Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Why Strength Is MORE Important Than Technique In BJJ
The age old jiu jitsu sayings rendering strength useless with impeccable technique were maybe true for a period of time. Buuuut now those big and strong guys are also doing BJJ. Have you been told to stop using strength in rolls? We say, f%$@ that noise. While having technical prowess is really the ultimate goal, your strength is also a skill that you need to train. Getting stronger will only help your jiu jitsu, and if it's something you've left out of the regime, it's time to add it in now... (Do it using our app if you feel so incline)
Increase athleticism, reduce injuries and build a grapplers physique with the Bulletproof for BJJ App. Start your FREE 14 Day Trial today:
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bulletproof-for-bjj/id6444311790
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bulletproofforbjj&utm_source=na_Med
Stay Hydrated with Sodii the tastiest electrolytes in the Game! Get 15% OFF: BULLETPROOF15 https://sodii.com.au/bulletproof
----------------------
BULLETPROOF SHIRTS: https://www.fanwear.com.au/products/core-bullet-proof-for-bjj-classic-tee
----------------------
A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Essentially, at this point, the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power? I'm ready. Strength is more important than technique for BJJ beginners. Hear me out, Stay with me, fam. Here's the thing. For the mess part, we're always taught technique over strength. Don't use too much strength. But what people are missing when you start BJJ? If you're not strong, if you're not robust, you're going to crumble. And you could be the most technical person in the world.
Speaker 2:If you don't have a degree of physical strength, you're getting smashed Bro there was a Harvard study done of the kinds of people coaches actually that specifically give that piece of information, and it was found that they're all weak cunts.
Speaker 1:Imagine Harvard. Thank you, harvard. We appreciate your use of the C word. As Australians, we love it. Now here's the thing, my friends. It is the biggest challenge when you start jujitsu that you're like well, what do I need to do? What's the most important thing for me to do? Do as much jujitsu as I can, be as technical as I can and, yes, of course, learning jujitsu. We're here to learn concepts and ways to move our bodies, to strangle other humans. But I don't know if you've had this experience, joe, but I've definitely had this experience where I have been more technical than the person I'm rolling. So in this case, I have been more technical than the person I'm rolling. So in this case, this gentleman is called Big Jace. He is 145, 150 kilos of ripped jacked, island of strength, massive unit.
Speaker 1:He was part of Mark Hunt's fight team when he was preparing to fight Frank Meir back in the day and he totally KO'd Meir with one of those classic walk-off knockouts Beautiful thing, I love Mark Hunt's knockouts and he trained at AET. I don't know where he trains now, but this is back before Big J. He was a purple belt at the time. I was actually a black belt. What could I do to this guy? Gi, or no Gi, not very much, like I could barely move him. He knew enough jujitsu that he could just stop what I was trying to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Even though I was trying to, like, trick him and lure him in and all he had to do was be non-compliant because he was so big and so strong I I maybe I got a sweep out of him and maybe I got some kind of footlock or something, but it was just. It had to be such a surprise, because my technical ability was not more than double his. Wasn't far enough ahead, no, and so when you're at a beginner level, when you first start jujitsu and you don't know much jujitsu, and you're in front of someone who is physically stronger they might be the same size as you, they're tougher mentally, they've got a better physical condition. As the roles go on, you will crumble. They will not. And this is the thing that's not talked about enough is that you need to be freaking robust. You need to be so determined. Not only do you need a degree of physical strength, but mental strength, and that comes from doing challenging things physically. So when you come to something like jujitsu, you don't just wilt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess um, could I say. Maybe the example of big J sounds like a fucking handful by the way I have rolling counts like that Nightmare. That's why I don't Um. But you know, maybe it's a bit misleading to to the person that's like all right, okay, you know, maybe it's a bit misleading to the person that's like all right, okay, 145 pound.
Speaker 2:Islander, 145 kilo Islander, it's like a 300 pounds. I'm fucking converted to the imperial system. But the but, but you know, thinking about, like, I'm thinking about the middle-aged mom that showed up to the advanced class that I was teaching advantage last year. Sure, that had a great time and it's like I fucking love this but had never done anything like you know it before. Right, never done any jujitsu. Probably maybe you went to the gym a few times.
Speaker 2:Um, but I'm like just the mechanics of what's going on. Even like if the first techniques she was to learn was like, hey, this is a frame, this is how you just fucking try to stop someone like pressing in on you or whatever. Um, like, yeah, I had to teach her the technique for that, but she just needs a level of strength that's going to allow that to work. Yeah, like there is there is there is a, a level of, a level of force production to make the techniques work. Definitely, and and of course, any, you can teach the techniques to anyone that doesn't know anything and it will become, it will be beneficial, be helpful, but it's probably gonna be pretty ineffective against someone who also knows such techniques. Well, this is the thing right.
