Gracie Barra – Acworth

Great environment, nice people, flexible class schedules, and amazing staff. Life changing experience

The best professors and the best BJJ gym. Great atmosphere, excellent instruction, and a welcoming team.

This is a fantastic place to train and the owners, Fabio and Marcia, are great people and amazing Jiu-Jitsu instructors. He is a 5th degree black belt and she is a 2nd degree black belt (both of those ranks are very uncommon in Jiu-Jitsu and take decades to achieve). The school is a regional headquarters and there are always lots of other black belts around (I've only ever trained at one place with more black belts, which was the Gracie Barra world headquarters in Brazil). All of the issues I had at my first BJJ gym were non-existent here. This school has great mats, very careful hygiene, instructors are VERY attentive to students and ensure they are learning the technique, very encouraging and they have such an expertise in all that they do (decades of training and being instructors shows). Their students are regularly on the winner's podium at BJJ competitions. Their kid's program is one of the best I have ever seen and Marcia & her daughter often teach it, her daughter (also a black belt) has been a Jiu-Jitsu world champion for the last several years, so she knows what she is doing too. If I had to give one negative about this place, it would be this: It is about far from my house. I know, not much of a criticism. 🤣 I really wish I lived closer and that I didn't travel so often, but the good part is that while I was a member there, I was able to train at other Gracie Barra gyms for free while traveling! If you are anywhere near this school, or even if you have to make the drive, it is worth it. I learned more in a few days of training here than I did in weeks of training at another gym. They are great instructors, great people and have one of the best levels of Jiu-Jitsu I have seen in the world (I've trained in dozens of different schools across multiple countries/continents/languages). The biggest complaints people have with Gracie Barra, in general, are as follows: You have to wear ONLY their uniforms and they are expensive, can't attend "open mat" or participate in "rolling" until you achieve a minimum rank (sparring at 3-stripe white belt) and that they have a set training curriculum. Guess what? I initially bought ONE uniform from them and bought a few used spares online for much cheaper to use while traveling. If I am honest, their gis are really nice and I actually ended up buying a few special editions from Marcia (they release new designs regularly). 🤣 The rolling? Once they see that you are a good person, controlling your actions and not a danger to others, the instructors will start including you and inviting you to open mat (they pick your training partners). I prefer that, because no one wants to get hurt, especially from a psycho white belt with zero technique. The set training curriculum? There are a lot of poorly trained people in Jiu-Jitsu and that have very poor instincts. People have seen me at other gyms and knew I had trained at Gracie Barra, based on some good habits/techniques I had learned there. Bottom line? If you want to wear random uniforms you bought online, want to be doing open mats and rolling at 100% from day one as a complete novice and want to have instructors that pick a move they are going to teach the night before, or just teach their favorite moves over and over again because they didn't prepare, Gracie Barra isn't a good choice for you. If you don't mind buying a nice uniform, want to be training with professionals, want instructors that are mindful of your progress and encourage you to participate more as your abilities permit and you want to learn from some of the most qualified instructors in Georgia, then this Gracie Barra location is an excellent choice! For parents: If my kids came to live with me full-time, I would make the drive for them to train here. ❤️🥋