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[00:00:00] You're not thinking about your finances. You're not thinking about your family. You're only thinking about survival and solving that problem in that time. And so it's really problem-solving in real time and living in the moment, yeah, I think in medicine, we have a branch of stress management . Yeah. Jujitsu really brings that to the forefront.
Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Brian Imholz, the owner and head instructor of Gracie Humaita SEMO. Brian began his martial arts journey in 1994, and in 2006 he made the transition to jujitsu. We discussed the multiple health benefits of jujitsu, including building self-confidence and strength, losing weight, and gaining some awesome friends along the way.
Personally, it has changed my life in ways that are absolutely invaluable, and I recommend everyone to try it at least once.
Hey, Brian, welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for having me. I think I just wanted to start with your journey into jujitsu and, what you experienced when you first started. Okay. . My first class-- I was [00:01:00] trained in another martial art.
It was called Kajukenbo, and the instructors of the art they really only taught a few adults. They taught kids with cerebral palsy and other special abilities or special needs, and they would they would train the helpers. So I was a volunteer. I'd been doing martial arts for a long time, and I started martial arts in 1994, and this was 2005.
I was doing Kajukenbo. And so the instructors Had a business by the Easterseals headquarters in Missouri. Oh, yeah. And so anyway there was a car dealership there and they met this guy that came JW Wright, and they started talking about martial arts. He was a brown belt in jujitsu.
And and at that time, there was only one black belt in the whole state of Missouri that I know about. Maybe there was two, but the only one I knew about was Rodrigo Vaghi in St. Louis. And anyway, so JW off- they started talking. Jay goes hey, I'll come give you guys a jujitsu seminar." 'Cause jujitsu was actually a part of Kaji, Kajukenbo, but it wasn't the same.
'Cause Kajukenbo was like karate, kenpo, [00:02:00] judo, jujitsu, kung fu. Oh, yeah. So it's, but it's, it was like a mixed martial art. And anyway it's a Hawaiian art, and cool stuff. But so Jay came and he did a seminar for us, and I was trying to be like at the time, like I was young and I wanted to be like a MMA fighter.
I thought I was, and I wrestled and stuff like... But he came and he did the seminar, and I remember because I felt, I feel real bad later on 'cause I was like, now but like I showed up and I was in really good shape back then and I didn't wear the gi. I didn't wanna wear the gi, and- I showed up late for the seminar not thinking that it was disrespectful or anything. And anyway, so he did it, and I always thought I was pretty good on the ground 'cause I wrestled from the time I was a little kid. And I was not good on the ground. And I remember he was teaching and it was pretty cool, and then we sparred a little bit, and I was rolling with one of his white belts, and the guy put me in a triangle, which is a choke that you do with your legs.
You see it in "Lethal Wea..." the first "Lethal Weapon" movie, like Mel Gibson does it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so like he put me in a triangle, and I didn't think anything of it, and I picked him up and slammed him. [00:03:00] And it wasn't malicious. It wasn't anything like that. We just trained really hard back then.
And this is what I said, like these are all like cliches from the old school martial arts. Yeah. That's not the case anymore, right? And 'cause jujitsu's actually a really gentle, safe art. But anyway I picked him up and slammed him and he's "Hey, man, that wasn't cool." And I apologized profusely 'cause there was no malicious intent in it, right?
And anyway You're just like, "This is what we do." Yeah. And and JW, I'll never forget, he goes, "Man, that's okay." Just like the... He was just very nonchalant. He goes, "That's okay, man. Here, come here and roll with me." And he beat my ass for about 20 minutes straight. And I'll never forget it, 'cause like at one point during the roll, like my fist accidentally punched me in my eye and gave me a black eye, my own fist-
Not his. And, and I didn't forget it 'cause I was like, man, I really don't know how to fight. I- Yeah ... i've had martial arts, but I really didn't know how to defend myself against somebody on the ground. And so I started going to his school, and the reason I stuck with jujitsu is, so my first...
He invited us to a Royler Gracie seminar. [00:04:00] And so we went to that seminar, and Sean Woods, one of my best friends, I know you know Sean. Yeah. He runs Gracie Humaita Columbia. He actually got promoted to blue belt that day, and this is like 2006. And he, But Jay, I remember him giving the belt, and he got really teary-eyed and emotional.
And I'd had a lot of martial arts instructors, and they were all amazing people, but I'd never seen anybody give that kind of, I guess display that kind of emotion over a promotion. And I was floored by it. And I started training with him and it totally changed the way I looked at martial arts and just everything in general.
