Most BJJ Guys Don’t Have A Practice (That’s The Problem)

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Chapters

• 0:00 New Studio And Setup
• 0:55 Why Upgrade: Audio And Environment
• 1:10 Today’s Theme: Owning A Practice
• 2:06 The Ido Portal Lesson
• 3:35 Philosophy Vs. Practical Movement
• 5:21 Gym Culture: Waiting To Be Told
• 7:08 Elite Standards: Early Drilling Example
• 9:51 Sponsor: Potent Electrolytes For Grapplers
• 10:49 Practice Mindset Over “Just Doing” Jiu-Jitsu
• 13:05 Movement As The Base For All Sport
• 15:05 Care, Mindfulness, And Meaning In Training
• 17:20 Practical Steps To Own Your Prep
• 17:59 Final Push: Don’t Sit, Start Moving

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to the Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. Oh shit, we're in a new studio. Oh my God, look at this. So professional. I can't believe how quickly we threw this thing together. Obviously, the show is very successful. We built this. We did by hand uh in an afternoon. We're uh we're at a rental studio.

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

We are we're at a we're at a professional studio for podcasters um as much as we we love the price setup. Um yeah, we wanted to deliver to you better. So here we are.

SPEAKER_01: 0:26

Well, the gym, yeah. The gym where we had our studio, we moved from there a couple months ago. The gym moved and then we're at my place, and that's been frankly pretty fucking shit. It's been real hot.

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

It's just one of those things we're we're in the height of uh Australian summer. And also it's just, you know, as much as the beautiful background sounds of Australia of cooker boroughs and and lawnmowers and airplanes and trucks, and you know, even though that can be quite ambient, and uh, how's the serenity? Uh not so good for audio quality.

SPEAKER_01: 0:55

Now, sh business as usual for those who are listening just on audio, but if you are watching on YouTube, hope you appreciate the new digs. Um, you know, we're not really sure how long we're going to be here, but we'll probably customize the shit, you know, once we once we settle in, whether it's here or elsewhere. Yes, indeed. However, let's get into the topic of today's episode, Joseph. Talk to me, Josep. So there's a concept that um I have sort of been, it's been part of my training ever since I got into. Well, I think actually ever since I got into the PT game, ever since I became like a fitness professional, and it was this kind of um this idea of you having a practice that you follow. Now, I never really thought much about the idea, but when I got deep into the movement game, yes, um, it was explicitly stated to us a lot that like you need to own your practice and you need to like have one and own it, and that's your thing. And it kind of never meant that much to me because I already had one, right? Like I already went to the gym and did my stuff and had you know goals in mind. And, you know, if the gym wasn't there, I could go to the park and put something together and you know, like you can just train, right? You can just work out kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00: 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:08

Um, but I noticed that actually it was pointed out to me explicitly at one movement camp. So for those that don't know, Ito Portal is considered like kind of the godfather of this movement thing, right? Some listeners will know him, many won't. Anyway, very influential guy in this very niche, niche world uh for a period of time. But at one of his movement camps, we did a class that was with Ito, and so you know, and it was a three-hour class, and we we did it five days in a row. And you'd show up into this small room, we're in Thailand, and then you know, he'd come in and then we'd start training, and then three hours later we'd be done, and you know, it's a great experience. Guy's a bit of an animal. Um but he walked in on one of the days, I think it was on day two or day three, and he looked around, and there were a bunch of people like sitting around waiting for the class to start.

SPEAKER_00: 2:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 2:59

And there were others who were like warming up, stretching, doing their own thing, whatever. And he just made the point to the group that he's like, the people who are already do moving, these are the people that have a practice. The rest of you guys are just fucking waiting to be told what to do. Right. And he really, in that moment, he kind of placed a value on like having a practice, right? And everyone who was sitting around was like, oh shit, I'd better get moving. You know? Felt like a bit of a dumbass.

