#362 STOP GUESSING: Train THIS in 2026 | Feat. The Allen Bros

I suck at jiu-jitsu. How do I suck less? If you're training jiu-jitsu for a long time and you're going, man, I've learned every position, I've learned the names of every move, but I kind of just suck at everything. You're not alone. Most people feel this way and most people know that the secret to getting good at jiu-jitsu is focusing on something that is very important, that is very valuable for a long period of time. But the problem occurs is what is that thing? What should I be focused on when I have no control over my training, I don't have control over what's being taught in my class, and I am just getting held down in bottom side control all day anyway. So, why would focusing on triangle chokes make any difference? Well, we are going to answer all of those questions in today's episode of the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. And really the the problem here is that people don't know what to focus on in jiu-jitsu because there are too many options. You go on YouTube and you search how to learn jiu-jitsu, there are a million videos. You search how to do an armbar, there are a million videos. And they have a a bunch of different details, a bunch of different ideas. Who do you listen to and what do you focus on? And this is the problem that we're all dealing with in today's day and age of learning jiu-jitsu is that there is so much free information and it's so hard to decide, well, what is true and what is just built around getting views, right? What is just looking cool and I am I wasting my time doing this move that I saw on Instagram? And so, there are some things that we're going to be able to look at today, um, that will help you know whether or not you're wasting your time on a move. But really what we're going to do is we're going to teach you the art of self-coaching. This is something that I'm always trying to teach to my students because it's one of the most important things when it comes to, um, when it comes to just getting better. Because I can help you and I can and the other coaches at the gym can help you and they can teach you good stuff and they can try to keep you on track. But nobody knows your jiu-jitsu more than you. Nobody is more engaged in every single round that you do than you. And so, one of the most important things I can teach you as your coach is how do you get better at identifying where your struggles are and where your strengths are and how much time you should be spending on each. So then the focus is getting better at jiu-jitsu and not just, you know, just picking random things and trying to throw them against the wall. And so, um, here is what we'll look at today and I actually have two very special guests who have so much problems with their jiu-jitsu all the time. Bryce and Brian, how are you guys doing? Speaker 2: Doing good. Doing great, man. Yeah. Speaker 1: So, we're throw off on the solo episode. It's always just me talking to one camera. And now all of a sudden we have all kinds of perspectives and you guys have a new perspective because you recently started coaching at the gym. And so, as students you've had to self-coach and now we're going to be able to talk about that idea of how do you look at your own jiu-jitsu, what are some things that have worked for you. But something that I thought we could start with that would be interesting is I had asked you what was the beginning of jiu-jitsu like off camera, um, when you started training at Head Nod and you're like, yeah, you guys just made us pick something and made us focus on it for a while until we got good. And so, tell me tell me what you guys chose and then kind of how it went for you, how long you stayed on, I know you both chose submissions, but, um, just whoever wants to go first, tell me about when you chose an actual focus, what you chose and how it worked. Speaker 3: Um, I I picked kimuras whenever I first started, but I was really lucky because there was a really cool instructional kimuras from everywhere. Speaker 1: Heck yeah. Speaker 3: By Josh McKinney. And Speaker 1: I don't even know if that's available anywhere, man. Now they're kimuras nowhere. Speaker 3: Kimuras nowhere. Speaker 1: Yeah, they're hidden kimuras. Speaker 3: Oh, they're in the archives. Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I don't know though. Yeah. Speaker 3: Uh, but that was so once I learned to see them everywhere, it just was kind of easy to see every move from everywhere, not really easy to see every move from everywhere, but to take that like same mindset of, oh, now I've used six to eight weeks of just searching for kimuras and then you kind of can take that same strategy of learning and adapting and trying to look for techniques and I did the same thing with triangles like right after that, right? So. Speaker 1: And that and that makes sense too because that is the that's the exact point is it's not the method that saves you, right? It's not the method that makes you good at jiu-jitsu. That is just a a good way so you can start to, like you said, then I was able to take another block of a couple months and focus on a different move that also is relatively close, right? I'm opening the elbow, oh, there's a triangle instead of me being able to finish the kimura. Or I'm going for a triangle and then I can turn it into a kimura, right? And so, um, but being able to do that is a really good way. Would you say that's something you still do, um, in your training now? Speaker 3: Yeah, now it's easy to take myself