August 1, 2025 • 19 mins
Do you ever wonder what it takes to be the best? Maybe it's extra hours on the mat. Maybe it's reframing your whole outlook on jiu jitsu. Maybe it's a new outlook on life. Luckily, our man JT had boots on the ground with some of jiu jitsu's top performers. Listen to his insights here...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
A good martial artist does not become tense, but
ready.
Essentially, at this point thefight is over, so you pretty
much flow with the goal.
Who is worthy to be trustedwith the secret to limitless
power?
I'm ready.
(00:27):
What separates the topperformers from the average?
I have just spent 12 days withsome of the best grapplers in
the world, witnessed firsthandthe common traits across very
different people and how theyinteract with each other, how
they roll and also how theyperform at the highest level,
(00:50):
and I've got some insight.
I've got the inside scoop onthese folks and it was very
interesting.
Joe, I would imagine, like whenI'm looking at the kind of
elite dudes you were hanging outwith and the elite dudes that
are at that AIGA event, likeit's the fucking best of the
best, I can't help but imaginethat there's got to be a level
(01:11):
of competitiveness in thetraining room.
There is, but I think whichkind of ego's sort of part of
that A little bit.
Am I off?
No, no, no, you're not off,you're not off.
I think there is some.
There is some like the closerthe weight category, the more
there's that.
But also I was able to witness,you know, someone who's a
heavyweight work with someonewho's a featherweight and it'd
(01:33):
still be a good exchange, right.
But the thing is thepersonalities were all very
different, like all completelydifferent humans, but there was
some commonalities between themas top level jujitsu competitors
and professionals.
Number one cab off the rank isattention to detail.
(01:53):
These guys are absolutelylooking at like I do this, but
then I move my hip like this andthey're all gathered around you
know like they're very open toum, to the learning, but the
attention to detail is is reallyinteresting because they're all
smart, they all know relativeamounts about each other's games
(02:15):
.
And but then someone like Kaya.
Kaya's like, oh, but when I'mhere, I put my foot here like
this and I do this.
And they're like, okay, becauseI mean, kaya is like just the
most flexible guy ever and so hecan get into positions that no
one really understands.
Even top level guys are likewhat the fuck is he doing?
But when he starts to breakdown why he's doing what he's
(02:36):
doing, then they're like, oh, itmakes a lot of sense, that's
really cool.
And you see, them absorb it.
Or someone says, oh, when I'mhere, I take a reverse grip
because that enables me to movelike this, like I'm not doing
this because I want to stay here, like anyone would look at this
reverse grip on the shin or thefoot Like that's not strong.
It's like, no, it's not stronghere, but once I pass to the
outside it's very strong.
(02:58):
Yeah, right on, and you're likeall it starts to make more
sense.
Some of the stuff seemscounterintuitive because you
just don't know why they'redoing it, and then once they
start to explain their processand where it puts them, you're
like wow, makes a lot of sense.
So the attention to detail wasimmaculate.
I learned a lot just fromsitting in on sessions, as much
(03:18):
as I did get a chance to rollwith a couple of the guys.
It was also a bit selfish forme to want to roll, right, guys,
anyone, anyone want to go?
Anyone want to go with theleast skilled guy in the room
who's down to bang Injurymachine?
I just felt like the big whitebelt, like hi, everybody.
Anyway, it was totally funbecause, watching them work, you
(03:40):
could see how they werelearning from each other in real
time and that is the thingabout it.
This is like the second thingwhich really made me appreciate
how smart these guys are.
They are very open and quicklearners.
Right, you show me somethingthat's different to what I know.
Straight away.
They're just like shoo mad.
I'll do that now.
(04:01):
Yeah, straight away, there's nodrilling.
There's no, it was veryanti-drilling.
There was a lot of CLAecological cats in the room.
Yeah, like DeAndre is like aecological Jesus.
Yeah, he's there.
If, if Greg Souders is, is, isCLA God, then DeAndre is Jesus
(04:22):
Right on.
He's around converting everyone, spreading the love.
He's very like you can't helpbut love DeAndre.
He's the nicest kid and hisjiu-jitsu is fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, he looks fucking reallygood.
I've not actually watched a lotof him, but I saw his highlight
against Dante and he lookedlike a savage.
He's so strong, bro, I rolledhim a couple of times.
He just gets sick of it.
If you're not doing what hewants, he just goes.
(04:44):
Now I'm going to switch it on.
