The Go Earn Your SALT Podcast Episode Transcript- Randy William aka. Black Belt Randy

Randy William November 12, 2025 (EDIT)

Randy William: [00:00:00] Uh, driving to the hospital when I didn't know if my wife was alive or not, because I knew they weren't legally allowed to tell me, but I knew that was pretty terrifying because I was like, it could be a chance, I guess. And then it was scary 'cause like now I had this whole open future that I didn't understand anymore.

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Riley: Today we have Randy William on here, black belt, Randy, uh, as he's also [00:01:00] known and Randy and I met through, uh, gosh, it was through Forever, white Belt Podcast, if I'm not mistaken.

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: You had an interview there. And we're a sponsor of that podcast also. Uh, salt electrolytes is, and, and, uh, anyways, we got chit-chatting through the comments on there. Just one day. One of the, one of the clips that, uh, uh, that he put out was it spoke to me, you know, so I commented to you and we got chit chatting after that.

And, and, uh, Randy is. He, he's a, he's we're, we also have juujitsu in common, right? And so we're both black belts me recently. He's been one for a long time. And, and, uh, so we, we have that common thread. what really has hit me about Randy is just the, he's built this social media platform that has taken a lot of energy, a lot of effort, and really a lot of just overcoming insecurity in life to get there.

And he's, he's built this, um, built this channel Instagram and YouTube, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right, [00:02:00] Randy?

Randy William: Yeah, I just kind of throw it on there.

Riley: it on there.

Randy William: Yeah, YouTube is just kind of fun on there.

Riley: but it impressed me and I know how much work goes into those kind of things. And so that really made me want to have Randy on the show today.

So man, I'm honored that you're here. Um, I appreciate you accepting the invite.

Randy William: Yeah, of course. I, I love doing these things. It's fun to chit chat all day.

Riley: Randy, tell us about you, man. Who, who, who are you? Where'd you come from? What was life growing up?

Randy William: So I grew up on the East coast in Delaware, like northern Delaware in the beginning of Wilmington. But um, I was born in Florida, but then my parents split up when I was really young. My dad moved up to Florida, uh, Delaware. I guess that's where his family's from. So I grew up in like Wilmington and going to Philly all the time, hanging out, uh.

Then life happened. I got put into foster [00:03:00] care when I was, I think I was eight, eight or nine, and I was through that system till I was 18. Other than that, I stayed pretty much in the same area, surprisingly, pretty much the Dover area the whole time. And from that time, that's when I started training when I was in high school.

Riley: H how did the, how did you end up in foster care? What happened there?

Randy William: So my dad. As I get older, I realize he did try, but at the time he just, uh, didn't know how to handle three kids by himself. But he obviously had the same anger issues I have. Like, uh, he was, I wouldn't say he was abusive as other kids I met, but if you got a mark on you and you go to school, it's a problem.

And that's kind of what happened with my younger brother. He had like a mark on his back 'cause the dad missed. He's supposed to smack his ass and hit him in the back. And no one really defended him, and he just kind of gave up on the situation, which I can, as I get older. I'm like, man, that sucks. I can [00:04:00] kind of understand now.

But that's kind of how all that started. When I was 12, we had the choice to go back. My brother and sister actually did go back and live with my dad. I did not. I stayed where I was because I saw. That I had opportunity that I didn't have being broke. So I chose that. I started playing sports that year. I was playing football, then lacrosse and soccer.

Um, I started to make friends. That was new to me at the time. That's pretty much where it all started. There when I was 12 is where my life actually started. And that was in Dover?

Riley: up in Delaware.

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah. All Delaware.

Riley: Yeah. So you, you've been an athlete your whole life then, it sounds like since, since a kid,

Randy William: Yeah, whether serious or not, I've always done something like I started with football and that was the first sport I ever played.

Riley: you, how long

Randy William: I loved that game. [00:05:00] I played from 14 to 16. Um, I stopped playing 'cause I stopped growing. Honestly, I've been the same height since I was 12. I was huge as a kid. I was tall and lanky.

I was like 110 pounds, but five nine, which was ridiculous at, at that time. And then, uh, I tried to play winner league one year when I was 15, and I learned real quick, I'm not a lineman and this, this shit ain't for me, man, getting knocked over in the cold, icy snow that, that sucked. I was like, Nope. I guess I'm playing soccer now.

But I also started soccer because the high school I went to didn't even have football, so I couldn't even be a kicker or a receiver in high school. So I was a goalkeeper in soccer since it's still a very aggressive position.

Riley: dude, I, I was a goal in soccer too. I loved it.

Randy William: Yeah, it was great. I got to just run through people. I, it was fun.

Riley: funny that you say that 'cause I, uh, the last [00:06:00] game that I ever played, and we had this coach come in, um, it was in junior high school and we had this coach come in who, uh, he, he ended up skipping town, took all of our money with him and, and just bailed Right in the middle of

Randy William: shit.

Riley: Yeah. you know, I was, I remember the last game I played. I was in there, I was goalie and this guy kicked the ball. Man, I, I grabbed a hole of that thing and I stopped it, but I was laying on top of the ball, right. And I was two feet from the line. I was right in front of the goal line and as I got up, it slipped off my jersey and went in into the

Randy William: No. No,

Riley: was a terrible way to end my soccer career because it was like, was the

Randy William: no.

Riley: memory I flubbing a goal?

Randy William: Man, I have done that. I've broken my hands several times 'cause I get scored. I hate losing. I can't fucking stand it. And I played on the worst high school team you could imagine, right? Like I was an Allstate goalie, not because I was just that good, which I thought I was, but because I got that many saves because we got shot on that [00:07:00] much like we would lose game.

Oh man, I averaged like 20 saves a game. It was ridiculous.

Riley: funny, man. Yeah. I never really thought of it from that perspective of, uh, you know, you want your goalie to be bored back there. You don't want your goalie getting a lot of

Randy William: Exactly. That's what it is. I do that. I say the same thing in Juujitsu all the time. I'm like, if you rely on your goalie or you rely on your escapes, you probably suck.

Riley: Oh my gosh, man. I kinda wanna talk about that as we get going. Just, uh, that,

Randy William: Yeah,

Riley: hold that You

Randy William: all it'll be there. Don't worry. There's a fucking fly. I thought they were all gone, but, oh, well,

Riley: Do you guys get 'em, like, we get 'em down here? We get the season in the fall where we just get inundated with flies up here in Boise.

Randy William: usually it's just the summer. I'm like, this is the first time I had to fly in my house since uh, my wife has been deployed, man. I'm like, how did it do it? Because we have like a sunroom and then a poet, so they gotta go through so many layers to get in a fucking house.[00:08:00]

Riley: me this, man. You, you said your wife's deployed right now.

Randy William: No, she's actually back now. She's been back for a couple weeks.

Riley: recently, back then,

Randy William: Yeah,

Riley: how long

Randy William: six months. She's an Air Force. She's a captain. Well, she'll be a major soon, so pay raise.

Riley: Nice. Well thank you for service man. That's pretty awesome. I,

Randy William: Oh, of course.

Riley: also?

