In this episode I'm talking to Curtis Hembroff, a 2nd degree black belt under Eddie Bravo, retired MMA fighter, Jiu-Jitsu competitor, and founder of multiple 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu gyms across the great state of Texas.
I've had kids and the experiences I've had since then has all maybe very, very much less outspoken more to myself. And some of that makes me kind of sad a little bit.
I don't necessarily like that. I miss being who I used to be a little bit. Having said that though,
the last few years and more, so the last few months. I feel like my actions probably would speak louder than I words anyways. So making an effort in regards to allowing me to just demonstrate the type of person I want to be.
Not so much say the person I want to be. And that's kind of what I'm leaning into now. I want to compete more. I want to physically. do more with my children,
with my family, and that's how I'm leaving impression on this with my actions. - Welcome to the Day Slayer podcast, where you and I discover the good life by listening to BJJ practitioners from all walks of life.
My name is Patrick Donabedean, a 10th planet jujitsu black belt and a white belt and so much else. To work on that today, I'm... I'm joined by Curtis Hembroff, a second -degree black belt under Eddie Bravo,
retired MMA fighter, jiu -jitsu competitor, and founder of multiple 10th planet gyms across the great state of Texas. Before we get rolling, please hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts.
Curtis, welcome. Patrick, good to be here, buddy. Good to have you, man. So the first thing that I find most compelling about you that I want to just ask you first is you are really good at creating FOMO around jujitsu and getting people to want to like join a community.
That's what I've noticed from your online presence as well as visiting your gym. What do you think is the thing that you figured out? out that maybe most a lot of gypsy gyms haven't figured out how to attract so many enthusiastic ambassadors and just like and jujitsu practitioners to to a gym?
What's your secret? Thank you for the compliment. I've never looked at it quite like that, but I think I have in reverse at full mode.
of not being at my own gym. So it's weird that when you said that, it put me back to a time when I wasn't in Austin, and I remember watching 10th night in Austin,
on social media, on the security cams, and having that sense, that fear of missing out feeling. So it's weird that you said that because it kind of just put me in a different position could be as a consumer of MTA.
I remember that. feeling. And when you ask me, like, how do we go about that? I never set out to, like, create FOMO necessarily. I set out a culture that people want to be part of,
that, you know, for those people that were there, it was their second home, a spot where they didn't really enjoy what they were going to, and that had to be a spot I was going to.
So, I think ultimately that's what we're going to do. how did the FOMO get created? It's just how we managed to create a facility, a gym, a community that really has a good time doing jujitsu.
And I think anytime people are having a good time enjoying themselves and also getting better in the process, let's say they create a sense of FOMO for people who aren't in that community having a good time getting better in the process.
That's probably the secret, it's just not a place to space that. that that focures a fun and development You mentioned you mentioned that FOMO having left Left the gym you found in for a period of time meaning like living somewhere else In Alaska,
I think you said What was yeah, can you tell me a little about a little bit about why you made that move,
and then what made you decide to move back? Well, you asked me that question. I realize I get FOMO almost daily. Like, there's even, like, my message training session,
and I see a photo of it. I get FOMO, so I think maybe I'm just sensitive to that kind of thing. In regards to Alaska and why, I'll try to give you the shortest story I can.
COVID hit late 2019, 2020. That is kind of also when I fully purchased my business from audit labs.
So up until that point, I was an employee of audit who operated 10th time in Austin, so it was like at my department system. I was director level and on and right.
as 2019 ended, I took ownership of the business, and we were off to a great start. Point Point was rocking right away. We had Lachlan Giles,
Gio Martinez, and then Craig Jones came through. And that was right before the lockdown start. The lockdowns hit, and we kind of saw it coming. We encouraged, I encouraged my people.
You know figure out where you're gonna be posted up for a while my wife and I chose Mexico and Ended up in Tulum for a couple months during that time We got pregnant and I witnessed The government shutting down businesses,
you know, I saw what was happening in California I saw many businesses But weren't able to sustain the lockdowns, you know, a couple months ago of no cash flows is devastating to a lot of people.
And having, we have a pretty good size team at 10THX. So having a good size team, having a variety of circumstances like all of a sudden this government and getting involved in my business and me having a baby on the way really kind of made me feel a little bit better.
nervous about having all my eggs in one basket. So having and also putting a position where if, you know, business is obviously not even functioning,
if I don't have a certain amount of cash flow, I can't continue to pay everyone. So then basically I have to kind of make a choice, you know, do I lay some people off,
do I do a variety of things actually. I chose Not to lay anybody off kind of not take anyone's pay away So I took a job in Alaska went to Alaska Also wanted insurance.
