Episode #12 -Lessons From the Masters: Professor Rodrigo Maciel

Journey with us as we sit at the feet of , Rodrigo Maciel, soaking in the wisdom that transcends the mats. In this episode, Rodrigo takes us through the pivotal moments that shaped his path from an MMA fighter to a Jiu-Jitsu maestro, revealing the essence of commitment that fuels mastery in this art. We pay tribute to his prestigious lineage and the legends he's trained amongst, discovering how the fabric of camaraderie and respect binds the Jiu-Jitsu community together.

As we spar with questions in a rapid-fire session, Rodrigo's preferences in the sport surface—illuminating his views on the Gi vs. No-Gi  and the cherished techniques that make Jiu-Jitsu a craft of infinite layers. Beyond the mats, Rodrigo shares his passions, the cultivation of his knowledge outside the sport, and the influences that have steered his journey. Our conversation culminates with Rodrigo's dream training partners, a testament to the reverence and connectivity at the heart of Jiu-Jitsu, reminding us all why we step onto the mat, ready to evolve with every roll. Oss.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Lessons From a Jiu-Jitsu Master
• 14:55 Get to Know Jiu-Jitsu Instructor
• 29:20 Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu Podcast Finale

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hi everyone, Joe, here I'm starting this episode out a little bit different today, because today this episode is a very special episode for me.

Speaker 1: 0:11

This episode is not just about the techniques or the mats where we train and grow, but it's also about the people who guide us through our jiu-jitsu journey, and there's no one who embodies this spirit more than my professor and instructor, Rodrigo Maciel. Having Rodrigo here today is not just an honor, but it is an absolute, profound privilege. He's not only shaped my path in Jiu-Jitsu, but he also has quickly become a steadfast friend throughout my journey, a steadfast friend throughout my journey. You see, the wisdom and brilliance that he brings to our academy are things I carry with me every day, both on and off the mats. So before we dive into the heart of our conversation with Rodrigo today and roll out that sweet intro music, I just want to say thank you, Rodrigo, for all that you do, not only for me, but for all of us at Alliance Roswell, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we look forward to being practitioners trained and guided by your brilliance and carrying your teachings and principles with us throughout our entire jiu-jitsu journey. Awesome, my friend.

Speaker 2: 1:31

Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu the blend of white belt enthusiasm, black belt wisdom and a dash of caffeine for that extra kick. Dive deep into the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we explore the journey, techniques, challenges and the sheer joy of the sport from a White Belt's perspective, from intriguing interviews with renowned coaches and professors to playful fun episodes that'll have you chuckling mid-roll. We've got it all brewed and ready. Now, stepping onto the mass and into your ears, here's your host, joe Motes.

Speaker 1: 2:24

And welcome back everyone to another episode of Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu. I am your host, joe Motz, and I am excited for today's episode because it is our first in the series of lessons from a master, and I couldn't think of a better guest than my professor, rodrigo Maciel.

Speaker 3: 2:46

So, professor Maciel, welcome to the show, hey it's a pleasure for me to be here in your podcast. That's my first podcast ever too, so I'm excited too.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Yeah, awesome. Well, I'm glad that you decided for this one to be your first one. It's a huge honor for me to have you on the show and I talk about you in a lot of the episodes. I know you listen. So, yeah, I hope I make you proud here and we have a good conversation. So let's start out by learning a little bit more about you. I know a good bit about you, but let's uh, let's let the listeners know. So if you could just give me kind of a a brief introduction and biography, maybe start too uh about you know your time in Brazil, coming up in Brazil and how you kind of came into jiu-jitsu yeah, when I start was 2008 and I just want to learn self-defense.

Speaker 3: 3:43

I start start with MMA, but when I started MMA I was doing good on striking when we were sparring, but every time people would take me down and submit me. So my coach told me hey, man, you've got to train jiu-jitsu. That's the secret. And then I trained one time jiu-jitsu if I gave and I fall in love. And I never stopped since 2008 awesome, awesome.

Speaker 1: 4:11

And you, you started your training in Brazil, correct? Exactly in Berlin do para yeah, and then how was a? You know, how was your transition here to the US? What made you kind of come over here and start training? Talk us through that a little bit.

