Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
This is the official podcast of the Bulletproof For BJJ movement. Hosted by JT & Joey. Each episode the founders break down problems that Jiu-jitsu people experience, giving guidance and tips to improve your training for BJJ. With the goal of helping every body on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu path reduce their chance of injury, improve their strength and mobility to become more resilient.
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Why You Keep getting Smashed at Jiu-Jitsu
Are you always getting smashed when you roll? No matter how hard you you try you always get crushed. There are definite reasons why your training partners maybe going harder on you than others that you are simply unaware of. The social dynamics of BJJ can often lead to you experiencing rough rolls and potential injury. So what can you do to stop getting smashed? The key is identifying the root cause of the problem. Joey received a question from the audience about how to deal with this difficult situation. Are you the problem? Is your training partner the problem? Is your gym culture the problem? The boys talk through 4 likely reason as to why you are on the tough end of the rolling scale and how you can over come them to have a better JiuJitsu life.
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A good martial artist does not become tense but ready. Essentially, at this point the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power?
Speaker 2:I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Bulletproof for BJJ podcast. Are you always getting smashed at jiu-jitsu and you don't know why? There might be some reasons.
Speaker 2:It's the thing We've got some archetypes and you may be one of these. Now it's tough because you just don't know why. There might be some reasons. It's the thing We've got some archetypes and you may be one of these.
Speaker 1:Now it's tough because you just don't know and this is something that's not discussed in jiu-jitsu Usually, if you went to your coach and you went oh hey, coach, I'm getting smashed a lot, I'm a white belt, I just started. They're like good, they give you the Jocko Willink. Good, You're like, yeah, but I'm doing pretty well, but I keep getting smashed a lot.
Speaker 2:Good. I'm asking you because it's actually not good.
Speaker 1:No, my life sucks, Please help me. So Joe explain.
Speaker 2:So I got a question from someone on the Instagram, which I'll just summarize. But they said hey, you know, could you guys talk about smaller guys rolling with bigger and higher ranked guys and getting injured? And so this cat said at the gym I roll pretty hard. People know that I'm a two stripe white belt, get some and I train more than five times a week. I've left my full time job. I've left my job to train on BJJ full time.
Speaker 2:So I find myself getting hurt quite often and I want to train as much. I want to train on BJJ full-time. Whoa, yeah. So I find myself getting hurt quite often, Um, and I want to train as much. So I want to train my stuff as much as they do too. I try to match my strengths with lower belts, Um, so, in any case, there's, there's, there's. You know the message goes on and I'll respond to that. You know we'll continue that conversation, but it got me thinking like, okay, so you're getting beaten up, You're getting smashed right, which is kind of different to getting beaten up. It's like you're just getting sometimes mauled by people and smashed, as I see it sometimes implies that there's a certain intensity to the domination that you're receiving.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, and so it got me thinking. Well, you know I, over my years, I might have been responsible for smashing a few people I definitely have maybe I? I have definitely been smashed before, and it's often taken me, it's often taken the input of someone external to me to let me know hey, that's why that's happening, or it's taken reflection from me.
Speaker 2:Uh, that's why that person beat the shit out of me, so I got four archetypes that I came up with. Oh, please do tell all right. Well, first one is you're a dick there it is you're the problem you are the problem. You are just a bit of a fuckwit. People don't really like you on the mats right and for whatever reason it could. You might be a bit arrogant, you might be um, you might go a little bit too hard on people that you shouldn't.
Speaker 2:Maybe you need people in the head when you're inside control that's right, maybe maybe you have a particular quality where you kind of just lose control in certain scenarios and just fuck them. I just see red bodies hit the floor. That's right, you know, like and, or, or maybe you, I don't know there could be any reason to that. Right, we're not trying to and it's not necessarily intentional.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing it's. I I believe with the you're a dick thing. It's a lack of self-awareness. You may have no ill will towards anyone, but as a result of you lacking self-awareness, you've offended people and I've done this. I've done this. You've either snubbed the champion or you haven't met someone before who's kind of a big deal, and you're like well, who are you? What do you do? And they're like, oh, this guy doesn't know how famous I am. Things like this. It's actually not necessarily personal, but maybe you're making social mistakes which are making enemies of people who are going to beat the fuck out of you. Let's be honest. It's within another person's power to control the role. If they're better than you, they're stronger than you and they can put it on you. They can choose how hard they go, and if you kick them in the balls or you stuck your finger in the eye or you accidentally snotted on them or something, they may not be happy with you.