SPEAKER_00: 3:26

Yeah. Anyway, but I mean, I was gonna say on that, Ito is I think part of the reason why he rose to prominence in a big way is the feel it's the philosophy, right? Yeah, it's yeah, there's many great movers and acrobats in the world, but for him, he had a pretty strong line on standards and how you need to be, and you know, like how important that movement is, and like it, you know, I I met him very briefly. I don't never trained with him. He came and did some jujitsu at Peter De Bean's on that on his first ever trip to Australia. Oh, did he? Yeah. Oh wow, yeah, yeah. Uh, but but what I know of Ito and having watched many videos of him, he's very um, he takes it very seriously, the approach to movement, health, everything. And he brings like a very um intellectual, uh like a fairly grounded understanding. It feels very deep when he says things.

SPEAKER_01: 4:27

Absolutely. And and yes, I I would agree on all that. And I mean, he even goes, in my opinion, these days, way over far. Yeah, like it's like, brother, it's a fucking handstand. You know what I mean? It's a spinal wave. But he's like this philosophical, like, you know, if you're just doing it, like that's not enough. You need to fucking intention. Yeah, it's just it, it's it's really woo-woo, right? A lot of it. And and then you layer on top of that, he's Israeli, he has an accent, he looks a bit mystical.

SPEAKER_00: 4:56

He's got the man barn.

SPEAKER_01: 4:57

Yeah, well, not anymore, he's got shorter hair these days, but but yeah, but he's always had this sort of otherworldly kind of brand. The aura. Yeah, and I I I think it's funny because I I'm I'm pretty sure in Israel he's not perceived as what how we we perceive him in the West.

SPEAKER_00: 5:12

Sure, there's there's an exotic thing to him. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 5:15

Yeah. Sure. Um, but in any case, I that kind of stuck with me. And then the more I've coached jujitsu and the more I've stepped into the gym and you know, onto the mats and seen people sitting around, and this is where it's relevant for for you grapplers out there, right? The more, like I every Monday morning I I open the gym at Vantage and I um I go in and I clean the mats and I, you know, get changed and whatever, and people start coming in for the seven o'clock class. And then some people will grab a foam roller, start stretching, grab the elastic band, start doing some shoulder stuff, you know, working on it. And then other people will just sit there and and they just sit on the mat like a child, right? And um, yeah, I don't I don't usually break anyone's balls about it, but I'm judging these cunts harshly. Of course, right?

SPEAKER_00: 6:11

And I'm like how come you're not doing your mobility?

SPEAKER_01: 6:13

Yeah, I'm like, well, look, we've only got we've only got an hour here.

SPEAKER_00: 6:17

A short amount of time.

SPEAKER_01: 6:18

And I know that I know that your physicality and your jujitsu and your fitness and all of it is not where you want it to be. I mean, it arguably is not where any of us want any of those things. Like we all we're all trying to get better. Sure. So it's like, use this fucking time, man. 100%. But it's this idea of like these that the the person that's sitting there usually slouched. They pushed over. Well, yeah, because they can't cross their legs properly, you know, so it's this fucking thing. Maybe they're pretending to do a hamstring stretch. You know, I look at them and then they're like, stretch a little bit, you know. Joey's watching quickly stretch. But you're like, but they don't have they don't have ownership over what they're doing. Yeah, they're waiting to be told by the instructor what to do. And this is the this is the standard in most jiu-jitsu academies, and then the coach says, All right, start running.

SPEAKER_00: 7:03

Well, do you mind if I just on this on that side? I'll keep rambling otherwise. No, no, no. I you're not rambling. This is this is super on point. I was gonna say, but do you think this is a byproduct of the martial arts jujitsu structure, which is I go to the place, I get told what to do? Do you know what I mean? There's oh it's it's almost like an exception. So that we created this, yeah. That that it's like, well, I I'm you know, I'm a good student because I listen to coach, where it's like, well, you know, the great learners just do whatever the fuck they want and drop out of school. But you know what I mean? Like, I think that is it, I guess I would ask the question, is it not just laziness, but like a more like a cultural indoctrination that I got I come here to be told. And I I'm showing that by don't do anything weird. Yeah, you know, do you do you know what I mean? Like it's part of the fitting in thing.

SPEAKER_01: 7:55

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't, yeah, I don't, I don't think it's the fault of the individual. Right. It's so and it's and it's right. It's like I'm sitting here to let you know that I'm ready to go once you tell me what to do next.

SPEAKER_00: 8:06

Put me on, coach.

