The Shintaro Higashi Show - Get Better Fastest: Mindful Training | The Shintaro Higashi Show

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

In this solo episode, Shintaro Higashi dives into the importance of mindful training for serious judo and jiujitsu improvement. He shares personal insights on how to structure your dojo sessions with intentional goals—like focusing on specific opponents, styles, or techniques—instead of just going through the motions.Whether it's grip fighting, dealing with left-handed players, or simply designing smarter rounds, this episode breaks down the mental framework needed to level up your game.00:00 Why Mindful Training Matters00:43 The Trap of Mindless Rounds01:12 Avoiding Unsolicited Advice01:40 Feedback Loops & Self-Correction02:07 Being Intentional with Randori Partners03:01 Weekly Themes for Targeted Training04:10 Identifying Patterns Against Lefties05:00 Building Tactical Awareness Over Time06:00 From Training to Game Plan: Internalizing Skills06:41 Grip Fighting Theme Weeks07:21 Being Outgripped—Personal Story08:01 Comparing Skill vs. Size08:42 Active Engagement = Real Improvement09:10 Talking Through Problems & Learning Collaboratively09:35 Wrap-Up: Leveling Up Through Intentional Practice10:00 Higashi Brand Hoodie Plug + Outro🚨 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. Haku-A-I helps you measure, predict, and solve customer churn. Visit Hacquen AI and start your free churn audit today. I'm going to talk a little bit about mindful training today. Going into the dojo, doing a bunch of rounds, not remember anything. A few days go about. you go back to the dojo and then you're just kind of getting in a workout and that's okay you know if you're that's your goal you just want to burn calories and you want to get a workout in to see your friends that's fine but if you're trying to improve and you're getting frustrated and you know you're not getting

that much better and you're kind of doing the same shit over and over again this is kind of the idea for you when you go to the dojo you have to be mindful you can't just go through the motion zone at chicomi you have to actively be introspectively thinking like am i doing this right giving myself feedback you know and hopefully hopefully you're not working with a guy that's just constantly giving you all you're doing this wrong you're doing that wrong you do this wrong you that role because it kind of ruined your train of thought it kind of hurts your ability to critically think through problems yourself so if you're one of these guys who are just giving unsolicited advice all the time do us all favor stop giving

unsolicited advice and i used to give unsolicited advice all the time with everything don't do this don't do that you're crisscrossing your legs rolling and this and that and blah blah blah there's no way all these people can process it all at the same time maybe you give them one or two things but majority of the time the number one advice should be slow it down so you could correct yourself does that look correct does that feel correct if there's a mirror look at yourself in the mirror and then fix your own form that should be the key right so slowing it down and being very mindful of your training I think goes a very, very long way. I think it's one of the most important things.

And if you're mindful about your training, let's just say, timer goes off, pick a partner for Rondori. I am actively picking someone because of X, Y, and Z. There's a reason behind it. For instance, I'm having trouble with lefties. Okay, so today, I'm only going with lefties.

So if you think back right now to your last training, and if I ask you how many lefties is you with, can you remember? Probably not. You know, most people can't remember. Most people are completely lost when that happens. Did you go with tall people, short people? How did you pick your round? And the majority of the time, it's like, oh, I usually go with this guy first. I usually go with that guy first. He's pretty safe. And then he goes pretty crazy as I go with him last. Okay. So how are you getting better then, right? Are you actively designing your training program for you specifically? And that's where this mindful thing comes in.

Now, I'm planning my rounds. Today, I'm going to go with lefties. This is my day. This week, I want to go all lefties. It's like my theme of the week is to get good at going against lefties. Maybe you avoid lefties period. That's not good, right? So even during the Uchikomi period, you're going against the lefty.

Hey, you stand lefty? They didn't even have to be a lefty. But say, can you stand lefty for me? Outside position? I have inside position. And then you're doing Wichikomi's off of that. Combination, same thing. Grip fighting stop.

You go. lefties and you're trying to fit this top side hand or go inside or how to put the first hand on feeding them to the inside so now you can practice the outside fishing for this sleeve hand these things that you could actually drill only against lefties and there's specific skills even with going against lefties or kenka's judo which is opposite side of judo right that's kind of the method that you want to do that way you have a theme you're sticking to it and you have exposure to that one stimuli over and over and over throughout the week. And after the week, you'll have a much better understanding of going against lefties. You'll be so much more comfortable. And when you have that

first practice, you could kind of identify where I had issues, how I had those issues, and then you can work on it the next time, because you're not just doing Uchikomi mindlessly, or just going with the guy that you really like to go with. Right. So Monday, I go against Lalos and he's kind of beat me and putting tons of pressure forward and I'm kind of getting uncomfortable. All right. How do I deal with that? That pole stand is very strong. So I'm going to try to get rid of that pole stand.

