AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

Brianna Battles  00:01

Welcome to the Practice Brave podcast. I am the host, Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism, and CEO of Everyday Battles. I’m a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, mom of two wild little boys, and a lifelong athlete. I believe that athleticism does not end when motherhood begins, and this podcast is dedicated to coaching you by providing meaningful conversations, insights, and interview topics related to fitness, mindset, parenting, and of course, all the nuances of pregnancy and postpartum. From expert interviews to engaging conversations and reflections, this podcast is your trustworthy, relatable resource for learning how to practice brave through every season in your life. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Practice Brave podcast. Today, I’m here with my husband Jared because we’re going to be talking about what the last six months has looked like for our family since opening battles jujitsu, a local to us jujitsu gym that has really been quite the. It’s been a crazy six months.

Jared Battles  01:12

Yep, quite the experience so far. It’s been awesome.

Brianna Battles  01:15

Yeah, we feel really lucky. Really a long process at the beginning of trying to figure out, you know, the timeline on my way would be opening because it was getting built. We actually bought the space that we run the gym out of, and so just like this big risk emotionally, financially, without any kind of guarantee of timeline or anything like that. So we lived in limbo for quite a while, and in the last six months, it feels like we’ve seen a lot of it just come to fruition.

Jared Battles  01:46

Yeah, it was a big leap of faith, but all the signs kind of pointed us in this direction, saying this is what we needed to do, and took those signs and ran with it.

Brianna Battles  01:55

Yeah, we we actually recorded a podcast. Was that like January, or was even maybe before that about our opening when we we opened and how that went. We were able to get a lot of people interested in the gym early on just by storytelling, and I think that that really helped people get an idea of what we were about, what we were trying to create, and those that were wanting to build it with us from the get go instead of like I don’t I feel like there’s with jutsu there’s there’s two camps where you either want to go like all in and be part of it from the beginning or you kind of wanted to get established and then come into it and we’ve seen a little bit of both and of course we’re still very early in that process but it’s been cool to establish the culture that we are going for from the very beginning and have that be created without just Jared and I, but truly from the members that have joined us the last six months. It’s really organically spread into being such a solid group of adults and kids.

Jared Battles  02:55

Yeah, we’ve gotten a lot from the beginning, but it just continues to grow. People add on the word of mouth, and people bringing their friends has grown like crazy. And it’s not just brand new people. Is what what I thought when we were opening was going to be a school full of white belts. We’ve got people of all belt colors and all sorts of different backgrounds showing up and partaking.

Brianna Battles  03:17

Yeah, it’s like one of the most challenging jujitsu environments I have been in, and both Jared and I have trained in a lot of different jujitsu gyms, gone to a lot of classes all around the U.S. and yeah, like the the room keeps elevating, and everyone is just so solid as an athlete and in their game of jujitsu. From my perspective, it’s been really fun to have a lot of women on the mat because I know that’s also something that so many gyms struggle with in most of my jujitsu journey. I was the only only woman, or there was just like a handful of us, and it never felt great to be honest. And I feel like we’ve we’ve been able to create an environment that’s extremely supportive and welcoming, both with like how the women interact with each other and support each other, but also how they have been easily welcomed and embraced in all classes. And we’re seeing that from the top down. We have my mom who trains down to like three and four year old little girls, like we just have so many girls, teens, and women in our classes, and that’s been really, really fun to establish with a women’s class that I get to coach once a week. And again, it’s they’re not just staying in that class; they’ve filtered into other classes, and it’s been really awesome to see that because I know it’s just not always the case.

Jared Battles  04:42

Yeah, the women’s class is a good indicator. I think every gym, if you’re looking at gyms of the overall gym health, is if if ladies feel safe going to classes outside of the women’s class, and it feels like we’re doing doing something right, and they’re also. Well, most of them are moms, and their kids are also training there. So it’s been cool to see that they trust us with their kids as well as their own safety.

