After taking home 10 medals and the team trophy from Brazilian Nationals, the Alliance representatives down at Mario Reis academy in Porto Alegre were back on the mat sharpening their games for next month’s World Championship.

The class began with a motivational speech from head instructor Mario Reis. All students sat in organized rows based on belt rank and attentively listened to their respected leader. 

Once finished, Reis set his class off into warm-ups, which included light jogging around the mat and various line drills to loosen the body and prepare for the upcoming hard-sparring. 

After warm-ups, the students were broken into groups of three based on skill level and size. Some of the team’s most promising lower belts were paired with black and brown belts of the same size. 

Once groups were established the timer was set for 18 rounds of 3 minutes with 10 seconds rest between each. Every student was to stay in for two rounds and rotate from starting first on bottom then moving to top position as a new member rotated in.  

The idea was to get as much hard training in as possible in a short amount of time.

Reis’ best competitors like Nicholas Meregali, Fabio Alano, and Monique Elias pushed the pace and kept the squad motivated throughout the entire session.

Once the 54 minutes were up the team took a short break then formed a circle around the mat. Professor Reis then put on his most seductive Chris Brown track and various members competed in a hilarious dance-off to wrap up the class in a positive mood.