00:00:00.79 nextlevelguypodcast Well, I'll throw the music and all that kind of stuff in. I know it does look like I'm being kidnapped. I'm just renovating the office. So there's a lot of white space behind me. I never realized how bad it was. 00:00:10.17 Daniel it 00:00:10.49 nextlevelguypodcast like but um 00:00:12.03 Daniel I just grabbed a wall and I was like, I'll sit on this wall and light will hopefully be okay. And then that'll be it. 00:00:17.33 nextlevelguypodcast You look awesome, man. I'm telling you. Were you training today? 00:00:20.35 Daniel Uh, train today. I coached this morning and I was going to go bouldering today, but my kids slept instead. was like, okay. Okay. 00:00:30.29 nextlevelguypodcast Honestly, I just the thought of training, bouldering and then doing bloody podcasts would just be like, nah, you're all right. hope But for those who don't know you, you're known as the man child. 00:00:42.84 nextlevelguypodcast Where does this fan loving persona? Where does the the Daniel we see today come from? 00:00:48.59 Daniel I mean, it's always just been, been me, honestly, like everything I put out on social media is kind of just an amplified version of me. But I just love, you know, having a laugh and talking shit and I love jujitsu. 00:01:01.66 Daniel And so you put all those things together and I'm what you get. 00:01:05.63 nextlevelguypodcast oh Can you remember that moment that you found Jiu Jitsu? What was that kind of thing? Was it, were you always was sort of destined? Because you started in MMA. So what was the the sort of lead 00:01:14.82 Daniel Well, So ah essentially I watched a lot of UFC early on in my in my youth. And then ah there was a jiu-jitsu school down the road from me. 00:01:26.57 Daniel And it was like the size of my living room, I swear. picked, put like 20 dudes in this room and we all just went hell for leather basically. and My first session, I was terrible, as everybody is, but no, I just like fell in love. 00:01:40.75 Daniel And previous to this, I'd like got on YouTube, and I was a YouTube nerd, and I was trying to think about, like oh, I'm going learn how to do a triangle and all this stuff. And then you go and train with people who actually know what Jiu-Jitsu is and you just get murked. 00:01:52.30 Daniel But um yeah, that was pretty much like the standard experience for most Jiu-Jitsu guys, I would say. 00:01:53.03 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:01:57.41 Daniel Like, come out and you try it and just get, you realize you're terrible at it. And then you go from there. And yeah, became really obsessed with the, the problem solving aspect. And I guess like for me as well, uh, I had a bit of a rough time when i was younger. 00:02:11.55 Daniel So having something that completely occupied my mind where I didn't have to think about like what was going on at home or any of this other shit. Uh, it was like a really cool escape for me, for myself, honestly, like, and a lot of like negative self-talk because you can't have negative self-talk while someone's trying to strangle the, strangle wife out you. 00:02:28.53 Daniel got to worry about other things. 00:02:29.39 nextlevelguypodcast Bye. 00:02:30.09 Daniel So, that really attracted me to it as well, for sure. 00:02:33.82 nextlevelguypodcast when it's a hundred pound little girl, purple belt on your back, choking you out and you think, what have my life choices led me to this point? like As you're getting whipped, battered, left, right, and centre. 00:02:43.12 Daniel literally yes Yeah. 00:02:47.05 nextlevelguypodcast Can you go into a little bit about that? Because i mean I've struggled with depression, I've struggled with OCD and stuff, and I know what it's like when your brain is your own worst enemy. How did you find that kind of calming doing jiu-jitsu, grappling, 00:03:00.97 nextlevelguypodcast literally putting yourself through stuff no one else really wants to do. 00:03:05.55 Daniel I mean, like, honestly, i found myself, uh, like when I was younger, especially really struggling with like my own self worth and like I would get down on myself and lot of time, uh, you know, the sound of my own, in a monologue, I guess would drown out a lot of other problems. A lot of the things that were in front of me. And so I try to focus on something and then end up being like, you know, fucking what am I doing? 00:03:30.40 Daniel Why I wasting time with this? And, and, just in general life overall, you know? And, uh, for me, when I came to jujitsu, it really felt like there was just no room for this. Like there's such a complexity to the problem and it's just all encompassing. 00:03:46.78 Daniel So when you're out there on the mats and, uh, you know, you've had whatever's happened in your day, like there's just not room for it in your like, uh, processing. If you're really trying to take in the problems, uh, as they're enveloping in front of you, like there's just not room for, 00:04:03.47 Daniel you'd be worried about what people think of you or whatever, like, you just have to be focused on the problem. And I feel like for me, my ability to visualize jujitsu, and I kind of like, i feel like i explain this to people, but I feel like when I put it in my mind, I can literally feel how the other person feels when I'm in that when I'm visualizing the position. 00:04:24.85 Daniel And I feel like it's because I've been so obsessed with growing this understanding of the puzzle that's been like so consuming for me, like, and it's helped to be really valuable outlet where at a time in my life I was really struggling to find that mental clarity. 00:04:42.03 Daniel And I feel like Jiu Jitsu really gave that to me and yeah, it was really transformative for my life, honestly. 00:04:47.65 nextlevelguypodcast I think that's maybe why I kind of connect with your stuff so much because I kind of feel that sometimes as well that you're finding yourself as much as you're giving us your amazing personality, your great content. 00:05:00.64 nextlevelguypodcast You kind of show us how you can completely transform your life. If you had a blue belt just now on a white belt coming to you and saying, I'm really constantly thinking about myself, I'm constantly thinking you know, feeling bitching about myself about a bad result, or I am comparing myself to Billy, John, Gene, whoever, what would you do to them to get them to do the man child persona rather than the comparison? 00:05:28.55 Daniel I mean, I guess the main thing I would say is like, focus on your in your discipline, right? And this transcends like across all things. But if you really reflect on the growth that you make individually, that's something that nobody else can take away from you. 00:05:45.68 Daniel And it's also something that you can always find. Like, the tricky challenge with this especially for like whites and blue belts is that assuming that you're training approximately the same amount as your training partners everybody else is also getting better at a similar rate and so you can kind of get lost in this like big uh sea of information where you're like oh am i really getting better maybe i'm still worthless at this maybe like you know you can have the same issue um But if you, like, for example, if you record your own roles, or if you roll with people who are, like, newer than you, especially, you really get to feel the fruits of your labor. bone 00:06:23.45 Daniel And if you really reflect on, like, what you can do today versus what you could do a month, a year ago, like, that kind of, I don't know, I guess, like, sense of accomplishment can put a lot of weight on the work that's been put in. 00:06:36.27 Daniel I think this can help. 00:06:38.64 nextlevelguypodcast It's definitely, I mean, the rise of like superstar coaches on YouTube has kind of really opened up Jiu Jitsu because, you know, when you first start, you go in and somebody says, you've got a bow to the match, you've got to bow to the photos on the wall and you're kind of like, what? 00:06:53.63 nextlevelguypodcast And, you know, you've got call me professor and I was working in a university at the time and you call people who had PhDs professors, you know, and I was kind of like, okay and it was that moment of lie on top of somebody and you're invading their personal space how did you find that weird that initial kind of suddenly that you're invited to be physical with somebody whereas as guys were brought up to be of don't touch anybody don't push don't be hard don't don't use your strength on somebody 00:07:23.93 Daniel Yeah, for me, I think, like, less of an issue. Like, when I was coming up, like, I was always fairly interested in fighting and combat. Like, my dad always tried to push me to do these types of things. 00:07:35.71 Daniel And, like, obviously, I was, like, just misguided. I just had this confidence that I could fight without any training. obviously couldn't. But I was always interested in in in fighting and the rough and tumble side of it. So, like, guess... 00:07:51.00 Daniel I mean, I guess for me, like getting in there and having wrestle wasn't that much of a daunting prospect. was also like, I'm on the bigger end of things as well. I would imagine be a different experience if you're like a small person, you know mean? Like just in general, whether it's like a small man or young lady, for example, like if you're the prospect of like, go and wrestle this 110 kilo guy, that would be pretty daunting if you're on the other end of the spectrum. For me, like, 00:08:14.64 Daniel that monstrous creature who's also really good doesn't really exist. It's more the ego death of being annihilated by a 60 kilogram small little dude or whatever. 00:08:26.24 Daniel but that's the other That's the pain that I had to get into. 00:08:27.48 nextlevelguypodcast Yep. 00:08:28.98 Daniel you know They have the the fear of the gorilla. We have the fear of the the dorky nerd who looks like he's your banker and he can just dissect you in half and do whatever wants to you basically. 00:08:40.78 Daniel So that was my boogeyman when I was coming up. 00:08:44.29 nextlevelguypodcast It's like those memes, isn't it? They show you this got really small, skinny guy and go, if you just so you know, that guy would kill you in jiu-jitsu, not the guy that's like 500 pounds massively built and you're like... 00:08:52.89 Daniel Yeah, exactly. 00:08:56.91 nextlevelguypodcast And what is it with the ego, do you think? Is that what puts you when you deal with so many students that you think that's holding you back? Is that ego, that thing of I'm meant to be tougher, I'm meant to be bigger? 00:09:08.72 nextlevelguypodcast How the hell is this little girl throwing me around the mats or anything? 00:09:14.32 Daniel Yeah, it's a tricky one. I think like Some people, I feel like once they realize that they actually can't win the game that they're bad at, then things start to go way better. And what you want to call that ego or just like competitiveness or whatever the case is, like I'll oftentimes have students who I'll be coaching and I'll, I'll literally just go to them like, Hey bro, like you don't know anything. 00:09:37.46 Daniel Like, why are you trying to win? doesn't actually make any sense. Like, if you didn't know how the pieces moved in chess, would you sit there and try to win every round or just maybe pay attention, watch a game even, and like try to understand what is happening, why one person wins or the other, you know? And so whether you want to call it like ego or just competitiveness or just like, maybe like, and it's easy to be absent-minded in training and just kind of go hell for leather and just see how it goes. 00:10:05.15 Daniel But I think once you kind of step back, and regroup and think like, okay, what actually need to do to get better at this? That's where you're going to start to really see the fruits the labor, I think, you know? 00:10:17.22 nextlevelguypodcast Well, then I first started, I was all right. But i mean, i was trying to be like the spinny, fast guys. And then I'm like a very heavy six foot three guy. And i was kind of like, there must be more to this. And then I found pressure passing. 00:10:30.46 nextlevelguypodcast And I find myself now apologizing as I'm kind of like over underpassing people. And I can, you know, it's like the Acme villains where they just get squashed down. I'm kind of like, Sorry, sorry, sorry, as I move them around. 00:10:40.10 Daniel Yeah. 00:10:42.15 nextlevelguypodcast And once you find that part of jiu-jitsu that you can make it, and I think that's why people love your stuff so much, is you impact your personality, but you also show us like the movement, the the features, the nuances of it. 00:10:56.53 nextlevelguypodcast is Do you think that's why you've been such so successful, is that you make it, you know you break down the stigma, but you actually show us how to have fun during jiu-jitsu? 00:11:08.24 Daniel Yeah, I mean, like, my mission with all this, I guess, is to try to contribute to the positive side of social media jiu-jitsu. um Because, like, there's a bunch of, like, i mean, frankly, it's bunch of trash. Some some of the stuff that I see on Instagram... 