#354 Bionic Rob Handshy and the CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: AJJ, TRT, and What's in my Gym Bag?

I suck at jiu-jitsu. They'll let me die. They'll let me die like I deserve. Let's go. Cool. Bionic Rob. Josh, happy holidays. How are you? Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. It's Christmas Day. Christmas Day. Christmas Day. What are the chances that Christmas Day falls on a Thursday? I guess one in seven. But But this is one of those years we're back with the holiday special, Rob. What do you have planned for me is the question. What do you, what does Uncle Rob, what gifts does he have to bring? Last year you only brought wrist locks. You said you were bringing other things. I'll bring harsh opinions this week. Okay, you got harsh opinions. Okay, I've always got some harsh opinions to share. Where are we starting from? Well, Josh, uh, this year has been pretty monumental for you. You've had a bit of an identity crisis, but recently came out as American. So, Okay, good. Oh, thank God. I wanted to congratulate you. I thought you were going to congratulate you. We're keeping that private on the podcast, Rob. Uh, but anyway, continue. Yeah, so I was pretty fortunate like, uh, Bryce and and Brian over here, they just, uh, kind of moved into their their new belts as American jiu-jitsu practitioners where I'm kind of I'm kind of grandfathered in, so I just I got the second one now, so I started I'm a two-time black belt now. A lot of people are saying that you're actually the the longest training BJJ guy to make the AJJ switch. Oh. A lot of people are saying that. That's pretty controversial. That It is. Fact checkers on that one. It is. And, you know, when you see that, you go like, yeah, that's, you know, big move. What what why did you make the move, Rob? I've I've had to catch myself a couple times when showing techniques in the back that, oh, this is wait a second. I'm American. This is American jiu-jitsu. I was all for it when you when you said that you were ready to make the switch. I said, Josh, let's see how serious you are. Let's just put up a flag in the gym and make this happen. I think that, um, your gym has a lot to offer and is is unique in its own thing. I don't know that you can even really describe it as a, uh, a nationality. It's more of a a culture that's been built up around it with you and your dad running things. So, but yeah, I'm happy that it's continuing to grow. It's pretty cool. A lot of organic things happening with, uh, all the different levels. It's really cool. Mhm. I agree. And that's like I like the idea. I don't think, you know, I know that the term is American jiu-jitsu. I guess I don't think of it as much with nationalism as people probably assume, right? I think that that is the thought. I think that there is patriotism, of course, in it, but I, uh, um, I think that's a really that's obviously something that American people love getting behind anyway. You see it when they jokingly all wear American flags and it's like, yeah, we're all wearing American flag t-shirts, American flag speedos, American flag everything. Why? Because it's cool, right? And it doesn't have to, you know, and you can go, oh, but it's not inclusive, it's not whatever. You know what? The best things in life tend to not be all inclusive. They tend to be for the specific individual because people are different. And to say like, oh, yeah, we should all have a one-size-fits-all version of jiu-jitsu is just absolutely crazy. It's like, no, we should get away from that as much as humanly possible. And then you should train the version of jiu-jitsu that you want to train. And if you're American and you want to betray your country and do BJJ, do it. You're allowed to. Thank God because you're in America, you know? And you're you have freedom here. And that is, yeah, that is that's my thought on on the kind of the nationalism versus like, yeah, there are definitely parts of that make America what it is that we want to say, oh, yeah, this is part of American jiu-jitsu, like innovation, right? That's the biggest for us, you know, when you hear anything we're doing with Had Not, the word innovate is thrown into everything. And it's because like, hey, this is the culture that jiu-jitsu's used to have and it's missing now. And not only that, Josh, but, uh, you know, another characteristic would be freedom in that you don't, uh, mold someone to a particular curriculum or a particular set. Some guys have a body type that is going to be playing well towards other games. Like, for instance, Allen Brothers over here, Triangle City, right? They're lean, tall, strong legs. And you encourage them to to build upon their game that's best for their for them. Um, which is which is great. You can't just can jiu-jitsu into a a certain number of techniques like like judo, there's, you know, 67 throws and, you know, a million ways to do them, but there jiu-jitsu's infinite in that manner. That you don't have to worry about, um, being boxed in only within a certain segment of techniques or or rules. So, and that's I think why the guys here are getting good so quick is because we're identifying there's so so many coaches and we're all so hands-on. It's like we're identifying real quick like, your body type or your attributes are this, let's run this full throttle and get you good quick and it's happening. The guys are, you know, first tournament, you know, cleaning the house at the tournaments like not getting scored on, submitting everybody, all the way up, um, through the ranks. It's just been really incredible to see that. Well, I mean, at least our beginners guys are good. You know, our beginners coaches good. But yeah, once you once you turn them to me, I don't they're all right. You know, they do their they can really take harsh criticism well, you know? That's the one thing that you know if they've been on the mats with Josh for a long time is like, these guys can take verbal abuse like you would not believe. You know? And so, yeah, I I agree. I think that on that same note of freedom, though, and I don't as one of the coaches, I don't know if this has happened for you at all, but I definitely have talked about this to some of the other coaches already. Um, but did you notice and I can probably try to give some examples if not, but like, did you notice any points where you go, oh, I don't have to do that anymore. I don't have to say that anymore. I don't have to think that way anymore. We've only been doing this for like three months, right? And we've really been officially doing this and pushing this with the students for three months. But have you had any moments of that that you've gone, oh, I have the freedom to do what I want now because I don't have to there are no Brazilian jiu-jitsu gods that I have to appease. And I'm not going to offend them if I tell them that, hey, I like this grip better or I think this makes more sense. Anything like that? I don't think so. The gym's always been a very very open culture in regards to that. So I don't think we it's not like we're like, okay, guys. And then we see Time out. No more shrimping. Nothing nothing like that. But, uh, I I don't