I was a new business owner I was under the umbrella of on upon it for a little while but going into my own own business I didn't have insurance. I had a baby on the way. So for me it was kind of a little bit of like hedge my bet kind of situation.
I still had all the faith in the world in the gym. But at the same time, I had a family on the way, and I didn't want to have to make some top decisions at the gym. In regards to my staff, I just brought on a new title,
new coach. I had, you know, everyone who works there means a lot to me. So I didn't want to have to again, make some top decisions. in anything I thought. At that point, the move for me was get closer to family because I'm not originally from Texas,
but my family's in Alaska and create some safety net, so to speak, in terms of healthcare and so forth. So that's what ultimately drove me to move to Alaska was the pandemic,
the government overreach, and then me basically just needing to hedge my bets given my family structure. And keep the gym alive, and financially it's, you know,
viable, you know what I'm saying, versus, if I would have, well, sorry, but that's, that's, that's why. Yeah, no, that's, I mean,
yeah, that, that's, that decision, I think that goes against like most people's, what most people's initial instinct would be. because I think most people in that situation would just kind of hunker down and like this is the gym that I founded and I'm going to like I'm gonna lay people off and I'm just gonna like teach all the classes and secure cash flow for myself and my family uh and and yeah you you didn't do
that uh which was selfless in a lot of ways and pragmatic in some ways because you mentioned insurance and things like that how what did that decision -making process look like like did you did you spend a lot of time on that did you have an instinct right away that that was the right move you can tell people Austin's always been about the community so I made a point to never make my my school about me so to me
you know I was getting a really great opportunity by any Bravo, ultimately, you know, Aubrey, Marcus Joe Rogan, without them, I didn't have that amazing opportunity.
So it wasn't something that I held on to as mine, so to speak. And I'm saying it's a thing that I was part of, that I got to contribute a whole bunch to. But ultimately, the goal of Tentfire Austin was to promote Tentfire in Texas.
And the goal of Tentfire is just to be an amazing community. for people. It may be a place for personal growth, development, all those things. So for me, I really just wanted Tech Planet to continue doing what it was doing for so many people,
not just the students, but the coaches as well. So it's a combination of both those things. So it wasn't that hard of a decision for me. There was never like, like a, like,
I mean, obviously, you, you know, as a, as a big person, as anybody. you kind of weigh all the options even no matter How bad the options could be but I didn't really hesitate when I came to that kind of thought process You know,
and even now today like I could make me way more money if I just did all the work But I don't know that we'd have anywhere near the quality of products It wouldn't mean as much to as many people.
It wouldn't be as much to me. You know, I'm saying I'm proud of the amount of staff we have because I just just makes the community that much better. Yeah,
and you mentioned your mission to really spread Penn Plant to get to across Texas. Now you've had Penn Plant San Antonio since 2018, Round Rock.
San Antonio was a really fun story for me. It was my first opportunity to kind of help someone open a school. I did it initially as a school member.
I did. own, but ultimately, Ant Lopez purchased it from me. Ant Lopez is someone who's been in 10 classes he was 12 years old. So it was a tremendous honor to see him grow into a moonhead,
see him get his black belt at Tempe San Antonio, a school that he basically found and he started and he's carried till this day. And he has since expanded upon that here and now has a head flat at Huberner Oaks,
Huberner Oaks. So it's cool to see his his growth his trajectory Continue on the rise and it's it's awesome to be part of that. It's awesome to see To have the opportunity to pay it forward and see them pay it forward Mmm,
would you say that that sums up your mission pretty much like that's what dread that's what motivates you to like just keep opening new gyms Honestly, I think that's what Eddie Eddie wants I don't think Eddie Eddie I don't think it's so much about like opening more gyms but it's about Pay for the the positivity,
you know, I'm saying whether you're helping someone Through a tough time in their life. That's nothing to do with you just in the vehicle. That's helping him get through it You know, that's just as important as as helping someone when their next tournament or whatever,
you know I mean, all those things are our ways that we can improve people's lives through the community, through the sport. I remember at the last 10 Planet Summit,
you kind of, you were giving a business presentation to like all the 10 Planet Gym owners, and, and you, you kind of broke your presentation down into like a SWOT analysis,
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and how to kind of make business decisions and form strategy. And that's like, that's a tool that,
you know, business consultants have been using for a long time, but it's rarely, you know, you rarely hear that type of, that type of terminology in our world.
