An Australian Family Took Six Months Off To Travel And Train BJJ Across The United States

Imagine telling your boss that you’re not going to be coming in tomorrow — or for the next six months — because you, your wife, and your two small children will be traveling around the United States. You’ll be taking your kids to Universal Studios in Florida and Disneyland in California. You might see famous sights such as the Golden Gate Bridge or Mount Rushmore, too.

But most importantly — from the perspective of an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner, at least — you’ll be training with all of the biggest names in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Rigan Machado, Jeff Glover, and John Danaher are only a few of the men who will show you the moves that helped them become legends.

For many, this is just a dream. But for Adam Miles-Woodland of Australia, it’s a reality he’s living right now.

Adam, a BJJ purple belt; his wife, a BJJ blue belt; and their two children, who are both into BJJ, are currently touring the US and training while they go.

And when we say “training” we don’t mean they’re doing a couple of classes per week; we mean they’re training like World Champions.

“[We were] training around two sessions a day but [that] would vary,” Adam told the Jiu-Jitsu Times via Facebook messenger. “We did four a day at Tom Deblass’s place a few times. We would train every day [when] we could. If we had a day off, then the kids were training. We have had a few days off recently as we made our way back down to San Diego.”

So far Adam and his family have trained all over the US. He even sent us a list of all the instructors he has trained under this year during his trip through the Land of the Free:

The Academy LA – Rigan Machado Beverly hills Jiu-Jitsu LA
Marcus and Vinny Di Lucia – Victory MMA SD
Jeff Glover – Studio 540 SD
Magid Hage – Gracie South Bay SD
Tim Mendoza , Henry Iribem and Paulo Martins – Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu Vegas
Robert Drysdale, Marcelo Nunes, David Avellan – UFC Gym Vegas
Sophia McDermott Marcelo Garcia’s NY
Marcos Tinoco Renzo Gracie NY – John Danaher , Neiman Gracie
Ocean County BJJ – Tom Deblass, Jen Russell and team
50/50 Washington – Ryan and Jen Hall
Lucas Lepri BJJ Charlotte – Frederico Silva, Donovan Espinosa,
Michael Schweiger
Fight Sports Miami – Deninho
FFA Miami – Jason Soares
Alliance Orlando – Bruno Malfacine
Cobra BJJ Dallas – Eddie Ricardo , Sebastian Black
RCJ Machado Dallas- Carlos Machado, Brad Scott
Summit Jiu Jitsu- Colorado
Northwest Jiu Jitsu Seattle -Brian Johnson
Rafael Lovato Jr. – Oklahoma

So how did Adam manage to pull off a half-year BJJ vacation with his family?

“I work for a mining company back in Australia,” he told us. “I have been saving my annual and long service leave up until I had 6 months, over a 10 year period. So I’m still getting paid while on the trip, which helps. My mum is a school teacher, so after speaking to her we decided to home school for 6 months, which we do between travel and training. We have grown to do schooling in the car on some of the longer drives.”

I have been saving my annual and long service leave up until I had 6 months, over a 10 year period. So I’m still getting paid while on the trip, which helps.

Adam’s wife was understandably skeptical at first, but the family’s decision to leave home for six months and travel the US in order to train BJJ has generally been received with support from family, friends, and even the coaches the family has met:

At first Dionne [Adam’s wife] thought I was joking. We worked out a few logistics before telling the kids. They were super excited as they love training and the hopes of visiting Disneyland on the way had them sold. Both our parents thought it was a amazing idea as did our close friends and training partners. 

They [the coaches they trained under in the US]were pretty amazed …. some even were a little jealous. They were all so inviting along the way. They don’t seem to get many training families visit their academies. 

And for those of you planning to follow in Adam’s footsteps, he has some simple advice for you:

Do it! If you can make it a reality you will kick yourself if you don’t. I have met the most amazing people along the way. It has changed our lives so much. The kids are so much more confident and any initial fears we had that it may not be the best for them have been squashed. They and I will cherish the friendships and memories we have of this. The BJJ community is so amazing. You just have to get out and see it.

Are you a BJJ globetrotter? If so, how would you describe your experiences traveling the world and training BJJ?

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