That's where my jujitsu journey started. And back then it was a newer art. Like I said, there was JW's school, he had like maybe 30, 40 students when I started there, and now he has 300 and something plus like 23 schools under him. That's 'cause it's 20 years ago now. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's one of those things, it's like the art's grown, but our understanding has grown and The caring about other people has always remained the [00:05:00] same.
So I, I just stuck with jujitsu, and that, that was like my first memory of actual jujitsu, Gracie jujitsu. So yeah. Yeah. That's pretty cool, man. Yeah. It's different, right? Yeah. Very different. So you mentioned that , it's a gentle art. Yeah. And, before I did jujitsu, I did kung fu and taekwondo.
Yeah. And when you do those other martial arts- Yep ... and you get hit- Yeah ... it is not gentle. No, not at all. It's like- Not at all ... you're getting kicked or punched. And so can you describe for the audience like what that means when you say gentle art? Absolutely. Yeah. And technically it translates more to a pliable art which is a better term for it because you can, obviously you can use jujitsu for to inflict pain or to hurt people, but that's not really the goal.
It's like the goal is the difference between striking arts and jujitsu, because I think every martial art has validity. But the difference between striking arts and grappling arts is striking arts, like you can spar, but you have to spar with pads and everything else, and punching somebody with a boxing glove is not the same as punching them with your [00:06:00] fist.
It's just not the same reaction to... You- they don't react the same to a fist as they do to a boxing glove, and your hand doesn't react the same to their face as it does when there's a boxing glove on it. And it's really hard to spar 100% and feel that true intent. Now the, like I said, everybody, I think everybody needs a little striking, especially if they wanna be a complete martial artist, and there is striking in jujitsu.
But with grappling, because they have a tap system in place when you're sparring if you tap your opponent, they just stop. And so anytime you feel uncomfortable, anytime you run out of gas, anytime you're in a position where you might hurt yourself, you just tap. And then the whole thing stops.
And if you're at a good school, usually it doesn't come to that because the people, if you're at a good school where people are trying to make you better and make themselves better at the same time, they're not trying to prove themself with their ego or anything else. They don't have to beat you every time.
If they see you're in any type of danger, they stop anyway, or they s- and like you've rolled at my school. Like like upper belts usually help lower belts like slow down and just... It's a game. It's like you have to look at it as a game. Even [00:07:00] though you're doing a martial arts system, both self-defense and sport you're playing a game where it's enjoyable.
And like when you go to class, everybody's smiling, everybody's laughing. I don't wanna go into a class, like I'm past the age of going into a class and "Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, Sifu. No, Sifu." Yes. Yeah. Or Sabanim or whatever the title is. That brings back memories.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Like the ki- even, the kids it's different 'cause you're trying to instill discipline, but when it's adults Like we're all grownups, so it's, I'm not saying there, there doesn't have to be structure, 'cause I believe in structure, but I also believe in letting people be themselves, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's a good point about how it's not as rigid as a system. Not... It depends on the school. It- But yeah, I-- Most of the ones I- I'm familiar with and like our association for sure, it's not... We have structure, don't get me wrong. We bow and like I expect people to be respectful and, and you don't just don't be a douchebag and- Yeah.
Everything's okay. So like- Exactly ... other than that, it's you know- And, and- That's it. Yeah, and I think you've told me before, your school is more of... you [00:08:00] have competitors, definitely. Yeah, of course, yeah. But you're a little bit more family-oriented. Absolutely. I want a family environment.
And there are... That's why I say there's different types of jujitsu schools, and you have MMA schools, and, MMA schools are great, but they usually attract like a younger clientele of... Because fighting is a, you have a limit on how long you can do it. If you wanna be a fighter, a pro fighter, there's only a certain age you're gonna be able to do that too.
And I think- Yeah ... jujitsu's for everybody, and I know my average age of students is like 35. If you take away the kids, my average adult is probably about 35 years old. I don't have a lot of young guys. I got a lot of old guys, and women. But it's, it-- I look at a family place. I want a place where you can empower people not only in their physical ability, but the- their ability to solve problems, their ability to handle conflict, their ability to handle problems.
Yeah. 'Cause I think jujitsu at its essence is problem-solving in real time, oh yeah. It's, it's- That's a good point. Yeah. It's... if you're sparring or you're rolling, you're gonna be put in a position where maybe you know what to do, maybe you don't, but you have to solve that problem.
You're not thinking [00:09:00] about your job. You're not thinking about your relationship. You're not thinking about your finances. You're not thinking about your family. You're only thinking about survival and solving that problem in that time. And so it's really problem-solving in real time and living in the moment, yeah, I think in medicine, we have a branch of stress management or mindfulness. Yeah. And so jujitsu really brings that to the forefront. Yes. So for people who have-- They're, like, ruminate about the past or they- Oh, yeah ... they think about the future too much. Jujitsu really, I think, hones that skill of "Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna talk about right now."