And so I'm curious if like you you Do you draw a lot of like in the way you approach jiu -jitsu and the way you teach it?
Do you use kind of like decision -making frameworks? Like in how you roll and how you choose techniques and then and then does that really inform how you live your life? And how you run your business also,
like do you think it feels off the way like that I? I - I definitely try to, but I think there's an evolution model still. - You're good.
- I definitely try to have a methodology, but it's something that constantly evolves. However,
things like SWOT analysis, I think they're a tool that kind of... of remains a consistent tool, you know what I'm saying, and then,
you know, maybe my methods of delivery or the way I discuss a technique evolve, but I've found that that that particular tool, straight weaknesses,
opportunities to that has served me in a lot of different facets, not just like magic business, but as a way to help teach other people how to think about business It's a real simple framework that you can apply it to even minis fuel tasks or complex problems So I use it within my team and I feel like it gets them to Have a greater understanding of their own job and what they're doing and how to do their job
better You know, so I think it's just an awesome cool. It's helped Give me a starting point sometimes result some people, like with their job and how to improve. I also think it's a,
you know, you can use it as a lens for jiu -jitsu as well. If you look at your career, your technique, your skill sets, you know, you almost apply it to almost anything.
It's one of those, like, small little business school head to head side picked up that really stuck with it. The other one's like this basic presentation and the basic presentation.
concept is Tell them what you're going to tell them Tell them what you tell them and then tell them what you told them and that Is something I remind my coaches all the time Is that you're getting a present your class is a presentation?
You know I'm saying and it'll help them Comprehend retain Etc. If you tell them what you're going to tell them, you know the stage it more you know,
and then teach a great class and then remind them what you talk, you know. So it's fun how, you know, those business idioms or tools kind of transfer over to Jiu -Jitsu,
but that's kind of like, you know, Jiu -Jitsu's life. So is it the other way around? You know, I mean, is it just... Yeah. Yeah, that last one, the three, the three, the three of telling them,
all that's so valuable 'cause we sometimes, as teachers fall into scope creep where we start talking about what we plan the lesson to be and then we start to think our monkey mind starts going off and we're like,
oh, but then you need to add this gear and that gear and this technique and that technique. And by the time we're starting the lesson, less or midway through the lesson, we're telling them like,
like 10 different things instead of like that one thing that they should take away. Yeah. And they kind of walk away with, with empty pockets instead of just like one solid, one solid dollar bill in their pocket,
you know, interesting to wait a phrase that yeah, I feel like there's this interesting thing with with started class and the amount of knowledge you can get I think that the bigger the class gets The more challenging it is to put in to give them more knowledge But even then even the small class even a private private secretary second You still can't give too much because again,
they'll walk away with nothing That's a recurring theme as I've progressed in teaching I tend to teach more and more about less and less And I really drive home a point point,
but I think this is, especially when you're a new coach or a new anything, I feel like there's maybe a desire to impress or show what you know or share your knowledge to a two -mic of a degree,
where you're not necessarily improving the students. student's experience, you're more so doing it almost for yourself. You know what I mean? Like I know all these things kind of thing. And I think as I'm gotten more comfortable as a coach and don't feel the need to show what I know so much,
I get more and more comfortable teaching less and less. And I realize the students are almost more impressed by their in -depth knowledge about it. less and less.
If you could explain an underhook way better than anyone else, they kind of captivate them more than if you could explain the spinning arm bar off the underhook. It's a weird little thing I've noticed.
And I feel like back to your whole point, they leave with more. When they have a deeper understanding of a smaller subject, they hold on to that more versus less. a handful of sand.
And, you know, they take away with it, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, that's really great. I still remember actually the last time I took a class of yours,
you taught a simple, or I should say a basic, what seemed like a basic risk and cold triangle. And, and I had kind of like given up on that technique a long time ago and I just like stopped doing so I was like,
okay Well, well the black belts I'm facing and it's like I can't do that And then you but you taught this detail this dilemma of like yeah It's obvious that you're push trying to push it out kind of wide to the sky their wrist but then their reaction is what creates the ability to stuff it into their chest and and That might not make sense to anyone listening right now,
but I think you know exactly the lesson I'm talking about Yeah, and that like and I've been doing that a lot since you talked about that lesson. And it was so, and that, and that speaks to how,
like, when we have a mixed level class, what, what, when it's a huge class like that, there are, there is a mixed bag of like some brown belts in there as well as some like day one white belt sometimes.