00:11:23.56 Daniel especially is like terrible. And so I'm just trying to put forward like positive little nuggets into the world that you can scroll through and be like, well, that's kind cool. And try it that day it'll actually work instead of being something that you go to your coach like, is this going to work? 00:11:37.34 Daniel And it's just some ridiculous, crazy move that's never going to fly. Like, I feel like people need to understand that there are like, there are those tidbits of crazy cool moves, but they are, they're nuanced and you need to understand a lot of prerequisite things for you to be able to do them. 00:11:53.42 Daniel And so I tried to do my best to give like bite sized chunks of information that are digestible and also actually usable for the average person. And, uh, 00:12:04.74 Daniel Yeah, so this is kind of like the the mission behind it. And then, like, in terms of giving my own personality, like, I just think jiu-jitsu is fun, you know? And, like, sometimes I deliberately, like, rage bait some people for sure. 00:12:17.79 Daniel I'll like, this position's fake. And then show a guard pass or whatever. And they'll be like, you can't say that! Or whatever. And I'll just go, I can actually, because I'm actually a top-ranked guy. 00:12:24.98 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:12:27.67 Daniel And they'll be like, well, good but the other guy would say that. And you're like, okay, cool, bro. But then it all just adds to the, uh... the comment section and and ah anybody who comments, honestly, I try to make the time to, to respond and people who are, you know, actually asking questions like, how can you say it's fake? How can get it' to not work? 00:12:46.95 Daniel I'll actually go through and explain it to them while I'll make a followup video. And then other people just talk shit, I'll talk shit back. And it's also very funny for me. So yeah in I mean? Cause that's, that's life. It's not that deep. It's just funny. 00:12:58.74 nextlevelguypodcast Well, that's what i love about your stuff. It's like I can't not watch a video and sit there and go, oh, shit. i've I've laughed, but I've also learned about five things from that. you know and ah pick up so much from it and it's like having a mate teach you jiu-jitsu, and I think that's the best thing about it. 00:13:13.59 nextlevelguypodcast But we also learn the key skills, the key movements and stuff. What do you think about this rise of like YouTube coaches, the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, all these kind of celebrities doing jiu-jitsu as well? 00:13:29.24 nextlevelguypodcast Do you think it's having a good effect or is it kind of anybody with camera can put stuff out kind of thing nowadays? ah Where do you think the balance of the sport is? 00:13:40.23 Daniel Yeah, it's tricky. Hey, like at the end of the day, like if, you know, Tom Hardy, who has, don't even know, a billion followers, let's just say a billion. It's not probably, right? But like if he says Jiu-Jitsu is really cool, check out this move, then more people are going to see it. 00:13:50.82 nextlevelguypodcast But 00:13:54.52 Daniel It's to be good for the sport. So, you know, you're never going to catch me throwing shade on those people who are spreading Jiu-Jitsu to a wide audience. um But at the same time, sometimes their move is also retarded. know what mean? 00:14:07.00 Daniel So that's kind of like like people have to understand as students of the game, how to discern, you know, good information from bad, you know, like I think I have like this kind of general rule of recency. 00:14:07.73 nextlevelguypodcast but 00:14:19.82 Daniel Like if I haven't seen it happen recently, like say in the last like five, 10 years at a high level, probably the moves mostly trash. know mean? And there are exceptions of course of like things that are like, 00:14:32.15 Daniel pretty cheeky that might've worked in the gym a bunch of times. And this is like kind of the only way you can know this is if you train in a high level room and you see what actually can work. Um, so like I have, I'm blessed to train with like Lachlan Giles and the guys in Melbourne and then go to Texas and train with like Gordon and under John's tutelage with like Luke and Nicholas and all these amazing people. 00:14:52.92 nextlevelguypodcast just Just the small people. 00:14:52.96 Daniel So like, 00:14:54.20 nextlevelguypodcast no No one's ever heard of them like before, you know? 00:14:57.01 Daniel Nah, nah, just a couple of small fry guys. so Nah, but i'm mean I'm incredibly blessed. But, you know, unless you're in a room like this, you can't really base training room experience on, like, what's going to scale up. 00:15:09.80 nextlevelguypodcast Hmm. 00:15:09.52 Daniel against high level opposition. But at the same time, the other side of the coin is like, not everybody actually cares. Like there are plenty of people in jujitsu who are kind of happy to just be kind of shit, right? Compared to the grand scheme of things, which is fine because jujitsu is as much as it's a fighting style and it's a martial art, it's also a cool way for people to, you know, stay in shape, enjoy an art form, solve a puzzle, hang out with their friends and get a good exercise. So like, 00:15:37.96 Daniel As much as I think for me personally, I want to focus on shit that's going to work well. And I think it's generally good advice for the average person. Like if you see some crazy, ridiculous move, like some of moves I show on my social media and on YouTube and things like, 00:15:53.69 Daniel Some of them are stooge moves. Like here's a dumb shit move you can do to a blue belt. You know what I mean? Which is really funny, but it's not going to fly on Gordon, right? But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the move and can't put it into practice against your friends because ultimately that's what some people want out of their jiu-jitsu training. 00:16:11.47 nextlevelguypodcast now Yeah. I mean, that's a big benefit, I think, of jiu-jitsu is the it's the brotherhood. It's that kind of, you can't not choke somebody out or get have them on your back, sweating in your face, like, you know, mother's milk kind of submissions on you and then go, quite like that guy. You know, it's like you shake hands and you're quite palliative after it. It builds that that friendship. 00:16:34.65 nextlevelguypodcast you know And you've literally trained with the who's who of jiu-jitsu nowadays. 00:16:35.47 Daniel yeah 00:16:39.40 nextlevelguypodcast what mean, I know you're probably sick of talking about it, but what's it taught you about your your own potential, being in a room with guys who are like the highest of the high? What has it done for you or opened your eyes to in in terms of ability, potential, skill development thing? 00:17:00.01 Daniel Sure. So like, I guess like what's what's very profound, I think it's like when I first started training with like, especially with the new wave team, man, I was like, and oftentimes when I go back there, I'm like, well, should I change career? You know what I mean? 00:17:18.17 Daniel Because sometimes it's brutal. 00:17:19.02 nextlevelguypodcast Have I done this before? 00:17:21.13 Daniel Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it's it's so brutal. Um, But at the same time, you know, by pursuing this, you know, crazy dream, basically, I've been able to achieve like some pretty crazy, crazy success. 00:17:35.44 Daniel And I've also trained with quite a lot of people ah who aren't necessarily in the new wave team. And it's quite tricky because Lachlan obviously very highly regarded. 00:17:46.68 Daniel And, and I train with Levi Jones, Larry sometimes when he's in uh, in town and we get a few stop-ins through absolute, especially. So I train with a pretty good breadth of people in, in Australia, but it's always difficult to know how they scale up against the rest of the world. 00:18:00.81 Daniel And then by training at Kingsway, well, when I go back to Kingsway was formerly Roka training a Roka, you get a lot of drop-ins as well, but from other like high level athletes typically. 00:18:13.25 Daniel And so, 00:18:13.57 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:18:15.12 Daniel training with a few people and competing with a few people now, I'm kind of like, wow, like I may be like a a small fish in the Kingsway room, but like there are plenty of people who I can do pretty well with who are big names in the, in the, in the international scene. 00:18:31.80 Daniel and so like it's like this weird uh distorted perspective like where it's like back home in australia i have no idea how good or bad we are on the grand scheme of things it's very hard to reference all i know is like levi really good lachlan's obviously been very successful And then in between that, there's this like just weird blur of you don't really know how good somebody fits in the biggest picture. 00:18:53.87 Daniel And then you go to Kingsway and you train with Luke Griffith or Nicholas or Big Dan. You just murked the entire time. You're like, well, I guess I'm terrible, but you show with other good international competitors. You're like, oh, okay, we're in this. 00:19:06.91 Daniel So it really did highlight to me how like high the ceiling can be. And also, I guess like by the experience of doing this and kind of getting comfortable with this level and training amongst these amazing people really showed me that like, you know, I'm right there, which is kind of inspiring because I didn't really hold like the highest belief in myself like all through my life. And then I guess coming into this like, you know new kind of phase of my career, it's always easy to put these you know big names on a pedestal, but you kind of roll with them. You're like, oh well actually they're all just regular people. 00:19:40.92 Daniel You know what Like they're all attainable to, to chase down. Um, yeah i still definitely feel like the the new wave guys have a massive lead on me um and like given that i'm nearly 30 i may never close that gap and i'm willing to admit this um but uh there's certainly people in the international scene who i'd love to get some big matches with and really highlight that because i had a pretty good performance uh, on I eager recently. 00:20:08.07 Daniel And it kind of like really put me in the, in the limelight, so to speak with, uh, having a good success against, uh, many, I may time world champion in flip Andrew. And, uh, yeah. So since then I'm like, wow, maybe I'm like right in the mix and I need to be having way more matches. 00:20:23.60 Daniel So, uh, that's kind of in the pipeline. So it's exciting times. 00:20:27.98 nextlevelguypodcast I love how like you don't seem to appreciate just how likeable and good you are. You kind of just kind of go, yeah, I'm getting better, you know, but you come across as this kind of deep, honest, open person who just is your friend in jujitsu, you know, and I think that's why we kind of gravitate towards your teachings and it, 00:20:47.48 nextlevelguypodcast You've got this knack of just making it enjoyable and fun, but also showing us high-level shit that kind of goes, whoa, I never even thought I could do that. Oh, I didn't know I could do that. And we can add these little things into our games. 00:20:59.80 nextlevelguypodcast Have you seen something like that Gordon, Giles, Danier has taught that a blue belt or a white belt could adopt that you would just see their learning curve just go super high? 00:21:11.40 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. by adopting are there little of key concepts you think, fuck, that's got to be implemented by my students. 00:21:20.74 Daniel Yeah, I mean, like, definitely lots of little tidbits. Like, it's just, honestly, like, the thing that separates, like, Gordon especially from the rest of the world, I think, is he has this, like, unbelievably precise understanding of the micro battles of fundamental positions. 00:21:39.64 Daniel Like, there's not a position that you can get in with Gordon where he's like, huh, what should I do here? He just already has the shit figured out. And, you know, he he can play sexy jiu-jitsu and do all this crazy shit, but, like... 00:21:55.07 Daniel The baseline understanding is if you really break down his understanding of like pin control, pin escapes, sweeping, like takedowns, like he's just a monster. 00:22:05.83 Daniel He's just all over it. It's so amazing. 00:22:08.82 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:22:08.77 Daniel But to me, like that depth of understanding about the fundamentals, when you translate that across to like white and blue belts, the progress I've seen in some of my guys has just been like mental. 00:22:21.54 Daniel um In saying that as well, like a lot of guard retention concepts that I've picked up from Lachlan and his like K guard 50-50, Birambolo kind of game. Like I've picked up a lot of things from this as well. 00:22:34.47 Daniel But I'll say like that's like that style of play is like less accessible to the average person, I would say. But still like an invaluable part of my game for sure. 00:22:45.87 nextlevelguypodcast Because I really love watching your style of, you know, because you you're like me, you're tall, but you're you're fast, you be which I'm definitely not. Like, I'm like the Michelin man. Things you're bouncing that shouldn't be bouncing when I'm trying jog around the gym kind of thing, you know? 00:23:01.76 nextlevelguypodcast But you you've got the Lachlan Giles, you've got the leglock style. You've got the Danaher, which is more of the system-oriented. You've got um Ryan, who's the you know kind of the god of the fundamentals kind of thing. 