Randy William: No, surprisingly enough, I get that asked. I get asked that all the time. I was never military. I just, I did the first one and the second one were both military chicks. And then my first juujitsu teaching job was an, was the on the Air Force, the Dover Air Force base. So I've just always been around it.

Riley: Until everybody, right now, you, you're not in uh, Delaware anymore, though. You're

Randy William: No, I'm in Biloxi, Mississippi now.

Riley: Oh, that's great, [00:09:00] man. Well, te go with this. So that, that's your, that's your growing up. What, what eventually led to Juujitsu because, you know, you talked about soccer, you talk about football, but

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: it's like sport, right?

Randy William: Yeah, it took over real quick. So my eighth grade year in my high school was high school for us. I went to a charter school and I started varsity in soccer and lacrosse. My eighth grade year, my first year of playing lacrosse, I got, I started for two main reasons. One, no one wanted to be a fucking goalie and.

In lacrosse, if you're a goalie, you're, yeah, you're probably crazy if you're a goalie in lacrosse, it's like a, that's like the stereotype of a lacrosse goalie. They're just nuts. I loved it. I thought it was awesome. I was like, ah, cool. I get to take away people's hopes and dreams. Like I love that about being a goalie in any sport.

And, uh, I played that for three years, eighth, ninth. Well, I did play my junior year for, um. Sports, but I didn't play my sophomore year [00:10:00] because I got a double red card my sophomore year in soccer because uh, I was just an asshole. I was arrogant. I sl tackle with somebody, got a red card and told the I have to suck my balls, and they got a double red card.

So then I had to go to truancy court for fucking sports and I couldn't play in my junior year of lacrosse. So I said, fuck it. And. I tried to get back into playing it. I did at first, and then I started dating my son's mom and, um, I went to their house. It was like this time of year that in September I was, it was during soccer season and I went to, uh.

Their house and her dad was like, Hey, you wanna help me lay some stone to uh, make some cash? I'm like, hell yeah. I, I, I love making money. So we're like laying these big like stones around his pool, make it look all pretty. He is like, do you wrestle? No, that's gay. He's like, you wanna wrestle? I'm like, [00:11:00] sure I can beat up an old man.

And then he tried and go, choked me. Yeah, I was like, all right. So he triangle choked me and I had my hand in and he dislocated my thumb and I was like, that will never happen again. How the fuck did you do that? And then he started teaching me in the basement. 'cause he had like, it's funny, it was a blue basement, which is really funny to thinking back on it 'cause it blew mats.

He was also a henzel blue belt. He got his blue belt in like the nineties from Henzel and just never really stuck with it forever. He just trained once in a while. And then we had a gym pretty close to our house and for that time period, yeah, she just was picking up. But there, you were lucky if there was a gym in your town and there was two in uh, 2009.

And so we had two in our town. There was one like right down the street and then there was one in Dover that was in a church. And uh, I went to both for a while at the same time. I trained every day I could. And that's how it started. I was like, oh, I am never losing to you [00:12:00] again. Ever. And then he, uh, never grappled with me again.

Ever. He never did it again. So he always had that win and it pissed me off. So I got my blue belt. He's like, yeah, I'm done now. And then I got purple, brown, black. He's like, yeah, yeah, nope, I already beat you don't need to do it again. And then he died. Made it worse. Yeah. But now I really can't get it because you went, had to go die.

Riley: he did,

Randy William: He did, he passed away. Um, 2021.

Riley: my, my instructor passed away 2022. What year was that I think it was 2022. 'cause I've been, my father was six weeks before that, but yeah. So I lost my instructor

Randy William: it was a, it was a, it was a weird time 'cause my first wife died Thanksgiving 2020 and then he died Thanksgiving 2021.

Riley: first wife passed away.

Randy William: Yeah, she was in a car accident. [00:13:00] Mm-hmm.

Riley: Dang What?

Randy William: was in, uh, army National Guard. No,

Riley: No.

Randy William: we didn't have any together. She had one, two, and I had my oldest son at the time.

Riley: Oh man, I'm starting to hear that. Dude. I, I don't wanna know what it's like to walk through that. And that's gotta be,

Randy William: That sucks, but. I can't control what I can't control. That's how I deal with everything. Every good or bad thing. I just go to the gym the next day. My son was born. I went to the gym. My wife died. I went to the gym. It didn't, it doesn't make a difference once it's done.

Riley: you about that a little bit, Randy. 'cause that's, yeah. 'cause there's a lot of emotion in that, but at the same time you're like, you you always that way with just being able to kind of recognize that

Randy William: Yep.

Riley: done

Randy William: It's a long, long time ago. Someone said to me, I don't even remember who it was. I think I was like 12 or 13. Like I may not have had [00:14:00] good father figures, but I had really good men in my life who were just still a quote out there, and for some reason, my idiot mind. For the betterness of me just latched onto quotes, right?

Maybe that's autism, I don't fucking know anymore. And he said, but don't, don't get mad about what you can't control. And that took me a long time to truly get, 'cause what you get scored on in soccer, you really can't control that. No matter how good you are, they should win in that situation. And I took it personally and would break my hands punching goal posts and just be an idiot.

And then I heard that, I think I was a little, I might have been 14 or 15 when he told me that. And I just had that stick with me. I remember a time when my adopted parents, they got robbed, right? And they took my game boy. I was like, what the hell? But that popped in head. Can't get mad. What? You can't control, you can always buy another one.

And that's just how I've been since. [00:15:00] Like I know online I come off as ly and petty. I do that 'cause being petty's fucked. Like being annoyed is hilarious to me, but I'm never actually angry. I haven't been mad in a long time.

Riley: I, uh, yeah, I wanna talk a little bit about that, you know, the character you put

Randy William: Yeah,

Riley: 'cause it's, it's, it's definitely, um, I can tell you something. It's something you've worked on, right? Um,

Randy William: not just hyper, just hyper all the time.

Riley: Um, well talk about this man. 'cause you, you're, you started jiujitsu in 2009.

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: For members who don't know, black belt's not something you achieve in a year.

It's something that is decade or more. It's, it's a long-term choice. And so, so talk about that man. Like what, what kept you motivated to continue on that path?

Randy William: So I make this terrible joke. The darker my belt got, the bigger my ego got. [00:16:00] Because I refused to lose. I hated it so much that I obsessed I back then you were lucky if you got two or three nights a week to train. I did that and then I would go to another gym because back then that was like taboo going to two gyms.

I did it anyway. And um, I would go and then I would go home and just beat up a heavy bag for an hour every day or. Just figure out things I could do. Some of it probably didn't make any sense, like trying to bear and bolo a heavy bag, like that's dumb. Or I would put sleeves on, uh, like a normal heavy bag and do to passes.

Like not the best thing to do. It's not mechanically sound when I look back, but I just obsessed. I thought about it constantly. Everything I did was grappling related. Every time I stood up from the floor playing with my son was stand up in base Everything was grappling related. Every video I watched, everything I [00:17:00] read, uh, I did.

I couldn't handle losing, and instead of quitting, I made it so I couldn't lose, which is probably not entirely healthy either, but it worked out for me. I was stubborn.

Riley: All the sports you played.