and do that without really having to be instructed by somebody else, which is part of the problem of like just having so much to search for is like now I have this thing I know I want to do and I can, you know, apply that same learning style and technique to the new stuff I want. Speaker 1: That makes sense. Bryce, what about you? Speaker 4: The first thing I ever focused on was guillotines and, um, I feel like I focused on that for probably like, I don't know, like six months or so for real. I feel like once I actually started like competing a lot more, which was right after that six-month mark, I started focusing on triangles, uh, afterwards, but I feel like the first like real six months or so of jiu-jitsu, I just tried to find guillotines from everywhere. And I think that was because like, uh, I don't know, maybe because I was new, people were letting me play top to just like be defensive or whatever and, uh, it was just like I was just diving on people's heads and like and was doing like the classic just like grab like whatever like headlock, you know what I mean? Just because it's a it was like a natural, I don't know, it was just was a natural thing to do, right? Uh, and then even like when they would always like sweep me over or just get on top of me, I was still like just holding on to their heads. So it was just, yeah, easy for me to be like, okay, well I should probably do the, yeah, something right with this, uh, rather than just whatever, just hold on to their head. Um, but yeah, guillotines were definitely the first thing that I focused on. Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, um, I remember specifically rolling with you, uh, like six months in and you would play guard and you would just scoot and scoot and scoot away like trying to sit up basically like as if you were about to get up in base and then even start to do that and everybody would like body lock you and try to take you down and then you would try to jump on your guillotine. You don't do guillotines anymore, dude. What happened to them? Speaker 4: Um, I feel like I've been trying to incorporate it more just like now that I'm trying to play top more and just like, yeah, getting to that and Darces. Um, but no, the guillotines could come back, uh, for sure. Speaker 1: I I would also note too, you said it was like, you know, Brian's thing was organic in a sense that I gave him an instructional that was like, yeah, just just focus on this and so it was just a really easy like solution. But your thing was like, oh man, I'm finding myself in this position, start to learn how to finish guillotines, right? And that's something that I think is really important to note because that's like the whole thing for the listener is if they are struggling with if they're struggling with not being able to choose a move, sometimes you can find it organically. For me, the first time that I actually started to get good at anything was, um, I got good at I got good at triangles because one of my training partners was just like a super spaz. We were a couple months in, but he just couldn't comprehend the idea of like, you should put two arms in or two arms out, right? It was a really easy solution that we had around, you know, 18 years ago. But it was just absolutely one of those things where, uh, I just started to be in that position where I would have him trapped almost in a triangle and then occasionally I would finish one. And then I would finish more. And then it was like, oh man, I'm I'm finishing a lot of triangles just on this guy. I don't know how to set them up, but I'm actually finding triangles in other random rounds too. And so like organically for me, that is how I started to get better at jiu-jitsu. That is and for me too, you know, that was a couple months into white belt and until pretty much the end of purple belt, triangles are all that I did in competition, right? That was like my that was what my focus was was playing my guard and hitting my triangle. And it really just did start organically. It really wasn't this well thought out. I didn't have this great idea of like, I'm going to do triangles. It was just I was getting really good reps doing triangles. You know what I mean? Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. Uh, I feel like it's got to be so in it's almost hard to just think back to my exact white belt mindset, but I see people like in our gym. Speaker 1: Oh, you were a moron. I swear. I swear. Speaker 4: I was still. Speaker 1: Yeah, you were a jerk for sure, you know. Speaker 4: But it's definitely got to be hard for people too because I see people in our gym and just like in the gyms we train at, like it is really hard for people to find a focus and, uh, no, uh, I mean, not a lot of people come into jiu-jitsu like even knowing like what grappling is. So to be able to like pick a move, uh, and just like focus on that, uh, I mean, yeah, that's a tough tough thing to to do. Speaker 1: And and then you get like you get like body, uh, like body composition recommendations, right? Oh, you have long legs, you should do triangle chokes. And I don't know, maybe that's true. Maybe but it's it's it's not always true. Maybe you're inflexible. Maybe you have really bad knees and it doesn't make sense. Maybe you should be playing top with your long legs, you know? And so, it it really is it's tough because some of it is organic in a positive way. You're finding yourself getting to certain positions, you're finding yourself getting to certain moves and you go, oh, that is the one that I should