Too Out Of Shape For BJJ? No You’re Not

From an older episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fu7vxOc_7E

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Chapters

• 0:00 Breaking Shame And Starting Anyway
• 0:11 Try Jiu-Jitsu At Any Size
• 0:34 Hidden Strength In Bigger Bodies
• 1:19 Health Risks Without Self-Limitations
• 2:29 Stop Preparing And Start Doing
• 3:17 Courage, Action, And Momentum
• 4:06 Practical Steps To Get Healthier
• 4:34 Walking Beats Occasional Workouts
• 5:37 Make Daily Movement Automatic
• 7:06 Easy Wins: Park Far And Walk
• 8:45 Commute Tweaks For More Steps
• 9:20 Walking As Moving Meditation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

It's crazy what society does to us about feeling bad about ourselves, feeling insufficient, and all these things which are just limiting nonsense. And you gotta jump in to swim. So if it doesn't matter where you're at right now, whether you're out of shape, you've got extra kilos on, I think you should go and try jiu-jitsu. Or if you've got a friend who you know is a bit out of shape and you already do jujitsu, get them there, force them there because it could just be such a beneficial thing to not only their physical health, but their mental health.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Absolutely. Yeah, so I've um I'm thinking back to a couple of people I've trained, uh, not in jujitsu but in the gym over the years who were who are carrying a lot of extra weight. And something that is that is um common amongst people who are carrying a lot of extra body weight is they're very strong because they're because they are carrying extra load all the time. Yeah. And so what you find is that they're the the joints are often quite robust and they they have good muscle mass. You you don't see it, right? If the person's got if you've got a bit of body fat, that covers right from from outside view, but the muscle's there. And so I think what's really cool about that is that these people already have a base of strength. Yes. Right. And of course, they want to drop the weight, but the but the base of strength is there. Now, if I'm if I'm looking at that person and I'm and I'm, you know, and we're trying to advise, and I'm trying to advise on what I think the best the best sort of outcome is, like, where do you want to be? Like that black belt that I spoke about. I don't think, you know, I wouldn't advise anyone to get to that place, right? If you if you were like, well, what should I do? It's like, well, yeah, you don't want to be carrying huge amounts of body fat. It is unhealthy, right? It is placing, it is placing extra load on your body, and that's extra load on your organs. You know, it's not good for your health. But that shouldn't limit the activity that you do, right? And as JT said, jujitsu could become the catalyst that helps you establish a healthier lifestyle. If we're looking at the kind of body that moves well on the mats, yeah, you don't want to be impeded by having extra mass on you necessary, right? You want to have like, I don't know, for a better term, like functional mass. You want to be carrying enough muscle and you want to be able to move and that kind of thing. So I definitely think like, yeah, if you're carrying a lot of body fat, it is good to try and get rid of some so that you can perform better. You can move more, you can access more positions. Um, but I think the the main takeaway of the of what we're saying is that like that shouldn't be the thing that prohibits you from engaging in the art.

SPEAKER_00: 2:29

Yeah, I I think this concept of I'm gonna go do a totally unrelated thing to get better for the main thing is bullshit. And we do it all the time. It's just another form of procrastination, right? Like, like business. Oh, yeah, I I'll I'll do my emails, but first I need to, I'll I'm gonna get that new software that reorganizes your emails so it'll be easier when I finally do them. And then you waste two hours looking at plans for the better email organization technology. It's all bullshit. Like you really taking that step unlocks so much forward momentum in many other ways. I've seen it over and over again with people coming into just a conventional gym to do anything, wouldn't matter if it was weight loss, get stronger, anything. The fact the person walked through the door and said, Hey, I'm here to try and do this thing is massive. And just taking the step, there's so much courage and there's so much value in that that you know, if even if you're someone now who does jujitsu and you you are a a big human, taking the steps to improve your conditioning or improve your physical fitness, that's uh that's brave, that's bold. It's far easier to do that if you are not carrying an extra 30 or 40 kilos. Everything's easier, but it's not about easy. Jiu-Jitsu is not easy, nothing in life if it's outside your comfort zone is easy. But making the decision and taking the step is huge. So, really, what I want to do is just encourage people. Like, just encourage people as much as possible to take that step to either start jujitsu or make that step towards being healthy or being more active. No excuses for not. That's what I'd say.