think I've I've noticed you. But you've got some examples that you Um, well, before that, go go back then when you cuz you're right. That is the big thing that I push to everybody is like, hey, we're not really changing anything. We're leaning more into what we already do. You know, we're being more of who we are and we're no longer have to be apologetic about it and say, well, yeah, this is Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It's just a little different. It's like, no, it's not. It's not Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It's American jiu-jitsu. What's American jiu-jitsu? Come try it. Sure. And so it's a different, you know, just having that to me, that was a big thing that was different. But like you said, we always have been that way at Had Not. It's always just been about being good. When you first came, is there anything there that stood out to you? Anything you remember is it shrimping? Is it that Josh was so anti-shrimping at the time? No, I I fell into the, uh, to the classes super well. I from the get-go, I always liked coming, especially to when you and your dad would teach. Um, I guess the big shocker for me was coming to the open mats and they were they were brutal. There was times I was like, why am I going to go into this? This is not going to be a good day for me. Like, I was just, uh, they were tough. Like, and they're still the toughest, uh, they have to be one of the toughest around. Like, the open mats here on Sunday are pretty next level. Like, and I don't know if you you know this, but like a lot of people from one of the local 10th Planet schools come over and then they even bought gis so they can train in the gis when the people are mostly gi training. So they come out yeah, it's been That's cool. That's really cool. And that's And a lot of the guys that you see that are winning, uh, ladies too, uh, even if they're under other schools, they're coming here on Sundays and they're they're sharpening their skills and, you know, picking up some of the, um, either the mentality or some of the, you know, the just the toughness from the room and then they're going out and and proving themselves on the mats. Well, and all like it's for and like our our community, like the St. Louis jiu-jitsu community, when it comes to competition, if you do it long enough, and this is just how it is. If you do it long enough, you will realize that it can be you and your little group of four competitors from your gym versus everybody or you can team up with everyone who is dedicated to jiu-jitsu. And there's 40 gyms that have four competitors each. And you can team up with all of them and we can team up against the Brazilians. There you go. And and those are our options. You can do it your own and lose or you can have a chance by saying, hey, this is, you know, no one's helping us. No one's I like I don't understand why I have to I have to basically not associate with people around me because I am we both have coaches that live in different states, maybe different countries that maybe don't agree on things. But we're going to sacrifice our own chance at competition because we want to respect those coaches. How many times have you been in our gym? We've had those open mats. We someone says, let's take a picture and like three guys stand up and go, oh, I have to stand on the other side of the room cuz my master can't see that I'm here. Yeah, yeah. I was all But you know what? I I think I go like more humanitarian with that in fact that those are our friends now. Oh, yeah. And we just like love hanging out with them and we're happy to see them do well and you know, they'll level us up as well. And for me, I never make those guys take the picture. I'm like, hey, you're welcome here even if you're not allowed to be here. I don't care. No one's going to tell on you, you know, and like for years we've had had guys that did that. But most of them also come to this conclusion at a point of like, wow, none of the adults here have to do that, have to tell the coach that they're paying what they do in their free time. And the coach is worried about what they're doing in their free time and where they're training and who they're associating with. And it's like, then they go, why don't I just train here? And like, no, dude, you're not allowed. Sorry. You're a BJJ guy. Yeah, we've been there. There's been a lot of people that have transferred over to, um, either to this gym or just to the attack team flag just cuz it they've found themselves enriched in the culture here and they just they liked it. Okay. And continue with that. Counter argument, though. There are also people that switch to all other affiliations from us. From here. And and my argument is Local ones or are they move away? Local. There are people that if you went to local gyms, you would go, oh, that guy trained with us for a couple months. That guy trained with us for a couple months. And to me, I really always think of that's why I always go to, it was a better fit for them. It was closer to their house. Maybe it was further from their house, but they just like the style better. And, you know, like when you have crazies like us, Rob, that love the style that we love. And then you go out into the world and you interact and you go, hey, I don't run into a ton of people like me. I don't run into a ton of like-minded people. To me, those people that you're probably running into maybe wouldn't be a good fit at Had Not. But when you meet the person that you go, oh, this is this person's also crazy. This person's like the Allen Brothers. They're a good fit. And I think again, I think that that is the as much as the AJJ thing seems like I am and obviously I just will bash other cultures because it's hilarious to do so. But the AJJ thing for me is less about separating ourselves so we can be better and more about separating ourselves so we can do what we want to do. And if you guys want to join us, you're welcome to. Or if you want to stay and do your own thing, you're welcome to. We don't care. The beauty of what we're doing is about us. It's not about you guys. And so that to me is so like you guys do what you do, lean into what you do, lean into what you love. Merry Christmas. And I don't have to, you know what I mean? Like and it doesn't have to be a and it's like and I'm saying this in jiu-jitsu. This is in any team sport. This is in any high school sport. This is in any, um, this is in CrossFit. This is in anything that has groups of people that hang out in a community together is they go it's tribal. And they're like, oh, our tribe is the only one that knows. And of course, we are talking about AJJ, which we are the only ones that know, you know? We are one of the dozens that have seen the light. But if it goes nowhere and nobody does AJJ and I'm going and visiting BJJ schools and they're like, hey, you got to shrimp up and down the mats. I would be like, oh, okay. Cuz that's their culture. That's what they want to do. And so to me, is it and my on my podcast, will I always argue efficiency and effectiveness? Yes, of course. But it's not argued with hate. It's not argued with I don't like these people because they train