do. But some of us actually have no control over what we should be working, but we just choose to work stuff that isn't that. Meaning, early on for a lot of people, their first six months, their first year, their first three years are like, I'm stuck in bottom side control. If 80% of your rounds are you stuck in bottom side control, you should only be focused on that until 80% of your rounds aren't stuck in bottom side control because you can't control what else you, right? You only get 20% to focus on anything else anyway, right? Let's lower that percentage of bottom side control by by focusing on it and saying, asking the right questions and starting to try to get better in that way. And I just think that tends to be a better reason, you know, the organic approach tends to be the best place to find what you should actually be working. Speaker 5: Mhm. Speaker 1: We're only one week away from the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience and this coaching lineup is too stacked to not talk about. Let me introduce you to the coaches. First, we start out with Kyle Watson. He's been my coach for the last 18 years. He's an ultimate fighter semifinalist, a UFC veteran, and the owner of Watson Martial Arts, one of the biggest, the most beautiful jiu-jitsu schools in the Midwest. Every major shift in my jiu-jitsu, it traces back to this man. If you want easy to understand and easy to implement advice, then Kyle is the guy. Then we have Steve McKinney, my dad. He didn't start training until he was 47 years old. He didn't grow up in jiu-jitsu, he didn't wrestle. He had to build jiu-jitsu around a late 40-year-old body. And if you're 40 or you just don't feel athletic, his perspective alone is worth being in the room. And then there is Nick Sanders, one of the greatest American Masters competitors of all time and an American hero. Multiple time Pan champion, huge, huge tournament wins, Purple Heart recipient. He's also one of the head coaches at Revive Jiu-Jitsu. And when Nick talks, everyone listens. Nick is going to be showing a guard system that he's actually been teaching me lately and it is so useful, it's so easy to implement, but it's also incredibly unique. After that, we have Justin Huff, one of my longest running coaches at Head Nod HQ. He's taught eight years at the gym. He actually taught a seminar, uh, on the chin strap about three years ago and people still tell me to this day that it's their favorite guillotine seminar they've ever attended. He is going to be there, he's going to be teaching his cradle passing system, rock-a-bye passing. The only thing better than his coaching are his dad jokes. After that, we have El Chino himself, Robert Airy. He he's the first guy to ever go from white to black belt under me. He has one of the best closed guards that you've ever felt. He'll be teaching his closed guard secrets, the Chino trap. He just started Areas Bros Jiu-Jitsu a few months ago, so he's been sharpening his teaching skills more than ever. Then we have Ron Ron McLaughlin, black belt head coach of Head Nod Edwardsville. Ron is he's been one of the smallest guys in some of the toughest rooms in the Midwest for the last 10 years. But also, one of the most consistent guys. He never stops showing up, never stops training. So if you're not the biggest or strongest grappler in the world, his jiu-jitsu will speak to you. He's going to be showing the Granite City Bullo, his unique back takes and some really cool leg locks that you've never seen before. You guys are going to love that. After that, we have Sam Luna. This is somebody who got their black belt in under seven years, training three days a week or less. Then immediately he wins IBJJF gold at black belt. His knee cut is ridiculous. If you want maximum results with minimum wasted training, then Sam is your guy. And to finish, there's your old pal, Josh McKinney. I'm going to be showing my seminar how to never lose side control or mount again and how to tap people with pressure or break their arms if they won't tap to pressure. It's a working title, but I'm telling you, you'll love the concept. We only have 12 spots left for the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience this coming Friday, February 20th at 5:00 p.m. It all starts, it all goes down. We have two dinners included, an I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episode included, coffee, all the coffee that you can drink. And so if you want to sign up, go to headnodhq.com and sign up for the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. Experience jiu-jitsu like never before. Do either of you guys remember any time that you were like trying to work something that was not it just didn't fit. It wasn't the right thing to be working. It was a dumb move. It was, you know, something like that or is that not something that has happened to you guys as much? Speaker 4: No, that's a really good question. And I feel like the answer is yes, I have something, but Brian, do you have something off the top of your head? Speaker 3: Not off the top of my head. Um, I wanted to say I had really good results with the opposite. Like I could just feel like what felt right. And I feel like that just came from us just already having athleticism and just like being involved in sports and lifting weights, you know, before getting into jiu-jitsu. Uh, so just whenever we were going over new techniques in class, I was like, oh, that's in the repertoire because, I don't know, going back to triangles, it's like, oh, that's just the easiest thing to finish. Oh, that feels like the easiest thing to finish. I'm just going to focus on that. So. Speaker 4: So actually, just one thing that came into my head was at blue belt playing a lot of lasso and double sleeve. I really wanted to incorporate the Magali sweep into my game, but that was just something for whatever reason like and I've spent a few weeks on it and I just struggled too hard and it was one of those things I was like, screw this, I'm moving on. But, uh, no, that's something that I just always struggled with and I could never actually add to it. But nothing like, I don't think anything super stupid. Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about adding these things organically, we're really we really like addressed it from like the hobbyist approach, not directly from like, well, competitors have this litmus test that they go through, which is like, you go compete. If you lose, there's probably a flaw, right? Like there's probably something to fix. If you win, there's probably could be something to fix too, right? Um, but that is like Speaker 3: Okay, I got my thing. You reminded me. Speaker 1: Okay, let me okay, go ahead, go ahead. Speaker 3: Loop chokes. Just always going for loop chokes and just not Speaker 1: With no. Speaker 3: Not ever just committing to retaining guard. Speaker 1: No, no commitment to anything else. Speaker 4: Bro, you're good at loop chokes. You just go for them like, yeah, you it's like you see red and you just dive on them from everywhere and it's like, dude, yeah, you didn't have to. Speaker 3: I I want to say I've unconditioned myself from that like recently. So. Speaker 1: But you know that's something that's interesting. So we're talking about organically growing your jiu-jitsu, right? And a lot of what you're saying is like, oh, you find success and then you keep chasing that success, right? Um, so like, oh, I'm finding success finishing triangles. This is like the same thing I'm talking about, right? So I just keep finishing triangles. Sometimes though, the problem starts to occur when you get too in love with the triangle and you start to go you stop you start to forget that like, hey, these little things that I'm doing before, this is actually what's setting up the triangle, right? This little, you know, and this like guard passing is the same thing for me is like, um, yes, I could take one clear picture of like this is the pass that actually worked on the guy, but the guy was tired from these two or three things. The guy was making this move because of how I set it up earlier, right? There are a lot of little things and so kind of where I'm going is like, it is tough because your jiu-jitsu really is one whole thing, right? Your ability to grapple is one whole thing because if you get put into a bad spot that you can't grapple from, well, you suck, right? Like and so you you have to be able to, you know, like start to grow all of your jiu-jitsu, but it is it can be super hard to decide like where you start. Speaker 3: So off of that, I think it was a really hard it was really hard for me to zoom out and see that for myself. But once I learned how to not focus, but that and it wasn't not focus, it was to zoom out and what am I doing wrong, you know, conceptually here. Yeah. Kind of helped me lead to that. So that that's a good, you know, learning. Speaker 1: Yeah. What were you doing wrong? You were a frat far, bro. You were just gun slinging, you know? Speaker 4: I I feel like I started working triangles after guillotine because kind of like you were saying, just like scooting away from people playing guard, like naturally like I'm also gripping back in a lot of situations and people, yeah, like kind of chasing me leaving their arms open. That's where like I was hitting beginning to hit triangles from. And that's yeah, I mean to like kind of go off what you were saying, that's how I then after a few months of working on guillotines, just went to something else. Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, that was like for me, there was so much dumb crap that I had to work to to be who I am today, right? Like there are so many I I wish that we had video of all the hours that we spent training in the garage like just trying to get better, especially at like in the blue purple belt range when, um, the hit squad closed, you know, Kyle was 30 minutes away now, it's just a little bit harder to get to him. During rush hour, it was a lot harder to get to him and it was just like it it was, you know, we didn't have as much guidance as we had, right? Uh, or as we used to. So we started to really lean into that idea of self-coaching and that idea of going, well, what should we be focused on and what does being focused on something even mean, right? Like what is that even what's even the goal there? And so, as we did that more, I just noticed like we stopped drilling dumb stuff, right? We stopped repetitively drilling without any resistance. We, you know what I mean? We started to adjust our training because we were going, hey, this isn't producing the result that we want, right? I also think though, it's very hard to zoom out and to see that. Like it's hard to go like, oh yeah, this like, like you said, Brian, like it's hard to go, yeah, I shouldn't just only go for loop chokes because sometimes I'm sure at the gym you're hitting it, right? But the problem happens when it's like, but all these other threats of my game, they're not they're not near as apparent for the guy that I'm going with at the tournament and he's just seeing me going for this