The Shintaro Higashi Show - How to Prepare for Competitions

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

Competitions are a big part of many grappling sports including Judo, BJJ and wrestling. What'd be the best way to prepare for them? In this episode, Shintaro and Peter go on a deep dive into various aspects of competition preparation-- from mental preparation to weight cutting. 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!

Hello, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi show at Peter Yu. Today we're going to talk about how to prepare for competition. But before we do, please check out shintarohigashi.com for lots of new merch. I'm wearing it right now. It's like a judo t-shirt. It's pretty cool. Right? I like it.

Oh, I didn't know you dropped new merch just now. I mean, it's been on there just of itself. So no one knows about it. It's like a little patochi situation. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Nice. I got new content, video content out there.

Concise instructionals. Yeah. It's the best. Great. Check it out. ShintaroHigashi.com. All right. Competitions. content, video content out there. Concise instructionals. Yeah. It's the best. It's great. Check it out. Shintorahigashi.com. All right. Competitions.

Yeah, that's right. So this was a suggestion from Allison there, one of our patrons. You know, he dropped this suggestion in our Discord server. So if you, that's another way to connect with us, support us on Patreon and join our Discord server. Anyway. All right. So how to prepare for competitions? that's another way to connect with us support us on patreon and join our discord server anyway all right so how to prepare for competitions you know competitions are a big part of judo training

it's not for everyone that like you say but a lot of people want to do it but it's definitely different from just going to practice right yeah so i think first we should touch on how to train for competitions you know because it is different from just like doing your drilling and randori. So how do we approach that in terms of judo? Before we like jump into competition, I think, you know, this is the nuanced thing that I'm always talking about, right? Like who's preparing for what competition and what part of their cycle? You know, we're talking about an Olympic caliber athlete who wants to make it to the Olympic, national level athlete trying to make the Olympic team. Or somebody just kind of break through the regional level, right?

Somebody that's going to the local competitions who've done it a few times or who's never done it. That's a very different experience than someone going, you know, I don't know, to the East Coast Championships or something. So before you- Different levels and all this stuff, right? You got to- So you're saying- What you're saying is we got to think about your goal and your experience level even before deciding how to train for it. Yeah. Let's start with the lowest level.

Yeah. The beginner level, right? Yeah. You're in the dojo. You're doing it. Like doing Wondorian class and stuff. Mm-hmm. Let's start with that guy.

All right. The beginner. Yeah. So you're like first competition. You're trying to- in class and stuff. Start with that guy. All right. Beginner. Beginner, yeah. So you're like first competition, you're trying to... First competition, you just started judo

a couple months ago, you're a white belt. My advice is don't do it. Say you're, what if you're, you know, green belt, brown belt, you're trying maybe

get gearing towards your... Yeah, maybe young era or something. You know, I always say this, right? And then I don't really... I feel like a lot of people just kind of like, yeah, whatever me. I say this, but like, before you compete in your first tournament, go watch your first competition. Watch it first.

Yeah, that way you familiarize yourself with this thing, right? Right. If you're there and you have people who are from your dojo who are higher level or your coach is there, you could sit there and talk about it. Hey, that's my division. Or your coach would be would be like hey that's the guy that you're gonna fight because white people could easily go not know about weight classes or divisions or anything be like i had to fight that guy or that girl oh i'm not gonna do it you know what i mean commonly like i have female competitors that are like oh i want to go compete but they don't have ranked divisions because there's just not as many in the local circuit.

They'll just bundle them together, you know, and it'll be like an open weight class situation. They'll do like light, medium, heavy, and then it's like any belt goes, and then the coach will say, hey, is it okay for these two to fight? Sometimes the opposition's like a brown or a black belt, you know. This girl just started, she's going to get slaughtered.

That's not good. No, that's never good. You know, you go to see the competition. That's not good. No, that's never good. You go to see the competition, and the coach says, hey, that is your division. That is the division that you'll be fighting in. You could fight in the master's division or the regular adult division. Let's see what the competition looks like.

Right, right. And then you're giving them fair expectations of what to expect when they walk into the tournament. Right. Commonly for judo, white to green belt division, generally. Okay. So if you're a white belt. The novice division, right? Yeah.

Yeah. They just call it that. You know, jiu-jitsu tournaments, there's a lot more people doing it. If you're a white belt division, a blue belt division, a purple belt division, they don't care if there's two people in the division or not. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

So if you are a white belt, you go, you're sitting with your athlete or your people and you tell them like, hey, this is white to green. Therefore, there may be a green belt on the cusp of getting a brown belt. Right. Are you okay with something like this? The weight class is 198. The bottom is 178. So if you're 179 pounds, you're on the smaller side of the spectrum.

Now you're smaller than everybody, and now you don't have as much experience as everybody. Right. That guy's a yellow belt, but he's a wrestler. You see all these different types of people there? So now you're sort of setting up the stage of what to be able to expect. And if they go in and enter in that competition for the first time, there's a good chance to get bombed.