Speaker 2:That's right, and I think probably to that point. The fair way to frame this is they think you're a dick, they think you're a dick. That point, the fair way to frame this, is they think you're a dick, they think you're a dick. Right, that's how you come across, and so there's a whole bunch of scenarios that can unfold in a role that that you know are going to indicate that people are reading right, we're reading these social cues all the time, sure, and so if someone thinks you're a bit of a dick and then you're rolling with them, it's very plausible that they're probably going to put it on you a little bit, because they're going to be like this person's a dick.
Speaker 1:So that's the first one and it doesn't mean that that's the right way to treat you, but this can happen.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right, and there could even be a mistake there, where you've seen the way things unfold and you've interpreted the environment as okay, I've got to win. I've got to use the submissions. My goal is to win. Seen the way things unfold and you've interpreted the environment as okay, I gotta win. I gotta use the submissions. My, my goal is to win. Oh, yep, use, okay, yep, I gotta go as hard as I can, because I see people going hard.
Speaker 2:So you've interpreted the place to your best abilities and there's perhaps been a misinterpretation there yeah, like communication so, yeah, I do think it's important that, for the scenario where you are a dick, it's not, we're not saying it's your fault, no, right, or maybe it is. Maybe it is Maybe, you know, maybe because, look, there's plenty of fuckwits out there, of course, and some of those fuckwits train jiu-jitsu, all walks train jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 1:So if you're one of those people, and let's be honest, I've been one of those guys and sometimes still am, but I have enough self-awareness to know when it's I've gone wrong. I've gone there and at least now what I do is if I, if I, if I went too hard or if I've been mean or rude, I will I'll apologize. You know, I fucked up, I didn't think about it at the time and I was a dick, you know, and you know I have enough self, have enough self-awareness. It's only taken me 17 years, joe. How about that?
Speaker 1:I'm very proud of you, james, thank you, Thank you, Joe's here to witness my personal journey to become a real person. But there's, there's, there's another archetype in here. Isn't there, Joe? There is.
Speaker 2:This is the the uh, the polar opposite. This is, they're a.
Speaker 1:They are the problem. That's right, not necessarily you.
Speaker 2:And these people exist too. Yeah, you go to some gyms and there's some people that are fuckwits. They are cruel, yep, and they, for whatever reason they decided, maybe through no action of your own, they just decided, they just want to put it on you. They want to beat you up, yeah, and they are being abusive of their power, right, and in that environment, they have superior power to yours and that's a very tough scenario, because you usually have to be, you have to mix with those people for a while to realize that You've got to weather that storm. This is kind of fucked, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it makes you think, oh, it's me, when actually no, and this is true of any kind of toxic relationship. Am I the problem? Is it them? What's going on here? Because you, you just want to get better at jujitsu and you don't understand why someone rolls you so hard and you're like, surely that's excessive. And that's the thing. When you first start out in jujitsu, you don't know, you're like well, I guess that's just rolling with a black belt or that's just rolling with a higher belt. I, that's just rolling with a higher belt. I guess they just beat us up. And sometimes there's an acceptance that comes with it, which is not necessary. Like sometimes it's important to actually ask somebody else hey, does that person roll you that hard, or is it just me? Because that might be the case, that's right.
Speaker 2:And I think, of course, the same thing ties in here in terms of the misinterpretation of things. Like that's always a potential right, but yeah, some people are fuckwits. It's a tricky one. Now, just an extension of this is that the gym itself might be the dick. Like culturally, that place, or you know what Like it could have a shit culture where they just fucking beat people up and like only the strongest will survive the dick factory.
Speaker 1:Come here, you will walk out. A fucking cock Nice.
Speaker 2:But perhaps the gym's fine, it's just culturally not the gym for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's an important thing to mention. It might just be a miss. You're just not in the right place.
Speaker 1:And sometimes people get away with it. Like, oftentimes coaches can turn a blind eye If, like say, I've got a mat enforcer, whatever belt level, and they're like, they're tough, they're rough, they get it done and they allow them to not be friendly because they're the they're the fucking pit bull. You know what I mean. Like they're like, if you're gonna go anywhere near that that guy, you're gonna get bitten, but we kind of want to keep him. You know what I mean and maybe that's acceptable to you, maybe it's not. But I think this is another thing that, like, when you spend a bit more time in the gym, you're like, all right, well, I can't, you know you have to be. Also, maybe, if the gym is not gonna get rid of someone who's who is potentially rough and maybe might injure you, then you gotta, I gotta stick away from them yeah you know if they won't change, yeah, this episode is brought to you by parry athletics.
