November 7, 2025 • 21 mins
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_04 (00:00):
What's up, fam?
Welcome to the Bulletproof Show.
It's QA time today.
So we've got three questionsfrom you guys.
And if you want to leave us aquestion for a future QA
episode, head to Bulletproof atBJJ.com and hit the podcast tab,
record us a voicemail.
Please.
Just a note, we actually cappedout on our storage of voice
messages because we've got afucking shitload.
So if you have encountered aninability to record a voicemail
(00:23):
uh in recent weeks, that issueis now fixed.
So please go ahead and recordyour thing.
Let's get into the first onetoday.
From Hudson Kalena.
SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Hey Joey, hey JT, 25-year-old white belt from
Fargo, North Dakota, in theStates here.
I'm also a career firefighterEMT, working three 24-hour
shifts in a 10-day period at thefire station.
I lift at least three times aweek outside of work.
I'm working out every shift, andI'm also training BJJ as much as
(00:55):
possible.
My workouts on shift will benormally conditioning, either
sprint work, plyometrics, andabs.
I'm also doing 10 to 15 minutesof mobility and stretching
before every workout I do justto try and stay limber, you
know?
What would you guys say is abetter way for me to either
(01:17):
schedule my week or pro do myprogramming to where I can still
get better at BJJ while also notabsolutely taxing my body to the
limit.
Because looking long term, Iwant to be able to play ball
with my kids when I have them.
I want to be able to enjoyactivities that my wife and I
enjoy way down the road, youknow?
(01:39):
Uh yeah, let me know what youguys think.
I absolutely love the show.
You guys are fantastic.
I got you all set onnotifications.
I'm listening the day of everytime.
God bless you both.
Love you guys.
God bless you, sir.
SPEAKER_04 (01:51):
Ah, Hudson, what a legend.
What a what a shout out, Dakota,man.
Hey, I gotta say, that's a um aninteresting accent.
I've not is I've never I don'tthink I've ever met anyone from
Dakota.
And that I I mean, I I'mguessing it sounds more north,
right?
It just it has a it has its ownflavor.
I I I apologize for my lack ofnot uh.
I mean, Dakota's like um a lotof fucking open land out there,
(02:11):
right?
It is.
I think I've watched a lot ofRenella meat eater episodes
where they're out that way,wolves and shit, coyotes.
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
Yeah, possibly.
I mean, look, cool.
That's amazing.
So, man, thank you.
You've you've you've painted usa great picture, and I I I
appreciate that becausesometimes when people call in,
they they leave us with a fewholes in in what's going on
there.
SPEAKER_04 (02:32):
Well, what we didn't get from Hudson is he didn't
mention any specific problemthat he's facing as a result of
his training.
No, but it does sound like he'sgot a lot going on.
The work is tough.
SPEAKER_03 (02:42):
The the 24-hour shift, three 24-hour shifts in
in 10 days, is is still it'sit's a lot.
Yeah.
And he's training um every daywhile he's on the job.
I think ultimately the cadencethat you can keep when you're 25
will be a different cadence whenyou're 30, and you could be
(03:03):
married or you could have kids.
And it's being able to adaptyour training volume depending
on the stress of your life,whether it's your job or family
or whatever's going on.
So, what I'd say there is beingflexible around how you can do
enough jujitsu, enough mobility,and uh, and uh enough lifting,
(03:27):
having that at an adaptive levelrelevant to stress is the key to
the longevity piece.
So, whatever you're doing now,it sounds like pretty
comprehensive.
Like, sounds like you've you'refollowing up on what we're
talking about, and that'sawesome.
Respect to that.
But what I'd say is when thechallenges present, whether it
be um, like I say, it could noteven family in terms of your
(03:48):
family, it could be yourparents.
Say a parent gets sick, or theywant you to work an extra shift
at work, or they want you totravel, or there's fucking
forest fire, and you've got tosave the nation.
We expect that that's what youwill do.
SPEAKER_04 (04:00):
Um, there's a meteor traveling it towards Earth.
Alien destruction is imminent,and they need to send you up in
a spaceship with yourfather-in-law to drill a hole in
the room and blow up the fuckingmeteor.
SPEAKER_03 (04:12):
Yeah, that happens.
SPEAKER_04 (04:13):
I'm you're equipped with it.
I watched a documentary on thatonce.
Anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_03 (04:18):
Don't want to climb over my ass because I miss you,
baby.
And I think that's the thingthat you're doing everything
right, but life is going tothrow you some curveballs.
In order for you to stay, stayready, stay prepared, um,
jailhouse ready, you need tojust be able to adapt your
training, whether that meansreducing it a bit, um, to keep
it going.
(04:38):
That's what I would say.
SPEAKER_04 (04:40):
Yeah, look, um, you know, if I was if I were to make
some very general observation,you're doing can you said you
were doing like a lot ofconditioning work when you're on
the job, and then you'retraining as much jujitsu as you
can outside of that.
You might be over doing it onthe conditioning side of things.
You might, like if you're goinghard at jujitsu, which, you
know, if I go back to when I wasa 25-year-old white belt, I was
(05:01):
always going too hard atjujitsu.
You potentially don't need to bedoing a lot of conditioning work
outside of that right now.
