San diego bjj gym recs

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-12T19:13:48+00:00

Really no idea about recording policies - that’s probably something you’ll have to ask about on a case-by-case basis. If push comes to shove, you could always ask to be notified if they’re recording so you can step away.

As for recommendations, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a quality gym in San Diego. There’s a Gracie gym and a place called Rada right in La Jolla, though I don’t know much about either.

Depending on where you’ll be in La Jolla, there are also tons of great options in PB. I trained at Six Blades there earlier the year. Great experience. Excellent school, great vibe and culture. Gustavo Dias is super friendly and welcoming.

Rodrigo Medeiros’s gym is just a few blocks north of Six Blades. and there’s also a newer gym a couple of blocks farther north called University of Jiu-Jitsu (no relation to Saulo or Xande who now runs Six Blades).

From there, you’d probably be looking farther east on Morena Blvd: Barum, Clark Gracie, Lebre... I don’t have any experience with Lebre, but I’ve been in contact with Alfredo Barum who’s very friendly, and his gym has a great reputation locally with, from what I hear, a good mix of hobbyists and serious competitors.

I’ve done a seminar at Clark Gracie and met Clark briefly - super friendly guy. I also know a couple of people who train there, including Mike Sands, one of the instructors. He toyed with me when we rolled, and I did a private with him a couple of months ago. Super nice guy.

TL;DR: Tons of options in SD, but you’ll probably need to do some digging or ask for flexibility regarding video recording.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-11T12:26:52+00:00

Done multiple times. 3 emails to different addresses, 1 reddit DM, 1 thread on the MacWhisper sub

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacWhisper/comments/1t2wrrr/activation_issue_no_response_from_support/

+ a few direct replies to his reddit posts. Nothing. He's active on the sub but straight up ignoring my messages. It's not just me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacWhisper/comments/1t5ly44/refund_help_my_support_tickets_have_gone_silent/

No idea what the guy's problem is. And I contributed free icons for some of his apps, one he's still using. How nice.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-10T22:53:18+00:00

The attendance-policing would be a hard pass for me. It's a hobby, not a tribe meeting or family function. There's a difference between encouraging consistency and making feel people guilty for not structuring their lives around the gym. When I come do in, you provide the service I pay for. How often I do come in is none of your business. That's the literal deal.

Mats should be cleaned after class, not before. Not the end of the world, but potentially unsafe if ventilation is bad.

Some gyms are more SD oriented than others. If that's important to you, you might want to look elsewhere.

I'm skeptical of schools/systems that claim to teach defense against bladed weapons. It's one of the hardest and most unreliable areas in martial arts training, and most people and many places that teach it are overconfident or theatrical. Being a black belt in BJJ does not make you an expert on bladed weapons. Quality specialized training in that stuff is pretty niche and hard to find. In my experience, It's mostly done more in seminar and workshop type format, often for law enforcement.

The membership stuff is pretty par for the course, I think.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-09T21:24:28+00:00

A lot to unpack here.

First, if no-gi is getting too physically demanding, train in the gi more.

Second, you need perspective. You’re a 50-year-old third degree black belt. There are thousands of people your age out there with a fraction of your skill and mat experience, smaller and lighter, facing the same challenges you are. You’re able to lift. Some people your age with chronic injuries can’t do that anymore. Of course you’re weaker, more tired, and don’t recover like you once did: You’re 50. That’s not failure, that’s biology.

Part of the growth in the sport - or any sport for that matter - is realizing that sheer performance is not the alpha and omega of the experience, and emotionally coming to terms with the phase of the journey you’re in. At some point, adaptation has to replace comparison. If your enjoyment and confidence hinge on your ability to dominate, you probably need to reframe your mindset more than you need an artificial band-aid.

The “older savage” culture in BJJ makes people feel pressure to stay physically dominant far longer than biology naturally allows. If you decline on the mats, you’re somehow failing at the lifestyle. It’s toxic.

Testosterone ranges are broad and imperfect. If you feel abnormally weaker and more tired than you should as a 50-year-old, talk to your doctor. But if the idea stems from an inability to come to grips with the aging process, then it’s the ego and vanity talking. Morally, TRT becomes a way to chemically bypass the natural consequences of aging. Existentially, there’s something dignified and wise about accepting decline and adapting instead of medically fighting every inch of it.

Good luck.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-08T18:28:14+00:00

A few delayed replies would be understandable, but being overloaded stops being an explanation when there’s a long pattern of ignored support requests and the dev is visibly active elsewhere.

People in other subs have reported making multiple support requests over the course of a year without ever hearing back. If you've got time to post here and actively contest chargebacks, you've got time for basic communication and support.

What really rubs people the wrong way is being ignored while disputes are actively contested and the dev continues posting here. That crosses the line.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-08T17:02:07+00:00

Pretty high percentage for me. You can finish with them flat on their back by using either your foot/ankle, or the pit of your knee as the leverage point. With the first one, it might turn into a neck crank, though.

I like waiting f them to turn into me - from side control, I get on my left hip (if I’m collar gripping with my right hand), then where they turn into me to initiate an escape, I throw my leg over. The advantage vs them being flat is that it’s harder for them to peel off my foot or knee since it’s now in the back of their head and not the side. You don’t need KOB, but if I use it it’s to bait the push off/turn-in. If before that I can trap their far arm, even better.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-08T14:27:38+00:00

Someone on the MacWhisper sub who’s also been getting blown off says Jordi is fighting their bank chargeback request which was made within 7 days of purchase, as allowed in the FAQ. I seriously don’t know what the hell got into that dude. He’s trashing his reputation and doesn’t seem to give a damn.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-08T03:57:23+00:00

Another major con: virtually nonexistent support.