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Speaker 2:number three, mr joe third archetype this is perhaps a little bit more positive, a bit more optimistic is you are better than you think you are, hey, and where this plays out is say to to our friend here is like I'm a two-stripe white belt. And the question was in regards to training with people that are higher ranked and that are bigger. Now, when is someone who's higher ranked more likely to put it on you? It's when you're giving them a hard time, when you're good, yep, and this is something that I always I find myself having this conversation a lot with women, because I think for a lot of women, like early on in the in the journey, they don't understand that Like, if they're like when they're applying their jujitsu in a role, if it is actually threatening the, the, the male that they're rolling with, that male will ramp up his strength and intensity because he doesn't want to lose, and that's a really unfortunate fact because most males will then dominate, like they will have that advantage.
Speaker 1:Potentially.
Speaker 2:Yeah, generally, not always, but so it creates this kind of shit dynamic, right, and I say that it's like if it's, if it's an inexperienced male, right on the match. The more experienced cats, hopefully, are across that. But so point there is that when you're actually a threat to someone, they're going to start to put it on you. So if you're consistently a threat and if you sprinkle in, you're also a little bit of a dick.
Speaker 2:We can really wrap this shit up, maybe um motherfuckers are going to come back hard on you and they're going to roll you super hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but actually this is a sign of respect. Oddly, I said this, so shout out our boy, jeremy Martinez. He caught me in a weird choke. It wasn't a guillotine, it was like a no arm Side guillotine, like a A side naked choke, not a front naked choke. You know, I thought I'd pass Like I kind of took him down. He was kind of snagging my neck up. Anyway, I was passing and I'm like I can't get my head Out of this position. This isn't a normal guillotine. He's turning into me, but I was convinced. And then he fucking tapped me and I was like god, damn it.
Speaker 2:Has Jeremy Martinez become the arch nemesis of the bulletproof of BJJ Park?
Speaker 1:no, that motherfucker pulled me to sleep once he's fucking he's the Jeremy's notching up W's over here. He wants to join in. He's the greatest proponent of bulletproof. We love this guy, but here's the thing I said to him afterwards I now respect you more. You know what that means. I'll roll you harder, son. You I'm not taking it easy on you, I'm not making mistakes it's not revenge, but I'm not too I'm, I took you too lightly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, that's. Honestly, he's a blue belt. I was like I did not expect that, but that fucking guy's full of surprises. He's way better than the blue belt shout out, but that's the thing. He's purple belt now. He's probably about now, yeah, 100, but here's the thing. He was a blue belt. At the time I didn't respect his game enough. He caught me and I'm like right, we're dialing up that fucking respect knob man, like we're taking the respect up at least two levels because which has a pulley that's directly linked to the intensity knob of the row.
Speaker 1:That's right turn it up to 10. So here's the thing If you are doing well against higher belts, they're going to yeah, they're going to roll you harder, because they can't just have you trashing their game right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that that is like say to this person and I don't know their sentiment, but if they're like man, that's actually getting me down. I don't like this, I'm getting injured. Then it's like me down, I don't like this, I'm getting injured. Then it's like, well, maybe there's a change in how you could approach your training with that individual, or maybe there's a communication that could be had, because there is even as a black belt. I can admit to you that there's insecurity when rolling right. Of course it's there. You're constantly grappling with your own ego and own expectations.
Speaker 1:Skills and all the things.
Speaker 2:And so when you're rolling with someone who's lower ranked than you and they're giving you a hard time, you're prone to making some pretty fucking primitive decisions, which are smash this car, right, so yeah. But if I have a good relationship with that person and I respect their jitsu and I know them and I'm like, yeah, look, fuck, I'm black belt, but this fucking pearl belt's a motherfucker.
Speaker 2:And if I've reconciled that in my mind and we've trained together for a long time, then I can find myself grappling less with the ego Sure, and that's a very nuanced thing thing but, um, potentially looking for ways to to actually get to know that person better. I think is a good way for you both to have definitely a better training relationship I agree, and I think that's kind of the communication piece to like generally.
Speaker 1:If you understand where someone's coming from, then you know why they behave the way they behave, whether it's their jiu-jitsu or just their personality, and it's. It's the good thing about jiu-jitsu that over time you do get to know people. But I tell you what if a two-stripe white belt's taking my back and like potentially choking me, I'm getting the fuck out of there I don't care what their story is.
Speaker 2:You know I'm standing up doing that diving forward roll where they sever their spine oh, there you go, it's a solution potentially potentially.