Um, or maybe you could just bedoing a bit, maybe it's like 10
or 15 minutes on your days offthe mats, you know, but you
spend a bit more time onmobility or strength.
And I think that that that mightjust help to balance out um the
(05:22):
neurological fatigue a littlebit, you know, and so that you
so that you've got more balancethere.
Probably also potentially ifyou've got long periods, like if
you're working real hard, three,24-hour shifts, and then you've
got a big chunk of time off, youmight be frying yourself with
too much jujitsu.
Yeah, you know, outside of that.
So maybe it's you know, taking aday off here or there, or not
rolling every day, somethingalong those lines.
(05:42):
But, you know, I guess that themain observation is where you're
at in life and in jujitsu, yourbias is going to be towards
overdoing it.
So if you can just pull back alittle bit in general, you'll
probably establish a moresustainable balance.
SPEAKER_03 (05:55):
Yes, sir.
Salute.
SPEAKER_04 (05:58):
Ben Hannawell, old friend of the show, legend.
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
Hey fellas, it's Ben Hannawell, longtime listener,
longtime caller.
I want to get your perspectiveon something related to breath,
in particular the book Breath byJames Nestor, and how I see a
lot of people seeming tointerpret it.
People seem to come away with itwith the idea that mouth
breathing is bad, therefore Ishould do things like tape my
(06:22):
mouth shut and force myself tobreathe through my nose, and
that will make me more healthyand more efficient.
But I wonder if that gets thingsbackwards.
Perhaps you're breathing fromyour mouth because you don't
breathe efficiently, so youshould address the issues that
make it so that you're notbreathing efficiently.
(06:43):
Maybe you don't have goodcardiovascular conditioning.
Maybe the you should do moremyofascial work to make your you
know, your tongue and your uhyou know other muscles in and
around your mouth and your neckstronger so that you're uh so
that you're and also your nosestronger so that you um you know
so that you can breathe moreefficiently.
(07:04):
And furthermore, I think like ifyou're if you're trying to force
yourself to breathe through yournose, you might be doing more
harm than good because you'reyou you might not be getting
enough oxygen um given your yourcapacity to to breathe.
So I just interested in yourperspective on that.
Uh as a person who who sees allthese people taping their mouths
(07:25):
shut and and is super confusedand thinks that maybe there's a
lot of a BS getting spread here.
Thanks.
SPEAKER_04 (07:31):
Yeah, look, I've I've just got something to
mention.
Like I'll I'll respond to Ben'squick point, but the thing that
he hasn't told us in all ofthese QA episodes he's featured
on is he's never told us whichSimpsons character he played.
You don't multiple.
SPEAKER_03 (07:46):
That fucking voice, man.
Unbelievable.
It's it's an amazing voice.
Spectacular.
It is.
And I can we just preframe thisby saying a man Ben Hanniwell
died, came back from a heartattack, and now has like an
implant in his chest.
You do it with pacemaker.
Uh it's not a pa, it's a it's aregulator of sorts.
So we need to put that outthere.
(08:07):
This man is fucking cannot bestopped.
He cannot be stopped.
Please.
So you've you've read this book,Joe.
So please talk to that and I'llI'll add my two senses.
So I haven't read Nestor's book.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (08:17):
Yeah, I read McEwan's book.
Right.
Which was um The Power of Breathor something.
Um, but yeah, so here's here'swhat I so here's a couple of
thoughts on what you mentioned,Ben.
Yes, we've probably simplifiedour understanding a bit if the
main takeaway was mouthbreathing is bad.
Uh someone who knows a lot aboutbreathing and about physiology
(08:37):
once told me in a breath seminarthey did, this was John Marsh
with Cole Clayton, was that umthe ideal way to breathe is
appropriate to the task at hand.
SPEAKER_03 (08:48):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (08:48):
Right?
So if you are sitting down atthe computer doing work, you
shouldn't be mouth breathing,should breathe through the nose.
If you're doing light activity,breathing through the nose.
But if you're going all out,balls to the wall, it's the last
30 seconds of a fuckingseven-minute round, you're gonna
be fucking open mouth, sucking,trying to get as much oxygen
oxygen as you can.
So that's that part.
(09:09):
But the other side of it is thata lot of lifestyle factors have
made us, most of us, morechronic mouth breathers.
So I think it's also fair tomake the observation that most
of us tend to breathe throughthe mouth too much.
So it would make sense to methat an approach uh for an
(09:29):
individual in order to try torestore some balance to how they
breathe would be to sort ofpractice nasal breathing more
often.
So even leaning into like, yeah,I'm gonna make it really hard to
breathe through my mouth attimes, you know, like I'm gonna
like whatever, tape my mouthduring training or hold a
mouthful of water, even thoughthat might not be the absolute
(09:50):
best thing in that moment if I'mtrying to maximize training,
that might be a good way for meto try to be less of a mouth
breather generally.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:58):
Well, so I have read neither of the books, and I
would say I have been a mouthbreather nearly all of my life.
Uh, even though I've broughtmore attention to my breathing
probably in the last five or sixyears, just from a certain
amount of awareness and havingsimilar conversations to this
with Joe or with other peoplewho are experienced in the
(10:22):
realm.
