The Shintaro Higashi Show - Getting Back To Judo After a Long Break

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

In this episode of the Shintaro Higashi Show, Shintaro and Peter delve into the challenges and strategies for getting back into judo after a long break. They discuss the psychological barriers that prevent practitioners from returning, the importance of identifying why you stopped in the first place, and practical steps to ease back into training. The conversation covers everything from managing injuries and balancing personal life with training to the importance of gym culture and shopping around for the right dojo. Whether you're a seasoned judoka returning after a hiatus or a parent looking to reconnect with judo through your child's training, this episode offers valuable insights and advice. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:57) Why People Stop Training (00:04:05) Balancing Life and Judo (00:07:09) Should You Get in Shape First? (00:10:21) Skill Development Over Conditioning (00:13:00) Importance of Showing Up (00:20:40) Finding the Right Gym (00:24:55) Judo as a Family Activity Join our Discord server and start chatting with us and other grapplers by supporting us on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Any amount helps! 10% off Judotv.com with promo code: SHINTARO Buy one get one free www.clnwash.com with promo code: SHINTARO2024

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi show with Peter Yu. Thank you very much for listening to the podcast, but make sure you subscribe to the podcast first and foremost, if you're on Spotify, click on that follow button. If you're on YouTube, click that subscribe button. And then if you're on Apple, the bell, do all that stuff. So you stay up to date.

We saw the stats, right? We saw the stats and it was like 60% of people who listened to the podcast aren't subscribed podcast aren't subscribed aren't following you know so guys go do that right now if you're driving wait until you pull over yeah definitely subscribe to the podcast yeah so you get the as soon as we upload you guys get the little notification and then you can just jump right in you know that's right we have a new business advisor well i do you know so and he's been know? That's right. We have a new business advisor. Well, I do, you know, and he's been advising me.

He's kind of a genius and he's been like, going to have that call to action. He's looking over all the data. So data-driven decisions moving forward. That's right. Yeah. I mean, this has been like a side project,

our side project, but I think we're just trying to take it to the next step. Yes to take it to the next step. Yes. To get to the next level. For sure. For sure. So that you guys can have better experience.

Anyway, so what are we talking about today? Getting back to judo after a long break. Very difficult to come back. Yeah. And this was a suggestion from Joe, one of our subscribers, or Patreons.

And he basically said, yeah, like he's getting back after um heart you know after a long break and then you know his daughter started training so he wants he started joining her and then like now it's like there are some struggles right yeah definitely that will be after a long back what would be the what are long break, what would be the, what are the struggle, what the struggles are, and then like how could, how we could, you know, manage them so that we can get back to it faster. So I think a lot of the times you got to examine why you left in the first place. That's the most important thing.

Was it an injury? Was it that you didn't feel safe in the gym? If you didn't feel safe in the gym, when you go back, you're still not going to feel safe in the gym. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So like maybe that's actually the issue sometimes life kind of gets in the way you don't go for a week you have a hard time going back to second week no one reaches

out to you right and that's kind of how we lose a lot of students right oh man i've been going to this gym for two years i missed a week of practice and no one texted me no one misses me now it's awkward to go back right three weeks has gone by it's like man i haven't been uh training at all i'm gonna go back get smoked like it's very difficult to go back after that you know yeah and then eventually two months go by and you quit and a lot of it is just like okay if that happened to you you know that's partially your fault and partially the gym's fault and your training partners for not keeping you accountable but majority of the blame should lie on you if that's how you left yeah you're all you could always you could have always gone gone back yeah you could always gone back and it's just some of these like psychological barriers and so easy to kind of you

know because judo's hard training's hard jiu-jitsu's hard you know oh i haven't worked this week so i'm not gonna go once or twice and then it's like is it really an urgent thing for you to miss you know and i try to not miss unless it's like, is it really an urgent thing for you to miss? You know, and I try to not miss unless it's absolutely urgent because if I miss Monday or Tuesday, right. Not that urgent. And then Thursday or Friday, like an emergency happens at one of my Airbnbs or something like that. I have to go.

And then if I didn't train Monday and Tuesday, now all of a sudden I haven't trained in the mornings. Right. You're out a week. So it's like whenever I can, and I always try to say, is it a reasonable excuse for me not to go? And being banged up not to go is not usually a good enough thing because you could still go and tell your partners, like, I'm really nursing a shoulder today. I'm only going to work on this today. I'm only going to work with these guys on the side today.

But showing up is like 99% of it. That's too much. Showing up is a big percentage of it. At least half. Half. Because if you don't show up, you're not getting any training in. Yeah. I mean, yeah, walking in.

But okay, so some of the different reasons. So yeah, let's just try to think about why you like why you haven't been going i mean it's it's perfectly valid if you're if you're too busy people get busy and you know i mean going to a practice takes a couple of hours right yeah it does you know you shrug your time and sometimes it's a nagging wife hey why are you gone monday wednesdays and fridays from you know 5 p.m to 10 p.m.? You know, you work till 5, you go to judo, and judo starts at 7, then you work out till

9, and you're not back till 10 p.m. Three days of the week, that's not okay, especially if you have a kid on. Yeah. So it's like, okay, you know, then you, like, pull the membership for a little bit, you have a conversation with her and say, like, oh, you know, I'm not giving relationship advice here. But, you know, you've got to carve out time for yourself yourself to because you gotta use martial arts as a tool to make yourself better

right you can't take away from your life which a lot of people it happens to them it happens to me you know i get obsessed and i'm training every day and now all of a sudden it's like wait a minute like yeah that's not good right like you need to be balanced and then yeah it's it's like it's a perfectly valid criticism from this hypothetical nagging wife. If you're just away from your daily duties. Hypothetical nagging wife. Nice one, Peter.

Yeah, I mean, could be a hypothetical nagging husband too, you know? Definitely. So I'm going to understand what are the upsides and downsides. And I think for the first time in my life i did tell somebody recently like you don't have to go every day you know the train every day i've trained every week you know if it's stressing you out and it's something that you're obsessed you can't you lose sleep over it now all of a sudden you know it's taken away from your work and you're playing catch up and then now all of a sudden you work too hard and then

you get really frustrated like this thing that you're doing with grappling is not making your life better bro you know yeah you need to take a little bit of a step back and then just come to open mats yeah and i told him that and when you come to open mats you can't throw down with the young guys because you're not a young guy anymore and because you're not training you're gonna suck but you're gonna be have to be okay with it you're gonna come in once in a while when we do an open match once a month, just show up, talk to your friends, make it a social thing, you know, work out, break a sweat, work out with a couple of the same people, work out with some of the beginners, feel good about yourself and then go home. And then if it's making your life better again, then come back, you know? Yeah. So I had that conversation.

I think that's, yeah. I've never had that conversation before i kind of went through that on my own i think it uh yeah it's when as i got older like i i my stem and i'm not as good so i took kind of just my mentality yeah you know just but we've talked about why one would leave. And before coming back, like examining, like is it really beneficial for me to come back, right? Yeah. So, okay.

So determine that, okay, you know what? I've, you know, examined it enough and I'm ready to come back. I think it'll make my life beneficial. And you come back after, I don't know a year and you're not in grappling shape or your body's not used to being thrown being thrown around all that so I think those things like and then you know new crop of blue belts or green belts can come up or all and they've gone past you so all these struggles like that how how should we prepare ourselves to uh to be back on the mat mean that's a very good question is it should we go before even going back i think a lot of people i see

this type of questions a lot on reddit like either like absolute beginners who are about to start or going back, like, should I go to the gym and then try to get myself into shape before going back to the mat? Is that, what do you think about that? You know, this is the thing, man, if you can get in the shape that you want to be in for yourself, just to look good and feel good, you're not going to do it to get, you know, to go back to judo. You're just not, you know what I feel good, you're not going to do it to get, you know, to go back to Judo. You're just not, you know what I mean? If you're not already working out in the gym two or three times a week, because it makes you better. And like, it's not part of your routine. You're not going to do it for the sake of going back to Judo period, you know? So it just acts like another step that you have to overcome, which you'll probably fail at. So, you know,

I don't agree with that at all. Like, oh, i want to lose 10 pounds before i go back to judo yeah losing 10 pounds is not going to help you with your judo endurance it's a different type of endurance you know not different type of endurance but just efficiencies are different because it's a skill-based energy thing yeah skill-based energy efficiency slash endurance yeah we've talked about that yeah we've talked about that yeah so yeah we had olympic rowers come in two minutes on the mat, they're dying because they're so inefficient. They're just spazzing out, all locking, shaking and stuff.