Bam bam, bam, bam bam.
You're like, oh fuck, you knowlike you just can't contain that
guy.
He goes super saiyan.
Um, but what I saw was exchangesbetween Gianni and Deandre, and
then, um, they were talking toShakmanov, who's a Dagestani
wrestler, and he was talkingabout details around his
(05:04):
wrestling and then, even likeDan Manchild, was talking about
some setups for leg locks andcounters, and everybody, the
synergy was insane.
Yeah, right, like in onetraining session everybody
learned something from eachother.
Yeah, and then the nexttraining gets better and better.
And everyone was like, hey man,if World War III pops off,
(05:26):
we'll just set up the bestjiu-jitsu club in Kazakhstan,
because everybody's just here,like if we just got stuck here
for a month and these guys justworked together, their
respective jiu-jitsu levelswould all go up.
And so in that trainingenvironment, you know, these
guys were obviously all coming,like they're not all mates right
, like they obviously all coming, like they're not all mates
(05:50):
right, like they're all comingfrom different places.
So they became, I think theyall knew each other, but over
the process of the camp for ARGA, they, they became friends.
Is there a coach or someonethat is sort of providing a
structure for all this to takeplace?
What was quite interesting wasthat Jeremy Paul Skinner became
master splinter.
Jeremy, jeremy Paul splinter,because he's got the goatee now
and he's Does he.
Yeah, he's looking less cycledon.
Oh, he's dropped back down.
(06:12):
Yeah, he had to drop someweight for this comp, mind you,
the food poisoning helped.
But he took the role of thetechnical guy.
Right, he was playing differentgames for different people,
strategically, and he has anencyclopedic knowledge of like
everyone's games, because hebreaks it down for Atomic Dojo
Shout out Atomic Dojo.
(06:32):
If you want to learn shitonline, check out Atomic Dojo.
He is very good with thedetails, even for guys who maybe
are technically moreaccomplished than him.
He's just so focused on thatEverybody listens to him because
obviously he has achievedplenty in his athletic career
and but he's smart as fuck, soit was interesting to see him,
(06:54):
uh, form that role.
Um, but so, like you know, youguys show up to the training
room.
Is there someone that's likeall right, guys, hey, we got you
know a couple of hours.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to do, or is itjust kind of like open mat?
Okay, so people figure it out.
So here's the deal.
It was similar to an open mat,but a degree of structure.
So this is the next point Iwanted to make.
(07:15):
They are very opencommunicators, these top guys.
They tell you right, you and Iwere going to do hand fighting.
I'm working on this.
This is what I want you to do.
So for the next five minutes,this is what we're doing.
Now, some guys were just rollingand feeling each other out, but
for the best part, they mightgo to like a 50, 50 position and
be like right, this is what Iwant you to try and do and I'm
(07:36):
going to work from here, right,so specific training Of sorts
you might say a constraints-ledapproach, depending, very nice,
yeah, so there were some gamesbeing played.
It's completely different, joe,but what I found was really
interesting about it was theyweren't shy in giving feedback
and telling each other this iswhat I need you to do, this is
(07:57):
what I'm going to do.
Yeah, and just being reallyopen, and the communication was
very clear.
I mean, obviously there weretimes when guys were just
rolling.
They're like right, shake hands, let's fucking bang.
There are other times when theywere very direct about their
objective and how the roundshould be conducted and I was
(08:18):
like, oh wow, I didn't expectthat.
That was something which mademe go.
You know what?
I think we could all benefitfrom being a little bit more.
I mean, obviously they're worldclass and so it was very
cooperative.
So no one was going to be like,oh no, man, I don't want to do
that Sounds shit.
I don't want to do that.
No, as if who's even heard ofyou anyway.
(08:40):
Shut up, shut up, gianni gripu.
But, uh, but that's, that's thething about it, that when you
see these behaviors amongst toptier athletes, like, oh, wow,
like, okay, well, if they, ifthey run it like that, maybe you
know, maybe that's reallyapplicable.
I mean, it is it, but there'sreally a level of um, there's,
(09:02):
there's a lot in that, there's alot of, there's a lot like,
there's a level of confidence,and to be able to communicate
with someone like that and trainlike that, yeah, cause, you
know, you could say that to agroup of like white to purple
belts and everyone be like, well, I don't know what to work, I
don't know what I want them todo.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Like so it, you know, yeah,they're not fucking around.
