The Shintaro Higashi Show - Shintaro is a BJJ Black Belt!

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

Shintaro recently received his BJJ black belt from his friend Brian Glick, a Danaher black belt. In this episode, Shintaro talks about what that means to him, and how it's been to be a student again. He also elaborates on how his BJJ journey has shaped his Judo. 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!

Hey guys, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu. Today I'm going to talk about my new experience, my new milestone, my BJJ black belt. Yeah, he just got his BJJ black belt. Yep, that was exciting. Did you upload the video? Yeah, the video's up. Okay, yeah. Right?

Yeah, it's very emotional, I think. Very beautiful. I mean, you won't see me crying or anything like that, you know. But Brian's work and the speech. very beautiful I mean you won't see me crying or anything like that you know but Brian I speech yeah I thought there was a very thoughtful

speech by Brian and yeah it was really good that's what he does really good he's a great teacher he's a great speaker

all that stuff and it's relevant to a lot of people listening you know because I have to kind of be a student during this time of learning

right I'm always teaching that's kind of nice too you know it's just kind of be a student during this time of learning. Right. I'm always teaching. That's kind of nice, too. You know, it's just kind of like take off your teaching hat and just say, hey, I'm here to learn this thing. That was amazing. You know, I love that. Yeah. And go check out the video.

Highly recommend it. Like, go check it out. Also, we're looking for sponsors on the podcast. So if you want to reach out to us, you can. How you can reach out, if you want to give them your personal email. No, I think you guys can message us on Instagram or any support you can give us through Patreon

or if you want to go, if you're a big gun and then do a more formal sponsorship, I guess we're open for discussion. Hey, what's up, Jojo? What's going on, man? 30 seconds. Yeah. If you want to have Shintaro say happy birthday to your wife.

That's right. Here we go. Alright. Alright, let's get into it. So we kind of talked about this in the last episode when we discussed your current training. So you've been kind of getting into more BJJ, just as like going back to the student mindset, as you said, with Glick and your local gym. Glick and your local gym. My local gym. I'll tell you, man, the one thing that really got me going back,

you know, consistently is looking at the schedule and it fitting my schedule like a glove. Yeah. Because I dropped my kid off at school at 9, maybe like 8.30, and then it's like they have a 10 a.m. class. They have an 11 a.m. class. You know what I mean? Yeah. So usually I would drop my kid off and go straight to the gym

and do, you know, heavy deadlifts or squats or something like that. But now it's like I could just dip in and put on a gi and take a rash guard. And it's literally seven minutes from my house. Nice. Yeah. So, you know, I started going and it's a great staff, great environment. The teacher is, you know, amazing. JT Torres' school and he's somebody in the jiu-jitsu world, right?

So it's nice being in a room too where i don't have to worry about people getting injured or there's nothing business about it at all just me going there learning as a student then just providing value in the room for everyone else right yeah so it's like and at the given thing i know the type of students that i like in the room at the dojo so it's easy for me to be that guy now yeah yeah the non-pretentious i can roll with every single person in there everyone likes me i think right so no it's a great thing and i've been kind of getting back into it you know so yeah it's been a nice journey so what kind of benefits have you seen you at uh this through this cross training so you guys already know know Brian Glick is my jujitsu teacher.

He's my sense. Yeah. He's been my guy forever. He's one of my close friends. I've been with him for 10, 15 years. We've been, I teach him judo.

He teaches me jujitsu. It's like the thing that we do once a week. I mean, but sometimes like we'll do jujitsu on a Wednesday. I don't see him for a week. And then it just kind of goes to the back of my mind, the stuff that I learned, the stuff that I'm training.

