The Chewjitsu Podcast

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss what is a legitimate black belt. We chat about the recent story of "Derek Moneyberg," who received a BJJ black belt in 3.5 years by doing only private lessons. Chewy shares a couple stories of teaching students who only wanted to do private lessons and wanted to get promoted, the limitations of only doing private lessons, "celebrity belts,"...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene discuss 4 things that they learned through Jiu-Jitsu that impacted their lives. Facing your fears - fear as part of the process and how to overcome the resistance to achieving your goals. The cost of skill and progress - pick things that align with what you want. Taking care of your body - get contrast through BJJ and create habits or better performance on the mat...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss why you should stop being so nice with your BJJ. We discuss the importance of using pressure with your techniques, ideas on how to properly apply pressure, your intentions when applying pressure, how to recognize a student with "bad intentions," the factors that impact aggressiveness in training, using BJJ to deal with anger and to use inten...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene discuss the new "UFC-BJJ" show and BJJ promotion formed by the UFC. We discuss the new BJJ reality show, how to make BJJ more spectator-friendly, whether the UFC should focus on grapplers or people who have never trained to improve viewership, the advantage of having a refs decision, our thoughts on the UFC taking the ruleset from the CJI, the potential challenges...

On this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Judo black belt, Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, former gymnast, and one of the founders of "GMB Fitness," Ryan Hurst. Ryan discusses his start in gymnastics and then transitioning to training Judo. He shares his experience of living in Japan for over 20 years, what it was like training Judo in Japan and being one of the few non-Japanese practitioners, how gy...

On this episode Chewy and Eugene answer 7 questions from listeners on BJJ, food, and life. We discuss the following questions: How did you meet your wife? What are you most afraid of? What are some tips on remembering techniques? What is a guilty pleasure food? What is a good breakfast before training? Do you ease off of training during the holidays? How do you feel about lower belts not being abl...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss the idea of training and thinking like an athlete instead of as a hobbyist. We discuss why this mindset shift to training as an athlete is important for longevity, how an athlete treats their body compared to how a hobbyist, the foods chewy avoids before training BJJ, how diet can impact performance, the importance of rhythm and routine, hol...

On this episode of the podcast we are joined by Cameron Shayne. Cameron pioneered the phrase and concept of Mixed Movement Arts in 2001 by combining the combat arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts together with Yoga, Crawling Patterns, Mobility, Calisthenics, and Cognitive Studies into a single black belt system known as Budokon. Cameron also holds black belts in Olympic style Taekwo...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss why inexperience leads to inefficient activity on the mats. we discuss the process of improving efficiency on the mats, what Chewy focused on to improve efficiency, why "feeling is understanding," why mindset plays a huge roll in BJJ, why clearer goals lead to more efficiency, and how Chewy discovered that Youtube was the best way for him to...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss 5 important Jiu-Jitsu tips for older grapplers to help with your performance on the mats. We discuss the following ideas: Try not to win every round. Get good at defense. Use heart rate to monitor intensity. Train with intention. Focus on diet/weight loss. To learn more about Chewy's new "Flow & Control" Program, check out  http://chewjitsut...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy discusses why he needed to develop his "older grappler" BJJ game to adapt to training and to remain competitive against younger and more athletic grapplers. Chewy discusses how he started to discover this new element to his game, the position he would go to when fatigued, the moment Chewy decided to change his game, ideas on "uneven pressure" in side control,...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss the importance of rest days and why many BJJ practitioners avoid rest days and taking time off. We start off the podcast by answering a question from "Bob," who is a 47 y/o BJJ practitioner who tries to train daily and even some days twice per day. "Bob" says that by mid week he has a hard time with focused and technical training and feels t...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene are joined by one of the Jiu-Jitsu pioneers in the Midwest, 4th degree BJJ Black Belt James Clingerman. James joins the podcast to discuss celebrating the 25th anniversary of his gym, his biggest marketing mistakes as a new gym owner, taking the risk to start a gym 25 years ago as a BJJ blue belt, how he had to rebuild his gym after losing most of h...