loop choke, he's just defending that and now he's ahead, you know? Speaker 5: Yo, so, I got a new gi. It's really, really sick. Dotsu Sara just sent me their fun gi number two. And, uh, has a color stitching that I've never really seen before. It just the the gi looks really cool. The the obviously whatever artist they had design it took special care on this. And it's just such a unique design. I have worn it twice now and I have probably gotten 20 different comments on the gi. Everybody's like, hey, why is this shiny? Can I touch this? Can I put on your gi top? It's can I choke you with this a little bit? And so, um, it's definitely been the talk of the town. Only problem I had is I trained in it the other day, jump in the car. It's like one of the last nice days of the year out. And so I got the windows down. Jump in the car, still gi on, still sweating. I got leather seats, no big deal. Um, and I'm going to drive home. And on my way home, I end up having to roll up the windows because women were literally just trying to jump into the car because they were so impressed by this Dotsu Sara gi. And so, if that interests you, if, um, being, you know, the coolest looking person on the mat interests you, being in one of the most comfortable gis that there is interests you, um, be sure to check out Dotsu Sara. Um, be sure to check out dsgear.com and use promo code I SUCK at checkout and you'll get 10% off of your gi, your backpack, whatever you want from them. But be sure to check them out. Speaker 4: How do you know though if like what you're training is right or not right? Like how do you know if it's dumb and I don't know. Obviously compete, I guess, but like, I don't know, what if you don't have the resources to do that? And like and I don't know and also like let's say you don't train at like a gym with like super good people, you know what I mean? Like how do you break through that barrier? Speaker 1: Mhm. That's good. I think that it's easy to, um, uh, it's easy to to wonder like am I especially like anyone who listens to a jiu-jitsu podcast on efficiency has that thought of like, am I being efficient with my training, right? Um, am I am I wasting my time? Is this the result that I want, right? And I think one, and this is a cop out answer, but it is just there is no clear metric of am I getting better at jiu-jitsu? I think that is why it's so important as like to have that self-analysis, right? And that self-analysis, you'll hear me describe myself getting better in percentages, right? Oh man, I got this percentage better, right? And it's just a silly way of how I think about it, but it's a way of how I've developed thinking about it by feel over 20 years of training. And it really is how I think about it. When I talk about like something like, man, over the last 18 months, I feel like I have gotten three times better at jiu-jitsu. And people will be like, no, that no, you didn't. You're that's a stupid metric, that isn't. And then we train and they go, man, maybe maybe maybe close to that. Like maybe something like that, you know, and I really notice a difference. And that's like for me, this is like one of the easiest metrics I can point to is how much strength and athleticism are you using to accomplish this task, right? So like the task is pass the guard, right? I can use moves, I can use toreado, I can use knee cut, and I could be focused on one of those. But the task is pass the guard. So I am trying to get good at passing the guard. Obviously, not getting swept or submitted. I'm trying to stay on top, of course, but the goal is to pass the guard. If it takes me 100% energy to pass this guy's guard and I can start to lower my strength in a way to get to 50%, but still get that same result. Still pass his guard in the same amount of time, but only going 50%. I just got twice as good. If I could only get down like, if I could ideally get down to 5%, right? I think I got 20 times better. I don't know how that works. I don't don't quote me on that. But that sounds that sounds accurate. Um, but you are getting better the more that you can remove that. But that's just one metric of getting good. The only metric that people ever use to know whether or not they're getting good is am I submitting my training partners tonight or are they submitting me? And that's how most people think of jiu-jitsu training. And the problem is maybe you did submit them all. Maybe they did submit all submitted you, right? Either way, it's it's not a very valuable metric because I promise you tomorrow the same thing's probably going to happen, right? It's not like you're going to make one change and then you're going to be like, oh, I submitted everybody today. Or you make one change, you're like, well, now everybody beat me, right? Um, if you did, that's I mean, that's an awesome indicator. That's a that's something that you should be working, right? But I just think that that is it is self-analysis, right? It's like self-analysis, it's like, um, having, you know, just whatever type of metric you can look at for yourself to say like, am I am I actually showing progression, right? And I think you can also then, um, another answer to is instead of looking at it like that, you can look at it as like the macro, you can start to look at it like positionally, right? You can always as much as we want to look at our jiu-jitsu as this one organic thing that's all getting better at the same time. You can also say, well, if I break this down with positional sparring, if I say, bottom side control is the position I suck