Rapid Fire Q&A With Chewy and Eugene (Episode 411)

Speaker 1: What up guys, welcome to the Chijitsu podcast. where today we're going to get into a bunch of random questions that have been asked from people from YouTube and podcast and everything else. And so we've got a list of them. It goes into specific stuff to jiu-jitsu and mental health to stuff that has nothing really to do with jiu-jitsu. And obviously, if you guys are, you know, if you're new here, um then you'll find out that me and Eugene typically have a circuitous way of going about things and there's going to be lots of tangents. If you're not new and you've been with us for a while, then you'll understand that this is just the way of things and we're going to dart around into different directions and I think if you listen to it, you can probably get something useful from the episode and uh maybe get a little bit of entertainment or something or other. I'll also share with you guys a recent troll that uh has, you know, come into my, you know, online universe and even sort of popped into my offline universe and uh been a little bit of a nuisance to my gym uh in a way. And I'm tell you what the fun I had with it. If you're a gym owner, there's a definite lesson to be learned here for in the future. But uh, but yeah, hopefully you guys enjoy the podcast and uh enjoy the questions. If you guys want to ever send a question in, if you are on my email list, you can send that directly to the email or you guys can message us on Instagram. To do it that way or if you're a Patreon member, you can send the question directly to us as well. Um, so guys, with that said, let's jump into this podcast. Um, big thanks to our sponsor for helping make this podcast happen. Our sponsor Athletic, A T H L E T I C, they make microdosed THC mints. So it's THC about around 2 milligrams per mint, which isn't much, it's not anything that's going to make you feel crazy or loopy or crazy high or anything like that. And then it comes in with a different blend of cannabinoids like CBD and so forth, CBG to help support a different function. So there's a rebound uh formula, which has like, you know, CBD and um THC and all that stuff. Then there's also a a flow one, which is I think it's like CBD, CBG, some other different stuff. Basically, different ones for different functions. I like the mints. Uh for me, the rebound mints good for sort of like almost taking the edge off, so to speak. Speaker 2: Mhm. Speaker 1: Uh you know, if it's like later at night or even like sometimes in the day, if you're just kind of like, whatever, you just want to take the edge off, pop the mint, it's useful. And then I like the uh the flow one. I usually use that before if I if I am going to use it, I'll use it before training. I feel like sometimes if uh especially during the training sessions where I'm doing a lot of situational work and trying to like experiment with something, it helps my brain get into that state of you would say not quite too relaxed, but slightly relaxed where you're thinking about it a little bit more, it helps me get into that state a little bit easier. Uh and so I like using them, um and find them helpful. So if you guys want to check them out and see the effects that they have for you, you can go to their website at athletic.com, A T H L E T A T H L E T I C.com. You can use a promo code Jiu-Jitsu 10, J I T S U 10 for 10% off. They also have some um discounts for military men and women and veterans and stuff like that. So if you want to check that out, um you can shoot them a message directly uh on their website as well. Also, big thanks to our sponsor Epic Roll. Epic Roll is a Jiu-Jitsu gear and brand company that makes a ton of different stuff, everything from gis and rash guards and shorts to t-shirts, fanny packs, joggers, anything you could think of, you can name it, they make it. Um they are a sponsor of the PGF, which I was just at last week. Um a lot of fun there, a lot great event. If you guys are can ever check it out, it's worth checking out. And they also make my no-gi gear that I get made and my gis for my gym. They make good quality stuff. I like the designs. I also like the customer service aspect. Like if you're a gym owner, like I like being able to like message someone and I get a message back pretty quickly and they take care of things and I don't have to deal with all kinds of other stuff, it's just done. Um and so Matt and the the team's been really good to us and uh been helpful with my my gear. And so if you guys want to check them out, you can go to their website at epicrollbjj.com. Promo code is Jiu-Jitsu 20, J I T S U 20 for 20% off the order. And you can find something you like, get some get a discount on it and enjoy some gear. You know, and uh again, I just as a quick aside, I love their no-gi stuff. Like I've used a lot of different no-gi stuff, been given a lot of no-gi stuff by like a lot of the biggest companies in Jiu-Jitsu. And I still come back to the Epic Roll stuff because it's the stuff that I feel like fits the most, the fits it's the most comfortable and fits really well. Uh at least for my body type, so really like their stuff. Also, thanks to our buddies over at Charlotte's Web. They're one of the OGs in the CBD space. They make everything from this traditional CBD products, whether it's a tincture or gummy. They make things like CBN products, which can be really useful for supporting your sleep. They also do things like functional mushroom products, Lion's Mane, Reishi, you know, and so forth. And again, CBD CBD products for me, if you guys kind of want to understand what I use them for, what I've found them useful for is again, managing just overall overall like levels of stress or sports-induced inflammation. That's kind of what it's there for. It's for me, it's more of a recovery tool than anything else. And so I like using it for that function primarily. So I take CBD products before bed, kind of as part of my nighttime routine. I feel like it supports it. And again, I tell everybody to try it out. A lot of times if I get some extra stuff from them from sometimes, I will give it to like a student to try. And almost unanimously, whenever I do that, they'll come back and say, hey, what was that? What did you just give me? Like I really like that product. Or where can I get it? Or what's your code for the, you know, the podcast, whatever, so they can give me a kickback. Um, but again, you can use the promo code if you want to try out any of the stuff, see the effects it has on you. You know, try it out for yourself, see how it affects your body because everybody's bodies are different. People respond to cannabinoids differently. Um, their website is charlottesweb.com and the promo code is Jiu-Jitsu 30, J I T S U 30 for 30% off the order. And if you guys want to join up on our Patreon and become a a loyal Patreon subscriber, you can do so and join the the many that have done so already. You go to patreon.com/thejiujitsupodcast. If you guys join up, you get access to a bunch of perks. If you guys want to check out what those perks are, you can go to the website patreon.com/thejiujitsupodcast. And again, we appreciate you guys for doing it and um, you know, for supporting the podcast as many of you have for several years now. And uh we'll continue to do so. We'll continue to throw up more content to you, more uh updates. And again, if you join up, there's some other good stuff in there like recordings of seminars and also two