Joe Rogan had Gordon Ryan on the podcast a few weeks ago. Here Ryan talks about how arrogance keeps black belts from improving (around 2:25).

Joe Rogan:

And these instructionals though, here’s the big question. How come people aren’t seeing these instructionals and then utilizing your system, and then why don’t we see like a bunch of clones of the Danaher Death Squad out there?

Gordon Ryan:

You see them in the up and coming generations. The guys who are already established are too arrogant to watch them. And it’s just like, I talk about like, most people get to a certain level, usually it’s black belt and then they coast with that level of technique and they don’t really get any better. Um, so if you go to like ADCC Worlds, you see your typical 2010 jiu-jitsu.

If you go to ADCC trials with all the up-and-coming guys, you see pretty much just a mimic of what our game is. Everyone uses ash garamis into leg locks. People are trapping arms in the back. So you see a lot of the younger generations and the new school guys trying to do what we do, but the old school guys, the guys that I’m competing with, the guys who I’m competing against currently won’t even bother, that is too lazy to watch a 11 hour instructional on back attacks.

Um, and they just were like, “You know what, fuck this guy. I’m going to do the same shit I’ve been doing for the last twenty-five years.”

Rogan:

How long do you think they can last too, in that though? It seems like with the new guys coming up, the, you do see these more complex games and you do see these more diverse games.

Ryan:

You see a general pattern in jiu-jitsu. You see a guy got to a certain level. He wins a few competitions. There were a few big competitions. Then he coasts on the technique he has. And the only progression that he makes from the age of 25, where he was his first ADCC to the age of 35 is everyone just takes more steroids.

So they just get, they just get bigger and stronger. And then they just coast on the same technique they have. And then by the time that 35 to 40, they peak physically. And then after that, they kind of degenerate and then that’s the end of the career.

What we’re focused on is progression, uh, is rapid progression over a small amount of time. So that by the time I’m like myself at 35, and won’t even be competitive with myself now, like, whereas most guys, a 25 year old competitor versus a 35 year old competitor, they’re relatively the same in technique, but the 35 year old guy has just had any more years of juice, and he’s just a little bit bigger and stronger. So he’s going to win the match.

The full episode is here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0MsBv7jVqQnMuxBTOs0aVU