00:23:15.90 nextlevelguypodcast yeah um um And I've interviewed Hodger Gracie, who was just on another level, of which kind of blew me away watching his stuff. How do you... bring that bit here, that bit here, and then add the manchild into it. 00:23:30.21 nextlevelguypodcast ah Like, has it seven been difficult to pull the different philosophies, the different styles of coaching and apply it in a way that you, as a person, like to enjoy? 00:23:43.28 Daniel a tricky question. I feel like, i mean, like, especially on my social media, I'm mindful that, like, a lot of the stuff that I'm shown by Lachlan or Gordon or John is, like, how they make their living. 00:23:57.34 Daniel So I'm kind of a little bit like, oh, I don't want to just, like, cut and paste their style of jiu-jitsu and their their teachings into jiu-jitsu. 00:24:03.79 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:24:06.87 Daniel um But also, like, the thing about... getting coaching from, like I don't want to call myself the average person, but like for the average person, like if you're learning from just a regular black belt, for example, and your goal is just to enjoy Jiu Jitsu, it's more about how you respond to the delivery of that person's coaching, I would say, right? Like if you're dealing with somebody who's very like, you know, 00:24:33.64 Daniel like let's say they're boring is like boring. Uh, that delivery is boring, I should say, but they're teaching really good shit that might really work for some people, but other people, they might just be like, i can't do this, bro, actually, you know? 00:24:41.02 nextlevelguypodcast That's right. 00:24:45.49 Daniel um Whereas some people you need to just be engaged. So like one of the, uh, it's an interesting thing. I think was like this, uh, black belt. I believe it was Tiago Stefanuti. 00:24:57.53 Daniel was one of the coaches at absolute many years ago. It's a black belt now. And I think he's off in Brazil. Um, he's a good dude, but, uh, think he was talking about this one time and he said like, okay, yes, I'm a black belt, but I may not be the black belt for you or the coach for you, so to speak. Like in that, like everybody's got jujitsu that they can share with another person. 00:25:18.15 Daniel And some people will naturally gravitate towards one person and then naturally gravitate towards another. So ultimately, think if you just deliver yourself within your teaching, you will attract people who are, 00:25:30.89 Daniel ready to have that man-child experience, for example, right? And maybe you'll attract people who are ready for your experience. And then like, for example, like the way Lachlan and I coach is very, very different in spite of having quite a lot of similarities in our game. 00:25:46.38 Daniel Like our delivery is quite different. And he attracts a certain type of student and I attract a certain type of student as well. Mine are just cooler. No, I'm joking. But, uh, 00:25:57.76 Daniel But, uh, you know, at the end of the like you, you kind of bring about the energy that you put it, uh, put out into the world. And I try to just give my honest self to people. And then those people come around me and then I have an awesome time because I love everybody at my gym because they all, they all gel in. It's really cool. 00:26:13.52 Daniel You know, it's very special. 00:26:15.02 nextlevelguypodcast I think that's definitely something I like about when I, cause I was going through different coaches and YouTube and stuff. And I was like, I there's i don't get this bit. don't get this bit. And then suddenly I found you, your stuff. And i was like, he's the sort of guy I go for a pint with and could learn jujitsu with, you know, it's the, the you behind the camera. 00:26:32.82 nextlevelguypodcast is the same as you on the camera you know there's no fakeness there's no bullshit but it's like you're saying you impart your your own personality i mean i've heard you talk about when you used to bask when you were younger you know that you recently got married congratulations you know and uh you it was an elvis impersonator who was the leading it and you were but i 00:26:47.50 Daniel Thank you, man. appreciate it. 00:26:51.03 Daniel It was actually Elvis. 00:26:55.03 Daniel It 00:26:55.64 nextlevelguypodcast yeah But i love how that's the kind thing that you're proud of. Like, you know, it's like, no, no, we planned that. We we went out there. and how So how do we take the personality of ourself and impart it in jiu-jitsu? 00:27:02.63 Daniel was so good. 00:27:08.52 nextlevelguypodcast I know that's probably a bit of a what the fuck question, but how how do we take that showmanship, that kind of style, performance, whatever it is that makes us unique, and put it out in jiu-jitsu that makes us think, 00:27:23.00 nextlevelguypodcast express ourselves on the mat. I don't know if that's bit wonky, but... 00:27:27.53 Daniel No, mean, it's fair. I mean, like, it kind it comes back to like, what are you doing Jiu-Jitsu for? You know? Like... For example, if you if you watch Gordon, sometimes you're like, okay, bro, stop laying on the guy, right? 00:27:42.74 Daniel With the camping and all these things. Which, mean, if your goal is to be unequivocally dominant and just undeniably the best, then Gordon's style is like dialed in for this game. 00:27:57.43 Daniel And that's Gordon to a T. He's like, I will beat you for every second of every round. in a match, and even if you feel like you're having a win, it's what I want you to do. 00:28:08.13 Daniel Oh yeah, push me away, retain retain your guard. Okay, cool, that's what I want. Because you're burning energy. So like, this this is Gordon's expression of style, right? Because he's like, I will be the best, and nobody will beat me, right? 00:28:20.51 Daniel And then you have like, Levi, whose whole thing is like do do do difficult things easily. It's kind of Levi's kind of shtick, which I love. And so he plays this like beautiful, dynamic, open guard and kind of is always on the hunt to just pull off this wizard ship, you know? 00:28:40.94 Daniel Like when he's competing, he becomes the Xanadu God. That's his whole fucking gimmick, right? And, you know, I feel like when you master the jujitsu, 00:28:52.31 Daniel like just by being yourself and like the way Jiu Jitsu takes you and the way that it, uh, forms within you based on your interest and your personality will will show who you are. 00:29:05.22 Daniel Like you get headhunters, get leg lockers, you get guys who just only want to be on top, like all these different things. They're just simply an expression of how you feel about jujitsu and how you feel about combat in general. do You know what i mean? So I don't know. i feel like you don't have to force it. I feel like jujitsu will show you the way based on what it is that you are naturally attracted to. 00:29:28.40 nextlevelguypodcast That's a cracking answer. I mean, that's because I think that's the thing is we all come in and we try to emulate or follow the philosophy or the style, you know, of our of coaches, of our team, et cetera, forgetting that there's such a wide range of amazing people who maybe bat heads on social media who fight each other and think, you know, and we kind of, would you say that's a bad thing about jujitsu at the minute that we have there these teams who are kind of hyper competitive, hyper, you know, tribal almost. 00:29:59.75 Daniel So, I mean, like, i think if you're in the teams and you get sucked into the shit talk, think it's not so good. But I also think for the average person, like, hmm, what's a good example? 00:30:13.03 Daniel Like, in in the World Cup, right? In soccer, for example, or football, if you guys call it over there. So, in the World Cup, there you 00:30:22.12 nextlevelguypodcast I like that. Good correction. Hmm. 00:30:24.21 Daniel Yeah, yeah, i I got you, I got you. In the World Cup, When your team is in the world final, you are so invested. You will cancel work, you're take the week off to celebrate if your team wins. You know Like that's the level of like fandom that gets around in in the World Cup, right? 00:30:42.38 Daniel So the point of this is like, as much as it's kind of bad, quote unquote, it also attracts this level of like people who are so invested. 00:30:55.00 Daniel And so when you have people who are invested and you're like, oh, I'm team fucking new wave or, you know, at us or, you know B team, whatever. When you're that invested that you will get up at whatever hour of the morning to watch a show, to see if your team wins, if you're sharing stuff on social media and then your friends like, what is What is this shit you're talking about on social media, bro? 00:31:16.84 Daniel Jiu-jitsu man. It's crazy. That's literally how it's going to grow as well. So, 00:31:24.23 Daniel as much as it's like maybe not so good for the athletes and obviously as well, like the optics of like people shit fighting on the internet and not like amazing. And it's maybe bad for like the next generation setting this example. You can make these arguments. 00:31:38.09 Daniel But if it makes this same level of investment that makes people wake up at the crack of dawn to watch a show or, you know, I'm sure from the you from the UK or Europe, wherever you guys are, like, I'm sure you guys know all too well about how, like, when grappling events are on at, like, butthole o'clock in the morning for you guys, plenty of diehard fans will still wake up early and watch it because they're invested, you know? 00:31:45.13 nextlevelguypodcast No. 00:31:56.34 nextlevelguypodcast No, yeah. 00:32:00.58 Daniel And that's the investment you can gain from this kind of, like, shit-talking and infighting between teams. 00:32:07.71 nextlevelguypodcast because I've got a mate just now who's taking a day off work to go and watch play Borderlands you know from midnight onwards, and he's taking the whole weekend to sit and just play this game, thinking about it for days and days before. 00:32:18.02 Daniel what an animal. 00:32:19.62 nextlevelguypodcast you know And I was kind of like... Okay. And then was thinking, but I do the same for podcasting. I get up at silly o'clock to do interviews and stuff. And it's I suppose it is. 00:32:27.82 Daniel and 00:32:29.19 nextlevelguypodcast It's what drives you. But the fact of how much we've seen people now, this explosion of interest in it, it's been amazing. So for a student who comes to you and says, I really like this guy, but I know I'm not meant to, or I really want to watch this instructional. 00:32:45.58 nextlevelguypodcast How can we take a bit of portion A, about a bit portion B, portion C, This is going to sound bad Throw them on the the child into it and mix it up and create this very, you know, how can we watch instructionals and YouTubes and blend the styles? Do you think is it, is it just try it and see how it goes? Fuck up, fail, try again and again till it you find something that works. 00:33:11.36 Daniel Yeah, I feel like... Jiu-Jitsu is funny like this, right? like you know As much as it's straightforward to say, like, Gordon's the best, right? Sometimes the way in which somebody spells out a problem to you And the the words they use may just resonate better from another source, you know? 00:33:33.07 Daniel Like they might even teach the move practically the same way. Maybe it's to be like, you know, 10% different, you know? But the way in which the problem is posed to you or the way in which you are led to think about the problem from one instructor versus another might be the difference in how you go and like and how you go about solving the problem for yourself. 00:33:58.07 Daniel Because every body is different, right? So when you're learning Jiu Jitsu, sometimes you might find that like when you listen to Craig about like Craig or Gordon or John or whatever about like this problem or the other, maybe like, oh wow, that person's body type really fits mine, that'll work good. 00:34:13.38 Daniel Or maybe like Mikey has a better answer or Lachlan or Levi. like And it's more about like how the problems are posed to you and how they present information that make it very absorbable or useful or what have you. 00:34:17.65 nextlevelguypodcast no Because you've got a lot of great videos about you you know taking the mix and this white belt's going to get 500 lashes for how they've messed up there or going to put this guy to sleep because they've done this or how to stop them spazzing here. and you know You've got all these like really funny videos but What is it do you think that you see a lot of white belts, blue belts doing lately that you kind of go, for the love of, I've got to get that what you know Is there things that you see that you just think, if a newbie could fix this, this, and this, it would save me having to bring out the lash. 00:35:04.53 Daniel Yeah. Probably, honestly, one of one of the biggest things, honestly, one of the most successful videos I had when I was like quite early on in my Instagram boom was I did a video on guard retention, basically. 