Now I'm sort of in there every day doing this stuff that it's always in the forefront of my mind right yeah it's fresh and stuff i did yesterday i work on today and stuff i did today i'm gonna go home think about it obsess over it a little bit and then come back in the next day and do it right right and then if i have certain things like for instance like spider guard lasso stuff like there's no one that really plays that judo you can't really do that right like with the time constraint and all yeah i mean i'm sure you can integrate it some way yeah you know but there's not too many judo guys that play it and even the jiu-jitsu guys that i know there's not too many of them in this gym a lot of people do that in the gi i see yes so i can choose to just kind of like ah you know what i don want to be there. Like not letting them get the grips and just kind of physically not,

or put myself there and see like what they're going to do. Right. To really learn it. I methodically get out of these positions, like how late into the game, what are they going for and trying to understand and stay ahead of it. Right. So I think I know more positions a little bit, even in the short amount of time they're going,

I know a little bit more now. Right. I'm learning like these things, the nuances of a guy who does this. Right. They're experts in it. Right. They're not just like trying things out. Yeah. And then I get to talk it. That's the thing. Right. I'm talking judo all the time, day in and day out. Right. Right. But now I get to have the conversation for instance uh lasso spider guy also does you know delaheva sometimes so delaheva sleeve delaheva spider whatever these combinations like when you go right lasso the spider guard right now it's like oh when the guy crouches down and connects the elbow then you can switch these kinds of things that you can have a conversation or hear somebody talk about it kind of makes you

think of it in a different way conceptually so is your goal right now to just expand your grappling horizon rather than are you trying to compete in some kind or are you just trying to be just a

better judo player maybe or honestly man like the one thing I, I said this last week too, but it's like, I wanted to get some extra workouts in for cardio. Right. That was initially what it was,

but now, you know, my mentality is a little bit like, oh, I want to learn this. I'm so fascinated by some of this stuff. You know, I'm just like a grappling junkie at heart.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Not just specific to judo, like the NCAAs happened, the wrestling, you know, I'm just like a grappling junkie at heart. You know what I mean? Yeah. Not just specific to judo. Like the NCAAs happened, the wrestling, you know? Yeah. And it's reigniting my love for grappling, period. I see. I see. Indirectly, it makes me love judo.

Yeah. And then I could focus on this and love each and every one of them. It's like having a wife and a couple of mistresses and girlfriends. Ah! I mean. Judo is your wife? Judo is my wife. Yeah. It gives me a couple of mistresses and girlfriends. Judo's your wife? Judo's my wife. Yeah, it gives me a lot of problems, a headache.

Jujutsu's like my new hot girlfriend. You know what I mean? I'm just trying to keep up. Trying to keep up. Along with going off the analogy, the problem is that it's you know the novelty can wear off when you know with the new lady

right? That's true it may not be sustainable not that Judo will be jealous of GJJ or maybe it will be. But you know man the staff is so nice there and the people are so great there. There's like a sticky thing about it too like it's just so convenient for my,

of me to go in and dip in for a workout and I feel very welcome there and all this stuff. So those are all positives. You know what I mean? It felt like I wasn't doing jujitsu this whole time. I was dipping in and doing stuff here and there and then working out with Brian and a lot of jujitsu guys come to my judo school to work out. And I always try to grab a roll with them,

you know? Right. Right. But it is different. When I'm at the dojo and like a guy comes in and he's like a jiu-jitsu black belt or something, you know, I'm not going to like sit around and see what this game is like and let him enter deep half and try to figure it out and then like,

oh, you know, this guy does this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to do that. You know what I mean? Because everyone's watching. The context is different. Yeah, the context is different. I'm not warmed up. It's like, guys are just like, hey, since we want to go for a roll, it's like, okay, I know this guy's good at jiu-jitsu. I'm not warmed up. It's like, guys are just like, hey, since we want to go for a roll, it's like, okay, I know this guy's good at jiu-jitsu.

I'm not going to, you know? Yeah, you're probably going to, you know, heavy on the passing game and stuff, right?

It's like, I'm not going to mess around there. I'm going to pass quick, pin him. Yeah. You know, that's kind of just, that's it,

right? It's like, usually, usually. Depends on how skilled they are, all this stuff, who it is, you know, depends on of just that's it right it's like uh usually usually depends on how skilled they are all this stuff who it is you know depends i feel like yeah sometimes it's great for the room right george is good at the waza you know greg is good all those guys are good at the waza so go work out with those guys and sometimes those guys can handle themselves really good against you

know some higher level yeah two guys and then i get to watch a little bit and then you know and then take it all in yeah right so so now you're you're at you've added bjj more regular bjj to your training uh regimen yeah yeah and then recently as we mentioned in the beginning you've actually become a double black belt in judo and bj so baby can you give us a background on how that happened um you know how that now changes things for you yeah so i mean i don't think it changes much you know yeah um i think it does legit make me legitimize me a little bit more right Right. As opposed to just having a brown belt. But my foray into jiu-jitsu has always been sort of a dabbler.

