[Tony Manifold]

Seminar started a bout 45 minutes late because Marcus got lost on the way to the gym. When he arrived, he started off the seminar with a hellish warmup. It was tough. I was damn near shot by the end.
The seminar was very casual. Marcus began by asking for questions. He wanted to know what we were having problems with. He answered some quick questions and moved into a standing guard pass, followed by 3 mount defenses, a side control escape, 2 back control escapes and 2 escapes from the turtle.

I was struck by a few things regarding Professor Soares. The first was his reliance on the basics of jiu jitsu. He just has those basics down to a science and does not need fancy new techniques. Second was just how little power he uses. In all the escapes, his bridges were simple little rolls. Rather than a big explosion, he maneuvers his hips to the perfect angle and just rolls. His use of leverage is amazing. The third was his pressure was intense. My instructor Adam has awesome pressure, and a lot of wrestlers that I have rolled with over the years have great pressure but marcus is on another level. He just uses leverage, angles, and every ounce body weight.

We ended up with a belt test. This was different type of test then I have ever been involved in. Basically, they matched up pairs by weight and we rolled tournament style. I don't really know how this could really show your entire skill set. I guess after all those years he can notice things very well. It was still pretty weird to me.

The seminar when for more than 4 hours. I had to leave at that point so it may have gone on longer than that.