00:35:19.67 Daniel And it was like something like 10x your guard retention with a simple trick. And it was like... I basically said something like, the elites don't want you to know the secret trick. But it's actually just to not hip escape with your outside leg. 00:35:31.23 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:35:31.98 Daniel So anytime somebody passes your guard, if you hip escape, so say they're passing to my right, if they hip escape with my left foot on the floor, that's a terrible idea. Stop that. Don't ever do that. In general. 00:35:42.96 Daniel Okay? not sure if you do. If you do, bro, change that immediately. 00:35:46.30 nextlevelguypodcast Top. 00:35:46.42 Daniel Okay? Because it's... Because it's you just give up your hip. And a good guard passer is going to win that hip. And then you're to outside camping for all of eternity. you're going get guard passed you're going to be very tired. So instead, keep knees your chest and high pummel instead of hip escaping. And if you are going to hip escape, step on your bottom leg. So if they're passing to my right, step on my right foot to move my hips back. 00:36:07.44 Daniel So I have room to keep my top knee shield in. So I don't get to my hip for free. This is like... a very simple fix you can do for most like white and blue belts that make them go, Oh, framing, of course, like you always say, right? 00:36:16.52 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:36:22.51 Daniel Like when you put it in this context and you can kind of paint this picture, uh, it makes it very, very clear. Like that's one of the ones that like is huge. This is one of the main things. Um, 00:36:33.34 Daniel Probably the other big one is when you're in back control, not focusing on the seatbelt and just squeezing really hard, not just focusing on pulling your heels to butt, but actually focusing on how your seatbelt and your underhook in particular can be used to control the rotation of the shoulders. 00:36:49.04 Daniel And the same thing with the hips. like You see so many people who are starting out in back control. You get seatbelt, two hooks in, ready, go, and they just squeeze as hard as they can. But this isn't actually conducive to keeping your partner aligned with you. 00:37:01.54 Daniel so when you start to learn to play with an outside hook or a body triangle or a high ball ride to maintain alignment at the lower and upper body, that's when people can start to really, you know, actually control people from the back. 00:37:12.52 Daniel And once you can control somebody from the back, it truly is one of the best positions in the sport by far. So these are just like my general musings that are like in my head that I go, oh, these are the terrible things that I see people do. 00:37:18.38 nextlevelguypodcast of of 00:37:25.53 nextlevelguypodcast I love hearing things like this because it's like pulling these little gems out and I kind of go, don't good remember the audience, remember there's other people listening, don't just go in and go, how do I fix this? How do I fix that? 00:37:36.41 nextlevelguypodcast and Because you go we go from white belt whereas we do a lot of stupid shit, we get caught, we get beaten and then you kind of find your way. That excitement from white belt to blue belt is amazing. 00:37:47.51 nextlevelguypodcast Once you're a blue belt, though, from blue to purple, from purple onwards, you know, it's quite a gap and it's quite a long fight. And a lot people find they just, the monotony again, blue belt. How do we keep a blue belt, keep it fun, keep it exciting when it's kind of, 00:38:04.87 nextlevelguypodcast You're past the beginner gains, but you're into that grind stage. How do we impart the man-child philosophy when we're thinking, I'm not getting the feedback to say you're doing awesome or changing like you would at White Belt? 00:38:19.51 Daniel Yeah, it's tricky. I mean, like, I feel like at Blue Belt, the moment you realize, if if you can just remind yourself that you actually suck, then you'll make plenty of progress. 00:38:30.61 Daniel Like, I have had a few Blue Belts in my day who I've trained and coached, and they kind of got to Blue Belt, and they're like, yeah, I'm fucking good at this shit. And I go, no, you're not. 00:38:42.04 Daniel Like, it's good, they feel good. 00:38:42.68 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:38:44.04 Daniel But the ones that have this confidence and they just want to try and win from this level, they can not be good. Just relax. The ones that kind go, hmm, fuck, I really need to work on this, this, this, this. 00:38:56.84 Daniel There's plenty of details to make your game way cleaner, way tidier. You just have to be humble enough to go, I really need to address this. Like, for me, for example, I got all the way to Black Belt, and I i think I silver medaled at my first trials, and I'd maybe watched like one Danahar instructional up to this point. 00:39:20.19 Daniel And this guy was talking to was like, why haven't you seen his video on this or this or this or this? And I'm like, no, know. He's like, well, you think you know what this guy has to say? And I was like, fuck, that's a good point. 00:39:32.58 Daniel Right? So I started studying way more and kind of getting more into the techniques. 00:39:33.84 nextlevelguypodcast Bye. 00:39:36.67 Daniel And me as a black belt was like, wow, i was doing this wrong for 10 years. Oh, wow. was doing this wrong for 12 years. Cool. Oh, I didn't know how to do this properly. That's crazy. So if you humble yourself and you're like, I probably suck at this. 00:39:49.24 Daniel If you really try to like truly absorb the information that like the best in the world give you, there's so much to learn, like so, so much, you know? And I've, I've dabbled in all sorts of games. Like I used to be like a through and through Burimbolo guy when I was playing gi. 00:40:04.83 Daniel used to try and dabble in like a worm and squid guards and tell a worm. And then I shifted mostly to no gi, played a lot of leg locks and, you know, between all these games, like there are so many ways to play the game. You can never learn. You can never know anything. 00:40:18.48 Daniel It's honestly, it's honestly crazy. Even when i talk to Gordon, I'm like, bro, you've told me you've got everything worked out. And he's like, nah, bro, I'm always learning. I'm like, fuck, don't tell me that, bro. 00:40:27.09 nextlevelguypodcast yeah 00:40:26.97 Daniel Tell me you've mastered Tell me it's possible. I want to know. I want to believe, you know, but yeah. So there's always something to learn. You can always tinker with something, make it tidier, make it cleaner, make it better. 00:40:38.11 Daniel Yeah. It's like the trick is to just humble yourself and be like, well, I actually suck. 00:40:44.12 nextlevelguypodcast I read somewhere, of what was it? 00:40:44.82 Daniel But again, find that, then again, like finding that, uh, that progress because it's, it's daunting to feel like you suck, but remember that you suck compared to you in the future. 00:40:45.46 nextlevelguypodcast It was... 00:40:56.61 Daniel You know, and this is the trick. It's always like, okay, but I'm way better than what I was when I fucking got my blue belt, for example, you know, but that's just like that constant, constant, uh, 00:40:58.35 nextlevelguypodcast ah 00:41:07.29 Daniel push to improve will make you still interested, but you also have to be humble enough to know that you want to make more progress. So it's a tricky balance. You know what mean? 00:41:18.30 nextlevelguypodcast Is that why people plateau, do you think, that they get to that point where they think, I'm a blue belt now, i shouldn't be tapping to white belts, I shouldn't be making mistakes, whereas I read somewhere it was like, at white belt, you don't have a clue about anything. 00:41:31.64 nextlevelguypodcast At blue belt, you begin to realise how little you know. By purple belt, you think, I probably should fix that, I should learn about that. By brown belt, you know, and it goes up and up until you get to but black belt where you think, I know nothing. 00:41:44.24 nextlevelguypodcast I need to actually start mastering from now on, you know? And is that the problem? 00:41:48.88 Daniel yeah 00:41:49.98 nextlevelguypodcast We get the ego of, I need to defend my blue belt rather than, ah this is just example of, this is great, now learn from here. Make mistakes, have fun, be silly, you know, but pick stuff up like you're saying. 00:42:03.80 Daniel yeah it's tricky i feel like from my own experience at blue belt like a lot of the coaching that i had when i was coming up in this rank wasn't very good and so for me I felt like I was getting a plateau but for a different reason I was like wow i'm I'm actually not learning much new stuff and I would just like grind at it and just kind of suck it up basically and it was around this time that i started doing MMA as well so it kind of shifted my focus a little bit which kind of made it interesting because I was like trying to learn how to strike and trying to learn to wrestle way more and all these things so but uh I think for me like you 00:42:42.03 Daniel open your eyes to the sources that are available to you. You can never run out of things to learn. So with that being said, I think like as long as you're diligent in the hunt for good information from plenty of sources, you'll only improve. 00:42:59.35 nextlevelguypodcast ah love how you look at stuff it's so refreshing and exciting and it's kind of making me realize it's like i took some time off i had a shoulder impingement and i was kind of like how how do i get back what what and i could feel myself just feeling like shy and scared and kind of like but they're all so much better in the gym and i'm now seeing it as i should be going holy hell i've got this amazing gym filled with killers and big guys who compete and all that They're the best guys to train with and learn from because instead of thinking it as an ego thing, I should be going, but oh, these are the guys to learn from because they're doing it for real. 00:43:34.24 Daniel it's 00:43:34.97 nextlevelguypodcast But what do you think about that? Should we be training at gyms where we're the the worst in the room because we pick up? ah Do you deliberately put yourself in difficult situations? 00:43:46.59 Daniel a tricky question so i think that generally for like competition preparation there is two sides to this coin and I'll share something actually kind of shitty, but good also. like In my preparation for ADCC when I qualified for the big show, like all my trials leading up to this, it's always like, oh, I get to train with the best guys in the world, and then I'm going to go and do ADCC trials, and there's nobody going to be like Nicholas or Luke Griffith when I go and compete. So then you you you have it as bad as you can possibly get it, and it's never going to be anywhere near as bad as facing Luke Griffith, for example. 00:44:26.42 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:44:26.66 Daniel And then you go and do ADCC trials and sure enough, nobody's like fighting Luke or whatever, right? So then when you, in my preparation for ADCC, not the trials, I'm not the big boys. 00:44:38.73 Daniel Now I go to training and I'm getting murked by these guys. I'm like, hmm, I'm getting ready to face this exact level of competition. That's terrifying. You know I mean? So for me, it was a case of like, okay, well, like, 00:44:53.91 Daniel How do I reconcile this feeling? And I literally was like, actually having some pretty serious imposter syndrome type situations on when in my training camp. 00:45:05.41 Daniel And I was actually like pretty devastated. I was like, fuck, I'm gonna make an idiot of myself and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said to John, I was like literally tearing up. I said, John, should just go and train like at RGA, like where John also teaches, but the level isn't the same as Roka at the time. 00:45:22.29 Daniel as like, bro, I'm just getting like molested out here. And like, this is the level that I need to be operating at. And I'm just not gonna, can't stand a chance. And know, it's like trashing my confidence and all this stuff. 00:45:35.44 Daniel And John goes to me, he's like, confidence is a funny thing. It's like the confidence you gain from being in here with the best in the world, knowing it will not be any worse than it is now. 00:45:48.22 Daniel is very, very strong and it will hold you steadfast when you're in dire straits. like the confidence you'll gain from going on and beating the shit through a bunch of, you know, color belts that you already know you can beat the shit out of, it's actually gonna do anything true for your confidence. It's only superficial. 00:46:05.27 Daniel It's only gonna make you feel better, but it's actually gonna make you truly confident and uh i was like i hate when this guy's right so i toughed it out and i stayed at roca and sure enough obviously like i had my match with kainen and that was obviously like i didn't win which sucks but uh Like, it was also not as bad, not even close to some of the roles that I had with, like, Nicholas or Luke or Big Dan or Gordon or, like, name any guy in that room. 00:46:39.52 Daniel Giancarlo, like, name a guy in the room, and was terrible. You know what I mean? Like, to go into that kind of match and be like, oh, I'm not getting mauled like I normally do was a very powerful feeling for me, you know? 00:46:54.03 Daniel um So to answer your question, circling back, right? 