SPEAKER_01: 8:07

Yeah, it's almost, you know, that's like, yeah, totally right. And and I guess uh, or and I get that there are gyms too where logistically like doing your own warm-up and shit, like that stuff is like look down because they're like, no, we're really busy here. Sit fucking there and wait till wait till you're invited on, and then you know, yeah, then we start running in the circles.

SPEAKER_00: 8:28

You know, just doing doing alternating star jumps, jumping jacks, what have you. Well, the the funny thing for me, which kind of opened my eyes up a little bit, was when I first went to um Alliance Sal Polo back in like 2010 or 11. I walked in and I thought I was early. I was 20 minutes early. I was so proud of myself. I'm like, I'm here early. There was dudes on the mat drilling. I was like, I don't know, 10 pairs of guys getting after it, like with the timer on. Wow. You know, like whatever you might think of drilling, like, you know, whatever this is, you know, 15 years ago. So that shit in Brazil. Boah. No, it's just one of those things that I I I was like, these guys are covered in sweat. Like, they're not been here for five minutes, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 9:15

But these weren't just the regular punters, right?

SPEAKER_00: 9:17

No, no, no. But but it was more that yeah, it was the elite squad. But I walked in and I was like, oh, this is what's expected. Yeah. You know what I mean? And when I finally came to know people and asked them, they were like, Oh, yeah, we come an hour early and we do this. This is our warm-up. So that when it's time to go, like everything's moving and elastic and all of that. And so I was it really opened my eyes up, like, oh, that's what these guys do. Oh, I'm trying to be like them. Well, maybe I need to, you know, bring that, not just oh, a couple of stretches and A, B, and C.

SPEAKER_01: 9:50

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SPEAKER_00: 10:49

But I this idea of a practice, Joe, do you feel this is like it's it is a little bit more philosophical? Like you're saying it comes from people who do yoga, people who do other physical practices, dances, gymnasts, you will always see them. Like even people who have done athletics, I've noticed that you see people doing like an A skip and a butt kick and you know, other athletic um pursuits, maybe they're an ex pro sports person, you see them prepping their body.

SPEAKER_01: 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 11:19

Jiu Jitsu people? No. Like slump.

SPEAKER_01: 11:22

Yeah, I um I don't I don't think it's more of a philosophical thing to to answer your question. I think um, I think it's just about how you view yourself and your relationship to the thing that you're studying. Right. And I think a lot of us don't we don't we do jujitsu. We don't study jujitsu. Right. Right? It's like, oh, yeah, I do jujitsu. I I go there to a gym and I do it three times a week. You tend not to, you tend not to sit back and go, I'm a st I'm studying this martial art. I'm a student of this, and it's you know, like I'm I'm learning to play the guitar right now and I have a teacher and textbooks. Practice. And it's very, it's very clear to me that I'm studying this thing and I'm reading this textbook, and it's like, you know, the lessons build on each other. Whereas you don't feel that when you go to jujitsu, you're like, I'm I'm fucking just doing this fight club thing and it's sick, and you know, we're getting us IE afterwards. You know, like but but and I and I'm not saying that we have to like formal people have to formalize it in that way. But you can. Well, I think that you should give it the I think that you should give it almost that weight in your own mind of like you are a student and you are studying a martial art. So like the more ownership over that idea you take, the better you will apply yourself to it. Yeah, you know, and and I think you then place more value on like the stripe that you got last week or the the blue belt that you got. Yeah. Like all those things mean more because you're like, wow, I'm I'm progressing as a student.

SPEAKER_00: 12:54

You're more invested.

SPEAKER_01: 12:55

Yeah, somehow, right? Like, even if it doesn't change anything about how you actually, you know, how much you train or whatever, it's just this idea of like, no, this is like I'm a student of this art and it's a it's a journey that I'm on. And so I in that way, and this was I think this is this is where Ito's point was really good. Like you all, like we all have a body, and so our bodies were designed to move. And so at the very like base level of all these things, if you strip away the different athletic pursuits like jujitsu, like soccer, like whatever, whatever you're into, the the base level thing is movement. And so you have this machine, and so that's your that's your first practice that you should take ownership of. Yeah. So well, then if you got this machine and you show up to jujitsu to use the machine, we'll fucking start start warming up the machine.

