Austin Jiu Jitsu

Class Date:
2.14.13

Website:
www.austinjiujitsu.com
blogger.jitshappens.com
bjjtech.com

Instructor:
David Thomas

Lineage:
Travis Tooke, himself a student of Carlos Gracie Jr.
(? Began studies under William Vandry, a student of Carlos Machado)

Credentials:
Training BJJ since 1995. Martial arts since 1985. 2 Karate black belts to go along with his BJJ black belt. International competition experience. Experience in other various martial arts. Varied martial arts teaching background.

Number:
"(512) TAP-ROLL (827-7655)" (Well isn't that nifty?)

Location:
Right off Lamar & 24th
(Be sure to check out directions on his website, they're needed.)

View Larger Map

Free:
One class

Price:
1.5 classes /week @ $109-$119/month*
2 classes /week @ $123-$133/month*

Classes are 1.5-2 hours each.

*Pricing structure highly encourages buying classes in bulk, in advance, essentially contract commitments of three to six months. Single-monthly prices are not listed because they are discouraged, and will be higher.


Short review:
Great teacher, good vibes. Classroom is a little small, but not bothersome. Clean, professional. Friendly. Technical. Great location. If I didn't have a mission to complete, I would be tempted to stop here and make this my home dojo. A little pricey, but not bad; just keep in mind that you are paying lump sums in advance here.

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Why did I start with Austin Jiu Jitsu? There's a few reasons.

First off, he's the only one who had the courage to list his prices online--and while not quite the most expensive gig in town, he's certainly not the cheapest.

Calling him reinforced the impression of honesty that left on me. It was a breath of fresh air after the jaded feeling I was left with searching for BJJ online; the idea of not showing your prices until after you come in for a class feels like a dirty sales tactic, frankly, and I was glad to see someone who wasn't subject to that.

And I have to say, if it weren't for that, he wouldn't have been at the top of my list. He seemed good, but not a standout from my brief overview. And giving his website a second look, I think that may have been my error. Sure, he doesn't look like THE highest ranked guy in town, and yes, he was taught by other local teachers... But now that I go and read his reviews, and look at his videos... I should have put him fairly high on the list anyways. His youtube channel has 2600 subscribers, and well over three million video views--this guy makes some money off of youtube as a minor BJJ celebrity, in other words. He has this site as well, to make it easier to keep things organized: As I said, it was a jading process, going through all these websites.

I should mention that in the end, though, it was that he really invited me to come down tomorrow night and try it out. Sure, lots of people invited me to come--but it usually felt pushy. (Paragon was a bit of an exception.) With Dave, I just... I had a good vibe. It was a friend's invitation, not a saleman's.

So I grabbed the ol' gi and headed out. Traffic was bad, and I got a little lost, so I was 7 minutes late. Dave received me graciously anyways, showed me where I could change, and met me on the mat.

Dave's place is on the smaller side of medium, but it is comfortable, clean, and in an incredible location with regards to downtown. No funny smells, no dim lighting, no obnoxious loud music. Classes here start out with 45 minutes of rolling (free sparring).

And I like that. A lot. I hate communal stretching--I like to do stretching my own way, and I don't like paying for someone else to show me how to stretch--and I don't like communal workouts to count as part of training time. I can handle that on my own. I'm there for teaching and practice, and that's all we did.

It was a slow night, just one other student, and so I had the good fortune of some extra attention, while not getting to perhaps get a feel for a 'normal' class, in some respects. His other student, a blue belt, was skilled, and courteous. I went with her first; after surprising her with an early submission, we had a longer roll that was still controlled and respectful, which speaks a lot to the tone of the gym. Then I rolled with Dave. Dave went slow with me at first, very gentle, and snuck a slow triangle in before I realized what was going on.

When it came time to roll with him a second time, he went much closer to full force, pushing it up to maybe 85%. That being said, one gets the impression that he never goes higher than 92% outside of competition, and even that only when he's having an unusually bad day. Some people are looking for a more aggressive environment; Dave offers a more methodical one.

This time the round lasted a lot longer. It's hard to gauge time when you're rolling, but it felt like at least 10 or 15 minutes. I was pinned with him on my back for a lot of that, a sort of stalemate. I pulled out a few times, only to be dragged in. Eventually, I caved in on exhaustion.

Fun. My neck was sore the next day from all the time on the ground, but fun.

Then the technique portion of the class began. The class of moves we learned related to pendulum throws, and were clever, novel, and interesting. Class was a little fast-paced, and we didn't get to practice both sides (which he acknowledged), but in exchange we got more breadth. Pretty engaging stuff, without going over our heads.

End of class, we rolled a bit more. You could tell the instructor was enjoying himself, not just doing his job.

We talked afterwards. Dave gave me an honest evaluation of where I was (which he was correct in judging me open towards receiving), and gave me straight talk about money that was still comfortable in its honesty.

I have to admit, the jiu jitsu was good--but beyond that, it's the character of the guy leaves me wanting to come back. I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of this place... But at the price, unfortunately, it might be a while.

Some other notes:
They jog together on Sundays in the evening, optional.
They only have classes on week nights (Mon, Tue, Thur), with one no-gi class Saturday at noon.
David has an online repository of techniques on his website free of charge, which is a pretty noble effort.

Pros:
Experienced, multi-background, instructor
Character
Clean facility
Small classes
Established
Respectful atmosphere
Good class structure
Quality instruction

Cons:
Smallish classroom
Payment plan is lump sums
Classes-to-cost is on the more expensive side no matter how you cut it
Parking can be tough if you're not on a motorcycle
Rented space means you can't linger forever rolling, it seems.

Sample video of his from bjjtech.com: