Why You Need to Change Your Mind

The more you know the less you know.

Nov 22, 2024

I’m a little hungry as I write this newsletter.

I have to get back down to 170 — something I was pretty sure I’d never do again.

Like an idiot (or maybe like a smart person), I changed my mind.

I decided that although I hate cutting weight, although it historically is not the best thing for my health or my performance, and although I’ve never been the best at it, I must change my mind. I must, because I agreed to compete at 170, go on a diet, and lose weight.

For some reason, I think that I can do it better this time.

But today, we’re not talking about weight-cutting. I don’t want to think about it more than I need to.

Instead, we’re talking about why you need to change your mind and do the things that sometimes don’t make any sense.

You must always be in beta.

I took this writing course a while back where they used fancy corporate terms to describe normal things.

A problem that slowed down processes was “a bottleneck”. A person who tries hard at what they do is “an A-Player”. Losing a client was called "churn”.

Another term they used that I actually liked was the idea of “always being in beta”.

Always testing new things, learning, and developing new skills. Never having a finished product. Never being “done”.

This is how I think about my grappling and The Grappler’s Diary. This newsletter is just a constant work in progress. Every article is the best version of what we have but the next one better be better than the previous.

Likewise, on the mat, I am never done. I go into every competition as prepared as possible but there is never enough time to have a fully complete preparation. You don’t train to be done, you train so that you can train more often and more effectively.

That’s why it’s called “training”.

It’s a bit tiring to think this way, but it’s the way you ought to think about your career and your skills. Trying to do something extremely well is inherently going to be tiring.

Eventually, you will always start circling back.

The last time I cut weight was last fall for the ADCC Trials. I did a similar cut to the one I’m doing right now in terms of the amount of weight.

It was a tough cut and I didn’t perform my best, so I decided to give up weight-cutting for a while. I eventually proclaimed online that weight-cutting was stupid and you shouldn’t do it.

And yet, here we are.

I’m writing this newsletter looking forward to my mostly eggwhite omelet that I’ll be having for breakfast in a little bit and dreaming about the 4 ounces of ground beef I’ll have for dinner.

This is the life.

The thing is, upon further consideration, I realized that the weight-cutting that I did before was incomplete. It was an incomplete exploration of the subject. Plus, I got a cool opportunity to compete at EBI — a tournament that I literally watched in my freshmen dorm room 9.5 years ago when I started BJJ.

And, although I had a bad performance at the East Coast Trials that I cut weight for, it wasn’t just because I was cutting weight.

I also:

Got sick and missed a week of training camp
Spent 8 days in Chicago away from the gym
Was on vacation 4 weeks out

This time, I’m in good health, I’m training hard, and I’m being strict with my diet. By the time I show up to compete in December, I’ll have had 5 weeks to train, diet, and prepare for EBI.

That is ample time to really gauge if the weight cut is causing me to perform badly.

And what if I’m wrong?

I definitely won’t make cutting weight a normal part of my life regardless of whether I win in December or lose in the first round.

However, I want to challenge the ideas that I have had about dieting and weight-cutting. It’s a balancing act.

For ADCC, when I was going up in weight, I was bulking and eating a ton. It got to the point where I was a bit unwell because of my diet. Sleep was bad, inflammation was high, and I just didn’t feel healthy because I didn’t really have an incentive to be strict like I had before.

I was 185 trying to compete in either 195 or 205 divisions — so why should I care about my weight or my diet?

I try to do a lot of things by feeling, but sometimes you need to do things by the numbers. I got kind of heavy this summer and it wasn’t all good weight, especially with my injuries, so now I’m trying to reverse some of the damage and get to a healthier place. Competing at 170 has been a really easy way to motivate myself to eat less and be more careful about my diet.

I’m sure as a result of this diet I’ll swing hard in the other way again as well, but that’s all part of the process. That’s all part of learning.

You want to avoid being static. Get big then get small. Win then lose. Learn. Fail. Succeed.

You need to challenge your beliefs and not be afraid to change your mind.

Closing Thoughts

I think that it’s important to have this ability to change your mind in everything you do.

It’s also not going to be easy. It doesn’t happen right away.

I used to think podcasts were stupid, but the idea for this article was inspired by a podcast I listened to. I used to think straight ankle locks didn’t work, and now they’re one of my best submissions. I used to think intermittent fasting was dumb for an athlete, but fasting has been a really helpful tool in allowing me to lose weight while also not feeling like crap.

I might change my mind the other way on all these ideas in the future.

But what’s more boring than getting stuck in your ways?

Oftentimes, the things we think we’ve “figured out” are just beliefs that we’ve decided to stop challenging. It’s not something we’ve figured out, it’s just something we don’t want to worry about anymore.

Don’t be afraid to change your mind.

Anyway, that’s enough for today.

It’s time for that omelet.

The Grappler’s Diary is sponsored by BJJ Mental Models, the world’s #1 Jiu-Jitsu podcast!

This week we're joined again by Chris "The Villain" Paines!

In this episode, Chris explains the two "dials" that coaches and students can use to modulate their training: complexity and intensity.

To listen, look up BJJ Mental Models wherever you listen to your podcasts or just hit this link.

The Grappler’s Diary is also sponsored by Gym 1801.

Gym 1801 is a brand-new martial arts and fitness facility in Evanston, Illinois.

Apart from being one of the most beautiful Jiu-Jitsu gyms in the world (and run by the man who gave me my black belt in BJJ), Gym 1801 offers world-class instruction, facilities, and training. Gym 1801 was also one of my main sponsors at ADCC 2024.

The gym offers top-class recovery tools like cryo, red light therapy, and sauna, and a wide array of classes like yoga, HIIT, and athletic training. They have everything you need to reach your potential on and off of the mat. (Hit this link to view a video tour of Gym 1801 by me!)

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