Forever White Belt

Today on the show I have a conversation with Chris Martin a Marc Laimon, BJJ Brown Belt, and cofounder of two Nova Martial Arts and Fitness academies in Wisconsin.

This is a timely episode, depending on when you are listening, May is stroke awareness month. In 2017 Chris suffered a massive brain stroke from a jiu jitsu choke during practice that left him paralyzed and speechless on the mat from the result of a carotid artery dissection. However, that did not stop him from getting back on the mats and he practices to this very day while still managing the two academies and running jiujitsuinsurance.com.

Chris has been spreading awareness of how strokes can affect families and communities. He also shares stories from other survivors to educate students and coaches in the jiu jitsu community, who need to be aware of these dangers.

Since his accident, Chris has been a go-to person for advice, support, and help to spread the message of safety and awareness to the jiu jitsu community. He also is working with a medical doctor and hospital to publish a medical journal article relating to the 100 + stories (strokes from chokes) that continue to surface each month.

I want to preface this episode by saying that I'm a believer in transparency, open, honest and at times difficult communication. I find that these types of crucial conversations are critical for growth. I believe we are at an inflection point in the growth of Jiu Jitsu where we need to have such conversations. I would also like to emphasize that I believe that every adult should have the freedom to choose what is and is not acceptable for themselves. As of late, I've noticed the pendulum of BJJ media may have swung back to an almost dogmatic belief in only hard training. I'm always wary of absolutes, I tend to find that the truth often lies somewhere in the shades of grey. Tim Ferris once said about the topic of nootropics (aka brain enhancing related drugs), "There is typically no biological free lunch.". I think the same could be said for constant hard training and repetitive strangulation.

Some housekeeping notes: Keep in mind that Chris's stroke did cause some ongoing neurological damage so although he sounds great on the episode there may be times where his thought process stops and jumps to other items a bit out of context.

Also, just a reminder to please give us a 5 star review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, you can also leave us a message on that same page, also Like our Facebook page to get all the latest at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

Michael is a second degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under André Galvão, of the elite Atos academy, Michael is widely recognized as one of the most talented competitors of his generation. Michael started making waves in jiu-jitsu’s competitive scene early on, winning his first world title as a blue belt in 2011, he followed his early success winning 2 more “Mundial” gold medals at purple and brown belt, and his victories are far too extensive to read on and on about. In October 2019, Michael moved to Colorado where he founded his own academy alongside fellow Atos teammate, YJ Lee, and they named it Lōgōs Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

I'm gonna be honest this was one of my favorite episodes, there are so many great takeaways I got from it, and I get the sense that you will as well. It became immediately clear that Michael is a highly intelligent, self aware, and present individual. These characteristics manifest themselves in very interesting ways, one of which is that Michael has a very high fight IQ. Not only is he aware of what and how he needs to train and iterate, but he also has earnest respect and reverence for his competition. I feel lucky to have engaged with Michael in a very interesting transitional period in his life, going from single focused competitor to an academy owner/leader role where responsibilities and priorities can vary greatly. Michael is refreshingly calm, candid, and laid back with me and more importantly himself. An important highlight I'd like to make which could get lost is the importance of his father Michael Liera Senior (also a black belt), they seemed to have a very special connection in that Michael Senior exposed Jr to various interests (a lot more than many others have done) only to finally land on BJJ. This type of special mentorship is the foundation of Michaels's greatness thus far, I mean his other instructors were Saulo Ribeiro and Andre Galvao for goodness sake!

Some housekeeping notes, in the episode Michael makes several references to "HQ", which refers to ATOS headquarters in Southern California.  Also, just a reminder to please give us a 5 star review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, you can also leave us a message on that same page, also Like our Facebook page to get all the latest at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of having a blue belt to blue belt conversation with Travis Motl, one of the hosts of the irreverent Elbows Tight Podcast go to elbowstight.com for more info. Travis is a two stripe blue belt at Pacific North West Jiu Jitsu in Washington state under black belt Alvin Martino. 