(09:28):
We've got a week, yeah, andthen we have to bang with the
best, so it's like we're down tobusiness, yeah, and so it is
very professional.
And so, yeah, you're probablyright in saying that it would be
hard to ask somebody who's lessexperienced to deliver that
level of confidence to atraining partner.
But I think it's also it's likethe sex thing, you know.
It's like what do you want?
Just tell them what you want.
(09:49):
Just put your thumb up my bum,yeah.
But it's so hard to say thatyou know what I mean.
Like, do I want this dude tostick his thumb up my bum right
now?
You know what I mean?
Well, I mean, look, if you'retrying to get an outcome, you've
got to ask for a job.
I mean there you go.
I've said it to you.
Now you know?
Okay, all right.
Well, as long as you're clean.
(10:12):
I think the thing about it isthis is that, ultimately, we all
have limited time in jiu-jitsu,so it is good to have a think
about before you roll what am Itrying to get out of this?
And you shouldn't shouldn't beafraid to say to your training
partner hey man, is it cool if Iask, if I give you a little bit
(10:32):
of direction and we play it acertain way?
Yeah, and, and they can alsoplace to get to.
They can feel reciprocally likeif they ask hey man, I just
want to try and do this thing.
Yeah, and that's that's reallygood, because it means both of
you get a better outcome.
Yeah, the number one thing thatis ruining your BJJ performance
is dehydration.
You're getting thirsty afterwarmup, you're feeling lethargic
when you're rolling and you'regetting cramps by the end of
class.
The key to unlocking this issodium.
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(11:19):
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The fourth thing here is theknowledge of self.
The conduct of each athlete wasvery different.
Like a couple of sessions,certain guys didn't show up.
They're like nah, man, I'm notgoing to that session, I'm
chilling Because they don't wantto do that one today.
(11:42):
Nah, I'm going to go to the spaand get a massage.
Okay, I'm not going.
No, I'm doing this instead.
All right, cool, like I thinkthe good thing was a lot of.
It was, uh, it was all.
Choose your own adventure, eventhough you're trying to
structure it as a team thing.
We had a team bus, all of that.
(12:03):
Like, for example, gianni wantedto do as many rounds as
possible.
He's like he's a kind of poor,harder essence guy, nice, he's
like we got 12 rounds, I'm doingevery round to me.
I'm doing every round, let's'mdoing every round, let's, let's,
we're here, let's fucking go,go, go, go.
That's his style, whereas itwas interesting.
(12:23):
Where's he from?
Is he American?
Yeah, yeah, so he trained, he.
I think he was black belt underMarcello.
He might have trained at Unityfor a little while.
He cross-trained a bit, whichmade him maybe not Marcelo's
favorite guy, and now he has hisown gym out in New Jersey and
he's a little bit more of theCLA school.
(12:44):
He's anti-drill now.
Even though he was a young manhe did a lot of drilling.
Yeah right.
So it's very interesting to seehis evolution as he's now moved
almost full-time into the no-gi.
It's probably the same as howmost young people start off
quite left-leaning and then, asyou get older, you move towards
the right, maybe a little bitmore conservative, maybe Not
necessarily Start to amass alittle bit of wealth.
You know, capitalism's not thatbad.
(13:04):
Actually.
I think free market's the wayto go, maybe not, and sometimes
it can go the other way.
You start off ultraconservative and turn into a
complete fucking hippie.
But I think what's interestingfor me is like, even looking at,
say, chris Wojcik, he's verylaid back, but when he rolls he
rolls with great intensity, buthe makes sure that when he's not
(13:25):
rolling he's very efficient, hedoesn't waste energy on
anything, yeah, you know.
Whereas DeAndre is like I wantto walk up and down the mountain
five times.
Right, I want to walk up thismountain backwards.
Now I want to do fuckingjumping jacks.
Like the guy has got so muchenergy and if he doesn't use it
he feels like bad.
Right, so he's.
(13:46):
He's had Totally differentapproach, totally different guy,
but each guy was able to showup to training, get what they
needed and leave without havinga negative impact on each other.
Yep, which I think is important.
So, understanding yourself andevery sorry to cut you off,
everyone was respectful of likeso-and-so didn't show up today.
No, no one gave a shit.
Yeah, right, it was all good.
(14:07):
Hey, man, whatever, like,everybody understands, you're
you, you know how to operate.
So, understands, you're you,you know how to operate.
So you've got to sort yourselfout.
Yeah, you know what I mean andI.
