EP #238: Gabriel Tejada of 10th Planet Miami: Jiu-Jitsu, Resilience, and Conspiracy Theories
Apr 23, 2024
Jeremy Wolf
Are you intrigued by the blend of martial arts and mystique? Gabriel Tejada from 10th Planet Miami Jiu-Jitsu joins me, Jeremy Wolf, on the Good Neighbor Podcast for a captivating journey through the world of Jiu-Jitsu. Prepare to be enthralled as we uncover the no-gi grappling revolution sparked by Eddie Bravo, and how it's intertwined with a tapestry of conspiracy theories, from ancient Anunnaki to a concealed planet in our solar system. Gabriel doesn't hold back, sharing his personal saga with Eddie and the trials of launching a martial arts academy as the world grappled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stepping onto the mat, we explore the life-altering power of martial arts and its capacity to forge resilience, courage, and a sense of triumph over life's hurdles. Gabriel Tejada brings to light the transformative impact Jiu-Jitsu has on individuals, from young warriors to seasoned adults, shaping a meritocratic community where dedication is rewarded and limits are meant to be surpassed. He extends an invitation to join the family at 10th Planet Miami, where the spirit of connection and the lure of personal growth beckon. So, whether you're a martial arts aficionado or simply seeking a challenge that will change your life's course, tune in and immerse yourself in the dynamic and supportive world of Jiu-Jitsu.
Are you intrigued by the blend of martial arts and mystique? Gabriel Tejada from 10th Planet Miami Jiu-Jitsu joins me, Jeremy Wolf, on the Good Neighbor Podcast for a captivating journey through the world of Jiu-Jitsu. Prepare to be enthralled as we uncover the no-gi grappling revolution sparked by Eddie Bravo, and how it's intertwined with a tapestry of conspiracy theories, from ancient Anunnaki to a concealed planet in our solar system. Gabriel doesn't hold back, sharing his personal saga with Eddie and the trials of launching a martial arts academy as the world grappled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stepping onto the mat, we explore the life-altering power of martial arts and its capacity to forge resilience, courage, and a sense of triumph over life's hurdles. Gabriel Tejada brings to light the transformative impact Jiu-Jitsu has on individuals, from young warriors to seasoned adults, shaping a meritocratic community where dedication is rewarded and limits are meant to be surpassed. He extends an invitation to join the family at 10th Planet Miami, where the spirit of connection and the lure of personal growth beckon. So, whether you're a martial arts aficionado or simply seeking a challenge that will change your life's course, tune in and immerse yourself in the dynamic and supportive world of Jiu-Jitsu.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Jeremy Wolf, and our guest today. I'm pretty excited about this because I'm joined by Gabriel Tejada, and Gabriel is with us from 10th Planet, miami, jiu-jitsu, and I must say I've heard many, many wonderful things throughout my life about Jiu-Jitsu and I've never given it a go. So I'm taking this as a little possible sign that this is an impetus for me to get started and explore the wonderful world of Jiu-Jitsu, because I have heard so many great things. So, gabriel, with all that being said, thank you, my brother, for joining us.
Speaker 3:
That's it, man. I'm very happy to be here. I truly appreciate the opportunity to be on your show. Thank you, brother.
Speaker 2:
Oh man, it's our pleasure, that is what we do, and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in to learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, gabriel, without further ado, tell everybody a little bit about 10th Planet Miami, jiu Jitsu.
Speaker 3:
So 10th Planet Miami Jiu Jitsu was founded by Eddie Bravo in Los Angeles, it's. It's funny because the name itself just speaks to the culture of conspiracy on the West Coast. You know Eddie's I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 2:
Do tell me. I know the name, eddie Bravo, but I don't know about the conspiracy with West Coast. Tell me a little bit about that, all right.
Speaker 3:
I'll try not to talk your ear off about it, because I could go on forever. So, in short, essentially Eddie's a big proponent. That's he's my brother. I love that man. You know, I wouldn't have anything that I have without him. He's a genius when it comes to jiu-jitsu, when it comes to everything else. You got to take a great assault, you know. But he's very opinionated. He's extremely opinionated and he's very well informed. He does a lot of research and one of the things that he's a strong believer in is the Anunnaki.
