Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle Part 1
Welcome to the Lost Boy Scouts podcast. I'm Danny.
Tyler:And I'm Tyler. Thank you for joining us yet again.
Danny:Yep. Episode 3. Here we are. Just keep after it. Yeah.
Danny:It's been fun. We, had a little hiccup on the episode 2 which we which was awesome because we were able to gather and rally and it didn't even seem like it happened.
Tyler:Yeah. No. A little little little blip. But again, white belt here.
Danny:Yeah. For sure.
Tyler:Give us give us a a little bit of a break.
Danny:Yeah. Got it. So we we did have some more feedback. We some some of our friends reached out to us and told us that they that they've fallen along, that they appreciated what we were talking about, and that they were able to really relate to some of the things that we talked about, especially in reinvention. Yeah.
Danny:And reinvention is one of those things where we could talk about it for a long time because there's just so many things you can cover in that.
Tyler:Right? It could be a a stand alone podcast in and of itself.
Danny:For sure. Yeah. And we're not and then that's what we were talking about today. We were, like, well, what's next? What's the what's the journey?
Danny:What what does it continue on? And part of us is that we really wanna incorporate, our path and our love and how much jujitsu helps us in our everyday tasks and our everyday life. You know.
Tyler:Yeah. Absolutely. I I love this quote by Helio Gracie. One of the books we're gonna cover today for those fallen on long in YouTube. Let's see.
Tyler:Let's see if we can get it in frame here. Gracie jujitsu. Just an incredible quote by Helio, to teach those who don't know, to remind those who do know, and to correct those who think they know. I mean Powerful. I can't think of a better way to, you know, really describe what my purpose is for this podcast.
Tyler:Sure. So many think so many of us think that we know. Yeah. Yeah. You do.
Tyler:You do. You walk your life and
Danny:you're like, no, I know. I you don't have to tell me that. And when you you you when you tell somebody something and they give you that feedback of, oh, yeah. I know. Yeah.
Danny:You're like, do you?
Tyler:Do you? Do you? It's really it's, you know, it's easy to feed your ego.
Danny:It is.
Tyler:It's really easy to feed your ego.
Danny:It is for sure. And a part of it is is that we go back to episode 1, episode 2 is is where we add in our journey of our life and where age can be a huge, part of why you you really want to make somebody believe that you know more than what you do is because you don't wanna seem dumb or you're just your ego gets in the way and pride gets in the way of of of anything. And so that's when, you know, you have to remind yourself or somebody reminds you, maybe it's gentle, maybe it's not so gentle, you know.
Tyler:I think of I think of it like the scientific term. Right? Cognitive dissidents. Sure. We we do a lot to protect our egoic state.
Tyler:Yeah. And we feed it, and and it it betrays us more often than not. I think that's that karmatic justice For sure. That we get. Yeah.
Tyler:And and no better place or no no quicker is that iterative process of feed the ego be be put in check than on the mats.
Danny:On the mat. Yeah. On the mats. And and especially, like, for those of our listeners and for for those of our friends that if you if you are part of a journey, if you're part of the jujitsu community, you can understand, and you know that class is class, and then there's always open matter, open role, and that's where you you can try those techniques that that the the the professor shows or the instructor shows. And a lot of times, you they'll show a technique, and you'll see that nobody even tries the technique in the open map because it's so hard to fail, and you're going to fail in that moment.
Danny:And so that's part of the journey of life also is, like, are you really willing to fail to get better? Yeah. You know? Yeah. And you have to fail a lot in jujitsu.
Tyler:Oh, man. It's there's if you're in the community, right, like, the community is pretty tight. Yeah. You'll you'll typically, you'll follow a lot of jujitsu things and there's a quote, another podcaster out there that says jiu jitsu is one of those things you just have to be comfortable sucking out. Yeah.
Tyler:For sure.
Danny:Yeah. Yeah. And, on on you you have so many people that are so passionate about it right now, and jiu jitsu is in a really big growing stage because of ADCC this year and because there's so many big personalities that are happening. And so you can follow along with those personalities. And then inside of our own community, we we're growing so much, especially with Park City Jiu Jitsu where we have a very strong core group and, we have this our professor that's that's been up there up in Park City for 12 years, and he's changed locations, changed things, reinvented himself, fixed fixed some things, and now he has another academy in Lehi, and so it's almost like we're the big brothers and then they're the little the little brothers.
Danny:Yeah. And so that there's a whole dynamic that he's that he does so good with. And our little community in Park City is is growing and thriving right now, I believe, and we're in we're in a big growing stage for our community. And so we're we're we're able to experience that and able to enjoy that with with the whole
Tyler:thing. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm really excited about today's episode, specifically kind of this concept of white belt in everyday life. Right? To build upon, you know, reinvention, sometimes we just have to we have to approach things a little bit differently.