differently than me or because they think about jiu-jitsu differently than me. To me, it's like, you guys also should have the freedom to do what you want. Doesn't have to be AJJ, but that's why I love AJJ is that I do have the freedom to do what I want. And yeah, that's my high horse on that, Rob. So, it's come Hey, guys, real quick, I wanted to invite you to the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience and make sure you know for right now, it's 100 bucks off. So, I started going to jiu-jitsu camps a couple years ago and I started to recognize that this is one of the best ways to get a ton of good perspective in jiu-jitsu. What's interesting is, it's not generally that you get one thing out of this camp like you typically would a seminar. The best camps that I've been to, you leave with things to work on for an entire year. Things to think about for an entire year. And so I started to dissect, what makes a jiu-jitsu camp actually good? What makes it fun? What makes it worth it? And I came up with three things that actually make for a great jiu-jitsu camp. And of course, the one you start with is the coaches. The the right coaches bring in people and they are going to be the ones sharing the best jiu-jitsu. And that's what you look at. And so many people, they think about, oh, maybe if I get a big name coach and then a bunch of nobodies, maybe if I do this, maybe if I do that, uh, maybe it's just so many thoughts on how to get the best coaches. And for me with the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience, I thought, what if we just get the best teachers of jiu-jitsu that I know? What if we just get the best group that I can, just the most fun group together? What if we just do that? And so that is what we did. When we start from the top, we have Kyle Watson, my coach. Then, of course, your boy, Josh McKinney. Can't do I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience without him. You have my dad, Steve McKinney. You have the Goose, Richie Kelly, who is just been on the show recently. You have Robert Arias also on the show recently. You have Sam Luna. You have Nick Sanders, Captain AJJ himself. You have Justin Huff and Ron Ron McLaughlin, both guys been on the show. Big I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show guys, amazing jiu-jitsu coaches, every single one of these guys. And so then the second thing you need is you need the right experience. You need the right curriculum. You need those guys teaching the right amount of jiu-jitsu that's not overwhelming, but also that everybody gets amazing perspective for them. So, all nine coaches are going to be sharing an hour with you guys. And that's going to be over this entire weekend from February 20th through the 22nd. On top of that, all nine coaches share their jiu-jitsu. My dad is going to do an extra seminar and he is going to teach you guys how to properly lift weights for longevity, lift weights to stay on the mat for a long period of time, and he's going to teach us a short seminar for you guys on that. We are going to have two dinners, two breakfasts, all the coffee that you can drink completely included for you guys. And you will get to be part of a question and answer live I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episode. I'll have different coaches on for different segments of time and you guys can ask us anything and anyone in the experience can participate. And so you get to be part of an I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episode. And on top of all that, you of course will get all of the video for free. You will get it all sent to you right after the camp and you will be able to consume all of that knowledge again and again and again. And then, of course, the third thing, and this is actually what people don't realize, but this is the most important thing. It's the right community. It's the group of people that love the ideas on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. They love the idea of sucking less at jiu-jitsu as much as humanly possible. And they love the ideas of efficiency and effectiveness and having a good time and enjoying their time on the mat. And that is what this coaches group really, really they all have. And that is what I believe is going to attract the right community. And so we only have 50 spots for this event because we're doing it at Had Not HQ and we just don't have enough space. And there will be a $100 off deal until January 1st. I just wanted to do this really informational commercial just so, um, loyal I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show listeners can know that we may not even have spots after January 1st. When the price goes up, I'm not sure that we're going to have spots. Spots are selling kind of quicker than I expected. And so, um, I just wanted to share that with you guys. There is a link in the description. It's at my gym's website, Had Not HQ.com. You can sign up for the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. February 20th through the 22nd. It starts 5:00 p.m. on February 20th and it ends around 3:00 p.m. on the 22nd. Um, and I'm telling you guys, there has never been a better experience for sucking less at jiu-jitsu ever designed than this three-day camp. Don't miss it. down. I think you're going to see a kind of a a new wave in jiu-jitsu and that there's going to be, uh, another shift between new school and old school. I travel a lot, East Coast, uh, a couple schools that I like going out there and it's like, oh, they're going to do like a traditional class today. Meaning like there's the traditional warm-ups. You're going to do, you know, arm bars from guard or, you know, just some basic stuff. And then I I went to another one where, uh, he's probably perfect for AJJ cuz he had, uh, come up underneath the the Brazilian system out in out in New Jersey. Third degree. So he's been at it for a while. Has nothing to do with any affiliation at all. He's flying under his own flag. But he's also a very high-level judo competitor. So he brings in a lot of the, uh, Japanese class style and they do, um, more of a 50/50, you know, standing and in newaza in their in their group. And those guys built up at the same time for both disciplines. And it's it's pretty cool just to kind of train those things. It's just it's kind of a change, kind of go back to like how it used to be to see how, you know, it's like, oh, you guys don't know that you can just like get better really quick by doing things a little a little bit different or like, oh, you're not going to like positional spar this. It's like this kind of like, for instance, I'd give a good example. The traditional class of grip breaks where you're just going to grab a hold and and strip the grip. You need to learn how to do that, okay? I I'll give you that. But practical application, when a guy is where you're their grips are fresh versus when they're tired, multiple variations. You got to be able to train takedowns in a safe manner to where you're going to you got to go after you break that grip. And that that lapse of time or the amount of, uh, pohada coming your way from the other guy, you can't train that by standing