Daniel Elias Earns 2010 Reader’s Choice Best Personal Trainer

Alexander Crispim and Crispim BJJ are proud to announce that Daniel Elias was awarded the Pleasanton Weekly’s 2010 Reader’s Choice Best Personal Trainer.  The entire team at Crispim BJJ would like to congratulate Daniel on this amazing accomplishment!!

Daniel teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing and fitness at Crispim BJJ in Pleasanton.  Daniel is also available for small group and private training.  For more information on Daniel, please click on this link.

Again, congratulations to Daniel and we are so proud to have you as a huge part of the Crispim BJJ team! 

Also, we had an incredible day yesterday (Saturday) at our belt promotions and 1 year anniversary BBQ.  We will be posting a blog on the event, along with pictures within the next few days.  Congratulations to all team members who were awarded new belts and stripes.  Well deserved!!  And thank you to Samuel Braga, 3x World  Jiu Jitsu Champion,  and Diogo Gomes (Black Belt)  for being part of our celebration.  Samuel Braga will be teaching our Sunday classes today so come to the academy for some great training from this World Champion.

Crispim BJJ Trains in Downtown Pleasanton

This past Wednesday night, Alexander Crispim and many of the team members of Crispim BJJ were at the 1st Wednesday Street Party in Downtown Pleasanton.  We had a lot of fun and met many new people.  Quite a few of our young teammates volunteered their time to do demonstrations and showcase their skills and abilities.  We were very proud of them and they all did a great job.  We thank all of you who came and supported our team so that we may help others see, learn about and experience Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.   And thank you to all of the Pleasanton residents who stopped by and are interested in learning more about our programs.  Please come by and visit the academy and try some classes.  

This is just another example of how incredible our team is and the phenomenal support that each of you offers our academy and team.

Crispim BJJ will be at the 1st Wednesday in Pleasanton

Crispim BJJ will be at the 1st Wednesday Street Fair in Downtown Pleasanton on Wednesday, July 7th.  Come by our booth and watch some demonstrations, learn about our academy and programs (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, MMA, and Fitness) and meet our instructors, Alexander Crispim and Daniel Elias.   It will be a lot of fun!!
Also, we will be having our 1st Anniversary and Belt Promotions BBQ Party on Saturday, July 31st at the academy.  As we get closer, we will post more information about the days festivities, but… you can expect great food, lots of friends and family, and a team picture.   We hope everyone will be there.

Alexander Crispim Wins at Tachi Palace Fights

Alexander Crispim earns an unanimous decision at the Tachi Palace Fights last night.  He was called five days prior to the event and asked to take on Enoch Wilson (13-6-1) and prior PFC Champion.  Crispim agreed to take the fight and was able to dominate all three rounds.  Two of the judges scored it 30-27 and one scored it 29-28 for Crispim’s Unanimous Decision Victory.

The majority of the fight consisted of Crispim taking down Wilson and really capitalizing on his wrestling and jiu jitsu skills.  Crispim tried to finish the fight several times, including a clearly painful foot lock he got on Wilson, but Enoch Wilson proved to be a very tough opponent. It was a great fight and very exciting to watch.

Crispim would like to thank all of his family, Crispim BJJ team, UFC gym team, training partners and coaches.  “Without every one of these people, I would not have the training, support and successes that we are all achieving together.”

This fight brings Crispim’s record to 5-2.  Now Crispim wants to focus on his training and his team’s training for the Worlds Jiu Jitsu Tournament coming at the beginning of June.  We will soon be announcing some specific tournament training so please watch the website for updates.

Finally, you will notice some new features at the top of our website.  We will be rolling out instructions soon on how to use these new capabilities.

Congratulations to Team Crispim BJJ American Cup Competitors

Today was the first day of the American Cup Jiu Jitsu Tournament and it featured the kids.  We had four of our young team members attend and compete in the tournament today and we wanted to tell everyone how proud we are of them.

It takes a tremendous amount of courage to step on the mat and compete in a tournament and each of our young competitors all did this for their first time today.  They all showed true heart, great passion and an incredible amount of determination. We are very proud of each and every one of you.

