BTG 11 - Training Mindset

[Music] hey what's going on everybody David Avalon I'm here with Robert Drysdale for another edition of the break-in the guard podcast Robert actually got a early morning flight coming up yes yes I'm off to San Francisco in a few and yeah I'm excited you know I get a similar lifelike ie it was a dream as in like when you think about he didn't pay the travel and did you just like what's the can't think of a better job it's still exhausting though like sometimes but this is an easy trip that's close yeah but you know there are trips or times where I had to fly to like Perth in Australia wait a 30-hour is a 32 I think the record like 33 actually to get there you know if all the way over and you know by the time you would just it's time to come back so your jetlag the whole time and it's it's fun but it's still exhausting so it's not like I think people see pictures online yeah and they create all these assumptions at all cuz of vacation you know like a little break is like it's far from a break one time I was in Europe and I hit 17 cities in 21 days yeah it's your to Poland people they look at people and their jet setting and all that but there's a lot of work behind it all and then being in the air it's exhausting you know any areas exhausting to the part that kills me daily sure you can relate is that you know people don't care that you're jet-lagged that you're you know hungry that you're you've been traveling for the last two weeks like dates I not everyone but like they they're constantly trying to test you like that's their EDC CEO that's the world shape like pro I'm here to teach of it I'm not feel like computing it doesn't happen a lot but every now and then there's always that one guy that you know like he wants to he wants to test himself and you're like his measuring oh yeah when you're rolling and yeah I'm here to teach you man I'm not and they assume that you're you know you're Jesus because you're supposed to be a superhero all the time and the guide really don't feel like on war right I just landed you know but that part gets you too but overall man it's an amazing job I can't complain yeah you know that's why I stopped doing roles in seminars that reason because I remember I was teaching a seminar and I used to roll all the time right you know this like everybody does and I had this one kid who was the wrestler he's just started spazzing and he literally just threw an elbow from inside my garden cut me open then a seminar in this seminar and then I arm Bardem pretty viciously right afterwards but I already lost can't win yeah you know so I'm like you know what I'll say the roles were I have a story um I remember when I first start teaching seminars my before I start teaches them is I've heard this story of Hick's and Gracie tapping everyone at the seminar so you go to the seminar you made everyone tap in my head I don't know why I believe like that first of all I guess what do you think about if you go too much people that don't train jiu-jitsu that's not impressive yeah you know it's but you know when they trained you just to get see the better they can be it's very difficult you know but in my head I'm going you know this is what you're supposed to do that's what you do with the seminar you're supposed to make everyone tap right so the first two seminars are I talk for the first year maybe really I'm like I go to seminars and do like 4050 people the seminar I got to roll with every single one of them yeah every single one of them tap and and by that time I was done like a marathon I'm exhausted right and I remember one time was a where we were at a DCC what bit 2007 maybe nine okay can remember sitting around with the table bunch of black belts right and we're just like chatting about the seminar conversation came up and yeah man you know it's hard to travel yeah yeah I just talk to seminars right and then I go like this yeah the worst part is having to roll with everyone at the end and they don't just stop to look at me like wait what I'm like yeah the worst part is having to roll with everyone at the end of the seminar is what you're rolling with everyone you crazy your mind and I realize I think I was the only person that was doing that and that was it I never I stopped that after that but like now I can't pick like two three guys yeah you know like oh I would do destructor big like two three guys from it roll as much as I'm going I'm not looking for a marathon when I land yeah I mean I think the last one I could remarry doing that with where I was rolling with everybody I was like in North Carolina I think it was like ct8 BJJ like that and I always worked making short work everybody but then he faces one kid who was really little he was one of those like super flexible Gumby and he had a lot of spirit and like I'm trying not to muscle but the same time yeah I think it was good I think he was like a purple but a high purple why not it took me a good like 10 minutes to get us put this guy away but I know you happen and it's it's one of the things - you're not yourself - because you're not you know you're not walking in there with that mindset you're just there because a lot of times like I've been around room with black belts that I looked up to when I was coming up and I just wanted to roll with them just to say that I rolled with them right I'm not looking to beat him like I remember one time I was like cornering for a lady back in the day I first moved to Vegas IFL and Sergio pea was cornering someone that day till we weren't in the same room you know like the day before right fighters were breaking a sweat and like hey I can roll with me yeah you know he's looking I sure he was very friendly and I just wanted to roll with them because I wanted to have the honor of rolling like yeah not because I'm trying to you know boy and I remember one time I was in Bible da be able the hymns over there and I ruined it rolled I did it because I didn't want to be respectful we were at same time I really want to roll it ends up not because I'm trying to you know I just wanted but just didn't happen and I get that part I think that's cool yeah well these guys come I wanna try to go to war with you man I just not the right yeah go to Vegas in a week with those in Vegas and you know for sure you know and I think this translates well because this is talking about essentially the mindset that certain people have coming in and that's what we wanted to take some time to talk about today I know we have touched about on it quite a bit but we've never really gone to depth so I think this would be a good time to go into the mindset that you should be coming into training and how to approach it because as we don't know it Mikey you know yeah you had mentioned aggression yeah right and like you were saying a lot of people just expect that they were gonna train one way which is usually like people love to floor oh I mess around and then they're gonna competition become an animal yeah it's like no it doesn't work that way right you are what you Trina so I guess uh how would you train aggression like how do you because it definitely is something you have to a behavior you have to learn you can't say yeah yeah it exactly it's a skill you have to be able to learn how to push yourself and attack attack attack so what things do you do and you're trained in or is it there though I think that they're different philosophies virgin Jitsu and what I think we should tackle them both like very differently because one of them is I train because I enjoy rolling I want to get good but I you know everyone wants to improve but you know not a gold medal does not mean the same thing to everyone right there are people I think majority of people trained to do so the vast majority enjoy the culture the enjoy the techniques they enjoy the environment the gym their friends you know that's they like the lifestyle right and then there are those that are fully committed to I just wanted anyone to be a world champion they're very different mindsets I think for the people that that want that medal the people that are really striving to improve they're striving for greatness right like it really comes down to you know you you have to be competitive in the gym there's no way you can walk in the gym and fluoro every day and expect to be like you dementia like an animal when you compete it's just not gonna happen so the way to do this is develop that's the way I like having like strong social relationships in the gym having good bonds in the gym is helpful because for example I go to war with you tomorrow right and I catch you where you catch me it's not personal right you know I'm saying like it's not gonna get oh you know Dave beat me three times in a row you know like I would actually I'm thinking that beat Dave beat me I would say exactly everything I mean thinking Dave beat me three