What I love about this episode is that it's just two regular guys, who have regular lives, who train a regular amount, who I think the majority of you can identify with. As such we honestly explore the topic of Jiu Jitsu from the perspective of our current early journey, that being from white to blue belt. We challenge each other's ideas, we question what we just said, you can feel us possibly changing our minds mid sentence cause we are iterating our beliefs constantly, that is part of learning and critical for growth in general. Some of the conversation, I suspect are the thoughts and ideas that most of you are or may have been thinking about and this is what makes the episode such a great listen.

In this episode we talk about Travis's experience with creating a podcast and video show, CrossFit, setting goals, Jiu Jitsu and the family, the white and blue belt experience thus far, and more. Talking to Travis is like talking to an old friend over a beer and just shooting ideas back and forth peppered with as much humor as possible, in short, it's a lot of fun.

Some housekeeping notes,  just a reminder to please give us a 5 star review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, also Like our Facebook page to get all the latest at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

Aaron Benzrihem is Bernardo Faria's first Black Belt, having earned his previous brown belt from Alliance Marcelo Garcia Association.  Aaron is a multiple time Fight To Win Pro Veteran and Winner, Multiple Time IBJJF Medalist and has competed in several tournaments winning and making the podium in almost all of them.  He has a fantastic YouTube channel teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and it is clear he is driven by a passion to spread the art that helped shape his life.  He is a young and ambitious entrepreneur and newlywed who has practiced several other martial arts including Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Boxing, and Wrestling. He was an instructor at The Bernardo Faria Academy, he is also the first employee hired by BJJ Fanatics where his role as Senior Product Manager keeps him busy at present.

This is one of those rare young (27 as of this recording) up and coming instructors that I akin to a fantastic growth stock opportunity. Meaning if I could put money on him to compound in value I would. Once you see Aaron's YouTube channel you will see why, he has an approachable yet, highly technical, yet easily digestible way to teaching BJJ which checks all those boxes which is a rarity for someone with so much runway left. I can see why Bernardo Faria decided to not only coach and mentor him but to award Aaron as his very first black belt, what a tremendous honor. Aaron is refreshingly candid, surprisingly self aware, an absolute gentleman, and a class act.

Make sure to check out his two instructional's on The Leg Drag and The Half Butterfly on BJJ Fanatics and make sure to check out his amazing YouTube channel with over a years worth of highly produced content, it's quality stuff. Also, check out Aaron and his wife Bruna's dog training company Rise K9 Dog Training that not only does all sorts of dog training but also trains worst case scenario dogs on their last strike it's amazing stuff.  https://risek9training.com/.

Some housekeeping notes, we recorded this before the infamous Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao slap heard round the world so it's almost spooky how Aaron mentions this "beef".  Also, just a reminder to please give us a 5 star review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, also Like our Facebook page to get all the latest at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

In this episode, I'm so incredibly honored to have the pride of San Francisco, No Gi legend, black belt Denny Prokopos as my guest. Denny was the very first 10th Planet black belt awarded by Eddie Bravo. Denny is also one of the most talented No Gi Jiu Jitsu practitioners of his generation, having won the Eddie Bravo Invitational 2, IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, Gracie Worlds, FILA No-Gi World Championship, and a recent victory on UFC Fight Pass.

Let me set up the context of the time, we have to remember that when Denny was starting his career there were still arguments about the merits of training only No Gi, ridiculous now I know but this was a genuine concern at the time. Add on top of that, that Denny was the first black belt from what was seen as an upstart 10th Planet,  there were lots of haters of this new organization if you could even call it that at the time. Denny was the first astronaut shoved onto the new planets to compete so to speak. And he really shined and I watched in awe and with a great deal of admiration, cause that took a ton of courage and skill to do, I really can't underestimate what a trailblazer he was and the tremendous value and legitimacy he gave to the 10th Planet organization and the No Gi aspect of the art.

This is one of those episodes where things get real, Denny seems to really wear his heart on his sleeve, he is both honest and passionate about the things we discuss. Speaking of, we touch on his absence and return to the sport, his current, and longtime legendary team/friends some of which are made up by his teacher Caio Terra and training partners, Gilbert Melendez and Jake Shields. Denny talks about his training modalities of choice, his recent match and victory on UFC fight pass, his school called "San Francisco Jiu Jitsu Academy", and so much more.