Oh, really? Olympic rowers came out? We had an Olympic rower once. This was maybe like 15 years ago. Yeah. You know, they are, was he a heavyweight rower? Tall, tall. Yeah, tall. Probably like 6'5", 6'6". Tall, lean, 220 yeah probably one

of the most in shape guys i've ever seen and i was like take it easy you know it's it's hard you know and he's like he's like you've never met a guy more in shape than me was like the tone slash message you know i mean it he he if he's at that level he's in shape he's in shape but you know what yeah he shot another double or something guy had him in a front headlock he couldn't breathe I mean, if he's at that level, he's in shape. He's in shape, but you know what? Yeah. He shot another double or something. Guy had him in a front headlock. He couldn't breathe, you know?

And for 20 seconds straight, he's like spazzing out trying to get out of it. The guy's just like held on to his neck, and he couldn't breathe. And he's like, you know, scratching at the guys, and he eventually taps. He's like, holy moly, gets up, gets tackled down to the floor, you know? And he wants to catch his breath, but the person's putting all their weight on him he's like pushing them all pushing off he's getting held down now he's kind of like panicking and hyperventilating and he was done in a minute and a half you know now it was the most satisfying thing i've ever seen well like i can't believe i've never been so tired in my life and i'm like he you know, and he's like, you know, but it's like different,

different. It's just different, you know. It's different. If I, if we were to go rowing with him, we would have been,

we would be smoked. Like, we would be so tired. I wouldn't be able to row for 30 seconds straight. Yeah, exactly. It's like,

yeah. So, it's better to, so once you, once you decide to go back, it's just better to just go you once you decide to go back it's just better to

just go back right away better to just go back and then not even worry about endurance or stamina because it should be about skill development

you're not there for conditioning and that's one thing that you can blame the dojos and the teachers you know you go to a dojo and they're doing

a hundred jumping jabs a hundred burpees a hundred push-ups they're sprinting up and down the thing, doing all these mechanical drills. For what reason? 30 minutes in, they have not done one skill-based drill. That's a fail to me. You know what I mean?

They do 10 minutes of judo, 10 minutes of teaching, 10 minutes of live, and then it's like, all right, guys, line up on the line for a sprint or something. It's like, what the fuck? Yeah. You know? So, like. Yeah. and then it's like all right guys line up on the line for sprints or something it's like what the floor yeah you know so like just yeah so skill is because it's more about it should be more about skill acquisition it's better to just show up and then and then i think a lot of times what happens is you will as you do more judo bjj you will find deficiencies in your game or you know like your stamina endurance strength whatever and then you're more motivated to go to the gym to get better at judo yeah yeah the best exercise for judo to get in judo shape is judo yeah but that's right that doesn't mean you neglect outside weight training,

sprinting. All those things have a place, right? Yeah. All those things have a place, like work on your symmetry, getting strong overall, doing sprints. Yes, important stuff. You know what I mean? But that isn't the bulk of your training.

And you shouldn't have to have those things first before going to judo. If you want to go to judo, you should just go to judo. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then having a conversation with your teacher for instance like i have shoulder problems now yeah i like my shoulder hurts yeah i can't really do that many push-ups it hurts yeah you know what i mean so i'd rather not i could crank out push-ups still but i'll pay for it the next two three days which affects my training so if jt is running the class which he sometimes does

jt torres right because i take some of his classes. He's like, all right, guys, get down and give me 40 push-ups. He knows my shoulder is busted. So I'm like, yo, if we're doing push-ups, I'm doing squats. I'm doing sit-ups or whatever. And he gets it. It's cool. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? So you should be able to talk to your teacher about it,

adjust for certain things. Hey, I'm just getting back. I'm a little bit gassed. Like, it's okay if I walk off and I get a little bit of water and then if they're like no absolutely not you have to do everything 100 and just do you know then you're in the wrong gym already yeah you know what i mean or the wrong class you know yeah maybe you're in a competition class or whatever the goal is different right just go back i think the hardest part is walking in that room. I had that this morning. I didn't sleep too good last night.