00:46:54.64 nextlevelguypodcast Oliver. 00:46:57.31 Daniel So circle back, right? I think for competition preparation, this confidence that you gain from going against people who deem as being really, really good puts you in a good framework to be relaxed because you know it can't get worse, you know? 00:47:12.35 Daniel um Or if it is, you know, like, if it is worse than that, you know, okay, well, I mean, I'm just outclassed, you you can't do anything about this really, especially on the earlier ranks. Whereas like if you're training to enjoy jujitsu, that doesn't really matter that much. 00:47:29.62 Daniel It's still good to train with people are better, but you can still certainly develop a lot of skills against lower rank peoples. It's like, that's where I start my skill development. If I'm playing with something new, I'll try and do it to a bunch of blue, purple belts or whatever. 00:47:42.01 Daniel And then I'll bring it up to black belts, you know, but, uh, it always kind of goes like this. So you just have to take the value out of each round as it presents itself to you, I think. 00:47:53.42 nextlevelguypodcast I love your sort of Bruce Lee approach to it because you take, you absorb what's good and you, you know, you reject all the other bits. So you take a bit of Danahar, a bit of Lachlan, you take a bit of like your own kind of growth and you kind of say, well, this works for me. And then you teach it or you implement it into your own way doing it. 00:48:10.45 nextlevelguypodcast It's really impressive how open and honest you are about your own growth as a person as much as your jujitsu career. i I mean, I really struggle with imposter syndrome. You know, like i come I sometimes feel like I'm rolling to defend my justification as a blue belt, whereas I feel like I probably should be starting again because I feel like i've I'm all over the place. 00:48:31.17 nextlevelguypodcast And I think that's a big thing for guys. It's you know, we defend where we are rather than thinking, learn from people, grow from people. we We're all just there to learn the sport and enjoy ourselves. 00:48:42.87 nextlevelguypodcast How did you deal with that imposter syndrome? did you ah Do you still have it? Do you find anything that works? Like ah mental rituals you do? Is there things you you try to avoid that makes it worse for you? 00:48:56.87 Daniel Dude, honestly, like, it's been a thing I struggled with for a long time. And I think, like, my turning point, I think, was probably my recent win in Aika with Felipe. 00:49:09.40 Daniel And so... It was set up that we had match with Felipe, and the next day I was going to fight the Universal Fighters team. And they're a tough team for sure. 00:49:22.51 Daniel And at the time, their heavyweight was Ruslan Adjelayev. And he's the guy that beat Kainan. And he's been kind of chomping at the bit try and get some big matches internationally. 00:49:34.57 Daniel I mean, he's a nice enough guy. I think he's very big and good at wrestling and pretty cagey on top. it looks like an annoying match for sure. But I found in myself this ability to go, hmm, like, this guy just beat Kynan. 00:49:50.39 Daniel And then I was like, but I'm not Kynan. And like, to walk away and be like, I'm actually also really good. It's just in a different way. And like, it occurred to me that like, all these people that I'm, I put in this limelight and spectacle, I guess, like they're all just people as well. 00:50:08.06 Daniel And like, so-and-so might beat so-and-so and then Bill might beat Steve and Steve might beat Joey and whatever. Right. And, That doesn't necessarily determine the pecking order. And so me as the grappler I am, you can say, oh, well, Kynan beat me at ADCC. So Ruslan should bash me, but I'm a very different grappler to Kynan. 00:50:28.86 Daniel And to be able to be like, oh, I am actually elite at this game. And... you know, we're just a different grappler. That's why that, that's why this matchup has happened. 00:50:39.87 Daniel I can be like, I got myself in the state of mind that like, it did not matter that Ruslan beat Kynan. I'm in a better beat Ruslan. This is kind of the mindset that I had going into this. Like I was able to accomplish this and then Ruslan didn't fight. 00:50:52.30 Daniel They had another guy. Um, his name has escaped me, but he was a top eight finisher at ACC and ended up having a good match and winning decisively. But, um, But the the point of this is, like, kind of for me, it's always been this kind of tricky battle to navigate. 00:51:08.76 Daniel And only after beating a world champion did I feel sense of, like, yeah, I'm actually really good at this. Like, actually elite. You know what I mean? But even after winning ADCC trials, like, you know, there's a lot of... 00:51:21.44 Daniel I mean, it's no secret that like Australasia generally gets low seeded, low seeds in the trials um because, you know, for good reason, like we don't have that many champions, but I know from being in Australia and being in America that Australia has come the way up. Like it's, it's doing really well. You know what i mean? 00:51:39.06 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:51:39.09 Daniel s I feel like the rest of the world is starting to see this where it's not so clear cut, but okay, they won the Asian trials. So they're 16th seed. It's not that clear anymore. I don't think. And so, 00:51:50.09 Daniel um you know after i went to adcc obviously had a decent performance against khanan compared to some of the people that he fought um but uh yeah taking this away from myself i was able to be like wow i'm actually really really fucking good so the long and short of it is the proof is in the pudding for me to be honest like i had to just i had to work until i hit this insane level where i don't have this problem so much anymore um but it was always something that was kind of not plaguing me all the time, but there's like the subconsciously aware thing. 00:52:20.97 Daniel So, but that, but that ultimately that's like set on my own expectations. Like if my expectation is to be an international competitor, I have to be like, Oh, I've got to be this guy who can do all this stuff. 00:52:33.32 Daniel But for the average person who's a blue belt, like if you feel like, Oh, I don't really deserve my belt. then it actually, I mean, it literally doesn't matter at the of the day. It literally doesn't. 00:52:43.91 nextlevelguypodcast Because that's it. 00:52:44.53 Daniel And like, a thing that I heard from somebody, actually one of my friends, he's also a coach, he said like, when I promote a person, that's not your belt, it's my belt as the coach. 00:52:56.77 Daniel This belt doesn't belong to you. You wear it, but it's mine. It's my representation of what I think you're at and where I think you are in your journey. And that kind of is kind of nice because it puts the pressure back on the coach. 00:53:09.50 Daniel Because if I do a shit job and I promote you at time, it's on me. 00:53:10.17 nextlevelguypodcast yeah 00:53:12.62 Daniel Like I've had plenty of people come to my school, for example, with a rank they don't feel that they are entitled to. And I go, hey, that doesn't fucking matter actually because that was your coach's observation. 00:53:24.00 Daniel That's what they felt. I might have a different feeling. You might have a different feeling. That's not on you. It doesn't matter end of the day. Like, uh, if your coach thinks that of you, then that's sick. 00:53:34.77 Daniel That's a great thing. You know what mean? Um, the only time this goes awry, I think is when coaches only grade based on like time served or whatever, or they have some kind of external pressure, but if they're grading you based on merit, that's just their merit system. 00:53:46.88 nextlevelguypodcast I 00:53:51.23 Daniel And that's fine. That's literally what they think. There's no problem with this. 00:53:55.87 nextlevelguypodcast ah love that. I love how you kind of you take these kind of worries that we all have off the mats. you know Because we all have the bravado, the ego and a lot on the mats. But when we come back and it's you worrying about yourself or thinking about a bad tap or thinking about how you got you're you know you're not learning whatever, 00:54:09.41 Daniel Thank you. 00:54:15.25 nextlevelguypodcast The fact that you're open about it and you're you know you've beaten a who's who, but you're but you're also learning, you're growing, and you're open about imposter syndrome and stuff like that. It's so nice to hear that because I think with guys, we kind of become the silent warriors. We do all ourselves. 00:54:31.73 nextlevelguypodcast But to have somebody like you who's saying, here's the side of jiu-jitsu, but here's also the mental side of it. And here's what I did to fix it. It's really, really rare in jiu-jitsu. 00:54:42.75 nextlevelguypodcast But I think that's why we so we resonate with you and why you're such a good coach. Because you know what people are being. i think Gordon sometimes forgets. He thinks he's so high up now that he forgets what it's like to be a newbie. 00:54:55.87 nextlevelguypodcast or maybe he comes across as that on social media, maybe the same with like some of the other bigger names. They forget what it's like to be that guy who's just got his ass kicked by a girl who's like eight stone lighter than us. We're kind of like, well, no, that shouldn't be happening. 00:55:11.37 nextlevelguypodcast And think we sometimes, is that why you think people need to compete? 00:55:13.84 Daniel yeah 00:55:16.58 nextlevelguypodcast Do we need to have that thing of finding where we are? Or can you just stay a hobbyist and really get the most from jiu-jitsu? 00:55:25.30 Daniel That's interesting. I don't think that you need to compete. I think it's good to be competitive. And I think that you learn a lot about yourself when you do compete. Some people I've seen perform terribly when you compete. 00:55:40.26 Daniel And then they have the other side of the coin where they're like, oh no, now it's even worse because I competed terribly. But then it's like, I can objectively analyze and be like, well, you actually weren't much worse than this other guy, if at all. 00:55:53.61 Daniel You just made a bad decision, which you typically don't make. Because at the end of the competing is not just about who's better. It's about... who makes the right choice when, you know what mean? 00:56:04.54 Daniel Like, it's not actually a representation of how good you are. You know mean? Uh, you know, it's only because the lights are on this pressure. There's all these things that make it possible for you to win, you know? 00:56:15.50 Daniel And so, yeah, at the end day, like, I mean, I think that sometimes the, maybe the elites of our sport can get a bit separated from this this thing you're just you're talking about but at the same time like that is that is jujitsu and if it wasn't that it wouldn't be the magic that we all pursue you know like if jujitsu couldn't do that crazy thing where the girl h stone lighter than you strangles you for example 00:56:41.20 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:56:47.28 Daniel it wouldn't be the thing that is so inspiring that makes you show up when you don't feel like it, that makes you fucking spend time away from your family to pursue this fun activity, basically. 00:56:58.04 Daniel Like it's that magic that draws everybody in because at the end of the day, like, if you can accomplish that as somebody, just a regular person and, know, scale that up to, you know, somebody way bigger and stronger than you or more athletically, if you can create that situation in life ever where you're the smaller character or weaker character overcoming the grander, you know, the, the, the Goliath, so to speak, when you can beat your Goliath, you're like, wow, all this shit with jujitsu struggling. So worth it. 00:57:30.69 Daniel because that moment is so special, you know what mean? Like in the grand scheme of things. So like as much as it sucks, it does, it does. 00:57:35.21 nextlevelguypodcast suppose it makes a bear movie. 00:57:39.11 Daniel um So as long as, much as it sucks, it also enables us to perform amazing feats that are unbelievable. That's the magic of Jiu-Jitsu the the day. So if we didn't have that, then it wouldn't be that sexy. 00:57:52.95 nextlevelguypodcast It's maybe that I've trained with some people who maybe had bigger egos than I realised. Maybe I didn't at the time think, oh, that's actually just them having a defensive shield, you know maybe putting up. 00:58:04.44 nextlevelguypodcast When you've trained with the best the best, competed against the world top dogs, What have noticed about top performers? Like how, you know, I mean, obviously they have better nuances of the game. 00:58:15.89 nextlevelguypodcast They understand maybe the little battles and stuff. But what is it about their kind of their mindset or their approach or their, you know like when you see them at the side warming up or, you 00:58:26.15 Daniel Thank 00:58:27.12 nextlevelguypodcast you chatting to them after the matches and that, what is it about it that you go, oh, I need to put that into my style. Oh, I need to adopt that as a habit in my life or I need to think like that. Is it anything that kind of jumps out you go, that's what I need to be like, is that to be a better man, be a better performer, et cetera? 