Uh, but I want to speak to Ben'spoint about is there other
things you can do which improveyour efficiency, which may
result in less mouth breathingby being fitter or being more
efficient.
And we we have talked about thisbefore where people get really
tired and they think, oh, I'mgassed because uh I'm just
(10:43):
unfit.
When actually, biomechanically,they're very inefficient,
they're not particularly strong,so they don't have good neural
efficiency, and therefore, ifthey were better movers, moving
would be less hard, andtherefore, if they want to
improve their overallefficiency, they need to learn
how to move better and be lessrestricted, and that would take
(11:03):
the pressure off the centralkind of circulatory system.
So I would agree with Ben insaying that, yeah, there's
probably a bunch of stuff peoplecan do in adjacent and in tandem
to that, which might mean theyhave less stress, so they're
less inclined to breathe outtheir mouth.
I actually uh am very like it'snot really within my domain
(11:26):
field to worry about breathing,because I never really do
anything more than say threerepetitions of uh any exercise.
So I'm safe.
I I actually do it all in onebreath.
Um yeah, that's it.
But yes, mate, look, I thinkthere is a little bit of if I
think about how many brands areout there with like mouth tape,
(11:46):
yeah.
You know, like I was at theAustralian Health and Fitness
Expo, and every single brand hadlike nose tape.
Oh yeah.
And everyone's like, how good isit?
I'm wearing some idiot's brandacross my face.
I love it.
I'm like, you guys are fuckingdorks.
SPEAKER_04 (12:00):
Like it, you know, the the fact that the the pro
the the profiteering one once wecatch on to something, the
company's, you know, it's likeeveryone's got a fucking app
these days.
Yeah, another training program.
Jesus.
But but it's all gonna come outof the woodwork, there's gonna
be a million people doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (12:15):
Yeah.
I I guess the thing for me,which would be interesting to
see, is it it's still kind ofstayed pretty niche, right?
And so I guess I wonder for you,Joe, what would be your advice
to Ben in terms of should he doit, should he not do it?
How important is it?
SPEAKER_04 (12:32):
Look, I I personally think that we have like in the
in the West, I think we have ahuge problem with um with
breathing generally.
Like, and I, you know, withoutgoing into it too hardcore, but
like um, you know, this goesback, right, many generations to
the types of foods we eat andand the environments we live in.
(12:53):
And there's a there's a chronicamount of dysfunction in like
mouth development, like thisway, everyone's got to get their
wisdom teeth removed and fuckingpalate shape and breathing and
just and the general mechanicsof this whole area.
Um, so for me, I'm like anythingthat someone wants to do to
improve it, I'm all for it.
So yeah, you know, someone'staping their mouth and shit,
(13:15):
fucking great, do it.
I think it's I think it's aworthwhile path to go down.
Um, some folks don't need it,but many do.
And you know, once you read thebooks and and you look at it,
you're like, wow, you can reallysee the people that need it.
SPEAKER_03 (13:26):
Yeah, and I think you, Ben Hannawell, you could
help people by doing thesmother.
You're like, breathe throughyour nose, mate.
Like if you can't like justsmother their mouth.
SPEAKER_04 (13:34):
I'm doing this for you.
SPEAKER_03 (13:35):
And do do your nose breathing.
And if they tap out, then theyjust don't want it that bad.
SPEAKER_04 (13:39):
I mean, I did we did the episode with uh Brian Lau,
Primal Breath Work, right?
Where we spoke all about breathand and facial development and
all of that.
And it's it really is a bigthing.
So yeah, I wouldn't begrudgeanyone from having a crack, but
you know, for sure there's atime and place, and like I know
for me, I don't disrupt mybreathing at all at jujitsu.
Right.
Like I'm not taping my mouth atjujitsu.
(13:59):
No.
But I tape my mouth every nightbefore I go to bed.
Oh, there you go.
And then I've done that for afew years now, and that has been
a huge upgrade for mepersonally.
SPEAKER_03 (14:06):
That's cool.
So there you go.
The two elements that you needto guarantee your success in the
gym are guidance andaccountability.
The big mistake that we seepeople making when training for
BJJ is doing random workouts.
That's why we made theBulletproof for BJJ app.
We have our online communitythat can give you feedback and
(14:27):
help you out.
And then we also have ourstructured programs that will
get you fitter, stronger, andmore flexible for BJJ.
We've got a 14-day free trial.
Get in there, try it out.
And if you decide that it's notfor you, we have a hundred
percent money back guarantee.
So go to the Play Store, go tothe App Store, download the app,
and we'll see you on the inside.
(14:49):
Holy shit.
SPEAKER_04 (14:50):
Last question of the day coming in from Jose
Gonzalez.
I love his work.
He's so good on the guitar.
Swedish guitarist.
SPEAKER_01 (14:57):
How's it going, guys?
Big fan of the show.
I watch uh you guys for all theadvice that you guys get from
BJJ, how not to get burnt out,and stuff like that.
Um my question is regarding myson.
He recently had a tournament,and his coach wasn't able to
make it.
He goes to a name academy.
(15:19):
I guess a big name academy.
And they don't really go to thetournaments that often.
And one of the coaches from amutual friend, another coach
from a different academy.