And then they quit. And that's on you as a coach. I always say, like, hey, if somebody tells me I want to go compete, go watch one. Go watch one. Before everyone's preparing, go watch one. Build up a realistic expectation.

Yeah. And then if they don't do it and they just sign up, they kind of already like lost my trust a little bit. Right. I mean, I said, oh, don't do it. I don't think you're ready. Or I wouldn't say I don't think you're ready, but hey, go watch one because, you know, it's good for expectations.

Right. Understanding what's out there. Right. And then, you know, we'll plan accordingly. Yeah. Nice. Sometimes you'll get a guy that goes, sees it. And they're like, whoa, that was so much, you know, or. It's such a. that goes sees it and they're like whoa that was so much

you know or it's that's the first and foremost thing before you even start preparing anything go watch one to know what you're up against and then talk to your coach about it have an open honest conversation about it and if your coach is like here bro you go out there and just kill everybody and then it's not a nuanced conversation then you know, can you really trust this person? Such a nuanced person, Shintaro. This is all about nuance these days, man. You know, which is very important. That not everything is black and white. Right.

All right. So let's say this, our beginner, went to watch a competition and decides to do it. Okay. Like, so what do we do? What now put to prepare in inside the dojo okay so being on the right weight that's a huge walk trying to get in the best shape as you can that's second you know the thing that you have to kind of do right yeah yeah then you have to sort of start preparing doing randorian fighting yeah right and then you kind of got to go through

the list of like hey what is my game against the righty what is my game against the lefty do i have the ability to distinguish those things? Do I go against other novices in the room or do I only go with black belts? Yeah. Because if you're being handheld by all the black belts and they're taking falls for you, you're going to be kind of surprised when some big, strong yellow belt is going to start coming at you with both claws. You know what I mean?

So that's what you got to do. How do you manage that? So do you, so we're talking about novice people here. Like, do you actually have them go against each other? Because you're kind of against that. Well, you know, so I let like the green belts go against the white belt sometimes. Green belt, yellow belt kind of a thing. I always like a little bit of skill gap.

You know, if it's very, very close, it's a little bit more dangerous because it's left control. You know what I mean? I see. You know, if two people are signed up for competition, then they understand what's out there. You know, the expectations are set, right? They know exactly what they're getting themselves into. And they're both great athletes. They've been sort of vetted through my process of saying, hey, you guys are qualified to be able to do this.

Then those two can potentially work out with each other. I see. I see. So do you... But I also make it a business, my business, to make sure that they don't get too much special treatment. They get special treatment, right, a little bit. Right, right. But it's not visible to everybody from an optical standpoint.

Like there's a hierarchical thing that the competitors are higher than the non-competitors in the dojo. Because it shouldn't ever be that way. You know what I mean? Yeah, you emphasize that a lot. It's not for everybody. It really isn't. Judo isn't all about competition. It's about self-betterment and learning and training and all the things that come with it.

It's not one thing, right? It's judo for self-defense. No, no. That's partial, right? that's partial right yeah a small segment of it lots of different segments that come together for it to make this thing that everyone's here to get better essentially right right right that makes sense okay so you do you focus on having them do randori more or do you do more situational drills both like where would you put emphasis on like for a little bit of both right and this is the thing like i can't dedicate my time to the yellow belt that's competing yeah period because there's 30 people in the room sometimes

yeah you know what i mean gianni's gearing up for uh i don't know nationals or something and george is a black belt that we have black belts here and white belt and that guy's brand new and you know all these different things are factors. Right, right. But if I was to dedicate my time to like someone that's a novice competitor

and, you know, I would talk to them about position and I'll do lots of gripping drills and then let them understand like where they are as they're fighting, you know? Right.

And competitive strategy is a whole other thing. Strategies and tactics are a whole other thing. I mean and tactics are a whole other thing. I mean, I've heard coaches just go out there and put your hands on the guy, but it's like, oh, it's tough. You have to be taught how to put your hands on the guy. Unless you have so much time in judo that everything is already sort of unconsciously done.

Right, right. The Japanese aren't taught specifically how to grip. They just learn through the experience. They literally link up. They link up and then they start making adjustments and then they're like, oh, this is my throwing position. And they're like making these micro judo movements. Yeah.

Micro judo. Video coming. Yeah, baby. Shameless drop. So, you know, a lot of times they don't have the time in to just develop these small niche things like naturally. Right.

So they have to be taught, you know, what's the best bang for your buck, like grip fighting. Yeah. So what is the dominant position? What is the non-dominant position? Right. And letting that integrate with your abilities to attack. Right. Feinting, misdirections, combinations, you know, direct attacks.