I had a little bit of a headache. I was like, ah, man, I could not go today easily. I felt that. I was like, I could not go. And it would be pretty glorious to just sit in my basement office and see where I'm at, you know? Yeah. Right? Beautiful. Yeah yeah and play on my new toy i have a new ipad pro oh gosh 13 inches right yeah this legit you know i want to play on it

i want to play on it explore new workflows and productivity videos i want to watch that i could have easily done that dude it would have been it would have been glory it would have been glorious because my parents are out my kids in camp i dropped her off it's like uh it's so quiet yeah a cup of coffee it would have been so easy for me not to go yeah but i went good well what made you go just for the self-motivation did someone hit you up no one hit me up today but people hit me up today, but people hit me up during the week because I missed Monday and Tuesday

because of a work thing. Yeah. And then, you know, I got blood work done and my hemoglobin was a little bit too high. So I was like, ah, give blood.

You know, so I donated blood, you know. Oh, nice. Yeah, and I felt woozy, but, you know, and then my car had to, someone smashed my taillight

when it was parked. What? So the only time i could have got i scheduled this like a month in advance right because tesla is very difficult to get these appointments like bring the car in you know work stuff higashi brand stuff i had so many meetings catch up things i had to do it was literally too much to do this week where i was like all right cost benefit analysis here you know and monday t, Tuesday, I felt great. And I was like, I wanted to go to Jiu-Jitsu. I really did.

But I was like, I literally cannot. If I go to Jiu-Jitsu, these tasks will not get done. Yeah. And I have to prioritize these things. It was an active decision

to do. To not go. You heard it here, guys. I missed on Monday, Tuesday. Shintaro skips classes too. Yeah. And then the guys texted me up.

Are you coming? Where are you? And then you the damjoni the teacher was like come right here you're my bro like who am i gonna use you know like and then uh you know today it was opposite i got most of the stuff done right but i didn't feel that good yeah and then i was like i could not go again but i went you know and i did judo wednesday night and stuff don't get me wrong yeah i did judo yeah you know monday and wednesday i see judo is harder and easier at the same time you know yeah because yeah you you can yeah i i get that I get that Judo's it's yeah the strange beast

it's a strange beast yeah so that's more on the physical side like get back to and then but before we move on

shall we thank some people yeah thank you very much to our sponsors Jason, Levon and Joe you guys are

doing so much for us thank you very much for supporting us you too can support us through Patreon yeah

that's right our other sponsors judotv.com the best place in the world to watch IJF world tour all the IJF events

it's really amazing use discount code Chintaro and then of course higashibrand.com I'm wearing gi shorts with pockets

right now yeah they are fantastic they're selling out yeah man I just got the pants higashibrand.com I'm wearing gi shorts with pockets right now yeah they are fantastic they're selling out yeah man I just got the pants but I'm like

you know I should get those shorts too you should Peter yeah you really should they're really amazing I think yeah

the shorts look great and guys if you wear your higashibrand I don't know if you guys have seen it on Instagram

you can take a picture of yourself share it it, and tag Shintaro. Yeah, yeah. Look at that. I'm seeing, like, it's so cool to see all these, like, different people from all around the world. Yeah, random people. I've sent these shorts to Germany, Switzerland, like, Netherlands, Japan. Like, I've sent it to all these random places these random places and it's like kind of a cool thing

and they're really selling pretty quickly. But you know, people assume I'm making money on them. I'm really not, you know, because when you order a batch of a hundred, you know, like five or six of them come and they're like ripped or stained, you know? So you lose, right? There's like breakage, you know what I mean?

And then you give away a few, you know, because, oh, thanks a lot, you know, for doing what you're doing. You know, and you give away to a couple people. You know what I mean? And then, like, I personally wear it, so I'll take, like, two or three. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then you sell some.

And then, like, the odd sizes are just sitting around. Yeah, I see. All the X-larges whatever and then people return because judo videos that people buy for me it never gets returned right really ever can you even return that no but like you know but clothing they're like oh like it's a little bit too big like can i exchange it for a small like i didn't think it was a medium was gonna be big i was like did you wash it it's like no i was like if you wash think it was a medium was going to be big. I was like, did you wash it? It's like, no.

