He Opened His BJJ School as a White Belt and Built 5 Locations | Mike Stewart Jr. on Coaching, Sobriety & Staying Dangerous After 40 EP107

If you're doing BJJ over 40 and wondering whether it's too late to build something real — on the mats or off them — this episode is proof it isn't. Mike Stewart Jr. opened Rising Tide Martial Arts as a white belt with his brother, on two rollout mats with seven students, and sixteen-plus years later runs five locations across Maryland that have hosted seminars with Gordon Ryan and helped countless students get sober and rebuild their lives. In this episode you'll learn why the best jiu-jitsu coaches are learning to stop rolling with their students, the control-based approach to the sport that protects aging joints while staying true to real combat, the honest math on alcohol and recovery that most coaches won't say out loud, and what staying dangerous after 40 actually means once you've outgrown needing to prove it.For the BJJ over 40 and midlife jiu-jitsu community building something that lasts — this one delivers.Topics covered:→ Taekwondo at six, ninjutsu black belt by his late teens, first exposure to jiu-jitsu on the side→ Inspired by Kenny Florian's jiu-jitsu on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter→ A year at Yamasaki Academy — one of Maryland's first BJJ schools→ Rock bottom at 25: drinking, drugs, a repossessed car, arrests, 230 pounds→ The deal with his brother: train hard for a year, then open a school together→ Opening Rising Tide Martial Arts as white belts→ Getting Helson Gracie's support and what that meant for legitimacy→ Surviving the early years: punches, bites, eye gouges from new students→ The mafia analogy — lineage, affiliation, and earning respect in a competitive market→ Building five locations through conservative, disciplined growth→ Treating coaches like real employees — benefits, health insurance, real jobs→ The crossroads: athlete vs. coach vs. business owner→ Why jiu-jitsu coaches are the only combat sport coaches expected to outroll their students→ Removing that pressure and becoming a better coach as a result→ The Panama call — coded terminology for blocking the inside hip→ Why Gordon Ryan and John Danaher's control-based teaching is universal, not body-type specific→ Control-based jiu-jitsu as a longevity strategy for the aging grappler→ Pressure passing over standing passing — protecting the knees, staying combat-honest→ Training schedule: high volume/low intensity vs. high intensity/low volume, never both→ The honest alcohol conversation: cutting from 4 days a week to 1-2 changes everything→ Helping students get sober — the most rewarding part of 16 years of coaching→ Recovery non-negotiables: nutrition, macros, sleep, permission to nap, creatine, ZMA→ ADCC's out-of-bounds problem and what needs to change→ Combat jiu-jitsu in the cage — Mike's favorite rule set→ Staying dangerous after 40: not fighting anyone, ever, if you don't have to→ Being the shredded grandfather at 70 — the real goal now→ One word: Relentless→ Breathe or Tap — breathwork for jiu-jitsu and midlife recovery:ThatJiujiteiro.com or YouTube @thatjiujiteiro━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔗 Find Mike Stewart Jr. and Rising Tide Martial Arts:Instagram: @risingtideacademy (gym) | @the_chokedealer (Mike Stewart Jr.)Website: risingtidemartialarts.usFive locations across Maryland🔗 Lineage Provisions — Official Podcast Partner:15% off with code JOSHBUTTON at lineageprovisions.com🔗 Find Josh:Instagram: @thatjiujiteiro | @IamJoshButton | @stopkillingtheplantsWebsite: joshbutton.comFree guides: HardToKillInMidlife.com👍 If this episode helped you, please like and subscribe — it helps more people find this content.