Right. And then sometimes it's like, you know, if you're going against a white belt, direct attacks are the best because they don't have the reactions to threats. They don't see the threat because they're just too dull. Yeah. Yeah. The game is too dull. So, you know, talking about them with those kinds of things and drilling those specific

scenarios. So you lay the foundation kind of like this micro judo stuff with drills situational drills and then you add on the andori on top of that kind of i don't go in too much depth about like the micro judo and the positional judo so much right it's a lot more advanced it's a lot more right you know what i mean so a lot of it is like gripping put the hands on here once you get good position you want to be offensive you want to attack first is generally the advice that i give beginners because even if you're in dominant position if they don't have the ability to do

a good defensive thing yeah right like they haven't experienced too many big osoto guys that the guys really try to take your leg off yeah so even if you're in winning position you can still get taken down right right right if you're very very good at judo and you're in winning position and all the guys very very good at judo but they're in losing position the likelihood of that person throwing you with osoto is very low yeah like if i'm winning in position i really don't think anyone would have thrown me with osoto uh-huh seriously whoa yeah yeah to bone him with Osorio. Seriously. Whoa. Yeah. Petty Renair too. Oh, if he gives me the sleeve and I can pin it down

and I have this hand by the collar and I have my hips back and I'm like shoving that hand down, very safe goal, you have eight seconds to throw me Osorio.

He won't be with me. No. Okay. Okay. Nice. Right? And if it's 20 seconds, it's like, oh, shoot,

you know, I'll just go Tomonage from there because I know it's coming I know that's like a big controversial arrogant thing to say but it's not the real case I think 7 out of 10 is grip fighting almost

yeah so it's like but if you're a beginner you know what I mean you haven't developed a sort of defense maybe, right? Yeah. And then you believe a sort of coming and then the side comes and you get toppled right over. Right. Yeah. But they haven't developed that sensitivity yet.

Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's not this like mental game that, you know, very, very like intricate systems and figuring things out and setting up traps. And it's not like that at the beginner and novice level. Right. So the right advice is like, Hey, put your hand on and these, this is dominant. It's not so dominant. Right.

When you get here, you just start going. You're just showing them like happy pets, so to speak. Like, Hey, try to get, do these. Couple of attacks, right. Show some feints, show some feints. See if they react, should do some misdirections and then go for it. That's really. Yeah. A couple of attacks, right? Show some feints. Show some feints. See if they react. Should do some misdirections. And then go for it.

That's really the advice that I would do. And then that's how you would train them in the room. You know what I mean? And then it comes down to the fundamentals of doing big throws. Now you call me Taiyo, Soto, Uchimata hard, right? Yeah. So they're able to pull the trigger. Okay? Right.

Like bow, go in there, put your hands in, you're in dominant position. Show a couple of feints because you don't want to just go for the first thing and get countered. Right, right. Like Ochi. Everybody's good at countering Ochi. It's so intuitive.

It's just so intuitive to counter. Yeah. Oh, shoot, I'm falling. Let me pull him back and go this way. You know, anybody can do that. No kids do it. Like without even learning Judo. Yeah.

So show some stuff, show some stuff, and then kids do it. Like without even learning judo. Yeah. So show some stuff, show some stuff, and then go for it. I see. And then you could train this. Nagakomi-wise, like, hey, okay, dominant position, bang.

Okay, ready? Show something, show something, misdirection, bombing. Right? And that's kind of a way to train it, you know? And that would be my advice for sort of novice.

So how about, yeah, so that's, you know, basically cover, show them the basic grip fighting, you know, build up some expectation and then, you know, work on the big throw, you know, and maybe some sprinkler, some rando in it for novice people. How about, so say, let's say brown belt and up, like, or maybe start with hobbyists. I don't know if you want to subdivide people into like, who want to make it to the circuit or not, but yeah.

I mean, hobbyists, it's the number one thing about competition for hobbyists is like, you got to ask yourself the question, why do you want to do this? Right. Right. Yeah. And you know. Even as a, as's a like a brown belt and up yes it's like why do you want to do this there's significant risks that come with this there is a reward there is a medal but yes a cheap flimsy thing that it costs like nine dollars but

it's like a and yes i get it the signifies whatever it is and you're testing yourself against the others but it's like why do you want to do it yeah right signifies whatever it is and you're testing yourself against the others, but it's like, why do you want to do it? Yeah. Right. Right. And then it comes out of that. You have to have a good reason to want to do it.

You know? Well, what are some of the good reasons you think? I mean, like some people don't understand like, Hey, this is a good self-improvement tool. Right.

I understand like, and I know because I've done this too. Right. It's like doing one competition is very, very valuable because you get exposed a lot of different styles yeah yeah so if my true intention with doing these things is improvement of judo getting better sharpening my skill making myself a better human being right i want to pressure test my judo system i want to make sure that i'm like a very strong person mentally

physically all this stuff and learn more and learn more and absorb yeah that's just my intent right then yeah you go for it, you know, but if you're like, uh, I don't know, a contractor or something, your body depends, right. You're, you're making a living. Yeah. Right. And you're coming to Judo once or twice a week and you just kind of there for the boys or the community, then it's a horrible thing to do. Right. Because it's all risk and no reward. Yeah. Some people say, Oh, I want to be stronger mentally. That's why I'm going to do this. Right? Because it's all risk and no reward. Yeah. Some people say,

oh, I want to be stronger mentally. That's why I'm going to do this, right? I want to make myself stronger mentally. I want to be able to overcome. I want to be able

to like be able to fight through fear. Yeah. Okay. That's great. That's a good reason. Yeah. Yeah.