times in a row and I gotta get him back but in a healthy way not in a a I you know I'm not gonna talk to you after practice or it's not personal in any way right so your friends they should be your enemies on the mats a healthy kind of enemy like we're trying to kill each other yeah we're not hurt each other there's a huge difference between trying to beat someone tap them and some someone trying to hurt you very different things but the mindset has to be I wanted to defeat you every second of every round and then after we're done we'll have a nice ad together it's all good and if you want revenge tomorrow bring it and we're gonna go after with for us say right after you know but you think you have develop that culture it's like a shark tank culture on the mats yeah but it ends there it doesn't come off the mats right and it's very important you learn how to separate these things because if you create that culture I think that's a that's a champion culture you know it's a very important it's very hard to do because people don't always understand the difference between you know trying to beat you on the mats and trying to you know just call this guy goes too rough for this guy's a megalomaniac just trying to prove a point all the time and you just got to be around the right people that understand this dynamic for sure I mean I know I grew up training with my brother yeah we're around each other 24/7 pretty much so we're always trying to Terry to that part but you know that was just reserved for the mat you know we never had beef that's spilled off of a hard roll as soon as it's over it's over you know I mean and like you say it's like I well I guess you would call it a friendly rival you right where you know whenever we compete we're trying to rip each other's heads off but we never try to hurt each other and if anybody did get hurt or someone said oh wait okay you know like anyone or anybody and like when you're off the mat it's not like about all this guy got me I hate this guy I mean no no you think we talked about the other day like training and competition is all about improving yourself yeah and you're just using that guy as a metric of how you're doing right like if you expect like oh I'm better this guy and I usually type of two or three times and I didn't tap him today that means I'm not doing something right or maybe he adapted and now I have to adapt again yeah to get back to where I believe I belong yeah all right but yeah it should never be about me like I think you see it sometimes too like people will get tapped and then they get me when they get upset yeah you know it's like you're wrong in the wrong person because ultimately you're the one that goofed up no I have to right yeah like we're talking with more than one the Eagle thing you you I always got upset but I was always at myself and I think that's good you like you use that as fuel like what am I gonna do tomorrow to be better um you mentioned your brother and I always notice I always wish I had a brother I was close to my age because I think that would have been a great way of having that friendly rivalry you're describing because it's your brother you love your brother but you how many times do you fight with your brother oh man but like it was it was healthy though yeah that's good like if I if I had two boys and they wanted to be a fighter like I would be like a little bit you know like I wouldn't let it go extreme but like I think it's almost like that rivalry actually makes you better yeah and you improved in it because deep down you know that he's gonna have your back no matter what for sure you know and it's funny cuz we got into fights all the time but my dad very early on made rules for us to fight right so like he said we can never punch each other in the face you can you can hit yourself to the body for back of the day yeah yeah he said you could never hit each other in the face right and it's funny because even when we were like we gotta tell you me one fight when we're like teenagers like 17 or 16 and still I found myself throwing punches to the body that's a good kid you can't really hurt each other like seriously if you're punching each other to the body yeah I almost think that it's kind of a respect thing too because like my brother got into fights all the time in school and you would detect people in the face but like we had that kind of like a sparring role and yeah yeah yeah you know it's like shoot fight rules only to the body down and I it's funny because and we would fight all the time at my grandmother she would like getting that's gonna not see his fight but uh there's only one time that my brother and I were getting out of control and we're like breaking stuff around the house my dad pulled both of us outside he goes all right you guys would kill each other yeah okay he grabbed a hammer gave it to my brother and then gave me a baseball bat because go good and they were like okay put them down and hug each other that was it but you know it's important to have those rules and things just as a parent because years later we see our cousins fighting you know it's like Milan was 13 when I was like 16 so I never learned that and they were going nuts and they clearly didn't have the same boundaries they were Milan was grabbing a hair into the pledged him and then my brother separated that make it stop oh you guys were like yeah cuz okay he gives the smaller one a hammer or a baseball bat and by the way when you turn a weight have to wait till you'll get the hammer no but I I think that some of that is really healthy because it it shows you that you know like you you that that that bat rivalry is really how you excuse so many guys in in so many sports when the two brother like twin brothers and they grow up competing against each other they both excel oh yeah you know it's because actually they have that kind of tree you need training partners like that the ones you can have that friendly rivalry with and I had those rivalries with I saw me more like Demian Maia was to do this back of the date night I thought he was doing it a piss me off I don't know why he was like it was it worked but I sometimes to be training and like he'd sweet me and he look up and go like this that was two points two points okay like get him back that was two points and I keep going but like it was it was it was very very there was a lot of aggression you know was war but it was 100% on the mats you know and that is such a key aspect of any gym like for competitive purposes right sure how to have people like then you don't need a hundred people like that's what they don't yet like I think if you had like two training partners like that you can go to war they'd understood that it's you know that that's how we train like that's this is a dynamic or one you're probably role man that's that thing that's one of most important ingredients for success is that you have a couple training partners like that and like I said you don't need a hundred different guys you need guys they show up every day and you got two guys you could do really good rounds and make you do your very best and you know there's a level of trust that comes with that yeah I think some people they don't want to go to worse only because they're scared they're gonna get hurt or that guy doesn't know how to control themselves or maybe they don't trust themselves that they can push themselves far enough to be competitive I think I said this story a while back we had two giants who'd like to bruise people and then when they went against each other they went super soft you know yeah it's the same type of thing right so if you have people that you know like I can go hard with you and you can go horror me and we'll be able to walk away with it without issues without beef yeah it's a good game you know but and like you said that you do need those people around you because that's gonna be your motivation to Train you know like we've there's like Phillippe is it like he was looking forward to that guy to show up the training you should be like that with those those guys at all he's coming in today like a little nervous yeah yeah yeah you're excited you know it's okay that I have to go in and I can't just coast because this guy's coming from my head I have to go in hard and push yeah is that gets you prepared for the competition mindset yeah because you can't just show up to a competition I go I'm just gonna coast my way through this thing like that's not gonna work you have to you have to go for the kill and you have to be ready for that type of anxiety that you would develop in a competition even in training you know that's why when some people go oh training is easy the trainings never easy when it's done right so that's the point like you always have room to improve you and there's always that pressure to go that's why it's like it's always hard to be in the