stretching routines, which can be really useful if you're a little bit older and you need to stay a little bit more limber or you want to try to get more limber. We're going to get into this idea of intentionally changing stuff about yourself. You know, like one of the things that people like sometimes sort of will say is, oh, I'm just really tight and inflexible or whatever else is if they can't change it. Um, you know, we had um, we had Brandon McGaffey on the podcast, saw him at the PGF recently, and he's really limber, really flexible. But like he wasn't always that way. He got that way by constantly working at it, you know. So, um again, getting a stretching routine of some sort can be really useful. Me and Eugene have a product coming out in the near future that's going to be really useful to some of you guys. But in the meantime, if you guys want to check out the recordings he's put together of some of the camps uh where he's taking people through these mobility and stretching routines, you can get it at the Patreon website. Also, if you guys want to get my daily email and with that get a guide on how to get more focused with your training, check out my website at chujitsu.net/join. And when you join up, you'll get access to an ebook and a video. So if you don't want to read it, you can watch the video. I go through 12 different strategies, at least 12 different strategies on how to get a little bit more focused with your training because again, being intentional and deliberate is really important. You have to be focused if you want to get the most from yourself. You don't want your Jiu-Jitsu just about like anything else be a byproduct of little accidents. Sometimes accidents happen and sometimes they're happy accidents, right? Like you you you accidentally do something and you figure out a new move, right? But you want to take some intentionality to your training and be direct with what you're trying to do and it gives you some ideas on how to do that. And then you'll get my daily email, which can vary from everything from, you know, Jiu-Jitsu specific tips to books you're I'm reading, like I recently read, um, Ron Chernow's book on George Washington. Which was a great book, um, worth checking out. It's like a it's like this thick. Um, but you know, you read read 10 pages or whatever a night and you'll have it done in, you know, a couple months, no big deal. Um, you know, I mean it's I when you read a good biography, it is really well written. When you read a good biography, it's kind of like that. It's like it's kind of this you're going to be with this person for the next like couple of months, you know. Um, I remember reading Emerson's biography that's just like this and um by the time I was done with it, I felt like I had like when they kind of talk about him dying or whatever, I'm like, man, I feel like I just lost a friend because I've been with this dude for because you've been with him for so long. It's like um I watched I remember years ago I went and saw the sixth Rocky movie when it was released and leading up to it, I knew that I was going to go see it on Saturday. So Monday through Friday, I watched Rocky 1 through Rocky uh four or five or whatever it was and basically just watched them in order. And by the end of it, you know, I watched this guy go from 1970 something all the way to 2000, whatever it was, and you saw him age and get older and you're like, it's it's just you're seeing this body of work. And so when you read a biography like that, it's it's something. But anyway, I share a lot of different stuff. Some of it's very Jiu-Jitsu focused, some of it is not, but I think all of it is interesting and I always try to leave you with an idea to chew on. And so again, if you guys want to check it out, go to my website at chujitsu.net/join. You can get the ebooks and the videos and you can unsubscribe at any time. Um so guys, with that said, all the stuff out of the way, let's get into this podcast. Hope you enjoy it. [Music] Speaker 1: So, guys, before we get into the uh the actual podcast and get into these questions that uh have been sent in, um it's uh it's it's been kind of an ongoing gag at the gym. The uh that we had there was a guy basically maybe three weeks or so ago, maybe a month ago, on YouTube, I, you know, sort of attracted the ire of a person on YouTube who became a troll. Where essentially on 30, it's around 30 of my videos, they basically copy and pasted the same message. So, they copy and pasted one message, then they went to the next video, did it and so forth. And, you know, it was the same message. Basically, they they used to love me and they've been listening to me for years, yada yada yada, and that stuff, but, and then they went on to call me a racist, a bully, and this and that. And basically what this stems from is I have a student named Marvin, who his skin responds to UV light differently than mine. Um, and so, you know, we we're there at the gym and and what happened is is my Uke for a long time was always Adam, right? And Adam has not been able to do the videos as much because he's been really busy with his kids and so forth. And so, um, you know, Marvin's been my Uke for a while and there's this ongoing joke, um, of referring to Marvin as Black Adam, right? There's a double wording there, double entendre, right? Where it has multiple meanings. And this has been kind of an ongoing gag for years. Where I remember one of my Ukes that replaced Adam for a video or two, um, also a bald guy, he was referred to by the YouTube commenters as wished version of Adam. Um, and then there was another one where it was another one of my students who had hair and they were like, whoa, Adam's got hair, he's growing hair now. Then there was another one where it was with my student Rich, who was like a massive human. He's like 200 and like 85 pounds and he's huge. And they said, damn, dude, Adam's getting huge. And so it's always been this ongoing gag where like, oh, it's it's always Adam, it just comes in different incarnations. Speaker 2: Different forms. Speaker 1: Yeah, different forms, you know. So I was like, hey, this is my my Uke Black Adam and I, you know, I kind of laugh and said, it's it's Marvin, you know. And, you know, me and Marvin are very close, we're buds, and um, you know, we've we've been around each other for a lot in the last couple of years. And he helps me out with a lot of stuff, works with me and goes on trips with me, the whole deal. And, you know, he he finds it humorous. And so this person, you know, fueled with a righteous indignation, went through on YouTube and did all this stuff, call me racist and all that and all this stuff. Well, then I didn't think much of it. You know, I don't really care that much, doesn't bother me, but then he goes on to our gym's Google review page. And when he goes there, he talks about me being a bully and all this stuff. And how uh, you know, people are forced to laugh at jokes and they can't refuse this and that. And which what what this tells me, by the way, is that this person doesn't understand the like the the relationship between me and the students. And uh, I actually read the I read off the review in front of the students one day and one of the guys looked at me and said, has this has this guy even trained here before? Like, what is he talking about? And so, you know, it it all worked out in in the end fun because, you know, I I used it uh, you know, I used it as a marketing campaign. Essentially for for our