On this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Olympian, 9X U.S. National Champion, 3X World Medalist, and BJJ Purple Belt Jake Herbert. Jake is a husband, father of four, and business coach. Jake discusses his start in wrestling, how he got his kids to start training in grappling, pros and cons of specialization vs training in multiple sports, "living through your kids," starting BJJ, the impor...

On this episode of the podcast, we are joined by one of Chewy's first training partners, BJJ Black Belt Daniel Bertina. Daniel is a BJJ Black Belt and coach that lives in the Netherlands. Daniel discusses his early days in BJJ and his training sessions with Chewy, what training sessions were like in the early 2000's, ideas on decreasing injuries, recommendations for older grapplers, why you should...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene have fun with a comment that called Chewy "A Fruitcake That Likes To Play Graba$$". This troll comment came in response to an e-mail Chewy sent out that stated "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu helps you find yourself and lose yourself at the same time." We discuss how Jiu-Jitsu can force you look at yourself and derive deeper meaning from life and also can be used as an escap...

On this episode of the Chewjitsu Podcast, we are joined by BJJ Black Belt and gym owner AJ Clingerman. AJ discusses the start of her "Roll Models" BJJ Camps, the idea behind a women's only camp and what makes it unique from other camps, the challenges women face in BJJ, the importance of women's only classes, red flags for women in BJJ, why many women start training, how to grow a women's BJJ prog...

On this live recording of the podcast, we are joined by Strength & Nutrition Coach Eli Coffey. We discuss Eli's recovery from two shoulder replacements, strength training for grapplers, bulking and cutting weight, how to address common muscle imbalances in grapplers, Sport Specific vs. General Strength training, the "budget" for recovery, fat loss, signs of overtraining, and a Q&A section at the e...

On this episode of the podcast, Chewy and Eugene discuss Imposter Syndrome in BJJ and how to both overcome this and use it to your advantage. We discuss the problem with comparing yourself to others, if a high competitive environment a reason to change gyms, what Chewy looks for when promoting someone to their next belt rank, why Chewy doesn't prefer a strict curriculum for belt promotions, feelin...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene are joined by BJJ Black Belt and Tournament Director of The Chewjitsu Open, Jeff Alexander. Chewy and Jeff discuss the idea behind The Chewjitsu Open, what happened during the first ever Chewjitsu Open, the recipe that's made The Chewjitsu Open successful, why it's more difficult to get brown and black belts to compete, Chewy's most nerve-racking tournament experi...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene discuss BJJ competitions and how to get the most out of your competition experience. We discuss how competition makes your BJJ better, how competitions can help with training intensity, the realization regarding competition nerves, how to improve on failures in competition, how competition losses can be incredibly motivating, how to improve after good competition...

Joe Miller is the founder and CEO of "1st Optimal", a telehealth functional medicine company dedicated to helping high performing men and women optimize their hormones, longevity, and overall health through personalized treatment plans that integrate lifestyle, exercise, supplementation, nutrition, and medications. With a deep passion for evidence-based medicine, functional health, and precision d...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene discuss why BJJ is so addicting. We discuss the "trifecta" that addicts BJJ athletes and three additional reasons that keep you "Mat Addicts" coming back for more. We also discuss some ideas on why people quit BJJ. The "BJJ Trifecta": Learning/Feedback loop. Stress Management. Community and social aspect. Three byproducts of the "BJJ Trifecta": Achieving "mindless...

On this episode, we are joined by former Division 1 Wrestler and BJJ purple belt Ian Daube. Ian discusses his start in wrestling and Judo, how a pec injury changed Ian's wrestling career, why he decided to quite his corporate job and become a full time grappler and how he transitioned out of the corporate world, the importance of aggression in a BJJ match, what helps him for competition prep, his...

On this episode, Chewy and Eugene answer a question from Collin who asks, "How do you recognize and fix gym culture without enforcers, and also what do you do if one of the enforcers becomes a gym bully"? We discuss how and when a "gym enforcer" should be used, one of the most corrosive things that can happen in the gym, "Absolute Cancerous Behaviors" and "Relative Cancerous Behaviors," some of th...