Speaker 2:
Say that one more time. You cut out there for a minute.
Speaker 3:
What was that the Anunnaki have?
Speaker 2:
you ever heard of that. I have heard of the Anunnaki.
Speaker 1:
Okay, I've heard of it.
Speaker 2:
You have to tell me more about the Anunnaki, because I think I know what we're talking about here. Tell me.
Speaker 3:
Okay to tell me more about the anunnaki, because I think I know what we're talking about here. Tell me okay. So there's like this, this long legend, long-standing legend, that there's a 10th planet in in our uh solar system yes, my wife was watching something, a show about the anunnaki.
Speaker 3:
Yes, the, the alien civilizations and all that stuff yes, exactly, and a lot of people believe that they sort of genetically engineered us. But that's how we were able to go from monkeys to humans. But, uh, eddie, eddie believes in that. Whether he's trolling us or not, he sells it really well and and that's what he named the system right, he la is the 10th planet and all the other academies around the world are moons of that 10th planet. So the academy owners are called moon heads and that's kind of the lingo that we use in our little community.
Speaker 2:
I love that You're just a moon head, gabriel. That's it, exactly, exactly. I love the story behind that. So when did Eddie start 10th Planet? How long ago was this?
Speaker 3:
Man more than 20 years ago. Eddie was the truck guy for the UFC that put together the highlight reels in the early days of the UFC, and he started to see that there wasn't really a point for the guys to train in the kimono when they weren't fighting in the kimono, so he began to develop a style of jujitsu that was already existed. He doesn't claim to have invented no-gi jujitsu. It just wasn't really focused on the people that trained in jujitsu mostly trained in the gi. They only took the gi off in the summertime when it was too hot to wear it. But he started to really focus on the body's natural handles instead of using the kimono to control your opponent, and that began to translate really well into MMA. And then there, henceforth, was born the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu style.
Speaker 2:
How long ago did you?
Speaker 3:
link up with Eddie. I started training with Eddie around 2012 was the first time that that I got to train with Eddie. My coaches started templating Bethlehem here on the East coast and eventually, when I got close enough with them, they started taking with me to LA to train with Eddie and we would just be there for weeks at a time. You know we'd go two, three times a year, spend a couple weeks there, come back, you know, disseminate the information, go back and do it again.
Speaker 2:
When did you actually get involved with the franchise?
Speaker 3:
I opened 10th Planet, miami Jiu Jitsu, in 2019. I was working right before COVID man. We took a while to get actually open. I did my grand opening in January, so I really only had two months of breathing time before. You know the life. You know the world shut down and life got a little crazy.
Speaker 2:
So for listeners out there that maybe don't know, everybody by this point has of jiu-jitsu, so they have a general idea. But, gabriel, what? What is jiu-jitsu at its core right? What is the essence of jiu-jitsu?
Speaker 3:
jiu-jitsu is a martial art that's derivative of judo. Judo has two separate uh, I guess schools you could call them. There's a stand-up school, the, the Tachi Waza, which is mostly what they focus on, and then there's no Waza, which translates to ground game or fighting on the ground. And somewhere along the line, a group of samurai just decided like what if we just expanded on the fight on the ground? And that created Japanese jujitsu. And then, somewhere along the way, a politician from Japan who was also a samurai. He went to Brazil and taught these two Brazilian kids, carlos and Elio, jujitsu, and they revolutionized it even further. So they focused more on fighting off your back, so that a smaller individual could defend themselves against a bigger individual, and that created Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. So Jiu-Jitsu is mostly a grappling martial art that allows a smaller individual to use leverage to either strangle or joint, manipulate their opponent into submission.
Speaker 2:
Love it, love it yeah, that's what I've heard is you've never been humbled before Like you will be if you go into jujitsu and grapple with somebody that that has the skill and they could throw you around. It doesn't matter, size doesn't matter, they could throw you around like a rag doll and I and I'm itching to get into that space and I'm going to have to learn more. When we hang up this call, I'm going to have to figure out how to get involved with this because something is calling me brother. I love that. I know I need to experience this for sure.