But let's just say you go and, you know, there's a lot of moving factors like coaches and they have a breakdown

and it just kind of goes the wrong way. They completely freeze, and they break down, and they get bombed, and they get crushed. And now they have crippling fear. Their worst fear has come true. Okay? Right. And the coach isn't particularly there to, like, sue them and talk to them and let them understand what happened. Because he's off somewhere, you know, coaching someone else, maybe.

Yeah. That guy's probably worse off now from going into that competition because his worst fears about himself came true. That's a big risk. Huge risk. Yeah, never thought of it that way. Yeah, so this is the thing. You bring a team of 20 people,

how many of those people, if I just say, all right, guys, we're going to this competition. Everyone who wants to go final, bye. How many of those people out of those 20 people are going to fall into that category? Are they worse off than if they had not? There's going to be

a couple. I'm going to say three or four people. I've had that experience with people who would freak out at these things and panic and be like, oh, man, now the anxiety levels are even higher. It's like, oh, man, if I can't do this under this conservative situation like i've been doing martial arts for five years like uh if i ever got you know in a confrontation on the subway like uh you know

so right and with those people if you can identify that you could little by little overcome it yeah little by little overcome but there needs to be a progression towards that. You know what I mean? Yeah, you can't just be thrown into the lion's den, I guess. So if I identify that person, okay,

and I genuinely want to help them and they're like, yo, listen, this is the reason why I'm doing this competition, right? I'm like, okay, let's step back, right?

All these guys are going out there, you know, maybe they're just fearless because they had a rough childhood or something. Who knows? It's just like tougher. They wrestled and they competed in sports in high school. Like, listen, you never, maybe they're just fearless because they had a rough childhood or something. Who knows? It's just like tougher.

They wrestled and they competed in sports in high school. Like, listen, you never competed in any sport ever. You're an accountant. You've been a nerd your whole life. Let me help you with this. Right? He really wants to do it. You know?

First and foremost, sign up for 10 private lessons. With some mental exercise. We'll do some Reiki. I won't even be in the room no but first and foremost we're going to start building up that side

in practice specifically someone new comes into the room okay that's a challenge you get nervous that's a challenge right

and this is the thing there's mat one you know mat one the first mat where the people are everyone wants in that mat yeah no one wants in the last section of the mat.

Right? That's right. But it's a progression. New guy comes in. I look at this guy. I work out with this guy. I make, you know, the biggest guy I've ever worked with a guy. Yeah.

He's relatively safe. Okay? Yeah. He doesn't do tiny touchy. He doesn't do crazy stuff. He's not that great of an athlete. But he's appropriate to go back there and work out with this guy who I'm trying to build up. Yeah. It's his first time. I've never saw him before. He's not that great of an athlete. But he's appropriate to go back there and work out with this guy who I'm trying to build up. It's his first time.

Never saw him before. He's scared of him. Eyeballing each other. You know because they're walking up and down the dojo looking at each other. That guy's around my size. I've never seen him before. I hope he's not a killer. Hey, listen, man. This is your test. We're going to go out there. You're going to try. You're going to do your system. You're going to do your best. Put your hands on the

get. You're going to show some stuff. You're going to go for it. This is test on the get, you're going to show some stuff, and you're going to go for it. This is test number one, go for it. You got it. Put him in the back. No pressure. I'm going back there. And hopefully by then we have a relationship, me and that athlete, particular athlete. Because if he's like, oh, I don't want to let him down, it just adds to more pressure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if all things are proper and right, majority of times i'm not always doing the right thing i can't stress this enough right he trusts me he knows i'm the guy in his corner that i want what's best for him i go back there i'm like listen you got this bro just do your best okay just do your best fun this is fun step one right so set him off for success for success he goes out there and you know usually when i do something this, I know that this guy doesn't have the upper hand, especially with guests.

That's the thing about guests are a double-edged sword, you know, because sometimes they're killers, sometimes they're dangerous. Who knows what the hell happened. I'm also not trying to have a guest come in and get injured on my mat either. Yeah, yeah. So it's a sweet spot. Yeah. In terms of, like, dual game, right?

Right, right. I go back there, He does a good job. And it's like, Hey, that's what I'm talking. Right. Yeah. And then that's going to build feel.

Remember this feeling we're going to build on this. Are you enforce it? Hey, you did a great job by you. Now you're getting somewhere. Right. And then you're just building on top of that. And before you know it.

Right. Nice. You've built this person up little by little, and then you go into a competition, you know, and he may be a brown little and then you go into a competition, you know, and he may be a brown belt but you give him a yellow belt. I'm kidding.

I'll never do that. I'll never do that. A little sandbagging. That's kind of the idea, you know? Yeah. To prepare these guys for competition.