Brianna Battles  05:08

Yeah, yeah. The like our tagline is, and from the beginning, like when we were, it was just dirt. What we had on our website was like, we are here to create a family focused training environment. And so, from both a business perspective, but also a culture and coaching perspective. It’s been really awesome to see that sentiment brought to life over the last six months, where we said that’s exactly what we want to create. We’ve trained for a long time. Our boys have trained for a long time. We have seen the fruits of that type of labor and just what it’s done for our family and what it’s done for our boys in their development, what it’s done for Deer Knight individually, but truly for our marriage, for our family, we wanted to bring that. Where, yeah, you can be competitive and you can truly just enjoy this as a healthy physical, mental outlet for yourself and share that with your kid. You know, we you guys, we can talk about how like so many of us our sports come to an end, or you know, we don’t always get to coach our kids. We don’t get to be involved with them in the same capacity. So

Jared Battles  06:11

even yeah, coaching the kids, actually participating and doing the same activity, same event, learning similar things as your kids, where you guys can kind of spitball. There’s things that Cade does where I’m like, hey, can you show me that, and vice versa. I can be the professor, but I can also get something from my own kids. Like, hey, you do this. How how are you doing this? Why is that working? Figuring things out that way too.

Brianna Battles  06:39

Yeah, just like be able to like relate to you know I think it’s one thing for us as parents and our boys play a lot of sports like all of them truly it is we live an insane lifestyle and they’re very active they’re very athletic boys but I think it’s really cool for them to see us not just preach or talk about like our good old days as athletes but to be like, no, no, we still ride that emotional roller coaster of feeling like I suck at this, or being upset when you lose, or being like frustrated with yourself about this or that, or like just getting humbled, or having those incredible glimmers where you’re like, oh my gosh, I think I actually am getting better, or getting a stripe and getting rewarded with your with your progress and your individual growth. Like it attaches us to what they’re experiencing, not just in jujitsu, but in their development and their own sports. And I think that’s fun because it it’s truly a way for us to to walk the talk and model that and experience it with them. And that’s been really awesome for us to see as like that’s been part of our family, like family value values for a very long time. But seeing other families experience that, be like, oh yeah, this is so special. Like, I don’t get to coach her soccer team anymore, but now I get to be out here and I get to help coach my my daughters, and we can share this together. And it’s something that we can just our family has. That’s something we can bond over, and so it’s been fun to see other people kind of have that light bulb moment for their family dynamic.

Jared Battles  08:06

Yeah, jujitsu mirrors mimics real life with the struggle, the adversity, and we can talk to our kids about it and how they should deal with it. But usually, it’s just us talking about it; they’re not seeing it. And with jujitsu, they get to see it and participate in it, and see us go through those things. So it’s a good place to get those life lessons and show that example.

Brianna Battles  08:32

Absolutely, and you know, and the other thing that’s been interesting from, I’d say, like I’ve worked in the fitness industry for a really long time, and seeing this gym startup is different than anything I’ve done, but it’s been cool to sort of like develop and pay attention to to how it’s gone over the last six months. We’re currently sitting right under 150 members, and beyond scaling membership, which has not been the goal, it’s actually been to retain people because there’s a really high attrition rate in jujitsu. There’s so many memes that people who like get a blue belt and they bow out, or they come to the gym for three months and then they quit. There’s so much of that in jujitsu because jujitsu is a vulnerable sport for adults and kids alike. You’re putting yourself in a position to honestly be humbled to be challenged. Where you’re like, no one is good right away, even if you’re really athletic, because there’s such a steep learning curve. So it already like attract has to attract somebody who’s like I’m in it for like I want that right. Like you want that development, you want that challenge, you want that delayed gratification. It’s obviously really important for kids to have that instilled at a young age. It’s even more important for us as adults to stay humble and to be a beginner and to develop ourselves and be in that pursuit because it it really just helps us as. Parents, and what we’re seeing at our gym is we’re we are steadily growing, but more importantly, we are retaining people because the culture we are instilling is it doesn’t have to be this all or nothing for us in our individual journey and with our kids. It is the minimum effective dose of jujitsu is still an effective dose through all life challenges and seasons, sports season, things like that. The participation of jujitsu will ebb and flow. It cannot be full send all the time because that creates burnout. It creates injuries. Like then, that’s with literally any sport. Okay, but we see this a lot in jujitsu. Like you drink the Kool Aid, you’re all in, and then like life happens, and it becomes this all or nothing. And so, what we’re trying to really instill at a young age, or sorry, like not even young age, but just like at our gym in general, is it is okay to have a life outside of this place, and we want you to. It is okay for your kids to play other sports and keep dosing jujitsu. That might only be once or twice a week. It might be a season. I can’t wait. Make it for a few weeks here, but I’m gonna be back because it is a life skill. It’s not approached like any other sport, and I don’t feel that’s always taught in a lot of gyms. Like where it’s spelled out like that, so no one knows how to manage expectations with it, and we’re really trying to to educate around that because we see the value of it as a life skill, not just another sport to put your kid in, or not just another thing for you to dabble in.