Yep. "We're gonna think about right now, and we're gonna do right now." Yep. And I think especially for people with, let's say, past trauma. There was a good study- Oh, yeah ... in the Army, like for the Army guys that had PTSD, and they went to jujitsu. It had a really good impact on their lives.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Made it a lot better. I think anything, it's- It's a positive, it's physical activity, so you release endorphins and all that, but it's a positive environment as long as you get the right school. I'm not saying there's not bad jujitsu [00:10:00] schools out there because there are.
But- ... for the most part, I think most of them are pretty good and it's really especially for people past the age of college, A lot of us, like there's not a big social life. You're with your family, you're with this, you have your work and you have friends outside of that. But what happens is you get so caught up in your day-to-day life that you don't normally maybe socialize with people outside of your normal interactions.
And so what I think jujitsu does, like people come t- for the self-defense to learn how to defend themselves, to get in shape but they stay for the community. Because the community, if you have a good school, like tries to empower everybody. And like at one class we have police, firefighters, doctors, lawyers, college kids, construction workers whatever.
Linemen and, yeah. Yeah. What- whatever. Truck drivers. It's every... Bankers. It's like my, my my black belts that I've promoted since my time, like one's a federal agent, one is a bank vice president one is a, used to be a schoolteacher, now he's a, like a correctional officer. One was just a college kid, one's a [00:11:00] comedian, one's a truck driver. Yeah. So it's you know- Yeah ... you have all aspects of life and you all interact, and you interact in a place where everybody's trying to better each other and it doesn't matter what color you are, what sexual orientation you are, what gender you are, what political affiliation you are, how much money you make.
Everybody's in the same uniform. Everybody has the same goal. You're all trying to be better people by learning something that improves your physical wellbeing as well as your mental wellbeing, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, that's definitely true that the camaraderie that you get- Yeah ... is probably unparalleled.
Yeah. You it's like a brother and sisterhood, it's like people... You, they really do become family. Like you... Because it's just a place where everybody, it's... I think it's the w- that way with a lot of sports teams. And this is a, it's a team that maybe they compete together, maybe they don't, but they all try to help each other, and that's what I've always tried to build from the beginning that I opened a school.
'Cause I never meant to open a school. It fell in my lap. But it's just the way life took me. But I really feel like having a school that has a community is what attracts people. And then it, because it attracts people, it [00:12:00] actually betters the community as a whole. So yeah. Yeah. One time I heard I think Shawn told me, he said that it's not specifically us versus us in the gym.
No. It's us versus what can happen outside the gym. Yes. Yeah. And I, that's been more true, than not, for sure. And, speaking to your point of how like inside your school is very welcoming. Yeah, absolutely. I've been to other schools, like when I'm traveling- Yeah ... and I get sma- close to my ribs being broken in those other schools.
And so I, that's why, that's why I go back to your school 'cause I'm like, "Dude, I need to, have to come to some place where I don't get hurt." Yeah, you gotta go place some- somewhere you feel safe. And I feel like I'm proud of the way our jujitsu families came together to create that.
And I've had to police it a lot and it took time over the years. Sean's academy's the same way. Like you've been at Sean's. And J- it all came from JW who's our leader, who's actually under David and Hoyler, who are our leaders who also instill that mindfulness to us. It's just one of those things is I don't really know how to [00:13:00] describe it to people unless they try it.
And they... But they... You gotta find a good school. Find a good school. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes, there, there's a lot of them out there. I if somebody's listening and they want a recommendation on a school and they ask you, I'd be glad to give them a recommendation where they're at if I know anybody.
If I don't know anybody, just go try a couple. I always- Yeah ... encourage people, like people come to our school and they're like, "Oh, I might try this other school." I'm like, "Go ahead. Go try that class if you like it, if they wanna go to the other school." 'Cause sometimes that's a better fit for them. And sometimes I want them to see the difference.
Yeah. It ju- it just depends. Yeah. So like- Yeah ... we have the biggest kids program. We have the biggest program in the area all together, and adults included. But, we have competitors, but we're not really a competition school. We teach the self-defense, but we're not a strictly self-defense school.
We just teach jujitsu. Jujitsu's all aspects, all, all-encompassing. So yeah. And can you speak to how you police the environment a little bit? Yeah. I look at it like this. A lot of times it's people policing themselves. I will like... So let's say somebody's new. I'm never gonna put them with another new person not in the beginning, because putting two people together that don't know what they're doing [00:14:00] one, it leads to almost frustration sometimes with what you're learning because you don't have anybody there really helping you as much.