Speaker 1:But so I was also told um, this is in brazil, actually that not to actually roll someone light if they are decent, because you are giving them the respect of your jujitsu, that's respectful, by rolling them. Well, they know what good jiu-jitsu is, because if they are someone who intends to get good, they need to know the standard. Yeah, and you babying them with the role that's that's not necessarily going to help them get better. Yeah, this isn't uh. Uh, you know a, you know a get out jail pass to just smash everyone lower belt than you. But it's more that if you are good, you will expect a bit of blowback for your, your skills. Yeah, number four there's something here which I didn't expect, joe. What is number four?
Speaker 2:you are misunderstood, elaborate please. So there's a large social aspect to jiu jitsu. Obviously you, you know you have some kind of relationship with all the people in your gym. Maybe you're new there and the relationship's pretty. Perhaps not there yet, but the idea is, over time you develop some kind of a bond with people there. Now, if you are not a particularly sociable person, if you're a little bit distant socially, if you don't and we all know people like this, right, maybe not a lot of eye contact, not a lot of upfront kind of offering conversation kind of thing, introverted maybe. Yeah, that's right, and there's plenty of people out there like that, right. Other folks can misunderstand that and they can be like they could mistake that, perhaps for arrogance, sure, or some kind of feelings of superiority, or you know, sure, perhaps for arrogance, sure, or some kind of feelings of superiority, or you know sure, and that then lends itself to them approaching the training. You know, this motherfucker thinks they're better than me what?
Speaker 2:they didn't ask me how I am today yeah, you know, like it won't look me in the eye when we, when we slap and bump. Yeah, like like these little things which, culturally, to most of us, are like, oh, these things matter. Like this is good etiquette. Yeah, definitely. To some people it's either not in them, it's just not a part of their, it's not in their head to do those things, or perhaps they actually have an aversion to some of those things.
Speaker 1:They feel, yeah, shy or intimidated to even make. Don't want to make eye contact with a black belt.
Speaker 2:That's right, yeah, so I think, just like the point there is that, like I think the getting to know someone, be it like directly as a person, is really important. But it might even be indirectly, as in you say to your coach, hey, what's up with so-and-so, I can't connect with them, and coach might be like, oh man, they're autistic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, there's that yeah like that person is is on the spectrum, or they they struggle with large groups or whatever, and you're like, holy shit, okay, I was totally misreading the scenario here. I've had that situation a couple of times recently where I've come to training with some water but I haven't had any electrolytes, and I've finished training and I've had to go to a convenience shop and buy myself some kind of sports drink, usually a Gatorade. It cost me like seven bucks, it's small and it really doesn't contain that much of the good stuff that I'm looking for, which are the electrolytes. Sodi, on the other hand, is my partner when it comes to hydration and I'd simply just run out of it and it sucks because I got to go buy expensive stuff that doesn't do anywhere near as good a job. I'm super stoked that we've been restocked with the Sodi and now I can be properly hydrated when I train Jiu-Jitsu. This has always been an underexplored aspect of my training and I'm so stoked that we now have these guys in place to support us and also the listeners of the show.
Speaker 2:So if you want to be hydrated on the mat so that you can perform at your best and have the best mental clarity while training, get yourself some Sodi. Go to sodicomau that's S-O-D-I-Icomau. Get yourself some delicious hydration salts and use the code BULLETPROOF15 for 15% off. Go to sodicomau, get yourself hydrated.
Speaker 1:I have a funny story about this. Shout out Sunny Munn. Sunny Munn is incredibly short-sighted Literally not in her worldview in literally. She read a lot of books. I don't know. She cannot see more than probably half a meter. A meter away, it's all a blur. Many people thought she was a complete fucking snob because they'd only be like and they'd wave and she'd just meh, she'd just blank.
Speaker 2:I was never like what's with this fucking? Bitch why does?
Speaker 1:she just fucking blank me all the time. Maybe that's why our relationship lasted a long time. She thought I was handsome. Maybe because she didn't see me up close that much and it's like hey, she was always just keeping the distance. She was like, hey, he's such a good looking guy that blur over there, but it was so funny because she wore glasses. But she didn't wear glasses at Jiu-Jitsu. So, even at Jiu-Jitsu tournament. People waved to her and she just people are like dang, that bitch is cold.
Speaker 1:No, she's short-sighted, she's actually a very lovely, warm human.