Speaker 1:There's always the discussion, or we're gonna unpack a degree of mythology within jujitsu, which we all kind of love in a way. Right, which is this idea of the smaller person beating the bigger person? The foundation on which this game was built? Yes, sir, and you know, the Gracies really pushed it as a bit of a mythology. But if the big person also knows jujitsu, well then the smaller person's kind of they're kind of fucked.
Speaker 2:The problem is you're only ever doing jiu-jitsu with other people that do jiu-jitsu. Oh yes, you're not fighting cunts on the street, no, no, no, unless you're me of course, of course, the natural in the streets.
Speaker 1:But what I'm saying here is that, for the best part, coaches do their best to try to pair like sizes, because we also know that the chance of injury is higher when you put a smaller individual with a much larger individual. Not blaming the bigger individual, I'm not blaming anyone in any situation here but if you talk to anyone like any of the kind of under 150 pound type humans, male or female, they will look to work with people their own size, just because there is way more variables when you go much bigger than that. Now, why am I so adamant about strength and it being more important technique for beginners? Now we can go to the other end of the spectrum. Obviously, you get a guy like Gordon Ryan and there's a video of him rolling um, like the world's strongest man, like he's rolling martin, yeah, hapthor, and he rolls martin slickus, um, you know, and those guys are undisputably the biggest, strongest humans and he sweeps them and he gets on top of them and you're like, yeah, gordon ryan is the best but he's not overpowering them.
Speaker 2:No, actually like no. No, they're doing their best, but they have no jiu-jitsu. Yeah, they literally is the best, but he's not overpowering them no.
Speaker 1:Actually like yeah, no, no, no, they're doing their best, but they have no jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They literally have zero jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 2:But you can see that like they present a dilemma.
Speaker 1:It is tough. It is tough and Gordon's got to use everything he's got, but at an elite level, of course, whoever has the highest level of technique. The idea of strengths and and and physical capacity is assumed Like, if you're an elite level grappler, you're a black belt and you're trying to be a world champion. Yes, you gotta be fucking strong, yes, you gotta be flexible, yes, like that's all given. But when you're a white belt and you get started, it's like no, be more technical. Like don't overpower people. Fucking getting overpowered is what happens. Like that's, that's what happens and it's kind of it does get pretty raw. You know there's a lot of memes like. You know. It's like the simpsons meme, where there's like two I can't remember. It's like it's like moe's tavern and they're like standing around and there's like I think I can't remember if it's homer and who it is rolling around on the ground but it's like blue belt, belt, white belt, purple belt, and they're all throwing money and it's got two white belts fighting to the death. It's kind of like that. It's kind of law of the jungle. When people have a low skill threshold, whoever's more athletic is doing better here. And I want to talk about how this goes into longevity, because a lot of people we know, like not just personally, but what we understand about jujitsu is people absolutely flame out in their first two years. This is the sad thing. We want people to get in, we want them to get their black belts, we want people to stay the course because it's rewarding, but invariably people get injured, people get, uh, I guess, defeated in a lot of ways, like because it can be very defeating. Sometimes when you go to jiu-jitsu you feel like you're not getting better and typically the person who brings a degree of confidence and athletic capacity has the ability to smash more. And we do see it all the time, whether it's judo or wrestling, coming to jiu jujitsu and you've got someone who's technical and then they just get someone who's just ultra determined bringing the smash and more physically capable and they tend to prevail. And this is where I feel it is not understood.
Speaker 1:I got this from a guy called Tony Butaji and I don't know where he got it. He's a high level SSE coach from Australia. Shout out, don't know where he got it. He's a high level S&C coach from Australia. Shout out, I did his very advanced course.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I did his course, which was about advanced strength and conditioning many years ago and he's a very smart fella and he said this and he said before you can have endurance, you must have strength with which to endure. And he was saying that a lot of the mistakes people make with marathon running, like long distance swimming, anything that requires endurance they neglect the strength work because they're just trying to build the gas tank. But if you do not have a degree of physical robustness, you do break down over those longer distances and your technique does go down and you can't maintain your technique because you don't have the neural efficiency. And really what he was advocating for in this course was it doesn't matter what sport you play. If you take that athlete and you make them stronger, they will have a better, longer career.