Randy William: Every single one of them. So when I played lacrosse, I would get up at five in the morning, go play with the college because the coach, I had played college still, and then I would go to school and then go practice and then play at a travel team and then go to Juujitsu practice. Like I refused to just sit there.

I learned really quickly that it doesn't matter how many years you do something, you can still suck ass because I was better than all the seniors on my team. And it's not about years, it's about hours. And then I heard that quote again in Jiujitsu. Most of my like life lessons came from sports, not Jiujitsu.

I just apply onto that [00:18:00] now. So I look wise or something.

Riley: Say that one more time. You said it's not about years, it's

Randy William: It's not about years, it's about hours. Any idiot can put on a gee a couple nights a week and show up for 10 years. It's not that hard. But I got my black belt and pretty much self-taught in eight and a half years. I only went to a gym that I didn't run up until I was a late blue belt, and then I started teaching on base.

Riley: Tell, tell me this, man. 'cause I, you know, again, with, for the

Randy William: I,

Riley: we're not just stick with totally juujitsu in

Randy William: yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

Riley: 'cause you know,

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: there's a lot life, a lot of my life that has been part of that. So, um, Randy, when you're, when you're talking about being self-taught, talk about what that looks like, Ben, because I, here's what I envision when you say that, and I want you to tell me if it's

Randy William: [00:19:00] Yeah. Yeah.

Riley: I spend more time learning outside the gym, sometimes by watching instructional, sometimes just thinking through situations, ruminating on it, you know, just kind of that I go full nerd mode on things. Um. when you say self-taught, was it completely self-taught or was there other influences in there that were just

Randy William: my

Riley: in your school?

Randy William: professor and my coach were huge influences, but I only got to see them maybe once every other month. So self-taught. I would, I guess a better way to put it self-defined. Like I learned one thing from my professor every other month and I made that shit work. I didn't care how long it took me. And then he told me one day, 'cause I was struggling with something, he used to just force it until it flows.

And that blew my fucking mind. 'cause everyone in jujitsu's all flow with the girl and all this stupid shit when that's not what athletics is. That's, that's just not realistic. And I was a goalie, [00:20:00] like I said, and everything in goalkeeping is angle and timing, right? It's a lot of angle, timing and knowing where the ball's going to be.

So you don't think my jujitsu, I don't think it's very, there's certain buttons I go, if I break your grip, get mine, I go. I just go. There's no thinking. Because I just drilled it 7 million times in my mind or on a dummy or on a person, it doesn't matter drilling on you. I'll do the same technique to you as a black belt that I would a grappling dummy.

It doesn't change, which most people, even most grapplers don't get what I mean by that, but I don't change just because you are a white or a black belt. I will do the same thing. I just might have to add an extra step because you might defend somewhat properly.

Riley: No, I, I hear you on that, man. I know. I totally hear you on that. me, tell me when you're. What you're describing to me. Like I said, I, I feel like we hold that in common, that we can both [00:21:00] just kind of dive full nerd into a subject and, um, that's kind of the way I like to put it because I, I, but it's, it's kind of an addictive personality is what I realize. It's like, I'll

Randy William: Oh yeah.

Riley: and I am fully in and, and are there things in this world that you stay away from because you recognize that kind of addictive type personality?

Randy William: Yes and no. Like my wife knows what she married. When I travel, like I'll go up north and a lot of my friends do drugs. I will definitely smoke some weed, but eh, I get bored and then I'm done with it. I will give acid the credit for helping me get over my wife's death. I did acid, walked around the woods for 12 hours, and now I was like, oh, I'm good.

Everything's fine. But I've never been addicted to any substance. Arguable. You could argue caffeine if you want to, but I've never, I've always been good at just knowing if [00:22:00] something's worth the time on that. Like, I'm not gonna go try heroin 'cause I've watched people. That blows my mind. How do you watch people die from this?

And then go, I'm gonna do it. Yeah. I don't, I don't get it, honestly. Like that one, I don't get like marijuana. I can see the appeal sometimes, you know, acid, like trip it. Like I can see how that could be fun, but I can also see how it's escapism and I'm not doing anything different with juujitsu. Like I said earlier, if I have a good day, go Jiujitsu.

If I have a bad day, go to Jiujitsu. It's just a healthy

Riley: Yeah, No, the escapism part of it's for real. And I think, um. You know, I have background in like running, triathlon, that sort of a thing. And it was the same way with that man. You get out there just chugging away, getting your own head and it's like, it's all you're thinking about is what you're doing at the moment.

And it's very similar to the jiujitsu

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: right? Yeah.

Randy William: I gave running a try. It's so [00:23:00] boring. I tried, I ran a 5K like every day for like three months to cut weight and it was the most boring part of my day. It was the longest 25 minutes ever.

Riley: 'cause I, I love to run, but it depends on my environment. Like if I'm running trails where I have rocks to jump over and logs and, you know, that kind of a

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah.

Riley: running down a road Yeah, it's born as crud, man. I hear you.

Randy William: Yeah, it's awful. It's awful.

Riley: Talk about this man. So you're obviously an accomplished teacher in Juujitsu.

You've been instructing for quite some time.

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: stuff of talked prior to starting this recording about it takes to be a good instructor, right? What it takes to take something as complicated as Juujitsu and simplify it down. And I had mentioned to you one of the videos I saw of yours where you said, you know, everything is standup and base. Um, I

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: a little so people understand what I [00:24:00] say when I say standup and base. 'cause that's not a term

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah.

Riley: In fact, half of Juujitsu people don't understand why it's called that. Um, but you're taking complicated subjects and you're distilling them down into these, you know, simpl, simplistic kind of concepts. Um, talk about

Randy William: Exactly.

Riley: man. What, Mm-hmm.

Randy William: Quick story. 'cause this is how I figured it out. I was learning the Ryan Hall hip bump the triangle, right. Uh, very common technique. One of the original, like fancy setups, I would say. And it blew my mind, right? Because I made him do what I wanted him to do, to do the thing I wanted to do. And I latched onto that technique and, um, I just broke it down over and over why that worked.

Like I spent a lot of time just on that. Why is it a push? Why can't I pull and do this so that I have a way Now I can pull and do the same technique? I have so many ways to do the [00:25:00] exact same thing now. That's when I realized this shit is not hard. I'm just not good at it. Like that was a late blue belt when I realized everything's just timing and, and knowing when and how to do something enough.

Like you don't need perfect technique. I care about perfect technique 'cause I like to, that's unnecessary. So. With that. I read somewhere a long time ago that four is like the magic number. If I throw down three objects, you can count it without counting five objects. Most people have to count four is that highest number.

So I just decided I'm not gonna teach anything that has more than four steps. So if it has more than four steps, you're not ready for it. Or if it's not adding to the previous four steps. So that means if it lemme try to. Explain this. If we did 1, 2, 3, 4 of a Ebola and you're not there yet, just stick with those four and then we'll go 3, 4, 5, 6.

And that's kind of how I did everything. That's, I planned all my [00:26:00] classes that way. I still do. So I teach one technique a week within a system and then just throw all the concepts in there with it.

Riley: You.

Randy William: So I broke everything down to movement patterns essentially.