I think um, kenta was veryinteresting because kenta is
like a bit of a phenom in termsof like, he's always late, he
always like, he's like the kidrunning the school with the
backpack open, one shoe on, likeright, he's always got bed hair
(14:28):
.
Yeah, he's just, he's a, he'san anomaly, but he fucking, you
can't fuck with that guy on themat.
Yeah, right, best balance, bestpassing, like it just.
Everybody just talks about howyou just can't do shit to Kenta.
He, just, he's just, he's justthis kind of, he's like a mogwai
, he's like this soft, fluffy,nice thing.
(14:50):
You spill some water on him, heturns into a fucking jujitsu
gremlin.
Ah, it's fucking.
What is it gremlins?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because Ilove Kente, he's softest natured
, most humble, really, but fuck,he's a beast on the mat.
Yeah, unstoppable.
Last thing is the willingness tosuffer.
The willingness to suffer isunparalleled amongst the top
(15:13):
performers.
The fact that these guys wouldjust not eat, do whatever it
takes to lose weight, do thetraining, put up with all the
bullshit and not complain isunmatched.
Right like.
The willingness to suffer is isa is a grade above, and they
say this about the best inbusiness.
They say this about dealingwith uncertainty.
(15:36):
Those who are willing to eatpain are the ones who tend to
succeed long-term, because,ultimately, there's always
problems.
Ultimately, something alwaysfucks up and these guys, they,
just accept it.
They're like, yep, it's what wedo, and maybe that's a bit of a
grim take on it, but what Iwitnessed was like Jeremy
(15:59):
Skinner is like fucking foodpoisoning.
You know, he's got liquidscoming out both ends.
The guy's like super low energy.
He's still training.
Wow, he's still training.
He's still trying to cut weight.
He's still trying to stay ondiet.
Like, even though differentpeople had different problems
during camp, everyone still didwhat it took.
Yeah, everyone showed up,everyone cut weight, everyone
(16:20):
made weight and everyone fuckingperformed on the day and no one
fucking complained.
There's plenty of banter andshit talk, like there's a lot of
like making fun of each otherand it was, it was all.
It was a real good group ofpeople, but what really stuck
out to me is that these guyswill just do whatever it takes
and they don't complain.
And that was, yeah, I expecteda little bit more prima donna
(16:44):
ism and it wasn't there.
That's cool, which is fuckinggreat.
Yeah, because you just you neverknow with certain folks when
they're um high level, would youimagine that not all of the
teams had probably the same vibethat team aleone had.
No, I would say that no teamhad the vibe.
I think kasai was close.
They're all mates, they're allpretty much brazilian and just
like dancing and partying and,like you know, those brazilians
(17:07):
like no, but those that anyexcuse to have a barbecue.
No, that that group,particularly they they were
having a good time.
Yes, they look like they'rehaving a good time and I think I
mean that is one thing we knowof Brazilians no, but they're
good at having a good time.
Team Açaà wasn't having a goodtime.
Oh, no, you know what I mean.
No, yeah, right, I think it'sjust that they are very good
friends thing.
With Team Alena, it was verydifferent people, but because we
(17:32):
got there, you know, 10 daysearly and we got spent time
together and hung out, there wasgreat camaraderie, yeah, and
because everybody was sodifferent, there wasn't a lot of
crossover, but there was enoughthat everyone was cool and you
got very different people beingable to work together for an end
goal, which really speaks foritself when, yeah, the team
(17:56):
almost beat the Williams teamand could have very variably
beat Kasai.
So you look at that, they'retop three, and those high level
professionals exhibiting allthese different qualities were
able to show up and do the thingon the day.
That's cool, yeah.
I learned a lot from it and it'sdefinitely made me probably
reconsider my own approach aboutjust kind of how I conduct
(18:18):
myself or how I think aboutjujitsu, because you don't as
much as you can take yourjujitsu seriously, you don't
have to take yourself soseriously.
If that makes sense, you canreally care about jujitsu, but
you can be very laid back about.
You know who you think you are.
You know they are.
They are separate things and sonot associating your
(18:41):
personality too strongly withyour skills allows you to
probably be whoever you want tobe and your jujitsu still to be
very good.
So I think that was a bigunlock for me.
I can listen to you, oh my God,because I'm a bit of a jerk and
I'm.
That was a big unlock for me.
I can listen to you, oh my God,because I'm a bit of a jerk and
I'm not that good at jujitsu,so I better start being nice to
cunts.
