The Shintaro Higashi Show - "Still Got It" Training

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

In this episode, Shintaro and Peter explore the concept of "Still Got It" training—a strategy for grapplers who can't train as consistently as before but want to maintain their skills and confidence. They discuss how this training style involves strategic choices in sparring partners, prioritizing less challenging opponents to get a good workout without the intense competition. Shintaro shares his personal experience transitioning from high-frequency training to a more sporadic schedule due to life commitments and how "Still Got It" training has helped him stay in the game. The conversation includes practical tips for managing training intensity, balancing ego and self-preservation, and adapting grappling practice to different life stages and priorities. Whether you're an occasional grappler or a weekend warrior, this episode offers valuable insights for keeping your skills sharp without burning out. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:57) What is "Still Got It" Training? (00:01:45) Shintaro's Personal Experience with “Still Got It” Training (00:03:22) Choosing the Right Sparring Partners (00:05:43) Who Is “Still Got It” Training For? (00:07:38) Training Strategies for the Occasional Grappler (00:09:53) Pros and Cons of "Still Got It" Training (00:11:58) Mental and Physical Benefits of Taking Breaks (00:15:58) The Importance of Self-Preservation in Training (00:17:35) Advice for Once-a-Week Warriors

And now all of a sudden he's spamming Tomonage. Nothing's working. He looks terrible. He takes a little bit of break, goes on vacation, comes back. And now because he's never really mastered Tomonage, he just kind of defaults back to his usual upright stuff. And he's smoking everybody. If you saw a video of him working out three weeks ago versus now, that one day that he came back, that new guy, after three weeks, he looked so much better. And not because he is actually better better but because of the reason of what

we're just talking about still got it trading you know what i mean no but you're you're you're just straight up bullying people though i know you i know i'm a work no you don't you guys are in the michigan region go work out with peter and try to give peter beating, please, because he deserves it. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu. Today we're going to talk about still got a training. It's a special type of training that I'm engaging in right now. And you are too, probably, Peter.

I've been doing that for a while. I didn't even know there was a proper term. We'll coin it. Still got a training. Still got a training. What does that mean? So still got to training is like once you're training consistently all the time, you kind of fall out of sync with your schedule, and you're just dipping in every now and then to the dojo.

You're quite not like having stretches where you don't go to the dojo for three weeks, but it's like you're going once every week or once every two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. But you can't just every week or once every two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. But you can't just train like you were before. Nope. Because you're not consistent. So you have to change.

You're not consistent. And all the people in the room who are tough rounds, who are your competitors, your rivals, you don't go with them. So you have to engage in this new form of training called still got to training. All right. All right. Well, so you were doing that i'm doing that well so this is the thing right in the summer though i was in the early summer so yumi's my

daughter's camp ended oh and then i had two renovation projects going on at once uh-huh so between yumi the renovation projects i couldn't quite get to the jiu-jitsu gym in the mornings as consistently as I wanted. I'm doing jiu-jitsu five, six days a week usually, right, in the mornings. And then I do judo in the evenings. And then I try to throw in a lift. But I just couldn't get it all in with the work and then the childcare. Yeah, yeah. Life.

Life happens. And then so at the end of the summer, I was engaging and still got a training. So how often have you been going? I mean, I'm back to my old schedule now. Oh, okay. So, okay. Yeah. So I went already Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, I did three days in a row of jiu-jitsu. I wrestled a little bit. I did some judo in the evening on Monday. You know, I haven't lifted this week yet, but I'm going to. I might go right after this it's thursday uh but right up till about last week until my daughter started going back to school i was only getting in once or twice a week max right and i had weeks where i didn't go at all so for for your own training you're not talking about like teaching no this is just straight up for your own yeah yeah all right so what have you noticed like after you made that transition transition from like

consistently going every day to once or twice like did you notice that your stamina went down drastically oh of course because i gained a little bit but i gained probably like six pounds uh-huh endurance is down all the guys that would be kind of competitive with me in the room you know i started i just kind of avoid them right you don't make eye contact how that that's one way is that all you did like that what if they seek you seek you out they i'm sure they seek you out it's like no you gotta lie and say your knee hurts you've heard it folks here yeah so this is, right? You go with people who are significantly lighter than you, only lighter people, much lower ranked than you as well. So like 160-pound blue belt that's not a competitor is a good candidate for this.

