Helio Gracie’s Original 40 Lessons

One of the best Christmas gifts I ever received was a VHS tape of Grand Master Helio Gracie’s original 40 lesson curriculum from the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California.  The Grand Master filmed his original curriculum with his grandsons, Ryron and Rener Gracie.

The Grand Master must have been in his mid-eighties, yet his technique was still very crisp and sharp.  Ryron or Rener would perform the attack, while the Grand Master would perform the defense.  The majority of techniques were stand up self defenses using throws and joint locks.

Helio Gracie originally arranged these techniques in a way that he felt was critical to the student’s success in learning the techniques.  When you look at the curriculum, it just makes a lot of sense.  You learn practical techniques from the beginning.  The easier to perform techniques are in the first few lessons, so the student begins to build success and momentum.

Each lesson contains two to three standing self defense techniques and one to two ground fighting techniques.  The lessons were designed to be completed in a 20 minute private session with an instructor.  The Gracies wanted to take care of their students, so the instructors took the risk of injury not the student.

Eventually, the curriculum would expand and include many more ground fighting and competition techniques.  The curriculum was available at the Gracie Academy but it is no longer available.  If you can get a copy of the DVD, it is well-worth the time to go through the original curriculum.

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