And we think sometimes we need to, we need to make sure that the brown belts are being satisfied with the like latest, you know, encyclopedia of information. but you can still,
you know, create sparks and variant, you know, in a black, for me, you create a huge spark for me as a black belt just by teaching this day one risk control triangle. And so speaking of that,
dude, how big are, how big is your biggest classes these days at 10th Planet Austin for you or gay or bad or whoever's teaching? To kind of pick off what you said a little bit,
that's the cool part about Jiu Jitsu is it's a pursuit of perfection. You're never going to have everything. You're never going to have all the details, all the little things. And I'm still constantly picking up details on simple basic technique and still sharing those simple basic details with people who haven't seen them yet either.
So thank you for that. here for a whole life. You get to find and experience new things and just when you thought you figured out most of it. So that's pretty awesome. But back to our largest class sizes.
My class sizes right now are four or five people because I'm kicking off a new school, MP San Marcos, class sizes that tend to fight it off.
Austin at the lunch hour are typically 50 people -ish. The evenings are 50 people in the beginner class. Probably about three quarters of that in the advanced classes.
Morning classes are typically 15 to 20 people. And then we have slow days and big days. You know, we have some days that are like, "Oh my gosh, we have to go to the gym now," kind of thing.
Um, that's it. then it'll get snowy and rainy or something like that. You might have a cold empty gym for a few hours. But we try to keep the gym humming all day.
So Ten Fire Austin isn't like, isn't like where there's nothing happening except peak hours. It's like, there's a class at 8 a .m., 9 a .m., 10 a .m.,
11 a .m., 12 30. 30 Early mid -afternoon, there's 2 p .m. There's 4 o 'clock, so it's like it doesn't stop There's private training going on all the time There's people in there You know using it when it's for it's a it's a That training space.
It's basically 24 /7 47 but just all day long Uh people are using it ask you in the bags and that's what it was intended for. We're not by any means a jiu -jitsu school or any more.
We're a full -on MMA school. We have, I would say, one of the most capable, talented, MMA teams in the world right now. And I love talking about this because it's something that I've thought about for a long time,
and I've kind of been waiting to have that experience. And that is like using the farm analogy. You know, like if you wanted to start a farm and you couldn't produce,
you can't produce fine wine in the first year. Or if you were even like a whiskey maker, like you couldn't produce great whiskey, it just takes time. You don't produce, a farm doesn't produce like real class fruit or cows or any kind of produce.
after it takes a while. And in our world, you know, the gym is the farm, obviously. And the product are athletes. And to have an organic ADCC champion,
an organic, you know, World IBJJF champion, those are all like fine wine. It took a long time for the farm to cultivate that. to have all the systems in place to build that type of person and i feel like temp iron is you know my ambition though it's been UFC fighters i want you know i love ADCC love love no gigi jitsu i love gigi jitsu um but to me the crumb of the cram the peak of the pie whatever whatever
you'll call it the top the top is the ufc as we all have to agree like um that's where the rubber hits the road kind of thing. So for a school to produce UFC caliber athletes to me is like a farm or a whatever you want to call it that's that's figure out a way to produce the best of the best and that's kind of what butterfly ambition is and I feel like that's where step by it is is approaching template awesome
is producing world -class mixed martial arts right now and it's not going to stop they're only gonna get better they're gonna climb higher and I couldn't be more stoked about it that's very exciting yeah yeah I'm seeing some of the footage coming out from some of your from some of your fighters it's a yeah and it's weird saying that because I like five years five years ago or six years ago you know they lot of them
were like kids and now they're full yeah yeah that's that's part of the thing too is this is uh it takes time for him to grow into that person well I'm trained into that person but if you you're talking about couple guys probably specifically um one of the youngest guys is uh is Austin Heinz um I think he has first mma fight like 15 but he's he's one of those kids that yeah he's a little toe -headed 40 pound weak
Weakling when we first got him and now he can strangle and destroy our men and then you have another another up -and -comer who I have I Put all my eggs in that basket if I was a bedding person the charm batter He's out of Alaska I'm someone I've been training with since he was 12 when he was just a bag of bones in a G and now he's He's top here.
