The Shintaro Higashi Show - Training When You Don't Want To | The Shintaro Higashi Show

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

In this conversation, Shintaro and David Kim discuss strategies for overcoming the reluctance to train, emphasizing the importance of reducing friction, establishing routines, and finding enjoyment in the process. They highlight the role of social support and the need for autonomy in training, as well as the responsibility of instructors to create a flexible and accommodating training environment.00:00 Overcoming Training Apathy03:01 The Importance of Routine and Social Support05:48 Finding Fun in Training08:57 Empowering Autonomy in Training11:55 Creating a Flexible Training Environment🚨 LIMITED-TIME OFFER: 40% OFF 🚨The All-in-One Instructional Bundle just got even better.Every major instructional. One complete system. Now at our biggest discount yet.Grab yours now at 40% off : https://higashibrand.com/products/all-instructionalsThis won’t last. Build your game today.🔥 Get 20% OFF FUJI Gear! 🔥Looking to level up your judo training with the best gear? FUJI Sports has you covered. Use my exclusive link to grab 20% OFF high-quality gis, belts, bags, and more.👉 https://www.fujisports.com/JUDOSHINTARO 👈No code needed – just click and save!Links:🇯🇵 Kokushi Budo Institute (The Dojo) Class Schedule in New York, NY 🗽: https://www.kokushibudo.com/schedule🇯🇵 Higashi Brand Merch & Instructionals: https://www.higashibrand.com📚 Shintari Higashi x BJJ Fanatics Judo Courses & Instructionals Collection: https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/shintaro-higashi/

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David, you got some tools in the bag for that? it's sheer willpower, just overpowering willpower that gets me through. But no, I mean, I definitely have some thoughts on that. But people are here to hear you. So, you know, why don't you go first? But what do you tell people when they're struggling with getting to training? I think all these influencers, they're pushing hard work and such, you know. I think they have a, you know, there's like these couple of things that everyone sort of repeats.

You know, we can knock that out for it so simple. Like getting rid of the friction, you know, having your gym bag and your shoes and your back in your car. So it's like, all right, you don't want to go. But all you got to do is get in your car and drive to the gym and you're good to go. Things like this, you know. Not like running around, collecting your towel or finding your ghee, whatever it is. It's already in the car. Yes.

You know? For the people who want to go for a run in the morning, I'm going to run this, you know, marathon, whatever it is. I don't really want to train. but you know you already sleeping in your workout clothes and all you got to do is wake up put your socks and shoes out the door reducing that friction I think is like the easiest one that everyone talks about you know yeah yeah I mean yeah for me it's kind of related it's you know you you rely on your routine right yeah so you don't have to rely on your willpower right like you just make it part of your routine and it's almost autopilot I mean part of this is

also taking a little bit of pressure off yourself. It's like, look, particularly, you know, myself, I'm a recreational player. So I'm not trying to make an Olympic team. I'm not trying to, you know, win worlds. I'm not trying to do these things. I'm just trying to stay in shape, choke out of my friends. Like, these are the things. Get some bragging rights, right?

But, you know, you can't go in expecting that you're, you know, you're going to kill it every training session. No. The expectation has to be like, hey, I'm here. if I don't have a good training session, I had the worst training session of my life, you know, shortly before I got injured.

It was, it was by, it was the worst. I got submitted by every belt. Every belt. Including white belt. Oh boy. So I got,

I got called out by a couple bigger boys, you know, higher belts. And then I'm like, you know what? I'm just, I need to take a break. And so I went with this skinny white belt.

And he armored me. It's like, oh, my God. So, you know, and those are tough days. But, you know, at the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, right? And so I just have really when it gets hard is when, like, especially for professionals, if you're schedule changes and you don't know when you're going to be able to make it to the gym. And I think that's when everything starts falling apart because now you have to make decisions. You do have to rely on your willpower.

You're not exactly sure when you can go. and that's when everything goes to crime. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it's tough. You know, some kids have a lot of time. Some professionals don't have a lot of time relying on routines nice one. You know what I do sometimes?

Like when I'm like, oh, I know I can make it to class today. You know, like the 10 a.m. class or something like that. And then I text you. I'm like, Dave, you've gone? And you're like, no, I'm not going because my neck hurts. I'm like, I'm not going out. I'm not going.

You're training news. Yeah, but having a couple of guys that are relying on, you know, it helps too, right? Having friends in the room and, you know, having their phone numbers, you could text them and, hey, you go to training today? And it's like, yeah, man, I'll see you there. Hey, you want to drill with me? Hey, do you want to roll me second or third or whatever it is?

And I think that helps too, you know? Oh, it definitely helps. Especially if like, you're going to see something that you haven't seen in a while or, you know, they had to change their schedule, but they're coming back. It definitely could because it is a social thing at the end of the day. And particularly if you're recreational. Yeah. It's a social thing.

there to see your friends, like I said, maybe have some bragging rights, you know. Yeah, but it is, you know, you're there to see your friends. And I think at the end of the day, you have to remember why you're doing it. Like, is it fun? Huge. And if it's not fun, it's always going to be a challenge, you know, to go. So you got to find the, you got to remember what is fun about doing judo or doing or doing jitzu. Yeah. That's a good one. You got to ask your book that you got to write. Find the Fun by Harvard, Grappler slash entrepreneur David Kidd. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Find the fun. Find the fun. You got to find the fun, man. No, it's got to be fun, man. If it's fun, it's easier to go, I think. You know, if you're not having a good time, you know, then it's tough to go. And majority of the people listening are training for an Olympic team or anything like that. But, you know, when you're doing hobbies, you take it seriously and you have goals. And, you know, like you said, you got to remind yourself why you're doing it in the first place, right?