I've mentioned this before, but I went into a jiu-jitsu school with a black belt judo, wearing a black belt. Over the summer or something, right? Yeah, it was like I was back home from college. I was wrestling heavy, and then I was home for the summer, and I walked into a jiu-jitsu school. And then I went with my judo black belt, and I like oh shoot you guys are pretty good oh yeah otherwise but they did a lot of stand-up and they were like starting from standing so it was awesome it was really cool for me and then I went the next day as a white belt and the

third day I showed up they gave me a blue belt like you know your grounds are really good like your blue belt yeah I did my whole summer know, your ground's really good. Like, you're a blue belt. Yeah. I did my whole summer there. And then I was really into wrestling. I was wrestling all the time. I was doing this and doing judo. And I was competing both. And I just couldn't fit it in.

Yeah. And then one summer, I started going to Henzo's. Yeah. The Donahers class. John Donahers class. Yeah. And I went, you know, every, I think it was like every other day or something, or maybe every day for a whole summer.

Right. And then at the end of the summer, Donahue gave me a purple belt oh nice nice yes yes yes yes and then one of my judo black belts became a jujitsu black belt he gave me a brown belt because i used to work out with this guy all the time but that was kind of like the one that's like ah yeah what's your lineage here yeah yeah and then and then i've been doing jujitsu with brian glick this whole time, like once a week on and off. You know, sometimes like COVID shut it down or like, you know, he had a kid, I had a kid, and then there was some time off. But, you know, it's been consistent, man.

Like 10 years on and off working out with this guy. He's always been my friend. Talking about jiu-jitsu, working out with him. And then, you know, finally. It must have meant a lot more coming from a friend you know yeah for sure for sure

I will proudly hope Brian Glick my teacher Brian Glick lineage yeah I don't care too much about like

oh you know right but the fact that I got it from him from him yeah I mean he got his from Donaher

right so everyone knows it comes from a legitimate lineage right yeah but you know that's got it from him. From him, yeah. I mean, he got his from Donaher, right? So everyone knows. It comes from a legitimate lineage, right? Yeah. But that's what it really means the most, you know, or just my friend. You know, it really is symbolic of like me and him's friendship. Never had an issue. Always been friendly.

Always great working out with him and teaching judo. I wish I could give him a judo back, but he already got it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he does? Yeah, he's a judo back. He's good. He's good on the stand. Yeah, I've give him a judo back, but he already got it. Yeah. Oh, he does? Yeah, he's a judo back. He's good. He's good on the stand.

Yeah, I've run door in with him. He's good. He's tricky. Yeah, you wouldn't expect how strong he is on a beat. Yeah, so that

doesn't really change anything. Not really. You know, there's a part of me that wants to compete in it a little bit. I did a few tournaments and I won those.

Yeah. Back when I was at Purple Belt. Right, right. But I competed in the black belt division in Jiu-Jitsu. It'd be interesting if you want to go for it. But you know, like I have to really know everything, right? Yeah, you have to know the game and the point system. Yeah, like I will need to be put in certain positions

and be an expert in certain positions like even if i don't do deep path yeah i want to go against somebody is expert at deep path and be able to defend that right right there's a big gap in my knowledge if i don't go with any guys that do any deep half and i go into a competition he's a deep path expert i'm gonna have an issue right right b Bernardo was like that at the dojo. Oh, yeah. The deep half guy. You know, Bernardo Faria. And then, like, the sweep.