Tyler:Right? We have to begin we have to have the beginner's mindset. Right? Always. We have to be curious.
Tyler:Yep. We have to constantly be curious. We have to try stuff.
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:And these are all metaphors that we're gonna take the mats here. And we're gonna talk a lot about the mats today and what it took us to get on the mats. So
Danny:Yeah. And and also, like, how you can use the idea of white belt for life or white belt forever. And if you're not part of the community and you're listening, we encourage you to to to go to an academy and to experience it. But to always remember that what we're talking about is just beginner's mindset. It's like like Tyler said, it's just a beginner's mindset and how you approach those things every day.
Danny:Right. When you wake up, when you go to bed, it's just always willing for feedback, willing to accept it, and willing to digest feedback.
Tyler:That's so funny because as I was, you know, we wrapped up episode 2, I'm finishing the design your life book that we talked about on that episode. Those are the 3 points that I I applied. I was like, holy shnikes. Yeah. This is this is exactly perfect for, you know, this this white belt for life.
Tyler:Right? It's beginner's mindset, be curious, try stuff, bias to action. Right? Yep. Reframe problems, you know, know it's a process, have awareness, and then my favorite radical collaboration.
Tyler:Right? Because that's that's where the process is is rapid, you know, you iterate through it quite rapidly.
Danny:Right. Open math.
Tyler:Open math. Yeah.
Danny:Right? Yeah. And so we have, I'll kinda go into how I started. Sure. So I was coaching wrestling, and I was fighting, thinking about fighting in MMA.
Danny:I'd had one fight. And in MMA, you know, you go to a bunch of things, and I was a wrestler. You go to striking, you go to wrestling, and then there's jujitsu, and I was like, well, I don't really need jujitsu. I'm a wrestler, so what would I need jujitsu for? Of course, I've watched I knew who Royce Gracie was.
Danny:I knew about Brazilian jujitsu, but I was, like, no. I'm a wrestler. And then, I took a couple classes just before my first fight, and I I enjoyed it. I did enjoy it. I I wasn't really sold on the gi.
Danny:I I didn't really care for it that much because it stops a lot of things that a wrestler wants to do. So So then I was like, well, I'll just like Nogi then. And I, was in the community for the MMA, and I I didn't really want to do that anymore. And my coaching career for wrestling was kinda coming to a head because my younger son was entering high school, and I didn't really wanna coach him in high school. And so he was doing jiu jitsu as well.
Danny:And when we moved to Heber, I had asked my MMA instructor if he knew somebody in Park City or if he knew somebody in Hebron. He told me about Mike Diaz.
Danny:And he
Danny:said, you gotta go to Mike Diaz. Mike Diaz is a good guy. He's been up there for a while. He's been in the community for a while and just go up there. And I was like, okay.
Danny:I'll take Tristan to to his class. And I called, talked to Mona, did the whole thing. Hey. I'm just moving up to Heber looking for an academy. They said, yeah.
Danny:Bring Tristan to, our class. Took him to the class, went in, and Mike and I started talking, and he's like, well, you should come. You should come try this, and I was like, I don't know. Maybe I'll try it. And we were in what at the White Pines address which is in Park City at that time and the academy was awesome.
Danny:It had a garage door that opened up to the mountain. It was awesome. And I finally was like, well, I'm gonna try it because I was bored, and I had known at that point. I didn't wanna get punched in the face anymore, and I was done with that. Yeah.
Danny:Went, took a class, and the first class that I went into was I went there and then one of our friends, chef, came in the same day. Him and I, and we we known each other from the MMA community, and we both were like, oh, this is awesome. We're gonna be together. And him and I, we we we took the class together, then we did the open mat in the gi. And I was like, well, this is not that bad.
Danny:This is kind of interesting. Couple days later, still doing class, and another friend that who's been my training partner for as long as now in Park City, Preston came in. Mhmm. So he came in and we I really enjoyed training with him, And then I decided at that point, okay. I'm gonna give it a little bit more go.
Danny:But what would happen is I would go to training in the off season of wrestling, but then during wrestling, I would miss out on a bunch of training because I was still coaching wrestling. And I was competing a little bit in the gi, and I won a couple of things, And I just wasn't given enough time to jiu jitsu, but and I could tell that people were progressing faster than me, and I was like, man, I don't know what to do. And when I would talk to Mike, he would say, you just gotta come to class. Just show up. You have to come to class.
Danny:If you don't come to class, it's not like it's you're just gonna be able to, like, learn it. Mhmm. You can't just watch YouTube.
Tyler:I can't just buy a book.