Speaker 1:Why do we not look at jujitsu in this way? Why is it that we're like no strengths, don't worry about that, fuck the gym, just technique? This is where I feel is a massive falling down in our understanding of athletic development and I believe this is why people are churning out, people are getting injuries because they're not robust enough yeah, I mean, I would think that you know, the dilemma for for the everyday folk is that they're not an elite athlete, right?
Speaker 2:They don't see themselves as an athlete, no, and coaches don't see their students as athletes.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And jiu-jitsu operates in this special space, that it's like, hey, we found this activity that's going to bring you youthfulness and it's going to bring you physical confidence and, you know, amazing self-defense ability and that's kind of what it's sold as right, sure, and that's the whole.
Speaker 2:Just show up and train jiu-jitsu saved my life. All of that is almost like tribute to this idea that, like, oh, there's all these other sports and shit and science, but jiu-jitsu is outside of that, it's its own thing on a pedestal. I feel like the concept like, say, if you take something like crossfit, whereby crossfit said very deliberately, if you train crossfit, you are a crossfit athlete, right, and that's what they call people who do crossfit. Now, like, you go to crossfit gym, I'll tell you there's plenty of non-athletes in there. It's a mixed bag, right, but but to their credit, everyone's's like we're athletes, you're an athlete, coaches call everyone athletes and it's like there is something kind of cool in that, in that it holds people in theory, holds them to a higher standard, sure, so I would think that, yeah, like, if we were able to change people's view, coaches' view of those who practice jiu-jitsu, then the idea of, yes, strength is an essential part of this thing would not be so far-fetched.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and look, love or dislike CrossFit, right. However you feel about CrossFit, they have produced weapons. If you speak to someone and you're like, oh, what do you do recreationally, they're like, yeah, I do CrossFit. You're like, oh, fuck, this is going to be a tough role.
Speaker 1:Like you know that person's there and they're doing hard shit, whatever you think about their technique or anything else. Let me just throw back to Taekwondo and I know a lot of people hang shit on Taekwondo but when we were doing sports, taekwondo, competing, we had certain fitness requirements. Like we had to do a certain amount of push-ups, certain amount of sit-ups, certain amount of squats, like in order for you to hold your level at black belt, you had to maintain a certain level of fitness. That was the requirement. There's no such requirement in jiu-jitsu yeah you know this when you get grad.
Speaker 2:You said that was sport in the sports, taekwondo. Yeah, I mean, but was there like another, like a non-sports?
Speaker 1:version. Yeah, you could grade, but even as part of your grading you had to do like it didn't matter if you're a blue belt or you're a red belt or where you were in the spectrum of belts. At each belt the fitness requirement got harder, even for the non-competitive ones. Yeah Right, the fitness requirement for the competitive ones was higher again. I mean, we were doing beat tests, we were doing all kinds of shit which I actually felt was not that specific for Taekwondo, but they were like no, this is an Olympic sport, this is what you must do. And so it was like fuck, you've got to be really freaking fit here.
Speaker 2:When you go to a commercial gym, there is a very small percentage of people there that actually know what they're doing. Most people are just wasting their time, and this is why we created the Bulletproof for BJJ app. It's so that everyday grapplers like yourself could benefit from our multiple years of experience and not waste time when they go to the gym. So if you like the idea of becoming strong and mobile and being better resistant to injuries on the mats, get the Bulletproof for BJJ app and start following a proven plan in the gym. You get a 14-day free trial and we offer a 100% money-back guarantee. To start the free trial, all you got to do is go to the app store, search Bulletproof for BJJ and get the app. We will see you on the inside.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing I'm not saying everyone has to train like athletes. But hear me out, if you've got somebody who has a month's worth of jujitsu but they have five years of weight training, and then you've got someone who's got a month's worth of jujitsu and never been to the gym, who do you think is going to fare better if they're the same weight? The power to weight ratio goes to the person who's experienced some resistance, and we really know that. And we also know that in life, even if you don't do jujitsu, you've got better longevity, you've got better health. If you lift weights, your bones are denser, your nervous system's more developed, you're most likely more coordinated. This is not to say that strong people don't get injured. This isn't to say that strong people don't struggle with jujitsu, but I feel like there's a negative connotation which is associated with strength, which is oh, you're a strong cunt, you must be dumb, you use strength, you don't use technique, you must not be smart at this thing, not true? I know some insanely strong people, very technical, very smart, and that is why they are so strong, because they really pay attention to the fucking details.