SPEAKER_01: 4:19

Should we um is it worth diving into like so you know, if someone's listening and they are carrying extra weight and they want to get rid of it and they're like, yeah, you know, they want to they want to start to move towards uh shifting some of it. Should we maybe give some practical kind of measures from a nutrition point of view and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00: 4:34

Or um I'm gonna I'm gonna go more on an activity perspective because uh I was really shocked. I I was doing research for um, I gave this talk to a bunch of corporates, and I wanted to go in there and tell them, you all need to work out three times a week, blah, blah, blah. And then I was reading these studies about incidental activity, and it actually showed that people who walked a certain amount every day and were more active every single day across the board were healthier than people who worked out three times a week and didn't do that. Right. You know, people who I go to the gym and I work out, but then I sit my car and I sit at home and I they didn't do much. And so it was actually really shocking to me that um the two major groups were the people who did the workouts and then the people who didn't do the workouts but were overall more active, even though it showed the people who were more active were not fit to, like they, you know, their resting heart rate wasn't as low and they weren't as strong, they were just as healthy, if not healthier, and they were happier. And so my I was like, oh wow, that really kind of that turned my mind around because I've always been kind of workout focused, and that's when I started to do a lot more walking this a couple of years ago, and so I am a huge advocate for people walking, and it sounds it sounds lame because it's not sexy, it's not like oh just did my just did my 5k walk around my block. No one gives a shit, but it's a big fucking block, it's a big block, but in terms of whether you're walking the dog or anything like that, I I think for health, um, assigning time every day to just make yourself go walk, whether you listen to a podcast or you just listen to music or you don't listen to anything, you're just going for a walk. That is one of the best things you can do to change the health balance.

SPEAKER_01: 6:25

Yeah, it's it's been yeah, I I agree, it's been shown to burn more calories than a workout.

SPEAKER_00: 6:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 6:31

Yeah, in many ways. And that's a real simple one that anyone can do. Yeah. And if you are like, hey, well, I'm already doing the workouts and I'm doing jujitsu, but I'm still carrying a bit of extra body weight, add some walks in and it really does make a huge effect. I yeah, I remember Luke, you were saying before, Luke Tullock, he's been really, he's really big on that. Yeah, and I think he's religious about getting 10,000, 15,000 steps a day. Yep. And he's just like, no, that is like a non-negotiable for me.

SPEAKER_00: 6:54

Yeah, and if you don't, and I'm not really into a whole bunch of wearables, but I know it even worked for my parents who are not really uh they're not competitive people, but when my mum and dad actually each got a Fitbit, they're like, yo, where's your steps today? My dad was walking around the freaking living room, gamifies it. Yeah, yeah. It's just because it just brings it to your attention. Yeah. And if you're not thinking about it, it's not gonna change. And, you know, like uh James Smith PT, you know, he's always banging on about you know calorie, calorie balance, yeah, you know, like and it is like they love the the neat is another term that gets used for this, right?

SPEAKER_01: 7:30

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, right? Which is like activity that you do that's not exercise as such, but contributes towards you burning calories.

SPEAKER_00: 7:39

Like I I I don't know if you do this, but I always love to get like a real sweet park right next to the the spot, but I hate parking in stacked parking lots, right? I hate it. Like it, I don't know. Maybe I watch too many movies, I just have these nightmare scenarios of like parking, you know, in the Westfield and it all crumbling down and us all being crushed. Loses the ticket when he's at the smoothie shop, and then he's like, Fuck, I lost the ticket. I can't handle it. And so it's always been a bit of a contention uh between myself and my partner Ola. She's like, Are you gonna park 5Ks away and then we have to walk all the way to the restaurant, and then I'm sweaty, and then you know, like, I'm like, babe, it's good for us. We need to walk. So, as much as I love to get that real sweet spot right next to wherever, I also will park a couple blocks away to get a very low-key, easy park and walk it in. That's a real simple measure. Yeah, and you just got to add an extra 15 minutes to the thing, but it's actually not stressful. Yeah, you know, it's easy to factor in.

SPEAKER_01: 8:45

A really good way to use that one if you uh if you commute to work every day and you take the bus or the train is to just get off a stop earlier. And you just get off a stop earlier and you have whatever it is, 10, 15, 20 minute walk, bam, that gets you like heaps of extra steps in without ever having to do much. And I mean, look, I I'm I don't, it's been something I've been thinking about more in recent years because I don't I used to get a huge amount of steps because I was coaching all fucking day down here on the gym floor. And then the when I when I moved away from full-time coaching, all of a sudden I'm just sitting at a desk all day.

SPEAKER_00: 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:19

Right. And I realized, wow, I'm actually just not getting any activity that's not specifically my training session. Um, so I've been thinking about this and I've been playing around with walking. I still haven't found a consistent way to do it that I that works for me, right? Um, but it's it's really nice. Like it's really nice to go for a walk. Yeah, think about how busy you are, how much shit you got going through your head. Well, it's just like to go for 20, 30 minutes, whatever, take a walk, it's like it's meditative, I find it.

SPEAKER_00: 9:48

Yeah, I no, I'm I'm totally with that. I I'm someone who struggles with meditation, but I find just walking and observing nature and stuff like that, even if I'm in the heart of the city, yeah. Just just stuff like that helps to alleviate the pressure on your mind. Um, and it also lowers your blood pressure. So if you're someone who struggles with blood pressure, walking is is great for that.