Coach my son from thetournament, and after the
tournament was over, he said alot of potential in my son.
My son is seven.
(15:39):
He has to go against like nineor ten year olds, and he's still
it's the best of them for themost part.
So I think there was anothercoach that's taken to a
competitive game.
There's a lot of potential inhim.
I brought this up to my son, hewon't go.
Um I B J J Fongled for I guessmy question is I told my son I
(16:06):
think his coaches are great,phenomenal, but I think they did
everything they could for him.
And it might be time to movegyms.
He started crying.
How do I know when it's time tomove my son to another gym
that's maybe more competitive?
If you guys can help out, I'dappreciate it.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (16:27):
Uh no, look, I but look, man, I I think it's tough,
right?
Um, because obviously he's veryyoung, so there's there's a long
way for him to go.
And I I I think two things, likeanyone changing a gym, it was
provided it doesn't kind of getyou banned, maybe taking your
(16:48):
son along to that other gym andget him to try a class, see if
he could make friends or if heenjoys it, right?
You don't have to make a snapdecision like I'm quitting here,
I'm going there.
Because keeping kids having funand interested is what will
enable them to stay in the game.
I've seen it many, many timeswhere you've had prodigies or
(17:11):
people who are they're like,this guy's gonna be the next
world champion, and then theyflame out by the time they're
kind of 16 and they they justquit because for various
reasons, right?
The other side of that was Iused to train at a gym when I
was a kid where it was verytraditional, and they said,
You'll never be a champion, youyou know, that's not what we do
(17:31):
here, you're not good enough.
And they basically just cappedout my my what my potential was
when I was 12 years old.
I'm like, as a 12-year-old, Iwas like, the fuck are you
talking about?
I want to be the nationalchampion, I want to be the best.
They're like, it's never gonnahappen for you, son.
And I was like, uh no, it'snever gonna happen for me here.
But that was a decision I had tomake as a 12-year-old kid that I
(17:53):
went to my mom and I said, Iwant to go train somewhere else.
And so I think because yourson's so young and he probably
has friends at the gym, it'sworth just giving him a try.
Like, if you I I believe that toget better, you do have to go
train with better people.
And if he's already kind ofbetter than everyone at his gym,
then yeah.
But also the friendship elementand the fun element is important
(18:15):
for keeping him in there.
So maybe try the other gym.
If he likes it, then cool.
But then maybe that's not thestrategy this early.
What do you think, Joe?
SPEAKER_04 (18:23):
Yeah, I like that suggestion of just getting him
to try a class at the other one,maybe an open mat or something
like that.
I think ultimately it's like ifI'm thinking about my boy who's
a lot lot younger, right?
He's almost five, but I wouldkind of put it to him and like,
what do you want to do?
Do you want to, you know, andand I would probably like at
seven years old, I wouldprobably take his guidance on
(18:44):
that.
If he's like, yeah, you know, II I do feel it's a little bit
easy for me at the currentplace, I'd like to try something
a bit harder, great.
But if he's like, no, I love it.
Then we're like, well, great,let's just keep loving it, stay
where you are.
You know, it's about figuringout what jujitsu means to him.
And it could be something thathe really wants to keep
progressing um, you know, day today at and like eventually
(19:05):
compete more and do that wholething, or he might just like
like showing up to the gym thathe's at where he's rolling with
his mates and he's having a goodtime.
Um, yeah, that's that's kind ofthe thing, right?
There's also no rush.
Like, you know, your son mighthe might do it and then he might
decide in a few years' time hedoesn't want to do it, and then
he might come back to it whenhe's 21, and that would be
(19:27):
great.
And everything that you wouldhave done over this time would
give him a foundation that he'llstill be able to tap back into.
So I really don't think itmatters that much.
I think the main thing is thathe's enjoying it.
Yeah.
And I think that we've kind ofobserved this, haven't we, with
a lot of like elite athletes andstuff that parents drive them to
a degree where they don't enjoyit.
(19:48):
And some of them, despite that,still manage to become the best
in the world, but it often comesat a great cost.
Yes.
And I would think that thatprobably forces more people to
quit than rise to the elitelevels, right?
So yeah, I'd really be just bebiasing towards him having a
good time.
SPEAKER_03 (20:02):
Yeah, and I mean it's awesome that you are so
invested in your own um kids,jiu-jitsu, and that you're
considering these things.
So credit to you, Jose.
And obviously, a fucking prouddad moment when your your son
wins gold at a competition,you're like, damn, my boy, kick
your boy's ass.
But uh it's amazing, man.
And so I I think the fact you'rethinking about it and you're
(20:24):
asking us speaks to the factthat he's gonna have a bright
future either way.
SPEAKER_04 (20:29):
Hey, um, awesome questions today.
Uh we would love you guys torecord us one for the next.
I think we had three from theStates today.
Yeah, we did.
Jose sounded uh American, didn'the?
SPEAKER_03 (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (20:39):
Um, we'd love hearing from you guys.
We love hearing your accents, welove the questions, and it
really generates excellentconversation for other
listeners.
So please go and record us onenow.
Go to the bulletproof webpage,bulletproof for bjj.com, hit the
podcast tab and record us avoicemail so we can feature you
on an upcoming episode.
Thanks.