Speaker 3:
Hey, listen. I fell in love with jujitsu when I was 17, getting my butt kicked by a 14-year- that's always fun, right yeah, that kid had been training since he was 10 and I I was in a bodybuilding at the time I thought I was, you had that big ego right the bodybuilding like oh, this little 14 year old got nothing.
Speaker 2:
He struggled me for three weeks yeah, you're like I gotta get into this shit man he is now.
Speaker 3:
He's now a middleweight champion up in Pennsylvania. Shout out to Trent Stump. He's a beast. Now he's like 27 and he's massive.
Speaker 2:
Speaking of beasts, I just did a podcast last. I think it was last week or the week before. Do you know, are you into? Do you watch Bare Knuckle Boxing at all? The Bare Knuckle Boxing? I do, I do, I do, I'm a big fan. You know Jeremy Smith, jeremy Pitbull Smith. Yes, so he owns Total Nutrition Supplement Store in Weston. Okay, and he came on the podcast to promote the business and we were talking about fighting and the mindset that goes into that. A very interesting conversation.
Speaker 3:
That's awesome.
Speaker 2:
He's a good dude, he's a. He's a good dude, really he's, he's, he's. Such one thing I noticed about fighters and people and and and people that are at a higher level with jujitsu is they're they're like incredibly bad-ass, but they're the most humble people, and I think that goes that goes with every day.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that goes with what you said. Right, you go and you train with somebody that's half your size and they throw you around. It's very, very humbling, but it's very good to be exposed to that from a mindset standpoint. Yeah, 100%, 100%. So now do you? So you have obviously the owner of Tenth Planet. Do you also compete yourself or do you just train the coach?
Speaker 3:
I do.
Speaker 2:
What kind of competition do?
Speaker 3:
you get involved with. One of my coaches favorite sayings is beware of fat sensei. You never, you never, want to be that sensei. Yes, right, the guy that that runs the academy and you know, he tells you everything you should do, but you don't see him doing it right. Yeah, that, yeah, that's that's what we strive not to be right.
Speaker 3:
Eddie competed well until his body gave up on him, you know, and that's obviously I want to. I want to have longevity. I don't want my body to fail on me, but that's an unfortunate side effect of competing at the highest level. It is a fighting art, right? But Eddie's close to 50 now and he's still training with his highest level athletes in the gym every day, and that's something that I strive to do as well. So, yes, I compete in pretty much anything I can get into. Some of the biggest promotions involved in jiu-jitsu are the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships, adcc. I've done a bunch of those. I've done a bunch of international Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournaments and smaller promotions like New Breed and Naga, things like that. I even went ahead and started my own promotion here in South Florida. We run one called the Finishers Jiu-Jitsu Tournament sub, only up north, and we brought the Finishers sub only southeast down to southeast, southeast florida, so we're very big in the competition in our academy very cool man.
Speaker 2:
So what would you say to somebody out there? I think a lot of people might be like me, where they've heard great things about jiu-jitsu and they just, for whatever reason, they just never venture into that space. They say, maybe I'll do it tomorrow, maybe I'll do it next week. For anybody out there listening that does have that little spark of interest, that wants to get engaged, what can they expect when they go? Because I think there's like a certain level of of of fear that people have about going into, fear of the unknown right, fear of putting yourself in a situation where you're vulnerable, and I know that that's a big thing with jujitsu. So what can someone expect?
Speaker 3:
What can I expect if I came into your studio to learn what would that look like coming in from the beginning, I would say that it is probably the most fulfilling and difficult pursuit, athletically, that you will go through. It's not going to be easy in the beginning. It's difficult, you know. The winds are small, they're far few in between. But the beauty of this art is that it teaches you perseverance in its truest form. Right, it is a real meritocracy. If you work hard, you get good, if you don't, you don't. And that lesson is reinforced in life over and over and over and over.