Speaker 3: 4:27

Yeah, I came in 2019. The reason is because a lot of the major tournaments is here in the US Pan American World, master Awards, nogi Awards so I came here to to get better with my jiu-jitsu career and, yeah, I'm here now.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Yeah, and open a best-in-class school. You know one of the things. So I trained a little bit before I started training under you and so I had to make a change in academies and schools and I was looking for places up here closer to work and one of the things that stood out to me when I came across Alliance Roswell was kind of your pedigree, right Like the people you've trained under, and I just knew a little bit based off what I read. Can you talk us through a little bit about who you got your black belt under? Some of the people you've trained under, things like that.

Speaker 3: 5:29

Yeah, I've trained. I got my black belt from Iliad Santos His black belt on the Dela River. He's more on the MMA side of the jiu-jitsu. He fought UFC. He has a couple of students that are on UFC right now Davidson Figueiredo. He was UFC champion, but yeah, I got my black belt from him and I chose just to compete in jiu-jitsu.

Speaker 1: 6:01

Yeah, I know one of, again, some of the standouts that you know. I think we've been able to get a little closer because of, you know, training in the mornings and there for a while because the school was so new, it was kind of just me and you in the mornings, or you and I should. I say, and I remember well, one of the things you always razz me on is my addiction to BJJ fanatics, Right. So I watch all of the instructionals. I told you that Leo Nogueira was one of the first ones that I had talked to. I had no clue that you were friends with him and knew him. I thought that was really cool. You've trained with a lot of those guys.

Speaker 3: 6:43

I have the opportunity to train with a lot of board champions. I've trained with many, many people Like Cyborg. When I live in Miami, I train under Cyborg. In Brazil, I've trained with Leandro Lowe, before Rodolfo Vieira and here Helena Leon Nogueira and Jacare.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Wow, yeah, that's pretty impressive. And he, elena Leonel're also, you know, owner of an academy. How do you approach your personal learning, like the things that you want to learn new or improve on, and also teaching, and also, how do you evolve your jiu-jitsu?

Speaker 3: 7:40

What are some of the things that you do? This actually has been hard for me, like to coach, be athlete and run a school. So I'm still in the process to learning and, yeah, my jiu-jitsu. I always I love to study jiu-jitsu, watch a lot of fights. That's how I try to improve myself and learn more and I kind of look what I struggle. I kind of, if I need to work some takedowns, I'm going to study a little bit and practice with you guys. Oh God.

Speaker 1: 8:33

Yeah, I know. So I get to train with you a lot and I've always tried to figure out maybe your game plan, but I never can because it's always so different him, because it's always so different and maybe it's you know some of the people you've trained with over you know the black belts, higher belts or something like that who kind of get the you know the real deal, kind of can pick up on your game plan. But I would imagine it's hard being owner of a school and training and trying to keep your game evolving.

Speaker 3: 9:05

Yeah, yeah, as I told you, I'm always studying, so when I train, I don't care much to do my a game. I always try everything, like if I feel that I want to learn a new move, I study the move and when I, I try to do as much as I can the same move over and over until I get it and I always try to come with something different.

Speaker 1: 9:34

Yeah, I know one of the things you tell us a lot, you know, as we train, especially those of us that train. You know, daily weekly we get a lot of jiu-jitsu training train you know, daily, weekly we get a lot of jiu-jitsu training and is you tell us not to? You know, to miss the gym and and and the weights, because that's that's important? Uh, here at alliance roswell we have we have a pretty nice gym. Do you find it hard keeping up with, with, like your strength building and and keeping keeping your mental toughness, knowing that you have this huge work schedule and maybe you don't get to to train as much?

Speaker 3: 10:10

yeah, that's hard, but I know to be. It's very important to to jujitsu you are to be in shape to, so I try to work out at least three times a week and that's helped me a lot.

Speaker 1: 10:31

That's what I've been struggling with a lot. When I started here, I was a heavier guy. I was over 200. You've seen my transformations since training here, but I lost a lot of strength. My transformations it's training here, but I lost a lot of strength and I got, I got really weak when I, when I, um, you know, uh, started losing the weight. And you know, even for me and I I don't own a gym and have nearly the schedule you, you have where you're, you're just literally eating, sleeping and training jujitsu, um, but I do have a busy life and that's hard for me. I've really started to struggle getting that time in, but I think two to three times a week. For those who are listening, it's important and critical to stay strong. So you're still competing, right, you still compete pretty often, or what do you have next on the competition?