Speaker 1:I really want to make a case that if you are neglecting your strength training. You are holding yourself back and, regardless of what your coach says, if you just take a bit of time outside of that, you're going to kill anybody who's not. I really think this is. It's hard to dispute, even though I'm sure there'll be plenty of people in the comments telling me to go fuck myself, but I'm all about that. So I think the biggest challenge is how do you make strength part of your life now that you've started jiu-jitsu? Because for most people they're like, oh, I just want to do jiu-jitsu, right, that seems like oh, but we do push-ups. Push-ups are like strength training. Right, we do rolls and we carry each other and stuff. That's good shit. Yeah, that's good right. And I think, if you've never done any physical conditioning before, yes, it is good.
Speaker 1:There's many cases of people starting jujitsu losing a bunch of weight, developing healthier habits. Bunch of weight, developing healthier habits. Yeah, I think jujitsu is a catalyst for better health and better fitness for many everyday people, but the thing that is being neglected is people getting a practice of cultivating strengths which requires a mixture of not only body weight. Stuff like calisthenics is good, but it also has a limitation. People are like, oh, I do yoga that keeps me strong. Yeah, there is a strength component, depending on your yoga practice, but it's limited. And so when you've got big Joey fucking jumping guard on you or trying to do a fireman's carry, that's a totally different stimulus, you know.
Speaker 2:When you see Joey at fucking 7.30m at the kebab shop after a big afternoon out on the beers man, you better know he's your knees better be ready for that guy.
Speaker 1:You better have some strength eccentrically. Oh my kebab. I can see it now. Beer in one hand, kebab in the other. All right, joe, give it to me. Mate sun's. Sun's just setting Time to go home. It's late, hang on quickly. I'm just going to axe this guy. The reason why I say this I want to give you an example of two one person, very intelligent guy, greg. Very smart. Uh, greg glassman, the creative crossfit. Oh no, actually, funnily enough, this guy's in much better condition. Uh, greg glassman, legendarily not the fittest guy ever, but anyway, not to worry, shout out. Uh, you built crossfit and created a business that has made more injuries than any other business.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know if a jiu-jitsu guy can accuse a crossfit creator of that. I don't think that's fair there, there's a parody there you know, there's a similar mentality.
Speaker 1:The poor hearted mentality is there, right? So greg, very technical guy, really smart guy, came to jujitsu with a very keen intent to learn and was also a bit of a 10th planet fan. He was just training at the gym I was teaching at and he he was always asking me questions relevant to how about rubber guard, how about this, how about that? You know he's really intent and so he was a really bright student of sorts. I think he probably mid, mid to late twenties.
Speaker 1:And we've got like a 15 year old kid called Levi, meat axe, kind of farm boy, blonde, just stocky. Kind of played football, kind of didn't like, just rode bmxs, didn't give a shit, just getting it right. Love the energy, drink, oh, this kid, he just put he he would drink or consume anything you put in front of him. But you couldn't levi like monster, just just a behemoth. And we had to kind of this sounds unfair, right, his energy was so high, like just 15 year old boy energy and just super resilient, very strong kid didn't have a like. He was in the gym with his mates fucking around, but he was just active, he's active. He didn't live on a farm, he just lived out in the far out suburbs. We, we had to beat the shit out of Levi just to kind of temper his energy. Like you really had to roll him hard. He, he had only one gear which was a hundred percent, because he thought that's how you do anything in life.
Speaker 1:Greg, on the other hand, was not about that. Greg's like hang on, you got to. Let me know, hang on, wait. Like. Because Greg was intent on being technical, because he's a technically minded guy and it was very important for him. Now Levi was maybe a little bit heavier than Greg, even though they're similar size. Greg's kind of taller, a bit longer. Every time Levi would absolutely obliterate Greg Every time. Why? Because Greg was so focused on getting it right or getting things perfect.
Speaker 1:Levi's, like I'm just trying to smash, like is this about domination? Okay, I'll dominate. Like what do I pin? Do I get his back? Do I do I smack? What do I do? You know, he was just so willing and so robust, even if we hire belts would beat him down for a couple of rounds. He just popped back up. You know, kind of like back up. You know kind of like a kitten. You know, when you see the like cat just whap the kitten and the kitten just kind of comes back. There is a, and now there's a 10 year age gap here, right, so there's, there's plenty of that. But what we have is we have the example of someone who's not necessarily very technically minded, very physically capable and just has an unparalleled determination.
Speaker 2:Well, I might even argue because I think that represented me a bit when I was younger. Sure, it wasn't even a determination. You've just got boundless energy and you've got the physicality to support that and so you just keep going. You don't even know you're getting like, even when someone's putting a beating on you to be like slow down, young man, yeah, you don't even recognize you're getting beaten up, you're just like that was a sick role. Next one you want to go, bro, got rinsed. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah one gear and there's no thinking involved there. Yeah, who's winning the roles? Levi, the guy that does this, does and I believe that this is many jiu-jitsu coaches kind of not shame it, but they're like, nah, man, you got to roll lighter. Like don't go, don't smash Greg, like take it easier, you know. Like you got to let him work. It's like man, fuck that. Like this is an outcome, like you've shaken hands, you bump fists, it's on.