See you on the next one.
Peace.
What's up, fam?
Welcome to the Bulletproof Show.
It's QA time today.
So we've got three questionsfrom you guys.
And if you want to leave us aquestion for a future QA
episode, head to Bulletproof atBJJ.com and hit the podcast tab,
record us a voicemail.
Please.
Just a note, we actually cappedout on our storage of voice
messages because we've got afucking shitload.
So if you have encountered aninability to record a voicemail
(00:23):
uh in recent weeks, that issueis now fixed.
So please go ahead and recordyour thing.
Let's get into the first onetoday.
From Hudson Kalena.
SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Hey Joey, hey JT, 25-year-old white belt from
Fargo, North Dakota, in theStates here.
I'm also a career firefighterEMT, working three 24-hour
shifts in a 10-day period at thefire station.
I lift at least three times aweek outside of work.
I'm working out every shift, andI'm also training BJJ as much as
(00:55):
possible.
My workouts on shift will benormally conditioning, either
sprint work, plyometrics, andabs.
I'm also doing 10 to 15 minutesof mobility and stretching
before every workout I do justto try and stay limber, you
know?
What would you guys say is abetter way for me to either
(01:17):
schedule my week or pro do myprogramming to where I can still
get better at BJJ while also notabsolutely taxing my body to the
limit.
Because looking long term, Iwant to be able to play ball
with my kids when I have them.
I want to be able to enjoyactivities that my wife and I
enjoy way down the road, youknow?
(01:39):
Uh yeah, let me know what youguys think.
I absolutely love the show.
You guys are fantastic.
I got you all set onnotifications.
I'm listening the day of everytime.
God bless you both.
Love you guys.
God bless you, sir.
SPEAKER_04 (01:51):
Ah, Hudson, what a legend.
What a what a shout out, Dakota,man.
Hey, I gotta say, that's a um aninteresting accent.
I've not is I've never I don'tthink I've ever met anyone from
Dakota.
And that I I mean, I I'mguessing it sounds more north,
right?
It just it has a it has its ownflavor.
I I I apologize for my lack ofnot uh.
I mean, Dakota's like um a lotof fucking open land out there,
(02:11):
right?
It is.
I think I've watched a lot ofRenella meat eater episodes
where they're out that way,wolves and shit, coyotes.
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
Yeah, possibly.
I mean, look, cool.
That's amazing.
So, man, thank you.
You've you've you've painted usa great picture, and I I I
appreciate that becausesometimes when people call in,
they they leave us with a fewholes in in what's going on
there.
SPEAKER_04 (02:32):
Well, what we didn't get from Hudson is he didn't
mention any specific problemthat he's facing as a result of
his training.
No, but it does sound like he'sgot a lot going on.
The work is tough.
SPEAKER_03 (02:42):
The the 24-hour shift, three 24-hour shifts in
in 10 days, is is still it'sit's a lot.
Yeah.
And he's training um every daywhile he's on the job.
I think ultimately the cadencethat you can keep when you're 25
will be a different cadence whenyou're 30, and you could be
(03:03):
married or you could have kids.
And it's being able to adaptyour training volume depending
on the stress of your life,whether it's your job or family
or whatever's going on.
So, what I'd say there is beingflexible around how you can do
enough jujitsu, enough mobility,and uh, and uh enough lifting,
(03:27):
having that at an adaptive levelrelevant to stress is the key to
the longevity piece.
So, whatever you're doing now,it sounds like pretty
comprehensive.
Like, sounds like you've you'refollowing up on what we're
talking about, and that'sawesome.
Respect to that.
But what I'd say is when thechallenges present, whether it
be um, like I say, it could noteven family in terms of your
(03:48):
family, it could be yourparents.
Say a parent gets sick, or theywant you to work an extra shift
at work, or they want you totravel, or there's fucking
forest fire, and you've got tosave the nation.
We expect that that's what youwill do.
SPEAKER_04 (04:00):
Um, there's a meteor traveling it towards Earth.
Alien destruction is imminent,and they need to send you up in
a spaceship with yourfather-in-law to drill a hole in
the room and blow up the fuckingmeteor.
SPEAKER_03 (04:12):
Yeah, that happens.
SPEAKER_04 (04:13):
I'm you're equipped with it.
I watched a documentary on thatonce.
Anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_03 (04:18):
Don't want to climb over my ass because I miss you,
baby.
And I think that's the thingthat you're doing everything
right, but life is going tothrow you some curveballs.
In order for you to stay, stayready, stay prepared, um,
jailhouse ready, you need tojust be able to adapt your
training, whether that meansreducing it a bit, um, to keep
it going.
(04:38):
That's what I would say.
SPEAKER_04 (04:40):
Yeah, look, um, you know, if I was if I were to make
some very general observation,you're doing can you said you
were doing like a lot ofconditioning work when you're on
the job, and then you'retraining as much jujitsu as you
can outside of that.
You might be over doing it onthe conditioning side of things.
You might, like if you're goinghard at jujitsu, which, you
know, if I go back to when I wasa 25-year-old white belt, I was
(05:01):
always going too hard atjujitsu.
You potentially don't need to bedoing a lot of conditioning work
outside of that right now.