Yeah. And then he was like, I don't even know. Like, he would then sweep you, right? His whole game was, like, pull guard, deep half, sweep from there, over under pass, pass, and that's it. That was, you know. No, that's it. His over under pass was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so i mean it's like if he's pulling guard he's not getting taken down right yeah and if you can force deep half he could most likely sweep everyone there because

that's what he's good at and then when you sleep somebody from deep half you're in the over under pass situation so now you're right there you know so yeah and i remember when he came to the dojo for a year i had a hard time with him, you know, because he was good at deep half, much about it. But still, it's not really like that much better because there's nobody else that does deep half so much against me. I want to identify guys in the room

who are very, very good at that, and put myself there. And, you know, this is the thing, right? When you're in a room and you're just training, put yourself there and they're going to sweep you. You know? Right.

It's fine. Because, and it's embarrassing a little bit, right? Because it's like, oh man, he's a black belt. Oh, he's a judo guy. And look at it, he's just getting swept by everybody.

You know? Yeah. Putting yourself there is kind of important. You know, I want to ask all these guys who are good at what their games are and I want to like,

you know, really pick their brain on how they set up their game. I want to come up with my own system for myself. I don't want to just carve in copy of whatever this person does or that person does because I know that's not going to get me far. But I know my strengths. I want to integrate a lot of the people I want to take and then mesh it all together in this one big thing that's going to be truly my style of jiu-jitsu yeah that's where I come out of that and that's the

exciting part of it you know uh and is it frustrating yeah you know when I put myself in somebody's lasso and I can't get out it's frustrating you know right right when I put myself uh you know I was working the scapes the other day and I was going with the lower belt and like kind of letting them pass a little bit and then trying to escape and uh that's annoying too yeah you know then sometimes like the camera comes around with the phone and then oh gosh i got my back like trying to escape like it looks like we can legitimately get pinned like i suck on the bottom on the bottom but still you're you're on YouTube judo black belt gets destroyed BJJ

blue belt yeah it's actually very I think it takes a lot for especially a person of

person like you who's you know already achieved a lot of pedigrees in judo to kind of shed all that ego

and then try out a new new art like BJJ as a student, you know. And I think that's, I'm sure that'll make you a better teacher at the same time because now you have a better understanding of what it feels like to be a student again.

Yeah, it's nice, man. It's nice being in the room. And I'll tell you, that's how it kind of felt like when I was getting the MBA. Yeah. Oh. Yeah.

Just like being in the room with smart people, right? Lifetime student here. Yeah. You know, it was an executive program. Average age was like 43. There's CFOs and CEOs in there

and just being in that room, you know, and ideas are discussed and you have some of the best professors in the world, right? There's Stern professors discussed and you have some of the best professors in the world, right? There's Stern professors, you know, they have the best guys of that staff teaching the executive program. You're just sitting there learning, you know,

of course they make you do homework and stuff, which I didn't really like. No, I like the best to deal with in a collaborative like teamwork situation. Cause you don't have the least amount of academic skills out of all of them right? it's like build a model a discount cash flow model on this company and it's like I don't have this problem

you know what I mean like that's not my thing but you contribute a lot you told me through your presentation skills not that much your charisma I contribute very little through your presentation skills. Not that much. Your charisma. Not that much. I contribute very little.

I don't know what he's keyboarding. Yeah, well, one question I had was, I don't know if your dad cares so much about your DJJ, you know, adventures. Did he say anything when you got the belt? I'm curious what he thinks he's been hounding me

to like get a black belt for years oh really he has why aren't you a black belt already I don't understand it's a different sport

it's different roles like how different can it be it's two bodies it's a new one what's the matter with you you know it's like

oh god this freaking guy so was he happy he was happy or was he like yeah he's like you know it's like oh god this freaking guy so was he happy he was happy or was he like yeah he's like you know the world masters

are in Vegas he's like I would love to go to Vegas oh he wants to go to Vegas yeah yeah they

yeah those some of the bigger BJJ tournaments always pick the fun venues yeah yeah no

I'm kind of excited I like Vegas I know some people over there right so yeah you've done a seminar Fun venues. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm kind of excited about it. I like Vegas. I know some people over there, right? So, yeah. Oh yeah, you've done a seminar there too. A seminar there,

yeah. Nice, nice. I'm excited about learning something new and then making new friends. You know, they're grappling minded. And this is the thing, man.

