Remarkable and forever ingrained! That is how I would describe my training experience with Mario Roberto. I lead a team of sofware engineers at IBM and own a small business. I can honestly say that a lot of what is to follow in this testimonial is why I am where I am today!

I moved to Rochester seven years ago, and have always been involved in some sort of martial art. I searched for a quality style in Rochester and didn’t find anything impressive or real. I tried a few classes here and there, but eventually just started pursuing other interests. However, some of us have an attraction to martial arts that doesn’t just go away. There is something that drives certain individuals to it: be it a personal dream to be a fighter, the pursuit of a hobby, a great exercise for mind and body, or something deeper trying to get out.

I remember walking into Mario’s gym and feeling a sense of “smallness” inside me, together with a low level fear, as if I didn’t belong in that kind of place. Thankfully, I at least had what it took to ignore that feeling and give the class a try. I’m a small guy by most standards; I’m 5’5″ and weigh about 150 pounds. Having to battle guys that outweigh me by 50-80 lbs was not a fun thought for me to entertain.

Mario listened to some of my concerns. I explained that I had back problems, and something I didn’t need to verbalize… Mario noticed immediately that my self-confidence was low. He simply said “Bert, we are a beginner-friendly gym, and I will look out for you”. He told me to take it easy on the beginning, but that I would start to notice changes both physically and mentally pretty soon. He didn’t tell me what they were, but he knew I would find out for myself. So I started training two times per week.

The training, on a purely physical level, was always new and challenging. So many different exercises, new moves to learn, new ways of moving the body – it was incredible. The warm-ups were a full workout in and of themselves. Mentally, I had to battle exhaustion, complicated moves, guys bigger and better than me, and my own lack of confidence.

As time went by, things started to change. I became physically stronger. My back pain began not to bother me as much. I can’t say that the pain was gone, but it was different. It was loosing its grip on me. I would see Mario and others training with injuries, pushing themselves, and this mentality started to take a hold in my psyche. I was developing mental strength on a much more noticeable scale than I had ever had. Mario has a remarkable ability to make a person want to push themselves, but not for him – for you. When you watch him train, you can’t help but want to do the same. He is constantly testing and pushing his limits, and he wants his students to test theirs as well.