still and just popping grips off. This is why And doing, yeah. He kind of, uh, did this and I've kind of thought about it. Like the best way to train to stand up is you got to have, um, kind of like the designated winner. It's like, okay, we're going to we're going to start from the feet. You're going to get the takedown, but I'm going to do everything I can to not let you have it. But as soon as you get in, I'm going to take the fall. Yep. So it's been very safe, especially here. We got the double mats so you can take the, uh, That is nice. Take the yeah. If you don't have if you're not training on double mats, do yourself a favor and go train on a subfloor. But that's a super safe way to train and you're going to get a lot of reps in if you that way versus if you're just like going to take, okay, guys, we're going to learn how to break grips today. And that is really a useless skill unless you're not bringing it back with the either the full offense or the full defense with that. And I agree, man. I think that and that's that's, yeah, that's my point too is that I just think so many people they don't maybe necessarily care about efficiency and effectiveness. And that's what I mean. Like, I don't cool. Like, I don't I'm not worried about that. You guys do what you want to do. Um, I think now I know for me personally, right? I know I get to have a sit in a different place than other people because I know that on the podcast, I've provided so much free content about efficiency and effectiveness. I know I'm doing my part is like, no matter what. Like, I know that I have just for completely free just given away everything I know about these things. And you can even take them and just take the little parts of them that you want, the one episode that you want, apply it to your school, never have to give me any credit, and I couldn't care less. And so like the idea, though, that everybody thinks like me and cares about being efficient. You know, and this is like, okay, I heard this I heard this the other day. I thought it was really interesting. I I don't remember what the exact sport was, but let's say it's chess. Um, if you had somebody who was in the top 500 players of chess in the world, one of your friends, and someone who's in the top two chess players in the world. And the person in the top 500 made it into the top 400. How would you feel for them? Sure, you're you're happy for them. At the same time, it's like, okay, you're nobody still. You're still nobody. But then if the person that was second falls out of the top 10, how do you feel? Oh, sure. I think that's, uh, common thing in psychology. It's like, He's trash, bro. Honestly, I don't even know why he exists anymore. If you can't be in the top 10 in chess, what value do you have to us? And I think that that ideology is so true cuz you're so proud of your boy that made it up. He got up into the top 400 and it's this thought of like, he has improved. And that's if it is good, it could always be a little better, which I'm not saying this is wrong. This is how I look at most of life. But I am saying that I don't think everybody looks at life that way. I think that there are people that whatever that mentally are content showing up to class and breaking grips and it does not they don't want they don't care about the depth of more than that. And the coaches don't. And I just I see that more than I see the people that are just hungry for information and hungry We're just we're in a world where there's like so much information and that's like made it feel less valuable, right? Um, for so many people, it's like, oh, well, if I really wanted the answer, I could just I could look on YouTube. I could just ask ChatGPT what YouTube says about this. And I I just think that that is, uh, is again, I'm speaking against my whole ideology of efficiency and effectiveness. But I just think I'm more speaking against the mindset that my the way that I think has to be the way that someone else would think. And I think that so many problems are caused from that. Is like, but if you could, yeah, of course, I'm right in that if you want to get better at jiu-jitsu quicker, then you should be focused on these things, right? But I think deep down, I don't think that's the biggest reason that everyone is or that's the that's the priority for people's jiu-jitsu. Like when you and I show up on the mat, it's like, we want these guys in here to be better when they leave. And it's like an obsessive thing. We want to be a better coach, right? And this is like a practice that I think if you're trying to better yourself, you should be doing. But I from the vibe that I get when I train at most other schools, when I go visit most other schools, the vibe is just like, yeah, like to show up, like to hang out, like to do the drill, like to drill with their specific partner and enjoy the culture of it. I don't know if long-term if that's going to cause discouragement cuz you're not going to get as good. You're not going to get as good as quickly. There are going to be guys that are dedicated that you go, I train twice as much as this guy and he's twice as good as me now. Why is that? And so, you know, I think that there is repercussion for anything you do. Sure. That probably is a whole episode on just on itself with that. Um, you have to dive into that deeper. But I I can ramble about anything for an hour, Rob. For you two, Josh is, uh, very humble as a coach. So, like, for instance, the other day, I came into the day class. Somebody had a question about takedowns. Um, Sal, who has his 10,000 hours in wrestling, happened to be there and you pretty much turned it over to him. And a black belt in jiu-jitsu too. And a black belt in jiu-jitsu. You pretty much turned it and he's in the gi and we really honed in on like making this happen for your student, you know, to really bridge that gap for him with what what he needed, you know, to make it make it happen. And and you don't see that Was it humble or was it lazy? Was I just like, I have nothing to teach today? Yeah. Oh, Sal's here. Thank God. You might edit that. Thank God, Sal's here. And so I'll just I'll have my boy, I'll have my boy Sal do it. And so, yeah, he was, uh, um, always I man, I just so many guys like that. This is I think that culture came from I always had access to early on at our gym. I always had access to Huff as a coach and I always had access to Heebner as a coach. Heebner was so much better at wrestling than me. Huff was so much better at leg locks than me. And so I would defer to those guys in class all the time. If that was the if the conversation came up and I did like, oh, maybe this. Huff, what do you think? You know, if the conversation came up, Eric, what do you think about that? Or even that we would do blocks in classes like that. And it wasn't even for me, it was like, it was the difference between being a coach and being an instructor. Cuz like, I don't always have to be the instructor. I feel like I'm a good instructor, but I feel like I am a better coach. I don't think I used to always think that. Um, I used to like kind of be on the fence about that. But now like seeing it is like, honestly, when you really