Riley: I love that man, because you're, you're talking about something that takes so many years of repetition of something before you even start to recognize that stuff, right?

Randy William: Mm-hmm. I, I didn't even, I was winning matches and I didn't know how I won when I was a blue belt and then I lost a lot of purple belt 'cause I didn't care about winning anymore. Well, I did, but I cared of how did that, how did I do that? And then I'd get my own mind freeze and then get caught. And then at Brown Belt, it kind of evened out a little bit, and I've just been refining the same thing since

Riley: Do you

Randy William: adding little details here and there.

Riley: I discovered because I, I started teaching at Purple Belt and it's, I told you my

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: away and I was And, and I used to cover his day classes, [00:27:00] um, the nine right. And I'd, I'd do Tuesdays and Thursdays and I'd cover him only when he traveled.

And then one day he went out on a trip, went down to Brazil for a conference and never came back. And I'm still teaching those classes today

Randy William: That's,

Riley: man, the, the art form of teaching anything 'cause very different from being a practitioner in that.

Randy William: mm-hmm. The hardest part about teaching isn't even the teaching. It's Well, it is, but it's not like it can't be one size fits all because jujitsu isn't like any other sport or subject in this one regard. There isn't, generally speaking, beginner, intermediate, advance and courses you work your way through, that's also an issue.

Whereas if you go to, if you're teaching a math class on basic math, like the four major functions, plus, minus debate, whatever, you're gonna have a bunch of people who. Uh, idiots, and that's all you're gonna have to teach. That's fine. [00:28:00] Imagine trying to teach that, teach that class and it's, you are only allowed to teach the four major functions to a bunch of scientists.

They're gonna be bored outta their mind. Same thing happens here a lot. I have to teach, stand up and face to my morons while I have two round belts sitting over there. So at the same time, I had to figure out. How can I make them do this? Like my whole job is tricking people into doing what I want them to do.

It's very manipulative, hilarious. So that's what, like when I have higher ranks in the class, I find ways to teach those mechanics within a technique. So if you look at a hip bump triangle, my legs on the back of the head, my shoulders on the mat, that's a standup and base to pivot my hip out, and then they can learn to feel juujitsu instead of do juujitsu, which is very important distinction.

Riley: So talk about the, that, 'cause you kind of alluded to it in there that there's not only are you teaching a different levels, but you're also teaching to different learning styles. Right.

Randy William: [00:29:00] Mm-hmm.

Riley: who, I'll do this in class, man, it sucks. Some people I can tell by look on their face, they've gotta feel it.

And they, they need to come over here

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Riley: I Talk about that. What's your strategy there? Talk.

Randy William: Dude, 90% of the time I just grab their fucking hands and put them where they need to go. It's just talking. Doesn't work that often with a bunch of airmen or people who, uh, speak a different language. We have this new girl, she's probably my hardest worker right now. She just wants to always drill. She wants, she's like, can we go again?

I'm like, hell yeah. Let's go and just beat her ass. I had, I, she doesn't understand half of what I say, so I just have to manhandle her and position and tell her stop fucking being difficult. My children, honestly, it's like parenting to.

Riley: It's funny you say it that way 'cause I, you know, between me as an instructor, I, I, this is what I'm thinking about as you're saying all this, I'm kind of reflecting on [00:30:00] what, what it looks like in class. But I'll tell somebody, you know, move your left hand to their shoulder and, and they'll move their left foot.

Dude, I swear it's in, its. But I've been there, I've been on the receiving end of that

 

[00:31:00]

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: like, your, move your right hand. And I'm like, my head. That's

Randy William: Yeah, it's 'cause they mimic what you are doing. So if feel like move your right hand, they will do that because we mimic, that's the fastest way to learn is mimic. Or I'll be like, grab this cup and they'll do this. Who the fuck grabs a cup like that? Like, it's like, why, why, why did you do that? So I have to show them,

Riley: Yes,

Randy William: most of the time anymore.

And I'm like, like this. This is how you get a four finger grip.

Riley: I

Randy William: Like, I don't, I try not [00:32:00] to talk.

Riley: take their hands and put 'em where you want 'em. 'cause I, I was doing that literally last night. It's like, no, here, don't rotate it

Randy William: Yep.

Riley: this is where the cup happens. It's, That's funny

Randy William: It's, it's funny how it works

Riley: the nonverbal approach to that.

Randy William: like I do talk, but most of it's saying off the wall shit. So they remember if I say. I am trying to find non juujitsu related analogies and it's hard, Hey, don't put your leg here, because they will Achilles lock it. Like, nah, nah. When in doubt, pull out man. Don't let that shit get finished.

They understand that.

Riley: um, we have an instructor in our school who he's masterful at giving names to things that are memorable, like what you're saying.

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah.

Riley: when you're, when you're trying to come up with this, is it on the flyer? Do you, do you spend time outside of the mats trying [00:33:00] to, uh, put these lessons together?

So with phrases that are

Randy William: So the lessons are somewhat thought out, but then the a HD is like, that's what takes over the analogies. Like I, most of them, I just say it's some shit that some people are like, what the fuck is wrong with that guy? But they don't forget it.

Riley: Oh my gosh, man. No, I think that's great. I, uh, you know, having examples there that help people remember stuff, like you've been in the game long enough have watched the names of techniques change, right?

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: that used to is now called this, and, and you've probably

Randy William: Yep.

Riley: change two or three

Randy William: I

Riley: So someone says, well, me this technique. And you're like, I don't know what you're talking about. Show me, you know?

Randy William: Exactly, uh, I actually stole the whole idea. From Eddie Bravo because he's a systemize. I just thought his warmups were too damn long and complex for a normal person that didn't understand. So I [00:34:00] just turned everything into a system, like that's all I did. And then we would add a tiny piece every day. And when I started teaching on base, that's what I did.

Uh, we weren't the most talented group of guys, but those guys won everything I put them in because I would teach 'em the arm jag from closed guard. And then the bow and arrow and that was it. They didn't even have to take the back. It's the shortest possible way to victory. I could possibly think of pull guard, get close guard, arm drag, choke, fuck out of them.

Simple. And the worst part is that is still my A game. Like I don't change it. Like I never had to change it. No one can stop it. Like why change? If I get closed out, I win. And that's like what I teach.

Riley: simple, kind of, the simple approach to things because I, we've all seen that 25 steps to a triangle instructional, right?

Randy William: And the thing is, that's not wrong because they have a reason why they do that. But I, [00:35:00] all we need to know is position, transition position. That's it. That's all Juujitsu is and it's entirety. A submission is just a transition, uh, position side, that's all. It's so when you're going through nine different positions.

And transitions to get to the end result. It's confusing for most people 'cause they don't know why you did what you did, right? A lot of people don't know why I would go to Deva. It's very simple. They have really good posture. I can't break them down. I'm gonna open my God. Most people just open their God to open their fucking God now.

And that's why everyone says close. God is dead. And that pisses me off.

Riley: This, uh, you know, doing things without a why

Randy William: Mm-hmm. A lot of people do. A lot of people teach without a why behind it. But I also teach Do what you're told. So I can see how it's confusing for some of my guys at times. Do what you're told, learn the why later.

Riley: Okay. So expand on that one a little bit, man. 'cause that's a, that's a probably a bigger point [00:36:00] than I think most are realizing. Right. Uh, do as you're told now, some point, that's all gonna click on why you're doing it.

Randy William: It will. That's exactly what I told my guys last night. Uh, you are doing this on drag a certain way because I've already worked out all of the kicks, right? I don't have time. Just like with you have your kid, you don't have time to explain, Hey, don't run into the road because of this, this, and this. Just don't run into the fucking road, or you'll die.

It's that simple. You can learn the why after the danger's gone, dude, like, it's, it's like parenting, man. I learned this grip, this grip. Punch it down. If you punch it up. They punch you in the face. If you do it this way, they punch you in the face. If you do it this way, they stand up, just do it and then you'll learn the why later.

And that's how my professor kind of taught. He taught me the over underpass and he's a little guy. And I was like, why that pass for such a little person? He's really good at it. Like you fucked me up with that stupid pass. And [00:37:00] I do it all the time. And then I realize something. I'd never get caught in lasso ever.

I, unless I give it to you to play around the way I pass naturally, I don't get caught in lasso and I generally don't get caught in leg blocks. That's what over under passing is. Avoid ve lasso keeps your legs away. They clicked when I was a brown belt. It's like, ah, okay. There's no reason to learn leg blocks then.

Okay, cool.

Riley: So you just said the words, it clicked when you were a brown belt, which means you're, you know, you said you got black belt eight and a half years, but so you're, you're seven years in, right? And all of a sudden this concept clicks like

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: of

Randy William: Yeah, it took a while. What did I say? I was stubborn. I was a technique Nazi man. I can, there's a video I posted a long, long time ago. It's like me doing a 15, 20 escapes side control as a round belt. And I looked at some of 'em. I was like, I don't even know how to do that anymore. I just hold the arm away.

I just do one thing now that leads into other things.[00:38:00]

Riley: Yeah, back into that simplicity. Right. You've kind of distilled it down now you understand it better, but,

Randy William: Yep.

Riley: uh,

Randy William: I think everyone should go through that. You should. Oops, sorry.

Riley: go ahead. Finish your thought.

Randy William: No, I said like, I think everyone should, should go through that technique Nazi phase, because how are you gonna know if you don't try everything? That's kind of how I thought about it and eventually some work, some don't. Some get lucky. And then you find the ones that work consistently for you.

Riley: I think there's, uh. exploration stage of any endeavor is, is important. Right.

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: I remember that man. I'd get out there and there were certain ways I'd have my bike set up and I'd change it because, you know, after, after 20 miles that starts to get really uncomfortable. So yeah.

Maybe it's better for aerodynamics, but I'm gonna adjust these handlebars up a little bit because I, I can't sustain this for a long period of time.

Randy William: [00:39:00] Mm-hmm.

Riley: Same

Randy William: Efficiency is relative. That's what another thing nobody seems to understand. Is it really efficient to be aerodynamic? If your ball is hurt, you can't even pedal. Like who cares?

Riley: right. Yeah. Comfort.

Randy William: Efficiency is relative.

Riley: you know, we all talk about like in in, in the jiujitsu world, the body types, you know, there's, there's different

Randy William: Oh yeah.

Riley: you're

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: 'cause different man. It's, it's that way.

Randy William: We can circle, use that to circle right back to what a good instructor is. They understand that Most instructors, and I know I'm not a big guy, but I'm not tiny anymore either. I'm very blessed I get to teach you anything. But a lot of big guys try to teach a little guy a pressure game and that shit's not gonna work.

It's just not, you can argue all day. But if I can bench press 150 pounds and I'm only weighing 150 pounds, I'm throwing you off of me like every single time. But I'm not gonna teach. I don't know how big you are, but I'm not gonna teach you [00:40:00] my main passage style. 'cause what's efficient for me is movements.

And if you're a big guy, you don't wanna move too much. That's a lot of energy.

Riley: I'm, about 225 pounds. I'm six, six foot tall. Right? So uh,

Randy William: Yeah. That's like the limit of people I grapple with.

Riley: just bench pressing me off, right? It

Randy William: No, I, I try every single time in the gym. I don't use efficiency all the time 'cause it's fun. There's no pushing in juujitsu. Like there really isn't, there's no place you actually push ever.

Riley: No. Describe that

Randy William: That's another thing you're gonna think about for a while. You, you're gonna think about that for a while. There's no pushing. Everything is turning and locking your arm out, using your hips. You should never push arms, pull legs, push

Riley: Arms

Randy William: or frame. You

Riley: just

Randy William: could argue framing.

Riley: I push pull

Randy William: Yeah. Tension, tension, connection. All that good.

Fancy shit. That's simple.

Riley: oh,

Randy William: But yeah, I'll bench people off [00:41:00] just because I bench a lot. It's my favorite lift, so I'm like, I gotta use it for something.

Riley: Well talk about this man. You said you, you, you bench a lot, so you're uh, you do some weight training and you use some other, other, you know, just as a go-getter type of person, man, you're, you're staying fit. So what, what does a day look like for you for training, fitness, that sort of thing?

Randy William: So what time is it? It's, I wake up at six. Help my wife. I cook all the breakfast and then I go right back to sleep until I called you. So I sleep half the, the first half of the day. I sleep a lot. Like I, that's probably why I recover so well. And then this is putting for, I start my day, I'll lift weights, pick up my kids, and then I'll do an accessory, like usually it's a grip or something, I don't know, my neck, whatever's hurting.

I'll just deal with that. And then juujitsu, so I start my day at around like three. And then I go to bed or stop working at like nine when Jujitsu's done. So I [00:42:00] lift go beat up kids at kids' class. I only show up for the rolling part of that, that's like my warmup. And then teach my class. And that's like two classes put in one.

'cause we have two hour classes

Riley: Do you

Randy William: and then we talk shit at the end of class.

Riley: that. The powwow afterwards, right? We

Randy William: Yeah. Yeah. That's important.

Riley: right there. But

Randy William: Exactly

Riley: a week are you, do you train

Randy William: Jujitsu five. Monday through Friday. I'll try on Saturdays, but I, while I'm a big believer in cross training, I don't see it worth my time anymore when my students beat up everybody. So if I can beat my students up and they can beat them up, what's the fucking point?

Riley: you getting all the, all the different looks you need from your own students? Huh?

Randy William: Yeah, I right now we have a small group right now, but I have a D one wrestler who ruins my day. [00:43:00] He's like 2 25 and six one and just lean of, he's just a handsome man. And then I have Jay, I don't even like rolling with J. Fuck that guy. I love J, but I hate rolling with J. It's awful. It's like getting steamrolled by.

To like a tank and then I have all my blue belts. Yeah. At least. The thing is he's not nice to me ever, ever. He's never been nice to me. He beats the shit outta me

Riley: to me, but he beat me up too, so there's that. Yeah.

Randy William: like the other day. It was the first time I grappled with him. And didn't get tapped once and he tried this ne belly shit that he usually taps me with and I'm like, no, I'm not doing it. My ribs hurt for like three days, but it was worth it.