Like, there's a lot more lifers in Jiu Jitsu. Right. Full timers. Yeah. You go to the 10 a.m., 11 a, man. Like, uh, there's a lot more lifers in Jiu Jitsu. Right. Full timers. Yeah. You know, you go to the 10 AM, 11 AM class, the teachers that are teaching that, that's what they do for a living.

You know, a lot of schools, you know, that you kind of enter, it's their secondary thing. Yeah. These guys live in that grappling lifestyle. Right. So there's a lot to like, that's relatable for me. You know, I'm living the grappling lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. These guys live in that grappling lifestyle. Right. So there's a lot that's relatable for me. I'm living the grappling lifestyle. Yeah, yeah. I woke up, did my dad's stuff, went to jujitsu, came back, I'm doing this,

and now tonight I'm going to go to the dojo. I have to do judo. Right, right. Yeah. You know? Well, you know, Jio just came back from the Pan American Open. Oh, wow. That's right, right.

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed. You know, like guidance and direction on living it. But these guys are doing the same. They're getting up for, you know, the Pan Ams. They have their Pan Ams. We're having it next week. Oh, okay. There's a Gianni coming home from the Pan American Open from Columbia.

Oh, wow. and these guys are going to the Pan Ams in Florida yeah it's like they're like your peer group I'll tell you what's nice about Jiu Jitsu man I'll tell you what's really nice

most of the tournaments are here in America yeah dude Gianni has to do a tour like the Pan American Tour and it's like oh yeah he went to Colombia then next Gianni has to do a tour, like the Pan American tour. And it's like, Oh yeah. He went to Columbia.

Then next week he has to go to the DR. Then the Cuba's coming up and it's like all over the place. Like I remember when I did the Asia tour on sort of my last, like run for the Olympics in 2012 or something like this. It was like, all right, you know, I'm in Korea, Jeju Island for a week and the training camp.

Then we fly to China for the grand prix. And then we do a and a training camp. Then we fly to China for the Grand Prix. And then we do a week of training camp. Then I go to Japan for the Tokyo Grand Slam. And then I do two weeks of training camp there. You know what I mean? The Tokyo Grand Slam training camp. That's a lot of traveling. Yeah, I was away for like a month and a half for that whole freaking ordeal.

And then I stayed and then did judo at the, you know, the Kokushikan University. Kokushikan, yeah. So it's like, man, that's just brutal. Right. It's truly global. Like, you have to go to these places. Oh, we're going to go to France for this thing, that thing. And it just costs so much money.

As opposed to U.S. and jiu-jitsu. It's like, all right, Pan Ams are in Florida. World Masters in Las Vegas. You know, the world championships or whatever it is in California. Because BJJ is more, I guess, like the mecca of BJJ is America right now. It's here. It's here.

Yeah. 100%. So, I mean, that's like one downside of being a, yeah. Jiu-Jitsu is growing in Europe. Yeah. Yeah. But the U.S.,

there's not a lot of like, the U.S. doesn't really go there like especially purple belts and blue belts and stuff like that you know yeah exactly so that's the nice thing

about jiu-jitsu you know it's safer you know when you're gonna get strangled right yeah you were telling me that you know

like ah you know what probably get strangled you know it's coming right yeah it's coming you know juji stuff like oh this's coming right yeah it's coming you know juji stuff

like oh this armbar he's looking for an armbar getting ready to tap like I put my hand up like this yeah yeah

judo man it's like a knockout in boxing you don't see it coming sometimes and you're upside out you know right

and that's that's one of the best ways to throw people I mean yeah that's the thing being unexpected

give up position in Jiu Jitsu all the time let them pass try to work it try a new guard you know what I mean like I've been trying a lot of lasso

slider stuff you know they have like interesting names for different positions if you go like with the you know

cross column the hiba and the foot on the inside they call it praying mantis guard you know they call it tarantula guard they have all these different guards you know, cross-collar, the hiva and the foot on the inside. They call it praying mantis guard. You know what they call it? Tarantula guard. They have all these different guards.

