Gordon Ryan's Training Secrets — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] My next bench press ever at 235 pounds was 395 for three. That's a really good bench press. When someone with Gordon Ryan's technique is able to bench press 400 pounds, what do you do after that?

[00:12] I'm not sure. Do you need steroids to be the best athlete in the world? No, I don't think so. I think that I could have done all this natural, and I could have been the best in the world without steroids. Hey folks, Dr. Mike here for RP Strength.

[00:32] I have been a long time college professor of exercise and sports by a competitive bodybuilder and competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler evidence. My face, look at what they did to me. And by they I mean other people's gays when I use my face as a weapon.

[00:48] But you know who uses their everything as a weapon 50 trillion times better than me is a Mr. Gordon Ryan. Or as the Brazilians call him, Gordon Ryan. I don't know why they say that, but they do.

[01:01] But what makes Gordon so amazing? Let's find out. And the big thing we're going to try to look for on this channel is not so much of a technical breakdown of jiu-jitsu, which I wouldn't really know much about. I know the moves have names, and I know some of them.

[01:14] We're going to talk about does getting jacked and strong help you in jiu-jitsu and in fighting? I use Gordon as the exemplar of someone who trains, well, let me not spoil the fun.

[01:27] 3, 2, 1, Gordon Ryan.

[01:50] Wow, wow. Okay, so Gordon Ramsay is actually a really, really smart person, and he's coached by John Donahue, who is a super, super, really, really smart person. And this schedule for elite competitive tier one jiu-jitsu is actually really amazing.

[02:06] Let's talk about it. Two sessions per day of jiu-jitsu, Monday through Friday, is a win on multiple counts, including how the timing works here. This is going to illustrate some really cool principles. So, first of all, why is he training jiu-jitsu twice a day, Monday through Friday,

[02:19] and then once Saturday, once Sunday. Because the number one prerequisite of getting good at any skill, any technique sport, and this is massive on technique, is just the amount of time that you are training. And because in any given session, as you get more fatigued,

[02:34] your skill acquisition and skill perfection starts to decline. Coming in twice is way better than doing one four-hour session. At the end of that four-hour session, you're grappling,

[02:46] but you're not really doing jiu-jitsu anymore. You're just struggling to survive and make sense of things. So Gordon comes in at 8 in the morning, then he comes in later at around 1, that gives him two amazing two-hour slots to really practice a shitload of jiu-jitsu. Because you need that many sessions per week to get the job done,

[03:00] to feed the body its neural network in your brain that does jiu-jitsu, that much data and that much practice so that you can do a great job. But here's where the art comes in.

[03:12] He's got an 8 a.m. session and like a 1 p.m. session. But you would say to him, hold on a second. Wouldn't it be better to spread those sessions out even more and go for an 8 a.m. session and then, I don't know, get like an 8 p.m. session, right? Give 12 hours between the sessions.

[03:25] It's not ideal because you want to extra heal for the next day. So if you have a session at 8 a.m., you're not remotely completely healed after that session for the 1 p.m. session. But after that 1 p.m. session,

[03:38] you have many, many, many hours to make a complete or nearly complete recovery for that next day's 8 a.m. session. That's huge. You want to consolidate your stressors to some extent when you're designing a sport training program or sport training week.

[03:51] So you should have a distinct part of your day that's for the training and a distinct part of your day that's for the recovery. And for Gordon, he does four weight training sessions on top of this. He's a jacked dude. But four sessions is kind of the most number of lifting sessions

[04:05] that you should do for grappling, for any kind of combat sport, boxing, grappling, Muay Thai. And even with four weight training sessions a week, you just kind of want to get jacked and strong for shits and giggles. Four sessions trains the whole body,

[04:19] trains everything you need to, trains it hard, can make you big, can make you strong, but it's not so many sessions that it detracts from your total recoverable volume in jiu-jitsu or combat sport training. And so it lets you be as good at jiu-jitsu as possible,

[04:32] but be as jacked as possible for that task. So if you're looking at making an awesome jiu-jitsu program for yourself, if you train with jiu-jitsu three days a week, then training with weights four days a week is awesome.

[04:44] You can also train as little as two days a week with weights. You get a ton of benefits. So there's no wrong answers. You can train weights for jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai two, three, or four days a week. If you're training weights once a week, that's probably not enough. If you're training with weights five times a week,

[04:57] it's totally cool if you want to get extra jacked and extra strong, but it sure as shit not the ideal. So two, three, or four weight training sessions a week, since Gordon is a big dude, he relies on his muscularity a lot, four days a week weight training is a really swell idea on weekends he doesn do any weight training and he only does one session on a Saturday morning and Sunday morning that will allow him to really reduce his volume loads

[05:18] still keep practicing jiu-jitsu, and then on Monday come back way more fresh, way more able. This is an excellent, excellent way to put together a training schedule. It's not the only way to do it, but it's a damn good one. My name is Natalia Santoro, and I'm a Brazilian.