Danny:You can't buy a book. And so, that's how I walked into the door and started my journey of jiu jitsu with professor. And I've been with professor as far as, like, my jiu jitsu journey solely. I I had some classes with, a couple other guys before, but my whole class, my whole my all of my classes have been with professor Mike or some of his people.
Tyler:So the the term professor, as as those of us who are not in the the jujitsu community, what what do we why why do we bestow that term kind of of of?
Danny:Yeah. So I've asked Mike this question before because, for those of you that don't know, you go into class and you can ask any question you want of the professor, and sometimes it's jujitsu, sometimes it's not. A lot of times it's jujitsu, and I wanted to know how come not every black belt was is called a professor? And a professor is a 3 stripe or more black belt in the in in in the lineage that he's under.
Tyler:Okay.
Danny:So there's other schools that probably call every black belt a professor, and I don't wanna say that they're wrong or not, but this is how we do it.
Tyler:Right.
Danny:We don't call Nick or Anthony professor because they only they're not a 3 stripe or more.
Tyler:Right. Okay.
Danny:And then when you get to certain levels, you're a master
Tyler:Mhmm.
Danny:And then grandmasters grandmaster Helio.
Tyler:And and and so, obviously, we've talked about the belts before. We've alluded to them before, but, like, really, let's let's just touch on that for our listeners so they have some some understanding as to what is the belt system mean. In my perspective, obviously, you know, you you look it up and it's the hours, but, yeah,
Danny:it's always more.
Tyler:It's always there's always there's always yeah. You're right. There's always something more to that.
Danny:You you
Tyler:have to you you have to be seen by the community, by your professor, by your academy. You there's there's more to it. But Right. The bare minimum definition is is hours. So how many rough hours is a is a 3 striped black belt?
Tyler:Do you know?
Danny:I have no idea. I know the professor started his jujitsu journey, I believe, in 1997, I think. I think that's when he went when he started with Pedro Sauer. I'll have to ask him. But now it's 2023, and so, man, however many I I mean, he's been on the mat.
Tyler:I noticed on I noticed on the wall. Right? It's it's it was I it was 20 it's 20 hours for each stripe
Danny:Right.
Tyler:At the white belt level.
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:When you get to the black belt level, it's a 100 hours per stripe
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:Or something to that effect. Right? In a year or something like that.
Danny:And years. I think it's 3 years for each stripe to a certain point, and then 5. Probably, I mean, probably, there's gonna be some people that really understand that.
Tyler:Right.
Danny:I'm always, like, I have a hard time signing in still.
Tyler:So so the the concept behind professors that they've they've put they've dedicated their lives
Danny:They've dedicated their lives. To this.
Tyler:And and I I'm I'm sure that there's been points where they've, you know, they've had to enforce because they are a a certain belt level and Sure. And, you know, someone's come into the academy with an ego. Yeah. But at at the the the crux of it, a black belt is just a white belt who didn't quit.
Danny:Sure. And I think that's a I think that's even a Hensel Gracie. That's what Hensel Gracie said was a black belt and he probably may have heard it from somebody else from one of his from one of his, his the people that he looks up to that a black belt is just a white belt that never quit and that continues to stay on the mat because Yeah. Imagine, like, how nervous you are as a white belt and then how much pressure there is on when you get that black belt. That's every time you get a belt, that's a professor always tells us
Tyler:this. Right.
Danny:It's it's a heavy belt. It feels heavy, and you know that it comes with weight every time you put the belt on.
Tyler:Man, I I we just had a we just had a a what did they call it? A ranking ceremony? Yeah. It was a ceremony?
Danny:Yeah. A a belt promotion.
Tyler:Promotion promotion ceremony. Yeah. And I love how professors, like, you know, the white belt is the only belt that that, you know, you earn. You earn it by going.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Every other belt you're promoted to because they they see progress. But the white belt is the one that you earn.
Danny:Yeah. The white belt is the one that he gives you.
Tyler:He he gives you. Is that it?
Danny:Yeah. The white belt
Danny:the white belt is the one that they they give you. Okay. After that, every belt you earn.
Tyler:See, I'm such a freaking white belt.
Danny:I know.
Tyler:No. It's good. That's that is a
Danny:it is a way to look at it as is, with your promotions and with your stripes, you're really in line or you're only working against yourself. You're not working, and that's where that's where I think, like, people get lost is, like, you walk in with somebody that day and maybe that person progresses a little bit faster. And in your mind, you're, like, well, how are they getting these accolades, but I'm not? And and that's where we lose some people, I think, is because they don't only focus on the focus is only on yourself and and what you're doing and where your journey is, and we can't compare ourselves to anybody else.
Tyler:See, and I think that's why I love these these individual sports. Right?