Two if they do spar, if they're both don't know what they're doing, they can hurt each other a lot easier. They're gonna go too hard, they're gonna, they're gonna try and prove themselves. Because when you think about it, like I can't say you take ego out of the equation. You'll see jujitsu say leave your ego at the door, but ego's what pushes us to become better at anything we do.
Like that being said though, you have to be able to take criticism. You have to be... And that's one thing I love about jujitsu, like it, it forces you to grow. Like you have to be able to take criticism, you have to be able to take instruction, you have to be able to learn from failure not get upset at failure, look at it as a learning experience, and I think that transfers to life as well.
But I do please... Like sometimes you'll have somebody come in and maybe they're not the best person, right? And I've had that happen, and they come in, maybe they're a little lost, they've made mistakes in their life and they stay around good people [00:15:00] and they become a better person because of that, right?
They'll quit doing drugs, they'll quit smoking, they'll quit drinking they'll I don't know, make their bed in the morning. Who knows? It's whatever. It... each individual's different. And it's one of those things like because they're around people that are trying to better them, and that's the biggest thing is to, like David Adiv the lineage I have is JW Wright, David Adiv, Royler Gracie, Helio Gracie.
So David and Royler are JW's instructors, and even though JW's my immediate instructor, is I've trained a lot with David and Royler, and they're who I'm under. David had a, has a saying, he's he said two things that really resonated with me. One was, "Our job is to teach good people great jujitsu."
Yeah. And that's a... And I teach the police. I, I work with KPD, I've taught the police academy. But teaching good people, how do you know if somebody's a good person? You don't until you spend time with them, right? I always assume somebody is, sometimes you get people that make mistakes, and I don't have any issue with that.
I believe in second chances. But I really feel like the more somebody stays at our [00:16:00] school the better person they become. And that's, and I think you see that, like talking to people and knowing people. And maybe it's they're already a good person, but they just become happier, they become more fit, they lose weight, they become more confident, they become calmer.
Especially like what you'll see is like a lot of people that like to fight don't know how to fight. Yes. It's, it's- Yes ... and you see it all the time. Yeah. People that really know how to defend themselves don't like to fight. We fight every day. I'm not looking to fight anybody in the street. I don't- Yeah, exactly.
I have no desire to fight anybody. I'm shy. I don't like confrontation. I'm not trying to fight nobody. Now am I confident? Yeah, I'm very comfortable with my skill set, but I really feel like I'm... But I'm not the guy that's gonna go s- start a fight at a bar or anything.
That's like kid stuff. We don't- ... we're grownups. But anyway, and then the other thing I think is is just trying to show people, like We're here to help others. That's... If you're, if you've been there a while your job is to help bring everybody to the same level instead of one person just staying up here.[00:17:00]
Yeah. And that can be... it's hard. It really is. You can't be selfish with your training. If you wanna get better, you have to be a little selfish, and but you have to be a little willing to, I, somebody new comes in, I put you with them or I put somebody that's been training a while.
And it helps them, one, it helps them have a friend right away. They are able to be with or be partners with somebody that's been there a while that understands at least a little bit of the art and can help them develop, make them not feel so foolish, and also telling them, "Hey, man, I know how you feel," or, and I felt the same way when I started, yeah. And that's the biggest thing. Yeah. People think they're... It's you know when you're a teenager and you have that first heartbreak? Yes. Nobody understands. Your parents don't understand. Your grandma don't understand. Nobody understands. You get older, it's like everybody's been through that, yeah. And it's just, but you're not emotionally mature enough or you haven't had enough life experience to handle that, right? And it's the same thing in jujitsu is everybody feels lost. Everybody feels insecure in what they're doing, and it's something just everybody goes through that.
It's just something you have to go [00:18:00] through, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think you, you don't f- you feel like you, you had to be somewhat a little confident to, to join and start that first class. Yeah. It's hard. It's hard, yeah. And then when you go there, you- Yes ... start to realize, oh, I am not that good.
No. It's hard to-- It's humbling. It's very humbling, but if you accept that and just accept where you are, it's a learning experience. It's like going to school, yeah. It's like you're going to school without, in jujitsu it's a little different because in school you read the material, then you take the test, right?
And they prepare you for the test. In jujitsu you learn the material, but they take the test, and you're gonna fail. Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna fail. And you have to keep taking that test in order to succeed, and so that's why it's, I think it's discouraging for some people. That's why I really recommend private lessons especially for beginners, professionals, because they will become more comfortable.