[05:31] No way, Natalia. We would have never guessed. I did bodybuilding for photo of 10 years 8 years of professional bodybuilding I didn't mean before

[05:43] I'm a practice champion for the retention we have to change a lot of stuff around Gordon's injury also real quick this is the young lady that's

[05:55] been training Gordon for a long time and from whom he's seemingly taken a lot of inspiration for his own weight training she is not training him in Olympic weightlifting style she's not training him in powerlifting style she's not training him in advanced periodized sport training style,

[06:08] which he's doing is training him basically hypertrophy style. Sets of 10, sets of 15, some partial, some drop sets, and really just getting him, like, really jacked in the chest and arms and back and shoulders.

[06:23] The thing is, for jiu-jitsu and for combat sport, the cross-sectional area, the size of your muscles, is the number one determining factor of how strong you are. The rest of most of it is to take your big and strong muscles

[06:37] and just expose them to jiu-jitsu. The bodybuilding training builds the size. The jiu-jitsu training teaches that size how to work properly in jiu-jitsu. You can't really improve upon that formula a ton.

[06:51] So the specialization of weight training for jiu-jitsu is teeny tiny. It's mostly just generally getting big and strong. That, it, and Gordon Ryan is almost a perfect exemplar of that because he's doing bodybuilding training.

[07:03] None of this is jiu-jitsu specific, really, or it really even follows a template of what, like, an Olympic athlete would do, but it works damn well because it gives him big muscles, and then he uses those big muscles to put people into positions they would rather not be in, but he would rather have them in.

[07:19] Well, then, like, for example, there's a lot of exercises you cannot do, for example, anything that you can't do, like, you go very down because you have nausea or an acid reflux. There's a lot of things we cannot do, and a lot of things we have to improve on because of that.

[07:58] But that must be insanely frustrating to be in the spotlight, being at your prime, and having this massive thing hold you back. I think you've gotten a bit of traction in that, but as you can tell, you need to modify your lifts for GI stress.

[08:10] When you work out, your lower esophageal, the valve that connects your stomach and your esophagus relaxes, and then that causes you to be more nauseous, plus all the stuff in your stomach is moving around while you're striking.

[08:25] I mean, I don't think it moves, obviously it moves around. So when you tense, the stomach compresses, and that compression in the stomach will have things starting to come up,

[08:38] so that makes you more inherently nauseous. The priority is the g-scope, no matter what. So we cannot compromise the g-scope by lifting heavy, being as strong as I can be by lifting, you know, 400 pounds. If you lift heavy enough,

[08:51] the addition of ultra-heavy lifting plus the joint connective tissue stress you get in jiu-jitsu can fuel up. I like to see Gordon Ryan benching hundreds of pounds instead of doing some kind of push-up off of the bench.

[09:03] Yeah, sure. But does this work for him and his contacts? And maybe if he did much more, he would break into pieces? Yeah, probably. Gotta be smart. This is a compliment. This is like to help to perform better in jiu-jitsu.

[09:15] That's also another super important point. The main way to get better at jiu-jitsu is to do a ton of jiu-jitsu. Really, if you ask the question, as much as you can recover from. That's what makes you really good at jiu-jitsu.

[09:28] I'm really big and really strong by jiu-jitsu standards. And I get my asshole peeled out from under me by people who weigh 130 pounds on the regular. Because they train four times more and have trained 20 times more than me throughout their careers.

[09:40] There's just no way I'm catching a person like that with all the big, strong muscles in the world. And if you want to be the best you can be at jiu-jitsu, you never, ever move aside. The RP Hypotrophy app comes with dozens of premium programs from two days of training per week all the way up to six days of training,

[09:56] with specialized programs included for shoulders, arms, chest, back, legs, abs, and glutes, each one with male and female options. You get them all and can use them as often as you like, even building off of them to make your own customized version for only about a dollar a day.

[10:12] Click on the link in the description of this video to get started. that constant high volume high frequency support training that cannot change in various seasons it can change and go up and down but the average has to be a lot of jiu training or a lot of judo training a lot of Muay Thai a lot of boxing That your sport You not going to power list your way to becoming world champion in jiu

[10:33] You are going to become stronger, and that will help you, but jiu-jitsu always takes number and priority. So does every other sport you're doing. And look, wait until you get strong, and that grapple is going to get a grapple.