He's good. He's good impress a lot of people. He already has Yeah, he's Matt Shawn Magnus. I'm a right. Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah Yeah, I've seen some of his footage.
He's he's he's fun to watch. It's awesome wrestler And all the props in the world to Andrew Keg and Andrew Craig how Howard gate title Angel cruise,
he's originally out of Pente San Diego. Jason Rivera, they have a massive, awesome coaching team. And they're producing amazing athletes.
So I'm pumped. Nice. To rewind a little bit, what do you think it was about your childhood, your upbringing,
your schooling, anything in your formative years that freed you? into this, this world of MMA and jujitsu, you were an MMA fighter, you have a five and no record, pro record,
like what, what was it that that threw you into this world? I think I've just always been kind of competitive. Like, like a rough house kind of kid,
like to wrestle grew up wrestling. I'm always kind of the type of kid fights, I mean, and I don't know,
I kind of like high tension environments for some reason. I like the escalation to some extent. I like that feeling of something about the happen -tapping.
So I think maybe that can't play into it. Um, but I also, um, always felt like I accepted a proof Always kind of had a little bit chip on my shoulder So So you were attracted if something was going down you would you would be able to feel running toward the toward the skirmish not running away Sounds like I might be the kind of instigates the skirmish.
It's yeah. Yeah I mean, and having said that, I don't like bullies, so I wouldn't have considered myself a bully. But I would say that if there was a bully, then I would like to bully that person.
You know, if there's someone being an asshole, I would build them into doing something worth me beating them up. You know what I mean?
I could kind of think I was necessarily like that. type to pick on people. More so people who deserved it. I love fighting those people and bringing justice to it. Now,
I don't think that way anymore. I just like the competitiveness of it. I think I like the challenge of it. Even now, driving to my own school or,
you know, a place I'm very comfortable right now. know everybody. I still get to an open mat. I still get butterflies. I still get butterflies going to train, going to roll. It still excites me. I still a little bit nervous.
So, yeah. And I guess it's kind of an announcement. I'll be in my next competition. I haven't competed in many years. I'll be doing a Kamoysho main character. And just that feeling of agreeing to a match,
you know, You know, it's not a M &A's fight But it's a match. It's you know in front of every word the lights on gets my my heart pumping it's my blood going definitely feel a little bit of a rush and excitement and Yeah,
I think if you haven't if you haven't competed and don't know I'm talking about you know Go sign up for Naga and notice what it's like and soon as you get the payback So if you commit to it, where's it? Yeah, and I little joke,
I think, is what kind of motivates people. Yeah, yeah, I definitely miss that. And it's something I may return to in the future,
depending on how my body kind of behaves, how my body cooperates. But yeah, and it motivates all your training, like you want to get in the gym and get that timing and because you know,
you and I have been doing this for you know over 15 years and it does even though we can humbly say like oh like I'm still learning new things it does sometimes you know feel like a little bit like ground hog day or a little bit like you know what what what new is going to happen here today but when you have a competition coming up you're just like this has I have a strong reason to be here So how many weeks
away is that four months? It's like a June 13. I remember correctly, but my change Okay, it is called main character. Yeah,
Kimo shows me character. I think it's the fourth show Kimo is someone super proud of he moved out to Austin as a brown belt But I've been following him most of his career. He was at El Paso and And we he went to Austin did he stepped it up Yeah He hit the competition scene like crazy.
He traveled over the world to compete And he reps this everywhere man. So Appreciate all you do come on Yeah, now he's been one of your amazing ambassadors and and you see him this very active He's prolific on on Instagram and YouTube maybe now And he's got his like his own promotion.
That's that's awesome awesome He's doing he's he's starting an open too. So look forward for that Opens our cool opportunity approach those are fun the opens you get more people involved Some main character open on its way I think he's kind of dripping it out.
Yeah Okay, we'll see you and when this It's at least yeah So you've just had you have two two sons or son and a daughter My first one is Curtis.
He's a three and a half now my second child is Lois She is about 15 months They're awesome All right,
congratulations to you and first on the on the you know young growing family as well as the house sounds like it's a it's an exciting time for you both what how would you say your life changed once you I guess there's two questions here how would you say your mindset your worldview changed once you once you started a family,
once you settled down with Priscilla and had kids, like how would you say your world view changed? That's the all package in that other story about what was happening in the world.
and what was happening in the world when we got pregnant was COVID started. And then that was kind of combined with heavy media censorship of people's opinions.