And if they're, it's a little... I have I have several, you already know I have several doctors, surgeons and stuff that train with me, lawyers and they do private lessons because they're afraid of getting hurt in a group class 'cause they- Yes ... they work with their hands. And I think those are, if somebody's out there and they [00:19:00] wanna try and they're a little nervous about going to a group find a re- a credible instructor and go do a private lesson on self-defense.
It's a skill you... I would rather have the skill of self-defense and not ever have to use it than need to use it and not have it. 'Cause if you have to protect your family, it's like- You wanna know how to protect them. And and I think it's a disservice if you don't. Having that that skill set, never having to use it is ideal.
I hope I never have to use jujitsu. I've had to use it a couple times, but I h- I hope I never have to use it. I, and I tell the police officers when I teach defensive tactics "I hope you guys never have to use this, but chances are you're gonna have to use it. You're in an environment- you have to control people all the time." I, I go to class. I don't go out. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I don't do anything. I- I go home. I play video games. I, yeah. Yeah. That's about it. It's a good escape. Yeah, it's a good escape. Yeah. I live a very quiet- it's a very clean escape
conservative life. Yes. Yes. It really is. Absolutely. Yeah. The other thing I was gonna say is David, the other statement that he said, "The only way to know that we're all equal is the first to accept that we're all different." [00:20:00] Yeah. You think about that. It's like knowing everybody's different is easy to accept them.
And so when people come in the door, that's what I said, it's... You become very accepting of people because it doesn't matter. That's why I said it doesn't matter color, creed, religion political affiliation. Nobody cares. It's like you're on the mat. We're all here to get better. Yeah. That's all there is to it, it's true. It's the great equalizer. Yeah, 100%. If all of Congress did jujitsu, they'd probably get a lot more done. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, there'd be a lot less yelling and just a lot more doing, I think. Yeah. It's "Okay, let's go fight each other, and then when we're done- Yeah
let's talk and work this stuff out." Yeah. Yeah, yeah, be a lot more level-headed there. Yeah. So I know that to me from my perspective, there seems to be a couple avenues of jujitsu, and one is sometimes we'll do self-defense. Yeah. And then the other time we'll train... It's not necessarily like we're training for a competition, but we're doing more technical- Yeah
work, I think. And I will say the self-defense is very [00:21:00] technical too, but what I look at is you have jujitsu against people that don't know jujitsu. That would be like self-defense. Then you have jujitsu that is for people who know jujitsu, which would be more the sport. It's a little more advanced.
The sport, yeah. It's somebody that knows what they're doing, knows how to fight. Then you have to employ a few different things. Now that being said they, I think they both have merit. I'm not really the sport versus self-defense. There's a big debate in the jujitsu community, but to me it's just all jujitsu.
I like doing the sport. I love teaching the self-defense. Those are my favorite classes to teach 'cause I feel anybody can do them. And I'm, I'm 52 years old now, so I'm a, I'm not a spring chicken anymore. Like it's sometimes it's easier for me to move with the self-defense as of some of the sport stuff.
And I also look at if I have a, like if I have a 18-year-old kid that comes in that's an athlete, man, he can go down any aspect of jujitsu he wants to. But if I have a 4-year-old or a 82-year-old woman, I'm gonna teach them strictly self-defense, like- ... until they become comfortable because that's what's gonna benefit them the most.[00:22:00]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah, you're right. Like I think I've used, so I've used the self-defense before. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I was in the, I was in the ER and- Yeah ... I was in the psych wing of the ER. Okay. Yeah. And so it's a closed door ER there, and unfortunately somebody had tried to harm themselves, and so what happens is they just get on hold for 24 hours.
Yeah. And they were trying to escape out of there. Okay. And he was probably 6'2", maybe- Yeah ... 6'3", and, I had to stop him from leaving. And so you do the usual thing where you like block the biceps- yeah ... get to the back, and then, hug around their waist, and I had to pull him to bed.
And luckily a police officer just apparated out of nowhere, and I was like, "Thank God he was there." Yeah. And so he helped me secure him back in the room but no harm came to the patient, yeah. Like the guy- Yeah ... was just perfectly fine. He was angry- Yeah ... but he was perfectly fine, and, he- later on he realized and he apologized and all that.
[00:23:00] He's "You're right. I'm glad I stayed. My emotions are a lot better in check now." Yeah. And so- That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool. And I had to do, I did knee-on-belly on him just to keep him down until more people arrived, and and he was fine. He was totally fine. But it was like a, it was self-defense- Yeah, absolutely
against somebody... A- and I have to say that it feels... It's not effortless. No. It's hard. But it's... Yeah. It's hard and, but it would be much harder if I didn't know what to do. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like it'd be 10 times harder if I didn't know that self-defense por- portion versus me, somebody like on the mats.