You can't just throw them in the thing and not know who's going to be there or what. And, you know? You gotta build them up

mentally. Like, even as, like, brown belts, like, blood belts, you know, it's a totally different animal. Yeah, totally different animal. And then sometimes you need that team thing. Everyone has to go. Yeah. You know, I have a hard time going to these tournaments now

because I have a daughter and, you know, I'm a single father. So it's like, I'm not going to burn a Saturday being at these things. I know. That's one of the big things. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I'm not going to burn a Saturday being at these things. I know. That's one of the big things. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough to justify. You know what I mean?

But there's guys who go on their own. Yeah. And they do pretty good. We have a novice guy that goes to all the local tournaments and he's crushing it. Oh, he loves it. Oh, nice. So that's fine. You know?

So now we cover hobbyists. How about people who want to make it to the circuit? I guess, I don't know what Gianni is doing. Yeah, he wants to make it to the circuit. Well, you got to understand how the system for the competitive roster is set up. You got to look at the point system. What's worth going to? Because Gianni has a full-time job.

He can't go to everything. Right, right. What level tournament is it? level how many points you get yeah in the u.s it's generally you know c d e are the level tournaments right you know national level tournament regional level tournament you get this many points you get on the american roster ranking roster and then for top five of that you have the right to go to the international tournaments, even there, there's levels. Grand Slam, Grand Prix, you know, continental opens, things like this. So you have to be, you have to, you need someone that knows about all

these levels and strategize. You kind of do, yeah. Cause then you pick out your tournaments that you're going to go to for, in the beginning, you get this first selection, Gianni's like, which one should I go to? What do you think about this one? And was like portugal you know england whatever whatever that was right it's like in europe i was like the european continental opens are much harder okay pick the pan-american continentals or the oceanic continentals because the same value in terms of points and you're not going to get those killers you're not going to get the guys

from russia you're not going to get those killers. You're not going to get the guys from Russia. You're not going to get those guys. In the South American ones, you're going to get Brazil, Cuba. You're going to get those guys for certain. But if you don't fight them first or second round, you could draw them later out of the bracket. You get points for those early wins. That's going to help you be seeded for the bigger ones once you get to the Grand Prixs and the Grand Slams. That was my issue a lot of the times.

I would get to the Grand Prixs and the Grand Slams. I would fight a lot of the times. I would get to the Grand Prix and the Grand Slams. I would fight a top 10 guy in the world and get killed. You know what I mean? Right, right, right. I mean, not killed, all of a sudden. Like, you're a nice and all. Yeah. So you got to pick the tournaments appropriately.

You know what I mean? And then based on where you are in terms of level, you want to make sure you peak at the right time. You know what I mean? And then based on where you are in terms of level, right, you want to make sure you peak at the right time. You know what I mean? Yeah. If you're an international-level athlete and you need to go just do a tune-up at U.S. Nationals, then you don't need to peak for U.S. Nationals.

You're training all the way through. You're just training hard that whole week like nothing is different. That's part of your training almost. That's part of your training, yeah. You get on the plane, you go, you compete, you do a camp, whatever, right? And you come back and you're back at it. You know what I mean? But,

if you're fighting in a, let's just say a Grand Prix, and you're a candidate to medal, but you're sort of not quite there, it's a little bit above your, right? Then you want to peak for that. Peak for something. Or, if you've made a Pan Am team, that's the biggest points. The Pan American Championship, Pan American Games. Because that's the best value for your ball.

Yeah. And the path to being an Olympian in the last 12 years that they've been doing the system is to be the highest ranked athlete in the world by going to these Grand Prixs, Grand Slams, the World Cups and Conference Opens. And then be the highest ranking athlete in the world by going to these Grand Prix's, Grand Slam's, World Cups and Contest Opens, and then be the highest ranking athlete in the world in the US in your division, which qualifies you to go to the Pan Am Games or the championships.

And that tournament, the Pan American Championship for the Games is worth so many points. So if you meddle there, you fly up the world ranking list. European games, Asian games, Pan American games, Oceanic games, African games. Right, right.

The continental ones. Not the continental open. Oh, okay, okay. That's the lowest tier. It used to be called World Cups. Now they're called Continental. Yeah. Man, this is a different world.

Yeah. So, yeah. Make it an Olympic team. Without a doubt, you have to get to the Pan Ams, right? Because you're not going to go to the Grand Prixs and the Grand Slams coming out of a soft country like the United States in terms of judo, right? Yeah, yeah. You have to consistently meddle with these things. Right.

Very rare. Travis Stevens did it, you know? Yeah. Kayla did it. Yeah. Majority of the guys were on the international circuit. Very rare. Travis Stevens did it. Kayla did it. Majority of the guys who are on the international circuit, U.S. brings 30 people. Who's meddling?

Maybe one, maybe two. Who's losing first round? 95% of them. That's how brackets work anyway. Yeah, that's how brackets work anyway. Yeah, that's how brackets work. And that's just how it is because you draw the higher seeded athlete in the world. Yeah. So it's not really just a ding on the U.S. athletes. They're great athletes and all.