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:And and and, you know, wrestling, anything that you're doing by yourself. I grew up I I played lacrosse. I started very young and obviously, lacrosse there is a great amount of personal development, not like hockey or soccer or any of that. And you can take it upon yourself, but a lot of times in these team sports, you can hide behind the performance of of your other teammates.
Danny:Right.
Danny:Right?
Tyler:And if the team loses, you can you can shake it off. And that doesn't necessarily promote you to get better. Like, it doesn't really build you to get better. Whereas, you as an individual, you're the only contributor to the sport, wrestling, whatever, jujitsu, you know, we'll keep it in jujitsu. You can see your progress Right.
Tyler:And you realize, hey, the only way I can get better at this is if I show up, if I do it, if I do it, I can't you can't hide behind can't be hide behind your team.
Danny:It's true.
Tyler:You do need that collaboration.
Danny:Right?
Tyler:You need you need other folks showing up at the academy. You gotta have that ooky.
Danny:You do. Yeah. You do.
Tyler:You know, your training partner.
Danny:Yep. Yeah. And you have to have and each person has to, know their own role
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:In the academy. And the white belts have a role. The blue belts have a role. The purple belts have a role. The brown belts have a role.
Danny:The black belts have a role. And then professor, he's in charge of all of those. And not so much even in charge, but he's kind of the general that oversees all of that. And I always, like, think, how much pressure does he have in that instance? Because his job is to make sure he knows where Tyler's at, where Danny's at, and then where everybody else is in between and all those little blendings.
Danny:And he does he does rely on his upper belts to to make sure that what he preaches, then we teach.
Tyler:Mhmm.
Danny:You know?
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:And you never wanna get away from those things because then, it's too far away for him to to come back and and put it back into the order that we need to be in. You know?
Tyler:Right. This is the way.
Danny:This is the way. Alright, Tyler. So that was a little bit of how I ended up into jujitsu. And I'll get more into it. I mean, I'll I'll continue to add more and and more some more details about that.
Danny:But tell us how you ended up coming into jiu jitsu, which we've already talked a little bit about that.
Tyler:Yeah. Yeah. Three times into the gym. Yeah. Obviously, right, like, I kinda started on a personal journey to to reconnect with myself.
Tyler:I was looking for a community, as I was going through a separation, from my spouse. And, you know, you listen to enough Jocko, Goggins, all those guys, and they they they all recommend things. But one thing that I heard time and time again, was jujitsu. And so I had
Danny:a a coworker that
Tyler:I knew he was down at Unified. He was wild about jiu jitsu, always talking about it and and I had been interested in taking a class for some time. I just didn't know really where to go.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:And so he helped me and he kind of helped point out, like, you know, hey. He just did a a quick Google search and said, hey. You know, Unified is, I believe, Pedro Sour affiliated as well. And so, he's like, hey, this this, this academy is is Pedro Sour, you know, aligned and again, because it goes back to that that heritage of where you learn that that jujitsu.
Danny:For sure.
Tyler:And also I'm gonna be convenient and close. So, after, you know, as I was searching for this community or as I was searching for something, you know, I just I started going into the academy. Right. I think I went in 3 different times, until finally, man, Preston.
Danny:Preston.
Tyler:Preston came out and and was like, yeah. Let's do let's get you into a class. Right. So Yeah. Preston Preston is the the the thread that ties.
Danny:It is true. Yeah. Preston is great. And what belt so what belt are you now?
Tyler:So I am currently a white belt.
Danny:White belt. White belt. White belt.
Tyler:I've been putting in a lot of hours. I I do know how to check-in.
Danny:So it's a good it's a good skill set when you're a white belt.
Tyler:Yeah. Just knowing how to tie your belt and, checking in. Those are my 2 that's where I excel in the sport.
Danny:And you have 4 stripes?
Tyler:I do currently have 4 stripes.
Danny:Which means what?
Tyler:It means I've I've, been around the gym for at least a 100 80 hours, I believe, is what it is. 80 hours.
Danny:80 hours.
Tyler:And I'm I'm working towards moving the, you know, learning the the what is it? 78? The 88 moves? 88 moves. Yeah.
Tyler:The number has changed.
Danny:It always does.
Tyler:And I always change it Yeah. In my head. In my head. Yeah. Yeah.
Tyler:The 88 moves to to to progress from from white belt to blue belt.
Danny:White to blue belt.
Tyler:My hope is is, I'll be competing in my second competition
Danny:Right.
Tyler:In in July. Last one is a white belt and then be prepared to take my test in August, September of this year.
Danny:Which is interesting because some people's journeys are just going to class. Yeah. Some people's are just going to class and open mat. And then Tyler and I both compete. We're we're still hobbyist competitors.
Danny:We don't we're we're not like to the level of where you don't compete in every competition. We pick and choose. But Right. Even that in itself is a whole another animal of competition. Right?