Well, I got to get better atjujitsu real quick.
(19:02):
There it is, folks, I'm, I'm,I'm, I'm, I'm.
A good martial artist does not become tense, but
ready.
Essentially, at this point thefight is over, so you pretty
much flow with the goal.
Who is worthy to be trustedwith the secret to limitless
power?
I'm ready.
(00:27):
What separates the topperformers from the average?
I have just spent 12 days withsome of the best grapplers in
the world, witnessed firsthandthe common traits across very
different people and how theyinteract with each other, how
they roll and also how theyperform at the highest level,
(00:50):
and I've got some insight.
I've got the inside scoop onthese folks and it was very
interesting.
Joe, I would imagine, like whenI'm looking at the kind of
elite dudes you were hanging outwith and the elite dudes that
are at that AIGA event, likeit's the fucking best of the
best, I can't help but imaginethat there's got to be a level
(01:11):
of competitiveness in thetraining room.
There is, but I think whichkind of ego's sort of part of
that A little bit.
Am I off?
No, no, no, you're not off,you're not off.
I think there is some.
There is some like the closerthe weight category, the more
there's that.
But also I was able to witness,you know, someone who's a
heavyweight work with someonewho's a featherweight and it'd
(01:33):
still be a good exchange, right.
But the thing is thepersonalities were all very
different, like all completelydifferent humans, but there was
some commonalities between themas top level jujitsu competitors
and professionals.
Number one cab off the rank isattention to detail.
(01:53):
These guys are absolutelylooking at like I do this, but
then I move my hip like this andthey're all gathered around you
know like they're very open toum, to the learning, but the
attention to detail is is reallyinteresting because they're all
smart, they all know relativeamounts about each other's games
(02:15):
.
And but then someone like Kaya.
Kaya's like, oh, but when I'mhere, I put my foot here like
this and I do this.
And they're like, okay, becauseI mean, kaya is like just the
most flexible guy ever and so hecan get into positions that no
one really understands.
Even top level guys are likewhat the fuck is he doing?
But when he starts to breakdown why he's doing what he's
(02:36):
doing, then they're like, oh, itmakes a lot of sense, that's
really cool.
And you see, them absorb it.
Or someone says, oh, when I'mhere, I take a reverse grip
because that enables me to movelike this, like I'm not doing
this because I want to stay here, like anyone would look at this
reverse grip on the shin or thefoot Like that's not strong.
It's like, no, it's not stronghere, but once I pass to the
outside it's very strong.
(02:58):
Yeah, right on, and you're likeall it starts to make more
sense.
Some of the stuff seemscounterintuitive because you
just don't know why they'redoing it, and then once they
start to explain their processand where it puts them, you're
like wow, makes a lot of sense.
So the attention to detail wasimmaculate.
I learned a lot just fromsitting in on sessions, as much
(03:18):
as I did get a chance to rollwith a couple of the guys.
It was also a bit selfish forme to want to roll, right, guys,
anyone, anyone want to go?
Anyone want to go with theleast skilled guy in the room
who's down to bang Injurymachine?
I just felt like the big whitebelt, like hi, everybody.
Anyway, it was totally funbecause, watching them work, you
(03:40):
could see how they werelearning from each other in real
time and that is the thingabout it.
This is like the second thingwhich really made me appreciate
how smart these guys are.
They are very open and quicklearners.
Right, you show me somethingthat's different to what I know.
Straight away.
They're just like shoo mad.
I'll do that now.
(04:01):
Yeah, straight away, there's nodrilling.
There's no, it was veryanti-drilling.
There was a lot of CLAecological cats in the room.
Yeah, like DeAndre is like aecological Jesus.
Yeah, he's there.
If, if Greg Souders is, is, isCLA God, then DeAndre is Jesus
(04:22):
Right on.
He's around converting everyone, spreading the love.
He's very like you can't helpbut love DeAndre.
He's the nicest kid and hisjiu-jitsu is fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, he looks fucking reallygood.
I've not actually watched a lotof him, but I saw his highlight
against Dante and he lookedlike a savage.
He's so strong, bro, I rolledhim a couple of times.
He just gets sick of it.
If you're not doing what hewants, he just goes.
(04:44):
Now I'm going to switch it on.
Bam bam, bam, bam bam.
You're like, oh fuck, you knowlike you just can't contain that
guy.
He goes super saiyan.
