Rigan Machado Seminar Thoughts

Saturday I attended a Jiu-Jitsu seminar by Rigan Machado, hosted by Patrick Tray of Trident Martial Arts. I want to share a few thoughts on the seminar for anyone who wants to attend one in the future.

The location was top notch. Trident is in Woodbridge, VA, and features two huge training areas. They are meticulous about mat hygiene.

I've trained at Mr. Tray's school before, about 1 1/2 years ago for a great series on ground, striking, and weapons scenarios.

The cost was very reasonable -- $79 for early registration and three hours. Saturday was a gi session and Sunday was a no-gi session. I could only attend Saturday.

If I had paid at the door, it would have cost me $99. If I had registered early for both sessions, the cost would have been $149.

In addition to Master Rigan, Master Marcos Santos from Texas was present and helped teach material.

Mr Tray and several of his black belts (like Mikey Custodio) participated and helped teach. Ben Gilbert, who is a full instructor for all of Mr. Tray's programs, also helped. All of the instructors and students I worked with were friendly.

We had about 50 attendees, including the professors.

Rigan began the seminar with a short discussion on his strategy. He emphasized tightness and pressure. He wants to make his opponent feel uncomfortable and make him tap using pressure. He really likes operating from side control, so we spent most of the seminar working from that position.

He divided the seminar into three parts. The first two parts involved teaching 3-4 techniques each. I do not remember the exact numbering but I will share what I can.

The first technique was a transition from side control into controlling both of the opponent's arms and his head. The second involved lifting him off the mat, tightening control, and then flattening him out. The third involved a leg entanglement that resulted in twisting the opponent into a submission.

After drilling each of these techniques for a while, we had a few minutes for a water break. The opening discussion and first part last about 90 minutes.

In the second part we worked four more techniques. The first was an arm-in choke that required switching side control from one side of the opponent to the other. The second was a transition from north-south into side control. The third was a transition from side control into an arm bar or triangle choke. I do not remember the fourth!

That second part lasted about 60 minutes, after which we had another water break. Rigan then had us perform "quick drills." In this part all students ran around the mats in a circle. Rigan called out a technique number. We grabbed the nearest partner, dropped to the mat, and took turns drilling the techniques. Then we stood up and resumed running.

These were more tiring than I expected. We dropped every 20 seconds or so. The session last about 20 minutes, so we probably did about 60 techniques during that time.

The last 10 minutes of the session included positional rolling. I happened to be odd man out when it started because I asked Rigan about his work on the John Wick movies. We ended up talking about his movie work during the rolling time, which was fine by me. He showed me pictures from attending the premier of Clint Eastwood's new movie, and we discussed Jiu-jitsu training for Air Force basic trainees.

After the seminar, Rigan and everyone took the time to get pictures with anyone who wanted one. He also talked about starting a black belt club for RCJ black belts.

Overall the seminar was great. We did a lot of technique drilling and my partners and I were able to get help when we needed it. Thank you to Mr. Tray for hosting Masters Rigan and Marcos and to my training partners for an awesome experience.

Have you attended a Rigan Machado or Machado brothers seminar? Stay informed of new blog posts by following me on Twitter @martialvitality.

Update: Thanks AW for the typo fix!