Yeah. Yeah. Where it's infinitely harder. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You got people that, that have been training a while, it, it becomes way difficult, and a little jujitsu goes a long way. I really feel like... if you look at like the healthcare industry, like- how often they have to restrain patients.
Not because the patient's violent, but let's say they, they've gone septic, they're out of their head. Their blood sugar's low they're delusional, they're [00:24:00] whatever, and like you wanna be able to restrain them and be safe. Not only the p- you have to keep yourself safe and the patient.
And I know I've seen some of the stuff they teach the hospitals, and I'm not degrading it or anything, but it could be better. Yeah. Yes. It could be better. Yes, yeah ... and it's, it, what happens is, like when you're talking about jujitsu, like jujitsu is all... To me, there's two aspects of a fight, and it's like yin and yang.
Strikes, striking causes chaos in your opponent, like you're trying to create chaos. Grappling is control. And so there's always those two aspects, like control sets up striking and striking sets up control. But that's why I think jujitsu's also ideal for police work because they always have to control their suspect.
It doesn't matter if they're fighting them or not, they need to put them in cuffs. It's all about- ... maintaining the safety of the officer and maintaining the safety of the suspect. And it'd be-- To me, it's the same thing in healthcare. It's just one of those things, like I, I think it has a lot of valuable tools that you can use, so yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That, yeah that's completely true. So what would you [00:25:00] recommend I guess for somebody who wants to join, your gym? Yeah. How would they start? Like how do they get the uniform? Oh yeah. How do they join? For my specific gym, like they would, they'd message me either by text or by on- online or Facebook or whatever, right?
Or website, doesn't matter. And then when they come in, I always offer them try free class. Come in and try the class. And if they like it, get signed up, and we give them the uniform and everything. If if they're not interested in doing group classes, then just schedule a private lesson and we'll do the private lesson.
And I really like that for professionals- ... just because it's a very effective use of their time. Like 30 minutes is a little easier sometimes for somebody's schedule out than an hour and a half class. And just try it and see what you think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when when I did a private with you- Yeah
it's like you get to the, you get to the meat and potatoes a lot quicker. Yeah, right away. You're like right there- Yeah ... and then you're like, "Okay, good." Yes. Now I can go back to clinic, and be with my patients and stuff. And I think like in our head, one, we're trying to protect ourselves.
Yeah. Our hands and [00:26:00] our brain. I mean anybody should, but for us it seems just, I don't know, we see it as much higher trade-off. Yes, absolutely. And you guys I don't wanna see anybody get hurt at my academy. And just like any sport, usually it's something minor.
Somebody twists an ankle. Somebody, turns their knee. Somebody lands on their wrist, something like that if they're... Just like any sport, like injuries happen. But I don't wanna see like catastrophic things happen, and I also look at like with private lessons- Your risk of getting hurt is way lower because you're with- Yeah
somebody that's been doing it for a long time. They put themselves in position. There's no if you're live sparring, it's with somebody that's very controlled. But usually in private lessons, you don't live spar for a long time. You're gonna, you're gonna learn. It also is with the the sel- the self-defense, putting real pressure on them after they feel comfortable doing it slow, it becomes very empowering.
Like you s- you see it with the kids, when I do it with the kids, if I'm doing a lesson with the kids or with Dr. Assad, we did the lesson the other day. It's very empowering, it i- it is. Yeah. It is the confidence that you gain [00:27:00] from it. Yeah. It reduces your... I wanna, I wanna-- I'm gonna call it generalized anxiety.
Yeah. Absolutely ... 'cause you go around in the world and you're looking, your brain automatically- Yes ... will look for problems. Oh, yeah. Threats to your well-being- Yeah ... and everything. When you go to jujitsu, that, it gets toned pretty far down. Yes, absolutely. You're, you're-- I mean, it's there, like- You feel very safe, yeah.
Yeah, you feel very safe- Yeah ... safe doing it. And I think on your website it says that, Is there a free trial or a free class? Oh, yeah. I always do a free class, yeah. Okay. Okay. Now, a private lesson, because I have to schedule my time, it probably not gonna be free, but I might. It just depends on the situation.
But for a regular group class, we always do a free class, and I usually give them a couple if they want them. Okay. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I don't want anybody sign up that doesn't wanna be there. So I wanna make sure that it's something they enjoy. And the biggest thing is enjoying it. If you go to a jujitsu class and you don't have fun, man, you're at the wrong gym.
That, that's not- Yes ... that's not the place for you. You need to... You should be smiling. The instructor should smile. I crack jokes all the time. I'm not a super serious person. And it's just one of [00:28:00] those things. But I want- That's true ... but I want people to feel comfortable.