at, I'm going to positional spar bottom side control and top side control. Maybe I'll get a a good group of partners, do this often. There will be a point that you start winning those rounds. And that will be that then becomes that valuable metric of like, did you win or did you lose? Well, when we broke it down this small into this small part that we're trying to actually get better at, that's data that says like, man, no no one's holding me down in this game anymore. I'm always getting on my side, I'm always getting back to guard, I'm always getting back on top, right? And when you start to do that, even once you do it once, that's that again is data of like, oh, I am getting better. This time is being well spent. But up until you have data that's showing you that you're getting better, you really are just feeling your way and kind of throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks because jiu-jitsu is this whole big thing and we have to pick out these little pieces of it and then get good at those little pieces, you know? Speaker 3: So, the awareness to see even though we're going for these techniques and yeah, you do want to hit them and yeah, you will hit them when you're going for them. They're not just like sporadically just making the sweep, the submission or, you know, the escape, but the increase in is has the efficiency the efficiency or just how easy it's been to accomplish the task, has that increased in time over whatever metric you want to give it? Speaker 1: Mhm. Yeah, and it's just any honestly, it's just any metric that you can know, right? Sometimes and I've I've given and I probably maybe I wasn't doing this anymore, but when you guys were white belts, I might have even given you this challenge like with your kimura, with your guillotine. I used to give people number challenges and say like, hey, you have to hit this many of these, you know, and usually wouldn't even give you a time. Just you have to hit this many of these in live training. And did I do that with you guys? Speaker 3: You before we went to was it our first Pans trip and you said, I want you to hit 50 triangles before and maybe it was like three or four weeks out. And I was like, holy shit, that's a lot of triangles. Yeah. And, uh, I didn't get anywhere close, but I hit three in that comp, so. Speaker 1: And so it was the right thing to focus on. Speaker 4: Yeah. Speaker 1: I was going to ask, why do you think too like people struggle even if they like have an idea in their mind like, okay, I'm going to focus on triangles. Uh, they don't really stick with it. And like maybe and I was going to say like if you ask them after class like, how many triangles did you hit? They're like, oh, well, I was rolling with Tom and that one round and I hit him with a triangle and then I set one up on Brian, but, uh, I didn't finish that one. And then like that's just it forever and they don't they're not actually like they kind of have a focus, but they don't really have a focus. Like why do so many people struggle with that as well? I don't that's a hard question. Speaker 4: No, no, it's it's simple, I think. It's just because it's easier to focus on winning, right? Back to the other metric. Did I win rounds or did I lose rounds? So many people would rather not go for that triangle that was there because what if they get their guard passed? That's the focus on winning. And so this whole mindset is like, if you're going to coach yourself, you got to be really honest with yourself. And if the only metric is winning, you will start to only focus on things that allow you to win in the room and not focus on things of like that are always going to be getting you better, right? And so, I just think that that's why it's so valuable to have that. Like it's as simple as a metric as it is. Have, okay, you're going to hit 50 triangles and maybe no time limit at all, but you're just going to hit 50 triangles in live training. And by the end of that, I guarantee you you are going to be better at finishing the triangles triangle than you are right now. And you're going to see it in the metric that you're going to hit one a night for the first few weeks, maybe even less, right? And then all of a sudden you'll start to hit two, and then you'll hit three, and you'll be like, man, I can I can almost guarantee that I'm going to hit three tonight. And that's like, that is an easy way to show you that you are getting better. But again, you just you need these metrics for yourself because nobody's coach that has more than one student is keeping track of that, you know? Speaker 4: How long would you know to like keep working on something? Like how long do you keep hitting 50 triangles in a month or whatever? Speaker 1: So, you should the theory is, the thought is, you know, have you heard do you know have you heard of autism? Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm very familiar with it. Speaker 1: Okay, I okay, me too. And so, there is a reason that a lot of people have made speculation that a lot of the best jiu-jitsu guys have autism. And it is because a lot of times they'll find comfort in repetition, right? And so, there is a school of thought that claims that you can just out repetition everybody, right? And that technically is not the most efficient way, but it seems to be the most possible way of doing jiu-jitsu is you're training eight hours a day and you're just repping moves, right? And so, the answer is technically indefinitely if it's the right thing, right? You just work it indefinitely forever. But most people just can't do that. There is, um, um, uh, like novelty is a huge part of, um, uh, of learning something, right? Is not just focusing on one little aspect of it, but getting, um, having variety, right? And so that is like why, of course, I think it's important. I think I I love it for our gym like that we will focus on something together for a while. But I think that there starts to just be and I don't have an exact metric of when it is because it's different for each person, but there's a point of diminishing returns, right? There's a point where people are not seeing themselves get better at the material anymore. It's time to move on to something new, right? Um, it's like, yeah, I just think that that is that can be a battle. But like for me personally at this point in my jiu-jitsu, I have been focused on the same thing for a really, really, really long time, right? For years now. And, um, but it's also for me, um, I was talking to, uh, um, did I ride with one of you? No, I rode with Jeff, sorry. Sorry for confusing you guys with Jeff. Um, but I rode with Jeff to the tact team day. And, um, when we were walking out, Uzo said something along the lines of like, man, you're, you know, it's fun watching your, you know, your pressure passing. And I'm like, yeah, dude, I've really been loving. I really still feel myself getting better at it. And he's like, what do you mean? And I was like, what do you mean? What I mean, I feel myself getting better at it still. And he's like, there's no way you're still getting better at it. And I'm like, yeah, dude, I I swear. I like and I I explained just a few situation like there's a few times that, you know, I wanted this to happen, couldn't make it happen and I'm starting to be able to make that happen, right? This like specific scenario and, you know, there are a few times I'm passing quicker on these certain guards and I'm doing it in not five steps, but doing it in three steps. Again, these are just like, as silly as it sounds to look at your jiu-jitsu that specifically, but when you're doing something, you know, for three years, I think you will, you know, you're that focused on something for three years, you probably will be looking at it that way. Um, but it's also just valuable metrics, right? Like it's just like, oh, I notice and how I notice it is like, I run into the knee shield in this knee cut. I back out. I step my leg around, I take a few steps aside, then I try to flatten the guy, okay? And that is what the situation has been for a while, right? I stopped my weight straight forward. I started to, you know, had to change my angle, do all these extra steps. Same position. I run into the knee shield. I know my angle to keep going to chest over chest to be able to kind of clear it, be able to smash on top of it, be able to pass the angle. Way less moves, right? One straight angle. To me, again, it's a metric that I'm going, man, I was able to remove that need to side step three times for this move to work, right? Each side step is a chance for my opponent to beat me, right? It's a it's a, you know, a step for them to interrupt. And so, the more I can remove, the more I can make the move work still, right? And still get the same result because I'm passing the guard either way. But get that result more efficiently, meaning less strength, less energy, or even less steps for the move. Less need to have to hold on to this grip, that grip, have to be so deep on it. You know, being able to just do it more and more efficiently is has been my mindset. But again, I think this whole thought process is that it is a skill you develop, you know, that thought of being able to self-coach like that. Speaker 5: The jiu-jitsu mats are really gross. If you really think about it, I try to not think about it. I've actually run into this problem of writing commercials for my friends at Sports Hygiene. It's so hard to write commercials because if I just really am honest with people and we all just sat for a second and we think about how gross the jiu-jitsu mats are. Just really we marinate on that thought in the same way that we marinate on all of the body fluids of our friends. And then you hear about a product from Sports Hygiene. You hear about their product Full Guard. And you hear about this idea of hypochlorous acid and how it can literally kill ringworm, it can kill staff, and it is good for your skin biome. And this idea that there is a spray that you could literally spray on in between rounds to protect your body from the grossness of the jiu-jitsu mats is unbelievable. And it just so happens that they love the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show and want to give a promo code to you guys and that is promo code I SUCK. And so, at checkout, when you are getting your case of Full Guard to just douse your body in because of how gross the mats are, be sure to use promo code I SUCK at checkout. Let's get back to the episode. Speaker 1: But on the note of the beatdown, um, yeah, that was a that was a life-changing experience. But the the the thought of of that is is just like the the things that we've talked about this whole time. One, Kyle, my coach, who's been my coach for 20 years, was there, right? He wanted to go to a jiu-jitsu seminar of a guy that his favorite student, you know, has been like, yeah, this guy, we got to learn from this guy. And then Kyle's like, yeah, we got to learn from that guy. And he wasn't threatened by that. And not only that, but wanted to be a student, right? And that for me was just like the habit that I learned