That's me. So you go nice and easy. You kind of maneuver around them. You kind of do your A game, right? You're not trying anything new. You're not trying anything new you're not trying anything fancy you're just kind of doing it to kind of beat them not badly but like just a small margin so you could tell yourself you still got it right right right and you're getting there you're just getting a workout in that's the goal of getting a workout in forget all the competition the ego the rivalry none of that stuff you're not trying anything new you're just going to get a workout in and then you're just telling yourself

oh i still got it that's the whole goal because in the idea is that if you really wanted to turn it on you could smoke this person you can yes for sure but you don't do that because that's the thing to do you know you're not trying to prove to yourself that you could beat the piss out of this person who's older lighter and less skilled than you you're not trying to prove to yourself that you could beat the piss out of this person who's older, lighter, and less skilled than you. You're not trying to do that. But you're just trying to get a workout in to kind of tell yourself, I still got it. I'm just going to keep maintaining at this I still got it level. And then when I'm able to go consistently, that's when you go back to your roll three and four and fives.

You know what I mean? So generally, if you have 10 Rondoris in the room yeah if you're doing 10 rolls in the room three four and fives are always should be the toughest ones yeah yeah first one is a warm-up yeah guy you're with for drilling yeah second one you're so warming up third one's like that's a hard one yeah you know and then three four five is usually stacked so your usual three, four, and fives you don't go with. Yeah. And then six to ten usually is like take it easy, you know, like experimental stuff, put yourself in bad positions. It's those kinds of things. People you care about in the room who you want to get better, that kind of stuff.

Yeah. A little bit. And not everyone can do this, obviously, right? This still got it training. You have to have gotten it before to try it. A little bit. Yes, yes, yes, for sure. This is not for yellow belts. Yeah.

You know what I mean? You ain't got it yet. No, I ain't got it yet. But you can still do it as a yellow belt if you're just dipping your toes in the room. You could grab a white belt and just beat him in the waza. So you could see some form of it. Right, right, right. But it's really not a good form for a low, low belt to refuse rolls with higher belts and refuse rolls with anyone who's competitive and only beat on people who are lighter than them.

all it's in refuse rolls or anyone who's competitive and only beat on people who are lighter than them so this is more so for like advanced intermediate guys who used to train consistently who are not training as much yeah so i i guess i've been doing that for a while now yeah it's uh right now i i go once a week that's's it. To where? Christian's Gym. Yeah. And you probably beat up on lighter, older dudes who are lower belt than you. So, one good thing about Christian's Gym is that it's associated with a local university. So, there are a lot of young people. Like, they're in shape. But they haven't been doing judo that long.

Yeah. So, it's very good because i still get a good workout like i they'll they'll definitely tire me out yeah because they're in much better shape but i can't kind of i can still like dude i still got it trading you know what i mean no but you're you're you're just straight up bullying people, though. I know you. I know. I'm a New York. No, you're not. What do you mean?

If you guys are in the Michigan region, go work out with Peter and try to give Peter a beating, please, because he deserves it. Such a bully. Don't beat on me. Don't beat on me. No, but it's a real thing because sometimes it's hard to, like I'll give you an example. He had a baby. We know he had a baby, and now he hasn't been doing his regular membership.

But every time we do an open mat, he comes. Yeah. And it's a perfect thing because it's once a month we do an open mat. It's like, yo, it's open mat, and he'll definitely come. Yeah. And he's still trying to go with all the top dogs. Yeah. Animal.

The risk is so high. Right, right, right. He's not sleeping as much. He's not training as much, but he's not training as much but he's gonna go with all the high level black belts and try to it's risk it's very risky so i think he should do a little bit more of the still got a training but he just comes in and just beats on the lower belt for a little bit i still got it i got a good workout in i'll see you at the next open mat and then when he's able to come more frequently he just starts doing that you know what i mean

i think that's a good method. How about like, here's how I do. So I mostly, I mean, because of the composition of the gym, I usually go with the, you know, athletic green belts. Yeah. But I'll try to at least get a round or one or two rounds with black belts. Yeah.

So I think that's like a good balance. Don't you think? It is. Do you duck Christian? I go with Christian. But he's so much better than me. He's so much stronger than me that it's like I don't know if I can count that as like a good competitor round. Like he just dominates me. You know what I mean? Is there anyone that you would avoid in the room?

Not really. I try not to avoid anyone. Good for you. I'm avoiding everyone now that's my yeah when i moved to michigan like if anyone asks i'll go like that's amazing doesn't matter the weight so you're not really doing still got it right yeah that's what i still got it's like you're fooling yourself into saying like oh i still got i'm so good you know and don't don't get me wrong i'm still pretty damn good you know know what I mean? Yeah. But because I'm not training as consistently, you know, and I figured this is like a good thing to engage in.