[10:45] Fuck. He just said what I've been saying in technical language, in simple language, really quick. that's it man eat food lift weights to get big and strong you do jiu-jitsu to get good at jiu-jitsu and when you're good at jiu-jitsu but you happen to

[10:57] find yourself in the possession of a big strong body you're going to put it on motherfuckers and it's just like a compliment it's the best of all worlds my next best prep ever at 235 pounds was 395 for three

[11:10] that's a really good bench press 395 for three bench press is basically a 400 pound bench press for a single just over 400 and man I tell you what, like, the number of people in jiu-jitsu, in the competitive ranks, that can bench press 400 is really, really small.

[11:27] Because jiu-jitsu training is so long and it's so fatiguing, it takes up so much of your time, and constrains your weight class in most cases, you can't just train all the fucking time that you have in the world to bench as much as possible. Also, 400-pound benchers are just really good in general.

[11:39] When someone with Gordon Ryan's technique is able to have the force to bench press 400 pounds, Man, that is so fucking dangerous because you're not going to out-technique him any stronger than you.

[11:52] What do you do after that? I'm not sure. Biting and scratching is not allowed in judo, so you're supposed to think that's stuff. But no, that's not going to work.

[12:04] Gordon said that his bench is more than his squat, and I have a very politically incorrect take about this. I don't think anyone should squat, so I'm kidding. The legs are overrated in Jiu-Jitsu.

[12:16] If you have strong enough legs to jump up a reasonable height into the air, sprint a few times, and walk up a flight of stairs, you probably have strong enough legs to do everything with your legs

[12:29] that you would need to happen with them in Jiu-Jitsu. Bringing people in closer to you, pushing people away, your legs are kind of overqualified for that. Would stronger legs hurt you when you used to?

[12:42] Fuck no, they'd be awesome. But how much more awesome they would be versus not so strong legs isn't going to pay really high dividends. Your arms, your upper body, right? Your arms and the muscles that connect to them, your chest, back, shoulders, and arms,

[12:56] they're really important in jiu-jitsu. And it's kind of lame because I think people want to train for sport. They're like, sports training, cleans and lunges and overhead squats, stuff like that, right? And you're like, nope, we're going to be doing bench and curl and pull-ups.

[13:08] and like, what the fuck? But that doesn't seem like sport training, but for jujitsu it is because your upper body's ability to grip the gi, grip people's forearms and shoulders without the gi, your ability to pull people in,

[13:20] your ability to push people away is huge and more important than what you can do with your legs. And if you have real good technical game with your legs, you probably don't need your legs to be the strongest legs of all time

[13:32] to pull that off to a level of competence beyond which much more leg strength doesn't pay big dividends. So the reality here is not so PC, is that having a really jacked upper body helps you more in jiu-jitsu than having really jacked legs.

[13:45] And if you're going to train for jiu-jitsu, having a few leg movements throughout the week is totally great, especially if one of them is like stiff-legged downlips, good morning's downlips, something to the posterior chain. And then like a leg press or a squat or a lunge,

[13:57] just one or two of those movements is totally good enough, and the rest should be upper body movements, in my humble opinion. I'll take my own advice. My legs are too ridiculous looking, But they don't really help me in Jiu Jitsu nearly as much as my super jacked upper body.

[14:11] Not PC to save, but it's reality. The way you train for Jiu Jitsu in the gym is gonna look much more bro-like than many of us would like to believe.

[14:28] So now you hear that breathing out, realizing you've lost 150 pounds at the end of class? That sucks, man. huh whoa that sucks

[15:02] can't man no work can hardly rest man that blows If your tummy is decent, but you need more support unbent over rows, so that you can isolate your pulling musculature and not worry too much about the musculature that keeps you in that position, the Hyperbelt from the same great people that make VersaGrips is go-to.

[15:24] Much like Gordon Ryan. It is flexible, but very tight. It is a very tall belt, so it provides a ton of core support, not just super skinny. It the same width 360 degrees around so you get total awesome support You can loosen it for lighter lifts or for rest You can tighten it anytime you want for heavier lifts It help you with squats deadlifts upright rows lateral raises if you need it and everything in between Give that

[15:47] belt a look. Leave it in the description somewhere or something like that to buy the belt. There's some code or something for some grips. Hyperbelt is voted. I helped design it along with Fear Feather IFB Pro. I use it all the time. Highly recommend it. All right. People keep giving me a

[16:00] Anything on steroids doesn't bother me for a few reasons. Number one, most of the people talking are never going to beat the highest level of anything. And, you know, I've accomplished more than most people talking shit anyway, so.