gym and uh, you know, use a little bit of um, you know, use their their pressure against them to set them up a little bit. Uh, but, you know, it just made me laugh. You know, you get these trolls on the internet that follow you and, you know, they they sort of get this weird attachment to you. And if you say anything that they sort of dislike or whatever, instead of simply saying like, hey, like this person said one thing that maybe you disagree with, maybe you dislike, whatever, instead of just saying it's like one thing, they start going nuts. As if like all of a sudden you you've just done something awful. You know, you see this all the time. I think this is because society's been so ramped up with this sensationalizing, where like people will find someone and this happens all the time where you'll see a good friend of mine, actually, he's in the content creation space. And he was really big in the fitness space for a while. And I remember like people would like get so angry at him if he was to share something different about himself. You know, like if it's like people just can't handle. They can't handle that there's a possible difference or different view or different perspective or even simply a disagreement that you might have with someone. Can't exist. It's like you have to agree on everything. It's wild to me. But anyway, we had fun with it and um, just want to give a shout out to Omar. Thanks for the help and um, appreciate it, you know, because it helped uh helped bring me and the the gym crew together more, you know. Um, that's that. So hopefully, um, maybe someday he'll come around his if he's really even uh he or she, I don't know. But hopefully they'll come around and uh, you know, to their senses someday later on down in the future. Speaker 2: Omar sucks. That's all I got to say. Speaker 1: Don't don't be an Omar. Speaker 2: It's dude, it's so funny. Like you're reading that off. Speaker 1: Don't don't be an Omar. Speaker 2: Don't be an Omar. Yeah, and it's it's probably a good good shirt to make. Speaker 1: By the way, if you're Omar, if you're Omar, I'm sorry. I'm if you're an Omar, it's kind of like Kevin, like Kevin's got the they got the brunt of uh Kevin and Karen's got the brunt of it back in like 2020, 2021. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: No. Speaker 2: It's just it's funny. Um it's funny to hear that stuff. Just like to to hear like how someone is they they don't understand like the the culture of the gym essentially, like how we can actually joke around, we can do these things, we can joke around, we can have we can cut up with each other because we have that understanding and that respect for each other. And it's just it's just interesting to see how disconnected someone is and they see one thing that maybe they disagree with, whatever. We all got to disagree on a bunch of different stuff. But, you know, you you go on and like make it your purpose to like try to irritate someone or I don't know, just be negative towards them. Yeah, I mean, you can make a point like you said, reach out, even ask you or message you and say, hey, I didn't agree with this. Like, let's let's have some some discourse. Let's talk about it. Let's let's share opinions why and and this and that, but you just kind of go in and try to like almost like mess with somebody's business and livelihood, which is kind of like I feel like a a low blow. Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not just my my business and my livelihood, right? There's other people that depend on it for their money, their health insurance. Um, and then there's like, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people that come to this place as their sort of sanctuary that they come to every single week. So, you know, um, you know, if you get on my YouTube channel, that's just me, but you attack the gym, that's a different thing. Um, and you know, it just irritates me because, you know, it's there's not even like a, you know, Google doesn't even have a vetting process. Someone can just simply get on and be like put a review on even if it's has nothing to do with like it's not even real, you know, that's uh the fault in the system. So, um, you know, it is what it is. But I thought it was funny. And also if any of you guys ever create content or you have a gym, because I know we have gym owners that listen to this. You know, you don't you don't cowtow to that kind of stuff. You know, if there was if there was some measure of truth to it, I would be more receptive, right? But there's not. Like if you know me, you know Marvin, you know our gym, there's not a lick of truth to it. So I'm not going to go and apologize. I'm not going to say sorry. I'm not going to do any of that stuff because it's ridiculous, right? Like it it's absurd. And so, you know, as a gym owner, as a whatever content creator, if you get people that say things that are just completely off base, don't like, don't go, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You know, and and try to apologize your way out of it. That's silly. You just, you know, own it and just, you know, have some fun with it. You know, there's uh there's lots of ways you can do it. Obviously, I've got my own methodology with dealing with the trolls. It's worked pretty well with me online and offline with the gym, but uh, you know, I mean, hell, there was even years ago. We had a woman who I gave her the gi off of my back because she didn't have a gi. She came to a class and, you know, she just showed up and so I gave her it wasn't actually off my back. That'd be nasty because it'd be sweaty, but I uh I grabbed a gi that was in the back, one of my gis, gave it to her so she could wear it, um, and then just kind of do the drills. And then, you know, she did a workout or something later on and she basically puked. She puked in our sink, uh in the back. And she just left it there. Just left the puke there, thrown up all over the bathroom, whatever. And then she got she left like a nasty review on Yelp about how like we weren't like helpful and all this. I'm like, you were given a gi, you you puked in our sink. Like, I don't know what else you wanted from us. And it's funny because she was walking out of the gym with the gi on. I was like, oh, come on back, that's my gi, I need that. Um, so I don't know. You know, it's just like people just have they're just angry, they're bored, they need they have an axe to grind and you're the person that catches them on the wrong day. You know, I mean, think about like road rage stuff. You have these people that are just pent up and angry and for whatever reason, they lose their marbles because some person cuts them off a little bit on the road instead of just simply going about their day and that'd be that, you know. Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty silly, you know, and I I think it just makes sometimes when you have a larger audience, it's like they they feel like they can they can either be heard or or make a a negative impact, which I don't know if that's their goal or not, but I mean, it's kind of a sad sad way to be essentially, but, you know, whatever. Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, the idea with this guy is, right? It's like you can you can exert power over someone by taking a sort of moral high ground, right? So you see this over and over again where it's like people will will champion a moral cause or try to, you know, rearrange it that way, right? And it is their way of exerting force over someone else. Now again, if there's a real problem going on, then of course, there's nothing wrong with speaking up. But when you're doing that, it's basically it's um, it's like a shortcut to getting attention and everything else. Because, you know, back in the day, the the way that you would get attention or get recognition would be to build yourself up and do something remarkable, meaning worth remarking upon, right? Remarkable. Instead of doing that, you just do the shortcut where you just talk trash about someone else, give yourself a boost, or you try to get recognition by, you know, you know, basically going through this whole like moral thing as if you're somehow morally superior to someone else. And then, you know, getting everybody to give you the little claps, oh, good for you, you know, that kind of thing. And um, you know, and even then, the people post stuff on the internet like they're doing something. You know, people get on Facebook or Instagram or whatever and they post some comment on someone's page as if they're somehow making the world a better place. I'm like, if you really want to make the world a better place, there's a lot of stuff you could do in your community. You could literally like put your phone down and like there's places that need volunteers all the time. They need help. And instead of spending two hours going back and forth on social media, you could like actually go make a difference in your local community and help people out. You could go join a Big Brother's, Big Sister's program. You could go to like a local place that needs help with like the homeless. You could go help out some local school that needs assistance. You could go to an animal shelter that needs help walking. There's all kinds of cool stuff you can do. But instead of doing that, you're like basically, you know, you're you're I've used this term plenty of times, right? You're giving into sort of the mental masturbation of posting on social media as if it means something. You, you know, you you you did your thing, you posted it, you feel good about yourself, but really nothing happened. Like, you know, there's no change. Like nobody cares, right? So, um, don't give into it. One on one one hand, don't give into the commenting and getting into the fights online, right? It's silly. And then at the same time, if you're a content creator or a gym owner, business owner, don't feel like you have to back down to people just because they made a nasty comment about you, right? Uh it's silly. You know, you can you can you can own it if, you know, if if it's if it's something that's off base and completely not founded on anything. Like have fun with it. You know, troll the troll. These people are downstairs trolls that live in basements and, you know, they like they like drink sodas and they they live in mom's basement and like again, you can upstairs troll them, you know, because again, you're doing stuff. So anyway, that's I just wanted to share that with you guys. I'm having fun with it. Um, having lots of fun with. Actually, you know what I'll do is I'll um, before we before we move on, we'll get ready to move on, guys. Um, I will I'll read you Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: the comment that was given to me. Um, just so you guys can just have fun with it, you know, we can we can have a little bit of fun here. Troll. Let me look it up in my Google Docs here. Here we go. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: So, here is the here is the here's the comment. Um, um, um, quote, he bullies students. The main issue is not the technique or the training structure. It's the way this black belt talks to and about students. He uses jokes and nicknames that clearly cross the line into bullying and publicly targeting people instead of building them up. When a coach repeatedly talks down to students and makes them the butt of jokes or labels them in ways they can't really refuse because of the power imbalance. Oh, that's always a great word. That's bullying, not coaching. A black belt is supposed to set the standard for respect and safety on the mat, but what I saw was someone using their rank and status to put students in their place and get laughs at their expense. It creates an environment where students feel pressured to laugh along. Eugene, go and laugh along for me. Speaker 2: Ha ha ha. Speaker 1: There we go. And stay quiet rather than say they're uncomfortable, which is the opposite of a healthy culture. If you care about a respectful training space where the instructor treats everyone with dignity, I would strongly recommend looking for another gym. Mind you, this person has never trained with me. Um, so there's that, right? So it's ridiculous. It's silly. Um, you know, but again, like you have never been in our gym because all like all the people, like so first off, like most of you guys understand this, right? Um, we and and a grappling, anytime you get into like a group of closely bonded men, I I'm sure it's the same with women to a certain degree, but especially with men, we're constantly as the uh some of my friends like in the the United Kingdom would say, you're constantly taking the piss out of each other. You know, you're just kind of like ragging on each other. And there's the sociological element to it where they they've talked about it. The theory behind it is basically the joke being told is somewhat offensive if it wasn't told from your friend. And so that is a sign of the strength of your relationship because it's saying that basically the the the or the strength of our relationship is stronger than the joke. So you're constantly testing out that. And it's also basically signaling that nobody is too good for the group, right? So if I make a joke about you and you laugh, and you make a joke about me and I get pissy about it, well, then that says that, oh, I'm too good for the group. It's kind of it's kind of an odd thing. And so at our gym, like it's not just me dishing this out. Like I remember one guy came into the gym from another gym. And the guys are messing with me. They're ragging on me a little bit and kind of giving me, taking the piss out of me, so to speak. And I remember this guy came from a very traditional gym, right? And where you would call everybody professor, master, and, you know, whatever. Well, he's looking at it and he looks uncomfortable. He's staring at me like, oh my God, like, what are they doing? And I'm like, it's it's cool, dude. This is we're buds, we're friends. You know what I mean? This is what we do. You know what I mean? Like it's not a big deal. At the end of the day, they respect me, but, you know, they they got to get their little quibs in too because I'm going to get them in later on, you know. Um, like one of the guys, Carlos, uh I got I got taken down at a competition. Like guy hit me with a pretty good double leg. And Carlos likes to bring it up on a regular basis. You know, if we're talking about takedown defense or something, like he wants to bring it up, um, you know, and and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, this is just what you do when you're around people that you uh that you like and um at least it's how it's always been for me since I was young, right? And a lot of times if I'm in a group of guys, regardless of the setting, that's kind of how I know that I'm in with them, you know, is that we start making jokes about each other. Because if you don't like someone, at least for