Riley: That's

Randy William: was like, I didn't lose. We'll go to Gracie, we'll go to the Gracie way today.

I won 'cause I didn't lose.

Riley: Yeah. Again, for the audience who doesn't know, when we [00:44:00] say, uh, Randy said Neon belly, that's not like a neon sign. That's like a freaking kneecap, and your sternum as a guy kneels on you and drives his knee into your. Tried to go clear through to the

Randy William: Oh yeah, it's awful. Except Jay likes to do it to the floating ribs. I'll turn you on your side and just drive it like he's fucking shoot you like Batman and Bane.

Riley: Tell you what, that's fond memories of stuff when guys do mean things, but at the same time, man, it's, that stuff hurts violent.

Randy William: Where does. It has its place.

Riley: Well, Randy, talk about this, man. You, you've, we

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: social Um,

Randy William: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Riley: channel you've, you've got Instagram and YouTube.

Let's see. On both, but

Randy William: They're both black belt. Randy, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to name it. So when I started Instagram years ago, it was Purple Belt, Randy, and then Brown Belt, Randy. It didn't black belt, Randy. And I never posted for [00:45:00] like following them. Then it was just me, just a normal person, social media, like their friends and family.

And when I moved down here and I married my current wife, I realized I'm gonna be moving a lot. I should probably have a resume and in jujitsu,

but if I can prove I'm good at what I do, I build people, I teach. Cool. I'll just do that. And then I started and I just looked at other influencers who had followings and I saw a lot of them would pay for a guy to come film and then edit it. You see that a lot. And I was like, yeah, I'm not doing that.

That's stupid. Plus it's expensive. It's like eight grand. No, I'm good when I could just learn how to do it myself. So that's what I did. I took my phone. And me and Jason, I recorded a wrist lock and explained how it worked against the competition footage of the wrist lock. This is the first thing I ever posted and it got a million [00:46:00] views and I was like, wow, I got lucky as shit.

I was so lucky 'cause I haven't had anything over 500 K views since then, but it got me, the very first thing I ever posted trying to post, like trying to build a following was a million views.

Riley: Holy crap. Yeah,

Randy William: I got so lucky, which is quite motivating, and then I tried to recreate it and it didn't do well. And then I got to doing voiceover because I would try to do at first teaching and doing and I could do it. I just didn't have a microphone and I hated how I sounded. And then, um, those I always thought about like, all right guys, let's just fucking do this shit.

And they did pretty well. I realized somebody made a video of sent to me. It's just them scrolling through and just says, alright, alright, alright. I was like, okay, I'm done doing that then. And then the algorithm changed or something changed last year [00:47:00] where the typical. This is cool.

Jujitsu technique shows technique. is it. Full speed. That formula just stopped working for everybody. Like even you look at Matt lawyers' views compared to what they were and they're like, half a million people with like 10,000 views on a video. for some reason that formula stopped working. I noticed people like Chris Bones and a Jujitsu Weasel kid would just say off the wall of shit. I was like, I could do that. I could just be an asshole. 'cause that's like how I normally talk. And then when my wife was deployed, I just got fucking impatient with everything. Plus I wasn't getting laid, so I was just all the time, I guess. And uh, just started talking the way I normally do to my students, to the camera. I was like, you fucking, why? Why do you make this shit difficult? It's not hard. It's so simple. I've been doing it my whole life. You can do it too. Which I understand that I would in that statement. That's the whole

point.

Riley: [00:48:00] Do you, uh. What, so you say you've kind of figured out how that's working now versus the other thing, you know, what's,

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: what do you look for, man, as a, as a content producer? What kind of things do you look for to kind of see what's working out there in the social media world? I

Randy William: So pretty easy actually nowadays. Just find people in your niche and then look at their last 10 video view counts. And that's what they're doing now. what they're doing now is wouldn't do random new shit if they're successful, they're built off of something. And I don't want go back five years to see their beginnings and their process.

I don't care about that. I just wanna understand what they're doing now. And that's what I did.

Riley: funny. That's never crossed my mind. I.

Randy William: Yeah. Who cares what they did in the past? Because even on Instagram, I have some gold information on that. I just repost it. There's no reason to because nobody

scrolls [00:49:00] back more than a few

Riley: Right.

Randy William: So I don't need to, the only reason I things is because when you download something so many times, it's all grainy and ugly. So then I'll refilm it and then change the hook or the how I intro it, that's what I experiment with. I don't, I don't really change the actual information at all. I just change the

intro.

Riley: That's interesting.

Randy William: Try to be as, yeah, I just try, I try to be more relatable than check out this cool like that. I hated doing those hooks. I felt like a fucking coin ball, man. hated it. But now if you are my dummy, I'm like, if you're a big fat fuck like this, he is a cool technique and it, I.

Riley: Yeah. No, you've, you've, uh, you've built this character and I. It's kind of endearing a little bit because I, I watch what you've done and I, like I said, I, I told you before we started recording, I've, I've watched through the comments, right? And one of the things is, and, and it's [00:50:00] not showing right now per se, but you've got, you got pretty thick hair and at times when it gets longer, guys will give you so much crap about having a wig on.

It just

cracked me up the first time I started reading through some comments. I'm like, oh man, I kind of think he's got a wig on too. And then it was a controversy almost you no one knew for sure.

Randy William: yeah. So every once in a while, 'cause it would, it's not annoying or anything, but I would still, I'm very, I gotta prove you wrong, I'd do a story like, look, my hair's fucking real. It's just ridiculously thick. I, I swear. Why would, of all the things to fake, why would I fake my hair? I'm only 33, man. Like, well, I guess they are bald, 30 year olds. But still, of all the things to fake, why would I fake that? You know, maybe engagement. Some people do shit for engagement

fing, but I

don't

Riley: No. And when I first started watching your videos, that's kind of what I thought you were doing. Yeah,

Randy William: Every once in a while I'll wear something to do that. Like I'll wear a watch and grind someone's face with it, or I'll wear like a band [00:51:00] t-shirt, excuse me. Little things like that. But that's just, I was already wearing it and I just, something popped in my head. But no, I try to let my personality do all the work versus actual editing and

thinking,

Riley: I, okay, so you just said something there that I think is important. When, when you're, you said you're letting your personality do all the work,

Randy William: oh

Riley: you're. I'm talking to you here like, Hey, you're, you're putting on this character, but what you're, what you're telling me is it's not really a character. This is just who you are and you just let it fly.

Randy William: That's why all my videos are kind of all over the place now. it is funny though, when I'm pissed off, that's when I get the most like followers, like conversion rate. Like I made a video and you stupid fucks cannot get outta side control, like doing bunky chokes and all this dumb shit that got me like a thousand followers. And then I post something that's like super helpful, like something that spent my whole life developing [00:52:00] with one sentence and that just dies. And it always blows my mind because you think as Juujitsu nerds, we'd like care about that. But I learned the vast majority of people are fucking stupid. And beginners, that's a better way to put that.

They're just beginners. They don't understand, when I say everything stand up

in base, they, they

don't

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: but they do get you stupid. Fuck that resonates a lot

more.