00:58:46.96 Daniel Hmm. It's tricky. I think it there's an interesting book. um It's called With Winning in Mind. And I'll talk about this in another podcast. But basically, like, the the premise of the book, one of the things that's jumped out at me was that, like, there's two types of people in this game. 00:59:03.84 Daniel People who think they're going to win and people who know they're going to win. And when you talk to one of these people who are who are the winners after the match, you like, oh, thanks so much, man. And, you that was amazing. 00:59:15.36 Daniel It's almost like they're like, yeah, of course. Like, of course. And not not in an arrogant way, just like a, yeah, man, like, of course, of course I won. I'm the best. You know what mean? Like, it was never in doubt for them. And so I think, like, thing that I've tried to do more especially after reading this book i had an audiobook let's be real but after listening to this book yeah know and kind of seeing dude goaded goaded shout out to 2025 bro where the future is now that's a read um i said that for my phone bro when i'm doom scrolling instagram no but uh 00:59:38.31 nextlevelguypodcast So do I. Audible for the win. 00:59:49.98 nextlevelguypodcast I have to move my eyes? no, no, no. no 00:59:51.75 Daniel yeah Absolutely not. You want me to do this? Fuck out of here. I lost my train of thought. But after listening to this book and seeing the best in the game do their thing, that was things that I'm like, oh, I have to try to find my way to believe that I will win. 01:00:10.93 Daniel Like... And it's tricky because at the same time, you also have to reconcile that sometimes you won't. But in the pursuit of this feeling where you truly believe that you will win, you enable it to be possible, I think. 01:00:27.15 Daniel And there are people who think they're going to win against other people think they're going win. And you know, that kind of works itself out in the wash. It kind of just is what we will be. Um, but when you of come at with this, like certainty, the, the, the best, they either hide it really well, or they certainly feel as though they truly believe they're taking this, no questions. 01:00:48.34 Daniel Um, Yeah. So either they're presenting this way and it works for them or they're showing me that in my interaction with them. And maybe they're also shitting themselves and like, oh, thank God I got through that. 01:01:03.89 Daniel You know, maybe that's what's going on inside, but you can never know. So ultimately, I don't think there's like a right or wrong way. I've kind of played with both. where you kind of acknowledge the moment and you're like, well, I could get strangled in front of all my friends. 01:01:18.19 Daniel But if you acknowledge this moment and just kind of go, okay, well, let me just like take that feeling and let it go and just be present and compete. This is also fine in my opinion. But it comes back to, guess, how you want to try to play the game. 01:01:34.12 nextlevelguypodcast I think that's ah the the beauty of isn't it? It's like when we see people winning these top awards, we think, oh, I can never be like that. But when it's nice to hear that kind of side of, yeah, we're also shitting ourselves thinking, oh what happens if this happens? Oh, wait, wait, what? 01:01:47.99 nextlevelguypodcast And you can feel that mental kind of monkey jumping up and down, kind of going, no look at me, you're terrible, you're nuts, you're that, that we all have at lower levels. It's nice to see that a black belt, but it's more you fall back to the level of your training. You know, you fall back to, 01:02:04.56 nextlevelguypodcast the the thousands of roles that you've had rather than, you know, or it's who's just, who has a better day. How do you approach that? i mean, you've won some high awards. You've beaten the best the best. 01:02:17.95 nextlevelguypodcast At what point do you do you have a ah way of approaching this? Or do you just literally go, ah I'm just going to have fun and see what happens? Do you have a mental a mentality of your rolling? you change your training before competitions? 01:02:31.68 nextlevelguypodcast Does anything change as you go towards ADCC apart or any other competition that you're going to? 01:02:37.25 Daniel Sure. Yeah. So in, in general, uh, I would say that in training, I play a lot and I fuck around a lot to try to find interesting scrambles. 01:02:50.11 Daniel I want to try to explore ideas and, and that, that means like not having my foot on the gas all the time, for example, but, And like, even the way that i play the game changes a bit, you know, much more reactive and I'll try and like take what people give me and try and like just finesse the shit out of some timing, you know what I mean? 01:03:15.02 Daniel Whereas when I prepare for competition, I'm bit more proactive because i've really have a lot of belief in the value of winning the initiative. And so I make this a large part of my focus for my preparation for competitions. 01:03:27.69 Daniel And then that's the practical side of what I do in the training room. It's different. And then for the mental side, I guess, like I mostly just focus on my way to win. And like, I will literally say this to myself, like things like, you know, if I believe that I'm the stronger guy, I'll emphasize that I'm stronger, more precise, and I will win. 01:03:48.58 Daniel i would say this, like in a match where I'm a bigger guy, I'm to think this to myself. In a match I'm fighting gorilla, going to think I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too technical. I'm going to win. 01:03:59.84 Daniel Like the these types of things, I'll focus on my way to win. And then anytime I get too excited, I do this thing that Nicholas told me about actually, Nicholas Marigali, genius advice. 01:04:10.31 Daniel He's like, nobody actually cares. Don't forget that. Nobody cares. It's kind of funny to say, right? But if you remember that we do this fringe sport and like, 01:04:22.27 Daniel your friends and family care about you, they don't necessarily care that much. They don't really care if you win or lose. They care that you're okay because they love you. 01:04:31.39 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 01:04:32.66 Daniel And if they don't actually, if they actually care about the result, in spite of you being sad or depressed after you lose a match, well, then they're probably not actually your friend. That's the honest truth of it. 01:04:43.69 Daniel And then they don't really care about you. So then if they don't really care about you, does that even really matter if they think that, you know? um And when, whenever I start to get too excited and I feel the adrenaline pumping too much, I'll remind myself, don't forget, nobody cares. 01:04:56.99 Daniel I'm like, oh yeah. And then you just just relax and you focus on your way to win. This has helped me a lot. It's been very, very good. 01:05:04.15 nextlevelguypodcast I wish I'd heard that before when i when I was training because I'm trying get back to it now. 01:05:07.33 Daniel Thank you. 01:05:09.93 nextlevelguypodcast I'm just fixing a shoulder impingement and people desperately get back and that's why I'm so glad I found your stuff. But to hear that will change will change me completely because I was going in thinking everybody was judging my roles. Everybody was judging if I tapped or if did this or that where you realise nobody cares. Like you said, people just go because they enjoy the sport and they would see their pals and they come away. 01:05:34.44 nextlevelguypodcast only the only matter to who tapped is to the person who tapped. The coach isn't going, well, that's it. I'm taking their blue belt away. I'm going to shoot them out the gym. They're kind of going, okay, we'll work on this. 01:05:45.33 Daniel Yo. 01:05:47.10 nextlevelguypodcast We'll improve that. We'll teach you. Where do you think you your struggle? Is that where you say, trust the training, live in the moment? That kind of thing of egg stop focusing on what's happening outside and just enjoy and just be present in the moment. 01:06:05.81 Daniel Yeah, but I mean, like, at the same time, you know, I think, like, training is very different to competition. Like, training has even less pressures. Like, I've tapped to plenty of people who, on paper, I shouldn't tap to. 01:06:17.33 Daniel But at the same time, like, if I'm training because I'm trying to work on, you know, my leg lock defense, and I'm letting people capture my legs and put me in all kinds of crazy, precarious positions, if I tap, I'm like, well, okay, that's... 01:06:32.43 Daniel chalk that up, remember that, trying to get put that same position next time. But I don't want to have that realization happen when I'm on the stage at ADCC. I don't want to like, oh, I found that out. 01:06:43.38 Daniel No, I want to do that beforehand, you know what I mean? 01:06:45.67 nextlevelguypodcast no 01:06:46.35 Daniel So yeah, learning to remind yourself what it is that you're trying to play for is way more important, you know? like all the mental components of it, like when you really break it down to its bare bones components, even your coach, like if if in your situation, for example, you're like, oh, fuck, coach told me tap to this guy, you know, he's going to go, oh, that's, I mean, that sucks, but he's back in the game. 01:07:10.84 Daniel Like there's plenty of ways to rationalize why somebody would lose. And sometimes I'll look at one of my students who gets done by something or other. And I'm like, what are you doing, bro? I'm like, oh, I'm trying to do this. And I'm okay, carry on. 01:07:22.86 Daniel Because if I can see you're trying to do something productive for your growth, then who cares? Literally cares? But if you're, somebody is like getting submitted over and over again in like the same way, might be like, Hey man, like, what are we doing? 01:07:37.37 Daniel Why are we kicking this? Why are we getting caught here? You know? And you know, if they're trying to do a particular thing they're like, Oh man, every time I go to frame on somebody, my shoulder fucking plays up. So I'm trying to solve this problem without that. 01:07:50.17 Daniel Okay. That makes sense. You know what I mean? Like if you're, you're objective about what's going on in the situation, it doesn't make any sense to be like, like it practically makes no sense be like, fuck, he's letting me down. 01:08:03.23 Daniel Like he's just not, it's not like the way that it goes. You know what I So yeah, I think like just generally being able to remove the pressure of yourself and focus on just getting better at the end of the day. 01:08:16.19 nextlevelguypodcast all of I love how you've just cut out probably about 9,000 people's ego just now going, stop worrying about it. Just enjoy you know it. lot of people are probably going... 01:08:28.21 nextlevelguypodcast because they've realized like you've broken that stigma, that kind of, we don't have to be these warriors all the time. We can play about and learn stuff and enjoy it. 01:08:39.56 nextlevelguypodcast And it it takes the stress and the the importance of it off. And to hear a coach say that, and somebody who's at that level explain it, I wish I'd heard that when I was younger, because it probably would have stopped me being a bitch for so long in a lot sessions. 01:08:54.52 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. how How is your training set up? Are you kind of like you're saying, do you just literally go, I'm struggling with this, let's play a bit of this? Do you, because you know, you have a lot of technical skills, you have technical performances, and you have a lot of like prowess in your skill. And are you intuitive? Are you of a so structured plan that you fall back on the highest level of your training when things do go wrong? 01:09:20.73 nextlevelguypodcast How do you approach your training? and 01:09:24.05 Daniel So, i mean, for me, sometimes I get inspired by an idea and I'll like go into this area that I'm like, oh, I need to play this more. um And then other times I can kind of, I have the tendency to drift in the wind a little bit when I'm like, oh, I'll watch this or I'll watch this watch this. 01:09:44.03 Daniel And then I ended up like picking up little pieces of this and that, but not like a structured game. And yeah, when I, this is part of what's so good for me is because when I'm in Australia, have, I teach for like 20 to 25 hours a week generally. 01:10:00.99 Daniel And then I train with Lachlan twice a week, like in his sessions. And then I do two sessions a week where I kind of run a pro session at my Academy, um, where I do oftentimes work on what I think that I need to work on. 01:10:16.12 Daniel um And then do a couple of position sparring classes per week at my academy. So when I'm at home, it's very much at the whim of like what I feel like doing kind of thing. 01:10:28.13 Daniel So sometimes I have to be disciplined with myself and be like, no, no, actually you need to work on blah, blah, blah and just be objective. 01:10:29.65 nextlevelguypodcast Okay. 01:10:34.37 Daniel Um, But a lot of the time I'll be like, I'm playing with this idea or this idea kind of just noodle with stuff. But in terms of like preparation, that's not that good. So generally what's so good about my time with John that I what it is that need to do just trust that John's got a plan basically. 