A lot of people compete and participate in martial arts and sports with one goal in mind and that is to ALWAYS win.  And where the final outcome is very important, it is just as important to also make sure that we are valuing other things too, such as- the self confidence and self esteem that a child gets when they build the courage to enter the competition and represent himself/herself and the team, the sportsmanship they display at the end of the competition when they make the decision on how they will handle their win OR loss, and the development and motivation they build upon to always improve and overcome new challenges.  What we saw today were four young team members display ALL of these things.  We saw self confidence, great sportsmanship, a true representation of our team and the will for each and every one of them to keep training hard to achieve their goals.   To Nico, Dustin, Jasper and Isaac- Team Crispim BJJ is proud to have you all as competitors for the team.   Good job today.

Also, please note that the Sunday class has been cancelled due to the number of adult competitors we have participating in Day 2 of the American Cup jiu jitsu tournament. Good luck to all of you tomorrow.

Alexander Crispim to Fight Wednesday!

Hello Team,

As you know, Crispim’s fight at Cage Combat was cancelled at the last minute due to issues with his opponent which left him frustrated and disappointed.  He wanted to fight and give all of you who had supported him a great show and properly represent Crispim BJJ and the UFC gym.

Well… he got a call yesterday asking him to fight at the Tachi Palace Fights in Lemoore against Enoch Wilson.  Crispim took the fight!  He says that he is ready to go to battle!   GOOD LUCK CRISPIM!!!

Also, just a little note… we will be adding some pretty cool new features and abilities to the website.  Please watch for them over the next few weeks. :)

Alex Crispim Earns the Gold at the Pan Ams

We are proud to announce that our very own, Alexander Crispim, won his three fights today at the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship taking him to the podium and earning the gold medal.  Alexander Crispim would like to thank all of his students, training partners and staff from Crispim BJJ in Pleasanton and the UFC Gym in Concord for their incredible training and support.  Without every one of the white belts, blue belts, purple belts, brown belts and black belts he trains with, Crispim would never have succeeded in his quest for the championship.  Crispim would also like to thank Rob Gibson and Allan Maravilla for constantly pushing his cardio and their absolute dedication in making sure that he is ready for all of his competitions and fights.

Crispim BJJ and Alexander Crispim would also like to congratulate the team on their performances at the Pan Ams this weekend.  Congratulations to Carlos Jimenez for taking the SILVER medal in his division.  And congratulations to Phil Rogacki for earning the BRONZE medal in his division.  In addition, the team had many other competitors who stepped on to the mats and fought good strong fights, with lots of wins, passion, skill, and heart.  It takes a tremendous amount of courage to enter a competition like this and we had both first time tournament competitors as well as seasoned competitors and we are extremely proud of each and every one of you.   We are getting better and stronger every day and with everyone’s continued dedication, support and motivation, we will be unbeatable.

Here is the link for the complete results from the Pan Ams.  Also, we will post pictures and video as we collect it.  Please send us any pictures you have because we are missing pictures from some of our team’s competitions. Thanks.

Latest News at Crispim BJJ in Pleasanton

Hi Crispim BJJ Barra Brothers Team:

 Here is the latest news:

 *     You will notice that we have A LOT of new faces around the academy in fitness, boxing and jiu jitsu. Please introduce yourselves to them and make them all feel welcome.

*     A big THANK YOU to Daniel Elias for being such a huge part of the academy and the team.  The academy would not be so successful without Daniel.  He is an incredible instructor, a loyal team member and a true friend.   His presence, training and teaching is helping Crispim out while he moves into the last 4 weeks of training before his fight.   We couldn’t do this all without you Daniel!!

*     Congratulations to Josh McDonald for getting a fight with Cage Combat on April 24th, the same card as Crispim.  It is going to be a GOOD NIGHT!

*     We have a lot of team members competing in the Pan Ams.  Good luck to all of you.  Training has been great!

*     We now have MMA sparring on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12-2.  If you are interested in coming, please talk to Crispim.

*     Thank you to Crosley Gracie for his help in training Crispim for his upcoming fight.  Your presence at the academy has been a huge motivator for Crispim and our team and the training has been phenomenal.