So I can remember like people didn't agree with the official narrative on some things, they had to get shut down. And prior to 2020, (mumbles) Chris and I would produce a lot of content that we would primarily jujitsu based,
but we'd include a lot of like quote, unquote, conspiracy theory type content in the audio or we would kind of joke around with that.
And you know, I'd even talk, you know, speak my mind a lot on podcasts before 2020, but after 2020, when... the censorship became more like cancelling people,
and they would just cancel the people, they would cancel anything they were affiliated with. So I experienced this terror of, if I run my mouth too much and say what I think too much,
they're going to attack my businesses at risk. I've been to my businesses at risk. And we've had some issues, you know,
just locally that kind of, you know, were small fires that I think on a larger scale could have been a lot worse. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but it's just the state of the society at that point was so fear -based and so reactionary.
It was just too volatile. So as that, and the comments of that and having children. Um, and I also had foster children around this time.
So I took on a foster. There's no, it's something I've done my first life, right? I've taken on a foster job, uh, in 2020 as well. And when you do that, they're privy to your life quite a bit.
You know, they come into your house, they inspect your house. They, you kind of get through a little bit of a interview process. So, um, was very mindful of my social presence,
my media presence, that kind of thing. And then that only got more pronounced. But I went through a lawsuit that involved some defamation. So since I've had kids,
and the experiences I've had since then has all made me very, very less outspoken, more to myself. And some of that makes me kind of sad a little bit.
I don't necessarily like that. I miss being who I used to be a little bit. Having said that though,
the last few years and more so the last few months, I feel like my actions probably would speak higher than our words anyway. anyways, so making an effort in regards to allowing me to just demonstrate the type of person I want to be,
not so much say the person I want to be, and that's kind of what I'm leaning into now. If I want to compete more, I want to physically do more with my children,
with my family, and that's what I want to be the impression on. on them is with what with my actions So even though I may not Be able to talk shit on social media It doesn't change my ability to be a very influential father And have a massive impact on not only my children,
but even people that do still look up to me or do still follow Right now I feel like I'm Kind of realizing realizing one of my ambitions, one of my dreams in that I finally have a house.
I finally have a house with property and soon I'll have animals. Soon I'll have garden. I already have a gym at the house. So it's,
um, something where I could do spend all day with my kids and showing them the person I want them to look up to. to. Yeah,
that's the most important thing. Words matter, but actions, I'd say an ounce of action worth a pound of words. And yeah,
that's kind of the dilemma for me as someone who has a podcast now and is putting content out just as we all do when we have businesses.
is You know the content game is mostly words and you want to have you know And there's some message you want to get out to the world based on your personal view of things And you have to and sometimes there's negativity and criticism involved in your words But yeah,
ultimately those those words are empty and and yeah, those words are empty if they're un -backed up by action. So one of those things is mandatory,
the other one is optional and so, so yeah, I think it's really cool that you're building this kind of homestead for yourself out there and your kids are gonna be really-- - For us,
yeah. - Today we took our, well, last night and today we took our first ride on this. John Deere. It was pretty cool. Wow.
Yeah, for a kid that's probably better than going to Disneyland. Yeah, John Deere, way better. Well, I want to wrap this up in a few because I think the kids are coming home soon anyway.
I think the most important question I want to know from you is... it has to do with your kids What's What from your upbringing or anything in your past like the most painful part of your life That led to an inflection point that really just set you on your current path Like were you ever going kind of on a dowry trajectory and that?
something that you had an inflection point and things changed and if so if there was a realization a time when you said you know fuck it i'm not i'm not doing this anymore i'm not or i'm not avoiding this anymore or i'm not gonna you know how to write this for myself or other people anymore what is that thing and what is and is there yeah some less than that that you really want to make sure you communicate to
to your kids so that they can live, you know, of the best life they can possibly live. Two things kind of popped in my head when you were asking that question.
And one is when in doubt, you know, like, stay true to whatever you that what you know is you know,
it's true And to meet for me What was my truth at one point and when I was kind of an a storm so to speak was jiu -jitsu And there's a time where I didn't know what was going on in life.
I really didn't have a great sense of Direction or purpose And I'm a blue purple belt and didn't and didn't,
you know, it wasn't in the best spot, but I just stayed stuck with jujitsu. I knew that, something good would come out of it. 'Cause I knew that was like, there's some truth in jujitsu and then mats don't lie,
as they say. And then that lesson I learned a few times, like, you know, there's a pair around the brown belt that I was gonna open in my own school in Las Vegas and some other spots that didn't work out.