Um, or maybe you could just bedoing a bit, maybe it's like 10
or 15 minutes on your days offthe mats, you know, but you
spend a bit more time onmobility or strength.
And I think that that that mightjust help to balance out um the
(05:22):
neurological fatigue a littlebit, you know, and so that you
so that you've got more balancethere.
Probably also potentially ifyou've got long periods, like if
you're working real hard, three,24-hour shifts, and then you've
got a big chunk of time off, youmight be frying yourself with
too much jujitsu.
Yeah, you know, outside of that.
So maybe it's you know, taking aday off here or there, or not
rolling every day, somethingalong those lines.
(05:42):
But, you know, I guess that themain observation is where you're
at in life and in jujitsu, yourbias is going to be towards
overdoing it.
So if you can just pull back alittle bit in general, you'll
probably establish a moresustainable balance.
SPEAKER_03 (05:55):
Yes, sir.
Salute.
SPEAKER_04 (05:58):
Ben Hannawell, old friend of the show, legend.
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
Hey fellas, it's Ben Hannawell, longtime listener,
longtime caller.
I want to get your perspectiveon something related to breath,
in particular the book Breath byJames Nestor, and how I see a
lot of people seeming tointerpret it.
People seem to come away with itwith the idea that mouth
breathing is bad, therefore Ishould do things like tape my
(06:22):
mouth shut and force myself tobreathe through my nose, and
that will make me more healthyand more efficient.
But I wonder if that gets thingsbackwards.
Perhaps you're breathing fromyour mouth because you don't
breathe efficiently, so youshould address the issues that
make it so that you're notbreathing efficiently.
(06:43):
Maybe you don't have goodcardiovascular conditioning.
Maybe the you should do moremyofascial work to make your you
know, your tongue and your uhyou know other muscles in and
around your mouth and your neckstronger so that you're uh so
that you're and also your nosestronger so that you um you know
so that you can breathe moreefficiently.
(07:04):
And furthermore, I think like ifyou're if you're trying to force
yourself to breathe through yournose, you might be doing more
harm than good because you'reyou you might not be getting
enough oxygen um given your yourcapacity to to breathe.
So I just interested in yourperspective on that.
Uh as a person who who sees allthese people taping their mouths
(07:25):
shut and and is super confusedand thinks that maybe there's a
lot of a BS getting spread here.
Thanks.
SPEAKER_04 (07:31):
Yeah, look, I've I've just got something to
mention.
Like I'll I'll respond to Ben'squick point, but the thing that
he hasn't told us in all ofthese QA episodes he's featured
on is he's never told us whichSimpsons character he played.
You don't multiple.
SPEAKER_03 (07:46):
That fucking voice, man.
Unbelievable.
It's it's an amazing voice.
Spectacular.
It is.
And I can we just preframe thisby saying a man Ben Hanniwell
died, came back from a heartattack, and now has like an
implant in his chest.
You do it with pacemaker.
Uh it's not a pa, it's a it's aregulator of sorts.
So we need to put that outthere.
(08:07):
This man is fucking cannot bestopped.
He cannot be stopped.
Please.
So you've you've read this book,Joe.
So please talk to that and I'llI'll add my two senses.
So I haven't read Nestor's book.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (08:17):
Yeah, I read McEwan's book.
Right.
Which was um The Power of Breathor something.
Um, but yeah, so here's here'swhat I so here's a couple of
thoughts on what you mentioned,Ben.
Yes, we've probably simplifiedour understanding a bit if the
main takeaway was mouthbreathing is bad.
Uh someone who knows a lot aboutbreathing and about physiology
(08:37):
once told me in a breath seminarthey did, this was John Marsh
with Cole Clayton, was that umthe ideal way to breathe is
appropriate to the task at hand.
SPEAKER_03 (08:48):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (08:48):
Right?
So if you are sitting down atthe computer doing work, you
shouldn't be mouth breathing,should breathe through the nose.
If you're doing light activity,breathing through the nose.
But if you're going all out,balls to the wall, it's the last
30 seconds of a fuckingseven-minute round, you're gonna
be fucking open mouth, sucking,trying to get as much oxygen
oxygen as you can.
So that's that part.
(09:09):
But the other side of it is thata lot of lifestyle factors have
made us, most of us, morechronic mouth breathers.
So I think it's also fair tomake the observation that most
of us tend to breathe throughthe mouth too much.
So it would make sense to methat an approach uh for an
(09:29):
individual in order to try torestore some balance to how they
breathe would be to sort ofpractice nasal breathing more
often.
So even leaning into like, yeah,I'm gonna make it really hard to
breathe through my mouth attimes, you know, like I'm gonna
like whatever, tape my mouthduring training or hold a
mouthful of water, even thoughthat might not be the absolute
(09:50):
best thing in that moment if I'mtrying to maximize training,
that might be a good way for meto try to be less of a mouth
breather generally.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:58):
Well, so I have read neither of the books, and I
would say I have been a mouthbreather nearly all of my life.
Uh, even though I've broughtmore attention to my breathing
probably in the last five or sixyears, just from a certain
amount of awareness and havingsimilar conversations to this
with Joe or with other peoplewho are experienced in the
(10:22):
realm.