Um, but what I saw was exchangesbetween Gianni and Deandre, and
then, um, they were talking toShakmanov, who's a Dagestani
wrestler, and he was talkingabout details around his
(05:04):
wrestling and then, even likeDan Manchild, was talking about
some setups for leg locks andcounters, and everybody, the
synergy was insane.
Yeah, right, like in onetraining session everybody
learned something from eachother.
Yeah, and then the nexttraining gets better and better.
And everyone was like, hey man,if World War III pops off,
(05:26):
we'll just set up the bestjiu-jitsu club in Kazakhstan,
because everybody's just here,like if we just got stuck here
for a month and these guys justworked together, their
respective jiu-jitsu levelswould all go up.
And so in that trainingenvironment, you know, these
guys were obviously all coming,like they're not all mates right
, like they obviously all coming, like they're not all mates
(05:50):
right, like they're all comingfrom different places.
So they became, I think theyall knew each other, but over
the process of the camp for ARGA, they, they became friends.
Is there a coach or someonethat is sort of providing a
structure for all this to takeplace?
What was quite interesting wasthat Jeremy Paul Skinner became
master splinter.
Jeremy, jeremy Paul splinter,because he's got the goatee now
and he's Does he.
Yeah, he's looking less cycledon.
Oh, he's dropped back down.
(06:12):
Yeah, he had to drop someweight for this comp, mind you,
the food poisoning helped.
But he took the role of thetechnical guy.
Right, he was playing differentgames for different people,
strategically, and he has anencyclopedic knowledge of like
everyone's games, because hebreaks it down for Atomic Dojo
Shout out Atomic Dojo.
(06:32):
If you want to learn shitonline, check out Atomic Dojo.
He is very good with thedetails, even for guys who maybe
are technically moreaccomplished than him.
He's just so focused on thatEverybody listens to him because
obviously he has achievedplenty in his athletic career
and but he's smart as fuck, soit was interesting to see him,
(06:54):
uh, form that role.
Um, but so, like you know, youguys show up to the training
room.
Is there someone that's likeall right, guys, hey, we got you
know a couple of hours.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to do, or is itjust kind of like open mat?
Okay, so people figure it out.
So here's the deal.
It was similar to an open mat,but a degree of structure.
So this is the next point Iwanted to make.
(07:15):
They are very opencommunicators, these top guys.
They tell you right, you and Iwere going to do hand fighting.
I'm working on this.
This is what I want you to do.
So for the next five minutes,this is what we're doing.
Now, some guys were just rollingand feeling each other out, but
for the best part, they mightgo to like a 50, 50 position and
be like right, this is what Iwant you to try and do and I'm
(07:36):
going to work from here, right,so specific training Of sorts
you might say a constraints-ledapproach, depending, very nice,
yeah, so there were some gamesbeing played.
It's completely different, joe,but what I found was really
interesting about it was theyweren't shy in giving feedback
and telling each other this iswhat I need you to do, this is
(07:57):
what I'm going to do.
Yeah, and just being reallyopen, and the communication was
very clear.
I mean, obviously there weretimes when guys were just
rolling.
They're like right, shake hands, let's fucking bang.
There are other times when theywere very direct about their
objective and how the roundshould be conducted and I was
(08:18):
like, oh wow, I didn't expectthat.
That was something which mademe go.
You know what?
I think we could all benefitfrom being a little bit more.
I mean, obviously they're worldclass and so it was very
cooperative.
So no one was going to be like,oh no, man, I don't want to do
that Sounds shit.
I don't want to do that.
No, as if who's even heard ofyou anyway.
(08:40):
Shut up, shut up, gianni gripu.
But, uh, but that's, that's thething about it, that when you
see these behaviors amongst toptier athletes, like, oh, wow,
like, okay, well, if they, ifthey run it like that, maybe you
know, maybe that's reallyapplicable.
I mean, it is it, but there'sreally a level of um, there's,
(09:02):
there's a lot in that, there's alot of, there's a lot like,
there's a level of confidence,and to be able to communicate
with someone like that and trainlike that, yeah, cause, you
know, you could say that to agroup of like white to purple
belts and everyone be like, well, I don't know what to work, I
don't know what I want them todo.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Like so it, you know, yeah,they're not fucking around.
(09:28):
We've got a week, yeah, andthen we have to bang with the
best, so it's like we're down tobusiness, yeah, and so it is
very professional.