me and the people that I run with, we don't really joke about them because it's not funny. You know, if you're if you're making a joke about someone and you're actually like being mean about it or whatever, it's kind of gross. It's not fun. You know, it's it's it it it's too close to home, so to speak, right? Like because it's they joke, there's actually something to it. But when you're making a joke in the sense that you don't actually mean it and you don't even think it's necessarily true, um, then it's funny. It's it's comical, but if it was an actual joke because you didn't like the person, that's not joking, that's just being mean. And that's something that I don't give into and that's something we don't do at the gym. So, um, anyway, that's that. So, guys, let's um let's get into this today. We've got a bunch of questions that have been asked from different places from um emails from the podcast listeners, YouTube, emails and so forth. And we're just going to go through some of these random questions. Some of these are very specific to Jiu-Jitsu, some of these are not specific to Jiu-Jitsu. So, um, maybe this could have maybe you'll enjoy this, maybe this will help you out. I don't know. Um, but we're going to get into this and let's uh let's rock and roll. Eugene, you want to take the first question? Speaker 2: Yeah. Let me read it. I'll read it first and then uh you answer and then I'll answer. So, which part from white to black belt felt the longest and most difficult and why? Speaker 1: Hmm. Which part felt the longest from white to black belt? So we're going to we're going to exclude black belt because obviously black belt's been the longest because it's I've been the belt the longest. Um, but we'll say from like all the other belts, white to brown then. I would say for me, purple belt was probably the longest because I believe that I was the belt I was at that belt the longest, so physically the time was the longest. But also too, for me, purple belt was particularly it was a particular struggle because what happened was is I got my purple belt pretty quickly. Um, you know, I got my my I started training Jiu-Jitsu in obviously I wrestled in from in high school in 2000 to 2003, started grappling in Jiu-Jitsu in 2003. And I got promoted to purple belt in February of 2006, about two and a half years. And so, you know, I'm now I'm now at a level where a lot of people are really, really good. And I um I had some technical deficiencies in my game that hadn't been addressed. Um I had gotten by in white belt and blue belt with a lot of horsepower and physical conditioning, strength, and a decent game. And then I was getting into purple belt where sometimes I would do well and then sometimes I would just run into technicians and they would just eat me alive. And so I went through this thing at purple belt where my coaches came to me and they're like, dude, you got to like like you got to like start doing different stuff and you got to be become basically become more technical. Which caused my game to take a dip because I was I wasn't using just my A game stuff. I was starting to expand. And so my game actually got worse for a little while and then it started to come back up pretty rapidly. But at that but but purple belt was for me was the one that I had the most struggles at. Um, and which in turn kind of made it feel like the longest one, but it was also like actually like chronologically was the the belt that I spent the most time at. Speaker 2: Hmm. Speaker 1: How about you? Speaker 2: I think the I don't know time specific, but I think the longest was probably white. And the reason was I was a white belt for two years and no stripe, but I had a green belt at my old gym. You know, they did the green belt, which I tested for the upper level white belt, so to speak. And then when I switched to your gym, I switched to Derby City, um, you kind of knew I was I had a little bit of experience, obviously, because I had a green belt the first couple times and people thought I was wearing a kid's belt. And so I kindly asked you like, hey, should I just take this thing off, put a white belt back on, kind of. Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Speaker 2: You're like, yeah, if you want to. You you didn't tell me I had to, but you said if you want to. And and I didn't want to, you know, stick out like a sore thumb. So I ended up uh going back down to a white belt with no stripes. Which was kind of fun, but it was almost like restarting that process a little bit. Speaker 1: Feels like it, right? Speaker 2: Well, you do because like we didn't do consistent belt like stripes. It was kind of like you get stripes here and there. I think the gym wasn't as big, so you kind of just do them, oh, we're going to do for some stripes, we do them. So it it took a little longer and then I got my blue belt. Um, but I would say the toughest belt for me, I feel like based on some competitions and struggles in competitions was probably brown belt. Speaker 1: I was going to say brown belt, I think was probably the one that you because you did pretty well in purple. Speaker 2: I did well in purple. I did pretty well in blue. Brown belt was tough because I had a new my son was fairly young. Uh and then I just training wasn't the best. Um but uh brown was tough, man. I did I did IBJJF and I really struggled. I did I won like maybe a couple matches the whole time at brown belt. I didn't compete a ton because it was very sporadic and and to be a good competitor, you have to freaking compete, dude. That's how you get good at at you learn the rule set, you get your nerves, you know, managed and and you do well. I just didn't have the time to really put put the work in. Speaker 1: You had a lot on your plate at the time, dude. You got a young family that's growing and, you know, you you you know as well as I do, right? Like you can't just bounce on your wife all the time and say, hey, like take care of it because I got to go do this thing. Um, you know, because one, you want to be there for your kid, but also too, you need to be there for your wife because she needs your help. Speaker 2: Well, and besides that, it's like your training's kind of hit and miss, your recovery's hit and miss because you're not sleeping very well. Speaker 1: Well, that's what I'm saying, right? So like with all that family stuff going on, it's like it's hard to give it training your 100%. Speaker 2: Yeah. But it was um, you know, I think I needed to go through that and it was good and when I when I did get my black belt, I feel like I've had a good amount. I mean, I've been a black belt now for five years. Um, so I've had some good success at some at some regional stuff. I mean, I, you know, nothing nothing too crazy. I did the ADCC in Louisville, did decent. Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a good competitive black belt. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. I did fun. I mean, I I hang with people my age, you know, I'm not out there, you know, in the adult division, but I'm I'm doing fine against people in the master's division, my age, my size, and I feel like I do well. Speaker 1: Yeah, but don't short change it. You're you're a good competitive black belt, right? Like it's again, like, you know, most people who are, you know, 40 plus are are not going into the adult division, smashing 20-year-old black belts, right? That's that goes without saying. And when those 40-year when those 20-year-old black belts become 40-year-old black belts, they'll be in the same boat. Um, you know, so again, you can give yourself a little props. Don't have to. Speaker 2: Yeah. Appreciate it. But I but I've, you know, I think you got to go through some of these dips. It it gives you a little bit of um, for me, it kind of puts things in perspective. And gives you a little bit of a a focus on what you need to do and gives you a little motivation to do better. So, Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, that's something like I read recently an article about kids and like how parents want to be supportive of their kids and so they sort of let them, you know, choose their own path, kind of thing, which, you know, there's some stuff to it. But the issue was is they were saying that, you know, you can't let your kid just quit when something gets tough, right? Because the idea that a lot of times early on, there's novelty. Right? That's true for everybody. Like in the beginning, there's novelty, it's new and all that stuff. But passion, passion for something. True passion for something doesn't follow until you've had some difficulties and you've had some friction and you've come through it on the other side, you've had some success, right? Because, you know, it it's in the beginning, you don't have passion for something. You have newness. That's what you got. Speaker 2: Hmm. Speaker 1: Right? When you get good at something and you've experienced like the good and the bad, like you've experienced the ugly and the beautiful of that thing. And you still want to do it, that's called passion for that thing, right? That means that you really have something there. And, you know, as a parent, we have to help our kids get to that point. And for our own selves, you have to push through those points, right? You have to do that because you don't know until you've done it. That's why I tell people all the time, if they've had one competition and it didn't go well and they're like, I want to quit, I don't want to do competitions anymore. I'm like, hold on a second. There could be a reason why you don't want to do it, but I would encourage you to compete until you get your hand raised. Because then you understand, okay, like you understand what you're what you're what it is. Do you want to keep doing this? You've had the good and the bad of the sweet and the sour. And also too, you can't let yourself just quit when stuff gets tough. You know, like like when you have a bad experience or whatever, like, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm like, no, no, no, you got to keep pushing through this stuff. That's what we got to do it for ourselves and we also want to do it for, you know, the people around us, whether it be like people we're coaching or even our kids, right? Um, getting through those dips because you're going to have them multiple times in every aspect of your life, right? Whether it's your Jiu-Jitsu, whether it's your marriage. Doesn't matter. You're going to have these ebbs and flows and you don't just bail when it gets tough. You like you you dig into it, you figure out what you can do to make it better and then you keep going. Speaker 2: Yeah. I I do agree and and one more point with like the having that contrast, like I think if if you it's very easy to quit when it's tough, but like if you do well and like you're successful and you're like, I'm still not into it. Then that's that might be a good sign that, hey, you know what, I tasted success on the mats, uh, you know, uh, I I did well on a I won a couple matches, you know, did something decent. I had some some success and you're like, still, this is not my thing. That's cool. That happens and that's okay. I think just, you know, quitting when it's hard is easy. You know, so I think that just seeing the other side of it and just give yourself the because you don't want to regret it. You don't want to regret. So many people quit Jiu-Jitsu and and leave for five years or however long and then they come back and they regret quitting and they bought back and love with it. Speaker 1: Not just Jiu-Jitsu, just all kinds of stuff, right? You know, they they quit and again, I'm not saying you don't you don't want to you don't want to keep doing something just forever. But like there's a certain point where, you know, you you you're going to go through some crap and you just got to deal with it. Um, here's a non-Jiu-Jitsu related one. This comes from someone on YouTube. They said, hey, brother, I have a question and only one question. Like how they said only one question. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Why do you why don't you have a southern accent? That that some variation of that question has come up a lot where they people say, why don't you have a a thick accent, a southern accent? Um, a lot of times when I meet people in public, um, whatever, they'll say, hey, where are you from? And because a lot of times they they from watching the videos, they don't know. And I'll say, I'm from Kentucky. And they're like, oh, you don't really sound like you're from Kentucky. And I do have a slight accent. It does come out some from time to time, uh, but the the the answer to that is is I got rid of it. When I was around 18, 19, I heard my voice in a recording. So what was happening was back in the day, we me and buddies we on the wrestling team, we would record. Like a video tape. We would record the matches, we would record stuff we were seeing, you know, on like one of those old handheld uh video recorders. And I heard my voice and I heard my the way I sounded and I didn't like it. You know, I sounded my accent was a bit thick and I don't know, I just didn't I didn't care for it. Didn't think it sounded good for whatever reason. And so I changed it. I just intentionally got rid of it. I was basically got very intentional about uh how I spoke. Right? And like I said, it still it still comes out and everything else. But uh, and that's something um, I'll I'll pass the question to you in a second, Eugene. So maybe there's something you've intentionally changed about yourself or anything like that to become someone different or to present yourself in a different way. Speaker 2: Um, like physically? Speaker 1: Physically, doesn't have to be physically, it can be anything. Like anything that you don't you may not have this this thought. But just like something where you said, you know, like I don't like this about me or I would like to do this or I would like to become this person, then I'm going to start to do these particular things. Speaker 2: I I um, I think one thing that changed when I was uh a physical therapist, like just working 40 plus hours a week, I got burnt out. And I was like, this is not the way that I wanted to to spend. I I would like almost like work for the weekends because I was like, fuck, dude, I I just I'm I'm miserable working the same thing in the same way. And so like I think one thing I started to change was I trying to create my own practice and just treating like fairly like patients and and clients and like really working with Jiu-Jitsu athletes and and wrestlers how I wanted to and I felt was like I think there was like something there. A lot of people, a lot more people are in the space now, but when I started, there wasn't really a lot of people doing it. And so just like, I don't remember, yeah. Yeah, and just learning, okay, well, how do I, what's the best way to work with athletes that are grapplers? And and spending creating