Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
The Harsh Truths About Being the Best in the World
Do you want to be the best in the world? Maybe you want your game to emulate Gordan Ryan, or Jozef Chen, or any of these top tier performers... But are you willing to make the sacrifices these guys make day in and day out?
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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? I'm ready. You cannot cherry pick another person's skills, slash life. It's not as simple as like oh, I want to have Joseph Chen's skills. Well, you got to see what it takes for him to be that good. And it's really been brought to my attention recently that we often admire a particular quality of a jujitsu person but we don't see all of the suffering and all of the fuckery that goes behind it. And I want to get into that right now because this is a really important thing for us to understand. So the example I have, which doesn't actually come from jiu-jitsu, was the other night. I walked into the gym and I literally witnessed the biggest bench press I have ever seen in my freaking life. I think it was 340 kilos. Whoa, how many reps. Three, triple, triple bro.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was reps Three.
Speaker 1:No, triple Triple bro. Oh it was, I thought you were talking single it was obscene.
Speaker 1:Now, our man was wearing a slingshot, which is an elastic thing, that Pussy, well, it helps, right. But bro, it's so wild that this man was benching more than any lift anyone, more than anyone was squatting or deadlifting on the day. Yeah, like, obviously it wasn't. It wasn't deadlift day, but this, it's happening, right, and what's so funny about this was people were not intimidated like people know.
Speaker 1:This guy's quite famous in australian powerlifting. He's got a lot of records. He's not a like really tall guy but he's like very built. You know, he's a bit shorter than me, probably 110 kilos. Super jacked guy named luke, straight away big look not. And I wouldn't. I wouldn't call him big luke, but I wouldn't call him small luke. But he's got a bit of cauliflower here. And I went up. I'm like, oh, hey, man, I know him from the internet. We'd never met in person. Really, I'd seen him compete at a powerlifting comp. He's like, hey, man, you grapple, you do wrestling or jiu-jitsu. I was like, yeah, and he's like, bro, you got the ears for it. I'm like, oh, you got a little bit of color. He's like, yeah, I did a bit, I did a bit bit of wrestling, I did mma, you know and I was like.
Speaker 2:So we just became bros through jiu-jitsu, which was immaculate because he was a bit uh, he was on another level and people weren't going to you because he's like a big dog only.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was definitely funny how that happens in in us, in settings, isn't it, where a person is almost a bit untouchable people, oh fuck, no, he's like he's a bit too elite, yeah, and you can't just go talk to him, even in a gym of elite lifters and I mean people also being respectful, right like oh, I don't know, he's just you could die like only only the people might look at you and you just drop down.
Speaker 1:No, no, I mean like he's what he's lifting could kill him yeah, like the room for error is so small so not anyone could spot him, like dan the coach, sean, who's also the co-owner and coach of strength workshop, like only the elite pros can go anywhere near him. But once we started talking jujitsu bro, like we were, we were just just broing out. Oh yeah, do you know? I was in South Australia. I trained with Declan, I know Declan, so we were talking about that and it was cool, like we just it. But what was revealed to me about this immense capacity of this guy, the amount of injuries and terrible shit he's gone through, it's terrible. So, even though anyone could look at that and go, I would wish, I wish I could have that super capacity let me tell you guys, I've been there and it's it's fucking not that special you know what I?
Speaker 2:mean, it's like you get there and you're like now, what? Now what? You know what? 380, you know where's this going on? Yeah, you know much better than anyway. I'm happy for luke but what?
Speaker 1:what this really brought into sharp attention? Because I I knew a little bit of him over the internet but the the level of injury and pain and suffering he's been through to have that capacity is unmatched. Like people just don't understand how much he's suffered to be who he is Right, and I think the problem is we cherry pick in our minds Like, oh, if only I could. You don't want his life, you don't want everything he's been through to be able to do that, you're not prepared to do it. You will not do it in the same way with jujitsu. Like people really admire Gordon Ryan. You will not do it In the same way with jujitsu. Like people really admire Gordon Ryan. But the amount of mental stuff that guy goes through and physical stuff he's gone through that like the suffering and nonsense he's been through as a human to be who he is you don't want that.
Speaker 1:Like it's. You really cannot cherry pick one person's part of their life. If you say I want that, then you've got to go, I have to take it all, and I think most people are not prepared for that. So, joe, you were saying that there's you.