And so, yeah, you're probablyright in saying that it would be
hard to ask somebody who's lessexperienced to deliver that
level of confidence to atraining partner.
But I think it's also it's likethe sex thing, you know.
It's like what do you want?
Just tell them what you want.
(09:49):
Just put your thumb up my bum,yeah.
But it's so hard to say thatyou know what I mean.
Like, do I want this dude tostick his thumb up my bum right
now?
You know what I mean?
Well, I mean, look, if you'retrying to get an outcome, you've
got to ask for a job.
I mean there you go.
I've said it to you.
Now you know?
Okay, all right.
Well, as long as you're clean.
(10:12):
I think the thing about it isthis is that, ultimately, we all
have limited time in jiu-jitsu,so it is good to have a think
about before you roll what am Itrying to get out of this?
And you shouldn't shouldn't beafraid to say to your training
partner hey man, is it cool if Iask, if I give you a little bit
(10:32):
of direction and we play it acertain way?
Yeah, and, and they can alsoplace to get to.
They can feel reciprocally likeif they ask hey man, I just
want to try and do this thing.
Yeah, and that's that's reallygood, because it means both of
you get a better outcome.
Yeah, the number one thing thatis ruining your BJJ performance
is dehydration.
You're getting thirsty afterwarmup, you're feeling lethargic
when you're rolling and you'regetting cramps by the end of
class.
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The fourth thing here is theknowledge of self.
The conduct of each athlete wasvery different.
Like a couple of sessions,certain guys didn't show up.
They're like nah, man, I'm notgoing to that session, I'm
chilling Because they don't wantto do that one today.
(11:42):
Nah, I'm going to go to the spaand get a massage.
Okay, I'm not going.
No, I'm doing this instead.
All right, cool, like I thinkthe good thing was a lot of.
It was, uh, it was all.
Choose your own adventure, eventhough you're trying to
structure it as a team thing.
We had a team bus, all of that.
(12:03):
Like, for example, gianni wantedto do as many rounds as
possible.
He's like he's a kind of poor,harder essence guy, nice, he's
like we got 12 rounds, I'm doingevery round to me.
I'm doing every round, let's'mdoing every round, let's, let's,
we're here, let's fucking go,go, go, go.
That's his style, whereas itwas interesting.
(12:23):
Where's he from?
Is he American?
Yeah, yeah, so he trained, he.
I think he was black belt underMarcello.
He might have trained at Unityfor a little while.
He cross-trained a bit, whichmade him maybe not Marcelo's
favorite guy, and now he has hisown gym out in New Jersey and
he's a little bit more of theCLA school.
(12:44):
He's anti-drill now.
Even though he was a young manhe did a lot of drilling.
Yeah right.
So it's very interesting to seehis evolution as he's now moved
almost full-time into the no-gi.
It's probably the same as howmost young people start off
quite left-leaning and then, asyou get older, you move towards
the right, maybe a little bitmore conservative, maybe Not
necessarily Start to amass alittle bit of wealth.
You know, capitalism's not thatbad.
(13:04):
Actually.
I think free market's the wayto go, maybe not, and sometimes
it can go the other way.
You start off ultraconservative and turn into a
complete fucking hippie.
But I think what's interestingfor me is like, even looking at,
say, chris Wojcik, he's verylaid back, but when he rolls he
rolls with great intensity, buthe makes sure that when he's not
(13:25):
rolling he's very efficient, hedoesn't waste energy on
anything, yeah, you know.
Whereas DeAndre is like I wantto walk up and down the mountain
five times.
Right, I want to walk up thismountain backwards.
Now I want to do fuckingjumping jacks.
Like the guy has got so muchenergy and if he doesn't use it
he feels like bad.
Right, so he's.
(13:46):
He's had Totally differentapproach, totally different guy,
but each guy was able to showup to training, get what they
needed and leave without havinga negative impact on each other.
Yep, which I think is important.
So, understanding yourself andevery sorry to cut you off,
everyone was respectful of likeso-and-so didn't show up today.
No, no one gave a shit.
Yeah, right, it was all good.
(14:07):
Hey, man, whatever, like,everybody understands, you're
you, you know how to operate.
So, understands, you're you,you know how to operate.
So you've got to sort yourselfout.
Yeah, you know what I mean andI.
I think um, kenta was veryinteresting because kenta is
like a bit of a phenom in termsof like, he's always late, he
always like, he's like the kidrunning the school with the
backpack open, one shoe on, likeright, he's always got bed hair
(14:28):
.