look at it, yeah, there are things that I've taught our guys and almost all of our guys know. And there are definitely things like that. But when you see the variation in game at our gym, that's not instruction. You know, a lot of these things that guys do, I do now because they got good at them and then I deconstructed them so I could use them, right? Not the other way around. It's not like, you know, it's not like, oh, you see Josh hit closed guard. He must have taught Robert closed guard. It's like, you see Josh hit closed guard now at black belt because he sucked at closed guard forever. And Robert was the first guy that I ever saw consistently hitting it at black belt. I'm like, oh, okay. What what what could we learn from him? Sure. And and things have changed quite a bit, especially here where it's not necessarily a technique and more of a concepts. And that's something that's really taken me a while to to grasp. And I'm I'm still working on it too. Like just, uh, I try not to use any strength whatsoever. Not that I have a lot, but I I got my probiotics. Maybe Except for when you go with me. You try you use all strength when you go with me, Rob. Are you sure about that? That's just that's just my regular regular pace. That's just that's no strength that you're using on me. That's no strength. Just wait, Josh. One of these days I'll I'll turn it up. Um, So, with that, when you're trying to just to work on the concepts, you're not focusing on the moves and that's really changed things for for the gym here. Like, I don't think there're going to be any guys teaching, okay, there's like 15 steps to the the arm bar. They're going to, uh, be more flowy with their instruction. And and I like I like like concept is such a buzzword now and cuz like people will show a cross collar choke. They'll be like, check out this concept on a cross collar choke. And they'll be like, you're going to cross collar choke the guy. And they show a three-step move. Like, that's not a concept. That's not that was nothing. That was just a move. And to me, I think there's so much problem with that is people just don't even know what a concept is. And it's really not as much what it is that I think is helpful for people. It's what it accomplishes. So you have to understand that when somebody comes in brand new, like, they have no context at all about what jiu-jitsu is, right? So they have no understanding if, man. Somebody just had a there's an open mat going on. Yeah, the uh the uh you hear the ambulance drive by. This is totally random fact, but right here, um, this corner, uh, of Wabash and is that Pontoon Road? Yeah. I have not exaggerated. I've seen three accidents, seen with my own two eyes, three accidents, two of which were hit and runs. Really? I watched two hit and runs. We've only been here for four years, boys. Are they writing down the number to the gym on your new sign out there? I I need to I need to I need to get a camera out there so I can blackmail these people because that's a felony. Yeah. You you leave an accident, that's a felony, brother. And so, I could get there was one time this girl is on her phone and she just crushes old lady Cronyatsa's car, bro. Just crushes her. I'm on the sidewalk. I was taking a walk, enjoying my peaceful day. I'm walking down, see this impact. There's another cop car that goes by as I'm telling the story. See this impact. I read on this girl's lips while she is on the phone and she then steps on her gas at full speed. Oh, F-word, I just hit some old lady. Okay, I read her lips. But this is the best part. That's a felony. She was on the phone with a friend and she said, oh, I just committed a felony. And then continued to talk to that friend on the phone. That's Granite City. That is Granite City. That's Granite City. Guys, sometimes take the back way in here just to like get a little extra roughness on the way. Yep. Sometimes you just take you just drive around the area. Man, I know I was on a completely different topic, but I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience in Granite City. Oh, I was that's on my list. I want to want to hear about it. Okay, we won't So we so we should I wait then? I don't want to throw you off. I don't want to No, no, no. It's perfect. No, no, no. Should we cross that off? Should we go into it now? Go into it now. Okay. Yo, so, I got a new gi. It's really, really sick. Datsusara 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 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 ended 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 Datsusara gi. And so, um, 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 Datsusara. 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. So, uh, I also want to talk about the Mission 111 seminar. And Do we have a date for that? Did I say that? We need to get that on. Okay. Had you bring your calendar in today? I have it. I have it on my phone. Got some concepts on on that. So, uh, last year with the Mission 111 seminar was a little bit of a, uh, we just won't tell Josh, but it was a little bit of a concept prover can the experience happen. Yeah, it was. I mean, no doubt. I said in the middle of Mission 111's thing, we have to do the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. You're right, Rob. That's what uh, what changed your mind. I I explicitly said, Rob, you have been right this whole time. The whole time. I was like, Josh, you know, you're not going to want to travel to, you know, random places when you have your family growing up here. Um, And you're right about that too. And then he's like, you can make this happen with your with your platform now. So it was I'm looking forward to it. Um, a lot of the same guys I kind of previewed a little bit to like who's the instructors. A lot of the same guys taught, um, just a little snapshot of their game. Do you do you have the list? Do you know the list? I think I do. Okay. We can go through it now because it'll be it'll be out. So we can go. Um, I think all but one, I think Sanders was a a drill, so I didn't get to ask him to come to Yeah. teach at, um, the Mission 111 seminar. But the rest of the guys all, um, you know, long-time training partners here. Uh, very unique game sets. Um, super technical. They all taught, um, about 10, 15 minutes of like, that this is what you need to know in order to advance this particular position or game. And they taught that and that was the best part of the seminar. I agree. Allen Bros, right there, link. Richie's 15 minutes, 10 minutes? Was it 10 minutes? Did he only get 10 minutes? It's 10 minutes. Yeah, we were very limited in time, um, I think the the thing is fix your guard retention in five minutes. So I think his actual instruction was five, but his class was 15. Yeah, we we did, uh, you know, like top and bottom. So they taught for a few minutes and then we drilled and then came back for some questions and stuff. And what was that was again, the concept prover there was after those 15-minute sessions, every single time the group stood up and you could see everybody going, I wish you went longer. I wish you got to go longer. Then the next guy would come and they would say the