The best of both worlds – committed to high quality instruction and training, but also laid back and relaxed.

You will be what you make of it and what you put into your training here. There is no pressure except that which you impose on yourself. If you are willing to push yourself, the tools to mold you into whatever you want to be are here. The instructors give everything they have to each student who cares and that is not to be underestimated. They provide all the basic, intermediate, and advanced techniques necessary to succeed and they do it with a high level of expertise at each and every turn. Their combined teaching methods apply to students of all learning types. They teach beginners how to survive while mastering the fundamentals necessary to progress. More advanced students are encouraged to develop their own styles once they are ready and their instructors adapt in order to nurture each students unique style. You just have to bring the motivation. You can flourish here and push yourself to the limit if that is what you want. These reasons are why you should train here. You will always receive individual attention from excellent instructors, experience great camaraderie with students and instructors alike that will likely last throughout the lifetime of your growth as a martial arts practitioner, and you will constantly have all the benefits of a small school where everyone pushes each other to be the best they can be.

Some time in early 2006, I started hearing about this amazing new purple belt guy from California that was taking classes in the morning. A couple of months later I finally got to roll with Aaron. He was as good as the hype. He has a great all around game. I have seen Aaron compete at the highest level and do very well.

Aaron is a very gifted Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, but more importantly for anyone looking for a school to train in, he is a great teacher. He is very good as passing on his deep understanding of grappling technique and the concepts behind them.

Training BJJ under Aaron Milam has been an extremely powerful and productive experience. The time I have invested in commuting from Long Island to Manhattan is a small price to pay for the rare opportunity to train with someone who not only has reached an extremely high level of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but who also has the intelligence, patience, and conceptual understanding to impart that knowledge on to his students.

The instructors and students are skilled, hardworking, and very friendly. The atmosphere on the mat reflects the students desire to improve the level of everyone training at the academy. By training here, you will not only become a quality martial arts athlete, you will also enjoy your time working with a great group of people.

I have had the misfortune and pleasure of being both a training partner (hence, misfortune) as well as student (hence pleasure) of Aaron Milams. Aaron has the rare distinction of being both an elite level grappler as well as a natural teacher. Initially he will sit against the mat and observe you roll; without comment he will identify the holes in your game, then without pretense Aaron will politely ask your opponent to step aside, look you in the eyes, slap hands, and proceed to thoroughly dominate you like a cat swatting at a staggering rodent. This is when the teaching begins. Articulate and methodical, Aaron has a very tactile and intuitive teaching style – I often find that our interests are aligned; he is your teacher but remains a lifelong student. Aaron doesn’t dictate or lecture, but rather, works through the problems with you. Our private lessons are often situational. Often, in various positions Aaron will stop, close his eyes, feel out your base of support, pause again, open his eyes, and begin working through the various alternatives of your problem set. We will then drill the solutions, write down our findings, and hypothesize for the next session. This is bespoke instruction at its best.

I have been training partners with Aaron for many years. He is a true martial artist who understands the finest details and concepts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and is a incredibly technical and innovative practitioner of the art.