They’re twins born on May 11, 1992. They started training in Andirá, Brazil with Professor Adriano Carvalho of Norte Sul Jiu-Jitsu academy. About a year ago they came to São Paulo because they had outgrown the training in their town of birth. “There weren’t that many people who took Jiu-Jitsu seriously there.”
Ever since arriving at their coach’s Cicero Costha’s acdemy they’ve slept on the mat and lived in the academy. And they’re not the only ones. Cícero Costha runs an outreach program called “Lutando pelo Bem” (Fighting for Good), where he takes in needy youths and provides them direction through Jiu-Jitsu. They go through three training sessions per day, as well as two trips to the gym to work out per week.
Their dedication is already paying off, with medals in major competitions as proof.
In 2011, João won the Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a light featherweight blue belt. Two months later they closed out the light featherweight purple belt division at the Worlds, having already closed out the division at the Brazilian Nationals.
Besides that, they put in stellar performances at the Abu Dhabi World Pro Cup, where João won at blue belt and Paulo won at purple. Paulo recently got promoted to brown belt and won the WPJJC Natal where he beat black belts competitors. So what is the secret to their success?
What the Miyao brothers are doing that others aren’t.
According to BJJ Pix who went to visit them at Cicero Costha’s acdemy where the brothers live and train, here is what they are doing to make them so successful:
“1. They train 6 hours a day, every day.
They train from 12pm to 3pm, from 5pm to 7pm then again from 8pm to 9pm They are the last people still training on the mat after all their team mates have grown tired and are chatting on the mat. People have commented how they were the last two people still rolling on the open mats of the World Pro in Abu-Dhabi.
2. They drill a lot
At all the other academies I went to, it’s always the same routine. The teacher will have everybody do a series of warm ups for about 20 minutes then show about three techniques (during which people’s body will eventually get cold again) then start the rolls.
Here’s what I found the most interesting at Cicero’s. The routine above applies only for white belts. Blue belts and above start with 1 hour of drilling. One hour! And the Miyao brothers do TWO hours EVERY DAY. They can drill any position they like, ask for help from their teammates… This makes perfect sense and I think all academies should be like that.
3. They compete.
Miyao Bros with their team mate Leandro Lo
After training, on our way to the weighing scale at the drugstore, I wanted to know more about them. As we chatted, I asked them about what they liked to do for fun on weekends.
“On weekends we have tournaments, otherwise we stay at the academy.”
In São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, there are jiu-jitsu tournaments literally every weekends. After having participated in tons and tons of tournaments, they have acquired lots of experience and know the prefect strategie to win.
They will for sure become the next black belt world champions.”
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