exact same thing. And it was just like, oh, then we need to do a whole weekend if we're going to go longer. Yeah, part of it was, you know, this was a a fundraiser for your mom's charity, you know, the people that, uh, in Haiti, they're in really bad situations over there. Like, and it just seems to be getting worse and worse. So And the Philippines. And the Philippines. So, we were like, okay, we're going to give people a little taste of what this is. And if they really liked it, um, they can get a private lesson, which we auctioned off. Each one of those guys donated, um, I don't know if it was an hour of their time, but it could have been 30 minutes. Anyways, they donated their time in order to go in deeper with that. Um, but then now you're going to bring them in for a full seminar. Wait, wait, wait, wait, before we before we go past that on the the, um, uh, grapple for good. Uh, do you remember how much we made? Uh, I have to double check with Mel, but I think it was over 3,000. Yeah, I thought so too. I thought it was a really good, um, amount all said and done for doing jiu-jitsu for a day. Um, and all that was donated to Mission 111. You can learn more about that at Mission111.org. Right? .org. Yeah. All right. And so, I'm on the board. You just you just get volunteered to do stuff and you know all this stuff, man. That's great. This is why you're the guy, Rob. But, yeah, I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. We have list of nine coaches. Nine coaches now. Nine coaches. You know what? I had I've been telling people eight. And then when I started to add up everybody, you missed one. I said I've asked eight individuals and I plan on coaching myself. So, there you go. And I'm like, my math was off there. I didn't do the Asian math very well there, Rob. So, Is it still is there do your listeners still have time to register to get the discount? Yes, so you have six days from today. As long as the sponsor isn't sold out, you would see if the you wouldn't be able to buy if you go to the the link in the description. Um, but, yeah, we have $100 off right now. And again, nine black belt coaches. These are all people, obviously myself. So, eight people that I trust showing me jiu-jitsu. Like that I will ask ideas, that I will, uh, see something they do and ask their opinion. Um, two guys that really have coached me for a long time being Nick Sanders, Kyle Watson, who will both be there. My dad will be there. Everybody loves old Steve McKinney. And then, um, of my students, you have Robert Arias, Richie, Ron Ron, Justin Huff, and Sam Luna, and one more. I wasn't counting. Is it me? Did I forget to count about? Yeah, you said Ron Ron in there. I said Ron Ron. Yes, it's me. That's the ninth one. So, all of those guys all teaching and all teaching an hour-long seminar. I think there's going to be a few little 30-minute extra really esoteric seminars. You know, one's going to be like my dad's doing his fitness seminar. Um, there'll be workouts included on Saturday morning. There will be coffee provided by, oh, I should have brought my bag of I had a good bag of Revive coffee. Darn it. Um, but coffee provided by Revive coffee. There will be both mornings. Donuts. There will be an I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episode recorded where I have different coaches from the event coming up for little 15-minute segments while everybody's in the room. Ideally eating like sandos or something like Jimmy John's, something cool. We'll make sure to have food there. You can't be you won't be starving. Why you always eating? Watching We're always I I have apple cider donuts in front of me right now, right? You can't be I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show, you're eating, right? So we have that. We'll do like a two-hour in-person, uh, episode that you guys that people will get to be a part of. I'm sure as much as I'm asking for questions, it just always ends up being hot takes. I just really painted myself into the corner as the hot takes guy. I got asked to be on a podcast the other day and they go, hey, do you think you could do we could do hot takes? And I'm like, bro, I I use all my hot takes. I don't got no hot takes. What are your top episodes, Josh? I do like the solo casts and the, uh, and the hot takes episode. I I think there's two for sure that really like put you on the map. Um, Kenny Florian. That was kind of like, okay, this is the real deal podcast now cuz you have, uh, you know, a a major major name. And that was my first big interview for sure. Um, And then as far as like you just your general content of like improving and, um, and mindset, when you had John Thomas on, I got a a early edition of that cuz I was traveling. You did me a favor and sent me the the early edition. So I listened to that. Oh, yeah. You always get the hookup. You always get the hookup. I did, uh, yeah, that was a great hookup. That's probably one of the best episodes. You should I agree. If you're new, uh, go back. I don't know what number that is, but go back and listen to that one and just start taking notes because he lays it out like if you had Took me 100 episodes of asking him to get him on the episode. 100 episodes. Was he number 100? And now we're Yeah, he was number 100. So, number 100. So, number 100. Took me 100 episodes to get him on the show. And I've been asking him since and we're at 355. And he always tells me like, yeah, yeah, next week, let's do it. Yeah, he he's really a great mind and he just he watches content. He just breaks stuff down. He's just out in Europe just doing jiu-jitsu, bro. Just disappearing and then he'll just reappear with a fire YouTube video and then he'll disappear again. I'm like, John, come be on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, bro. What time zone are you in? I'm like, Central Time. This is the time zone you grew up your whole life. You know, you grew up your 25 years. And then he'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Next week, I'll get with you. You know what? I I'm going to give John a, uh, the benefit of the doubt on this one. Oh, he gives you a you're probably not talking to him on the phone. Why does Josh need three email addresses? But he doesn't answer any of them. How many phones do you have, Josh? And you know you got like three Instagram Instagram accounts. Okay, so, It might be it might be you. So, listen, you're right. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. This is a great point to bring up, Rob. I have, yes, I do have three active emails. And don't answer a single one. Okay, okay. We'll get to the not answering in a in a second. But, yes, you're right. You know what? One time I sent Josh a text that he answered back right away and it I was surprised cuz it was early. It was probably like 8:30 in the morning during the week. I'm like, Josh, I think there's another lens of jiu-jitsu. If you guys haven't read Josh's book, The Three Lenses, which most people when I ask if they read it, they all say no. So, I don't nobody knows. Nobody knows. You're going to tell me that it was because nobody could read. But, uh, I think so then I'm like, Josh, I think there's a fourth lens. And that's the way that you learned jiu-jitsu. And then immediately, like, the phone couldn't have a faster connection. Josh is like, I'm intrigued. Tell me more. So, here's the That's the only time I've ever gotten a response. Okay. So, here's the thing, Rob. I've got three emails. I have a fan page Facebook. I have a personal Facebook. I have obviously the gym and the show's Facebook. I have the show's Instagram, my personal Instagram, the gym's Instagram. I have the gym's corporate, meaning three different schools, Google Voice that goes to my phone and then my personal phone number. Throughout each day, Josh had an assistant for a while too. Throughout each day, I did have an assistant for a while, but she couldn't keep up. Um, I get somewhere from 10 to 30 messages from people from those different avenues wanting some of my attention. But here's the thing, Rob. I have a finite amount of attention. So, that's the limiting factor of your attention. I think nothing. I think nothing. When somebody sends me something and they like send me something like, hey, there's this problem that's happening in my life and then just throw a bunch of random facts and then there's no question at the end. There's no like they want me to decipher this this map that they sent me about their emotions. And when I read something like that, there is zero chance that I will ever respond. I'm not this is not I'm not your therapist. What are we talking about here? Unless you were saying, hey, Josh, let's schedule a podcast episode. And it's somebody that I want to schedule a podcast episode. Josh, let me buy you dinner. I always respond to those texts. You hit me with You hit me with let me buy you dinner, Josh. Or you know what's honestly only for the four people in this room, really. My wife and my best friend from childhood, call me. If you ever catch me and I actually answer the phone, we'll talk for two hours. You'll be like, Josh, won't stop Josh, I got to go. And I'll be like, yeah, yeah, but listen to this. Listen to this other idea that I have, Rob. And so it's just here's the thing. Here's the thing, Rob. This is the first generation ever that had to give 100% 24/7 access of their themselves to everybody. And it's like, I don't I'm not doing that. I there are times that I go home and most of the time when I go home, I will plug my phone in and I will just leave it. And then when I come to the 50 messages that are on my phone the next day, they get triaged. And so, hey, important thing. Brian Allen says, studio's on fire. Help, help, help. I'm like, hey, dude, fire department's coming. I can't. What am I supposed to do with that? That's not my job, right? But if he says, hey, what looks better? This thumbnail or this thumbnail? You're answering. I'm answering that. I'm like, oh, dude, we got to get views. We're out here struggling for views. And so, it's just a priority thing. So, just know when you send me something that I don't respond, it's simply because I believe that what you said or who you are as a person didn't have enough value. And so that's the that's the reason. So, you got to bring Josh value. Is that too honest? Is that too honest, guys? Cuz there are times I definitely leave you guys on red. I feel like I usually get a response. Right? I mean, I leave everybody on red. I feel like I usually get a response. But honestly, but we talk a lot about like business and stuff. Yeah, so. Yeah. And we we really do. Yeah, Bryce probably gets Well, as yeah, as also a business guy, I I I feel I feel similar. So, I respect the Well, and a salesperson. Did you have to my phone goes off 100,000 times a day. So, sometimes it yeah. And and this to me is not I'm not complaining about this. This is, you know, I do My wife said the other day, she's like, hey, let's plan your birthday. And I go, yeah, and I I thought like, wow, in December, we're planning my birthday. We never I'm turning 32. Who cares? And it was just a setup. And then she goes, how do you plan a special day for someone who does whatever he wants every single day of his life? Oh. And I go, uh, I I don't I like maybe we just I don't I don't know. Like, I felt really small after she said that. I was like, I'm I'm sorry. I don't you know, I'm sorry that I'm, you know, I got motion, babe. I'm sorry. Like, I don't what do you want me to tell you? Like, do you want me to go have a job that I hate and then be mad at you when I come home? Like, is that what you're saying? Women, right, Rob? But, yeah, here's the thing. She doesn't respond to my texts. She doesn't either. No. She ghosts me all the time. If you if you look for the same reason that you ghost everybody. No, it's just bring no value. No, it's yeah, pretty much. That's like I say something like, hey, babe, where is this? Someone will say, this is ridiculous. I can't believe someone would say this. And the top comment is, you didn't listen to the whole episode. He actually said this. And that to me is like, what made that up that special was the big name thing of like, oh, we got to get a big name. We got to get a big name. If you don't know that guy personally and he's willing to cold get messaged on Instagram and say yes, that is because he's willing to do any podcast. That's because he's just willing to he's just trying to get out there, which is cool. And you can catch guys like that early. You can catch guys like that and get a great episode. But for me, there is no value in at a time that this guy is getting interviewed by everybody to do the same interview with him. Or even an interview that can't cut through the noise because it's one of 20 interviews that he's advertising on his Instagram that he's doing. And so it's just like, that's not the game that I wanted to play. And so that's why those are my significant ones is because you made a joke to me last night on Instagram that people now try to copy this podcast's style. And ideally, yes, people are looking for this to this podcast for inspiration. In the same way that I had to look outside of jiu-jitsu podcast for inspiration cuz nobody was doing a cool in-person fun thing that was built for clips, that was built to make you laugh, that was consistent. And like, but they're doing it all over in comedy. They're doing it all over in politics. They're doing it all over in all these other places. And so I had to start to do the idea heist and say, well, how can I apply that to here? And so for me, it's like, it's so flattering that I'm seeing other people that are, you know, wearing silly sunglasses on the show and doing silly things and saying crazy things and then clipping them. That to me is like, one, that's super flattering. But two, again, it doesn't really affect me negatively because when you look behind like from what what no one else sees, but from this line that way, nobody has that. These two, the two Allen Bros. Oh, you guys might want to time stamp this. I think you might be getting a compliment. In in all honesty, what jiu-jitsu podcast has these two in-person producers, audio visual engineers. These dudes are what you would need for this. It's obviously just luck and cult vibes, but we have that. And so that to me is like what the