Who we are

Hello and welcome to Mountain Warrior Retreats. We are a group of Jiu Jitsu practitioners, competitors, and school owners who have come together to create something truly remarkable in the Jiu Jitsu community. Our goal is to combine Jiu Jitsu, Yoga, and nature for a complete and unique retreat built for warriors. We know, like you do, that Jiu Jitsu is a lifestyle and is something you do mentally or physically inside or outside the gym. Combining the relaxation of vacation, the serenity of nature, the intensity of training Jiu Jitsu and knowledge gaining into one retreat is something warriors understand. We want them all and now you can, but whats our secret? First we add the setting, which is high mountain country with beautiful views, pristine nature with wildlife and trails for adventure. Then we add a world class Jiu Jitsu instructor for the best knowledge sharing available and a state of the art training facility to train hard while also keeping safe. To spice things up we then include one of the best Yoga instructors specializing in breath-work for Jiu Jitsu so that everyone can improve cardio, breathing in action, and reach a deeper state of self-awareness. Finally, and because we are in nature we will train with an outdoor survival instructor to learn about nature and the skills necessary to live in harmony. We believe combining these golden 3 (Jiu Jitsu, Yoga, Nature) provides the best grappling retreats available on the market and wholeheartedly agrees with the Jiu Jitsu warrior lifestyle.

What we do

We hold various retreats in Southern California each year for grapplers and yoga practitioners along with any other martial arts students who embrace the warrior lifestyle and want to learn more. Most of our retreats are held in the San Gabriel Mountain range in Southern California in close proximity to Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange County, and San Diego. Our events feature world class Jiu Jitsu instructors leading 3-7 day retreats where the students learn, drill, and train Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Judo while absorbing quality and extremely useful knowledge. We couple the martial arts teachings with yoga, nature, and quality food. We believe we do this better than anyone else by utilizing the highest level of instruction available in each subject. We hand select experts in each discipline who not only have the knowledge and skills, but the teaching ability to relay complicated information to students quickly and efficiently. Sometimes the multiple world champion is not the best teacher to learn from, but it is his coach with his gentle teaching methods, strategy, and drill oriented curriculum that produces world champions. Identifying the teachers from the athletes is also what makes us so special. Often seminars and events are sold out featuring world champions who can preform at the highest levels but cannot explain the strategy or reason why “they do what they do” or why “it produces the results it does”. For this reason we would rather feature John Danaher at one of our events over Gordon Ryan. Although this is a bad example because John has produced phenomenal athletes who are also great teachers, but it would seem you are only getting second hand and vastly repeated knowledge when hearing it from one of John’s students rather then from John himself. The goal is to feature the best instructors and teachers and not just the athletes who win the medals after being instructed and taught by these same instructors and teachers! In this way we give our retreat participants or practitioners the knowledge direct from the instructor and never sell them on a “big name” only for them to receive second hand knowledge without context. Make sense?

When

May 1st - 3rd

Where

Wrightwood, California is a small mountain town with a long and colorful history. Still to this day it is easy to stand in the middle of town and imagine the old days of cowboys and cattle ranchers as not much has changed. Located deep in a pine covered valley in the San Gabriel Mountains, Wrightwood was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th and was broken up into residential and commercial lots before the1920s. Soon after the settlement of the community the area became more and more popular for adventure, outdoor recreation and early ski enthusiast. After WWII, Big Pines opened their 1946-47 ski season with a new chair lift and highways were developed coming out of the major routes in the Cajon Pass. Wrightwood became an easy destination, with no serious mountain driving required for city dwellers. Through the last 60 years, Wrightwood has evolved from a vacation community to home to over 4000 full-time residents.

Why

We believe that Jiu Jitsu practitioners desire vacations or breaks from the 9am-5pm jobs where they can relax, practice grappling, be around like minded individuals, all while being immersed in nature. Serious practitioners see every traveling obligation as an opportunity to visit a new gym and meet a new group of hard working people. Sometimes when we travel with family they insist we spend time with them and not bring our Gi’s and visit local schools in the areas which is understandable but takes away from our idea of “vacation”. Honestly we never want a break from Jiu Jitsu, we just want to visit new places, train with new faces, and return home with new information and knowledge to share with our Jiu Jitsu family. We hear you and completely understand. This is why we have these retreats for Jiu Jitsu practitioners. Now you can visit a beautiful place, drill Jiu Jitsu with world class instructors, train with like minded individuals, work on breath work and spend time outside. Did we mention good healthy food? Well don’t let us forget the food! Are events are made with collaboration of world class chef’s to make sure we eat like athletes so we can train like ninjas.