If you are sort of like on the cusp on the outside, like I haven't been to training in two weeks, just get yourself in the door, work out and hang out. And then just, you know, just kind of maintenance mode, right? Maintenance mode. Yes. That's it. You just go for a nice long jog outside. You're not pushing yourself and you're not dying.

Maintenance training. That's exactly what it is. You think it's bad or is it any downsides to it? Because I feel like a lot of people may think that this is not the way to go. I mean, you know what's bad? Being consistent, doing judo four or five days a week, training jiu-jitsu every single day, all of a sudden you don't go for two weeks and you don't go back for three months.

That's worse. That's worse. I'm going to go back when I'm in shape. I'm going to go back when I'm in shape. Go back, take a beating. You know what? Horrible. I'm not going to go again. And then you can't really get back into a rhythm until six months later. And then the cycle repeats itself. There's tons of most people

like that most people like that they burn hot for two or three months and then they drop off and then they don't come back and when they do it's even worse it's even worse and then they leave and then they come back maybe do a three-month stint and then the cycle repeats it's better to do an intense three months do still got a training for like a couple weeks a couple months while your projects are wrapping up yeah you're busy at work you're just dipping your toes into the gym maintaining contact with the people there all right how's everyone doing i'm not gonna go hard you know and really stay to that yeah i i truly think it's better i mean now this doesn't apply for like competitors yeah yeah it's just for hobbyists mostly hobbies and yes competitors

also like they compete in something like for instance after the olympic games yeah majority of the top dogs on the international circuit they're not going to training camps in the highest level of grand slams and such they're taking a break even like france brazil those guys are setting their b team the c team yeah you know all those types of guys and those guys are doing still guided training they're going to their home dojos and just beating the piss out of everyone there. I recently saw a video of Hashimoto. He just won the bronze, right? And he's going to local BJJ gyms and beating the piss out of everyone there.

That's what he's doing. Still got to train him. He's not training every day. He's not doing stairs. He's not doing sprints probably. No. I bet you he's not. Actually got to train him. He's not training every day. He's not doing stairs. He's not doing sprints probably. No. I bet you he's not. Actually, maybe he is.

Maybe he is. But he's definitely not training as hard as he was leading up to the Olympic Games. Yeah. But then if he never took this type of break, he would burn out in the long term. Yeah. He might get into that. i mean it's his job so it's maybe a little different but he can still get in that rut and then like never get out and it gives you a mental break too because sometimes you take too many deep dives into something yeah

and then you're so fixated on a couple of niche positions that you kind of lose track of the big picture yeah this kind of happened to me now that i'm doing still got a training and i'm just going in and kind of rolling with lighter lower skilled people yeah i default back to my a-game stuff and i'm like oh yeah this stuff works really good that stuff works really good i forgotten how i used to do this before and now all of a sudden like for instance i went to my dojo the other day yeah and. And this guy, Ben, he's awesome. He was a great high-level wrestler. So. Oh, I think I saw his video of him like.

Yeah, doing the snapdown and stuff. Yeah, yeah. He's awesome. So now, instead of just going takedowns where we'll absolutely try to hurt each other. Yeah. Like, yo, let's just do hand fighting. Let's just do like three shots in and out. You know, no finishes.

And we're doing these like still got it training like drills. We're like, we're not just straight up going live. going live we're like you know and we've gone wrestling live yeah and because we don't wrestle that much anymore we're both like very closed off because we don't want to get taken down yeah yeah you know so like now we're doing sort of like this like thing and we did some hand fighting and i was like wow and it brought back all these memories and helped us open up yeah and that's not like real training it's like still got a training but it was very very good so it helps you kind of reset a little bit coming in you know takes you out of your own head yeah default back to the stuff and you kind of have like a sort of a new perspective as opposed to if you're in there every single day and you're like you can kind of get lost in the sauce yeah yeah yeah definitely i mean sometimes i even i really i've noticed that after taking a actually not even still got a

training like say i just couldn't go for a week or two and then i come back and it's actually i play sometimes i notice myself playing better because i think yeah like you said like i might have been working too much on the uh for example uchimata but i was like focusing only one side of it so i couldn't figure it out but then after a break your brain kind of processes all that subconsciously. And then when you come back, it's like kind of things that have been figured out for some reason. Yeah. I saw the guy recently, he's doing Tomonage religiously for like a month. He's trying to learn it, trying to learn it.

