Luciano Bernert

Luciano de Macedo Bernert splits his career between competing on the mat and coaching beside it. He is head coach of Instituto Start Doing in Florianópolis and won the absolute at the 2023 IBJJF World Master Championship in the master 2 division, the same year he took silver at lightweight.

Already a black belt in 2015, he competed in the adult division for Drava Jiu-Jitsu, with podiums at IBJJF Opens in southern Brazil and bronze at the 2017 South Americans and Brazilian No-Gi Nationals. From 2018 to 2023 he represented Atos and piled up his biggest master results: silver at the 2019 No-Gi Worlds, Brazilian National gi titles in 2021 and 2023 and the 2023 Brazilian No-Gi title. In 2026, now with Start Doing, he won the Brazilian No-Gi Nationals again at master 2 middleweight.

Away from competition, Start Doing has become a reference for developing young athletes. At the 2026 IBJJF South Americans the team won the juvenile team title with eight athletes and 13 medals, including two double golds at blue belt. One of them belonged to Kauã “Lasanha” Gomes, who won all four IBJJF Grand Slam tournaments in 2026.

He explained his approach in an exclusive interview with VF Comunica in October 2026. “Today it is not enough to develop an athlete who knows how to fight. We need to develop a sports professional who understands routine, strength and conditioning, nutrition, recovery and responsibility,” he said. In another conversation he compared the sport to “human chess”: “Today jiu-jitsu is being studied, written down with pen and paper. It is not just training anymore, it is study.”

His view goes beyond the podium. “My priority goes beyond developing athletes and winning medals. I want to develop healthy, happy, strong, resilient people who are able to make important decisions in life,” he told VF Comunica in 2024, when the team already had locations in Florianópolis and in Ibiúna, in São Paulo state.