Jared Battles  11:34

Yeah, definitely. I think it’s super important to have those other sports and have those other experiences. I don’t think being all in on any one thing is is going to prepare you for real life and and work life balance and everything else that comes.

Brianna Battles  11:52

Yeah, that’s we were just talking to one of our members, and he’s saying like, “This is the best thing I’ve done for my mental health ever. He’s like, “I go to therapy. I’ve had a lot of life experiences, and he’s like, “This is a great physical outlet. But what it’s done for me, as you know, as a man, as a husband, as a father, it’s like it’s just it’s unmatched compared to any other form of exercise, and that’s why it’s like it’s not just a sport. It really is something that we’re it’s a gift that we’re able to help teach and deliver to our community, and again, we’ve we’ve all our family has experienced the value of the sport in our own individual ways, as a couple, as a family, and now being able to step in a business role, which is different, but it is something that it’s fun because we’re able to. I mean, it’s easy to sell something that like you already embody, right? I always say that in business. Like we’re already about this. We were already doing jujitsu. Why not do it on our own terms in our own environment and build our community? So it’s you know it wasn’t an easy thing initially. We we had to go through a dark night of the soul, so to speak, in the process of like, okay, what is next? Going from law enforcement into the next era, and kind of ride that wave. But now that we are six months in, people are happy, people are staying, people are developing. We have an unheard of ratio of 50% of our members are kids, and 50% are adults. That’s usually that’s pretty rare in the jujitsu gym model. Usually, it’s like a heavier kids program and a little bit lighter of an adults program, or it’s mostly an adults program and like maybe they have a kids class or two. But that’s exactly what we’re trying to create, right? It’s like this family-focused training environment. If there is an adult there, hopefully their kid is also there at some point, or maybe will be, and it’s just organically growing and certainly an emotional roller coaster. That we we there are days, you know, like is this are we doing a good job, or what is this, or what is that? But overall, like just documenting this process behind the scenes, and then trying to have really genuine conversations, you know, like this, I think has been helpful.

Jared Battles  14:11

Yeah, think the kids starting was a big thing. Like I, you know, I had my outbreak from jujitsu, and it wasn’t until that we were putting Cade in, our oldest son, that was was like, hey, if he’s going back, like I need to do this too. This is something I can do with him, and it’s super important for that. And it’s kind of taken off, taken off from there, and we’ve been doing it together ever since.

Brianna Battles  14:34

Yeah, and it took. I mean, it wasn’t until Chance went to preschool that I was like, okay, I think I actually can commit to a set class time a couple days a week because it was just always it felt impossible to get out of the house and I wasn’t at a gym where I could just like bring a baby and so that’s another thing that we’ve tried to do at our home or not our home well you know it’s basically at our at our gym a lot

Jared Battles  14:57

of time there yeah is.

Brianna Battles  14:58

Is make it so that like bring your kids and it’s okay like they can hang out on the side or you know what if like your toddler or baby needs to come sit out on the mat while you’re rolling we’re good with that too I’ll hold a baby Jared will hold a baby like it’s very like just kind of normalizing that culture so that you drop the barrier of entry to people who feel like well I can’t train because I got to get home to the kids, or I got kids. I can’t do this, or I can’t come to that class time because blah blah blah. Like, nope, just bring them. It’s fine. We’re used to chaos. We have two boys, and they are absolutely insane and chaotic, and have been their whole life. And they’ve grown up in gym, different gym environments. Yeah, it wasn’t until you know I had chance was yeah in preschool that I was able to start training, and I just got my brown belt at our congratulations. Yeah, well, thanks. Our grand opening party, and it’s just, it’s just not something I ever saw on my life radar. But usually, when I decide to do something, and I’m like I’m fucking doing it. It’s just it’s wild that I feel like I’ve lived so many lives throughout my jujitsu journey, and that’s also the beautiful part is when you can look back on like when you started and what your life is like now. You can see the growth in every single department of your life, and I don’t feel like there’s anything else that has been that sobering where you really can like look at a period of your life and say like and like really measure that progress or really measure that growth, and for adults to be able to experience that kind of reward for consistency, reward for sticking to something and and continually showing up and letting it ebb and flow with life because we got we’re very busy we got a lot of different interests. Jujitsu is a big part of my personality, but it’s not my whole personality. There’s a lot. There’s a lot going on here. It’s just been a really unique journey and special to do it as a mom who started in my 30s with, you know, two kids and a lot going on, but it was such a positive outlet for me to not feel like I had to be like to take away the pressure. Actually, of like I should be good. I was like, no, I know I’m not supposed to be good at this, and I’m really competitive. I have a pretty extensive athletic background. I had usually carry a lot of expectations, so it was really rewarding and exciting to not have that expectation to be good, and I think that allowed me to to stick with it this whole time.