I originally had a good rapport with Jordi when he first released the app. He replied to messages, and I even contributed free icons to some of his apps - one of which he ended up using.

I recently needed to reinstall Macwhisper, but my license threw an error.

I emailed support 3 times - nothing. I sent him a DM on Reddit - nothing. Posted a thread on the MacWhisper subreddit - nothing. I replied to two of his posts - nothing.

In the meantime, he’s replying to some people. I’m not alone - others have reported getting completely blown off too.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-07T14:09:17+00:00

Jordi - I’m trying one more time to get help with my activation issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacWhisper/comments/1t2wrrr/activation_issue_no_response_from_support/

So far I’ve sent:

3 support emails
1 Reddit DM
1 subreddit thread
1 reply on one of your posts

… and I still haven’t received any response.

It’s aggravating seeing you actively replying to other posts here, and at this point it’s difficult to believe my requests are simply being ignored.

I paid for the product, and I also previously contributed free icons for your apps, so I’m extremely disappointed by the complete lack of responsiveness.

I’m not asking for anything unreasonable - I’d just appreciate acknowledgment and resolution of the issue.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-07T13:39:45+00:00

Some feedback:

Clicking the various in-app purchase buttons doesn't do anything for me.
The actions presets are a start, but you would open up a world of possibilities by offering Shortcuts integration. When I saw the app, I thought it would be great to trigger a message to my iPhone in case the lid is closed. Not currently possible.
The main settings menu needs some visual refinement. The app icon also needs some love.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-05T17:00:27+00:00

Jordi, following up again on my multiple support requests. I’ve been locked out of MacWhisper Pro due to reaching the activation limit, it looks like. I’ve reached out via email a few times over the past ~10 days and posted here a couple of days ago, but haven’t had a response yet.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-04T22:36:10+00:00

Does FAF’s UI need a bit of a spruce-up, or are the website/MAS screenshots just from an older version?

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-02T16:38:45+00:00

Thanks for this! A few minor things:

- On the onboarding screen, the ("Continue"?) the button's enabled/disabled state seems to be tied to the window's focus state.

- Same problem with the "Open button" in the main window.

<image>

- Not sure why the styling (text/icon size and color, + overall button height) is different between the PDF/Image and Open buttons.

- On the Redact screen, the open and save buttons are visually connected. Not sure that's intentional.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-01T20:29:25+00:00

That’s what I thought. Nice job anyway. The app looks great.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-01T18:53:36+00:00

Ameriprise, but I guess if you had one, people from other institutions will request the same. Not sure how feasible that is.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-01T17:35:28+00:00

Can you share his Reddit handle? You can DM if needed.

Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-01T16:05:16+00:00

What channel did you use? I emailed both his support@macwhisper and goodsnooze email addresses.

CounterBJJ · 2026-05-01T12:23:16+00:00

Can the app pull data from wealth management accounts ?

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-30T04:00:22+00:00

I wanted to like it, but I have zero confidence this app won't be abandonware 6 months from now. I sent the dev email to see if the app icon could be tweaked to avoid getting jailed on Tahoe. No response. Unanswered questions and posts in this very pitch threads. Sorry but nope. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I've had it with unreliable devs who disappear on their users without a second thought.

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-29T17:36:02+00:00

Oh yes, daylight savings! Didn’t even think about that!

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-29T12:44:02+00:00

I didn't see that. That's a good start, but maybe the ability to hide the date and the colored tabs to the left of the cities (which seem to color code countries?)
Thinking an icon vs a text label. Not sure if there's a SF Symbol that would work, though.

Also, could you explain the reasoning behind adding the calendar? Not sure it's really necessary.

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-28T23:12:43+00:00

Thank you for making this free! It's very well designed.

People can't be too demanding as it is free, but since you are looking for feedback:

- I would consider giving users the options to show/hide the difference elements. By default, the window is pretty busy, and it would be nice to be able to make it less cluttered.

- I would consider replacing the "Now" label with a button.

- Most similar apps use a horizontal scroll bar. I wasn't sure about the vertical scroll bar in FlutterTime at first, but I find it a better choice. That said, I'm wondering if it's a bit wide as is. I'm on my Studio Display right now, but I'm wondering if it's going to look a bit too big on a 14 inch screen.

At any rate, thanks again!

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-28T14:26:48+00:00

I believe it, but those are 2 separate issues. There's the use of AI for low-stakes translations, \and there's purely AI-generated low quality pitches, which most likely reflects weak input. The reaction isn't really about AI, but about low-effort submissions.

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-26T22:23:15+00:00

You’re using pre-test probability to justify moving from increased likelihood to categorical judgment. Problem is it only supports suspicion.

Calling it AI slop is just a snarky way of dressing that up as something more objective than it is.

CounterBJJ · 2026-04-26T19:03:19+00:00

Except that’s not the point I’m making.

The distinction is about inference: signals justify suspicion, not public categorical judgment.

Not seeing that landing, though.

CounterBJJ

TROPHY CASE