my own business around that, changing my life in that way, so that way I had like still a love for what I did and I didn't get burnt out. That was definitely one thing. It was a little bit of a risk. Um, you know, doing that and it's it's paid off and it's given me some other opportunities and I I really enjoy what I do. So that's something I changed. I just didn't really care for the way I was I was working with with with patients. I wanted to do it differently and and I didn't want to be limited by, you know, insurance or a doctor telling me I have to do this in this way. Like I wanted to do what I felt was best for for people. So that was one one thing I changed. Physically, one thing I changed, uh, well, going to the gym, you know, I was always like a skinny kid and I I was always self-conscious about being real skinny, real thin. So like I think I could never put weight on and so like when I could start putting a little muscle mass on, I was like, I got really into, you know, just just getting more more fit and better shape. Not being skinny. I hated being called skinny. So that was something I didn't like kind of about myself. And so I think it that that's another one. Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh that's something I remember talking to a guy um about that one time when I was like lifting weights. We were coming out of the gym, like the like a normal big box gym. And we got done lifting and I forgot how it came up. But basically, I remember saying something to the effect of like, I mean, like nobody's in here lifting for positive reasons. You know what I mean? Because I mean, I mean, I'm not saying that there maybe isn't. But the majority of people inside of a gym, why are you there? You're probably there because you want to change the way you look. And I'm not saying that it's you want to change something. You're like, maybe you're like, I don't want to be skinny, right? Like you feel negatively about that. Or for me, it was like, I don't want to be fat. So I I wanted to change that, right? So like or like, you know, whatever the thing is, we want to change something about ourselves. Um or maybe you go into Jiu-Jitsu and you're getting ragged all around and you hate feeling weak, physically weak. So you want to get stronger, right? There's some thing that spurs you to get into that place. And I'm saying there's probably some people who just go in because they some other reason. But for a lot of us, the reasons that we got into the gym originally were coming from, you know, maybe not the best place. But uh we decided to make a change and um, you know, build from there. And I think that a lot of people if they're honest, right? Like there's all this talk about negative or positive emotions and being all positive all the time. But if I think about a lot of the most like some of the biggest changes in my life, the biggest changes in my game, the the a lot of certain things that I've been successful with, a lot of it came originally at some point from, you know, a not so great place. That that created the change, right? It's just about how you harness it. Speaker 2: Yeah, I think another thing for me and this is different for a lot of people. You know, Jiu-Jitsu kind of stems from like why we do it. We don't know why we do it, but then you go back and think about why you're doing it and why you continue to do it. I think the one thing that Jiu-Jitsu did for me was uh it changed my fear of I was really scared of getting in altercations as a kid. I was always kind of scared of that. And I think it's something that I wanted to to change how like I didn't want to be scared. I mean, I'm not saying you I I wanted to have some maybe semblance of control over if I get into some I could protect my family in some way or protect myself in some way. And I think that's something I really didn't have a lot of confidence in when I was younger, even like in in my mid-20s. Like I didn't know shit. I couldn't fight anything. I'm not saying I can fight now, but I may be able to handle myself in some capacity in altercation if someone's not skilled in Jiu-Jitsu, I guess or skilled in in any kind of fighting art. So I think for me that was something that um that I wanted to change as well, which wasn't originally Jiu-Jitsu, just kind of one of those things like we start for different reasons, but I, you know, obviously I liked watching the UFC and and inspired by martial arts movies. But like as I started getting into it, I I really realized like it it gave me a lot of confidence and and I wanted to change, you know, my my fear of like I went out to a, you know, a bar or something that I wasn't going to, you know, get my ass kicked. So, it was it was something I and I think it yeah, it built some confidence in me and and I think that's something important to to have as a as a young person with a with a family and stuff. So, Chewy, here's uh we got a question from Peter. Um, and this one asks, have you ever had mental health issues? And I guess maybe um what's helped if Jiu-Jitsu's helped that that's been something that's kind of been beneficial. So, Speaker 1: Yeah. You want me to go first? Speaker 2: I'll I'll go first. Like I I think uh I um, so for me personally, I've dealt with like anxiety and kind of like rumination and stuff like that. I get kind of in these places where um, I'll just like start kind of creating this this narrative in my head, like worst case scenario. And and it just creates this anxiety and worry. So I was like a big warrior growing up. And I think to some capacity, I still am a warrior. It's it's gotten better, but I was a big warrior. And uh, I would always just like think like gloom and doom type thing. And so I think um, you know, that that has been tough for me to to kind of like not to try to pass that on to to my kids in some way. Like to to be more like, you know, be more patient with, you know, and not let like not freak out about stuff, not let anxiety take over. Like I would get anxious a lot and like nervous a lot about about like if something wasn't going like the way that I wanted it to go. If something was even a little bit off, it would kind of make me anxious. So I think like dealing with that and like having ways and and I can talk about, you know, some stuff I've my my wife and I've gone to like couples counseling for years. And like just to something like that just to and we did it. I didn't feel like I ever needed to go. I was like, I don't need to go. There's nothing wrong with me. And then you realize, okay, there's not, you know, it helped my relationship, obviously. But also personally, on a personal level, I realized, hey, I do have some anxiety and there's some ways, you know, that I can deal and manage with, you know, those things and deal with rumination and deal with like kind of like negative thought processes. And some of that's been through Jiu-Jitsu, you know, just obviously physical movement, exercise and and sleep and diet and journaling is is something that I've done that I didn't really I was like, this is weird. Journaling like writing stuff down is weird. But like honestly, it's just to having that conversation with yourself or even getting those ideas out and then reading them back and you realize, oh, that's I'm kind of making a mountain out of a mole hill. You know, I'm making a big deal out of something that's not really a big deal and and and most likely it's going to turn out okay. You know, so like not not letting myself spiral. Um, so