[16:12] Maybe you've accomplished more than all people talking shit, kind of way. I don't even know what, like, okay, I'm on steroids. It's like, it's not really a criticism. It's just not, you guys. I started initially taking steroids, which I've been open about for years.

[16:26] Number one, because they were legal in jiu-jitsu. There was no organization in Jiu-Jitsu that even tested for TED. So they were just, like, clearly legal. Yep. Most people. ADCC does not test for drugs.

[16:39] So your whole argument that, oh, man, Gordon wouldn't even be good unless he was on steroids. Like, if he didn't have steroids, he wouldn't even be this good. He wouldn't be dominant. You don't know Jiu-Jitsu.

[16:53] Totally. It looks like steroids would make a really big difference because you're big and strong and aggressive. Of course you'd be better grappling. The thing is that if you just take steroids and don't train for jiu-jitsu, you're just a gas-out machine. And if someone can just, like, not get clubbed by you or something in the first 30 seconds to a minute, they're going to fuck you up.

[17:10] There is no steroid you can take that makes you that much better at jiu-jitsu compared to, like, adding a session a week of jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu is so technical that steroids don't even come close to making a massive difference.

[17:23] they aren't added a variable but they're actually even less important to jiu-jitsu performance than like do you lift weights so if you have an option either do jiu-jitsu and take steroids or do jiu-jitsu and lift weights lifting weights is going to make you better at jiu-jitsu

[17:35] than taking steroids so almost no one would be like oh Gordon Ryan's doing jiu-jitsu because he lifts weights that would be an insane thing to say it would also be wrong because in Gordon Ryan's specification it's especially wrong

[17:47] Gordon Ryan is known as a master technician and tactician not only is his technique ultra killer smooth but he plans his sequences

[17:59] in advance so he gets to one part of your body you're still sort of okay he gets to the next part you're not really okay he gets to the last part and you're for sure going to tap because he's closed off all the doors forever for you to go that is not him

[18:11] muscling people around Gordon actually his game is less physical than one of his competitors Nicky Rod Nicky Rod plays a more physical more fast paced game Nicky Rod is jacked as...

[18:23] I don't think Nicky Rod's on steroids, but he lifts weights all the fucking time, and so he swoops somewhere to Gordon, but he's faster-paced and snaps people down harder and all that other stuff. Gordon is a smooth technician in jiu-jitsu.

[18:36] He's not muscling people. So the idea to say Gordon Ryan is only good because of steroids is so far out to lunch that it's just completely off-reservation at that point. Gnarly. But people say it, and I know for a fact

[18:50] that Gordon Ryan reads the comments. in his post. Gordon, you know, and I don't know each other. You're the f***ing man. Stop reading your f***ing comments. Please, God. It's just you and 15-year-olds at this point. 15-year-olds, you guys are great.

[19:03] But my parole officer says that's all I can say to you at the time. Folks, there is still more video to come, but in our private members area, we have videos to show you that even the aliens who haven't even been exposed haven't seen yet.

[19:15] Think about that. For just a few bucks, you get an extended version of this video, tons of other nerdy videos, and a bunch of videos any training and doing a private Q&A. Sounds good, huh? Click around, do the member stuff.

[19:27] We're back to the video right now. Do you need steroids to be the best athlete in the world? No, I don't think so. Depends on the sport. Did you used to? No. But they sure help.

[19:40] In some other sports, bodybuilding, yes, unequivocally. I think that I could have done all this natural and I could have been the best in the world without steroids. What I do believe is that you need steroids to be the best version of yourself as an athlete.

[19:54] Absolutely. They just enhance you. There's a reason people take them. It's not because they make you worse. All right, that was really fun. In the exercise science rating, I raised Gordon Ryan as the GOAT.

[20:09] And I want you guys to understand that I mean this specifically. Not only am I saying Gordon Ryan is the greatest of all time, but if you check his DNA, Hey, there is goat DNA in there.

[20:22] Nah. Was that a sheep or a goat? I don't know. They're all satanic. Next time you're at the petting zoo, look into the eyes of a goat. It would be a terrible decision. See you guys next time.

[20:37] Alright, that was super fun. Learned a little about... Alright, that was super fun. Learned a little bit about jiu-jitsu. Technical stuff does great matter when you know how to fight. and on this video right here here's a fun trick to take you

[20:49] but you plan too much see you next time