Riley: It's, it's kind of funny to me because you're, you're, uh, you just translated, right? You just said, you know, it's not because they're morons, it's because they're new. And you, you sort of convey that It's like that, that message comes across. And so I think when you call people morons, even on the videos, that's how, that's how I take it.

When I hear him, I'm like, oh, you know, he just, you're basically saying a new guy or someone who's, you know, just doesn't understand yet, hasn't gotten there. And, uh, but yet the word choices you use, man, it's, uh,[00:53:00]

Randy William: Yeah.

that's a good, I just stopped caring what anyone thought. That's what it boils down to in the end. I don't give a shit if someone likes me or not.

Whatcha gonna do beat me

Riley: yeah,

Randy William: Okay. Like,

who cares?

Riley: that's, uh,

no, just being genuine, man. Just being who you are. I think that's, that goes a long ways because if you are putting on fakery every time you do a video, that motivation's gonna disappear.

Randy William: It does. And like, that's why if you look, I deleted a lot of them. But if you look at like Midsummer, I was just tired of it, man. 'cause I was just bored trying to come up with a hook. Planning all the time like I did. I didn't take any like classes to do social media, but would read or chat GPT ideas and do what influences and other creators said they did, it just didn't work for me in the same way, like I get you need to plan.

Don't get me wrong, everything I do is planned, but it just, I don't script anything. [00:54:00] Like sometimes it takes me six takes to do the same thing by his, like then like sometimes I'll leave those in there. I'm like, fuck, I'm stupid today. God, that was

awful.

Riley: You just, you just said something there. So you have those days when you can't even put words together.

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: I.

Randy William: are the ones that do well too. I just fucking do this shit because then I'll show some shit and then it does well. I'm like, oh my God, I'm not playing

shit ever again.

Riley: It cracks me up so much, you know, because I, I'm, I'm new to the social media stuff. We've been a couple years with our electrolyte brand and, you know, I don't know if you've seen or looked at any of the little, little detail videos. I do little Juujitsu videos just, and I do those mostly for me because my son works with me on it and I'm like, there's these little things that he's gonna want years from now as he's training and, and learning himself.

And, you know, one of these days I'm gonna be dead and gone. It'll be cool to have his, you know, videos with the dead. Yeah.

Randy William: that's funny. Like, uh, that's always in the back of [00:55:00] my mind that, um, I'm gonna be

forever. 'cause the internet's

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: My kid's always gonna get to see that I was fun or helpful or kind.

Yeah. message everybody back. I answer every question somebody asks me. Um. Hell, I make videos all the time. Like if someone asks me a question while I'm in the gym, I'm like, Hey, hold this and I'll just show them. 'cause it's easier than trying to fucking type it. So I think that's helped my social media more than the videos itself. I what I do. I don't make much money on jujitsu itself. All my income of free shit comes because people just want to help me. Help people. Like I have a ton of sponsor, right? don't see me selling shit online very often. It's very rare. They just help me to help others. I'm very lucky with that aspect that they all understand that I'm not a salesman. I don't really want to be a salesman. That makes me feel colony too. Hey, check [00:56:00] out this fucking thing someone gave me for free that I'm supposed to say nice shit

about.

Riley: Yeah, yeah. No, I hear you there, man. There's, uh, it's funny because we probably on a daily basis, I'll get a message from somebody. I got one this morning from a gal just saying, Hey, can you guys send some free product to a poor college student? You know? And I'm, I'm going, no, I don't know who you are.

There's like, there's no, we don't have a relationship at all. You just calling and asking for free stuff, you know, this costs me money. Don't think it's free for me.

Randy William: I've only reached out to one company and it was my belts, EOS and Panther. And it wasn't because I just, I already bought one. I already had one. It was because there's a lot of belt companies. There really is. And, um, make everything. They're in Atlanta, they make everything handmade.

Everything's done. They do everything here, and so does qar. But QAR has this big name and I like qar. I had their belts too, but I just really liked this belt. It's [00:57:00] heavier, it's thick, it just feels really nice. For a company that's been around for 50 years, nobody knows who they are. Like so few people. And I was like, I wanna help them because this is great.

And then they've always, they've just been supporting me since like, I have like four adults now, which I have a lot more than that. But I have four really, really nice belt now. that was the only company I actually reached out to. The rest of 'em all reached out to me. And most of 'em I say no to just because it's something I wouldn't use. Like, uh, I got a dog walking company mastery to walk my dog like the most random shit, the thank you. But do you see what I kind of do here? Yeah. Chihuahuas, but I don't walk 'em. That's my wife's job. I just cuddle them.

Riley: Dang man. Dang. Well, talk, talk to me about this, uh, you know, selling this kind of the social media vein of things, um, putting yourself out there. I always had this impression [00:58:00] that, you know, influencers are someone who does these videos is kind of like just starving for attention. But dude, that's exactly the opposite.

You start putting yourself out there and there's like this level of self-sacrifice and almost, um, almost humility, right?

Randy William: what I've noticed with a lot of them is they are actors, and that's okay. I get it. But I've also noticed that when things start to dip, they start to act differently. Like things change. Like, yeah, I changed my strategy, but my personality never really changed. That was important to me. I'll never teach or show you something I don't do myself. Right. I'll never show you some shit that I don't actually hit on my blue or purple belt. That's just, that's a waste of time for everybody. Or they'll move on and they'll try an entirely different strategy. Lots of things change when I actually meet other influencers [00:59:00] because they're definitely not what they seem. Same with high level competitors. They're just not. And that's okay, I guess. I don't really like hanging out with them. But when it comes to like the whole humility thing, I don't really care about the attention of views. I just want to prove I'm good at what I do and views. Does that like that

Riley: It kind of

Randy William: it's kind of counterintuitive

Riley: that.

Randy William: It does. And you say like the whole wig thing, that's the worst I get, right? Every once in a while someone gonna make fun of my speech impediment, which is fine because that's how I stand out. I'm a redhead with a speech impediment that talks shit. Like I stand out and that's the biggest reason I stand out.

[01:00:00]

Randy William: All of those things. All my students can hear me when I'm coaching. And I don't get to yell, I can just fucking talk. 'cause they, my voice are fucking half Aight. And they understand what I'm saying because it's different. That makes me stand out. And it always has. And oh, it's got me chicks. When I was in college, like why would I think of it as a bad thing?

I never cared. I never got the comments. I see other influencers get like, yeah that shit wouldn't work. Or what a mo, like, no one's ever been [01:01:00] super negative. Which I find ironic 'cause I talk shit like I really do find it pretty crazy. Nobody messes with me.

Riley: You know, I, what I think part of that is, and I was gonna ask you about that, you just kind of haters in the comments 'cause you the, any sport is that, is kind of got some of that. But Jujitsu's got a lot where everyone thinks they know it all and they, you know, they were taught a certain version from their coach and they think that's the only way you do anything.

And there's like this, it's part of the culture, right?

Randy William: Mm-hmm. It is, it's an unfortunate part. Everyone thinks their way is the best way. When we all know my way is a pretty awesome way. Like that's kinda how it goes.