Some housekeeping notes: A reminder to please give us a positive review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, also Like our Facebook page to get all the latest at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt. Check out Denny's instructionals on BJJ Fanatics and be on the lookout for his soon to be announced offering with Jake Shields.

Today on the show I land another guest off of my wishlist, this time it's multiple time IBJJF Champion and Romero Cavalcanti/Lucas Lepri Black Belt Jonathan Thomas.

I really enjoyed this conversation, prior to the show we were having some stimulating dialog breaking down some Sam Harris podcasts and our thoughts on them, we clicked immediately,  and I almost didn't want to start the show much preferring this organic moment of very cool dialog, but the show must go on! In this episode you will get a variety of value from Jiu Jitsu technique talk, training ideas, recovery, living a life with purpose, floating scheduling, personal productivity, and more.

Jonathan is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, as a kid, he wrestled then joined Goshin Jitsu to study Judo.  He studied Jiu Jitsu books for a bit before joining a grappling club led by one of Rickson Gracie‘s most well-known students – Rodrigo Vaghi until purple belt all while pursuing an engineering mathematics degree.

In 2008 Jonathan left for Atlanta, Georgia to train at Alliance under Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles. After two years in Atlanta, Thomas decided to move to Washington, DC where he worked in the satellite industry while training with Ryan Hall. Later, Jonathan decided to move back to Atlanta and reunite with Alliance this time under Cavalcanti and Lepri.

While working full time and competing Jonathan took opportunities to teach workshops in Europe which led to a full time coaching job originally in Sweden.

Jonathan has what seemingly looks like a meteoric but well deserved rise in the Jiu Jitsu community. I've been observing his online work since the beginning being immediately drawn to his incredibly analytical mind, self awareness, rapid paced uncompromising direct delivery, and his well thought out problem solving abilities. Watching him teach his open guard game is really something to behold, it's something akin to watching a master solve a rubik's cube in record time with little to no effort, one is simultaneously left in both awe and inspiration.

Jonathan's philosophy of the "mini game" or as I like to think of it the microgame, is a fascinating approach that has paid dividends for him and I suspect will be the future of Jiu Jitsu instruction. Jonathan claims to not be a hard worker or at least he does not feel like he is (because he loves what he does), but if that's the case, he is the hardest lazy worker I've ever met. He has spent countless hours in the Jiu Jitsu laboratory working and refining upon the tiniest of details. It feels like Jonathan has really hit his stride in the prime of his life, I think we have only just begun to see what's to come.

Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.". Chances are as you are reading this Jonathan is on a mat somewhere dissecting the smallest of details if he should be gripping slightly higher or slightly lower, palm up or palm down, adjusting an angle by five degrees Ad infinitum.

Ok, some housekeeping items just a reminder to please give us a positive review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button on the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, also consider joining our community on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

What a perfect way to end the year with one of my heroes, a pioneer of the art, and godfather of the Kimura Trap System, David Avallen. 100 years ago before I started Jiu Jitsu I bought two DVD sets (yes I said DVD sets) just to get an idea of what Jiu Jitsu could offer, one of them was David's Kimura Trap System, it was fantastic and holds up to this day. David and his brother Marcos were early pioneers in the evolution of Jiu Jitsu systems thinking, online marketing and they predate the term MMA with what they used to call it, No Holds Barred Fighting.  David has grappled all over the world and has wins against other legends in the art like Rafael Lovato Jr., Roberto Cyborg Abreu, Rener Gracie, and Alexander "Xiande" Ribeiero.

Today they still own the highly acclaimed Freestyle Fighting Academy in South Florida which they opened in 2001 and David also consults some of the best combat athletes in the world out of his new Las Vegas location.

It was such an honor to have David on the show, he is such a wealth of knowledge and in this episode, we discuss his observations on training methodologies, nutrition, mindset and so much more. We could have gone on and on for hours, David will be back on the show for sure, as there is so much more value he can offer us. In the meantime check him out at Davidvallen.com for all his socials and offerings.

Some housekeeping items, in the episode we refer to the original Kimura Trap System DVD box set which I hold up a few times but obviously, on audio, this may lose some context. Also, just a reminder to please give us a positive review on iTunes and check out our Forever White Belt merchandise at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt, and become a patron by clicking the "Support" button at the https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/web page, also consider joining our community on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/foreverwhitebelt, and check us out on all the socials by searching for Forever White Belt.

