Today on the show I land another guest off of my wishlist, this time it's multiple time IBJJF Champion and Romero Cavalcanti/Lucas Lepri Black Belt Jonathan Thomas.
I really enjoyed this conversation, prior to the show we were having some stimulating dialog breaking down some Sam Harris podcasts and our thoughts on them, we clicked immediately, and I almost didn't want to start the show much preferring this organic moment of very cool dialog, but the show must go on! In this episode you will get a variety of value from Jiu Jitsu technique talk, training ideas, recovery, living a life with purpose, floating scheduling, personal productivity, and more.
Jonathan is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, as a kid, he wrestled then joined Goshin Jitsu to study Judo. He studied Jiu Jitsu books for a bit before joining a grappling club led by one of Rickson Gracie‘s most well-known students – Rodrigo Vaghi until purple belt all while pursuing an engineering mathematics degree.
In 2008 Jonathan left for Atlanta, Georgia to train at Alliance under Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles. After two years in Atlanta, Thomas decided to move to Washington, DC where he worked in the satellite industry while training with Ryan Hall. Later, Jonathan decided to move back to Atlanta and reunite with Alliance this time under Cavalcanti and Lepri.
While working full time and competing Jonathan took opportunities to teach workshops in Europe which led to a full time coaching job originally in Sweden.
Jonathan has what seemingly looks like a meteoric but well deserved rise in the Jiu Jitsu community. I've been observing his online work since the beginning being immediately drawn to his incredibly analytical mind, self awareness, rapid paced uncompromising direct delivery, and his well thought out problem solving abilities. Watching him teach his open guard game is really something to behold, it's something akin to watching a master solve a rubik's cube in record time with little to no effort, one is simultaneously left in both awe and inspiration.
Jonathan's philosophy of the "mini game" or as I like to think of it the microgame, is a fascinating approach that has paid dividends for him and I suspect will be the future of Jiu Jitsu instruction. Jonathan claims to not be a hard worker or at least he does not feel like he is (because he loves what he does), but if that's the case, he is the hardest lazy worker I've ever met. He has spent countless hours in the Jiu Jitsu laboratory working and refining upon the tiniest of details. It feels like Jonathan has really hit his stride in the prime of his life, I think we have only just begun to see what's to come.
Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.". Chances are as you are reading this Jonathan is on a mat somewhere dissecting the smallest of details if he should be gripping slightly higher or slightly lower, palm up or palm down, adjusting an angle by five degrees Ad infinitum.
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