Brian Brown 

Brian Brown is a former member of the US Army, a 3rd-degree black belt in Karate, a combat submission wrestling practitioner, a 3rd-degree black belt in Escrima, a combative and handgun instructor, and a 2nd-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu.

Have you ever been so busy during the work week that you can’t squeeze in all of your desired jiu-jitsu training? Me too. I’m a working professional with many job responsibilities during the week to meet my business goals.

Other practitioners have additional responsibilities as well.  They have spouses, kids, dogs, and other hobbies and interests that pull them in many directions.

Sometimes, I can’t wait for Friday to arrive because it means that the work week is winding down.

However, with jiu-jitsu, it’s very common for schools to offer Saturday morning classes, but by lunchtime, jiu-jitsu is pretty much shut down until Monday rolls around.

Sure, I have the luxury of training in The Jiu-Jitsu Bunker and have certainly taken advantage of those resources. But often, I desire to train outside of The Bunker because I have more time on my hands without work responsibilities. 

It’s not as stressful to drive somewhere on the weekend as during the week when I feel the pressure to be at work.

I was attracted to Brian Brown and Alpharetta Martial Arts because it was one of the only schools I had ever encountered that offered martial arts and jiu-jitsu classes on Sundays. 

I met Brian Brown through Diego Saraiva and DJ Wegesin.  He came up under those guys at Nova Uniao and Steve Headden, a very early pioneer of jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts in the Atlanta area in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Brian runs his schools as a passion project. He also owns a healthcare distribution business that requires travel during the week and busy work hours. His schedule is loaded with sales meetings, business calls, logging miles, visiting customers, managing employees, and corporate planning.

But Brian not only makes time for his own martial arts training but also to teach others. His classes are in the evenings during the workweek, but he also offers classes on Saturday and Sunday for those who also need to get in their training time on weekends.

Brian is a true student and practitioner of the martial arts. He’s a former member of the U.S. Army, a 3rd-degree black belt in Karate, a combat submission wrestling practitioner, a 3rd-degree black belt in Escrima, a combative and handgun combative instructor, and a 2nd-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu. He truly is a lifetime martial arts practitioner.

As busy as Brian is, he always attends his classes highly prepared and organized to teach.  He’s not the type of instructor who holds back the secret details of a technique.  He shares everything generously with his students.

I appreciate that Brian can either watch you roll or roll with you and then provide immediate feedback on ways to improve or more efficient ways to reach your goals during a roll or competition.

What learned most from Brian is his emphasis on teaching and the reasons for emphasizing teaching.  First, there’s a strong belief that if you want to learn and comprehend something, teach it yourself.  Second, teaching is a skill that must be developed and honed over time with experience.  Teaching is a profession at a high enough level.

Brian believes in the principles of teaching so much that he encourages his students to begin teaching much earlier than most in martial arts.  That’s not to say he forces his students to teach a regular class but to teach a technique during a class or help a lower belt that is struggling with a technique or concept.

Many schools will only allow practitioners to teach once they are a black belt. Undoubtedly, this means that they quickly realize that even though they are black belts in the martial arts, they are white belts and beginners as instructors. That often creates an awkward situation for the school and paying customers as it becomes evident that the black belt lacks teaching experience and skills.

I started teaching earlier in my journey and enjoyed it. Brian has encouraged me at times to continue my teaching experience at his school, which I greatly appreciate. 

His one big character flaw is that he is a passionate Baltimore Ravens fan, having grown up in the greater Baltimore area.  We can’t all be perfect and control our past.  Sometimes, patience is for those less fortunate.