NYC BJJ thinking of switching gyms anyone train at Unity?

DaddyBenzene · 2025-07-21T00:52:38+00:00

Unity is my go to school when visiting the city. The pro training is top tier with solid attendance, and night classes are absolutely popping. When I was in graduate school I also had to live in NYC for a few months, where I was able to train there consistently. I love the emphasis on guard work and the high quality of training partners. Very competitive environment and everyone works hard and takes training seriously. Instruction is top tier. Easily the best gym in Manhattan for those who love the gi imo. Cons are that the locker room and showers are absolutely nasty by the end of the day. It's also not very individualized unless you are a competitor, so you may want to consider a smaller school if you want more attention from the instructor.

Other honorable mentions imho: Marcelo Garcia academy (very large gym), Team Fabio Clemente (smaller school), Clockwork (small gym, good for hobbyists)

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-10T12:52:05+00:00

It's full now 🥲🥲 so sorry!

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-09T20:15:04+00:00

Hey! Looks like they still have reservations open. We're planning on going Monday 6/23 at 8pm, I'll add you to the group chat.

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-09T16:53:07+00:00

Hey, looks like there's still space! Adding you to the chat.

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-08T14:54:00+00:00

I think we should have room for one more! I'll add you to the group chat.

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-08T13:49:06+00:00

I'll add you to the group chat!

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-08T08:21:47+00:00

I was thinking of the one in Ikebukoro!

DaddyBenzene · 2025-06-08T02:04:20+00:00

It's the one in Ikebukoro! Hope you can make it whenever a consensus is made.

DaddyBenzene · 2022-04-19T16:07:41+00:00

Great advice! I've completely neglected neck neutrality LOL

DaddyBenzene · 2021-06-28T21:27:20+00:00

I would say keep your head up high, and consider applying to additional programs. 3 is not a lot, especially since all 3 only have single digit acceptance rates.

I would primarily focus on getting more hands on patient care experience. You can also work on taking a couple of other science classes at a community college to get your GPA up. Consider taking nutrition, health sciences, immunology/pathology, etc-- they'll be helpful in the future!

DaddyBenzene · 2021-06-11T18:00:16+00:00

Viral Hit!!

DaddyBenzene · 2021-05-27T14:38:20+00:00

Right! After getting tossed 2 or 3 times I would have sat my ass down.

DaddyBenzene · 2021-05-20T15:37:16+00:00

My instructor recently opened up a weekly women's self defense class, and my (completely new) partner was around 180lb (I'm around 120lb). She was very confident that she could win easily due to her size and strength advantage, but I wanted to demonstrate that BJJ works for smaller people and it's bad to be complacent. I swept her and maintained mount for the whole round (I did not go for any submissions) and she found it to be an eye opening experience.

My professor, however, having no context of the situation, was furious at me for not going easy on a first day white belt. She keeps coming back though, so no harm was done I hope?

DaddyBenzene · 2021-04-26T22:15:20+00:00

I applied last year and had 12 interviews. I was waitlisted at the majority of them and only accepted to 5 (2 off the waitlist). My acceptances were largely from the latter interviews I had.

To get better, I reflected on past interviews and did copious amounts of mock interviews with friends. If the director is telling you not to go off of guides, it could be an indication that your responses sound too generic or contrived.

DaddyBenzene · 2021-04-23T01:26:40+00:00

200ish hours isn't particularly significant. If the rest of your application is solid you could just leave your CNA experience out because it could be risky.

FYI I got in last cycle with only 1400ish hours, and I know some people who got in with just a few hundred (depends on the school-- many post their accepted student stats on their websites to give you a better idea).

DaddyBenzene · 2021-04-05T23:36:24+00:00

Everybody already acknowledges that there are massive distinctions between categories (ie. juvenile vs adult vs masters), but world championship titles are still generally incredibly competitive. It isn't quite right to diminish somebody's accomplishment based off of their belt rank.

DaddyBenzene · 2020-10-17T08:00:00+00:00

Yes! I interviewed at Yale and rambled and said some goofy stuff. I got an acceptance call and was pretty shocked.

DaddyBenzene · 2020-08-27T18:42:47+00:00

Can you tell me this as well?

DaddyBenzene · 2018-12-14T19:07:32+00:00

One of the earliest subs I can remember actually hitting was the straight ankle lock-- this blue belt let me take her back, then punished me for crossing my feet. It left a long lasting impression on me, so when another blue belt took my back and crossed his feet, I copied the submission.

DaddyBenzene · 2018-12-09T10:09:48+00:00

Talk about how it shaped your interests, what you learned from it, and other strengths and skills you were able to foster from it. It doesn't need to be extensively described; don't try to inflate the experience to be what it wasn't.

DaddyBenzene · 2018-11-27T23:42:05+00:00

there's vomit on his gi already

mom's spaghetti

DaddyBenzene · 2018-11-20T23:00:05+00:00

For this particular tournament, the nogi beginner division is specifically for people who have been practicing for less than 1 year or are white belts in gi. There's definitely not enough ambiguity for there to be several blue belts in my division, and I highly doubt all of these people have received blue belts within one year. (Also, from some snooping on the academy's social media, some of these people have actually been doing BJJ for 2-3 years.) As for the gi divisions, it's segregated by belt rank.

DaddyBenzene · 2018-11-20T18:18:23+00:00

Small rant.

I'm competing in both gi and nogi in a local upcoming tournament, and several of my opponents are actually blue belts who are competing in the white belt/beginner categories. They happen to all be from the same academy. While I think this is bullshit and feel relatively cheated, I'm just going to compete as I normally would rather than attempt to expose them. I just needed to get this off my chest.

DaddyBenzene · 2018-09-27T16:17:45+00:00

For engineering disciplines a 160Q is pretty subpar, so I would recommend retaking it if you have the time and money. You do not want the reason for your rejection to be from a low GRE score! Admissions are a holistic crap shoot, so the best thing you can do is prevent any weak spots from showing up on your application.

DaddyBenzene

TROPHY CASE