Yeah. If you're not laughing at least a little bit in training, you know, maybe you're a little bit wound too tight. You know, I'm giggling probably too much because I'm trying to keep a crap. You can hear you across the room. See that? I hear that. Like, you look it over like, oh, David's laughing over there, you know? Yeah, because I'm trying like, I'm trying like low percentage stuff or, you know, just being annoying.

I don't know. I'm not sure where that. That's probably why. You went for some crazy low percentage Instagram move, and then you got to call. normal bar it's okay no no that's no it was just it was super standard you know i was just too tired i was lazy yeah uh you know i've been smushed too much by these these bigger dudes so that's not an excuse i mean i should not be getting you know arm bar by white belts but yeah it happens you know it happens but you know when you have uh autonomy in the training

and when you could guide your own training and when you could speak up and say hey you know what, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm here to chill and hang out and then just get some technical stuff in. And then, you know, your teacher allows you to do that on the side, you know, then it's easier, right? And then if you feel more empowered in the room to guide your own training as opposed to like, you know, sometimes you go to a gym, it's like, all right, guys, we're doing this 30-minute warm-up and it's going to be grueling. And you know you don't want any part of that, you know, and you know you can't skip it. And then you have to do Rondori and you have to do live roles and these guys are coming after you can't say no and you're just going to take a beating

the whole time why would anyone want to go to that you know so there is a partial responsibility for the instructor or the leaders in the room to kind of let people have sort of this autonomy you know yeah under obviously you can't be like talking chit-chat and during yeah in the corner or you know you can't just not train at all but you know when you feel like you can go to training and then direct the practice, then I think it's a little bit easier. So you have to empower yourself, really, to kind of. Yeah. Yeah.

One thing that's related to that, too, is if you do have some flexibility, and this sort of goes against my whole routine, you know, belief in the routine to sort of keep you track. But sometimes, you know, there are always those classes that you know are going to be lower intensity, right? Like, if you're going to like that, you know, that noon class or the competition class, obviously you know the intensity is going to be high, right? Higher.

Yeah. But, you know, there may be another class on the schedule that you know is going to be, you know, lower intensity, right? Or like higher percentage of lower belts, right? I mean, that's what I'm going to do when I get over this thing and I go back. Because, you know, changing that intensity, I think, can also help you train when you don't want to train, right? Because maybe you are going to that same class and it's filled with, you know,

220-pound dudes who are super athletic and just putting the weight down and do-da-da-da-da-da-da like whatever, like, you know, pick your guy, pick your person. You know, and maybe you do need like a little bit of mental break.

Maybe you need to change it up a little bit. I wouldn't make it a habit, you know, because you don't want to sandbag yourself, right? But if you're, you know, if you're a little tired, you're a little beat down, maybe you do have a few nagging injuries. Go to that lower intensity class, you know, work on, you know, your guard.

or work on, you know, like, you don't have to use your hands, you know, to retain a card. Like, you can, you can make all sorts of games for yourself, sort of like you were saying, Chintaro about guiding your own development. And just taking some of that pressure off, right? You don't, like, some people, it's curious to me sometimes, like, they really make a big deal about getting their ass kicked all the time. And it's almost like a perverse badge of, you know, distinction. Sometimes people put it out there.

Like, yeah, you know, I go there. I get my ass kicked every day, but I love it. You know, I'm like, well, I don't even know if that's the best for your development. You know, like your skill development, you know? So, and that's something I recently remembered, too, because I'd had the ankle injury, right? Yeah. Later in the last year. And so, and because of my schedule, I did have to go to some, you know, some of these lower intensity classes.

And I was just like, ah. Yeah. You know, this isn't so bad. Your ankle, your neck. Maybe you're rolling with the wrong guys. Yeah, yeah. Well, the neck thing came out of the other. I tell you, you've never got hurt with me.

And we do a lot. Yes, this is true. That's true. That's true. Yeah, but that's because you're always running circles around me. You're always running circles around me. Yeah. But that's another thing, too, changing the intensity of your training, you know?

because that way you don't stop. Some people like take a vacation, and that can be, you know, that can be a valid thing to do. But I tend to use that last, you know, if I can keep the thread alive, even if it's just one time a week, I try to keep the threat alive because, you know, it's once you get off the train,

it can be easy to just stay off the train, you know, for no good reason. Very true. That's my opinion. Good advice. Yeah. You know, I think if you're an instructor listening to this, If you're a coach, I think you've got to make it easy for everyone to be able to do that.

You know, have an open line of communication with everybody and all the stuff. And, you know, even at my gym, we have the fundamentals class and then the live. You know, the rolling and the Mondori class are separated. And because everyone works, I get it. We're very lenient with you could be late. You can leave when you want. You got a shrug to this thing as if, like, it's your own. But, you know, if you come 20 minutes late and say, hey, Chintot, what are we doing?

I'm not going to help you. Right. That's not going to help you. Right. But you could walk in late. That's fine. You can leave early. You could do one round, two rounds.

You could drill on the side. You could do anything and everything. It's very, very customizable to what you need from that training that day. And I always tell them like, this is your training. You know, it's not my training. You don't have to come in and do everything that, you know, I lay on the table to do. And I think that's an important one too. You know, if you're running a gym, you got to understand people coming from work a lot of the time.

And then if you're such a very rigid, not flexible, it's like, oh, my God, it might be five minutes and I'm not going to go today. You know, and that could lead to two. two absences and not coming in this week, and now you're off that train, David. You know, so it's not just a responsibility of the individual. It's also a responsibility for the coaches and teachers to make an environment that's easy for people to kind of keep training.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because you want to, you want to want to be there. So. Yeah. All right, thanks, guys. If you have any ideas on other ideas, you know, just put them in the comments and it'll benefit everybody who's trying to,

trying to keep themselves on that training train. Thanks, Jantaro. Thank you, then.