And I'm a big fan of them. I root for them. But if Pan Am is the thing that's going to determine whether you're going to make it, you want to peak for that. Right? You want to be at the right weight, the cut weight, to be in the right weight class. That's a component of it. Making the weight

properly, which was my biggest issue all the time. I hated making weight, per se. You've got to be diligent with your diet and stuff. Dieting and weight cutting is a completely different thing. You have to diet down and be as lean as possible. That's really the key. You know what I mean?

And this is the thing. I could, I'm 220 right now and normally I'm 220. Right? Walking around. But I would cut down in air quotes to 178 sometimes. Yeah. You know what I mean? You can watch videos on Shin Seol's website.

I mean, on channel. I'm carrying a substantial amount of body fat. Like, on channel. I'm carrying a substantial amount of body fat. Like, most time. So, can I potentially diet down to, like, 180? Yeah. And then compete?

Me being shredded? Yeah. Yes. But this is the thing. I'm a little bit un-disciplined in the eating. Right? I'm, like, eating.

I love chicken parm. I love pizza, burgers. Right? You know what I mean? So, I'm, like, kind of eating what I want. And back in the day, I was drinking a lot more. So, I love pizza, burgers. I'm eating what I want. Back in the day, I was drinking a lot more. I was drinking, hanging out, eating food.

I used to eat a pint of ice cream a night. Every single night, I did that. I'll be like 198, 200, 205. Then I'll be like, oh, shoot, I got to diet down. I'll diet down to 195. Then I'll cut 10, 15 pounds,

like, you know, the week of, of water weight. You know, like, can you compete optimally? No. You know, would all the coaches tell me that? Yes. Would I listen to them? I mean, I understood it. Yeah. But I would make the same mistakes over and over and over again, really. Yeah. And I've made weight properly sometimes i i've made weight like poorly sometimes and it shows you know in your actual results you know this is like a you know regular story in the international circuit too i've heard a lot of you know olympic champions saying they're they struggle with weight cutting yeah weight management i mean it's not an easy thing so you know and so it's not just about training so like weight you gotta diet down discipline

with your diet and diet down so you shed out shed your all your fat and then cut the last bit of it with water yeah and then how about like in terms of training I know like you know you have to train hard and then you have to kind of taper they say like do you believe in that I do yeah so I mean you don't want to be too tired and this is the thing right when you're cutting weight let's say you're like

220 pounds you're like me right but you're a little bit leaner you could die down to 198. Yeah. And be shredded. Yeah. Right?

So you're a big dude. You're walking around 220, 230, maybe 6'2", 6'1". You're a big guy. Yeah. Ooh. All of a sudden, you're shooting that 198, and then you cut 20 pounds of water weight the week up. Yeah.

Right? By manipulating sodium intake and all this stuff. And generally what they do is a week out, you drink two gallons of water, two gallons of water, right? A couple of days before you drop it to one. Cut it out. Yeah. One.

And then you manipulate your sodium levels. You're taking sodium initially, and then you start taking sodium. So the water just kind of flushes through your body. Just get rid of it. Yeah. You don't have to run as much. Right. Right.

You still kind of do. Right. You just have to sweat and all that stuff. So now you're getting close to that day. You're a frame of a 230-pound man. Yeah. You already have no more body fat. So there's no excess weight that you're carrying around.

Yeah. And now you drop the last 10 pounds by sitting in a sauna or going for a light jog and things like this. And then you make 178 and drink a lot of water and you rehydrate and you bring it all back. You take your carbohydrates that increases your glycogen stores that hold onto water. Okay. You do all this stuff.

Sodium, all this. Right. Now you're out there like competing against guys. Let's say you didn't cut weight at all. Yeah. You're all. Okay. You're 170 pounds soaking wet, carrying body fat.

So you should be fighting 145. Yeah. Right? That's the division you should be fighting. Against the guy who's naturally 220 pounds, that's like huge difference. Yeah, yeah. But like finding the right weight class and then being in that right weight class and then making that weight properly is a huge portion of it.

Yeah. And just as you asked about tapering, it's very, very important. Taper, but if you're cutting weight, you have to run the last weight off. I remember I made 178 for a tournament in like March or something. Dude, I had to run the night before and the day of

and I ran probably like 10 miles because I didn't have access to a sauna. Oh, gosh. Yeah, so it would be like hot shower, you know, put on my sauna suit, the plastic vital suit, and then go for like a light jog.

And I probably do like 10 miles in two days. So by the time I got out there, my legs were like tight and shaking. I was an explosive, you know, it was like the worst thing ever, you know, 30 seconds into the match,

I was huffing and puffing. Guess what? I lost that match. You know, 30 seconds into the match, I was just huffing and puffing. Guess what? I lost that match. But that was all because, like, I didn't plan and then start dining down two months out. Yeah. You know what I mean? And if you're on the circuit, you kind of always have to be on because competitions are back to back. Yeah, yeah.