01:10:55.02 Daniel And yeah, he makes a ah huge impact on my development. It's crazy. Cause like apart from John being like, probably arguably the best coach of all time. I also get to just do jiu-jitsu and not worry about coaching or any these other things, just worry about my own development. 01:11:10.89 Daniel and I get to do it twice a day, every day, all time. It's the best. So that's in a nutshell, like what sets it, like how I set my training up is that like I kind of noodle and play. 01:11:23.54 Daniel And then when I get ready for something serious, I'm like, John, take the wheel because want to have to do all that because I'll get distracted by a shiny, cool thing, you know? 01:11:33.33 nextlevelguypodcast it's 01:11:33.24 Daniel But if somebody's like, hey, do this, I'll do way better. 01:11:37.02 nextlevelguypodcast I suppose that's the thing, isn't it? It's like we can't do it all ourselves. We have to have a train a partner to train against. We also need a coach, and it's delegate the responsibility to them and let them do their strengths and then just teach you and then you use your strengths to then develop your game. 01:11:45.12 Daniel Mm-hmm. 01:11:52.80 nextlevelguypodcast and Yeah, it's it's a great way of doing it. I mean, I think that's the thing is we all try to think we know more than we do, whereas we should be saying, oh you've spotted a mistake don't take it personally go okay i need to work on that and you're incorporating our game it's not a criticism from a coach it's uh here's how we you can move here's gonna hate myself for saying this here's how you can level up 01:12:07.64 Daniel Mm-hmm. 01:12:14.57 nextlevelguypodcast But you travel a lot. you know You go from Australia to around the world. You coach. You go off to America. You do all these amazing things. You said in another interview where you don't really have a work-life balance. You're always just on the go. 01:12:30.44 nextlevelguypodcast You're creating content around your coaching, training, coaching, You travel to train with Danahara, et cetera. How do you make your like hotel rooms, you know rooms that you're staying at, your base for competitions, for training sessions? 01:12:47.00 nextlevelguypodcast And what do you do in the flight times? you know How do you stay Daniel and not lose your mind with all the travel and away from home and that? 01:12:56.82 Daniel Yeah, is that the away from home part is tricky. I'm very blessed to have an amazing friend in Big Dan. So Big Dan and I got like really close a few trips ago and I literally, I'm blessed to go to stay with Dan. 01:13:05.20 nextlevelguypodcast So 01:13:10.23 Daniel So the first time that I went to, first two times I went to Texas, I kind of had an Airbnb to myself and it was like pretty, pretty rough, you know, I'd call home every day, but it's still pretty tough to go from like a big house, um, you know, sort situation in Australia to just kind of being by myself and like just doom scrolling between training sessions. 01:13:32.90 Daniel If everybody's asleep in Australia, for example, you're like, Oh fuck, this is kind hard, but, uh, no overall, like, um, like for me, I think the big thing is like, just kind of get into my routine as fast as I can, you know? 01:13:46.44 Daniel Uh, so be on my, be on my food, be on my timing and my sleep. And yeah, basically that's how I try and get settled in as quick as I can. It's just find my rhythm that I'm going stick to. 01:13:58.35 Daniel And then, uh, yeah, in terms of when I'm traveling, bro, honestly, it's really tough. I pretty much just, yeah i don't know play a lot chess to be honest it's like how i try to get through it because like an in it's an interesting intellectual pursuit that i don't actually have to have any pressure at all to be good at other than just what i enjoy basically um so i do this between the time and i mostly just focus on like getting my sleep right so that when i land i have the least amount of time where i'm a fucking zombie you know what i mean uh 01:14:08.36 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. hu 01:14:30.43 Daniel Because if you mess up your sleep on a plane, it can kind of really sit you back for a few days. So I've kind of gotten a bit better at this, but it's still always a challenge. 01:14:39.88 nextlevelguypodcast I like how you pick a hobby that is like jiu-jitsu's human chess, you know, folding people while they're wearing their clothes kind thing. And now you're playing chess where you have to think three steps ahead and logically and system. 01:14:48.10 Daniel Exactly. Yeah. 01:14:51.75 nextlevelguypodcast and So can you go into little bit about your food and your sleep? What kind of stuff are you eating? What kind of stuff are you... Have you figured out, like, you know, maybe heavy curtains to block out the light? Do you wear eye masks? Is there things that you've learned as a top-tier competitor? 01:15:09.35 nextlevelguypodcast that like a little fat newbie like myself could pick up and go, eat this, take this supplement, do this, that would actually benefit us at our scabby level. 01:15:18.80 Daniel So For sure, yeah. 01:15:21.73 nextlevelguypodcast What? 01:15:21.71 Daniel I mean, eye mask is a godsend, honestly. If you get a good i mask, that is a very, very useful to tool, all especially to acclimate to time differences ah for flights. 01:15:32.22 Daniel ah Like, light in your eyes when you're trying to sleep is a motherfucker to deal with. So if you get that squared away, that's really good. And then, food-wise, I think, honestly, like, just try and get as many carbs as I can, to be honest. 01:15:49.11 Daniel high carb, high protein, low fat is pretty much how run because, uh, they like carbs are a great source of fuel for all this shit that we do. And so you get a lot of them, probably your body will perform really good. You know what mean? And, uh, yeah. 01:16:05.15 Daniel So generally try and run like something in the neighborhood of like, uh, I think it's like 240 protein, 80 fat, and then like, depending on how much I have to cut or not cut, around like 400, 440 of carbs. 01:16:19.90 Daniel And then that's what I basically, yeah. So it's kind run as a macro approach. 01:16:25.35 nextlevelguypodcast And do you still struggle? 01:16:25.17 Daniel But I do a lot of like, extra lean, I do a lot of extra lean beef mince, potatoes, rice, this sort of stuff. And then like, energy drinks. Just, I just take a bunch of them. 01:16:38.05 Daniel Balance. 01:16:38.90 nextlevelguypodcast ah I it's ah like how you're still enjoying life. you know You're not kind of just going, I sit here with my broccoli and my rice and I don't speak to anybody and I meditate and lift it off the floor and all this kind of shite. 01:16:52.59 nextlevelguypodcast You're just like, I'm me. 01:16:53.15 Daniel Yeah, no, I'll go... Yeah, I'll go bloody play bonkers if I have to do that. Yeah, no, I mean, like... i think, like, there's a time and a place for chicken and rice, for example, and just, like, broccoli and shit like this. 01:17:06.10 Daniel But it's normally when you're doing an aggressive cut, which I don't really have to do. Like... 01:17:13.48 Daniel My hard cut that I do is to 99 kilos for AGCC. And it's honestly not very hard. I've done very hard cuts to make 84 kilos when I was fighting in MMA. 01:17:25.20 Daniel And that was hard, you know. But yeah, like six, seven kilos of water. It's literally like not a big deal. So to me, it's all about like getting my body to be like suited for high performance and fueling as much as I can while also trying to not lose all the muscle that I grow outside of camp. 01:17:47.99 Daniel Like when I go to Texas, I literally have to spend so much time eating actually because I just train so much to be honest. 01:17:58.02 nextlevelguypodcast How do you juggle all this? You know, I mean, you're training with some of the best in the world. You're flying over to train with Gordon and John and et cetera. Then you're coming back. 01:18:08.42 nextlevelguypodcast You know, you're dealing with the family. Then you're having to deal with Muppets like me phoning you, asking for interviews. And then you're trying to do content creation as well. how How do you fit this all in? Because you said in another interview about how you struggle with that work-life balance. 01:18:24.17 nextlevelguypodcast When do you become Daniel that's the Daniel for yourself? Or do you is this the thing that you enjoy about life that you have? but you know How do you find that transition from family man to coach to content career to competitor? 01:18:40.00 Daniel I feel like I'm always the same. It's like, it's tricky to balance everything in terms of like putting a priority on everything. But I kind just get up at 5.40, 6 o'clock in the morning and then I just go all day. 01:18:55.49 Daniel And then I do it again, basically. Like that's like, that's the secret. 01:18:59.38 nextlevelguypodcast I love how you don't overcomplicate it. 01:19:00.29 Daniel Just get up and... No, I mean, like, you've got a bunch of things you've got to do. And if you just decide that you have to do them, then you just will. It's like, it's hard. 01:19:11.68 Daniel Yeah, hard as shit. You just gotta, like, it's it's one of those things, like, momentum will build, regardless of what it is. So if you... 01:19:24.27 Daniel force yourself into of routine that you think is too hard in three weeks time it will feel not that bad in three months time it will feel like the norm you know like now my sleep in is like 7 30 and i'm like whoa look at all this extra sleep i got you know like whereas me don't know a few years ago like it was funny i remember how long ago did start morning classes? 01:19:51.77 Daniel We started doing morning classes at my gym. And so I have to get up at like 5.40, you know, get up, get dressed, have a coffee, go out to the gym, you know, open up and all these things. So I got into this routine of getting up at, 01:20:05.14 Daniel 540, some of this, from used to be, i would get up when I need to take like the kids to school or whatever. it'd be like 720. So that's a pretty big difference. And so i just go out into this habit and all of a sudden I gain an extra two hours a day, basically. you know It sounds ridiculous, but you can just do it. 01:20:23.46 Daniel It's just terrible. But I mean, if you've got all the things you need to do laid out for you, there's a lot of hours in the day. think it's very easy to overlook the fact that we can get stuck doom scrolling or just doing nothing, basically. 01:20:41.08 Daniel And yeah, I think if you really utilize all your hours efficiently, then you do a ton. Like I'm not always perfect, but I try to be. And yeah, you just put all that together and then there you 01:20:54.51 nextlevelguypodcast I like that because there's a world of difference between being busy and effective, isn't there? you know We all think we're butre really busy, but when you actually see what a lot of people do, you kind of go, so do we count the four hours on Netflix? 01:21:06.61 nextlevelguypodcast Do we count the two hours scrolling on your phone while on a shit? 01:21:07.66 Daniel yeah 01:21:10.10 nextlevelguypodcast I mean... has been 01:21:11.65 Daniel Correct, yeah. Like, people go to me, they're like, oh, so what what kind of, like, you watch any shows or you play any games lately? And I'm like, no, dude. no but I do not have time for that at all. 01:21:24.95 Daniel You know what I mean? And, you know, like, for example, I told the missus, eventually, gta 6 will come out and probably six months probably six weeks of my life it's gonna be a write-off i'll be honest with you when i get gta 6 when that finally drops sometime in the next 15 decades i'll probably write my life off for a good six weeks and then i'll have a bunch of guilt and then i'll work like a madman for the next 12 12 weeks and make up for it but uh you know what mean like 01:21:41.51 nextlevelguypodcast Oh, yeah. 01:21:56.24 Daniel But for me to have, like, recreational game time or watch Netflix or this sort of thing, like, I just get too addicted because I'll be like, oh, but I'll get invested in this process that makes me better. 01:22:08.37 Daniel And then it will envelop into absorbing my whole life. Like, even silly shit, like, what was the game? I played, like, Last War on my phone. Like, one these, like, it's basically like... 01:22:21.85 Daniel one of those, not even a war simulator, like it's just a merge game. You do a bunch of merging and you collect coins and then you buy upgrades. It's literally the dumbest brain rot shit ever basically. And I got re like, I got to such a good level and it dawned on me one day I was like, wow, I'm spending like four and a half hours a day playing this game, like in between when I could be doing other shit. 01:22:42.44 Daniel That is an absolute waste of my fucking life. I deleted it right then and there. 01:22:44.77 nextlevelguypodcast Okay. 01:22:46.13 Daniel I was like, wow, I got entranced in this fucking game, you know? But if you really are objective about, like, things that are going to serve you, you'll quickly realize, wow, that's actually dumb as shit. Like, even chess, it gets to it gets out of control sometimes. I play too many games. 