Danny:Because Absolutely. Your first competition was last August? Around that time. Right? Yeah.
Danny:Yeah. And how did you feel that first competition? Because you've been training a little bit. But you didn't you hadn't competed at all.
Tyler:I hadn't competed. It it's interesting. Right? Because I grew up I grew up with a pretty rocky childhood.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Right? Like, you know, my parents were divorced and I didn't always feel safe in the world and that started to it started to show itself, like, after I was married or if I would go into, like, a Costco and I was, like, really busy
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Dude, my my fight or flight was so burnt out or so turned up Right. That I was, like, constantly looking over my shoulder.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Constantly, like, didn't like to be around crowds.
Danny:Right. And
Tyler:it was I didn't understand at the time that that was my body trying to tell me something. Mhmm. But it was a big reason another big reason I chose jiu jitsu. Right? Like, I needed to I needed to retune that part of my body, the part of my body that was, you know, so inflicted with with, you know, quote unquote, we'll call it trauma.
Tyler:Right. Or, you know, and and so I needed to, like, really put myself in situations where I'm at risk.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Right? Like, so literally, like, I'm I'm resetting myself because, you know, when you're walking through a Costco, you're not really your fight or flight doesn't need to be on. True. When, you know, Danny's on your back, sinking in that that that mateleo Yeah.
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:And that if you're naked, you know, that's probably a bigger time to, you know Yeah. Put on that fight or flight. So I had to learn, I had to relearn how to how to, you know, navigate my this this fight or flight system, my nervous system that was just kind of wigging out.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:On that note, like, I'm constantly getting feedback in the class. I remember, Nick was like, we were working on just putting on pressure and he's like, Tyler, you're being too nice. Right? Like, I I, yeah, I wore the I wore the nice guy mask for too long. So, you know, you you realize these guys want you to get better.
Tyler:Nobody wants to hurt you, but you can put on a little bit more pressure. Right? You're you need to do it a certain way, in order for it to feel like a real world scenario. And and so you can really learn the move. Right.
Tyler:If you're kind of half assing it, then you're not really learning the real move.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:But I do remember, like, the idea to compete came to me after a professor was, like, do you have what it takes to actually break somebody's arm?
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Like, could you do it? Yeah.
Danny:Could you
Tyler:do it? I and and and part of me was, like, I'm gonna go to the butcher shop. I'm gonna buy a ham hock. I'm gonna leg lock it or I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna, you know
Danny:But is he gonna be getting a baseball bat like you see on YouTube and try to break it?
Tyler:Yeah. So I I chose to compete because inside the academy, right, like, you are fighting, but it it just ups the level It does. Of of the the competition. Right? There's just something about the competition.
Tyler:This this person doesn't know you. He doesn't have to see you again. You wanna be a good competitor and you're not working dirty, but, like, the level of pressure I'm putting on him is I wanna smash you into the mat. Right. Right?
Tyler:Versus where, you know, you know, you and I may do that to each other, but at the end of the day, we also may have rounds where we're, you you know A little
Danny:bit more gentle to each other.
Tyler:A little bit more gentle to each other. Right.
Danny:Plus, we we are still training partners, so we need each other.
Danny:Yeah.
Danny:And we don't wanna hurt each other to make sure that, like, you don't come back for a couple of weeks or a couple of months. How often all
Tyler:of you guys out there listening, how often that you you, a white belt is, you know, they call him. And and and
Danny:I don't mean this mean, but like a spazzy white belt and all of a sudden you've had to grab him and and give him a little lesson that he shouldn't be spazzy. And next thing you know, you don't see that person for a couple weeks and you're like, oh, I probably shouldn't have done that.
Tyler:It's that's it has been really interesting that I've seen other white belts come and go in my journey. You know, it's only been a a little over a year
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:That that I've started this. Yeah. Guys that I'd I'd see pretty regularly have have kinda fallen off Sure. Whether it's be in in it, you know
Danny:Life gets in the way. Yeah. And and and ego can get in the way, and and Yeah. You just don't feel like you're learning. But when you're a competitor, in jiu jitsu especially, there are very, very clear, risks, and there's very clear things that can happen that can hurt you.
Tyler:Right. You where
Danny:you could be out for a little bit. And you're like, man, you're a working guy, you're a husband, you're a father, you're like, oh, man. Do I have this? Do I have it in me to compete?
Tyler:Right.
Danny:Do you?
Tyler:But I mean and and, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I went 1 and 1 and, you know, the the the couple of things I wish I would have known before I went into my competition was 1, I kind of asked professor. Professor was like, I think everybody should compete at every level, but I didn't know if that was like an explicit, like, hey. This is a thumbs up.
Tyler:Go do this. Right. I just went ahead and signed up anyway.
