Professor Heidi Garwood is a clinical social worker and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who built her gym around women and kids. In this conversation, she and Pete dig into the mental side of the mats: your three-part brain — thinking, emotional, and survival — and how jiu-jitsu trains you to find your way back to your thinking brain when the pressure hits.

Heidi shares the breath and grounding tools she borrows from her trauma work, why competition keeps you from getting too comfortable, and the doctor's wake-up call that started it all ("it's not enough"). She also tells the story of a match she'll never forget — a quiet, controlled loss to Roxanne Modafferi at Master's Worlds — and the transformation she watched jiu-jitsu bring to her oldest daughter, now her gym's head instructor.

Heidi started jiu-jitsu in rural Montana, trained a full year in women's-only classes, earned her black belt, and now owns and runs Carlson Gracie Green Valley in Henderson, Nevada.

— Links —

The Jiu Jitsu Mindset — https://thejiujitsumindset.com

My Jiu Jitsu Journey app — available on iOS and Android

Submission Coffee — https://submissioncoffee.com

Chapters

00:00 Intro — the app, the coffee, and today's guest

01:43 How Heidi started: the doctor who said "it's not enough"

03:20 "Mom, it's not that easy" — training as a busy mom

05:29 The blue belt that made quitting impossible

06:44 Your three brains: thinking, emotional, survival

07:57 The spazzy white belt and a panic in Denver

10:16 Survival brain vs. thinking brain

11:06 Breath and grounding: tools from the trauma world

12:28 Educated instincts — social work meets the mats

13:55 Interoception and exteroception

15:50 The teacher who connected it all

16:22 Women's classes and "anybody can do anything for 10 seconds"

19:45 The role of competition

23:36 Boise: having to beat her own sister

26:15 Master's Worlds and Roxanne Modafferi

29:02 Elegant vs. frantic jiu-jitsu

31:33 Watching jiu-jitsu transform her daughter

36:00 Stones in the pond (and a word from Pedro Sauer)

37:33 Superhero names from the ladies' chat

39:01 Wrapping up

Pete Deeley sits down with Professor Ryan Brock of Impact Jiu Jitsu in Hood River, Oregon — a coach who says, plainly, that without jiu-jitsu he'd be dead or in jail. They talk about the tough-love mentor he hated and later thanked, why competition is "pick your own poison" and where the art gets a little culty, the night breaking up a fight taught him what he'd really built, and the anxious kid who went from high-school dropout to a college degree and wrote his class essay about the gym. A conversation about mentorship, community, and the quiet ways coaching echoes through a life.

☕ Submission Coffee: https://submissioncoffee.com

📱 My Jiu Jitsu Journey app — on the App Store

Train with Ryan: Impact Jiu Jitsu — Hood River, OR

Follow: @jiujitsumindset

Chapters

00:00 Welcome — Submission Coffee wholesale and the My Jiu Jitsu Journey app

00:50 Meeting Ryan; the James Driskill connection

01:31 "Dead or in jail if it wasn't for jiu-jitsu"

02:27 A gradual pivot — and the first coach who became a mentor

03:34 Tough love: the coach who told him the hard truth

05:24 "I hated him" — and the apology years later

07:34 Good cop / bad cop: the two coaches who kept him in

09:00 Getting ragdolled by a 15-year-old — "a hole I need to fill"

10:57 Is competition necessary? Pick your own poison

11:52 Where jiu-jitsu gets "a little culty"

13:00 Competing late, and inoculating yourself to stress

14:21 The most memorable moment — breaking up a fight at the port

16:54 "Take it outside" — and the man who just needed a hug

19:23 The anxious kid who got his GED, a degree, and wrote about the gym

21:29 Coaches as surrogate parents

22:29 Where to find him: Impact Jiu Jitsu, Hood River, OR

Get the social media app just for Jiu Jitsu! Download My Jiu Jitsu Journey in the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/my-jiu-jitsu-journey/id6751400933

Subscribe to Submission Coffee or purchase your Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable tee shirt here: https://thejiujitsumindset.com/

If you've found this video, you're probably looking for more information on:

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Robson Moura interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Robert Drysdale interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Pedro Sauer interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Mark Schultz interview

• The Jiu Jitsu Mindset Todd Fox interview

• The Jiu Jitsu Mindset Reggie Almeida interview

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu podcast

• BJJ jiu jitsu, BJJ podcast

• Combat sports, grappling, mixed martial arts, self-defense, MMA and UFC

Pete Deeley sits down with Professor Steve Ficca of Odin's Halls BJJ in Las Vegas — a coach who found jiu-jitsu after boxing gyms and shuttered wrestling schools and never looked back. They talk about the first thing that never bored him, using the art to drive across the country and see the world, why competition is a tool for growth rather than a paycheck, and the lessons he wants every kid to carry off the mat. Along the way: why the losses teach more than the wins, the difference between being tough and being strong, and the perseverance that keeps him going through every injury.

☕ Submission Coffee: https://submissioncoffee.com

My Jiu Jitsu Journey app — on the App Store

Follow: @jiujitsumindset

Chapters

00:00 Welcome — Submission Coffee and the My Jiu Jitsu Journey app

01:00 If martial arts had never come into his life

02:16 "The first thing in my life that never bored me"

04:42 From Kung Fu flicks to a boxing gym in the hood

05:46 Judo, wrestling, and finding jiu-jitsu — the most user-friendly martial art

06:39 The teachers who shaped him; a gym where everyone is good

08:16 Tammy Grego, hitchhiking home, and using jiu-jitsu to see the world

09:42 Competition's real role — a tool for growth, not a paycheck

11:38 Everybody should compete once: the lessons of a fight without the danger

13:40 "May all your hardest struggles be on the mat"

14:14 Kids, stoppages, and learning that life isn't fair

15:47 Why the losses are the real teacher

19:01 Knee injuries, and moving from competing to coaching

20:23 The hard-headed 10-year-old who became his best kid

23:54 Coaches as surrogate parents; the moments kids carry forever

30:36 Tough vs. strong — and the Iron Man mindset

32:50 What he hopes people learn: hard work, and pushing through

33:35 Closing

Get the social media app just for Jiu Jitsu! Download My Jiu Jitsu Journey in the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/my-jiu-jitsu-journey/id6751400933

Subscribe to Submission Coffee or purchase your Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable tee shirt here: https://thejiujitsumindset.com/

If you've found this video, you're probably looking for more information on:

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Robson Moura interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Robert Drysdale interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Pedro Sauer interview

• The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset Mark Schultz interview

• The Jiu Jitsu Mindset Todd Fox interview

• The Jiu Jitsu Mindset Reggie Almeida interview

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu podcast

• BJJ jiu jitsu, BJJ podcast

• Combat sports, grappling, mixed martial arts, self-defense, MMA and UFC