Speaker 2:You're having a similar conversation yeah, we had actually adam and I spoke about it last night. He was talking about um, he was talking about jujitsu and you know, elite athletes and like, yeah, people who admire aspects of their game, and like, oh, I wish I could fucking grapple as good as that guy. And he's like, yeah, but like, are you willing to like sleep on people's couches and fucking eat $2 noodles? And you know, for like all throughout your 20s and early 30s? You know, because that's what it takes often for a lot of these guys to break through.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and fucking just training real hard and not building other things like businesses or families and all that sort of shit Life, and I think that on a conversational level, we all get it. It's like oh yeah, of course, but still we have that sort of primal thing where we look at what someone else can do and think, oh, I wish I could do that. The thing is, though, it never. I mean, this is maybe a slightly separate point, but it never feels as good to be that person as you think it does From the outside, looking in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember reading a book on sports, on like sport. It was like sports, strength and conditioning. This is like in the nineties. It was one of the first books I ever bought you as I was like I'm gonna go to a bookshop and buy a book and it was on like sports, conditioning, and it was australian book. How intellectual of you, joe I know, I know it's actually a pretty good book. It's kind of written. You know simple terms, so I could.
Speaker 2:I could get a lot from it australia sports science has got, has had a very good standard for a long time. Right of like a quote sort of story Steve Monaghetti, the famous marathon runner from Australia. He was like a real icon here in the nineties and shit.
Speaker 1:And I think over 10 Ks, like 10,000 meters. He was like I don't know if he's world champ, but he's definitely one of the best in the world, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:But he was saying how people comment to him all the time. People are like, man, you must just wake up feeling so good, healthy and vital and all of that. And he's like, nah, I wake up sore and tired and I feel like shit, and that's because I'm an athlete, and it's just like. That's often the reality of the experience for the person that has that thing. You want the suffering, and whether it's that waking up physically and sore and beat up or whatever no, no, no.
Speaker 2:I had to sacrifice time with my kids for the last 15 years to build, and that's actually the example someone brought to the conversation last night was talking about Jack Ma of Alibaba and someone asked him if you're going to do it all over again, would you do it differently? And he's like, yeah, I wouldn't do it Because I got two kids who I don't know, a wife that I don't see, and that's just the reality of building a fucking multi-billion dollar business. It's tragic, yeah, and I think that I'll fucking throw it all away for a billion dollars. I'm just putting that out there right now.
Speaker 1:Keep the kids.
Speaker 2:Please.
Speaker 1:Kids wife complaining money, give me money. No, look, it is tough, but, like for the best part, we don't know what it costs another person.
Speaker 2:No, and some people do it.
Speaker 1:It's all surface level Some people do it easier than others and some people do it way harder. Like you, don't see the pain and this is something I'll reference Seb Attard, Sebastian. So doing some work with Seb and helping him with his rehab the thing that didn't occur to me when he broke his shin- his ankle.
Speaker 2:Seb Australian grappler was fucking getting right up there training at New Wave. New Wave on a Danahar, and he was rolling with Oliver Tarza, wasn't he in training?
Speaker 1:yeah, it was just he would try to resist a takedown and it snapped off the end of his tib and fib His fucking leg bone Clean, even though it was like his foot dislocated. He had to have plates and screws put in his leg. Now this is the thing I didn't really realize. It's his right foot. He had to move home so he was living independently close to the gym. He had to cut his America trip short. He had to move back in with his parents. He couldn't drive right Because his right foot.
Speaker 1:He can't put any weight into it anything, so he can't actually go to a physical gym. He's just got this janky home set up which I kind of helped him, you know, equip it better and give him a program and stuff His whole trajectory, which was like one of the best in the world. He got silver at Worlds no Gi Worlds. At Brown Belt almost beat the number one guy in the world who is Pavel, who is now in Team European Misfits for CJI. Like no one has beaten Pavel in 12 months, except Seb was like that close, like decision level, right he can't even do anything Like-, can't even create Instagram content.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, he can, but it's not jujitsu, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so that's so tough that you put all your time and energy into this bucket and it can be very simply derailed. And then where the fuck are you? Because you're so invested, you know like he'll come back. He's young, he's going to bounce back, it's fine. But as an, as an adult whether it's a business, um, whether it's a family, whether it's anything that you are so it's such a huge part of your life we don't know how chaotic life is, so that we don't really know what that person is betting, especially if, like we, we often don't talk about the health, the downside of what committing your body physically all the time, flat out, blasting gear, training five times a day, doing all the shit does because you don't have any bandwidth for anything else in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then hey, if you're sick of getting crushed by larger, stronger opponents on the mat and you feel like you've got good techniques but you just can't make them work because less skilled individuals with more strength than you are shutting you down, you're going to love champion strength. It is the program that we used for Adele Fornerino, the most winningest, lightest weight female grappler of all time, to prepare for her double gold run at last year's ADCC and beyond. You can get your hands on that exact program now. That's going to make you strong, it's going to make you relentless, it's going to make you harder to injure and it's going to give you greater confidence on the mats. You can get the program right now. Go to bulletproofforbjjcom, check out the shop and you will find champion strength right there. And the best part is we give you a 100% money back guarantee if you don't love it, for whatever reason, and once you're into it, jt and I will be there to coach you personally. See you on the program.