Danny:Sure.
Tyler:Maybe you should have talked to him a little bit more about, am I ready to put to participate. Sure. My first match, I think I did great. I won the match, by advantage. I did see an opportunity to finish a choke, but I was listening to my coach, and, my coach just had me working on things and so that again, that's, you know, being coachable Right.
Tyler:Kind of, you know, just listening and I not really trusting my own instincts. Sure. There was a clear opportunity to sink in and rear naked and probably win by submission rather than than advantages. Advantages. The one thing I forgot to do, which, again, my coach told me to think about was breathe.
Danny:Sure.
Tyler:And I came off the mats and it lit I literally wanted to die. I wanted to die.
Danny:I remember.
Tyler:I just I wanted to die. And I knew I had to do it again in in, you know, less than 7 minutes.
Danny:Yeah. Because in jiu jitsu, like, our our the tournaments, you fight. Yeah. And then we call it fighting and some guys don't like that you call it fighting because you're not getting punched in the face. But the way that we term it to to to describe is fighting.
Danny:When you compete at the tournament, you go back to back to back to back, and you could be from one mat to another if you're doing 2 tournaments. And that's happened to some of our our friends where they weren't prepared
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:To go back to back to back and then run across to another mat back to back. And you can see that it really is in their mind a fight. It really is. And it could be a fight with yourself. It could be a fight with your body.
Danny:It could be a fight with the other person.
Tyler:Right.
Danny:But in your in your mind, it's the closest thing to a fight. That's what I loved about it. Yeah. I always knew I was gonna compete. I always knew that I was going to try to win a world title in my I mean, of course, in my own age division, and I'm a master I'm a master of 3, I think now.
Danny:And I knew that I was gonna fight because I like that idea of this is the closest thing to a fight without having to get punched in the face or arrested in the bar.
Tyler:Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Tyler:Absolutely. And I think, again, my motivation was not dissimilar. My my motivation was very much, do I have do I have what it takes, man?
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:As I prepared for my, next my next challenge, this next one in coming up in July, open mat, man, I I faced a huge fear. And and I think that's what being in the gym is is all about is kinda facing those fears, but, I let I let Anthony throw me yesterday. I got a baptism.
Danny:Oh my gosh.
Tyler:A jujitsu baptism.
Danny:Yeah. Our friends and family, know who Anthony is.
Tyler:For those of the you that don't, he's
Danny:a monster black belt. Yeah. Grew up wrestling in Pennsylvania. So that tells you how great his wrestling is.
Danny:Right.
Danny:Very athletic and and knows how to move well.
Tyler:Yeah. Right? And, you know, I knew I knew exactly maybe I didn't realize well, you know, I knew
Danny:Sure.
Tyler:I stood with him. I knew as soon as I stood with him, this is probably not gonna end well, but I need to face this fear. And he made it quick. I won't say it was painless, but he definitely made it quick. Yeah.
Tyler:I think the whole gym stopped they For sure. And they heard me just
Danny:Which always happens.
Tyler:My hope my soul leaves my body.
Danny:Yeah. Because there's that. Yeah. Now and and that's that's the best part about when you find the academy that fits you well. Yeah.
Danny:Is there's these characters and there's these people there that that you know and you love. And we can describe them and we can be friends with them. Mhmm. And they're our tribe, and we may not meet each other any other place except for on the jujitsu mat. And now we find this common ground, this common unity that we go back to this community.
Danny:And here we are talking about just being just our journey to becoming a white belt. Just our journey into jujitsu. And we have so much more topics, so much more to now share. And that will help evolve and it will help bring back what we're trying to do here. And what we're trying to do here is we're trying to bring build this community.
Danny:We're trying to build a common unity. Mhmm. And how Tyler and I met was through jiu jitsu, was was through jiu jitsu. We had our our kids went to school together, so we had that in common. But we were driving down to a tournament, and we just started talking.
Danny:We just started talking amongst each other Mhmm. Amongst ourselves and and found out that we have, similar backgrounds, similar ideal ideologies, and also similar thoughts of how we wanted to help men. And how we wanted to help, further on or further gain following and gain space with other people. That's that's kinda how we we came to this place where we're at now.
Tyler:Yeah. I mean, absolutely. Like like the quote we started with says to, you know, to remind those that that think they know.
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:Right? And and that that's it. You were a great reminder as I was early in my, my my journey here in jiu jitsu. I like to think of jiu jitsu as, like, a great metaphor for the rest of your life. Sure.
Tyler:Right? We talk about having a plan and and and asking questions and, you know, stepping onto the mat. Like, the first thing you gotta do if you wanna reinvent yourself is you have to take that first step. You do. Right?