Speaker 3: 11:24

I'm still competing, not often as I used to be before. I kind of slowed down right now because of the school and everything. I prioritize my students first. I try to help them as much as I can to succeed in jiu-jitsu. But this year I I fought new orleans open and my next, my next tournament that I'm seeing is master wars you got double gold in that right.

Speaker 1: 11:57

The last one yeah, I won gi. No gi, yeah, awesome, awesome. Um, what do you? What do you like? Well, it's kind of a two-part question what do you like most about competing? And then, what do you like most about teaching?

Speaker 3: 12:15

What I like most about competing is the adrenaline, like the feeling before and after the match. Before and after the match, like the adrenaline is something that just if you guys compete, you guys are going to understand. And I really recommend everybody that trains Jiu-Jitsu to try at least one time to compete, to feel the adrenaline, even if you win or lose, I guarantee that you guys are going to enjoy the experience.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Yeah, yeah, that's something you told me when you coached me. In my first competition I went more for the experience and the learning opportunity, and then my second one, it was more focused on okay. Now I want to get some wins and do really, really well. What do you like most about teaching and what made you decide to kind of make that shift and go into instructing?

Speaker 3: 13:17

I did not really try to coach, but the opportunity when I moved to the US, the opportunity came, but the opportunity when I moved to us, the opportunity came Jack Keran, and now no, getting invite me to teach jiu-jitsu over the headquarters. And that's how I start and I'm enjoy a lot. Like I teach you sheets is a challenge and that makes me grow a lot like improve a lot, like improve a lot. It helped me a lot with my own jiu-jitsu, so I just enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 13:53

And what do you like least about teaching?

Speaker 3: 13:58

When I teach, sometimes you want to. If you like jiu-jitsu, you want to just come and roll right to have fun. If you like jiu-jitsu, you want to just come and roll right to have fun. So when you teach, sometimes you've got to like. You can't be selfish. You've got to give your time to your students.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Sometimes what I miss is to be free to roll. I think that if you're a high kind of high tempo, you know competitive mindset. To slow down and teach others. That's got to be a huge adjustment. One thing that I would say it definitely shows a lot about kind of your character and your willingness to give, and I know that that we are all thankful and grateful for it. So I want to talk about gym ownership some more, but before we do that, I want to kind of go through a series of questions.

Speaker 1: 14:55

This is something that I added to this series. It's not really original thought. I can't remember his name right now, but the guy who does the BJJ Fanatics podcast does this thing called the Pumble with his, his guests, and I thought it'd be cool to do a kind of a series of questions to get to know you a little more. So, yeah, let's do that. So we're going to call this rapid fire round and yeah, man, let's, let's learn a little bit more about you. So do you prefer Gi or no? Gi, gi, gi what do you like about?

Speaker 3: 15:30

the Gi. I'm old school Jiu-Jitsu, I love Gi. I think with Gi you can be more technical. Yeah, just enjoy more yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:41

Yeah, I prefer Gi too, but that's because I'm an old guy and I have to slow people down. Favorite submission this is something I want to hear.

Speaker 3: 15:51

I think cross-collar choke from.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Yeah, I would say so, and the reason I laugh to the listeners is because that's consistently what I get from it. Do you like to stay up late or do you like to go to bed earlier? Are you a night owl or an early bird? I like night more. You like night, all right, so going out. What do you like to do in your free time Besides shoot? I know you like to shoot, but what else?

Speaker 3: 16:20

Yeah, I don't do a lot of things. I like to. When I'm not teaching, I'm not teaching. I'm also when I'm out of the school, I'm also studying Jiu-Jitsu, watching fights, and, yeah, I don't do a lot.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Out of all the tournaments and competitions you've been in, what would you say has been kind of your favorite jiu-jitsu event or tournament? Maybe it's not even something that you competed in, maybe you just went and saw it.

Speaker 3: 16:51

My first tournament is definitely Master Wars, like Jiu-Jitsu Con. The tournament in general is a good experience.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Yeah, that's something I hope to get to. It looks absolutely amazing. Yeah, this next question who has been the most influential jiu-jitsu practitioner for you? Who's had the biggest impact on you and your training and just your growth overall?

Speaker 3: 17:21

people. That most influenced me is Leo Nogueira, and I think I have two people Leo Nogueira and Cyborg. Yeah, I learned a lot from them.