competition grind for a long time because it's draining because there's no rest days there's no day that's like I'm just gonna coast and she'll like then you're not training hard enough because if I could run a mile comfortably in seven minutes then I shouldn't be running in seven I should be trying to get six thirty half more than six 15 or six like I'm always trying to get more out of myself you know the moment you stop pushing the envelope you stop growing and that's why I like you need this competitive training partners you need to be able to come in and like you said you shouldn't be a little nervous when you get into a tough training yeah like I remember like feeling a little nervous because I really didn't loser I knew that guy was gonna be in practice I can't lose him today you like you swept me yesterday low not today and I'd be like in my head I'd be like coming up with strategies on how to be my training partners yeah and it was it was some you go I was like to hell with it you were talking I wanted to be the alpha male on them I hate be number two like I want to do the best kind of match right but it was a way of preparing myself for competition I was training my mind for competition of course this this takes like a lot of maturity from all parties right like to keep them because you want to poison the environment but like it's almost like I saw my friends as my rivals yeah yeah you know like in a friendly way and then I would come up with strategies on how to pass Lucas Lee to the half guard and I'd literally be thinking on the one that drive - so Impala be like this is what the competition is getting you know not as nervous as a competition but I'd be like today I'm gonna do this I'm gonna try that and what's you know and and it was it is a way of training your mind to react at the right time the way you wanted to versus go into competition without that sort of experience bred in discount on you jiu-jitsu alone to do all the job now if you're much better than your opponent they're lightyears ahead of them that kind of doesn't matter but when does that happen you know like years ahead of someone in your division it doesn't happen so you know that this confidence is preparing your mind to be competitive when it counts is priceless I can't I think it's one of the most underrated under you know valued aspects of of jiu-jitsu people don't talk about it like they don't really all just let just perfect or technique work where technique get in better shape everyone talked about this but man if your mind is not competitive then I don't care how much you drill I don't care how many techniques you know you're not you're just not gonna win you have to develop that competitive ability for sure because at that at the top levels everybody's game is pretty close all right and then it's essentially who wants and more was willing to pay a larger price to win that's gonna determine who's gonna put up more effort because when you have like especially it needs to see when you go in that 20 minute matches you know like yeah technique goes out the window at a certain point it's just about like all right who's gonna pressure harder it's hard you know to take enemy who lets who has a heart to go through and that heart essentially is your desire to win so I yeah you know pushing yourself in training and the other thing I was gonna say was that nervous as you get going into training ideally it would be the same type of nervousness you would have when you go to a tournament right gusto what's the differences right well when you're going to the gym the environments comfortable you know who you're training against you and so all those unknown variables are actually known so the only thing that you're nervous about is okay do I have the right game plan to beat this guy even though I know like what his game is and that's only one aspect but when you go to a tournament you like I don't know who I'm competing against I don't know how the venue's gonna look like so you have a lot more unknowns but like if you were able to close all those things off it would be just like your training room yeah right so and that's why I like if someone's able to compete like they train they already have a champions mindset yes now they just need to get the skill of the techniques and all that because you guys when you think about it it's just like you prepare your body for competition right everyone understands this you get in shape you need to be in shape you know I don't care how good you are if you gas out the second minute you're done yeah right you need to be in shape everyone gets this part you have to have your technique sharp everyone like a hundred percent that is you know you you need to be you have to be good at jujitsu right and when it comes to the mind everyone assumes that I've known all you don't have to train that guy like and that's it didn't be trained it has to be in shape yeah like your mind has to be in shape like it has to be and and and it has to be like ready to win all the time and that's something you develop in the gym that's what people don't get you know and I can't emphasize this enough the importance of stepping in the gyms with the mindset of like I just like you want to be able to podium and you want that first place you want that gold medal alright the podium is symbolic yeah it's like a pyramid you know it's very symbolic you're at the top of the pyramid like there's no one better than me in my division I'm the number one guy and you want in the gym it's just a bigger pyramid that's how you have to look at the gym yeah a bigger pyramid more people not three people four people on the podium 100 people in the gym right I want to be the top guy I'm not content with be at the bottom of the pyramid you know so in my head I went to have this vivid in my head of like beating the best guy in the gym in my head like I Drive legit might be like was the best guy in the gym that's the guy I'm gonna be you know and I'd be like the drive was almost like meditation cuz I always had to drive a lot to try it it's only take an hour drive yeah like some time I've done like three hours each way like it's you know but the drive there was the whole time it was meditation preparing my mind I mean whether I realize about I was I was training the right like I'm gonna hold the whole time I'm just thinking how to beat that person and that was just a fundamental exercise that I highly recommend people do just develop that sort of like competitive mindset whenever you get a minute you know like and you have to be like like I said like aspiring to be the top of the pyramid the whole time like you don't you can't if you accept being a number two guy in the gym guess what yeah you're gonna accept it yes well you compete you then look set it's okay if I lose you know I had a bad week I have a bad knee you know I'm not gonna fight with my girlfriend yesterday you know there's a lot going on in my life that you and I've done this you've done this we've all done it you come up with excuse me but the tendency of your mind is to want to feel good yeah so you tell yourself all these lies to feel good when in fact you should be like no I do not want to take second place you know I call the podium syndrome people get that all the time yeah you to get on the podium I'm good and then you start accepting the fact that you gonna lose this semifinal or the final you know because you got a medal you know but that starts in the gym you know if you accept in second place in the gym you're gonna accept it when you compete yeah absolutely you know so you you have to be willing to have a little bit of I gave you said anxiety and training out just a little bit I mean it shouldn't be like you're getting crushed by overwhelming pressure because then you're probably not handling some balance is it balanced but you do need a little bit of stress right yeah and again cuz stress is just external pressure now weather is destructive or constructive depends on how you take it right like everybody responds to stress differently like for example if I put you on a roller coaster and you love roller coasters you're gonna get a thrill you'll get an endorphin rush and you'll enjoy it and let's say I'm terrified at roller coasters I get on there I'm gonna get you know all sorts of you know poor so another stuff that's gonna make me nervous uptight but it's the same stimuli yeah right it's just learning how to frame it you know so you have to some people they think stress is always the enemy like no stress is your friend you just have to make it your friend right so when you're going in there and like you're talking about getting excited when you're nervous essentially you have some nervous energy and then you're directing it into okay now this is gonna push me a train oh yeah yeah they go flight-or-fight response in a way Oh to the feds