I was like, if you wash it, it'll shrink. And then it's like, oh, should I wash it? And then if it's still a little bit too big, then will you swap it out? It's like, then I can't sell it, you know? Yeah. And even if you like send it back, I still can't sell it because like God knows what you did with those pants. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So it's like, and then you get returns. And then at the end of the day, you know, like all of a sudden, you know, you spent X amount of dollars on the merch. You sell half. You haven't really quite made your money back. And then like you're running low on inventory. And then now you have to order more. So you have to go out of pocket again. It's brutal.

It's brutal. But it's an economy of scale. Yeah. Once you have enough volume. Yeah. Yeah. The first have enough volume, yeah. Yeah. The first 500, 1,000 units, they're not going to make money. You're just kind of reinvesting it and trying to pad your inventory. And then eventually when you're moving 5,000 units, 10,000 units,

now all of a sudden, even those slim margins, like those 20%, 30% margins, they matter because the revenue is much bigger. See, this is my MBA training. Economy of scale. Let's get there, man. Let's get there. See, this is my MBA training. You can't have your scale. Let's get there, man. Let's get there. We'll see. We'll see.

Because right now, you got to bootstrap and do it all yourself. I'm like running a sweatshop down here with my Asian mama. Putting it in these baggies. Oh, my gosh. She's here, a packer. You know, because they sent me this. I bought stuff from these manufacturers and they jumbled it into a box once or twice i'm like bro what what do you do it's all

wrapped them individually yeah yeah and then they did but then the the baggies all broke you know while they're like tossing around the the cartons of boxes you know and your poor mom is repackaging and i'm like trying to shove it in there and like fold it and stuff but i'm not you know my mama is very good at folding laundry she's like she's been holding your laundry yeah for her for 40 years yes what just like i got you and she's like folding it wrapping it folding it wrapping it you know yeah all right well guys support your guy's brand yeah it's let's uh let's you know how about this let's Yeah. All right. Well, guys, support Higashi Brand. Yeah. Let's, you know, how about this? Let's help Mama Higashi not have to pull Shintaro's stuff anymore.

Yeah, let's just see that. Yeah. The whole thing. Anyway. Yeah. Getting back to Judo. Yeah, getting back to Judo. So we talked about the physical side.

Like the overarching message is that let's just go back. Don't be like, oh, I got to run more. I got to lift more. No, just go back. And then everything will follow. Once you determine that, it's good for you to go back, right? And you mentioned earlier an interesting point about one of the reasons why someone would leave judo, BJJ, and B.O.

is because more of the cultural thing, like the gym's not good. But you've determined that you want to go back. But you probably don't want to go back to the same gym. Or shop around for a different gym. It's completely okay. And that's why they have open mats now. That's sort of like open, free market competition thing I think is good for grappling. It's completely okay. And that's why they have open mats now. You know, and that's sort of like open free market competition thing

I think is good for grappling. It used to not be. You know, why would you go to that gym? You shouldn't go to open mats. You know, you could pick up a disease or whatever,

you know, but I think it's a good thing now. You can shop around a little bit more, find the right gym for you. So, yeah, I mean, so that,

so shopping around the gym right like i just you suggest open mats and what else could someone do i mean open mats could be could be kind of intimidating yeah you know like it's just if it's especially if you've been out of training yeah you know go watch go watch you know go watch have a conversation with the staff are they warm are they friendly what does the gym look like is it clean and spacious all that stuff matters you know if you're an educated consumer outside of the gym when you do your research on certain things before you buy do that for the gym yeah yeah it's a very important decision because you can blow your knee out yeah there's a lot of issues that come out you know when you go into these gyms

so you gotta do your research yeah think about how much how much research you would do to buy an iPad like this one

I did yeah I sat around and researched iPads for like a month seriously and then it's pretty crazy

that for judo like I wouldn't be surprised if yeah people spend less time looking for a gym than buying an ipad or iphone what they do is search it and then pull up all the tabs and they call or message one by one whoever gets back to them first that's the closest gets the business usually yeah that's generally how it works most of these things you know yeah

so that's why if you're running a gym you have to be competitive by being in front of that the the people who wanted to sign up you know but on the other side yeah on the other side i think as uh as a gym goer you should shop around you should shop around but you gotta know yourself like i always say like you know convenience is a huge factor. Like, yeah. Essential is amazing. But if it was two hours away, I don't think I'd go as often. Oh, it's not sustainable. You got other things to do. Yeah.