Speaker 1: 17:32

Yeah, that's two impressive guys. I'll tell you, I've got to train because you know Leo. You know two of his events in the seminar one we just did and it was absolutely phenomenal. You've been in the US now for four years, three years, four, almost five, almost five. Okay, what is your favorite city to visit here in the US? New York, new York. What do you like about New York?

Speaker 3: 18:05

Man, everything Great food. New York is good in general, I like it.

Speaker 1: 18:12

Have you been to the Statue of Liberty and seen all the sights yet?

Speaker 3: 18:18

Not yet. I've been to other places, but not the statue.

Speaker 1: 18:23

What about DC? Have you ever been to Washington DC?

Speaker 3: 18:26

Not yet.

Speaker 1: 18:27

I want to go at some point. Yeah, that's my favorite place to visit. What about abroad? What about overseas? What's been your favorite country or favorite city to visit?

Speaker 3: 18:40

Yeah, in my whole life I've just been to two countries, here and in Brazil. In Brazil, my favorite city is Sao Paulo, for sure, it's kind of. Sao Paulo is kind of like New York in Brazil. It's a huge city, so it's kind of the same a lot of restaurants, and it's a nice city to go. Yeah, yeah about Jiu-Jitsu Sao Paulo is one of the best cities to do Jiu-Jitsu in the world. They have a lot of schools, allies.

Speaker 1: 19:14

You've trained in both Brazil and here in the US. What are some of the key differences and this is just a question that's kind of come up that you notice? And this is just a question that's kind of come up that you notice in, let's say, a white belt in Brazil with a year's training and a white belt here in the US with a year's training. What are some of the differences between those two practitioners that you would notice?

Speaker 3: 19:38

I think the culture, that's the difference. Like in Brazil, people is more talent, but here for sure, people is more hard work, have more discipline, like people always on time. Brazil is not famous. It's famous to always get late. In Brazil we go to train, we get late in class and we like to talk a lot. You know people came to class, focus, drill and everybody have your own journey.

Speaker 1: 20:11

People take notes of everything yeah, yeah, so so marco would fit pretty good in over brazil, right? Yeah, he would do really well.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Yes, yeah yeah, so hopefully Marco will listen to this and he'll get a laugh out of that. What has been the hardest part? What do you think the hardest part about training jujitsu is? Is it, you know, the soreness? Is it the physical, the mental aspect? Is it learning technique? What do you think? Let's say it like this For your students what have you noticed has been the hardest part for them in learning jiu-jitsu?

Speaker 3: 20:53

I think for the beginners is put the techniques together right In the beginning. You struggle a little bit.

Speaker 1: 21:01

Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's something that even I and you know this, even I still struggle with is just, you know, connecting. And it's one thing to to drill a technique, it's another thing to put it together in a live role. Last question who, for this section, who would you most like to roll with? And this could be you know someone from the past who's kind of dead and gone, or it could be you know someone current. Who would you like to have a good training session in with?

Speaker 3: 21:37

Who I would like to go or who I trained before that I like.

Speaker 1: 21:42

Well see, that's the thing You've trained with a lot of people. This is somebody who you've never trained with, but, like you know how, I was a fan of Leo Nogueira and I was all excited. So who would you like to train with?

Speaker 3: 21:54

Oh, I would like to train with Jorge Grace. That's nice.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:59

I watch him a lot and I inspire him. It would be great to have an experience to train with him, yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Yeah, how do you think you'll do?

Speaker 3: 22:09

I will try my best.

Speaker 1: 22:13

All right, Well, thanks for going in and answering some of those more personal questions. So let's go back to gym ownership, because I know there's going to be a lot of. I know we have a lot of gym owners who listen to the podcast, because I'll get some questions to the email the podcast email from time to time. But we talked a little bit about what inspired you and you just kind of fell into. You know gym ownership, but how do you keep your students motivated? How do you keep yourself motivated? What do you feel like some? What do you get excited about when you're teaching? So how do you keep your students motivated and what do you get excited about when you're teaching?

Speaker 3: 23:07

That's a good question. That's it's hard, man. It's hard to keep others motivated. I try to do my best, like I always try to keep everybody together like a family, so they can feel part of the group. I always try to support everybody, especially for the beginners. It's hard to keep everybody motivated.