phantasm it's it's there for a reason yeah like that's why that when you go to compete you're supposed to be nervous cuz you're about to battle it's always gonna try to rip your arm off yeah like there's something wrong with you if you're not it means you don't care yeah like I mean the fact that you're nervous means it means a lot to you so that's good you have to balance that out to date because like I feel like I've always like aired on the other end like I'm too nervous you know I got to relax like I tell myself sometimes just to kind of like you know bring myself the middle I'm like adults in pajamas so it is world peace does not depend on me win in jiu-jitsu match there's a more important things going on in the world and you know life goes on if I lose and it's because in my it that was like mommy sounds like I'm contradicting myself because I was like so worried about losing that it actually harm me a lot of ways because it was too nervous yeah I you have to bring yourself back down at all the gates you know just to kind of like balance that because you do need to be nervous you want to be stressed you know I'm not just stop over and he's stressed and I think that I truly believe this I going back to the the training aspect of it like the drive to some pole or whatever was the way of like learning how to deal with that stress you start because like Mike you did the best you go like this yeah yeah you get angry nervous whatever you just put it aside it makes it sound so easy but like it's kind of what you have to do it you're gonna be stressed and it's there for a reason but you you control it you're in charge of what you do with that stress versus I letting it control you yeah no and it is a it's a mental battle you have to play and it's you basically have to win that fight it's it's the it's the most important fight because if you walk in there you know defeat it it doesn't matter how good your digitus i've we've all seen that talented they can't win a magic kiss can't win tournaments and it's it's to everyone I his head everyone his minded like his mind is not writing what is it and I think it's really what we're describing what he just lacking that aggression or lacking the ability to control the stress in the abiding yeah I think for sure the control distress is the poly because like I said they can train well the gym so they know how to be aggressive and whatnot but for whatever reason when they enter a tournament setting they have everything mishandled right like perhaps they put too much pressure on themselves or they get scared or they put themselves beneath where they actually are in skill level right so again you know this is just getting your head right you know I think a lot of that can't be helped in training but not just aw you gotta roll more no no you gotta train your mind more you gotta like I'll give you some examples of things I would do in training for my mind one I had a journal nowadays everybody writes things that I mean type things away I think there's something lost and typing versus writing I'm not sure what it is but I can remember anything I write twice down on a piece of paper and I've typed a lot of things and it just disappears yeah right never thought about that yeah yeah so I always tell people write don't use a computer or keyboard or your phone get a pen and paper old-school type type using dictation is even worse oh you're right but it's just something about the echo that's all to study in school yeah I'd write everything that I wanted liked it and I just writing the answers down there on paper but I just like put on a different piece of paper it was an exercise to remember ya know moments because it takes more effort or you know you're using certain skills new blower maybe but in any case I would write down things for example I write down my affirmations like every day I would write down like maybe like five different informations in 20 times each okay so what would that an affirmation be a positive statement what like whenever I sprawl on somebody they get crushed underneath me right and then I'll just write that boom boom boom and those are just positive statements trying to reaffirm skills that you want to have right and again that goes a lot to your mindset you know I would also use a devices like morphism I if your he heard yours today Kim you tell him pretend you're Superman they were running faster there you know and there will do better because their mind is trying to live up to this representation of what they believe Superman would be like yeah oh he's strong he's fast I gotta be faster and stronger so I would use those seanthinks in my affirmations and myself talk like I used to say whenever I Club somebody in the head it was like a bear yeah I'm smashing when I shoot would take a bullet yeah I sprawl it's an avalanche you know it's so interesting so I would use these a little more fits and techniques yeah to get more out of myself because if I say shoot like a bullet I mean I take a lazy shot that's not right that's not a bowling yeah a bullet right so I have to know I got it I gotta go hard you know it was fun I did like similar or not I like your analogy way better but like and when I was at the Blue Bell I had these guys that I looked up you know now it's blue but the guys work guys like holy it does Ahmadi Oliviero Shaolin like you know Hobson more those are the guys that I looked up to and I'd be in my head like you know trying to if I'm on top of someone I picked was Demario and I just like I needed that kind of pressure like I'm just imagine what would jamario do here alright this is how he would pass this kind of pressure if I'm on top someone passes suppose gar what would Leo Vieira do here teaches this and move around and like it was a way of forcing myself to move in a way I would not naturally move you know because it's not me and my kid on down somewhere else is a form of morphism my dad forced myself to move like a ninja because I normally not would not move like that you know and it was it was a way of challenging myself physically and I stopped doing it after a while but I think it's a good exercise if you guys should really really look up to and you which is like what would that person do in my shoes right now and then you start trying to be that guy you know and it kind of forces you to at least change things around a bit for sure that and there's no like that's more visible hundred-percent I would do that with single legs I'd should have sweep single like John Smith one of their sweep singles but anything that you can think of that makes you push yourself more than you normally would is it valid might have you got plays tricks on your mind you know there's no battling your mic cuz we think of the mind is something you control I don't believe that I think the mind is something your consciousness is trying it's like the small SPECT undermine that is trying to control the rest of it it's like you have like smaller percentage of brain is I battling really hard to control because your tendency is to be scared it's to be comfortable it's to be you know like we lean towards these things and you have to train your mind to let to force it to defeat that other part you know the point it's like negative or you know I just want to you know have a good time and not necessarily get better it's super interesting to me how that works because I felt this struggle my whole life no because you have to essentially you have your conscious and subconscious to be basic right and your subconscious it's like the hardwired programmer yeah right so usually like an autopilot software it kind of runs on its own yeah so you're conscious has a much harder time getting through messages to the subconscious because the subconscious is essentially a lot of it is programmed before you even had a chance to put any input yet you're just by you know genetics your instinct and then your parents when you're a little kid so like by the time you're a grown man a lot of it's already in there and then changing it is difficult right the way say like to make changes to your subconscious as I trying to get someone pregnant but you have like a million ideas getting shot in there and then like eventually one of them gets drills through and then okay now you got it but like I can't just tell myself oh I'm gonna train you know like Jordan burrows and then oh one time it sunk no like I gotta go over and over yeah over and over until you eventually the subconscious registers okay well do well accept this idea now yeah but it's difficult even at all it's about because a lot of like our programming is for self-preservation which gently makes you a coward all right like animals are mostly cowards natural selection does not care about jujitsu like I did this from the weak care of it oh they give you look at Alliance do lions hunt the largest antelope or water