Jared Battles  17:28

Yeah, it’s good perspective. That’s something good to keep in mind all the way from the beginning, from my bell on. It’s like you you’re gonna level up, but there’s always bigger fish out there too. So oh yeah, it’s just a constant game of improving. There’s there’s many many levels to this, and within each belt category, there’s many many levels to that.

Brianna Battles  17:48

Oh yeah, it’s always sobering when like when Jared and I will go and compete at Worlds or any other like big competitions. It’s just like yeah, there’s so many people that are amazing and incredible, and you cannot compare yourself against them. You really just need to compare, like who you are under your unique circumstances, and what you’re able to show up daily and do, and not have competition be the thing that defines your worth or your value. And much easier said than done, because I’ve been known to totally crash out and cry when I lose. You know,

Jared Battles  18:19

bounce back. I do bounce back.

Brianna Battles  18:21

That’s the difference. That’s the difference now. At 40, is I learned to be a little bit healthier with my my competitiveness, and it’s taken a long time to develop. Another another thing I’m just trying to think of things that like people make comments about, or we’ve been asked about, is like the environment that we’ve created, and we always kind of joke and say, you know, it’s not hard to do a good job as a jujitsu gym owner, because the three compliments that we get and the three areas of concern that we hear about, where people are like, my old gym was like this, or I don’t want whatever. These are the themes. One, we get complimented on how clean the gym is, and we’re pretty crazy and neurotic about keeping it clean in terms of like we clean the mats after our training block. I just keep keep everything well stocked, clean bathroom, clean floors, clean everything. Right, the amount of people that come in and say like I don’t even know if my other gym cleans their mats, or I never saw anybody ever mopping the floor, or the bathroom was just always gross. We get comments like that all the time. Yeah, and women were like, “I didn’t want to go in there because it was like gross. The mats looked gross and smelled, and like everything here, it smells good in here, and it’s clean and whatever. Like again, the bar is really low to do a good job, you guys, in terms of that. Get your gym clean. If you are a gym owner listening to this, freaking have a clean gym. It’s not that hard. The second thing people will say is like, “Wow, you guys really give a shit about people. Like, you really care, and it shows. And again, it’s not hard. It’s not hard as a coach. And Jared and I have both been in different leadership. Coaching positions for over 20 years. That’s the that is not the hard part of running a business, and that’s the like caring is not the hard part of coaching. Checking in with people, making them feel seen, not letting them fall through the cracks, just like knowing about their life and taking interest, and even acknowledging them. Again, the bar is so low. It’s it’s something that comes really naturally, I think, to both of us, because it’s doesn’t just feels like it. It is not a transactional relationship with us, but I know a lot of people have experiences where they’re like, it felt so transactional, or it felt like a money grab. They didn’t know anything about me, or I got overlooked and whatnot with stripes, with belts, with all this stuff, no matter what, right? For so long, and like it, it shouldn’t be that way. It just shouldn’t. That’s that’s not the culture. That that’s not a positive coaching culture. It’s not a positive business model, and it’s not hard to care about people.

Jared Battles  20:56

Nope. That’s the that’s the best part of this type of environment, so businesses literally want to be friends with everybody that walks in the door. We have such a good community that it’s not hard to care about people because everybody that has come in is such a good person and a good soul that it’s just easy.