01:23:00.93 Daniel But I'm at least, like, this is at least a mentally stimulating pursuit. You know, it's like there's some value outside of just playing the game that I derived from this. 01:23:05.80 nextlevelguypodcast i 01:23:09.94 Daniel So then it's kind of okay. But, yeah, if you're objective about what you spend your time on, then... like i think you'll find you have plenty of time to do all the things 01:23:19.85 nextlevelguypodcast There was a guy we worked with and it was height of summer and they said, are you going to do tonight? And he said, I've got a really busy day. I've got to watch EastEnders at seven, Coronation Street at half seven. you know He had had like this whole TV schedule and we're all kind of looking at him going... 01:23:34.21 nextlevelguypodcast what the like what the hell's going on? like you know that He's just had nothing else except for um people say that to me him the whole time oh yeah I had a busy night last night oh we watched this, we did that we sat and drank for three hours while watching a TV show and I'm like how was that fun? 01:23:49.43 nextlevelguypodcast I'd rather be content creating, I'd rather be doing this than that how did becoming a father change you? 01:23:50.45 Daniel ah Sounds busy. 01:23:55.18 nextlevelguypodcast You know, to like, yeah because you've gone from being this kind of guy who needed jiu-jitsu to now being this loved guy on the social media. 01:23:57.21 Daniel um 01:24:05.77 nextlevelguypodcast You have cracking and content. You have a lot of fans. You know, you're winning. and You're competing at some of the top people. You're winning some amazing tournaments, et cetera. Has becoming a father marriage... 01:24:19.90 nextlevelguypodcast becoming this well-known, well-loved figure, has it helped you understand just how value you are as a person? Or do you still struggle? 01:24:29.00 Daniel ah 01:24:29.45 nextlevelguypodcast has it just helped you level up? 01:24:33.44 Daniel it's It's tricky. I think like, especially like, in business, like being able to be a provider has been really cool for me. 01:24:44.31 Daniel I feel like for a long time, like, cause my wife's a bit older than me. So like there was that like difference in like career development that's existed. And so then like in being a provider, you kind of like, well, my wife's very well established in her business and all these things. 01:25:01.20 Daniel So there's that level of like, oh fuck, how am I going to, 01:25:09.50 nextlevelguypodcast Oh. 01:25:17.62 Daniel some goals in the future which i think are gonna be very powerful for like my my own self esteem i guess in being somebody that my family can count on for like who could bash i could bash anybody else's dad you know what i mean like instead of just being this guy it's like being somebody that can like provide for the family more and uh yeah it's it's very valuable like 01:25:35.20 nextlevelguypodcast ah 01:25:41.66 Daniel to be able to be a good influence on my kids and my stepkids, but mean, they're my kids, um to be good influence on these people and watch them grow into like awesome little humans. It's yeah, it's pretty special. 01:25:54.66 nextlevelguypodcast I love how the smile comes in when it's the things like that. you know its Because you can talk about jiu-jitsu for hours, but it's you light up when you talk about that aspect or the growth in it. And i think sometimes it comes to shut like things like this where you stop and go, geez, I have actually come really far. I've done all these amazing things. 01:26:13.80 nextlevelguypodcast What is the evolution going to be for the man-child? Do you think we'll ever have the the next level of Daniel? like Or will he always be the man child that makes you you? 01:26:26.63 Daniel I mean, I think like, yeah, but like the man child thing is funny. Like, when I was a kid, like when I was like 13, I was like, I looked like was 20. You know what I mean? 01:26:37.86 Daniel I had a big ass beard. was a big kid. So like before I was a kid that looked like a man and now I look like a man, but my job is to wrestle people on the ground. I mean? Like I'm a big kid. 01:26:48.88 Daniel So I kind of hold that kind of mentality. 01:26:49.94 nextlevelguypodcast Went in pajamas. 01:26:52.05 Daniel Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Right. Little spandex outfit. It's cute as right. But, uh, 01:26:57.10 nextlevelguypodcast it 01:26:58.62 Daniel for me it's all about like being true to who i am i guess and i guess like uh yeah just pursuing that and so the evolution for the man child i mean like in terms of the branding i've got a few things in the pipeline that i'm trying to work on at the moment and by that i mean i'm paying somebody else to work on it but But you know, it's coming. Something cool shit is coming, especially to do with like online coaching and things like this, which is really exciting. 01:27:25.01 Daniel I think like it's going to open some really cool doors for some people that it wouldn't otherwise be able to reach. Um, But then in terms of my competitive success, like the next plan is to get everything ready to do ADCC trials, hopefully get back out there on the big show and yeah, punch my ticket back to ADCC and yeah, hopefully, I mean, get on some more international shows. 01:27:47.54 Daniel It's tough coming from Australia, but I'd love to get on like a Who's Number One or something similar to this. It would be really sick. But yeah, we'll see what the future holds, man. I'm always... you know, quietly optimistic. I feel like i was as i just put in more and more work into all these different avenues in my life, I feel like more and more good shit keeps happening. 01:28:06.51 Daniel So just kind of stay positive and pursue what life throws at me basically. 01:28:14.02 nextlevelguypodcast I love it. I mean, it literally feels like 10 minutes in it. Like, I know I'm way over the time I said I was going to be, but I cannot thank you enough when it's been an absolute joy to, I knew you were going to be good, but I was trying to avoid taking notes. 01:28:26.66 nextlevelguypodcast There's questions I've said, oh, that's amazing. and And to avoid going down a rabbit hole of like my own stuff, because I think that's what we forget sometimes is your people too. You have your own responsibilities. You have your focus as well. 01:28:39.03 nextlevelguypodcast And to see, a lot of me in you you know you that are the struggles i'm having now to see you being open and honest about them suddenly helps me understand jiu-jitsu about growing as a person as well and and your content's hilarious and your content's amazing and learned from it so i cannot thank you enough for it but what would until i get you to come back on what would you want people to take from this as a a summary of this you know how how can we use the man child approach to enjoy jujitsu to live in the moment to trust the training to you know not just something to grind through but something that gives us joy resilience community and fun in lives 01:29:24.63 Daniel Yeah, I mean, ultimately, the the path of jiu-jitsu is what you make of it. If you pursue greatness, you can hold yourself to this kind of account. And yeah there's a world of information to absorb from, to be absorbed from. And so many great minds in the sport, so many cool ways you and chase the heights that you want to chase. 01:29:48.02 Daniel If you're doing it recreationally, just remember that it's all about enjoying the moment. So don't get too caught up on the the mental aspects of the draining, the stress that can come from like the challenges of getting good in Jiu-Jitsu. 01:30:03.51 Daniel Try to focus on small wins and remember how far you've come in the period of time since you started, for example, or maybe even in the last six months. And don't try to compare yourself to your training partners and how they're progressing because they're on a different journey. 01:30:18.78 Daniel Try to compare yourself to your former self because that will always give you the best reflection of the path you've taken. And I guess that's probably the the main big takeaways in terms of jiu-jitsu for sure. 01:30:32.98 nextlevelguypodcast It's not your training partner, it's who you see in the mirror, if you're better than them the day before. Do you still struggle with that when you look in the mirror now? 01:30:43.18 Daniel ah Sometimes it's challenging to have the daily successes because ultimately it's challenging when you've kind of got this base knowledge. 01:30:56.75 Daniel Not that I know, don't know everything, but I know lot about most stuff. And so then it's like, okay, what things do I pick on to make me better tomorrow? 01:31:08.78 Daniel You know, that's a difficult question to always have a clear answer from unless you watch your own roles religiously. and and But then even then, sometimes in those roles, 01:31:21.78 Daniel I'm fucking around. So it's challenging, you know what i mean 01:31:24.52 nextlevelguypodcast no 01:31:24.34 Daniel Whereas if I was rolling for real and trying to win every round, then watching those rolls back, you'd be like, okay, I need to do this, this, and this, and this. But because I'm playing so much, it's a tricky thing to navigate. 01:31:35.30 Daniel But I honest with myself, like, and be like, oh, what is... what do I need to do and where do I need to look to try and find more information? Sometimes that's just like getting in a position 50 times and seeing if I can get it to work and trying to understand why it's working or not working. 01:31:53.39 Daniel But yeah, other times that's just been like, oh, I need to work on this. And then watching John's instructional or Gordon's instructional and something like this, right? And kind of going from there. 01:32:05.08 nextlevelguypodcast how do that's a point how do we watch instructionals and take stuff from it because a lot of people just sit and watch it but how do you actually take a bit of this and say oh that's good i'm going to put incorporate that or you know but if we're completely new to this how do we figure it out that that's a good bit for an instructional or that's bs or that's something that can work for us have you figured out a way that students can do that 01:32:28.88 Daniel Sure. 01:32:31.67 Daniel My general recommendation is to watch something, ah watch something that pertains to a problem that you're having. So most beginners suck at pin escapes. 01:32:42.61 Daniel So normally you watch this and normally you'll already have some base understanding of the position. And sometimes you'll watch something and they'll say it to you and you'll be like, that makes total sense. I understand that 100%. 01:32:55.28 nextlevelguypodcast Amen. 01:32:55.24 Daniel Other times you watch something like, well, that's a cool thing I didn't even think about. that thing, screen record that, and then keep watching. And then if you hit your mental wall where you're like, I'm kind of bored, I'm not really paying attention anymore, stop, let's get done. 01:33:10.58 Daniel So might be it might be five minutes, it might be 20, it might be an hour, it might be two. Just kind of keep doing this process until you find a bunch of chunks, take those chunks to training when you have an open mat next, 01:33:22.37 Daniel Rewatch them, have a try of them, see how they feel with your body, and then probably you'll be good to go and you'll be making progress by the time before you know it. 01:33:32.36 nextlevelguypodcast And how can we follow along this journey, this the the journey of the man-child? How can we see this amazing stuff? Because you're going from strength to strength, mate, and you're doing these amazing things, and you're growing as a person, and i can't wait to see these next developments of your you know your brand, but... 01:33:48.45 nextlevelguypodcast For people who want to follow, who want to maybe come and train with you, who want to come and train at your gym, do you take walk-ins? Have you got courses coming up that people can purchase? um The floor is open to you if there's anything that's coming up that you would like to promote as well. 01:34:04.19 Daniel Amazing, yeah, sure. So ah but you can come to a visit us at my gym, my gym's Precision MMA. We're at in Croydon in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. You can follow me at Daniel underscore the underscore manchild on Instagram. 01:34:16.89 Daniel ah You've got my gym's YouTube channel, Precision underscore MMA underscore official. ah I'm also on TikTok, but I don't even know my name. I just posted it there. I'm not that invested in TikTok, obviously, as you can tell. 01:34:27.78 Daniel um I train with Lockie, typically Tuesdays, Thursdays in St. Kilda at Absolute MMA. And then I go and do trips to train with John and Gordon. So if in America any this, you're about that way. 01:34:39.74 Daniel You might run into me over there. In terms of my courses, there's a couple of things. I've got a couple of courses on leg lock defense on Method Online. And big shout out to my sponsors, Allie Earn. 01:34:53.59 Daniel That's my boys right there. love these guys who look after me crazy. And Performance Hub, who are my strength and conditioning crew who make sure I don't get too fat. And yeah, shout out to my amazing wife and my beautiful kids. 01:35:04.81 Daniel And yeah, that's my that's my crew. that's That's the people who look after me. 01:35:09.76 nextlevelguypodcast Okay.