buffalo no they go for the baby that's sick with a limp right because they know if I go after the the strongest one there's a good likelihood to get hurt and if I get hurt there's no hospitals in the Sahara yeah I'm dead so I got to be very conservative with my hunting selection right so we're the same way we don't look to pick from like that's what bullies don't pick it up you know another big kid they pick the weak kid that's alone isolated cause it's easy prey right so you have to come back essentially tens hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and instinct and self-preservation to become right I could become courageous you know it's very unnatural no that's enough yeah it's exactly because it's exactly how I feel about it yeah it's a naturalist preservation yeah yeah and that's why I like in you know animals there's one alpha male there's that 100 alpha males all right it's difficult to be in that spot and there's a few that content free and then one is able to maintain it right no matter how hard you try like this blue prior describing it's there yeah it's new you can't like oh I'm just gonna rewrite my blueprint like no there's certain things that are just there you know and then you have to try to rewrite things some things that you don't want because you're trying to do something that is not something that's near program in which is it's in your program you want to be the best but not necessarily you know not necessarily like jujitsu yeah you know like it's your your your mind is constantly it wants to be the best but it doesn't necessarily have the tools for that because you're always leaning towards comfort I think that's where your consciousness comes in and it goes what do we have to modify to shape myself in the champion yeah I consciousness wants to be because you're unconscious wants to be the alpha male but it doesn't it gives you all the wrong tool that feel like for jujitsu at least because you're right like we want we are scared you know we are like you know we do seek comfort like naturally instinctively like we lead towards the easy route like people prefer to train with the easy training partner usually prey right and you have to kind of force yourself to like who's the best guy in the gym you know that's the guy that sucks to train with but that's the guy I need to train with the most you know that's the that's where the bar is right yeah that's kind of another thing with your your mind a rather avoid pain then seek pleasure all right instead of commonly under the thing so like that's why some people want to meet themselves what you consider like negatively yeah because that works better generally than saying like if I gave you the choice robbery you can either win ten million dollars if you do this crazy suicide mission or I kill your whole family yeah all right which is a stronger motivation see it's not losing your whole family all right so those mechanisms also happened to you so when you just tell you something I just want to be the world champion sometimes that isn't enough you know you need to put yourself over that's why I like I I forgot who is it a famous Ricardo my yoga mayorga he would give away all his money when he would win his boxing fight he was a famous boxer right and he said because he couldn't fight if he wasn't hungry he had too much money he was comfortable why am i fighting Wow I said he would he actually don't even eat ooh the town that he lived in he would put like live coals and all that because he would make it essentially you would make himself broke so that every fight he would come into blue there's something about that it's not that the finances do you change you because you do become more comfortable not just in you do too it's about anything yeah I think that the guy was hungriest is the guy that's like you know he's got absolutely nothing again talking about that whites is hard to be the champ because you got everything technically right so now like what are you hungry for yeah and so you have to be very ambitious in your goals you know I'm gonna set it record for most title defenses or you know so it's tricky but yeah if you're hungry you you have everything to prove right yeah hungry lions take desperate measures and I think it's not just financial to its recognition yeah I think it's recognition I think this is why I I've always the whole thing about having like child celebrities or like you know like in nine year olds or digital superstars I know parents think they're doing the best for their kids I think it's a horrible idea you know I don't I just don't I think that it's it's some of those things where you have to make them earn it and a nine you haven't earned it yeah you haven't earned it at night I don't get how good you are you know and then that does is it backfires because by the time they're 18 they've experienced so much of that they're going then they're done that in their minds you know I'm awesome I don't know I keep trying I'm awesome you know and I think there's something about other the money but like the recognition to could we strive for these things that we want to be recognized everyone wants to get rich if these things are handed to you too easily right it's easy to lose motivation sure you know I think that one it's not the only thing it's not the only factor one on there's a lot more going on obviously that's I mean that those should not be your sole motivations offices but they are motivations people like to be recognized they'd like to be acknowledged and as a child if you get that too soon or with too little effort I think by the time they're 18 they're done you know and I see this a lot of like like the guys that are coming up like guys you don't like it's almost like a quiet guy always goes further I think one reason why is because they don't get that because we're quiet but if you look at like the most humble guys in digital the ones that I think there's a lot of things were not to like they they have they've achieved a lot because they never quite got the same recognitions because some guys get one of the purple belts sure and that's like it's almost like you know that's not good for you buddy it's not good for you cuz you're gonna lose some steam now yeah you're made too much of a deal on a relatively small yeah it was if it's if it's if it's not it's the you you lose motivation if it's handy too easy yeah not for sure better yeah we all seek fame money good because he's something wrong with we essentially we all seek power and these are just different manifestations of power like money is just a physical manifestation of power right you know a theme is essentially social power yeah I guess ultimately why do you want power because you want to be able to influence yeah people control them so Fame is one way of doing that money's obviously another way yeah and then like the crude way was caveman style was just brute force right like I was a biggest strongest guy I had the most power literally right yeah we definitely made it more complicated now because now there's all these social potential and now power is you have 100mm people following you in Instagram it's changed all the time but like but there's there's there's a common thread there the common thread is that what's in the back of your mind telling you to be and when you think about it like you know leaving jujitsu the competition aside just thinking it from a purely an observer in a rational perspective you know there's no what's what's really the point of being better than the guy next to you on the grand scheme of things so if you remove competition all that like forget about jujitsu metals on that there's no real point you know it's just this is just it's okay there's the top of the pyramid okay you know it says that when you really put it down like that is like there is no point in being better than everyone else the point yeah yeah you're absolutely right that's why I tell people like you know if your martial arts experience is just about being that you know the best fighter at room you're missing out in a large experience of you because you you understand you have to explain to somebody oh I spent my whole life just pursuing being able to play someone the faith harder like you're just a big monkey talking gorilla yeah so like there's got to be more to it right but uh for sure I think being able to understand that kind of centers you as well like you you you have to be a I think humility is a huge part of the martial arts and sometimes people lose it I think particularly now where there is money in being just a pure athlete yeah versus what I would consider being like a martial artist yeah I think there's a difference I I call it a difference between being a fighter and being a martial artist at very different things a fighter is more of just an athlete they haven't really in capacity' the mindset of being