*     RevGear has completed hand making our heavy bags and grappling dummies.  We will be picking all of those up on our way back from the Pan Ams.  Watch for the new equipment mid-April.

*     Remember to place your orders for the RevGear boxing and MMA packages.  The leather boxing gloves come in black, red and pink.  We place orders every Monday.

*     The academy will be closed for the Pan Ams from Thursday, April 8th through Sunday, April 11th.  We will be open for training as usual on Monday, April 12th. 

*     If you would like to get Crispim BJJ T-shirts for the Pan Ams, please order them as soon as possible.  We need a few days to place any orders if we don’t have your size in stock.

*     Our FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY and BELT PROMOTION BBQ will be on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at the academy in Pleasanton.  Please make sure you write this date on your calendar.  We will have more details as it gets closer, but we want to make sure that as many of our team as possible can be present for our team picture that day.   This includes the whole team- fitness, boxing and jiu jitsu.  Oh yeah… I understand that we have some serious BBQers on the team so hopefully we will be able to enlist their skills for the BBQ that day. :)

I think that covers it for now.  Thanks Team.

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Brian Gets His Purple Belt at Crispim BJJ

Alexander Crispim and Crispim BJJ in Pleasanton are proud to announce a new purple belt!!!  Brian Bartholomew was awarded his purple belt yesterday.  Brian is an old friend and has been training with Crispim since back in the days when Crispim was teaching at Ralph’s in Dublin.  Brian is a hardworking member of the team and shares his time between his job, family and jiu jitsu.  Brian’s dedication and commitment to training and the team are commendable.  He is always there to offer himself as a great training partner to his teammates.  He is a good friend, loyal student and very skilled jiu jitsu practitioner.  We are very proud to have Brian as the newest purple belt in jiu jitsu on our team. 

We asked Brian to tell us a little about why he trains jiu jitsu and his experiences and this is what he had to say. “I am honored to be able to train with Crispim and everyone else at the academy.  I met Crispim around five years ago when I started to train in Dublin. Before that I had trained a bit, but never anything consistent.  In the beginning , I wanted to train for self defense reasons, but not long after that, I realized there were many more reasons to train.  It didn’t take long til jiu jitsu seemed to be embedded in my mind. For some reason it was as if the hard times in life were even harder when I was not training.  It has always had a kind of pull on me.  For me, it is such an awesome feeling to be able to train your mind in this way.  And that’s what it is for me, a mind game, and it’s like Crispim knows what you are thinking and how you are thinking.  During training, he is not just testing you physically, but also mentally.  Crispim makes you think about your own game and your own challenges within.  I am constantly amazed about the things he teaches and shares. He must have the wisdom of an eighty year old man inside of him.  And that’s why I am here. Crispim is a teacher and a friend and I know you cannot put a price on that.  
 
 Also, the relationships and bonds that are created in the academy are ones that last forever. The diversity is great and you never know who you might meet.  
 
Thanks again for everything to Crispim and his family and the academy.  You guys are strong together, and it can be seen.”  Again… Congratulations to Brian.  We are very proud to have him at the academy, as a friend and as a very valuable member of the team.

Incredible Rodrigo Gracie Seminar at Crispim BJJ

Alexander Crispim and Crispim BJJ Barra Brothers in Pleasanton would like to thank Rodrigo Gracie for the incredible jiu jitsu seminar he gave to our team yesterday.  We had a full house of students learning and training together, along with a total of five Black Belts on the mat.   We would also like to thank Crosley Gracie and his family (Crosley Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu of Brentwood) for supporting and attending the seminar.   We are happy that we could offer this seminar before the Pan Ams for some additional training prior to our competitions.   Thank you for attending and we hope you learned and enjoyed yourselves.

Here are a few comments about the seminar:

*   That was an awesome seminar. I have some new side control attacks!!- Anthony D.
*   Thank you, that was a great seminar !!!- Angele K.
*   Had a great time today and learned a lot, thanks!- John B.
*   Still amazed!!! :) - Erico M.
*   Awesome moves- Logan M.
*   I can’t wait to start taking souls with those moves this week!!! Thanks Rodrigo!- Justin H.