You know what I mean? I didn't even know those. So, like, I'm, like, experimenting with all these different things. And when I do that, people are going to pass me because I suck at those things. You know what I mean? But it's not a huge deal. In judo, you know, I'm going to experiment with the Georgian grip. You know, guy is going to bomb you on your head.

And he might throw you on your shoulder you could get injured right so it's like why it's just too high of a risk to put yourself there unless you truly trust the guy in a way bj might be like similar to golf you know like it's like what they call a tinkerer sport like you can tinker around infinitely yeah like it's like that's what that's what gets you like because you tinker a bit and then you see some immediate positive feedback and you're hooked yeah the feedback was great yeah we talk we talk about this like judo when you're doing like soccer right yeah what is the possession time on the ball like you could be possessing the ball 70 percent of the time right and not had it could be 0-0 on the board right

or like some teams don't even give up on possession like it would be 70-30 80-20 and then the team with the

lower possession can like do a counter attack and score yeah you know it's not like always the best yeah

but you get points for passing points for this points for that yeah you know what i mean so it's a much more faster higher scoring thing not faster visually because judo is very dynamic and fast right i'm not trying to compare like the movement i'm talking about in terms of like the right movement of point yeah right take down this many points pass this many points

sweat this many points and you're like oh right right right yeah you can kind of see like the direction is clearer like if you're doing like this feedback

and and even the advantages if you're doing it right or not yeah so people are going for stuff and you know I wish

there's got to be a healthy ground rule set one day somebody's going to come up with it I don't know Bujudo you mean Bujudo and Jiu Jitsu to kind of have be a healthy ground rule set one day somebody's going to come up with it i don't know what judo you mean but judo and jujitsu to kind of have like a common ground thing you know maybe make it easier for just you guys to compete in judo and being just you guys people are trying it it just hasn't worked yet yeah but you know i think it tie into like the u.s judo system or whatever it is and then the International Judo, IJF and the Olympics.

But it's got to be spectator friendly. That's what Judo is all about with the Olympics. So it's a blessing and a curse at the same time. The Olympics. Yeah. The Olympics. That pedigree and yeah, it brings a lot of

benefits at the same time. Maybe the incentive is a little not as aligned. Yeah, US Judo answers to IJF, answers to

Olympic Committee, IOC, you know, and everything, all those decisions have to be made in a bureaucratic way. It can't just be like,

all right, let's just, you know, it's heavily like, you know, regulated and controlled and all this stuff. Yeah.

I guess that kind of goes back to your point about you know being local trying different things out locally where you have more freedom in your dojo yeah that could trickle up you know bottom up yeah approach alright well

yeah well congrats again, you know, double black belt. Thank you. Yeah. You've been sandbagging for a while at BJJ though.

Yeah, maybe. People are surprised when I check a beauty was up. They're like, but then it's funny because when I go to

training, sometimes past night go out immediately and they're like, man, this guy's black belt, Jets are following. It's probably not real death. It's not.

Stocks on the ground. Yeah. Well, the depth of knowledge you have and the breadth of knowledge you have is definitely worthy of a black belt. Thank you. Yeah. Anything else? No, man.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that helped me get there. Seriously. People who I'm thanking right now, they probably don't listen to this. But like, thank you. I learned so much from everybody. Even the guy that mansplains to you,

who's much lower ranked than you, interested to explain to you this and that. I still learn from those people too. He was part of your journey. That's part of your journey. You need guys like that. Like I still learn from most people too. He was part of your journey. That's part of the journey. You need guys like that, you know? So all of you guys.

You know, that's a good attitude to have. Every person that I've ever trained with. You know, seriously, that's the thing, right? Every person I've ever trained with contributed.

Yeah. To me being here in grappling and training, you know, whether it's a injured elbow or a skill that I acquired or, you know, something that I'm like, okay, man, I'm never going to put myself here in the position yet. Yeah. Yeah. One of those guys had something to do with it.

So thank you guys. Thank you, Peter, for being here. Oh, well, of course. I'm glad I could be part of the journey. Yeah. Well, thanks for listening, guys. I hope you guys found this interesting and helpful. And we'll see you guys in the next episode.