those are some things I've done. And Jiu-Jitsu's been phenomenal for that as well. Like I'm not saying it should be the thing you utilize to deal with some kind of mental health problem. Like it can definitely help. But like there should be other things, you know, you should be doing other things outside of Jiu-Jitsu, but like the community that we have, obviously, and like just the how you feel after training, after training session or being around people that you really like being around and um, training hard and just how you feel after training. You feel so much more at ease and kind of more peaceful and more relaxed. I think that's one of the, you know, one of the many reasons I keep coming back to Jiu-Jitsu and and love it and and I enjoy doing it. Is that that's it. But you know, the combination of things, you know, obviously diet and and making sure you're doing the proper things with with uh sleeping and and exercise. And having somebody there can guide you in in kind of dealing with these negative thought processes. Speaker 1: Yeah, I think um, you know, when you when you look at the impact of exercise on someone's mental health, you know, there are times where medication is 100% needed. But there are a lot of times where basically if you're exercising, you'll get a comparable effect as like what medication would do. There's been studies on it where they compare medication, exercise, and then medication and exercise together. And a lot of times it's like good like good consistent exercise, um, contributes to it. You know, you think about what that does because there's the the side of, you know, the the chemicals that you get from it, like in your brain and how you how good you feel from it. But then you even think about Jiu-Jitsu, you get a community of people that you're around that you can slowly become bonded to. And then even for a lot of people, um, they get a sense of purpose and something concrete that they can chase after. You know, that's um, there's a good book called uh the Boy Crisis that I just read. Um, you know, as a father, I'm trying to read more of these books about some of the struggles that young men are are going through these days, you know, because it's something it's interesting that like when you think about it, like a lot of these authors that I've read that talk about this, they're not they're not coming from a place of like alpha male nonsense. They're basically just highlighting that some of these different imbalances have been present with say like women and females. And when they were, it was like, we got to do something. We got to fix this problem, right? Like one of the guys was saying that when when women were struggling in schools, we blame the schools and we said the schools were not set up properly for them, right? Um, so we had to change things. But now it's like you have men who are falling behind and whatever else and we say, what's the men's problem? It's the boy's problem, right? opposed to like, hey, maybe we should rethink a little bit of this, you know. And when you think about that, when you you one of the big issues for a lot of young guys is that like there's not a concrete purpose that we're chasing after anymore. Um, you know, and so we we need that. I I'm sure it's the same for a lot of women too, but we need something concrete, something to chase after, something to put all of that that like energetic the that energy that we have into something, right? And have something we're chasing after. And then you think about um going back to me as far as like my own mental health stuff. I've had bouts of depression in the sense of like being depressed, you know, like when something bad happens and you're just kind of depressed. And Jiu-Jitsu's always been helpful to deal with that, whether it was my mom passing or um just different stuff that has happened. So I always kind of I always kind of dealt with that kind of thing with Jiu-Jitsu and with training. And I suffer from a bit of anxiety as well, just generalized anxiety. And um, you know, training helped kind of quiet it down a little bit. But one of the things that was also helpful to me with that is along with the exercise and the training to help deal with it. Um, there was a great book that I read years ago called the Worry Cure. Um, I I I want to say it's by Dr. Leahy or uh something I I can't remember, but it's called the Worry Cure. Um, great book and it's about just using CBT, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy. Along with, you know, everything else and it it's basically it's it's pretty consistent or pretty uh systematic. You know, you have this anxiety, then you go through these sets of questions to contradict your anxiety, right? And that's had a lot of other helpful things. And um, you know, I I think for me like just going back to it, I think what Jiu-Jitsu's provided me that's been helpful with the mental health stuff is that if I go through a bout of anxiety, if I go through an issue of depression or whatever it is, I I always have this group of people that I can come back to. I have a sense of purpose and belonging and there's also this thing that's keeping my body healthy and and happy, right? Um, and so I think it it hits a lot of boxes, but I've had them before. Um, you know, but just dealt with them and and and training has helped along the way. Um, to your point about journaling also, we're all messed up, you know what I mean? So like when so like you were saying like, I don't have any problem. Speaker 2: We're all flawed. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Speaker 1: We're all flawed and we all have our our issues and um you should be digging into that stuff on a regular basis. You know, like I I really enjoy the practice of like the stoic practice of basically journaling and you review the day and then you sort of write what you want to continue to work on. You know what I mean? Almost like a uh a sort of a to-do list for whoever it is, whatever it is you're trying to work on, right? So like for instance, maybe it's I'm trying not to react uh a certain way when things happen with my kids. Because I don't want them to absorb that energy or um I want to ask more questions because I want to let people talk more or whatever. You know, whatever it is. Um, but you know, again, kind of being intentional about becoming the person you want to become and the actions you take. But but yeah, I've I've had mental health issues. I've just never had anything quite super, super serious other than the anxiety, which I kind of got over when I was in my 20s. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And if you do, like I mean, there's medicine's there for a reason and some people work, some people work, some people work. Yeah, you got to seek out the professional people. Like I think, you know, do what you can, but if you feel like, you know, you're struggling, you got to seek out the professional. Like you said, there's there's therapists and and there's all kinds of people that can help you out. Um, but yeah, doing the other things, try to I try to get all my ducks in a row, like make sure I'm doing all the things that I can do. Like like I said, the diet and the exercise and the training and all that stuff and just take care of myself and put myself in the best space I can. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: So guys, um that's it. So hopefully you guys enjoyed the podcast today and uh we'll talk to you guys next time. [Music]