I'm not gonna, "Do this, do that," blah, blah. That's just not me. It's... if it's a kids' competition class or something, I might be a little more harsh- ... but it's not-- or an adult competition class, but it's still, I want them to have fun. At the end of the day, if you're not having a good time, you're not gonna come.
Yeah. And like- Yeah ... we have enough stresses in lice- life. When you come to the academy, it should be a place where you relieve stress, not a place that stresses you out, yeah. Yeah, exactly, and I think that's one of the keys that, that jujitsu or y- your school offers is like, it's not rigid, and you're not thinking of, "Am I making the right move, and is the instructor gonna-" Yeah
Degrade me for it? Yeah. Basically. No. I will totally yell at you, Tom. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, exactly. Just, I'm, yeah, I'm kidding. I like getting hit from behind, actually. Yeah, exactly. There you go. Yeah. There you go. No. So okay. So they come there they can try- a free trial class if they need it, and they get a gi with signing up. Yes. And they get the added benefit of camaraderie, and I know that when I first came there the [00:29:00] people there were introducing themselves to me. Yeah, absolutely. The, even the higher up belts would talk to me- Yeah, for sure
and stuff like that. That's something we try to instill early on. When you think about, like- let's say your first day at a new school, like high school, whatever. There's cliques. There's people, and man it's nerve-wracking when you're a kid. When you're adult, it doesn't... you might be more confident, but it's still, it's uncomfortable.
And you need to be the person that makes somebody feel welcome. That's what I look at. I need to make them feel welcome. And if I don't, say something to me, but I al- I always try to make them feel welcome. I always try to put them with somebody who I trust that I know is gonna work with them well.
Just I want them to feel welcome. I want everybody to feel... It's like a second home is what it should feel like. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, And I know just recently you upgraded the floors. Yeah, we put a gymnastic spring floor on. It's like a trampoline. Yeah. It's way easier to fall.
Yeah, way easier to fall. The kid- kids love it, too. It's, it's- I know they're bouncing up and down on it ... we're spoiled. Like when I came up in jujitsu, it was... Like I said, it was a different time, and we were all a lot younger. [00:30:00] And like I remember JW, like that heat, the air didn't go on.
It would be 90 degrees out. Oh, really? Yeah, the air didn't go on. Yeah. We're on a flat floor. It was... but we're, we were more y- we were younger, more resilient. Now we're a little smarter, and technology- ... we can take advantage of it. Yeah. Yeah. And you have good, there's good hygiene there.
I know- Absolutely ... there's, we got the feet cleaning thing before- Yes ... you get on the mats. Yeah. And then I know that the mats are cleaned every time. Every class, yeah. Every class we clean them. Yeah, and we got, and you got changing rooms there, which is really awesome. Yeah. And yeah. Everything is, yeah, it's a really nice gym.
Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. And so I kinda wanted to go back a little bit. You, in the beginning, you had talked about I think, was it somebody getting promoted to blue belt? Do you remember when you got promoted to blue belt? What that felt like? Oh, yeah. It was 2008, and I remember I used to compete a lot when I was a kid, and I was... Back then, it's if you, they... So the way the competition works, they separate you into belts and weight classes, right? And age groups. And so I was a white belt and, but I, if you won at certain [00:31:00] promotions, like they made you fight the next belt up.
And so I won some white belt, and I started winning blue belt tournaments. Oh, nice. But I and I went out to world championships and some other stuff. But anyway I remember like I was nervous. I had three stripes on my white belt, and I was like, "Hey, Jay I..." My stripes always fall off.
Their stripes are pieces of tape they put on the belt that signifies like, not degree so much, but like steps toward the next belt, right? And every belt in jujitsu, just so the listeners know, is about two to three years. It's a long time. And it's purple, brown blue, purple, brown, black. So average black belt's about 10 years But I remember I was like three stripes and I was like, "Hey Jay, do I need to put my stripes on?"
And he goes why don't you put on 12 and see what happens?" And I was like, "Okay." But yeah, I remember, man, 'cause he had just gotten his black belt. So when I started with him, he was a brown belt. And he had just gotten his black belt a few months before, and so me and another guy named Tyler Bishop, we were the first, his first blue belts that he promoted that, like strictly trained with him since, when, after he got his black belt.
He, there's- ... several blue belts there. [00:32:00] And and there was another guy that was a brown belt and that, it was like a sister school that they were all under the same family they would train too. But me and Tyler we trained with Jay a lot, and I did private lessons with him once a week, sometimes twice a week, and I would- Oh, nice
I would help him with every private I could. And I was a, at that time I was a personal trainer, so I had a flexible schedule and I could, My schedule allowed me to help him a lot. So yeah. That's good. It was pretty cool. Wow. Yeah. And can you tell us what belt you are now? I'm a third degree black belt.