And once I made the mental shift. to just focus on staying true to what I knew would take me somewhere. I knew if I stayed doing this with all my attention,
things would work out for me. And it did, you know, it kept in its own way, working out. As long as I'd stayed to the mats.
So, you know, if I was getting advice to my future children, what's your agency? What's your mass? What's your thing that you know is going to take you in a good direction?
You know what I'm saying? What your anchor is. And if things get tough and they're not going to be working out, double down on the thing that you know is the right thing. Having to present people with.
it's music or the gym or whatever their thing is, but if you walk away from it, thinking about if I walked away from jujitsu,
it makes me sad to think about that. It's what brought me, my wife, my children, etc. The second thing you talked about.
about was the amount of time and my dad and I have up and down relationship.
And for most of my life, I haven't been in communication with him. And even though he had me when he was pretty young, ultimately we have haven't spent that much of our lives together and I'm in the opposite scenario with my son I had him when I was over the age of 40 whereas my dad had me when he was 17 -18 and you know my time is limited by biology you know like I'm I only have so much time so I've never
likelihood of me seeing uh my son at 60 years old it's a lot less than my own dad seeing me at 60 so I'm really trying to find a way to get those years back and jiu -jitsu allows for that you know and maybe I said six seven years like in a whole doing jiu -jitsu and nothing else but now I get to spend a whole lot of time with my children and have a way more even when I'm working,
you know, I Have the opportunity to be around them. So I Guess the lesson there is if I could do it over I would have kids younger But it's like it's been more time with them,
but I don't know that'd be the same person I am now that would appreciate it in the way I do now So maybe things just work out the way they're supposed to by the way. Yeah yeah that's uh yeah I think well one thing I think is you all I've always thought I was I was always surprised whenever you told me your age I always thought you were young I always thought you were like more my I'm 33 now I thought we were
the same age um so it seems like you you you have good genetics and and you're good and you're on pace to go way past 60 Way way way past 60. So I got I gotta do at least 80 something to see my kids and if I want to see grandkids I gotta be way out.
We have to see Yeah, yeah, I think I think you'll be you'll be senior grandkids one day and and yeah, it seems like It seems like yeah, you got some lucky kiddos and they'll be doing jiu -jitsu Who knows if jiu -jitsu will be mean to them what it means to you but yeah I love that lesson is like we it's not always clear what our purpose is and what how we should be living a good life but it's easier it's easy to
like assess by comparison and you can see certain compare different parts of your life how you spend your time compared to jiu -jitsu the time you know you spend doing other things like,
you know Hanging out with the wrong crowd or we're sitting in front of TV or or you know anything else That's just yeah, it's good than that.
It doesn't actually perfect But there's some things that are you can just tell it better than others. So yeah, it was muscle keep those keep those fires kindling and And and have faith that something something something good will happen and kindle some other fires maybe as well but yeah no reason to put that fire out so man Curtis thank you so much before we wrap up I just want to know is there anything you'd like
the listeners to know about anything coming up anything you're excited about anything you want to share yeah if you if you're a rapper out there and you have a skin condition or you have a friend has a skin skin condition Myself Eddie Bravo our attorney and a great dermatologist started a company called math funk math funk is a business that The goal was to solve a problem and the problem was a lot of grapplers don't
have insurance a lot of grapplers Aren't totally familiar with what's going on with their skin. So if you have ringworms staff In Patago in Patago any kind of skin condition that you're not sure what to do and it probably needs to see a doctor and you're worried about the excessive cost of medical care nowadays.
Check out mattfunk .com. You'll see a dermatologist will review your your your issue within 24 hours. You have a script within 24 hours. It's a very convenient way to kind of bypass the wrong lines at the doctor's office mattfunk .com.
- Matfunk .com, that's so smart. And then I actually had a student that has used it and got what he needed and it worked. So he got his prescription that he needed and it was like no hassle,
no trying to find which urgent care, which ER to go to is just a simple call. It was, Matfunk worked beautifully. So. - Hell yeah, man. That's awesome. - Yeah. - Yeah, so I Curtis,
thank you so much. And definitely. uh, definitely look, look forward to doing this again. Hopefully a little more time. I definitely want to dig more into your, your story, man. Thank you for tuning into the day Slayer podcast.
If you enjoyed it, please leave a five star review on whichever app you're listening. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. (upbeat music)