Uh, but I want to speak to Ben'spoint about is there other
things you can do which improveyour efficiency, which may
result in less mouth breathingby being fitter or being more
efficient.
And we we have talked about thisbefore where people get really
tired and they think, oh, I'mgassed because uh I'm just
(10:43):
unfit.
When actually, biomechanically,they're very inefficient,
they're not particularly strong,so they don't have good neural
efficiency, and therefore, ifthey were better movers, moving
would be less hard, andtherefore, if they want to
improve their overallefficiency, they need to learn
how to move better and be lessrestricted, and that would take
(11:03):
the pressure off the centralkind of circulatory system.
So I would agree with Ben insaying that, yeah, there's
probably a bunch of stuff peoplecan do in adjacent and in tandem
to that, which might mean theyhave less stress, so they're
less inclined to breathe outtheir mouth.
I actually uh am very like it'snot really within my domain
(11:26):
field to worry about breathing,because I never really do
anything more than say threerepetitions of uh any exercise.
So I'm safe.
I I actually do it all in onebreath.
Um yeah, that's it.
But yes, mate, look, I thinkthere is a little bit of if I
think about how many brands areout there with like mouth tape,
(11:46):
yeah.
You know, like I was at theAustralian Health and Fitness
Expo, and every single brand hadlike nose tape.
Oh yeah.
And everyone's like, how good isit?
I'm wearing some idiot's brandacross my face.
I love it.
I'm like, you guys are fuckingdorks.
SPEAKER_04 (12:00):
Like it, you know, the the fact that the the pro
the the profiteering one once wecatch on to something, the
company's, you know, it's likeeveryone's got a fucking app
these days.
Yeah, another training program.
Jesus.
But but it's all gonna come outof the woodwork, there's gonna
be a million people doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (12:15):
Yeah.
I I guess the thing for me,which would be interesting to
see, is it it's still kind ofstayed pretty niche, right?
And so I guess I wonder for you,Joe, what would be your advice
to Ben in terms of should he doit, should he not do it?
How important is it?
SPEAKER_04 (12:32):
Look, I I personally think that we have like in the
in the West, I think we have ahuge problem with um with
breathing generally.
Like, and I, you know, withoutgoing into it too hardcore, but
like um, you know, this goesback, right, many generations to
the types of foods we eat andand the environments we live in.
(12:53):
And there's a there's a chronicamount of dysfunction in like
mouth development, like thisway, everyone's got to get their
wisdom teeth removed and fuckingpalate shape and breathing and
just and the general mechanicsof this whole area.
Um, so for me, I'm like anythingthat someone wants to do to
improve it, I'm all for it.
So yeah, you know, someone'staping their mouth and shit,
(13:15):
fucking great, do it.
I think it's I think it's aworthwhile path to go down.
Um, some folks don't need it,but many do.
And you know, once you read thebooks and and you look at it,
you're like, wow, you can reallysee the people that need it.
SPEAKER_03 (13:26):
Yeah, and I think you, Ben Hannawell, you could
help people by doing thesmother.
You're like, breathe throughyour nose, mate.
Like if you can't like justsmother their mouth.
SPEAKER_04 (13:34):
I'm doing this for you.
SPEAKER_03 (13:35):
And do do your nose breathing.
And if they tap out, then theyjust don't want it that bad.
SPEAKER_04 (13:39):
I mean, I did we did the episode with uh Brian Lau,
Primal Breath Work, right?
Where we spoke all about breathand and facial development and
all of that.
And it's it really is a bigthing.
So yeah, I wouldn't begrudgeanyone from having a crack, but
you know, for sure there's atime and place, and like I know
for me, I don't disrupt mybreathing at all at jujitsu.
Right.
Like I'm not taping my mouth atjujitsu.
(13:59):
No.
But I tape my mouth every nightbefore I go to bed.
Oh, there you go.
And then I've done that for afew years now, and that has been
a huge upgrade for mepersonally.
SPEAKER_03 (14:06):
That's cool.
So there you go.
The two elements that you needto guarantee your success in the
gym are guidance andaccountability.
The big mistake that we seepeople making when training for
BJJ is doing random workouts.
That's why we made theBulletproof for BJJ app.
We have our online communitythat can give you feedback and
(14:27):
help you out.
And then we also have ourstructured programs that will
get you fitter, stronger, andmore flexible for BJJ.
We've got a 14-day free trial.
Get in there, try it out.
And if you decide that it's notfor you, we have a hundred
percent money back guarantee.
So go to the Play Store, go tothe App Store, download the app,
and we'll see you on the inside.
(14:49):
Holy shit.
SPEAKER_04 (14:50):
Last question of the day coming in from Jose
Gonzalez.
I love his work.
He's so good on the guitar.
Swedish guitarist.
SPEAKER_01 (14:57):
How's it going, guys?
Big fan of the show.
I watch uh you guys for all theadvice that you guys get from
BJJ, how not to get burnt out,and stuff like that.
Um my question is regarding myson.
He recently had a tournament,and his coach wasn't able to
make it.
He goes to a name academy.
(15:19):
I guess a big name academy.
And they don't really go to thetournaments that often.
And one of the coaches from amutual friend, another coach
from a different academy.
Coach my son from thetournament, and after the
tournament was over, he said alot of potential in my son.