And then there's there's a red part on the belt. And- Yeah, so the red part is that it's, technically it's for, like red bar is supposed to be teachers, white belt's supposed to be competitors. So when you get the black belt after you achieve the black belt, you can get what's called professor stripes, and they go on either end of the red bar.
And those are awarded to instructors. Not everybody gets them, and it's at the discretion of your instructor. It's usually about a year after you get your black belt. Then after you get to... And that means you're a teacher. Those were really important to me when I got them, and I got them fairly quickly into my black belt.
But I'd already been teaching for, a [00:33:00] number of years. Yeah. And then w- black belt degrees come from active years spent in the art. So like I got my black belt in 2016 so I got my first degree in 2019, second degree in 2022. Third degree last year. And then my next one is- One, two.
No, no worries. My next degree is five years from my last one, so it'll be in 2030. So it's like- Oh, nice ... three, three, three, five, five, seven. It's basically by the time I-- to change color belts in jujitsu from black belt, the next one's called the coral belt. It's 31 years after you get your black belt. Oh, dang.
Yeah. So I might be in a wheelchair, but we'll see. Yeah. We'll see how that goes. Yeah, you'll get a belt. Yeah, I should. I hope so, yeah. Yeah. And so-
What was I gonna ask? So if, I wanted to just kinda elaborate. So I've been doing jujitsu for roughly eight years. Yeah. But I am a blue belt with, Four stripes ... four stripes. Yes. And so I want to make it clear [00:34:00] that the instructor does not promote you on time. No. They promote on experience and you watch me do moves- Yes
and you're like, he is... Y- you will let me know you're lacking in this, or this is- Yes ... you need to work on this and stuff like that. Yeah. So it's not straightforward- Yeah ... on time. And you got... Your, yours is gonna be tough 'cause your instructor's a huge jerk, yeah exactly.
Yeah. He bogards those belts, guys. I do, yes, I do. Yeah. Yeah. I believe... with the kids, we'll give attendance rank because they have so many belts to go through. But with the adult, but they'll never get a... The kids, the highest belt they can get, their first adult belt can't come till they're 16.
It has to be the blue belt. Like- Oh ... you're not gonna have a kid that trains for 10 years and is a black belt unless they start training when they're... 'Cause they can't get the black belt till they're over 18. So- Oh, interesting ... it just, yeah, just because a black belt's considered an expert, but really the black belt's where you really start learning jujitsu.
I know that's hard to fathom, but you'll see when you get there. Yeah ... but if you're considered an expert, how can you say a 12-year-old kid's an expert in art, yes. And that's nothing against taekwondo or any of the other arts, 'cause they all have their own [00:35:00] standards. But a 12-year-old kid, if you're truly an expert, you should be able to defend yourself against most people, and- a kid defending himself against a grown man is gonna be hard. Yes. And so it's- Yeah, exactly ... now we have some teenagers in there that they're monsters. They are. But- They're pretty-- They're killers ... they're pretty good, but they've been training for a long time. But still it's just, it's all relative.
It's the same thing with we have several women. We have one woman that's close to the black belt, and I feel like women for jujitsu is the, it's the best art that they can learn because it doesn't rely on speed and strength and everything else. It's all leverage and timing.
So it's really good for women, but yeah. Anyway, yeah. Yeah, because I think there's also an emotional depth to being- Absolutely ... a black belt. I see it. It's like this, the way you respond to things and everything else is, has a really nice...
You handle it extremely well. I try to. Yeah. I try to. I have my moments too, but yeah, I try to. So I know people, they can reach on the website. Absolutely, yeah. I think it's graciesimo.com. .com. Yeah. And and they can reach you through Facebook. [00:36:00] Yep. Is there anything else you'd like the audience to know?
I really think just if you're interested in martial arts at all, and it doesn't matter where you live I would find a local school and go try it. Obviously I'm biased towards jujitsu, but I do think all martial arts have validity. If you're a healthcare professional, you work in, you can work in a high-stress environment, right?
And so in addition to having a skill that can protect your family, make you feel better, like the stress relief, choking somebody legally is a great way to release stress, put it that way. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. So- that's true. Yeah. That's true. I encourage anyone to get out there and try it, and definitely check out Brian's school.
I know I'm a little biased, but I definitely love being there. Yeah. And I appreciate you taking the time out to, to let everybody know that as well. Oh, absolutely. And so I guess we'll sign off with that and- Okay, awesome ... I guess we'll, I'll try and go roll tonight. That sounds good, man.
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks a [00:37:00] lot.
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