Speaker 1: 23:32

Yeah, I think that, and I can see that. I can see some of the things that you do we have our. I think one of the coolest things that we did was establish that group chat. You know, when someone joins here at Alliance Roswell, we have a code that you can scan and it brings you into a group WhatsApp chat and Professor Maciel is consistently posting in there. Alliance recently just placed first in what competition was it that they just won this weekend? Weekend, I don't know. Yeah, it was the, was it this week? No, brazilian National? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that one and he'll post stuff like that in there and then he'll inspire friendly competition. And so there's things that we do like that. We go out to lunch every now and then as a group. That's been big, but yeah, when you have such a small, well, it's not as small as it was, but when you have a growing academy, I would imagine it's hard.

Speaker 2: 24:32

But when you?

Speaker 1: 24:32

have a growing academy. I would imagine it's hard. I can say for me, one of the things that you've done that has kept me motivated is and some people may appreciate this and some people may not, they may have thin skin, but how you're always kind of pushing, like you don't let anything slide. If a technique's wrong or we're doing something wrong, it's not. You know, you're not going to praise bad behavior, right, when I came, I had some some bad habits and bad techniques and a lot of those are gone, but it's really good to know that you put pride in your jujitsu and the jujitsu that you're teaching for me. That that that keeps me motivated. So so when we uh, you know as we, as we close out, um, just uh, one more uh, or a couple more questions, uh, let's say, someone on the street, uh, finds out that you own a jiu-jitsu academy and they're interested in starting, what would you say to them? What would you say, hey, yes, you should start, and here's why I think you should start.

Speaker 3: 25:43

Yeah, I always try to recommend anyone like skills kids especially them to try to learn jiu-jitsu, because jiu-jitsu is a good sport but also it's a great self-defense. So in the world we are living right now, I think it's essential to everyone start to train jiu-jitsu and use that tool as a self-defense, even if you don't need. But if you need, you're going to be ready to any occasion.

Speaker 1: 26:19

Yeah, it's got to make you excited when you see how large our kids' class is. Right To see how I mean we have. I mean we have at least 20, maybe more. Yeah, we have 20 kids every class. That's crazy, and I think that goes to show too how parents are trusting you here at Alliance Roswell and getting their kids indoctrinated.

Speaker 3: 26:47

Yeah, jiu-jitsu gives the kids more confidence. Now bullying is a thing in school, then now is bullying is a thing in school. And jiu-jitsu make the kid step up for that, give more confident and avoid those kind of situation and I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 1: 27:04

I have five boys and I would love, love, love, uh, if all of them did jiu-jitsu. I mean, we play around a good bit of the house, uh, right now. You know, there there's interest. But you know, cam, he only wants to train with you, so it's kind of hard to get him up here. I can't believe we hadn't talked about it, is I? You know, I find it a huge honor to be. You know, I know I'm not your first blue belt, but Alliance Roswell's first blue belt. And man, that was something I, you know, I, I, what was it? December you? You promoted me December, yeah, so what would you say? Closing out here would be your advice. You just gave advice for somebody who's wanting to start, but for those like me who are under two years experience almost all of your academy are white belts or people with under two years what would you give to them for advice? For them to be black belts one day? What would you say?

Speaker 3: 28:15

I always tell everybody Jiu-Jitsu, have no secret, like it's, just show up every day and enjoy the process. Like if you love what you do, if you love Jiu-Jitsu, just keep it up and showing up every day. Eventually your belt's going to come.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Absolutely, and it does.

Speaker 2: 28:36

It does.

Speaker 1: 28:37

It absolutely does. Well, professor Maciel, thank you so much. This is a huge, huge honor. We're going to have some more of these type of episodes. For those of you who are interested in jiu-jitsu you heard it here Start as soon as you can, and we would love to have you here at Alliance Roswell. You can come. Well, we have a week. Is it a week or three days? What's our trial class? Three days, Three days, all right. So it's a three-day trial class to see how you like it. You're not going to come in here and get killed by anyone. Professor Maciel is here to help train and inspire and get you good at jiu-jitsu. And that is all for this week's episode. Stay caffeinated, stay grounded and let's roll through this journey together, and I'll see you on the mats and in the next episode.

Speaker 2: 29:36

And that's the final tap on today's episode of Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu. A big thanks to all of our listeners, especially today's insightful guest, for sharing their BJJ knowledge and tales. If you felt that adrenaline rush and are hungry for more, hit, subscribe, drop a review and spread the jujitsu buzz. For show notes and to contact the host, reach out to the email provided in the podcast description and to join our grappling community, head over to Instagram. Get those geese, crisp your coffee strong and always be prepared for the next roll Oss.