BJJ Mental Models

This week we're joined by Noah Shaffner and Greg Souders from Standard Jiu-Jitsu in Maryland! Noah shares his unique perspective as a competitor trained exclusively under the constraints-led approach ...

31 Mar 20251h 8min

In this week's mini-episode we explain investing in loss, a learning mindset often attributed to Tai Chi and other internal martial arts. In his excellent book The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin discu...

27 Mar 20256min

This week we're joined by Paul Kindzia, a BJJ black belt under Emily Kwok training out of Atlanta, Georgia. Most notably, he's a "homeschooled" black belt who carved out his own path in the art. Paul ...

24 Mar 20251h 4min

In this week's mini-episode, we explain beginner's mind! Known in Zen Buddhism as shoshin (初心), beginner's mind is a concept present in belief systems, philosophies, psychology, and martial arts. It t...

20 Mar 20257min

This week we're joined by Dr. Michael Israetel! Mike is a PhD in sport physiology and newly minted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Josh Vogel. In this episode, Mike teaches the intricacies of tra...

17 Mar 20251h 34min

In this week's mini-episode, we explain spaced repetition! This concept helps us set a dynamic schedule for how frequently we should review old material to maximize our ability to recall information. ...

13 Mar 202510min

In this episode, legendary Jiu-Jitsu instructor Stephan Kesting joins us to discuss the concept of perseverance. It's both a critical mental model for success in martial arts, and also the title of hi...

10 Mar 202556min

In this week's mini-episode, we explain effortful retrieval! It's a concept from cognitive psychology proposing we can improve our ability to recall information — a critical skill during live rolling...

6 Mar 20259min