Speaker 1:And in that moment you have to do to the best of your ability what you can. And really, because Greg was so focused on being more technical and not if he twisted his wrist or he got a bit stacked or'd go, ah, no, stop. But in the heat of the moment you can't stop. And this is an important lesson for many people out there that at some point in your training, no matter how fit and strong you are, you do get tight. And you see it in wrestling. You see it where both athletes are very evenly matched and they're scrapping, they're scrapping, and then at a critical point, someone is more determined than the other person. They're just in the heat of the moment, they just want it more. Where does strength and force production come from? It comes from here, and I'm not going to get into nature, nurture personality or anything. Someone could just be a really mean, hard-willed kind of person. But in that moment where both people are exhausted, it doesn't matter how technical they are or not the person who really is just like I'm just going to do this thing, they're the person who passes the guard, they're the person who gets the takedown and really that comes from doing hard things.
Speaker 1:Lifting heavy stuff is something that really does build confidence and determination. There is that, if you don't have that in your life and don't get me wrong jujitsu is a great thing to have as a determination builder. But if you've got someone who only has jujitsu and then you've got someone else who has however many even not that many years, maybe just 12 months of hard lifting, I believe that, not even just on a chemical level, they will have more grit and will therefore have more, better outcomes more frequently, and this will help them in their jiu-jitsu path. Better outcomes more frequently and this will help them in their jujitsu path. So I mean you, you probably you've probably seen it a number of times, joe in terms of just someone being a bit more physically capable, beating someone who's maybe more technical or a higher belt or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, often I mean, fuck, I think I did that a lot to people, right, we would just use my physique out like someone that's a higher belt than me, whatever, and then I'd just go ham on them and then, you know, whatever, give them a hard time. And people do that to me now too, you know.
Speaker 1:Tables are turned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I'm like well justice, fair Karma. But yeah, I mean, I think anyone that's ever rolled with um, someone that comes from a rugby background- yeah you know you got some, some trial kid coming in you can see it on him.
Speaker 2:You're like, fuck, you play a bit of football, yeah, rugby, okay, or you know rugby league. You're like, okay, it's probably going to be hard, got the traps. Or yeah, it just got that fucking like, I'll just go head first into the battle, okay, uh, just take him down, you know, and they're like just like a bull. And you're like, fuck, and you, you often, you often overwhelmed with the physicality, and maybe then you switch on and you're like, okay, I fucking start playing a little bit smarter here.
Speaker 1:But the, the person that just comes in with that grit and that physicality and that strength, does have a great advantage and look, I think, even though a lot of people don't want to acknowledge it, if we we throw back to Nicky Rod in 2019, I think that is a grand show of a person who took their athleticism and overpowered people with more technical ability.
Speaker 2:That's a great example actually. And now he's obviously layered better and better technique on top of that. But still, his, his strongs Well, actually no, I'm not going to say that, cause he does he kind of rolls quite differently now, yes, but yeah, he used that for a long time, right when he's like I'm just going to outwork this cunt and just almost like, brutalize them, yeah, and then I'm going to get to my position and then my fucking technique of body locking and passing is just just gonna fucking take the back and choke like he was cartwheel passing he was just jumping like he was relentless he wasn't technical jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 1:And that's not to say that nikki rod, when he was a purple belt, wasn't technical in his own way, but the people he beat were multiple time world champion black belts and he was all over them, right, and so that is performance at the highest level. So when we boil it back down and you're just getting started in jujitsu, if you uh doesn't matter what your coach says to you, if you put that time into just twice a week going to the gym lifting some weights, you're not even sure what you're doing, but you just gradually getting that little bit stronger, a little bit stronger. Maybe get some advice.
Speaker 2:You've got a friend who lives, or you get a PT, maybe jump on the Bulletproof app, shout out.
Speaker 1:But doing something to cultivate your strength will benefit your jiu-jitsu in unparalleled ways, and I just want to encourage folks to get out there and do it. There it is. Folks Get strong and it's going to help you so much. Not only will it help you stay in the game, but you're going to help you so much. Not only will it help you stay in the game, but you're going to have better outcomes every time you roll.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
Founders
David Senra
Behind the Bastards
Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz | Wondery
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts
The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Shane Parrish