was like, oh, that's how you get better. And that was the same reason that I've wanted to, you know, learn from Henry as much as I can because I'm like, man, the stuff that he's saying, I'm good enough at jiu-jitsu to go, I'm pretty sure that what he's saying is true, but I actually didn't know it. I didn't know that. Like I hadn't thought of that as true. And, um, you know, that was enough for me to like, that was enough of a metric for me to be like, okay, well, this is what I'm going to start to commit to. And it would have been so disappointing if he sucked and I was like, oh, he's a charlatan. You know, that would have been like the most heartbreaking thing in the world. Cuz I've literally spent the last three years. Losing that way was the least discouraging beatdown that I've ever taken because I was like, one, that is an attainable thing, right? The skill level that he had was attainable. That is a that's a thing, right? Um, and two, I haven't been full of it, you know, trying to dive deep into it and trying to learn it. And, um, you know, that is, yeah, random thoughts on that. Speaker 4: Um, have and I was kind of thinking before and while you were saying that, have you ever have to seen a black belt like start that focus process for the first time ever? Speaker 1: Um, I think so. I think that we've had I I'm trying to think I know I've had much like very upper belts. I'm trying to think of a specific black belt that is like come to us and and done it. I'm sure on the podcast that people are listening that some black belt in the comments, maybe has never never focused on anything for a long period of time and then started doing it because of the podcast. Um, but I think that so often it's easy as a as a black belt to be like, I just learn in the you like you're a black belt in that school, right? You'll be a black belt at Head Nod when you, you know, and so you know like you know that method, you know that language, you know how to learn jiu-jitsu that way. And some places just roll live and it takes 12 to 14 years, but you get your black belt just rolling live in 12 to 14 years if you can physically survive, right? And, um, so maybe they don't have to ever focus that way intentionally for a period of time. And, um, so I've definitely, yeah, I've definitely had guys come in that were at least purple and brown belts that had never like, they've been like, yeah, man, I don't I don't feel like I get as good as anyone else. And usually the first question I ask him is like, oh, well, what have you been focused on? And then if they don't have an answer, you're like, oh, well, that's that's the problem, bro. That's the, you know, or if they're like, oh, um, um, butterfly guard and kimuras and, um, guard passing and, you know, triangles. Like, oh, so you're not focused on anything. If you have five focuses, there's no focus, right? And so just, um, you know, usually people if they're actually focused on something, it's at the top of their mind and they give you that answer. Speaker 4: Do you think that you can be a coach without having like been a self-coach before and like gone through that process yourself? Like, yeah, you can own a gym, but do you think you could be like an actual just yeah, coach? Speaker 1: I think being a coach and actually caring about your students forces you to self-analyze. So it will force you to do it no matter what. I would not I cannot believe how many people I've been told that like starting to coach has made me better at jiu-jitsu because it's made me actually have to define what I'm trying to do and explain that. And then I can always tell like, man, no one has questions. That maybe I explained it really well. Everyone's getting it right. Maybe I explained it well. Or everybody has a million questions. Maybe I didn't explain it well. Or, you know, I mean, just being able to, you know, you have that same self-analysis. But then you also, if you care about your students getting better, you're seeing like, man, this guy, Bryce still freaking sucks, dude. I don't know what to do, you know? And so you are still going, is it ideally you're going, is it me? What could I do as a coach to to be helping that person? So it's a different version of that, but it is the same thing, I think. That's like back to back to what I learned from Kyle was he took that same method that he had for, you know, that method was what he had for getting good at fighting. Was like, learning from whatever coach was good, right? And training with he was one of the first people that I knew to cross train, right? Back then you really did not cross train. And it was like people would warn you of of like horror stories of cross training. And, um, now it's like that's it's it's weird if a place won't cross train at all, you know? And so, um, yeah, it was just he was so open-minded back then as a martial artist and it was just about getting good at martial arts. And then when it came to being a business owner, I think he applied that exact same mindset because I remember him buying different coaching things for being a coach, but then running a martial arts school, you know, going to he and my dad going to, um, different coaching events, um, like hours and hours away just to to learn to be better coaches. And so, um, yeah, I think I don't think you have to have that mindset though if you don't care, right? You can just be a coach and follow a formula and it can eventually people will be all right at jiu-jitsu, you know? And so it's like you can do that and, you know, that'd be your focus too.