Speaker 2:My partner, misa, is the same. When she, when she doesn't have her contacts in, can't see, she can't see beyond a couple of meters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you know, neighbors will like wave and she'll just like blank them Stone cold. Yeah, but I mean, this is the thing, that's a great misunderstanding, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:And so if you're like about to roll with that person and your cop, motherfucker, didn't wave back, yeah, you know then you're like, oh, I'm going to fucking turn that intensity up get some respect over here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like getting introduced to someone. I honestly am terrible with remembering people's names, but I remember their story. So if they tell me, oh, I've got a dog and I've got a young kid who plays basketball, I can remember that stuff but I may not remember their name. So usually the way I bridge that gap, to not be rude, I'm like how's your kid going to basketball? And they're like, oh, he remembers me. And I'm like, oh, Jeff, George, that guy, mate, bro, yeah, but it's a funny thing because if you do shake hands with someone and you've had to be introduced to 30 people it is new people it's hard to remember everyone's name.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think that's. Yeah, I think you're never going to remember everyone, right Like initially.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You're like oh, that's guillotine guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's neon neck guy. But yeah, I do think you can show your familiarity with someone without having to say their name yeah, even though it's a powerful thing to be able to say their name yeah yeah, it's lovely. It's really good if you have that ability.
Speaker 1:Like we were saying before about the relationships piece. All of this ties in together with social skills, right, and we know that jiu-jitsu is a community full of people with limited social skills. Some people are great, but there's plenty of people out there not sure how to do it. What is good if you're someone who's not sure? If you're like our friend, you're new in the game but you've been there a little while. You're a two-stripe white belt or you love jujitsu. You just want to get better, cultivating relationships with people. Coming up with an excuse to talk to someone other than jujitsu is a way to unlock understanding, and so, even if you're not buddies you're not going out to watch the UFC together, you're not having barbecues together, but you just oh yeah, you've got kids and I've got kids or you know whatever it might be Just that, oh yeah, I've seen kids before. I'm aware of that, with that phenomenon. How's your lack of freedom, lack of sleep and monetary bandwidth? Is that good? I don't know shit about that. I'm single. Woo, no. So here's the thing. I actually learned this from our monk. We used to go to Buddhist meditation classes and our monk shout out Gendorning, who's now based in Leeds, I believe, but he was in Melbourne.
Speaker 1:Awesome guy, londoner, ordained monk legend. He said he used to have this boss, this tyrannical boss. He worked in a shitty corporate job and he hated his boss and at that time he'd started learning about Buddhism and his monk had said to him try to love your boss. He's like what are you talking about? My boss is an asshole. My boss is so mean to me, makes me stay back. I miss Buddhism classes. This is bullshit. I hate my job, I hate my boss. He said yeah, okay, but think about someone you love. It's like ah, my brother, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:Now, every time you talk to your boss, imagine it's your brother, like all the problems, all the bullshit he brings to you. Just imagine that's your brother and just by putting that frame on it, try to give him empathy, try to give him understanding because it is your brother. Try to give him empathy. Try to give him understanding because it is your brother. Anyway, he started doing this for a bunch of months and he said my boss got better, my boss got nicer. My boss started being nicer to me and he went to his monk in about six months and he said guess what? My boss changed. My boss got better. He's a much nicer guy. Now we're actually friends. He's like no, you changed. You changed the way you looked at them, you changed the way you treated them and, as a result, they treated you differently. And that's the hard thing. It's often taking that brave step, which is that now I'm going to be the more understanding, nicer person, and then that that allows room for them to maybe do reciprocate.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I got. One final thing that came to mind there is you do tend to establish a dynamic with your training partners. Yes, and you can totally undo that. You can change that dynamic, and one of the simplest ways to do that.
Speaker 2:I had this with a good friend shout out Lockie, over at Balmain, who is a motherfucker, absolute motherfucker to train with, and we were both just we'd have these full-on, intense rolls and it would often end in submission, could go either way, probably went his way more often than not. But like intensity right. And there were a couple of times I was like fuck, I think I really could have injured myself in that one. And we had a chat. I was like bro, I can't remember how it came, but I was like bro, fuck, our roles are intense. Like yeah, tell me about it. I was like you know what man, I don't actually think we're getting the best out of our training by doing that. And we both agreed and it was like how about we just fucking simmer it back a little bit and idea, and our roles instantly became less intense, way more technical and heaps more beneficial for both of us. Nice, and it was a cool thing, I guess, because we were both on the same page with.
Speaker 2:That could be the the case that maybe we weren't, in which case nothing changes. But I think sometimes opening up that the space for that conversation is is enough to just like take the heat out of it so that you can like, so that both people are like, oh okay, let's go hard, like, let's push ourselves, but let's not fucking injure each other. Yeah, you know, and that's fair. Boom, boom. There it is. Hopefully you fit one of those archetypes. Shout out to our man who sent that through. If you've got questions for us, fire them through. You can hit us on the instagram, on the youtube, or you can send them to our voicemail and we'll play them on the q a show. You go to our web page bulletproof for bjjcom. Go to the podcast page. Leave us a voicemail, boss, you.