podcast is going to be in 2026. And not just the podcast, but the content that we create in 2026, I really think is going to be next level. Yes, I think it's going to be fun. I think it'll probably be we'll do some controversial stuff as always to, you know, have fun with that. But really, this show is for the listener. This show is for the person that wants to jump in on a Thursday morning and say, I love the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. I love these guys' perspective. One of our most listened to episodes last year was you. What what competition accolades? You know, what what huge seminars? It's like, no, Rob's a likable guy. Rob's fun. He has I mean, we were just bashing people. People love that too. But it's like that I'm giving I'm giving animal crackers to people's kids, you know? Yeah. And it's like and you're putting them in your bag going, oh, that kid's going to be here tonight. That kid's going to be here tonight. I'll be ready to go. But, yeah, it's like the community is a major factor for for successful gym. I think it is important. And each gym has their own culture and community too. So, you just have to find either the one that's right for you or, um, maybe some people just need to, um, get accustomed to the the culture that that's being endorsed at the at their gym too. You know, yeah. I agree with you, man. I think that it's so, um, but like we were talking about in the beginning, it's just so easy to get tribal and everything to be us against them. Um, which is fun, you know? Like, it's not like and it's not like we don't all do that in in everything. But, um, the real value in wanting to do something, hate is not a great long-term motivator. Um, anger is not a great long-term motivator. They're great for a period of time. Um, but love, enjoyment, peace, those things, wanting those things, desiring those things, you can be because when you don't as soon as you're without them, you notice it. They can be long-term motivators because one, you can aim for it. And two, you can also like say, well, I have to keep this. I have to keep this peace. I have to keep this enjoyment. I have to keep this community. And so, um, yeah, that I think is the one on the note of of New Year. That's like what I'm that's my thought is what can we do as Had Not to up the community factor. And that's why I was in on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. And that's why we were talking about with the Allen Bros doing, um, doing live streams. We're going to start to do some like live stream seminars and the thought behind it is I people can interact. They can actually be part of the community even if they're in a different place. And it's not what did Josh and Rob talk about yesterday that came out today. It's like, what are Josh and Rob talking about right now? I have a question. And I think that that is I think there's just a huge change in where we're going. Obviously, with everything, with how businesses are being run, with how technology is going. And to me, the jiu-jitsu side of that is going to be what can you do to differentiate yourself and what can you do to keep people for an incredibly long time? And that will be the only way to really have successful long-term jiu-jitsu schools. And, uh, Yeah, I got two things to say with that, Josh. Uh, for the beginners out there, don't think like, oh, I'm not I'm not as important. We had some new guys coming in training first time last week. And the energy, excitement, and nervousness, I was pumped. And I've been out there for almost 20 years to see them like day one, like getting after it. So they're you're just as important if not more important than everybody else cuz you're bringing in that new excitement and that new energy. And then community too is also, uh, super important. I I think that's I'm not sure if that's something that's just evolved. Um, so coming up through purple belt, I attended 99 plus percent only day class. So, it's people just on their lunch break. I I knew like they had kids and wives and stuff like that, but I I I never met them. Where now, you know, with the community factor, I know everybody's wife and their kids and, um, yeah, I'm giving animal crackers to people's kids, you know? Yeah. And it's like and you're putting them in your bag going, oh, that kid's going to be here tonight. That kid's going to be here tonight. I'll be ready to go. But, yeah, it's like the community is a major factor for for successful gym. I think it is important. And each gym has their own culture and community too. So, you just have to find either the one that's right for you or, um, maybe some people just need to, um, get accustomed to the the culture that that's being endorsed at the at their gym too. You know, yeah. I agree with you, man. I think that it's so, um, but like we were talking about in the beginning, it's just so easy to get tribal and everything to be us against them. Um, which is fun, you know? Like, it's not like and it's not like we don't all do that in in everything. But, um, the real value in wanting to do something, hate is not a great long-term motivator. Um, anger is not a great long-term motivator. They're great for a period of time. Um, but love, enjoyment, peace, those things, wanting those things, desiring those things, you can be because when you don't as soon as you're without them, you notice it. They can be long-term motivators because one, you can aim for it. And two, you can also like say, well, I have to keep this. I have to keep this peace. I have to keep this enjoyment. I have to keep this community. And so, um, yeah, with the the us against them mentality, it's a great way to get people to accomplish great things. And you've seen it. But it just doesn't seem to last forever because us against them always seems to turn into us against each other. And, um, because if they're not good enough, are you really good enough? You know, are you really the and and yeah, it just that is that is the, uh, I think that's the the big downfall of that mentality versus the mentality of like, hey, it's us in this room trying to get better. And maybe there are other people in other rooms doing other stuff, but I don't see how that affects us in any way. And that's something too, you promoting that is amazing for jiu-jitsu. Like when we have a visitor come in, it's like, hey, this is what we taught tonight, but like, what do you guys do? Like, share with us. Like, they might drop that one thing that makes a huge difference for you. So, like, having the the open mindset is really where it's at. Yeah, I I totally agree. Rob, anything you want to say to finish? That's it, Josh. Thanks for having me on. We'll come back next year. Yeah, I guess we'll I'll bring more snacks. We'll get you. We'll see what one of the holidays falls on a Thursday next year. And then we'll just celebrate that one, you know? Probably won't be Christmas. We'll probably end up celebrating Kwanzaa or something like I don't have any Kwanzaa decorations, but you got time. Yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll get it figured out. All right. Thanks, Josh. Good good hanging out with you, buddy. Thank you, Allen Bros.