Yeah, he's just, he's a, he'san anomaly, but he fucking, you
can't fuck with that guy on themat.
Yeah, right, best balance, bestpassing, like it just.
Everybody just talks about howyou just can't do shit to Kenta.
He, just, he's just, he's justthis kind of, he's like a mogwai
, he's like this soft, fluffy,nice thing.
(14:50):
You spill some water on him, heturns into a fucking jujitsu
gremlin.
Ah, it's fucking.
What is it gremlins?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because Ilove Kente, he's softest natured
, most humble, really, but fuck,he's a beast on the mat.
Yeah, unstoppable.
Last thing is the willingness tosuffer.
The willingness to suffer isunparalleled amongst the top
(15:13):
performers.
The fact that these guys wouldjust not eat, do whatever it
takes to lose weight, do thetraining, put up with all the
bullshit and not complain isunmatched.
Right like.
The willingness to suffer is isa is a grade above, and they
say this about the best inbusiness.
They say this about dealingwith uncertainty.
(15:36):
Those who are willing to eatpain are the ones who tend to
succeed long-term, because,ultimately, there's always
problems.
Ultimately, something alwaysfucks up and these guys, they,
just accept it.
They're like, yep, it's what wedo, and maybe that's a bit of a
grim take on it, but what Iwitnessed was like Jeremy
(15:59):
Skinner is like fucking foodpoisoning.
You know, he's got liquidscoming out both ends.
The guy's like super low energy.
He's still training.
Wow, he's still training.
He's still trying to cut weight.
He's still trying to stay ondiet.
Like, even though differentpeople had different problems
during camp, everyone still didwhat it took.
Yeah, everyone showed up,everyone cut weight, everyone
(16:20):
made weight and everyone fuckingperformed on the day and no one
fucking complained.
There's plenty of banter andshit talk, like there's a lot of
like making fun of each otherand it was, it was all.
It was a real good group ofpeople, but what really stuck
out to me is that these guyswill just do whatever it takes
and they don't complain.
And that was, yeah, I expecteda little bit more prima donna
(16:44):
ism and it wasn't there.
That's cool, which is fuckinggreat.
Yeah, because you just you neverknow with certain folks when
they're um high level, would youimagine that not all of the
teams had probably the same vibethat team aleone had.
No, I would say that no teamhad the vibe.
I think kasai was close.
They're all mates, they're allpretty much brazilian and just
like dancing and partying and,like you know, those brazilians
(17:07):
like no, but those that anyexcuse to have a barbecue.
No, that that group,particularly they they were
having a good time.
Yes, they look like they'rehaving a good time and I think I
mean that is one thing we knowof Brazilians no, but they're
good at having a good time.
Team Açaà wasn't having a goodtime.
Oh, no, you know what I mean.
No, yeah, right, I think it'sjust that they are very good
friends thing.
With Team Alena, it was verydifferent people, but because we
(17:32):
got there, you know, 10 daysearly and we got spent time
together and hung out, there wasgreat camaraderie, yeah, and
because everybody was sodifferent, there wasn't a lot of
crossover, but there was enoughthat everyone was cool and you
got very different people beingable to work together for an end
goal, which really speaks foritself when, yeah, the team
(17:56):
almost beat the Williams teamand could have very variably
beat Kasai.
So you look at that, they'retop three, and those high level
professionals exhibiting allthese different qualities were
able to show up and do the thingon the day.
That's cool, yeah.
I learned a lot from it and it'sdefinitely made me probably
reconsider my own approach aboutjust kind of how I conduct
(18:18):
myself or how I think aboutjujitsu, because you don't as
much as you can take yourjujitsu seriously, you don't
have to take yourself soseriously.
If that makes sense, you canreally care about jujitsu, but
you can be very laid back about.
You know who you think you are.
You know they are.
They are separate things and sonot associating your
(18:41):
personality too strongly withyour skills allows you to
probably be whoever you want tobe and your jujitsu still to be
very good.
So I think that was a bigunlock for me.
I can listen to you, oh my God,because I'm a bit of a jerk and
I'm.
That was a big unlock for me.
I can listen to you, oh my God,because I'm a bit of a jerk and
I'm not that good at jujitsu,so I better start being nice to
cunts.
Well, I got to get better atjujitsu real quick.
(19:02):
There it is, folks, I'm, I'm,I'm, I'm, I'm.
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