SPEAKER_00: 13:46

Prep your machine.

SPEAKER_01: 13:46

Yeah, that it's yours, it's your practice, right? And so it's like, I think it's uh what I'm trying to get at is there's an empowerment that comes from it and be like, oh yeah, shit, okay, I'll do some of those drills, right? And this is what you like what you're referencing with the different athletes and stuff that you see applying, like doing their own warm-up. They're just applying things that they've done in their formal training settings to their to oh, we're gonna train, I'll do some shit that I remember. And and I think we always tell people this, right? Like in the seminars and stuff, like, hey, these drills that we're doing right now, the ones that work for you, put them in your pocket and use them before training.

SPEAKER_00: 14:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 14:20

And that's I'm that's just the simple thing I think of cultivating a practice.

SPEAKER_00: 14:24

Yeah, a hundred percent. And uh I think where this goes is like anything, not that you it's not that you have to take yourself seriously, but if you show care in a thing, it becomes more meaningful. It's almost like a like mindfulness. It's like by being more deliberate and doing something extra, it does bring a different meaning because it took more energy from you and it took more thought from you. And like I I've said this before, um, which you you will, I'm sure you will remember. When uh I I think it was the first time I ever came to Jungle Brothers when it was round the way, the first incarnation. And I actually had to rush back to um get on a plane to go to Melbourne, and you said, Oh, let's go get some food. And we went to this Thai restaurant, and um, and I was just like, right, let's let's go. You were like, no, hang on a second, let's just just look at it. Let's have a look at it, let's smell it. And you just you just damn you, Joe. Look at what? Food? It's rice, and you just slowed me down, man. And it wasn't, it was interesting because it would, it's not something I do, I'm not, I'm not religious, I don't pray. Um, it's nothing like that, but you made me take a beat to appreciate the food, and we just kind of sat there before we ate, and it made the whole experience better just by thinking about you kind of talk me through like I don't know where you got it from or you know how that factors into what you do, but you're like, oh, think about these smells and these tastes and where it comes from and the whole thing. And I was like, dang, I'm all right, I'm hungry, Joe. No, it was so good. It was so good. It really gets your prime to eat, doesn't it? It stuck me, it stuck with me. It made me enjoy the meal more. Yeah, and I and I feel almost like that idea of like caring about the thing, thinking about it, doing more for it, it it gives you more back. I think that's that's what I take from what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01: 16:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, even to that point, because people hear that and be like, oh, that's lame, you know. Like it's like you don't got to do that if you don't want. Hey, you see me, tell me it's lame. I mean, I to my I I started doing that because I was so busy when we're in those early days. Early days of running the gym was just like I was so underslept and overworked and whatever. And I'd eat at that tight place like most afternoons. Nice. And I was strung out a lot of the time, like really caffeinated, you know, tired, whatever, and had to coach in the evenings. So I can't remember how I got onto that, but I started doing that and I was like, this actually feels really good to just like stop, take them like 30 seconds and then eat, you know. Um, so yeah, like, you know, whatever. If that is of benefit to you, you you should do that. But yeah, at the very least, just like I think seeing your seeing like putting some value on yourself as a student of the thing and like taking ownership of it and then acting accordingly. So, like, all right, well, I'll still do what the coach is gonna tell me to do, but I'm not gonna waste time, like, like if there's time five minutes before class, I'm gonna do some shit. Yeah, you know, grab someone, do some drilling, hey man, can I work on this with you real quick? Or I'll fucking do some stretching or I'll warm the shit up, you know. Like, yeah, we talk to you guys about drills and shit all the fucking time. Yeah, you know, if you follow the app or if you look at our YouTube, there's a bunch of stuff there.

SPEAKER_00: 17:48

You got a tight shoulder, do some work on it. You've got a bad ankle, do some rehab. Yeah, tape your fingers, whatever you need to do to prepare yourself for the thing.

SPEAKER_01: 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:57

Yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 17:58

So there it is, have a practice. And if you are ever in one of my classes, don't let me catch you fucking sitting around while I'm cleaning the mats. Start doing some shit, please, brother.