Anthony Kim
Jun 8, 2024
“This review is long overdue... In 2022, at the age of 50, after a 10 year layoff from jiu jitsu due to my commitments in corporate Korea, I decided to end my corporate career in Korea and restart my jiu jitsu journey. But plagued with a history of injuries, I wanted to get my jiu jitsu to a level where training with anyone young or old would be easier than it had been in the past. To achieve this goal I needed to learn from the most talented jiu jitsu practitioners in the world and my research led me here to Atos HQ. After seeing Andy Murasaki's double gold performance as a brown belt at the Pan American Championships on Youtube, I knew that Atos HQ was where I wanted to train in order to achieve my goals so I dusted off my old purple belt, packed my bags and moved to San Diego from Korea to restart my jiu jitsu journey. From day 1, the professors, students and staff were very welcoming and friendly -- genuinely making me feel like I was part of the team. The one thing that stood out at Atos HQ besides the super effective and efficient jiu jitsu was that the black belt professors not only taught the classes but also trained with their students during the sparring session. Based on my experience, this is not common practice especially in such a world class gym. In most academies the black belt professors will lead the general classes and train in the competition class only but here at Atos HQ, you have the opportunity to roll with world class black belts like Andy Murasaki, Jonnatas Gracie, Rolando Samson, Rafael Silveira, Joao Mendes and Gustavo Batista where they roll with you at 'your' speed then help fix your mistakes and improve your game after the roll which has been vital in helping me improve my jiu jitsu. In my many years of training, I have met some of the greatest athletes in jiu jitsu. I have noticed that many let their fame get to their heads but here at Atos HQ, all the world champions I have met have been genuinely good people so it has been easy to make friends here. Whether you're new to jiu jitsu, coming from another academy, or restarting your journey after a long layoff like I did, this is one of the best places to train in the world and the best city to live in the U.S. in my opinion.”