You got other things to do, you know? So sustainability, all these things matter, you know? And then are you in a place where you can't afford it? There's a big piece of it, you know, because it's an expensive hobby and it's not a one-off expense. It's not a one-off expense it's not just a monthly fee it's a new rash guard the new gi

when they do seminars jumping in for the seminars you know what I mean you don't want to be that guy coming in here you probably spend more money on BJJ

and judo than your iPad in the long run for sure for sure yeah you know what I mean like

uh crankations like know what I mean like uh crankations like oh yeah I mean gear not so much because I've been given

a lot of gear you know yeah yeah but it's very easy to spend on your hobbies yeah yeah

if you start buying instructionals you know it's like never ends an iPad what was like 2k now

2000 no yeah yeah and but I expect that one pretty good you get to use You know, it's like, it never ends. An iPad, what was it, 2K now? No, is it? Yeah. Yeah, but you get to use it. I expect that one pretty good. You get to use it for five years as you amortize it over those years. Yeah. And there was a Reddit post about, like, the best value purchase that you've ever had or something. Like, what was it, cost per use or something?

Yeah, yeah. Value versus cost per use. And it's like, if you think of it that way, right? If you look at a dojo membership too, it's like you're paying for unlimited class and then you get to go every single day of the thing. Now it's worth, it's weight in gold. You know, gym membership too.

But if you only go once a month. Yeah. You know? So see what your economic situation is. All these different factors has to kind of be considered. But the most important thing is you go back and then you get your foot back in the door. That's the hardest thing to do. And shop around.

And I want to touch on Joe's specific situation. Now, I would imagine we had an episode about being a judo parent, right? And I think Joe was one of them and a lot of times you know parents maybe they used to do it

as kids and then their kids they stepped away because of parental duties although all responsibilities but then their kids

are old enough to do judo they go you have a lot of those at KBI too right yeah tons father son father daughter mother son daughter they do and yeah so like parents may oh maybe i'll go with the my kids and they'll like it more right and so how what any recommendations like i should you go to

the kids class or do you go to the adults class separately what do you think what what what's the general trend you've seen you know i think obviously i do judo my kid does judo right yeah yumi doesn't go as much she goes once a week maybe if if she goes right having conversation with her about judo is great because with the ballet you really can't watch that class because the class is in the back. There's a waiting area for parents. Yeah. Peek through the window, but you can't really hear or see much. Yeah, yeah.

So it's a little bit of a disconnect. And then you talk and see what kind of drills it did. There's not much there. You know what I mean? But with judo, it's like we go to the pool every weekend. And then it's like, all right, we're in the pool. We're messing around. And I say, ah, she was on and I like foot sweeper in the pool.

You know what I mean? And then she'll do like in the pool. And I'm always trying to do like teach her how to do a somersault in the water, you know? And sometimes I'll do like a,

Oh, it's like a Zenpo. And then I'll hold her mouth and nose and like I'll flip her into the water and stuff like that. So like, there's that judo connection even on the outside,

you know? So if you're doing judo getting back into judo like if someone like you know like you white belt yellow belt you don't know much about it then it's very difficult right yeah like if you have just a little bit of judo then be like oh yeah you can me you know like even if you're like do a couple classes you just got back into it you're a yellow belt you did judo six years uh six months or something you just get back into your kid starting kid falls on the playground it's like you're all right you just you're kenny you're good now all of a sudden there's a connection there that's something that

you're bringing from your judo experience with your kid you guys do this thing kind of together at the same location you talk about it and now you're at the playground and you see there's a connection there you know what i mean so i I think these are sort of the invisible benefits of being in the program with your kid. Also, if you're in the program, your kid's in the program, you're 10 times more valuable to that gym than the random guy that may quit in two weeks. So the teachers naturally should give you

a little bit of extra attention. They just naturally gotta because you're paying more. You're paying for a family membership, whatever it is. Maybe there's an open mat situation where you could go in with the kids, talk to your gym manager or your teacher, right? If they can share the mat at some places, like I know Max Kafka has a gym out in, where is it? Wisconsin or something or Minnesota, right?