Speaker 1:That can leave you, and we see it with fighters too. Because their commitment is so total, they lose their relationships, they fall out with managers, or they get divorced, or they lose their business, and then, fucking, what is their quality of life?
Speaker 1:their sacrifice is so great yeah for these shining moments, and so the reason why I wanted to talk about this is don't get me wrong I I'm not an envious person. I do admire when someone commits to something fully, but I do have a little voice in the back of my head which is I wonder how much that's? What's that cost? Yeah, you never know. Some people do it easier than others, but some people do it fucking tough.
Speaker 2:You know, I was actually. I actually listened to a couple of minutes of Modern Wisdom podcast this morning. Okay, Because I saw a clip that he had Jocko Willink on yes sir, and the clip that I saw was Jocko sharing his views on the Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegzeth. And the clip that I saw was Jocko sharing his views on the Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth. And I was like and I didn't get to watch the clip. So I was like, oh, I want to hear what he has to say because I'm, you know, You're interested. Like all of us, I'm watching this reality show of American politics, you know, 24-7.
Speaker 2:Aren't we all yeah and so, anyway, I was like driving in and I was like fuck, and I was like, oh, go on, jocko, and I chucked it on and it wasn't the conversation that I was looking for, so I ended up fucking it off. But the thing that Chris Williamson asked him was about a quote that Jocko has mentioned that he really likes, which is that there are no solutions, only compromises.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And he was like what does that mean to you? And Jocko's like well, it just means that, like, everything is a compromise so you can fix something, but that's going to require you affecting something else, right. And so it all comes down to priorities and prioritizing the thing. And so you know, know, that's going to shift from time to time. So it might be the business, it might be family, it might be personal, your health, training, etc. But you got to know that when you fix one thing you detract from another. And I was like interesting take, not sure, I totally agree that it is a maximum. So, you know, simplifies a relatively complex thing, but it kind of speaks to that in a way, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where it's like we see the fruits of extreme sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Particularly with elite sports people.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And you see the fruits and you're like look at the physique, look at the performance, look at the winningness, look at the glory. Fuck, yes, I want this. I'm going to training tonight. Let's do it, you know, but you don't. You just don't see all of the compromises for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's funny you mentioned that because that I I got a quote recently which I was like that's so powerful, which is like, oftentimes, when we say, oh, that thing made me feel a way like an action, a person, a thing outside of ourselves, we are giving power to something which is not actually, it's external, and that's actually not true, that actually you're not a victim of circumstance, you're a victim of perspective, because actually if you change the way you look at it, it's not a problem. You know like it's Right, yeah, and that what you're seeing isn't actually the case.
Speaker 2:Look at it, it's not a problem. You know, like it's Right, yeah, and that what you're seeing isn't actually the case. Yeah, yeah right.
Speaker 1:And so I think that a lot is that oftentimes, when we look at others and we have jealousy or we want, or it creates desire, it's also our perspective is not taking in the full view, yeah, and that actually we fall victim to a lack of perspective. It's a lack of perspective that we're experiencing, that we don't fully understand what we're looking at and what it takes, and therefore, you know, whenever we were feeling a kind of way where it's like, oh, I can never be like that guy, it's like I mean, maybe you could, but do you even want that? Yeah, like that's. Maybe you're not appreciating what is really good in your own life to be like, no, I'm good, my three days a week, whatever.
Speaker 2:Well, while we're throwing down quotes on that vein I think we're just quote- for quote I think Ido's quote of. Well, he referred to the the one arm handstand as the sausage factory. Oh, and it was like well, what's the thinking there? And he said well, everyone loves eating sausages until you visit the factory and see how they're made. Oh right, it's like, yeah, you want this elite body weight strength skill. You're not prepared to do the work.
Speaker 1:No, simply you know me, do it and be like, oh, I wish I could do that. Yeah, you know, yeah, no, you don't, and I mean that's, that's tough. But I mean I think the the more yeah, like you're saying, the more, the more you can start to understand what what something costs and what it takes it. It does give you better perspective and you can better appreciate what you, what you have. Yep, there it is Philosophical breakdown, folks. And look, if you made it this far, we would appreciate a like and a subscribe. It means a lot to us to get more good info like this out to good people like you.