In this episode I have the pleasure of meeting Drew Weatherhead, Drew is a Black Belt under Dave Rothwell. I guess Drew is most famous for being the mind behind the Because Jitsu Instagram meme account but honestly, I found out about him first by his appearance on the BJJ Online Summit back in April of 2020. I was very impressed by his teaching style so I subsequently fell down the rabbit hole of his YouTube, Instagram, and Because Jitsu instructionals. If you are ever in the Central Alberta Canada region make sure to check his aptly named academy, Central Alberta Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Oh and keep an eye out for his soon to be released instructional on Keenan's Jiu Jitsu X site.

It becomes evident very early in the conversation that Drew is a very intelligent guy, but what is even more impressive is his ability to convey difficult concepts and offer valuable options for practitioners to consider in easily digestible ways. Basically what I'm suggesting is that all of you check his stuff out, it's good, really good.

Drew also has what may be the most confusing path to Black Belt I've ever heard, it's a rollercoaster ride of a story so take my word, hang on tight cause at the end it reminds me of that "Hangover" movie meme when Zach Galifianakis is doing insane mathematics in his head.

I had a great time with Drew, it was like that scene in the movie "Stepbrothers" where they ask each other random questions they have to answer at the same time only to realize they just became best friends then decide to do Karate in the garage together. But enough with the movie analogies.

In this episode, you will get some really great BJJ insight on the art that you will all take value from.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of meeting Elaine Biersdoerfer. Elaine is a Gracie Barra Pelham, Alabama Blue Belt, under Judo and Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, professor Kaliffa Oliveira.

Elaine is my new hero and inspiration. You may remember Elaine from winning the world over at the Pan American Games with her masters 7 division highlights. On the surface, you may make the mistake of only seeing a silver-haired grandmother of 7, who just happens to be 72 years young, but underneath the veneer is an incredibly fierce, driven, relentless BJJ practitioner and competitor.

There are so many things to love about Elaine, one of the virtues she shares with us is a raw sense of vulnerability we can all empathize with. For example, during one point in the show, she details a tournament match she lost that she studied and trained so very hard for and admits she did not execute what she trained, her voice shakes with the deep disappointment that embodies the moment and it nearly pulled my heart out of my chest. At another point, Elaine says she’s pursuing a sport that she isn’t good at, but in the end aren’t we all? She just has the courage to say it. Don’t get the wrong impression, she loves BJJ and says she would never quit. So when you wake up and think about skipping class, just remember Elaine is showing up.

Some housekeeping notes: Elaine lives in rural Calera, AL so her internet connection is not the best. Also, you can now support the show by becoming a monthly patron by hitting the support button on our website at https://anchor.fm/foreverwhitebelt/. You can also send us a message by clicking that “message” button on that same page. We also now have a merchandise store at https://teespring.com/forever-white-belt where you can buy FWB shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and lots more.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with 10th planet Eddie Bravo black belt, Zach Maslany. Zach is also a 2nd degree Tiger Shulman black belt, a former kickboxer, golden glove boxer, MMA competitor, co-founder of 10th Planet Bethlehem, 10th Planet Allentown, Finishers tournaments, podcaster, YouTuber, and coffee shop owner as well as so much more.

It’s no wonder Zach has so many exciting and successful endeavors going on, it’s infectious to stand in the whirlwind of his space, it makes you want to jump in and be part of whatever initiative he has dreamt up. There is a great deal of inspiration to take from Zach’s story. Zach lives in Pennsylvania, he felt much of the Jiu-Jitsu action was concentrated in other areas of the country and neglected in PA. So in typical Zach fashion, he creates two academies that produce two of the best no-gi Jiu-Jitsu competitors to date (and this is the reason I refer to him as the king and queen maker), Grace Gundrum and Jon Thor Blank, if that was not enough, he goes on to create a platform for the local practitioners to shine via his Finishers tournaments. This seems to be a trend in Zach’s life, if it’s not available, make it yourself, and be proud of your work, I greatly appreciate and relate to his DIY ethos.

https://linktr.ee/zachmaslany

https://www.instagram.com/zachmaslany/