Can't throw anybody with it. Eric's a master at it. Yeah, Eric's pretty good. He's good. But their other stuff is pretty good. Yeah. And now all of a sudden he's spamming tomonage nothing's working it looks terrible he takes a little bit of break goes on vacation comes back

and now because he's never really mastered tomonage yeah he just kind of defaults back to his usual upright stuff yeah and he's smoking everybody uh-huh and then he's like feels really good and then like he slips in one tomonage by mistake and the guy goes over because the guy's so thinking about the upper body right right so like if you saw a video of him working out three weeks ago versus now that one day that he came back that new guy after three weeks he looked so much better and not because he is actually better but because of the reason of what we're just talking about with a mental refresh he's not too fixated on that one move. You know, he just kind of default back to his usual stuff.

You know what I mean? And then, of course, he didn't throw like a black belt or anything like that. But still, you know what I mean? And then there was some competitive higher belt like athletic guys in the room. I was like, just stay away from those guys. You haven't been training. You've been on vacation for two weeks. Don't even go with them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was kind of going with someone his own size, a little bit own size like similar rank and then he was able to look like a professional and now that was enough for him to be so fired up he's like all right next next next now he has been coming every day since you know so that's an interesting point so as a as a coach as a sensei you actually encourage this to some people. Yeah, of course. Of course. And I tell people all the time, when you come into the room,

you're not going ham for 10 rounds straight every single time, intensity, intensity, intensity. Each Rondori round you do has to serve a purpose, and the purpose is making you better, right? So if you're going with someone lower belt and you're just beating the hell out of them, all your A-game stuff, it's useless for you useless for that guy and that guy probably will quit which will hurt the gym right less revenue the coach hates you now you know everyone's unhappy yeah yeah you know what i mean but if you're going with one person you kind of like

doing this and that and of course you know so you have to always manage your own training and right now as i'm ramping back up i was engaging and still got training and now my jiu-jitsu is you know back on track and now i'm going to start to little by little focus on certain things you know like tripod passing for example i see you know what i mean instead of engaging in spider lasso and then going forward retreat a little bit then try to go around etc etc you know and i have a certain few guys that are very very good in the room at those things in the forefront of my mind now again as opposed to two weeks ago if i wouldn't have made eye contact with that guy so so you want to like

so so you want to like still get a training mode that's what you're saying you want to get back to yeah so so but then my question for my case it's hard yeah of course hard for me to get back into the consistent basis like if i make a once a week that's like i'm happy so i guess in this sense like i'm sure a lot of people can agree to that too like it's it's a blessing to be on the mat once a week for some people yes it is it is so do you have any recommendations for that like i do do we is it okay to stay in that mode in perpetuity or do you i think still got a training if you look at the context of someone like me who trains all the

time and now i'm having a one month two month stint where i'm not training as much yeah right that's a little bit different right right now so i don't know if it's classified we're doing very similar things yeah you know yeah but you have to kind of it's not really still got a training you know what i mean because you're still if you're only coming once a week yeah and consistently once a week throughout the entire year yeah you have to kind of build on your practice from before yeah yeah so it's not like oh i still got it you know i'm not working on anything new i'm just kind of like getting in for a workout uh it's a little bit there has to be a little bit more than that you know right right it's like still got it plus one. So what would that be? Any recommendations for that?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. So me still got it. I'm just content with going in there, getting a workout in, feeling good about myself, and then parlaying that into my next training. Yeah. You have to do the plus one, which is a little bit of homework. Even on the drive home, you have to think about it.

Think about what I did. The training. Yeah. The training training and you have to be a little bit more cerebral about it and then once you go into the next training you have to try to recall what the thing you work for you didn't work for you last time there has to be a portion of that class where you're dedicating to drilling because you have limited time on the mat so you have to make every minute of that training count still got a training for me during the drill portion i'm kind of because i'm there for a workout i'm there to just kind of see my buddies you know what i mean yeah you're more about rolling at this at that point yeah just coming in staying sharp i'm not trying to like deep dive and learn and

think i'm just like hey what's up man but you still got it plus one if you're just kind of consistently going once a week you have to have that drill session you have to take that portion seriously yeah so if you're only getting in once a week you know and if you're missing the drill portion like drew came in yesterday yeah i saw i saw his uh video yeah on the reel yeah he came in and just did randori and went home oh okay he's not doing either of the things that we're talking about oh he went hard rounds hard you go with everybody killing every you know going after it every single time he comes in he goes 100 you know what i mean i'm always afraid he's gonna get hurt yeah speaking, we got to thank our sponsor,

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use discount code Chintaro. I will be commentating at the Tokyo Grand Slam. It's going to be spectacular. Dude, what? Yep. The first time hearing it, guys,

he hasn't told me yet, but this is amazing dude use discount code Chintaro it's absolutely incredible yeah so definitely

check the live stream for that and obviously higashibrand.com yeah so going back to Drew our dear friend I

we're just worried about you Drew like don't hurt yourself so how yeah like he was just going hard rounds like

going hard and I'm sure he's thinking about it yeah you know but he it would be very nice if he could have going hard. And I'm sure he's thinking about it, you know, but he, it would be very nice if he could have a little bit of drill time where he's kind of working on things.