Tyler:You just like stepping onto the mat first time, it's gonna require you to be, to get outside of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is not, necessarily all that that healthy.
Danny:Right.
Tyler:You know, you gotta enjoy the struggle a little bit.
Danny:You do.
Tyler:You gotta un enjoy getting getting uncomfortable. I think the fun thing going through the the the academy right now is, you know, leche de padre. You know, if you can get on mount and,
Danny:Yeah.
Tyler:You suffocate your your opponent with your your nipple then, you know, you get some bragging rights for the day. But it's that community, right, that that helps us strive to be better in the rest of our life. Right.
Danny:Yeah. And we're always trying to find the balance of life, health, wellness, jujitsu. Yeah. And when you start your journey with jujitsu, when you when you tie that white belt on, and a lot of times, you don't even really know how to tie the belt. And so you
Tyler:know, somebody will come around and they'll help you or
Danny:or you'll keep asking, hey. Can you show me how to tie that belt again? And most people are so nervous to ask. You'll see him over there fiddling with their belt trying to look and does it look right? Does it feel right?
Danny:And everybody goes through that. Everybody goes through that initial thing of what does what is it how how is it supposed to look when I tie it? What side's the the black bar supposed to go on? We had that conversation on, Sunday. And the best part about it is is every person that you talk to, every person that I speak to, all come back to the same thing.
Danny:Jujitsu has changed my life. Jujitsu makes my life better. And without jiu jitsu, I would be a totally different person. And I believe that about myself. I believe that a 100% that professor I tell him this all the time.
Danny:Meeting him completely changed the path of my life. Mhmm. Completely. It completely changed who I was. I thought I was gonna coach wrestling a lot longer.
Danny:Mhmm. I thought I was going to have my boys in college going to wrestling. I thought that I would get a national champ sometime for wrestling. And once I started my jujitsu path, all of that stuff went by the wayside. And now, I'm like, I can't wait to see what my kids will do in the kids program.
Danny:I can't wait to see what professor shows us. And I can't wait to see who I'm gonna meet and and be able to encourage to continue down this path.
Tyler:That's so cool. Such a cool such a cool philosophy to have. Yeah. You know, for me, very similar. Right?
Tyler:There's been a very therapeutic somatic therapeutic, response. Right? 1, working through the breathing. 2, putting myself in situations that would be dangerous and and gaining the confidence to to, you know, escape those situations. Because the white belt is all about protecting yourself.
Tyler:Yep.
Danny:It's
Tyler:all about protecting yourself. If you don't tap a single person your 1st year, don't worry about it.
Danny:Yeah. Doesn't matter.
Tyler:If you protect yourself and they're not tapping you, Yeah. Those that's the wins. Those are the wins as a white belt.
Danny:100%. Yeah. Like, we you have to think about, like, longevity, not only in jujitsu, but in life. Like, what is it gonna take for you to stay in the fight? Yeah.
Danny:It's being healthy. Yeah. Being healthy is the most important thing like, professor always says, your number one job is to stay healthy.
Tyler:Absolutely.
Danny:Then your number 2 job is to not tap. That's the number 2 job.
Tyler:But if
Danny:you tap, it's okay. Like Right. It's not your first job is not to get hurt.
Tyler:Right.
Danny:2nd job, try not to get tapped. 3rd job, find opportunity.
Tyler:Well and and it is. It's a progressive elaboration. Right? You may tap to a move early on because you're nervous and you don't know. That that's the beauty of jujitsu.
Tyler:If you're ever it's the first magic move that that stops all the pain and all the embarrassment. You know, they teach you right away right away. Tap.
Danny:Yep. Tap.
Tyler:Tap. And there's no shame in tapping. You know, unlike quitting, there's no shame in tapping. It's
Danny:true. Very true. Yeah. And we want we want to to help keep you in the in the game. And because we started I started at an older age, you started at an older age.
Danny:So our bodies aren't the same, and so we do get hurt. We do we do have some beaten up parts that we're like, oh, man. That hurts today. Can I make it to class? Yes.
Danny:Can I train? Yes. But do I need to be smart? Yes.
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:Not like some of our younger guys that train and they can go and they can go a 100 miles an hour today. Go back to the night class, 100 miles an hour again. Yeah. Some people are built that way and and that's okay. The same thing with life.
Danny:Yeah. It's the same thing. It's the same kind of things. Can you go to the fight? Mhmm.
Danny:Can you stay in the fight? Can you can you find your path?
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:Can you find that path to staying through the day and and fighting for the good fight?
Tyler:Yeah. I think I think so. You you know, it goes back to having a plan.
Danny:Having a plan. Yeah.
Tyler:Can what is your plan when you step onto those mats? Right. And there there is a a a very good alliteration to to your life there. Right?
Danny:Right.