a martial artist or humility all the virtues of it I mean and nowadays you can get by with that and you're like that's like the coach that says okay you don't you learn to just to just sprawl down you'll be able to you know stand and bang and they learn just a very limited skill set just enough with combined with that athleticism and their will to win that they can go far right but they're missing a huge part of the journey right and I feel it kind of makes it limits the growth of the martial arts movement because now people are associating being the fighter you know versus being a martial and I think the most important part the martial arts is net like you said the physical aspect of it but the mental aspect yeah he's a mental aspect translates to everything you like yeah I can't punch my kicking my way through an office yeah so and they even this being competitive is something that helps you yeah the guy talk they talk about with Mikey like when I was in school I used the same competitive mindset I'm not on the beat every student here outwork them I'm gonna out study them and I'm gonna be the best student yeah and when I was in high school I wasn't a good student that was generally a smart kid I ought to get B's but I never tried yeah when I got to college I was top of my class I graduated magna [ __ ] laude number one student in my engineering program and it was because the competitive mindset I wasn't just happy to get it you know I have to be the number one guy and training that is important you know and I feel that's why you know martial arts is valuable but I'd say getting back to training where we had talked about a couple things to do and you had mentioned with Mikey as well like one of the ways that you were trained aggression is you would set goals within training yeah right like so like tell us a little bit about that laughs I like that because it was it was a way of not being comfortable right I would literally like look at the clock sometimes and I think it really helped my stock is like I have always wanted I'm not trying to sometimes like I I'd rather I don't want to be like overly humble over the area I just like rather be like what is like I was always aggressive when I train and when I fought you know I was always like what people away from just about anywhere you know at least trying like I have you know but I think I developed that mindset like I literally did all the habit of looking at the clock and like if I had two minutes left I'd be like okay to submission you know I like if I sometimes I had 30 seconds left and in my head the scenario was so real but the scenario I would imagine was this right here I am 10 points behind and I got 30 seconds left if I don't finish this guy I'm gonna lose the world title and that's the story I tell myself but it's interesting because you can tell that story not believe it I cats not real world title I'm just in the gym no one cares no one's watching right whatever but in my head the scenario was very real I have 20 seconds to put this guy away and if I don't finish 20 seconds I'm gonna get a silver medal at the World Championship and that narrative made me like almost like panic in practice like I have to put this guy away no matter what and it was just like trying to go for submission after submission after submission till I got it and sometimes I'm like sometimes I get it sometimes not but I'll be like dead on the mats yeah like even in practice I'd be like flat on my back like give me 30 seconds here before I can stand up and this is the part it always drives me nuts about not done this everyone that like I hate this behavior is what people lose tournaments and they have all that energy to stand up and complain with the RAF and go like this and talk to their you didn't leave it on the max did you yeah you kept it all inside and you're complaining with the you can you spin like not even half the energy you had to put this guy away you did absolutely you only did half the job Yeah right because you're not even tired and you have all this energy can play with the rep to me always I hated that behavior and I see it all the time where I think it starts in the gym you know you leave it on the mats like I'm 30 second simply way and that was the way of me training that going back to your question like training that aggression like I play these games with myself if I have five minutes on the clock okay five submissions in that count you know or someone someone will beat me I'm like okay that person beat at me twice today tomorrow it's gonna be one not to happen twice there's no way and it was like always like setting it's like sorry if you into weightlifting I'm not like you're like writing now how much of bench pressing I see people I go to the gym all the time people like taking notes and everything that sounds like a lot of work give me something happy and I'll list you know but I'm not even track but these guys what they're doing is they're keeping track of their progress so 300 today you know 302 tomorrow 305 next week whatever to keep the track of their progress and as you just I think we should do similar things if not write it down at least you know what the best guys in the gym go like okay today only tap to once I type it twice tomorrow yeah always like pushing that finish line you know like always ahead of you really don't get to the finish line think I'm good you know because we've mentioned it a million times but you're done growing yeah I'm sure I always say what is it measured is it improved right so like I when I wait train I always log everything down and one of those guys now I know you're like that guy I've seen how you like to do your teaching you have like no you have like a other my mags yeah it's a map in the positions and I'm like going oh man I have that all in my head yeah I'm gonna sit down and write that I don't know but like David's really good about this guy's he's very very organized by the way he's like the brain behind this whole operation everything I just talk that's what we're talking about humility yeah I always plot everything down I measure things so what you're saying with setting goals and training is such a good device I think a lot of people have you're not doing that this is the easy lesson to learn that you can take right now because it's very important because like I said I feel the problem most people they just go to train and they just try to survive I feel like if I they don't even have a goal in mind of training other than just get out with all your limbs intact right that's about it you know and when you're a white belt that's a noble goal because usually that's really hard letting the tap they really want I'm like if you're a white belt you know that's a good goal yeah make it through but like what you got experience you know at least like at a blue belt level you gotta raise the bar you gotta raise the bar you gotta have some goals now right like in training goals those like get this amount apps have to be always submissions or score this sweep or get this guard pass you know like I would do similar things where I would set the agenda like what am I gonna work on today like I'll say like when I was working the keyboard shop system I literally said for four months I'm gonna do this tomorrow and I try to catch as many chemours as possible so every time I train like okay only thing I'm looking for Kimora and to me that was a way to develop it skill because I'm forcing one particular situation non-stop so I'm getting lots of experience quickly which normally would take longer if I was playing my overall game yeah whereas I'm force-feeding that scenario so that's like a situational training in a way right but even just in your regular training like saying okay I got a score this amount taps or I do this also a lot where you have the time limit yeah one minute I have to score right loose yeah and I do and I do that with my classes as well but you can see a lot of times people don't take it to heart they don't yeah I'm like you gotta believe it man you know that scenario there's only about like you can't you have to leave that narrative yeah I am losing this fight I'm gonna lose the world and it's so because I do that exact same story I've tried to mimic that in practice and most people don't get it they're like yeah it's training it's just a minute and it's the the mind thing is so much harder to teach the technique if I the technique is so much easier to teach yeah my brother gets more more vivid anything sometimes that's probably about it like he says if you don't get this take down your family's going to die like some people that registers hardly oh okay now I understand the message is traumatic vane your eyes play tricks on your money yeah because it has to be that way like I've seen people like when we do these drills like 30 seconds or you're lose and they're like in their clothes Gerard Mike came out but they'll be in their clothes guard and they won't open it and they just sit there for 30 seconds and I'm like what the hell man this is how you would you would lose like that like everything i'ma just die yeah and I've seen that happen in tormenta months I had a guy I was coaching and he was down by two from the very beginning of the match you got taken down yeah and we like open your guard whoo sweep yeah and he lost the whole match just in his clothes guard never over he had a healthy close guard like man did you unless you were behind the points for like five minutes he never went for one and I can't look at the thing it's easy to judge you know when you first know I in my head I never understood that yeah I remember like from a very well I always have like I'm losing I might as well go house yeah and I some people they must have some kind of mental block or something that stops them from from opening up and relax and I believe that starts in the gym you know so if you have that that mindset we're like I just freeze like if I get this all the time like Rob I just freeze when I compete like I just can't move forward like I just don't pass I don't know what happens I know the techniques but I just can't do them you know and I think that if you have that sort of blockage that's not good you know but sometimes you know that you use what you got man I don't get to choose the color of your hair you know you don't need to choose they're all these things about ourselves if we don't get to choose him so you just work with what you haven't can improve on so one thing I'd recommend is going back we've been saying the whole podcast is you start in the gym like what are you gonna do with a gym start with the guy that you know you can beat and maybe not the best guys anybody starts somewhere we're actually always making progress because it's fine to start down here and whatever that you're trying to improve on as long as what moving up you know moving up you know and it starts in practice that's what people don't get they think it starts in competition competition is the is the display of what you've been practicing technically physically and mentally yeah if you're not I think especially those time drills are so important because if you can't push yourself in training to go hard for 30 seconds it's like you're gonna lose you're not gonna do it when you're competing you'll be like that student in mind that just get in this closed guard the whole time right and I think a lot that is they think it could be worse yeah all right like oh you imagine if I think I already call this losing gracefully they think oh you know I rather lose by an advantage than lose by getting arm bars right and to me there's no difference it's a lot of loss is a loss like I would lose with no grace I mean once it matches over I'd shake hands and all that but like in that match I can't lose face I'm not I got a better way that's the same thing goes like this it just drives me crazy how I lost the guy who owned the whole division and I'm like okay it means to probably the best guy in division yeah but in my head always thought in mind like if I lose to you I want you to be so tired I'm gonna give you such hell I want to make sure you don't win your next night in fact I would more proud of the guy being so exhausted and losing his next match and the guy just like you know killing everyone division cuz in my head it's going oh I didn't really work him did I I didn't do that much to him but you're right about this mindset people have that and I've suffered this before like I just like if I'm gonna lose them and lose by one advantage you know yeah and grand scheme of things it doesn't because that means you conserve some energy or you didn't take calculated risks because you thought like oh no I'm gonna lose work yeah and then really what it is to is I've made this mistake before where it's you're more worried about what your friends people around you are gonna say like well Rob got demolished first robbed lost a really close fight yeah and I think it's like the the social pressure in a way getting to you when it shouldn't or I you shouldn't let that get to you should be competed for self but if you're watching other people they're judging you and you got both items by one advantage it's not as bad yeah especially it's the guy who won the whole thing Oh means like it could have been me wedding you know we were so close and it's like it's a it's a it's a tale you tell yourself it might be true sometimes like sometimes the final is the first match you know but you know I think up most of the time that's a tale people tell her themselves or we tell ourselves to feel better feel better and like I've always went out on my sword and that same kind of mentality where it's like I might lose but he didn't remember this minute and he's not gonna remember it kindly all right yeah like my brother had this thing when he was wrestling Kili headbutt that crap out of people yeah and they kept this big ol head high school they called these economists a lollipop he was like stick figure and this is giant head yeah and he would be like random pretty boy and whatnot you you would lose matches sometimes but the guy would be broken nose bleeding and stuff like that he says remember me like you want to be you want to be one of those guys where like you can't put them away easy because they're they're there to fight you know and do damage yeah you know so like I remember I would compete at the end like if I was losing I'd be doing at flying arm bars and flying triangles yeah things I have no business doing it's a bigger guy but like I gotta do something you gonna sit down and lose yeah I always I tell my students this all the time some advice you know whoever's listening the the the first minute of the match or not to say the first math a little arbitrary but like the first encounter that first contact is very important strategically you know it's very important because it sets the tone for the nest and then the next the rest of the match right like in the lightweight division like if I get to pull bar before you do that's half the win right there yeah you know so but I always take my time I sit the end of the match whether it's the last minute the last two minutes is the most important part of the match because that's when your opponent is most dangerous he's a cornered animal yeah that's the guy that never went for a flying armbar before right you describe but you normally don't jump refine armor but like you got 30 seconds left and you're losing you're gonna jump for a flying armbar if the opportunity presents itself that's when he's gonna go for that full block he never goes for that's when he's gonna be overly aggressive ironically the person who was winning a lot of times is looking at the clock thirty seconds and they start relaxing the coast hey that's why it so many times in jujitsu you see that happen right the very last 30 seconds minute you know ten seconds sometimes there's a reverse of the worse of the score and I think it has to do with the mind more than anything this guy that's behind he's like second right there's the finish line he is sprinting to the finish line where is this guy that's in front is going all the finish line is right I'm almost there yeah I can kind of slow down a little bit I'm gonna win and they get past in the last second and I see this time after time after time again and you know some advice the last minute you got state sharpest like that's like you doing your opponent is most dangerous do not put your guard down do not you know run slower just because you got 30 seconds left correct you gotta keep fighting you know like when we do the same drills even if you're saying like 30 seconds you know maybe 30 seconds you're winning you gotta stay winning right I think a lot of times we said people they shift our mindset they think oh now I play super conservative and I change what I've been doing now even though it's been working for the past like five six minutes and what you've done now is that you've moved back ease the pressure off the guy and now you're giving it room yeah to work like to me like whether it's five minutes or you know thirty seconds left I'm playing the same game that's been working the whole time actually I always worked in the reverse like when there was thirty seconds left I was looking for the finish yeah I'm like okay now it's time to end this thing I don't want me to get out of here yeah you stay aggressive best defense right yeah another guy has to be forced to defend them wise guy we're about two things yeah I can in defending where's button if you stop attacking he's only got one thing on his mind it's almost like you make it easier yeah like you actually you have to keep attacking the thing is I know everyone's like it's let's say BJJ matches ten minutes right black all that or whatever it's physically hard way towards the end there you're tired yeah unless you're like Busha sure has that ability to explode like it's the first man in the match with like 20 seconds level I'm like who does that man you know what some people have but like it's normally you're very tired so it's normal for you want to slow down a little bit but you you you it's not just a condition that kicks it in here Lord that your aggression all that but the mind has got to stay fighting the whole sure and I think at some point people start accepting it like all it's almost over it's almost over you really gotta like not have that mindset towards English like correct yeah you're gonna like I think you said it best so you have to stay aggressive the whole time you know ideally you're trying to get the win you wanna get the finish you know but you can't ease off on the guy and give him room if what you've been doing he's been working the whole time don't stop it yeah keep that pressure on that guy don't let him don't give him a window to try to counter-attack or pull off a last-minute Hail Mary you know and now it starts in the gym I think he said you have to have those drills and like sometimes we'll do like I said we do situational where we'll say okay this guy's up by two this guy's down by to go and to build that because now sometimes people aren't gonna make them and say oh I'm this gonna go super defensive yeah you know but no they gotta learn I got still stay in the attack you know but I think like you said like the whole theme of this episode train like you're gonna compete Yeah right if you had to sum it up that that would be it and it's we cannot emphasize sometimes I got repeat myself a lot in class and I'll probably do the same on his podcast it's because it's that important correct therefore saying something over and over and over it's like yeah I got it Rob like no no you didn't get it listen to it again you didn't get it's like our minds are like it's like taking it to someone because Peter jujitsu they do the sweep once or twice I get I got it coach do it do it on me yeah oh I can't sweep you like yeah exactly you don't have it you don't have it you know like you have to understand this lesson on a deeper level that is not it's like on their conscience that's easy you tell yourself okay be competitive in the gym but how do you get that message to the knucklehead in the back yeah right a subconscious that's so difficult to program how do you and I think it's what you said it's like that repetition yeah I guess I'm unpregnant you get like one of them's gonna make it through it's gonna get the message across you know like you have to you know you have to keep repeating that to yourself and visualizing it and training that and reminding yourself it's like breaking a bad habit how do you correct a really old and bad habit yeah it's difficult thing to do what I have to have - you haven't mentioned this before and I like the analogy light was just a trail yeah all right like you know the more you put yourself on this path it becomes a road yeah becomes cement with asphalt right so like this is you know what we're doing so you're hearing a repeated theme like it's a reason and hey you know just like you're saying like you learn to move once it doesn't mean you learned it it's like you read a book once doesn't mean you know everything in the book keep rereading it so hopefully these things are gonna get across to you because they are very important and they are what separates the common competitor versus the champion competitor and I know we're a little short on time because Brahma has to catch a flight but I just want to do like a quick summary yeah real quickly when we talked about little devices that we used right so think for training purposes one you do want to have a competitive environment right you want to have those people that you can spar with and go hard and be competitive to try to win and like I said that I shouldn't translate you know we're saying off the mat right you guys are friends I mean you're trying to hurt it yeah like you can actually be extremely competitive when I train with you I'm trying to beat you yeah but I'm watching all for your health as much as I watch out for my I sure and I have instances in my life where I'm not very proud of this but like I was so angry that I couldn't beat this person I actually hurt them at the end I didn't have to I've done this one so you know like I remember I get still guilty about I've been 10 years I still think about I didn't have to hurt that guy but like you know that's that's that's bad like you don't you you want to be competitive but never it's it's always watching out for your partner's health that's good because you need that guy if anything if not for your partner for yourself break your toys don't break exactly you you need this guy fresh on the massive train with so even for selfish reasons not for altruistic reasons watch out for your training partners you know and and that I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to develop that trust because once we have that trust we know we can clash every day and it's not personal and it's not unhealthy you know it's yeah I'd love this I can go for everybody it's like it's like right before this podcast me and David talking about what we were going to talk about and that thing Dave said like all we can explore Lemoore like that the mindset for a training competition he's touched on this before I'm like I feel like we could have gone for another hour on this topic we might revisit it at some point for sure yeah and just to touch up on the last few things to setting the training rules now that's something that's a really good device that you can add you know just say you have to tap somebody out yet but sweep somebody just set a goal for each training session don't just show up there and like I'm this gonna do whatever coach says and survive like no be ambitious put the goals in yourself you yeah you you are gonna be a little nervous going to training that's the idea because when you're gonna compete you're gonna be a little nervous too that just means you're invested and you're gonna use that nervous energy and channel it to be more productive on the mats and then we also talked about some mental devices that I was talking about using positive affirmations on a daily basis whether you write them down and you're saying to yourself do it repeatedly as you Rober say to get through that subconscious you know it's like a thick wall you gotta keep pounding it until you get an idea across you know morphism I love that one yet yourself at your hero who's your hero like and like fight like am or be a gorilla like what would have to really do right now to pass this guard you live up to a higher vision I actually think I've always done that I never thought of that it was a word for it but like you are playing tricks on your mind for it to be better yes I imagine in your a bullet and and just like you were saying also the the situational is kind of like a morphism in the way where you're gonna say like oh it's a world championship finals you're down by two you're in creating a little visualization of something scenario and scenario you know and those are great too but like you said you're gonna believe them right if you're just saying it and then you're fighting still half-ass like you didn't work you should be doing everything you can you know like panicking yeah like I need to pass a scar wrong when my family's gonna be killed like that tell yourself that if that works like if I don't pass this card and you know my you know the world's gonna end you know I can tell yourself that to actually get that extra you know a bit of you know pull that push for that final fire actually because these things count guys it's not just a technique with devoid of aggression I always that make this analogy imagine a jab in slow motion yeah there's that way and imagine it double with no aggression oh it's a super technical double Rob very very technical on jeweled at a million times if it lacks aggression I'm sorry it doesn't work yeah it needs to have a strong intent yes essentially stronger than your opponent's intend to defend it right acts so you need to be relentless but I think that sums it up though I hope you guys enjoyed this was fun I really enjoyed this one as well I've enjoyed these I hope you guys enjoyed it as well we asked you guys to share you know for sure yeah if you can that word you know we had the website breaking the guard calm which has all the links you know so feel free to share that with your friends on social media or email whatever you share it with your components if you're gonna paint against they don't know this is for you and your friends okay sure alright guys cool let's see you next time take care [Music]