And he does like every week they do like a family open mat thing where the parents and the kids go together. Kids teach your dad's judo. Kids teach your mom how to fall. All this stuff. And, you know, they do it on, especially they do it on holidays because everybody knows like July 4th, no one's doing anything in the morning. Right, right, right.

Nobody. Thanksgiving. No one's doing shit in the morning. Yeah. I'm going to take my kid and then get on the mat with my kid. And then we're going to have this fucking fun thing where we just bullshit and roll around and wrestle with each other. And then I'm not doing that. No way.

Right. But Max does that. And then if there's things like this and then you're already in shape and you have a gi and you have a belt and you're bowing and you're doing the proper thing and you're in shape and your kid knows what you're doing and you there you could talk about it it's just like hey we're getting better together together kind of a thing yeah extremely valuable you know so you don't necessarily have to take this go to the same class you know you can kind of make the connection outside of the gym yeah in your daily life yeah papa gonna go you know do something i'll see ya versus like papa gonna go judo at the gym yeah where you do you go to the gym so she's like oh i'm doing push-ups i'm

doing sit-ups i'm doing the papa probably doing that right now too yeah and then you have this thing of like hey look i'm trying to be in shape i'm trying to work out i'm trying to learn how to slam guys on their head to protect people that i love you know that's why you're doing it to protect yourself and then yeah right so you're not just like putting him in a program sitting on the side while reading your freaking reddit or whatever it is we're like hey you better train and i'm fat and out of shape and not doing anything like it's there's there's no disconnect there. Yeah. You know, you're living what you're preaching really. And you're a good role model for your kid. And it's like, Hey, sensei so-and-so like he's pretty great. Huh? He's so in shape. Huh? He said work out really hard. So I'm working out

hard. You're working out really hard. That's a special thing for a family, you know? Yeah. So like just get back into it, especially as a kid. I probably heard three or four people tell me I'm getting back into grappling now just this week because of my kids getting into grappling now. Oh. You know? Nice. Nice. Yeah.

And I've heard one guy's like, I probably should get in shape before. I'm like, no, no, no. No, no. Go get me started on that. You know? I was like, you just got me started. Let me tell you why you're going to stay fat and not do it. If you feel like you're going to go do this.

This is like a friend of mine. Not my gym, though. He's like just in general. He's like, ah, I'm getting out of shape. I should probably do some wrestling or something and go back into grappling because my kid's going back into grappling. But I'm going to lose 10 pounds first. I was like, bro. Not going to happen.

You want to stay fat, bro? That's almost exactly what I said, dude. I was like, you want to stay fat bro like yeah that's almost exactly what i said dude i was like you want to stay out of shape you do that but just sign up and go bro yeah it's what it makes sense yeah and yeah i think we talked about this a lot in our like judo parent episode you know what really what kids want is like to spend more time with you and then be more connected to you yeah as their parents and yeah i mean this is a good way and don't yeah like since i mentioned don't think like you have to be in shape to make that connection you know maybe kids will like it oh i'm better than you dad kind of it's the best, dude. It's the best. Yeah. Yeah.

It's so fun. And then sometimes it's like dad and parent getting their belts together. You know what I mean? Yeah. You get the kid one belt before him and then, you know, two days before and the kid gets all juiced up. It's a great thing. But, you know, just get back into it. Get back into it and then take your time. Don't do Rondori for at least two weeks to a month.

Yeah. Don't get hurt. Then, you know, you don't get any benefit out of it. Right, right. The benefits come in a long, sustained period of training, three to six months. That's it. You know, so like if you get hurt before that, you reap none of the benefits and all the downsides and the bad sides.

You're going to hurt your knee first day back. You're not going to want to go back even more. And then now you can't work out for three weeks while you recover. You're going to hurt your knee first day back. You're not going to want to go back even more. And then now you can't work out for three weeks while you recover. You're going to get fatter and more out of shape. Terrible. Terrible. Don't get me started on that.

Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. We always talk about that. But yeah, stay healthy, but ease into it. But it's better to, yeah, get back on the mat and eat into it definitely get back on the mat get back up all right i think that covers it hope you guys enjoyed it yeah anything else no that's it thank you guys for all your support always thank you very much yeah really appreciate

it all right thanks guys for listening and we'll see you guys in the next episode