Tyler:Again, I I just love that jiu jitsu is the metaphor for your for your life. Yeah. You can you can adapt it. You know?
Danny:It's true. Yeah. And and and when we are we're probably gonna continue this this conversation in further episodes. Maybe we'll make this a couple part series just so that we can round about what our thoughts are on this. Because we kinda dive down the what got us here, how come we're here.
Danny:And there's gonna be a lot of questions from people or even corrections for what we said or what we do. And that's where I'm, like, I've had to learn the most. Yeah. Learn the most is, like, there's gonna be people that correct you whether they correct you with words or where they correct you with a very strong attack on a limb that you are not prepared for.
Tyler:Right? It's true. Yeah. Because you can always you can go
Danny:to sleep, but you can't come back from a from
Tyler:A broken arm.
Danny:A broken
Tyler:arm. Torn out shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. Blown out knee.
Danny:Oh, yeah. All those things can happen. And and you hope that they don't, but they do happen in our journey. Yeah. And that doesn't mean that our journey stops.
Danny:It means that we have to figure out ways around that and can you make it on the map? Can you make it to tomorrow? Yeah. You know? And so I think that's, that's the idea.
Danny:That's the that's the idea I have is to to keep this this conversation of jujitsu going and keep this conversation of how it affects us and how we address it and apply it to our everyday life.
Tyler:Yeah. We We gotta apply that beginner's mindset to everyday life.
Danny:You're a
Tyler:white belt.
Danny:You are.
Tyler:White belt. And if you go into any any any situation where you're frustrated, you're annoyed, what can I learn from this? What what what being curious
Danny:Mhmm.
Tyler:What can I try? What kind of experiments can I perform to have a bias for action? You know, how how do I reframe problems? So so often, our brain, gets stuck in its neural pathway that that we can't escape. Right?
Tyler:I so many times I have to, you know, get out of myself. Sure. You know, get back in touch, you know, whether it's taking some deep breaths so I can I can reframe a process, you know, detach and gain some perspective, and and just know life is a practice? It is. Jujitsu is a practice.
Tyler:It is. Just keep after it. Keep attacking it. Keep keep up with that awareness.
Danny:Yeah. Don't give up.
Tyler:Hold on that awareness skill.
Danny:Don't give up because one day you're going to be a father. Mhmm. You're gonna be a husband. You're gonna be a black belt.
Danny:Yeah.
Danny:And you're gonna have all that experience to fall back on because you never gave up, and now you just get to restart. Yeah. Every day, you get to restart, and I'm and I've heard it from black belts all the time Yeah. That once I put my black belt on, it was like my journey started over.
Tyler:Yeah.
Danny:I felt that way I felt that way about my blue belt. I felt that way about my purple belt. I felt like I'm just starting over in a different part of my journey, and I enjoy I enjoy the the the journey. I enjoy I tell people all the time, just enjoy the journey. We are not in a sprint.
Danny:We are not trying to sprint to the finish. Right. Yeah.
Tyler:Yeah. Man, I can't I can't can't thank you enough for today. Yeah. Same. It's that radical collaboration, man.
Tyler:Yeah. Whether it be on the mats, whether it be in life, like, men need other good men. Right? Yeah. So that we can, you know, remind each other when we think we know.
Danny:Yeah. When you think you know. And like we always said, you know, we we train at Park City Jiu Jitsu, that's where Tyler and I train. If you aren't in Park City or if you're not in Heber, we know of a lot of places that we can send you to. If you're not in Utah, the thing that we do is we always just ask professor.
Danny:So if you need something, if you're looking for an academy, you're looking for something, and you're looking to start your journey, drop us a line. Yeah. Let us know.
Tyler:Where can we where where can they find us, Danny? Where can they find us?
Danny:Yeah. So, on Instagram, Facebook, Compassionate_gentleman, Park City Jiu Jitsu, training all the time. Yeah. And how about you, Tyler?
Tyler:Yeah. If you're looking for the lost Boy Scouts, always hit up the lost Boy Scouts website. Hello at lostboyscouts.com or lostboyscouts on Instagram and or Twitter, and we will, we'll help you get started. Hope you get started or, you know, we'll help be a part of your community and a part of your journey. Appreciate you guys tuning into this episode, whether it be, have your favorite podcast channel or if you've picked up the YouTube because you like the extra content Yeah.
Tyler:And seeing our our pretty faces.
Danny:Our pretty faces. And don't forget, if we've said something that you don't agree with, that you do agree with, that you'd like to find out more, you'd like to give us some more of your space, then Sunday, open mat, 11 o'clock.
Tyler:Yep. That's where we settle. Don't bother leaving a comment. Just show up to open mat.
Danny:Take care. We'll see you.
Tyler:See you guys.
