I recently went on my annual snowboarding trip / general relaxation trip to Denver and it's mountains. I stayed with my friend who is a personal trainer, so when she was at work I would go check out some of the local gyms. Also I drove on I-80 through the quad cities in IL/IA, so I saw the Militich gym. Also earlier in the trip I passed by Miguel Torres' gym in Hammond, IN. I only trained once at Easton's BJJ on broadway in Denver because I was on vacation and can get my ass beat at home, It is a great gym and I would recommend it. The altitude in Denver, and even more so in the mountains, make for a great place to work on cardio. Overall I saw: Torres' gym in Hammond, which is pretty basic but the intensity and level of instruction is very high. Nate Marquardt's High Altitude MA gym in Aurora which was really well set up for strength and conditioning (no surprise when you look at Nate). Grapplers Edge in Denver, a very good local school, produces a lot of good talent but doesn't have any famous competitors on the world stage. Gumm MMA, as the name implies an overall MMA gym, good instructors all around but focused on MMA competition and getting fighters fights. Cerrone's old gym in Vail, kind of a general Martial Arts gym that probably makes most of it's money off rich parents sending their kids to TKD, but given Cerrone's ground game and considering he started as a pure Muay Thai guy, they are doing something very ****ing good up there. Only drove by MFS as I didn't really have time. Also I guess I could include the University of Iowa as I stayed the night nearby and they have one of the best wrestling programs in the country. Last year I took I 70 instead of 80 and drove by Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler's H.I.T Squad in Granite City IL, which is basically St Louis. Overall it was really cool and just shows that there are so many great gyms all around. Jackson's in particular has a really good thing going; they have a pipeline of fighters coming out of Denver, where they all train at associated gyms like any of the Easton's locations, T's KO when it was open, Bang's gym when it was open, etc, but then get them all to train together at times in New Mexico. I really think that is the way forward.
My instructor got his BB from Amal Easton, he is a great instructor so he obviously learned from a good guy. Nice work beebs.:good.
I remember the altitude from when I did a training camp for TKD at the olympic training center. I felt a burst of energy when I came home to ohio. sounds like a fun tour. And yes, people make a lot of money selling tkd to kids. The thing is, even if the instructor is legit (world/olympic champ, former muay thai/kyokushinkai, whatever) they tend to teach the kids what the parents want them to learn. Which is usually forms, stretching, and some games. Nothing to get anyone hurt with. To a full contact fighter that sounds like a bad thing, but in truth taekwondo encompasses more than just sparring. Not everyone who joins wants to do full contact head kicks.
It was pretty fun; not really the point of my trip, but made a nice bonus. Didn't mean to disparage TKD itself, just saying they probably pay the bills with kids classes since Vail is a pretty expensive place.
ah yeah, I wasnt bothered or anything. I just like to talk tkd wherever possible, and you were absolutely right in what you said.
The U.S. has such a huge network for grappling and MMA developement! Really amazing reading and hearing about what is out there and being created. In short: The three places I would most like to visit. Erik Paulson's Cobra Kai ATT Anyone have stories about these places???
