place all together! If ya want an instructor who likes to talk about how amazing he thinks he is and you would like an instructor you will not progress over blue belt because there is no one in ireland who will grade him( no matter how hard he trys), then go for it. But for most off us looking for a good place to train this would be bottom of the list.

hypnosisdublin

Thanks Rock99 - I was previously undecided about whether to check out Phillip's BJJ class. Now I'm definitely going to go to one of his classes.

Phillip - check out PM Inbox and get back to me please. Cheers.

Rock99

hypnosisdublin wrote: »

Thanks Rock99 - I was previously undecided about whether to check out Phillip's BJJ class. Now I'm definitely going to go to one of his classes.

Phillip - check out PM Inbox and get back to me please. Cheers.

Thats up too you mate, hope you enjoy the classes. Even if you dont progress very far in the art i am sure you will still enjoy it.

hypnosisdublin

When did you go to Phillip's class? And why do you think no-one in Ireland would grade him? Besides, maybe Phillip is happy to stay at blue-belt level.

Quite a few people on the board have already commented on what a great teacher he is. That's way more important to me than the colour of his belt.

By the way, I'd be delighted to get up to blue belt level!

SorGan

review from dragan ..Okay, so I headed along to Philip's class last night under the illusion that two of my mates would be there with me. Sadly they couldn't show up so I went in there all on my lonesome to see what all this BJJ lark is about!

Let me start by saying I have never, ever had a good experience with my first night of any art. Kratty left me disappointed, boxing left me angry due to all the ego's and kickboxing left me already hating my instructor at the time ( he was not a humble person ). As such I have learned to fear the first class of a new art and to work through whatever problems I see if I truly love it.

Philip's class was a complete and total joy to go to. Everyone was really friendly and it was all handshakes and introductions before we got down to the warm up. The one thing I did notice was that everyone asked me how long I had been doing it for and when I said it was my first class they all kind of smiled at me as if to say "ah yeah, he's got newb excitement in his eyes!"

So it was down to the warm up and then into some drills! Up next was guard passing drills followed by some live rolling. It was during the guard passing that it really hit home to me how…well….DIFFERENT BJJ is to anything else I had done. I'll walk into the gym and move a lot of weight, I'll do my Crossfit's to spec and in reasonable times ( and I'm 250lbs or so ) but dammit this was kicking my ass! So much so that towards the end of the guard passing I had to go and have myself a quick puke! ( And once again to Dunkmania, I'm really sorry dude but it was the sink or the wall! , in fact poor Gigon (sp?) is lucky I didn't puke on him…that guy is freaky good and strong as an ox! ) but a few sips of water later I was back in for the live rolling! After that it was on to a nice cool down and stretch but not before Philip was good enough to take me aside and go through some guard passing and a very specific submission with me, which was awesome!

So….i was able to walk into Philip's class as a total beginner, on my own and was made to feel completely welcome. The cardio aspect of it kicked the living bejesus out of me and nobody laughed at me for it. Everyone was incredibly nice and the atmosphere was amazing.

As an instructor ( and I have had a few in my time ) Philip is excellent. Repeating important points over and over without you even realising it ( glass of water on my head! ) and seeming to have 3 sets of eyes as he watches people roll and offers advice to them. He's also great at instructing technique….everything was broken down into steps and he wasn't giving me any bull**** either. He told me exactly what I need to concentrate on as a beginner to the sport which is fantastic!

All I can say is that this morning I rang both Westwood and Total Fitness in Sandyford and cancelled my membership there because from now on I'll be training full time in Pinnacle….and the fee's for those gyms would be much better spent on BJJ classes with Philip. And that’s coming from a total Gym Rat.

Really couldn't recommend it strongly enough. By far my best Martial Arts experience to date.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055227674

Rock99

Whats your point sorGan??? So someone enjoyed the class! That does not change the fact that he is going no where. Also the point made about the newb in the review and the look off excitment is due to the fact that this fella would like nothing more than have beginners in week after week so he could show off, and tap them out. Also ask yourself why SBG did not want him back at their club???

Rock99

hypnosisdublin wrote: »

When did you go to Phillip's class? And why do you think no-one in Ireland would grade him? Besides, maybe Phillip is happy to stay at blue-belt level.

Quite a few people on the board have already commented on what a great teacher he is. That's way more important to me than the colour of his belt.

By the way, I'd be delighted to get up to blue belt level!

Yont wont ever get to blue belt with him, he cant grade you. And he wont get his purple belt in ireland,and no he his not happy with blue belt as i said before he has looked into it but know one wants to know him.

hypnosisdublin

Rock99 wrote: »

That does not change the fact that he is going no where.

Where exactly is he meant to be going?

Rock99 wrote: »

This fella would like nothing more than have beginners in week after week so he could show off, and tap them out.

If this was the case, why did he repeat advice, breaking it down into easy-to-understand steps. If he merely wanted to tap every week, he'd hold back on these tips so they wouldn't improve from week to week. Clearly this is not the case.

Rock99 wrote: »

Ask yourself why SBG did not want him back at their club???

Why don't you tell us yourself?

Nothingcompares

Rock99 wrote: »

Yont wont ever get to blue belt with him, he cant grade you. And he wont get his purple belt in ireland,and no he his not happy with blue belt as i said before he has looked into it but know one wants to know him.

You seem to know Philip and all the other bjj coaches personally, in the interests of transparency do you want to reveal your own identity?

Colm_OReilly

I'm going to allow this discussion to continue, but Rock99 - it's very easy to throw out criticisms from a a pseudonym.

As long as criticisms remain about the coaching abilities/classes and not about the person, I'll allow them.

Rock99

Nothingcompares wrote: »

You seem to know Philip and all the other bjj coaches personally, in the interests of transparency do you want to reveal your own identity?

No!

SorGan

Rock99 wrote: »

No!

shocker!:eek:

Dragan

Rock99 wrote: »

Whats your point sorGan??? So someone enjoyed the class! That does not change the fact that he is going no where. Also the point made about the newb in the review and the look off excitment is due to the fact that this fella would like nothing more than have beginners in week after week so he could show off, and tap them out. Also ask yourself why SBG did not want him back at their club???

*grins* I'm just going to say one thing right now.

My name is Aidan O Brien and I'm a BJJ aholic. Sadly i haven't been able to make Philips class for the last few weeks due to illness and my meds are kicking my ass.

Everytime i have run into Phil in Pinnacle gym he is asking me when i am coming back to his class, is interested in my own training and if i am getting any practice in outside of his classes.

I find Phil to be a highly approachable and friendly coach. If anything, rather than tap me out when we have a light roll i know he allows me certain positions and escapes so that i learn where to move and when. When we are live rolling....of course he does his best to tap me out....if he did anything else i wouldn't pay him to instruct me.

The way to learn is to have your mistakes punished when you go live....i have found to be the case for any martial art i have done.

Personally i will take my own class experience over some faceless coward on the internet. But thats just me.

As it stands we have no way of knowing if you have any real knowledge of the scene in Ireland or if your just a guy who couldn't handle a class.

You see our prediciment here?

Also Colm, i see plenty of personal attacks and sly digs in his posts. I find it hard to believe if this thread was started about a more established memember of the board the people would not be up in arms over it.

cowzerp

i have not been to his class but used to train with him in sbg and he was always very helpfull, coaching probably suits him best, i'd be interested to know why people might have a problem with him?

i found him to be quite inoffonsive! i did hear that he was advertising as a black belt so maybe that pee'd a few people off, i was told this by a reliable source but dont know if thats the problem here or not..

Roper

Paul just re: that black belt issue. He was advertising himself as a black belt for his kids classes. I do the same, I am a black belt in taekwondo. Reilly does the same, he's a black belt in Kenpo, and Richie does the same, he's a black belt in Kenpo and something else.

To be honest while I don't really care about this whole argument cos I'm sure Phil can argue for himself, I would have a problem with that. Some people in MMA circles might have a problem with TKD and Kenpo etc. but the fact remains that people work damn hard to get these grades, as they do in BJJ, and I think people have a right to maintain the integrity of that. Maybe Phil can shed some light on that himself though because without him saying something on the matter it's a bit hard to judge the situation as a whole.

I would say though that the test of a club is that you go and enjoy yourself and if you feel you're learning, then away you go and train there. I've rolled with Phil many times and he has good bjj.

bella1

he told a guy who rang him up that he was a black belt under one of the machdo brothers,(sorry spelling),herd it myself.so he was saying he was a black belt,but who cares?thanks andy sbgnorthside:cool:

philip graham

to shed some light on this black belt issue, i did recive a call from someone claming to be an insurance agent who said he could give me a better insurance quote, he asked if i was a black belt and before letting me answer he said "you know you have to be a black belt in bjj to teach it right" and i became a little nervous of this strange call and stupidly said yes.

there are plenty of kids and adults bjj coaches who dont have a bjj black belt and coach.i know one coach other than myself who does not have a black belt in any martial art and coaches bjj to a very high standard.

i know everyone who has earned a black belt in any martial art has worked extremely hard for it and i am sorry if wearing a black belt in my kids classes insults anyone but it is a means to avoid questions from conserened parents who dont understand that bjj isn't like other martial arts.

i have recived a coaching certificate from carlos machado and i sent a copy of this to my insurance agent and they were happy to fully insure me. i admit i am not the best bjj coach around but i hope to become alot better over the years of training and coaching. i am still learning and i am happy people are having a good experence in my class training and learning with me.

i would like to thank everyone for the kind words and i wish everyone the best.

kindest regards,

Philip Graham

hypnosisdublin

philip graham wrote: »

to shed some light on this black belt issue, i did recive a call from someone claming to be an insurance agent who said he could give me a better insurance quote, he asked if i was a black belt and before letting me answer he said "you know you have to be a black belt in bjj to teach it right" and i became a little nervous of this strange call and stupidly said yes.

Sounds very fishy to me. Given the nature of the personal attacks on you within this thread, I'd say the "insurance agent" was someone who has issues with you.

Bella1 - How is that you heard the phonecall yourself? Is one of your students an insurance agent?

Magic Eight Ball

Personally I found Philip’s BJJ class very informative. I regretfully haven’t been able to train as of later due to injuries, thus unable to make it to his or SBG classes but I’d highly recommend this class to anyone interested.

I don’t see why this argument should be given any legs, especially considering the user who instigated it is unwilling to post under his real username, which says a lot more about his character then any of his posts.

Again the class is great value for money, the one night I was there we rolled for nearly 2 hours, and I got the chance to roll with a purple belt, who choked me out with a very cool choke using my own Gi, which he taught to me afterwards.. not bad for 10 euro.

PS,

philip graham wrote: »

i know everyone who has earned a black belt in any martial art has worked extremely hard for it

Except for a certain McDojo in Smithfield who hands them out for cash.

Colm_OReilly

Thread closed.