You do the European tour, the Asian tour. You're in Korea one day, do the training camp. You know, do the European tour, the Asian tour. You're in Korea one day, do the training camp, you know, China the next day, do the camp. Now you're going to Japan, do the camp for two weeks

and then you're flying back to the United States. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's that whole time you have to be watching that scale, not to balloon up and,

you know, eat too much. Right. Because like in each country there's a competition, right? That's the idea of a tour. Yeah.

It's like you have to sort of dive down and already peak at your stage and you just kind of have to maintain it. So like in each country, there's a competition, right? That's the idea of a tour. Yeah. It's like you have to sort of dive down and already peak at your stage and you just kind of have to maintain it. So like being able to see where your body is, right? That's a big one, you know? And sometimes you don't have that luxury of being in the right weight class. You know, when Travis was fighting in 81, I would have been cutting all the way down at 81 and challenging to take it on Travis. Yeah.

I was already the best guy in the US at 220. Yeah. So I would just fight 220 and go international. But the problem was when I went internationally, everyone's 6'4", 6'5", cutting down from like 250. Like Kropotkin was in my weight class. See, that's the difference. I fought Kropotkin in competition. Lucas Kropotkin.

He's a monster. Olympic gold. He's like Teddy Renner a hard time. Guy's like 6'6". He's cutting down to 220. He's like Teddy Renner a hard time. Guy's like 6'6". He's cutting down the 220. I'm like walking in like 216 like chubby. You know what I mean? There's a very, very big difference in the physicality

of that. Right, right. So all these different things kind of matter. You know, in terms of like training, you know, let's talk about training for competition at a higher level. It's injury management too because you're always injured you're always going to be injured if you're doing it at a high level because you have you can't rest you gotta keep going wear wear a tear yeah gianni tweaked his shoulder right he's right first left so that's like we're posted on not doing anything with this side and we're just working on like gaining the sleeve

right whether it's like outside gain inside gate yeah doing anything with this side and we're just working on like gaining the sleeve, right? Whether it's like outside gain, inside gain, lapel, moving the arm and then gaining from the outside and lapel moving, gaining from the inside, on the side. Yeah. So like we're just doing that or you can work on footwork. You could just do cardio, you know, where you are in the training cycle. Like you have to understand where your gap is in the game and say, Hey, we're going to do deliberate training.

I hate it when the guy comes to Georgian grip over the top, Georgian A, Georgian B. I'm not very comfortable with Georgian B. You're not going to develop an entire robust game around it, but getting out of it when you face a Russian type, that can be a specific thing that we train. We spend a week or two weeks doing.

So when you're there, you know what to do. And then just kind of like making yourself know, making yourself like a robust system and then some offshoots for different styles and then how to deal with each and one of those. You know, all those things, you know, lead to tournament prep and having a great coach is first and foremost, you know? I mean, I think you're kind of saying that throughout the episode.

You need someone who knows all these things. You need a coach that does that and is also invested in you. Yeah. Because I know the stuff and if I'm not invested in this person,

why bother? It's a waste of my time. You know what I mean? Because there's 90 other people that I could be focusing on or, you know? Goodness. Yeah.

Or if I'm doing Rondori, I'm not watching anybody doing Rondori. Yeah. So there's the asset up to the preparation. I mean, originally,

I kind of wanted to also touch on like what to bring and like day of competition stuff, like what to bring, maybe how to read the brackets. I don't know if you want to go into that. It's a little getting long.

Maybe we'll touch on it quickly. I mean, yeah. You want to bring sandals. You want to bring your geese, you know. The secret is, like, you want to put some geese in your carry-on and some geese in your, right? The one that gets checked in, because if they lose

your bags, which happens to a lot of people. I've heard U.S. Judo managers, coach managers on these teams, right? Oh, the airline lost my bag and all my geese were in it. And then the manager's like, are you fucking stupid or something?

Like, why don't you bring two on your check on bag to get standard information? It's like, what are you stupid? But it's like, you know, not everyone knows that. Yeah. So you want to do that just in case, right?

You want two checked in, two carry on. Four is usually good. You bring an extra pair of pants because it's light. You wear a rash guard in practice to sort of preserve the gi a little bit. I know people who are doing these competitions bring a little bit of detergents to wash the gi in the bathtub at the hotel. Febreze is good because if you're doing long stints at these things internationally, you're going to South America for these things right internationally you know you're going to south america for a month oh yeah so you bring febreze and you put it up and you spray it down you know i'm going to bring bars because sometimes you don't have access to food when you're in like

el salvador competing you know you're not going to just walk down to the store and get a sandwich yeah right you don't eat don't eat their salad because they wash it in the local water. Don't get ice in your juice because ice is local water and you'll get sick. It happened to me twice. I got extremely sick in Peru,

extremely sick in Venezuela. Yeah, that was in a small room. Do not eat the local ceviche. I remember. That was the dumbest thing I've ever done, dude. We don't need to go into detail, but yeah,

it was a mess. You know, my friend from high school was down there. I told you, right? Yeah. Hey, what's up, man? You're down here for judo competition? That's amazing. You know, let me take you out to lunch.