Brianna Battles  21:14

Yeah, we’re so lucky to be like, oh my gosh, like we we you know we’re friends with some people before, but ultimately we’ve made a lot of new friends over the last six months, and it’s like this is exactly what we were hoping: is that we just create this community where people can easily meld together. And you know, we both our transplants-you know, our family has a transplant to this area. We moved from Southern California like a little over four years ago, and having a gym like this for the whole family is is an extremely helpful way to make friends and to find your people and similar values, similar interests, all of that stuff. So that’s been really been an important part. And then the last part is just maintaining. How do I want to word this? It’s like a healthy culture and appropriate relationships and dynamics on the mat and off the mat. You’ve heard the stories about things that happen in jujitsu and in a lot of gym environments, and it’s been really important to us from the beginning to set a code of conduct and a what’s it called a value. What’s our what’s on our code of ethics. Code of ethics. What did I just say? I don’t

Jared Battles  22:23

know.

Brianna Battles  22:24

So that people knew before coming into the gym what we are about. We Jared and I were able to create a code of ethics that we have displayed large on our wall that we’ve had members sign, read through to make sure we’re on the same page, and it’s not hard. It’s not like anything that’s hard. It’s about respecting your training partners, appropriate behavior, cleanliness on the mat, like just

Jared Battles  22:52

just what we’re about and what we will, and more importantly, what we won’t tolerate.

Brianna Battles  22:55

Right, and we know that like one toxic person can create a huge fallout, and we’re just not we’re not tolerant of that at all. Like we will not tolerate it. And I think like sharing where we stand, what the expectation is, and again, these are not as a hard expectation at all. It’s like basic respect. It goes a very very long way, and being really upfront with that has been helpful for feeling people feeling like they have really good idea of what to expect and just accountability that is in place. So we’re we’re really grateful that that is something that has been seen and recognized from the beginning. That has been pretty easy to like instill in people because it’s just like this is what we’re about about keeping a clean gym. We care about you. We’re developing this culture. We’re keeping it healthy for everybody, healthy and safe feeling, and we can grow from there. So I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast own gyms of work in the fitness industry, or maybe you’re part of a jujitsu gym. You’re thinking about starting one, or maybe you’re one of our members and you just want to hear like some candid yapping, but it’s it’s true. We just wanted to kind of share like the last six months, what we’ve been about, where we’re at, and how it’s going.

Jared Battles  24:10

Yep, and these things kind of apply to all forms of business, all different gyms.

Brianna Battles  24:14

Yeah,

Jared Battles  24:15

even with if you have a business with employees, just how you treat everybody and like laying the foundation of what you will won’t tolerate, and establishing that community feel, even in the workplace.

Brianna Battles  24:26

Yeah, and we’re we’re grateful for the opportunity to do this. It feels really cool to step into business in a local way, and you know, just support our community in this capacity. Be really involved, and I feel like just the network that comes with jujitsu is unmatched, like unmatched. You got a guy for everything. You got you got a girl for everything, and it’s it’s been really fun to see that established too, so that we can all support each other in our careers, in our families, and our struggles, and in our triumphs. It’s been really fun to see that in just last six months. Yeah, that’s what’s happening in Battle Jiu-Jitsu. If you guys have any questions, we would love to answer. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Practice Brave podcast. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review and help us spread the work we are doing to improve the overall information and messaging in the fitness industry and beyond. Now, if you are pregnant and you are looking for a trustworthy exercise program to follow, I have you covered. The Pregnant Athlete Training Program is a well-rounded program for pregnancy with workouts for each week that are appropriate for your changing body. That’s 36 weeks of workouts, three to four workouts each week and tons of guidance on exercise strategy. We also have an at-home version of that program. If you are postpartum and you’re looking for an exercise program to follow, the eight-week postpartum athlete training program would be a really great way to help bridge the gap between rehab and the fitness you actually want to do. From there, we have the Practice Brave Fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance from myself and my co-coach Heather Osby. This is the only way that I’m really offering ongoing coaching at this point in time. If you have ever considered becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, I would love to have you join us. Pregnancy and postpartum athleticism is a self-paced online certification course that will uplevel your coaching skills and help connect the dots between pelvic health and long-term athletic performance, especially during pregnancy and postpartum. Become who you needed, and become who your online and local community needs by becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach. Thank you again for listening to the Practice Brave podcast. I appreciate you, and please help me continue spreading this messaging, this information, and this work.