Carlos Godinho is an extremely skilled martial artist who loves what he does and desires only to see the best in others. Carlos has been training since he was seven years old and has an extensive and exhaustive background in almost all of the major martial arts of the world. Growing up in Toronto, Carlos developed his fighting techniques through his involvement in gangs and also from fighting in over 300 pit fights where his extensive background in Karate and Taekwondo came into play. In fact, this is where Carlos began to formulate his ideas about reality based fighting wich eventually became a part of the system he created called Nikatsu Ryu, "The Way to Overcome".
He Began his training in Kenpo Karate and has studied Teakwondo, Judo, Aikido, Kung Fu, Shito Ryu Karate, Muay Thai and the traditional art of Wushu Kung Fu with Grand Master Pan Quing Fu. He has also trained in both boxing and wrestling and was Ontario Champion in his weight division for wrestling. His first love is grappling and that derives from his extensive background in wrestling (freestyle & Greco Roman), Judo and Jujitsu background and is a Master of four different styles of Jujitsu. He holds black belts in almost every major martial art system in the world and values what every art has had to offer him as he continued to develop his reality based system.
With such an awesome ackground in the martial arts, Carlos has proved himself both on the mat and the ring. He won the Gold medal in the Black Belt Senior 2 light-heavy division and the Bronze medal in the open division at the 2000 Pan Am Games in Florida. After not having competed in any championships for almost 12 years at the age of 42 this was an accomplishment he could be extremely proud of. Carlos also placed 4th in the World this past summer at the 2001 World Brazilian Jujitsu Championships, losing only to the first place winner by a trow. Carlos had never trained in Brazilian Jujitsu and yet due to his skill, experience and love of the sport he demonstrated a remarkable ability to be able to adapt and overcome grappling with some of the world's best Brazilian martial artists. Carlos wants to go back and get the gold and hopefully take a team to compete either this year or the next.
Although Carlos' successes have been overshadowed by the media that is not his primary concern. It is his greatest desire to see his students become the best that they can be and that they value all the benefits that the martial arts has to offer. He has trained some exceptional students who have fought in the International Fighting Championships and have competed at various tournaments and championships over the years. Carlos has trained with some of the worlds finest and has shown an amazing ingenuity at being able to always progress in the development of his system of martial arts. He desires to pass on this passion and love for the martial arts to his students and believes that relationship is a key factor in teaching his students.
Carlos recently opened his Dojo in Brampton, Ontario, Canda called "The Way Martial Arts Studio Inc." on Rutheford Rd. and is already attracting many students who share both his passion and love of martial arts. The school is oriented towards his Nikatsu Ryu Jujitsu system that incorporates almost all the styles of martial arts and uniquely combines them in reality based training and self-defense. Nikatsu Ryu incorporates kicks, throws, grappling, strikes with locks, pressure points, chokes and controls covering every possible situation that may occur.
Nikatsu Ryu training will not only focus on developing the skill to defend yourself from attacks, but also to defend yourself from everyday stress. Respect for others, honesty and integrity are heavily emphasized.
Carlos believes in giving his students the training and teaching that they will need in order to assist them along the path to developing a positive attitude towards others and an awareness of themself and their own uniqueness.