I don't know, man. Had the training camp. I was with my friend, Anthony. He was competing on that tour. And then my boy from high school was like, hey, man, dude, this thing is amazing. Best ceviche you've ever had. It's really local. And Anthony was like, dude, I'm not eating that.

Ah, smart man. I was like, I'm not eating that either. And then he was like, no, it's so good. You got to try it. It's local, whatever. I was like, you know what? I can handle it. Got sick of the dog.

Guess what? I still competed. I know. Thank God this was early in the week. It was early in the week. I got definitely ill. Yeah. I recovered a little bit.

And then I had to lose weight. Oh, gosh. Yeah. And I flew to, what was it? Argentina. I know. It was like a little tour, right? Yeah.

And then I had to fight, who was the Cuban? Silva Morales, who was like seventh in the world or something. Yeah. I think he's an Olympic medalist. Did you get concussed, right? Yeah. And then I had to fight who was the Cuban? Silva Morales who was like 7th in the world or something. Yeah. I think he's an Olympic Did you get concussed then? He headbutted me

and I got hurt. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the morning of I was running also because I had to make weight. I had selected for

the 5%, right? Weight increase. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ridiculous. I had to make weight twice and brutal oh gosh it's hard

but anyway yeah you know I like we're saying Bo only eats McNuggets apparently when he's in

yeah no so there's consistent yeah yes that's what people say you know if you eat fast food

if you get used to it every country you eat the fast food should be similar I've heard that before but bring some bars bring some Gatorade bring some medicine you know that's always nice Fast food, if you get used to it, every country you eat, the fast food is going to be similar. I've heard that before.

But bring some bars, bring some Gatorade, bring some medicine. You know, that's always nice. Have like a little toiletry kit. Tape, I guess. Tape. And, you know, getting your mind right. You know, keep your mind off the competition if you get nervous, right? Giving yourself a little bit of a distraction.

Download some podcasts. Go on Instagram. Who knows? Just keep your mind off it a little bit of a distraction download some podcasts go on Instagram who knows just keep your mind off it a little bit warm up properly know the type of warmth that works for you you know your little mental games that you play whether it's like having a mantra

you know having like a pre-tournament warm up routine those things will help do you think about strategies too? I mean, like look at the bracket all like,

I know that guy, this guy, like. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah. And now you can just

Google them and find their matches online, even back then, you know? Yeah. When I fought on my first round

of the Worlds, I took a grand slam and it was like, number one in the world, right? Right. And I went online and I looked up his matches

and I'm up his matches. I'm watching him. Wow, this guy is probably going to blow me. Yeah. But didn't you score on him? I took him down. I should have gotten a yuko for that because I shot him on the leg. You know, because he's leading with his left for a post on the hand.

And I popped it, duffed on there, grabbed the leg, and pulled him down to the ground. I always get one takedown on all the best guys yeah I got I took an eye down I didn't get a score

for that I should have right when I fought in the world sambo championship I fought Russia he was a six time

world champion I took him down with a high crotch once I got one point for that yeah and then even

when I was in college I wrestled the NCAA champ and then I took him down with a high crotch immediately he got two

oh nice so that's my little claim to fame then I took him down with a high crotch. Immediately, he got two. Oh, nice. So that's my little plane buffet, right? I'll take down the best guys at least once. You'll take down specialists. Yeah. But yeah, you know, you can watch them and then break it down. You have a coach like, hey, this guy's a strong lefty. I remember when I drew Morales, Silva Morales.

And, you know, the kind-hearted man that Travis is, he gave me a phone call. Oh, Travis. He's a strong lefty. He has a great switch, right? Yeah. Put your hands on

and expect him to fake forward and go backwards and, you know, do your best, man. And I was like, fucking what? Travis even texted me,

like, call me. Oh. Yeah. And he's like, I fought this guy a couple weeks ago he had fought him like a month ago or something yeah yeah and then travis said he lost too i guess you know and

he was telling me you know to watch out for it and that's exactly what i got caught with he i mean that's why he's good right back and then head-butted me. And then, like, you can see that he changed the shape of my cheekbone. Yeah, he did. That's what happens. I mean, that's why he's good. I had, like, this massive, like, thing on my face from it. And then after the match, he came up to me, shook my hand, going, Oh, I'm so sorry.

You know, I'm like, it's okay, man. It's okay. It's cool. Well, yeah. I might get stuck in bed on the other side man it's cool well yeah well guys this we went through a lot of stuff you know

preparing for competition is not it's not a simple thing and you just have to I think the big thing is you have to really know

why you're doing it because there's a lot of downside too and you need to and talk to your coach you need a good coach that knows all this stuff and if you want to

go into a circuit it's like a whole thing that we'll can probably talk a lot more but that's the gist of it

I hope you guys liked it anything else to before we close nope you guys can reach me out one to one also if you want to talk a little bit more

and have a little bit of online coaching I do offer that on my website. It's on the pricing tab, shantarigash.com. Yeah, best of luck to you guys. Great. Yep.

All right. Thanks for listening, guys. And we'll see you guys in the next episode.