My son is seven.
(15:39):
He has to go against like nineor ten year olds, and he's still
it's the best of them for themost part.
So I think there was anothercoach that's taken to a
competitive game.
There's a lot of potential inhim.
I brought this up to my son, hewon't go.
Um I B J J Fongled for I guessmy question is I told my son I
(16:06):
think his coaches are great,phenomenal, but I think they did
everything they could for him.
And it might be time to movegyms.
He started crying.
How do I know when it's time tomove my son to another gym
that's maybe more competitive?
If you guys can help out, I'dappreciate it.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (16:27):
Uh no, look, I but look, man, I I think it's tough,
right?
Um, because obviously he's veryyoung, so there's there's a long
way for him to go.
And I I I think two things, likeanyone changing a gym, it was
provided it doesn't kind of getyou banned, maybe taking your
(16:48):
son along to that other gym andget him to try a class, see if
he could make friends or if heenjoys it, right?
You don't have to make a snapdecision like I'm quitting here,
I'm going there.
Because keeping kids having funand interested is what will
enable them to stay in the game.
I've seen it many, many timeswhere you've had prodigies or
(17:11):
people who are they're like,this guy's gonna be the next
world champion, and then theyflame out by the time they're
kind of 16 and they they justquit because for various
reasons, right?
The other side of that was Iused to train at a gym when I
was a kid where it was verytraditional, and they said,
You'll never be a champion, youyou know, that's not what we do
(17:31):
here, you're not good enough.
And they basically just cappedout my my what my potential was
when I was 12 years old.
I'm like, as a 12-year-old, Iwas like, the fuck are you
talking about?
I want to be the nationalchampion, I want to be the best.
They're like, it's never gonnahappen for you, son.
And I was like, uh no, it'snever gonna happen for me here.
But that was a decision I had tomake as a 12-year-old kid that I
(17:53):
went to my mom and I said, Iwant to go train somewhere else.
And so I think because yourson's so young and he probably
has friends at the gym, it'sworth just giving him a try.
Like, if you I I believe that toget better, you do have to go
train with better people.
And if he's already kind ofbetter than everyone at his gym,
then yeah.
But also the friendship elementand the fun element is important
(18:15):
for keeping him in there.
So maybe try the other gym.
If he likes it, then cool.
But then maybe that's not thestrategy this early.
What do you think, Joe?
SPEAKER_04 (18:23):
Yeah, I like that suggestion of just getting him
to try a class at the other one,maybe an open mat or something
like that.
I think ultimately it's like ifI'm thinking about my boy who's
a lot lot younger, right?
He's almost five, but I wouldkind of put it to him and like,
what do you want to do?
Do you want to, you know, andand I would probably like at
seven years old, I wouldprobably take his guidance on
(18:44):
that.
If he's like, yeah, you know, II I do feel it's a little bit
easy for me at the currentplace, I'd like to try something
a bit harder, great.
But if he's like, no, I love it.
Then we're like, well, great,let's just keep loving it, stay
where you are.
You know, it's about figuringout what jujitsu means to him.
And it could be something thathe really wants to keep
progressing um, you know, day today at and like eventually
(19:05):
compete more and do that wholething, or he might just like
like showing up to the gym thathe's at where he's rolling with
his mates and he's having a goodtime.
Um, yeah, that's that's kind ofthe thing, right?
There's also no rush.
Like, you know, your son mighthe might do it and then he might
decide in a few years' time hedoesn't want to do it, and then
he might come back to it whenhe's 21, and that would be
(19:27):
great.
And everything that you wouldhave done over this time would
give him a foundation that he'llstill be able to tap back into.
So I really don't think itmatters that much.
I think the main thing is thathe's enjoying it.
Yeah.
And I think that we've kind ofobserved this, haven't we, with
a lot of like elite athletes andstuff that parents drive them to
a degree where they don't enjoyit.
(19:48):
And some of them, despite that,still manage to become the best
in the world, but it often comesat a great cost.
Yes.
And I would think that thatprobably forces more people to
quit than rise to the elitelevels, right?
So yeah, I'd really be just bebiasing towards him having a
good time.
SPEAKER_03 (20:02):
Yeah, and I mean it's awesome that you are so
invested in your own um kids,jiu-jitsu, and that you're
considering these things.
So credit to you, Jose.
And obviously, a fucking prouddad moment when your your son
wins gold at a competition,you're like, damn, my boy, kick
your boy's ass.
But uh it's amazing, man.
And so I I think the fact you'rethinking about it and you're
(20:24):
asking us speaks to the factthat he's gonna have a bright
future either way.
SPEAKER_04 (20:29):
Hey, um, awesome questions today.
Uh we would love you guys torecord us one for the next.
I think we had three from theStates today.
Yeah, we did.
Jose sounded uh American, didn'the?
SPEAKER_03 (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (20:39):
Um, we'd love hearing from you guys.
We love hearing your accents, welove the questions, and it
really generates excellentconversation for other
listeners.
So please go and record us onenow.
Go to the bulletproof webpage,bulletproof for bjj.com, hit the
podcast tab and record us avoicemail so we can feature you
on an upcoming episode.
Thanks.
See you on the next one.
Peace.
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