However it is, using my chin, using my shoulder, taking the hand off, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm drilling this. And then I'm going with another lefty. This is this kid Eric in my dojo. He's lefty. So then you go with him. And then Eugene does something similar, right? So now you go on to Eugene.

And then maybe I get thrown by Eric with Tomonaga. He's very good. Lefty Tomenaget. You know, he's lefty and goes Tomonagi with his right leg up. So now I have to be exposed to that. How do I best defend this? How do I best shut that down? Then he fakes it and goes Ouchi.

And then Laloz also does Ochi. So like, I've got to figure that out. So now I'm drilling all the time. I'm thinking all the time about all these different lefties, right? And then Mateo walks in and Gianni walks in and those guys are both lefties. So now all of a sudden, they get bundled. And now you see these five guys that I just kind of gave you an example of. And you can see similarities in their gripping.

and you can sort of start identifying this guy likes inside position that guy's likes outside position but they're all lefties and now all of a sudden you go home on Monday night and you're thinking about it and you're wildly aware

of all the different patterns and start to make shape and it's making this beautiful thing and now of a sudden on Wednesday I'm going to try this thing whether it's right versus left inside Tatoshi bang I can knock them down almost

force Nawaza use it as a setup it's working really good on this guy, I'm going to do it on that guy, I'm going to do it on that guy, and now it sort of becomes a part of my repertoire going against lefties. And I stacked that training for the whole week. I'm buzzing with new ideas, attacking off that one hand to the weak side, he-potseneggi, attacking that inside Tatoshi, gripping better, you know, forcing outside if I want to. Now I'm playing a different ballgame. You know, my judo is now elevated. I'm just better than everyone because I'm working on that one specific skill going against lefties. And that's real.

mindful judo, you know. And then this type of thing can not only be used in a right versus left setting, but against gripping. I want to get good at gripping. This week's going to be my theme, you know, Zane's really good at gripping in my gym. He's so good at gripping. Maybe he's not like, you know, the best judoka ever in the gym right now. He's a purple ball, but his gripping is unbelievable. So I'm going to do as many gripping rounds as possible with Zane. And then Nick is also really good at gripping. He's coming off a knee injury, so he doesn't do a lot of Rondore, but does tons of gripping. So I'm going to go Zane and Nick. I'm going to alternate between these two guys until I can start outgripping him consistently. And I'm mindful the whole time,

right, how often are they outgripping me? And this is something that I recently did. I've been slacking a little bit. My knee was messed up, and I haven't been gripped fighting that much, and I've been doing a little bit more Nawa, you know. So I haven't been doing as much gripping, but then Nick just came back from his knee surgery also, but he's been doing chair grip fighting, and he's been grip fighting all the time, and then I went to grip fight with him, and he outgrip me a good portion of the time,

probably like half the time maybe, maybe even more, right? So now I'm like, yo, what is going on here? And you know, I'm much heavier and bigger so I could throw that hand over and kind of like pull them in and like physically kind of do certain things. I weigh him by 50 pounds, you know? But it's like if I didn't have that,

if we were the same weight, Would I be able to outgripping more? No. So purely from a gripping skill standpoint, when we're doing just a gripping, I'm a little rusty, yes. He's a lot sharper right now. Yes. You know, he's only focused on gripping. I'm not really doing training that much.

There is a thing there that needs to be studied. Right. And that I should, I haven't really done it. I actually haven't thought about it until now. But that's kind of mindful judo that you need to do, mindful training. You know, so now all of a sudden you have a week-long grip fighting theme where you're kind of compounding the information from training to training. And then you're designing your training in a certain way.

It's not like just showing up, doing one dory, feeling good, going home. You know, this is like active thinking. And when your mind is engaged like this, you're going to want to talk about it with somebody. And then you're going to figure it out little by little, like, yo, say, what was that grip thing again? How did you keep getting his sleeve? You know, when I couldn't break that lapel hand off, like, sometimes they'll go with Gungi. and I can't break that lapel hand off and I'll be like, yo, why am I having such a hard time

taking this hand off? And then he'll give you a little bit of advice, right? He'll give you like, you know what? I go from here and I rotate my hand this way upward with my pinkies facing the ceiling. So now I'm wrapping the ghee downward so now I get stuck if you're trying to take it off in the traditional way.

So these things, mindful judo, extremely helpful, gets you to the next level. If you're not going from training to training, fascinated thinking about it talking about it you're not getting that much better i hate to say you know so definitely guys check out haigashi brand.com and purchase this hoodie that i'm wearing i spend a lot of money on inventory and it's not moving so that's why i decided to wear it but please check out haigashi brett.com we have new hoodies these are really nice we have geese coming now they're all on the website please go check that out um but yeah mindful training a really really important

of just getting better period that's my thing for today thank you very much for listening and see you the next one