Speaker 3:
I was just having a conversation with the parent, one of the parents, yesterday. Her son is, she trains, her name's Patricia and her son is five now and he's in my toddler's class. And and seeing them in real time learn to deal with resistance and failure and, and and you know, having to dig in and find that dog in them for the first time, you know that's. That's something that some people never have to do until they're full fledged adults, and that's why they feel that little fear, that little, that little, like you know, and and that's something that you just whether it was when you were five or when you're 35, that's something that you're going to have to face eventually. So you might as well just jump in Right, because at least this is also fun and it's safe, right, but it's still going to give you that, it's still going to teach you to deal with that in the real world, and that's probably my favorite thing about it and that's probably my favorite thing about it.
Speaker 2:
That's really powerful and one of the things I'm discovering at 44 years old is that only recently I was able to discover kind of the hidden potential locked within me and it made me think about how many people live their whole lives without actually tapping into that, without discovering what their passion is or what drives them for again, fear of failure, fear of what other people think, fear this, fear of that, all this bullshit, all these walls that we construct and and it sounds like getting involved with jujitsu, especially from an early age it just builds, that, sharpens that knife for you, so that anything that comes in life, anything that you encounter, you could use your advantage and and really get confidence in yourself and belief and conviction in what you're doing a hundred percent.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker 3:
You know, you got you got me, you got me on board, man you, I love it I love it any, any of any of the big, the big four, you know, uh, boxing, judo, wrestling, jujitsu, those are the ones. Or kickboxing, we could say we could throw that fifth one in there. Those martial arts, those five martial arts, they're five martial arts. They're real, they're real. You're going to have to actually face adversity, right, like they can't be played. You can't play boxing, you can't play wrestling. You know you can make it fun, it's still fun, but it's real, and those are the kind of things that people need to feel and if not, life forces it on you and then you don't know how to handle it and that, and that's where it gets a little. You know it gets dicey in life.
Speaker 2:
Indeed, it does. So how can our listeners connect with you? How could they learn more? For anyone out there like me who wants to get involved, please share your website, your contact information. Let us know how we can find you guys 10thplanetmiamicom.
Speaker 3:
10thplanetmiami on instagram. Uh, you can also find us at finishers mma on instagram. Um, we are located at 6315 miramar Parkway in Miramar, florida. Yeah, our schedule is completely up on the website. Everything that you need to know is up there. Your first class is free. Come through and check us out. If you train elsewhere, we have open mats on Sundays, free and open to everybody.
Speaker 2:
We're here to build a community, you know. Yes, one brotherhood, one community. We're all in this fight together. My man, that's so funny. I speak with so many businesses on the podcast and I have so many interests in so many things and I recently had somebody on that owns Casa Salsa Davy. It's a salsa studio and I was like man. My wife's, from Peru. She always used to love dancing. We haven't danced in a while. I certainly don't dance very well and I scheduled the time to take her salsa dancing and that was one of those other things that was a little uncomfortable for me but it was so fun, we had such a great time. But I have so many business owners and I want to do all these things. I feel like I'm going to go broke signing up for all these classes, for all these people I have on the podcast.
Speaker 2:
But I am definitely you're going to hold me to this, gabriel. I don't want to. I don't want you to let me not come in and see you and and and don't don't tell me to do that, man, because I will.
Speaker 3:
I could get a little.
Speaker 2:
I say it all the time on the time. Time is our most valuable asset and it's it's fleeting daily and I say it. I get excited in the moment and I say like, oh, I'm going to come in and check it out. And then life happens and I don't. But I'm going to. I say this don't let me forget, stay in my ear. I need to come in there and check this out. It's something that I've been wanting to do and it's going to happen.
Speaker 3:
I love to hear it.
Speaker 2:
I love to hear it, and we're going to link in the description to all your contact information and all that good stuff. So, gabriel, it was a pleasure getting the opportunity to meet you, brother, for real.
Speaker 3:
Hey, I had fun talking to you, Jeremy.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, man, Once again it was an honor being on here, brother. Yeah, man, happy to have you, and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in. We will catch everyone next time. Everyone, have a great day.
Speaker 1:
Take care, stay strong and be blessed. Everyone have a great day Bye. Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to gnpcoopercitycom. That's gnpcoopercitycom, or call 954-231-3170.