Back in December, whilst visiting my mom, I had the good fortune of training a number of days at American Top Team Vero Beach, headed up by Renato Tavares.
The guy still competes at many IBJJF tournaments, has a bananas wall of badass medals to proof the efficacy of what he teaches, and was super welcoming to me during my stay.
The man has won some tournaments. |
That being said, for a guy his age (40ish I believe) he is in ridiculous shape. The guy looks better at his age than I've probably ever looked in my life, even when I was in my early 20's and training for MMA fights.
Having trained and competed and fought in various combat/grappling sports, I take what anyone tells me with a grain of salt. I ask myself, "has this person demonstrated under duress or in competition or at least in a live format the thing they are espousing?"
Weight cutting for the IBJJF with weigh-ins minutes before you compete potentially is NOT the same as cutting weight for wrestling, cutting weight for a local tournament with day before weigh-ins. Nor is it the same as making weight for an amateur MMA fight with 3x3 min rounds. Nor is it the same as a day before weigh-in for a pro MMA bout of 5x5min rounds.
Moving on, this man has done the below, and won so when he speaks, I listen: