The Shintaro Higashi Show - Building the Ultimate Grappling Seminar | The Shintaro Higashi Show

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

In this episode, Shintaro Higashi and David Kim discuss Shintaro’s recent two-person seminar format with longtime friend and BJJ black belt Brian Glick. They break down how judo and jiu-jitsu instruction can work together, the benefits of having two expert coaches in the room, and upcoming ideas for seminars and training retreats.00:23 New In-Person Podcast Setup01:01 Shintaro and Brian Glick’s Seminar Collaboration04:44 Brian Glick’s Martial Arts Background06:17 Why the Dual-Coach Format Works13:33 Upcoming Slovenia Training Camp and Retreat Ideas16:42 Seminar Business and Hosting Realities🚨 LIMITED-TIME OFFER: 40% OFF 🚨The All-in-One Instructional Bundle just got even better.Every major instructional. One complete system. Now at our biggest discount yet.Grab yours now at 40% off : https://higashibrand.com/products/all-instructionalsThis won’t last. Build your game today.🔥 Get 20% OFF FUJI Gear! 🔥Looking to level up your judo training with the best gear? FUJI Sports has you covered. Use my exclusive link to grab 20% OFF high-quality gis, belts, bags, and more.👉 https://www.fujisports.com/JUDOSHINTARO 👈No code needed – just click and save!Links:🇯🇵 Kokushi Budo Institute (The Dojo) Class Schedule in New York, NY 🗽: https://www.kokushibudo.com/schedule🇯🇵 Higashi Brand Merch & Instructionals: https://www.higashibrand.com📚 Shintari Higashi x BJJ Fanatics Judo Courses & Instructionals Collection: https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/shintaro-higashi/

The Shintaro Higashi show is sponsored by Judo TV, your premier destination for live and on-demand judo coverage. Never miss a throat. Higashi brand. Train hard, live strong, wear Higashi brand. Hakuin AI. Hakuin AI helps you measure, predict, and solve customer churn. Visit Hacuin AI and start your free churn on it today. Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to the Shantara Higashi show with David Kim. We're trying something new. In person. I know. We have three cameras set up. It's a terrible idea. Yeah, I mean, it'll be easier to get guests here too, right? Yeah, they can sit right here, be cozy.

You sit right here, right? Yeah. And now when I show something, I can put you in a headlock inside a grapple guy like this. So, yeah, here's the first one of it. Let us know in the comments if you like it. If you have any suggestions. Yeah. You know, maybe some of the backdrop stuff.

You know, we haven't really thought it through, but it's just my regular office. Yes. Yes. So what are we talking about today? Maybe they want us to wear socks or something. Oh, yeah. Can you go feet? No.

Did you go feet? Yeah. So I think today we're going to talk a little bit about your recent seminar with Brian Glick, the great Brian Glick. And it's not often that you see, sometimes you'll see people teach in sequence. Yeah. But it's rare that you have two people kind of teach together. And I'm sure you did do things, you know, take turns and stuff. But you've known Brian for so long that, you know, as people know, as people know,

watching YouTube. Yep. That, you know, you guys have like a close relationship. So I wanted to delve into how, like, what you guys taught, how you set it up. Yep. You know, kind of the feedback that you got, whether you would do it again. Yes. That kind of thing.

So this is what's interesting. We did a seminar before one time in New Paltz. Brian was up there. He's like, hey, man, I'm going to do a seminar on New Paltz. A Gambit? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Yeah, I know. Gambit Jiu-Jitsu, Gambit Submission Wrestling, and New Paltz, great gym, nice people, friendly people. My friend Ezra works out there, teaches judo there too. Right. So Brian was going to do a seminar there, and I happened to be in that region on that weekend. Right. Because I have a house up there.

Yep. And Brian's like, yo, come and hang out and do this with me. And Ezra was like, yo, come by and do this with us. So then I go. It's like, wait a minute. Yeah. I literally crashed Brian's seminar. Right.

And it was really cool because it was like, oh, and I knew some people there. And it was a really fun thing. And then Brian's like, all right, you take it away. You teach standing, I teach ground. Lazy bastard. Yeah, and then it became this thing of like, I was teaching the standup for about maybe 45 minutes of an hour. And then, okay, this is how you get to the ground. It was nogi, so we're talking about hand position, hand fighting, takedowns, good for jih Tijuana, good bad for jih Tijuana.

Here are a couple of judo for Nogi Judo. Right. Right. And then we bring it down to the ground and then Brian taught his whole thing. And it was incredible. It was like, how? have to work, but there was a synergistic thing where it was more than the sum of our parts. Right.

And people loved it. Right. So we were like, huh, there's maybe a thing here. Right. Right. Right. And then so that was like the birth child of this idea. Right.

And Brian had a connection in Arkansas with this guy, Josh, who owns this place called the dojo. Very interesting dojo. Very nice name. They don't teach past four. He's just like a very collaborative training space for everybody. Oh. So it's not like they have classes just running all the time. It's a lot of people doing semi-private, group privates, people just come together.

Hey, I'll meet you at the dojo at 3 p.m. I'm bringing five guys, six guys, and it's like always... It's kind of a collective. It is a collective. It's very cool. So Josh had us out there for a seminar, and he set it up in a way where it's like, all right, Shantaro and Brian are going to come out here. They're going to do a dual seminar. It's a two-day ordeal.

And we did the same thing. We did. A two-day privilege. I think that's what you meant. Yeah, yeah. Right. So that was amazing. You know, and I think it was very, very good. Yeah. Thank you to Josh, by the way. Yeah. I mean, I'm not thanking you, but I'm sure they were very thankful. So what was the dynamic like between you and Glick? I mean, obviously the gambit thing was kind of spur of the moment. Yes. But how did you set it up with the guys in, what was the name of the place again?

The Doja. The Dojo. Josh. How could I forget? Yes. So what we did initially was I saw. started off with the standing portion. We did a ghee and no-gi session. In the ghee session, I'm talking about hand-positioning grips, setting up the tax, all the usual stuff that I'm talking on to the stay on this podcast. And then every now and then, all right, go try it. And it wasn't just me walking around helping people. Brian is also walking around helping people because he's a judo black belt.

Yeah, we should, I mean, for people who don't know and haven't watched some of your historical content. I mean, can you describe Brian? Because obviously he's known for his jiu-jitsu, but I don't think people know how good he is Yeah, he's an amazing martial artist. And, you know, he was Henzos, Donna Heard's first black belt. Yeah. Not Hensos, but Donahir's first black belt.

And he is an unbelievable skill, great YouTube channel, high-level Jits. One of the highest-level jits of ever seen. And he also has a judo black belt. And he did a little Muay Thai. He's just like a lifelong martial artist. You know, he owns a Dojo 555 BJJ out in Brooklyn. So if you're in Brooklyn, check it out. And, you know, we had a long friendship for 15-so years.

Yeah, right. And it started with, hey, man, you know, let's work together. Let's work out together. And he would give me a lesson in jiu-jitsu for an hour. And I'll give him a lesson in judo for an hour. Right. And we've been doing it for over a decade. Yeah, it's kind of nuts.

Yeah. And then we would get together usually on a Wednesday. Wednesdays were a thing. And then sometimes it was at an athletic club. Sometimes it's here. Sometimes it's there. And now recently he comes and teaches a noon class at the dojo. So then after that, we do mostly standing, working out, things like this.

So, you know, he's, he gave him my black belt also. Yeah. What's his best throw? What's Glick's best throw? He has a good Uchimada. He does a good Taitoshi. He's a good Ashiwaza and good gripping. So he has a lot of stuff going from takedown-wise,

and he has a very, you know, wide variety of leg grabs also. He's just straight up good overall, you know? I like his tie. He looks like he has a good tie. He has a good tie. And he could go right and left, which is very unique. Ooh. Yeah.

So, yes, as I'm teaching, he's welcome. around helping it's an extra helper right and then every now and then he'd say hey sensei can I jump in for X Y and Z yeah and then he'll have his ideas about it but it would probably be about 80 20 me teaching that first portion yeah and then when the jiu jitsu portion happened I'm pretty tired and checked out so he was doing most of the work and then every now and then there would be an odd person you got this yeah yeah yeah and then every now there'll be an odd person out and I could jump in here jump in there you know, and then, you know, sometimes you have people raising their hands, and they're in this

corner of the room, but tends to take them has to make themselves through this side of the room, and he's being bombarded questions, like, ah, okay, what's your question? Right. No, we're not in-roding. No, half-guard sucks. Yeah. We're not going on inversion, and we're going out-verging, you know, like, you're going the wrong way, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes it's a simple fix that, so it's like I'm kind of a, we take turns being sort of assistant to each other, and it just works out really good, you know? Yeah. So did you, I know like a lot of times you're kind of, you know, you're kind of in, but you're out. You're trying to like, you know, so did you get any feedback from the people while you were there on like how the format and how it went? Yeah, they loved it. You know, and the people who hosted us, Josh and those guys were like, oh, man, this was amazing. He, you know, because like you said, it's like a collective, he wants to make it a twice a year situation. So that'll be really great. You know, these one-off seminar. are awesome but you know having a relationship with the gym and going back every year you get to see their guys grow also so it's almost like uh yeah and you can get surprised right because you don't see them every day yes oh you actually got better i had no hope for you yeah so i think it's a great thing you know yeah yeah and then people loved it uh it was really fun for us too yeah because usually

go to these things and then it's like all right you get picked up from the airport hotel hang out go to the thing but because i'm with glick the whole time And then we get along really well. So we get lunch, hang out, train a little bit, hang out a little bit, get food. And it's like, it's kind of a nice thing. Yeah, because you have a partner in crime. Yeah, and then you give each other feedback on how the things went. Dude, never say that again.

Yeah, yeah. That is wrong. Okay. And I imagine that all the videos you guys have done together. Yeah. I assume it must have helped, right? Like in the actual teaching environment, right? Because you kind of know, you feel when the other people.

person, you know, wants to jump in or has something to say or could say something. Yep. Right. And a lot of the stuff that he showed also, like, I'm Uke, right? And when you go to a new gym for a seminar, you don't know the Uke abilities sometimes, especially with Tatsuazza. Yeah. Because they're scared of getting thrown.

You pick a light person. It looks weird. You pick a heavyweight. You're going to have a hard time. So, you know, Glick's perfect. Glick really is the perfect biofus. It's a perfect wike. Yeah.

You know, and it's like, okay, inside position right versus left. Yeah, I can just tell him that. He's like, got it. He knows. You know, I'm not even talking to the crowd. Yeah. It's like, this is the position we're going to look at next. Yeah.

He knows. Got it, right? I go for this. The reaction is most likely, he's already doing it. Right. You're not as opposed to like, when I'm doing a seminar in a new space, like, when I go for this position, when I go for this, the reaction would be that they would pick up their left leg and then they would step back, exposing the right leg, et cetera, et cetera, it's a lot more deliberate.

Yeah. Right. So that was a really nice thing And also me being Uke also Yeah I'm pretty tuned in to a lot of the stuff he does When he was showing the leg lock stuff I was a little bit like

Because that's like my weakest game Yeah, right Right And it was the Nogi portion Yeah Because when you're training You're mostly doing ghee I'm doing ghee

I do Nogi also But you know I have really like Old Knees these stuff So I'm so quick to tap So some of these positions of like Okay Trying to slip the heel And then rotating outward

I don't even let I don't even get there. I'm afraid to work on it with some people. Some people are crazy with the stuff. So I'm very self-preservation kicks in. Yeah.

And then so some of those reactions, I was like, the most common reaction in this inside triangle is, uh, and I was like, so, but aside from that, it's a great thing because you have an embedded uke, you know? So I guess in some ways it's interesting too for the students because you cover a lot of ground. A ton.

Because. Yeah. You know, it's both of you. You're doing Tachiwaza. You're doing Neuaza. And, you know, by definition, you're covering a lot of ground. So do you find the dynamic is a little bit different with the students? Are they like, they just don't know any better and they just go with it?

Or do you find you get a different kind of question from them? Or do you wish they would ask certain questions and they don't? I mean, I don't know. Because it is different, right, than your normal seminar, especially since you are going from standing to the floor yeah right so I think one of the things that was really nice was I did a drill of like touching go kind of first hand on with no ghee and I kind of rushed through it and I was expecting them to get it right away and we're talking about like when you reach with your lead leg you're you're turning and

tuck in this elbow and then you're reaching for this end you're taking this end goes down and then to alternate between that and feel for the reactions and after I taught that I was like walking around but I was kind of not dayduring but thinking in the next segment yeah right and then glit was like oh you know what I don't think these guys are getting it hey guys quick note you know instead of just being improvisational let's do right hand on left hand on right hand on left hand on just to kind of do this thing and then we go right hand released left hand release and I was like wow that was really good I wasn't even paying attention yeah so like that was another I don't know what that question that you asked was but well no it's like a different

That's a dynamic between you and Glick, right? Because he can, while you're thinking of that next segment, he can actually see what people are doing. Yes. And that's not always, you know, possible when you're just on your own, right? Because you're doing both. You're having to do both. Yeah.

And sometimes you can't get everything. Yeah. And it is better from a consumer standpoint, too, because when you have a two, three-hour session, it was a three-hour session, you know. Right. It's long. Yeah. And near the tail end of the three-term.

hours, you're getting a little bit tired and you start to fade a little bit, especially me. I'm like one of those guys, right? So it's like, as my attention start to fade and then it's like he's kicking in, he's in high gear. So I think from a consumer standpoint, it's also better. And having two experts in the room that they could ask questions to, better. Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, it was amazing.

I would love to, that, that's kind of perfect to me because you get the stand. You get the whole game. Yep. Right. You get the stand-up. You get to transition. You get the groundwork. You get the submission. Yep. You get the whole circle. Yeah, we didn't. G. No-Gie. Yeah. And no-gi. Right. We're actually doing something like that in Slovenia. Oh, that's right. Tell me about this. Because this is, I forgot about this. This is like another thing.

Vito Drachek. He's a Slovenian national champion heavyweight. He was on the IJA circuit for like 12 years. Right. He's amazing dude. And he reached out and he's like, hey, man, I do a camp every year for these kids. It's this amazing training camp. You get like 200 kids. in there. You know, you want to come to this thing. And I'm like, yeah, maybe, you know. But it's both you and England? No, no.

Or just you. This is me and Vito talking. Oh, you all. Okay, okay, got it. And then he wanted to bring in an Olympic champion because, you know, I'm not an Olympic champion. Yeah. So he got Mosheed Baker to come. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So then I'm like, yeah, how are we going to pay all of us? I'm not. Yeah. That makes no sense. I'm not, you know, going out there for free. Yeah. You know, so then we were like, all right, we're going to put together a package for the American

people to go and do this thing, but they're not going to be doing full-blown training cap with these young European teenagers. You can't do it. You can't do four hours a day. You can't. Thank you. Thank you. But four hours a day of judo, five days a week, it's just not reasonable. And it's a European market, so most people don't pay that much for this kind of a thing. I was like, you know what that's sort of hard-tiered thing with like training camp, hang out, go see Slovenia, which is absolutely beautiful. You know about Slovenia? I've heard of it. I wish I did. So we're going to go hiking, pool, spa, all this stuff.

It's this all-inclusive thing. You get private lessons with me, Vito, and Mashabaker Olympic Champ. So we're working on that. And I'm working on bringing Glick into that. Oh, nice. That could be really cool. Yeah. So you get, you know, a Brazilian jitza expert on Olympic champion and a YouTuber.

That's kind of the idea. You're the glue. You're the glue. You bring those two together. So we're working on a couple of things, you know? Yeah. It should be exciting. And they should be good for the kids too.

I'm sure they'll have fun with it. Like you could kind of have a camp and then wrapped around that is kind of like a training tourism kind of situation. And it was smart. You know, we're talking with Vito. It's like, oh, yeah, these kids, they're used to paying almost nothing for a week-long training camp. It's like 40 euros, 50 euros or something. Oh, my God. And it's like, all right, you know, you think Americans would want to come?

Should we get 100 more students so we could pay everybody? And I'm like, it's just not going to be it. It's impossible. Yeah. You need a better product. I don't say better. Yeah. But for a different...

Well, it's got to be focused on it. He's got to be targeted. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So it'll be like a training retreat. Yeah. You know, with Olympic champion and me. You know, we've got to get on the marketing, actually.

We haven't done any work on that yet. But we have the event bright page set off. And everybody wins. I mean, that's God's work. Everybody wins. The kids win. They get the camp that they wanted. Yeah.

The, you know, quote, quote, tourists, the training tourists. Yeah. They win because they're picking up the same techniques. They get to see. a beautiful country they don't have to get their asses beat you know for hours a day right

but they're picking up a lot of the technically and that they can probably train as much as they want you know you're going to get enough training yes and and everybody wins and then you know it's enough money to support having four guys there spending their time so

that's God's work right helping people and making money so if you want me and Greg to do a seminar at your gym you could do that, you know. Yeah. I would definitely like to see more of these happen. Yeah.

Because certainly in America, if you're a jih Tzu person, you can't lose. No. You know, I mean, you're getting the best of both worlds. It is expensive, though, for the gym owners. I've got to tell you. Yeah. Because I have my fee. Yeah.

He has his fee. Yeah. And then generally, I don't go below my fee. Yeah. You know, and it's, right? So it's like it's hard for me to burn a weekend with my kid. Yeah. Yeah. If I'm going to go out there for, you know, two grand, three grand. I can't do it. I just won't do it. You know, so it is a little bit more costly.

And some people are price sensitive. I get that. You know, we're willing to work with them. But, you know, well, maybe this is the kind of, I mean, you're figuring it out, right? Figuring it out. Yeah. There are situations where it makes sense. Yeah. You know, we don't want. You know, real one. So. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? This is the thing. I do a lot on my own. He does a lot of his own. Why not collaborate together?

Right. So it's like that's the kind of idea. Right. And there's got to be ways to, whether it's through scale or just through like a particular situation. Yeah. Where a host can make it work, you know? Yeah.

I think so. The issue with a lot of these hosts, I don't want to, you know, put everybody in a thing, but there's sort of a marketing lag, right? Right. So the better they are at marketing, the more slots they can sell. I've done seminars at gym where I'm charging $5,000. which is my fee but they're very good at marketing and they had 120 people there all paying $100 each they're making money I'm making money everyone's happy yeah right

but then again a lot of these gyms commit to my fee and then only 30 people show up yeah 30 people show off and they haven't done the proper marketing behind it and now of a sudden they're losing money and I always feel bad in that case yeah you know it's like the dojo isn't doing too great and now you did the seminar which lost your money yeah you know what's the return on this stuff. Yeah. And half the time, they're like, oh, we're just happy that you're here and to teach this stuff, meet you.

And then, you know, but there's a sweet spot with this stuff, I think, too. Yeah. You know, and, yeah, I can't market every event for myself also. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's got to be a collaborative effort. Yeah. Yeah.

So, well, listen, guys. If you'd like to have Shantaro and Glick come out, definitely reach out. But I think, you know, we're going to see more and more of these types of collaborations just because people are interested in it. You know, people are interested in the stand-up, people are interested in the, you know, in the Nahuaza, people are interested in the whole thing now. You know, it's not just one or the other, particularly, I think, in the U.S. Yeah. But thank you. I think that's a good episode. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you, Shantara, for hosting me in your home.