Like for instance, he went against our Netherlands guy, Max. Yeah. It was awesome. And you could see in the video on my Instagram story that he got caught with that left side hip throw. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. That's what I saw. Yeah. Because Max is righty all the time. Does so day does all this stuff does tile. And then when the hand comes over the back,'ll switch with the to the left side hip throw you know what i mean yeah yeah yeah so once you got hit he got you got hit with that two or three

times so he has to anticipate that you know yeah so now it's sort of like a drilling issue when he throws the hand over right as he throws the hips across for the hip throw he's got to step out and do society or something you know so it's like trying to time that thing that he does or not going so deep and keeping the elbow wedge in so he can't access your hips right he throws the hand over the back and then as he's going for the hip trying to clamp down and you know countering the technique these things he should be drilling right he should think about it right how did i get caught with that thing yeah and then he should be thinking about it before coming in next wednesday and then drilling it a little bit and then re-engaging in that how what what would be the best time to drill this type of individual like specific drills

yeah before class during class right we're during what you call me here's another one jew likes he points an agi yeah he plays that he pumps in agiosoto drops it does off the collar he pumps in agi arm all this stuff the moment he posts that hand max shifts his weight to the opposite that diagonal because he he's anticipating drew's uh combinations yeah he also knows you does coach you might call me. So when he does that and weights that other leg, he can pick that leg up and slip it out.

So now, okay, how do you deal with that? Feki Ponsenagi driving in Ochi and then taking him in this direction and then going back.

So that's something that he could also drill too. So there's two things that he could drill before practice. But this is the thing. If he doesn't sit down and deep dive and think about that round he won't recognize it right right you know and if he

asked me about it because i watched it twice yeah they went twice maybe they went three times oh man okay yeah so i could tell him about it and then now he could visualize it think about it come back the next week and because he's not doing still got it training, he's just coming in there firing away once a week, right? Yeah. So that's not still got it training. I see. He's not coming in beating on blue belts and stuff and saying he's still got it. He's a better man than me.

You too. Well, I think so. Having heard this, I've been doing still got it plus one training, I guess, because I think the way you described it is what I've been doing. I mean, because of the circumstance, I would usually go a lot with intermediate players, but then I'll get a round or two in with advanced players and then I'll kind of make a mental note on what I what I wasn't doing well I've been working a lot on the grip fighting where yeah they do the power grip on me

and then I usually just post it instead of breaking but I've been trying to break that completely off and then that's actually been a breakthrough for me yeah and Christian actually showed the a breakthrough for me uh yeah good and Christian actually showed the grip break for me but anyway things like that yeah you can still do the still guided training but mixing sprinkling a couple of rounds that are good it's a little different yeah maybe we call it something new like once a week Warrior training weekend Warrior training oh yeah I'm telling you the still got a training man there's an element of self-preservation too for me because it's like i go from training four days a week i'm not training as much you know you jump in there everyone expects you to be the best

you know the biggest savage in the room and then everyone's coming after you and then so and now you know i'm just gonna work out with these guys and i trust yeah big target on your back don don't you? Always, dude. It's a self-preservation thing too. I listen to my body. I'm at the age where I can easily blow a hamstring. You know what I mean?

Walking down the street. I'm 40 this year. It's like, you know what I mean? Still got training. Very important. Know your body. Always cater your training to you. Yeah.

And then obviously always know also whether it's from laziness or, you know, you got to figure out why you're doing something. And then, you know. I think, yeah. I think the big point is that it's better to be kind of lukewarm and consistent than hot and cold all the time yeah hot and cold bad you get hurt like that yeah yeah cool so yeah there we go still got a training interesting yeah the guys uh think about this approach and yeah let us know what you guys think maybe it'll work out for you guys and anything else nope please. Please follow the podcast. It's on Apple now.

It's been, I mean, it's always been on Apple. Yeah. But now, you know, we claimed it and all that stuff. So yeah.

Thank you guys. Thank you guys. And yeah, we'll see you guys in the next episode. you