That's how, how everyone

thinks.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: had this guy who was doing the drill, but like a hundred miles an hour he said, can you do that for five minutes? And he said, yeah. He said, all right then keep fucking doing it. I don't care. That blew

my mind.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: of those old school Brazilians are very [01:02:00] in certain aspects. And VJ was always like, if your body can't do it, you have to find a way around it.

I'm very mobile so he could do these things I couldn't do. But one of those things is you should always be on your toes, which a lot of people argue with me about, they're stupid. How the social media thing has gone. Nobody talks shit. It seems, 'cause like I try to explain things in a way of this is why I do it. This works for me. I think it works for most people, but nothing's absolute.

Riley: That's the humility I'm talking about earlier. Right? And I think that's probably the reason you don't get, as, as much of that is because

Randy William: I,

Riley: one, you're explaining the why, but two, you're, you're explaining that this may be different for you.

Randy William: yeah, really, some things are hard for me to relate to. I started this on 17 and I injuries as a black belt. I was, I'm pretty [01:03:00] healthy. Like I have a torn PCL a torn ACL. They don't, they don't matter if you have decent leg strength, they really don't. So they're not pointing ligaments. If your legs are strong, uh, nobody knows. Well, they know because I say it, but you can't tell the way I move.

I can bounce around, I can jump. You can do everything a normal person can do. I can cut angles, pivot. Nothing stops me. And hard for me to relate sometimes to the 40-year-old ground belt who is like, how do I slow you down? don't.

Sorry.

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: some things you just gotta be honest with yourself.

Riley: no, there's a.

Randy William: weight in the gee. You might, but it just is what it is.

Riley: It's funny, man. 'cause uh, you know, there's all those memes that go around about the, you know, the lazy, lazy brown belt. That was me.

Randy William: I beat the shit

outta lazy brand out.

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. That was me for sure. And it was a, uh, you know, you, you get, as a population of a school, [01:04:00] right? We have, we have 250 people at our school, and as a population, by the time you get to Brown Belt, the vast majority of that population is pretty easy to deal with, right?

And so,

Randy William: by fire. That's why I started lifting weights. Well, one of the reasons I started lifting weights. Jujitsu's the

easiest part of my day.

Riley: yeah, you needed something else outside. So Randy, that's something that my coach would always say. He said, at some point in this journey, you're gonna have to get your workout somewhere else. And I didn't understand, but that's what he was saying.

Randy William: Yeah.

So I started lifting when I got my first degree because that really solidified I was a black belt because now people can see visually I've been one for some time, and I'm not gonna lie, it sucked me 140 pounds and having to deal with someone like you as a blue belt, it was hard and I didn't feel that should be the case.

Like let's pretend it's you as a blue belt. You're not some D one

wrestler. Just a normal

ass [01:05:00]

Riley: Mm-hmm.

Randy William: Yeah, that shouldn't be difficult for me. But it was, and I hated that aspect and it wasn't because I was trying to muscle people off. Just my body hurt that it wasn't the strength difference. It's you laying on the difference. Now that I can bench almost double my weight, nothing hurts anymore. I feel great. I am 170 ish pounds. I enjoy lifting because it's numbers and I get to watch things tick up. It's progressable and it's made juujitsu even easier. I didn't lose any speed or athleticism by getting, well, not bulky, but bulkier. Uh, I think lifting is a bit I would put if I had to start my life over and just focus on health and fitness for longevity of life, I would just

lift weights. I wouldn't do anything

Riley: Hm. It's funny, man. 'cause that's something that I, I have never been able to latch onto. It's like, I love, like I said, I love to run. I love the [01:06:00] triathlon and the cardio stuff. I like to roll. I like, I like racket ball. I like things where it's like a game. Things are gamified, lifting weights. I've never been able to gamify, so I've never been able to latch onto it, like,

Randy William: That's

Riley: sorry.

Randy William: my stories for, it keeps me accountable. are people, I've never ever got somebody to start juujitsu. Like I know it sounds craziness. I've never met somebody like, Hey, come train. And they actually do it ever. I, but through Instagram I've gotten countless people to start lifting. Granted, maybe that's 'cause they're already wanting to, or maybe they do juujitsu already. That's cool. But I've gotten so many people lifting and I'm not some expert in bodybuilding. I just do what I'm told. I'm not an expert. I do what I told trial. I understand. And then I modify and uh, what I've been doing for the last couple years.

My whole goal from first degree to second degree was to be in a thousand pound club. And I got that and I was like, yes. I got it a week before too. I was like, oh no, I got it [01:07:00] pretty close.

Riley: That's, uh,

Randy William: three years.

Riley: a buddy of mine's 17-year-old kid, just hit seven, uh, a thousand pound club, man. I was pretty impressed with that.

Randy William: awesome.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: Some of these kids, man, benching four oh oh

pounds. It's ridiculous.

Riley: Yeah, I, I don't know why he benches his bench was his high one. It was his, I think it was his deadlift, but he was, it was ridiculous. I, I can't remember the number, but it was a lot. Of course, he's a big kid too. He's, you know, 240 pounds and

Randy William: Ah, I

should

Riley: big old boy. Yeah. Um, Randy, can we switch to some, just some lighter questions?

Randy William: Yeah. Go for it.

Riley: Listen, this, uh, this is called the Go Earn Your Salt podcast. And, and when you hear the term go earn your salt, what does it mean to you?

Randy William: Gimme a second here. Go and install. It kind of reminds me of the whole fuel hunt slogan. Go

get what you, you gotta

go

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: Just do

it.

Riley: Funny. You just threw Nike slogan in there. I like it.

Randy William: Just do, [01:08:00] just do. That's the part people struggle with. Nothing in life. Is that difficult or hard or challenging? The actual thing that's challenging for people isn't the action, it's the consistency. Any moron can work hard in the gym for a

day,

Riley: I gotta

Randy William: you just kind of work to moderate failure every day, go way farther.

Riley: expand on a little bit more, because you just said that the thing that actually matters is consistency. Right?

Randy William: Nah.

Riley: Talk about that some more.

Randy William: the old school guys say it, Chris Halto. It's not about who's good, it's who's left. That's is, that's what it is. You put your time on the mat. Even if, even though I say hours, not years, if you're there consistently ish for years, you're going to be one of the best guys in the room after five years, right? you are just stupid. And even still, you're still better than

most people in the mind.

Riley: Mm-hmm.

Randy William: As long as you're enjoying the process. [01:09:00] Um. Consistency is everything. you start easy and simple and consistent. Same with diet. I don't make some fancy, grandiose recipes. do simple shit that gets all my macros and then I add seasoning.

That's what my juujitsu shit. Add some flare, my lifting, the big basic lifts, add some biceps like it's it. Everything's the same for me. it simple, consistent. Add something to make it fun. It doesn't always have to be

efficient.

Riley: Love it man. 'cause I, you know, I had this conversation with a couple of students the other night. I noticed they're new guys, so they're inefficient in their movements. They got out there on the mat, they're both strong dudes, tough guys, but they're, they're just new at it. And so I watched 'em roll for a six minute round and then sit out around and then they come back in, roll for one and sit out two rounds.

And I went and sat with him and I'm like, Hey guys, come here for a minute. Come, come sit with me. You're gonna roll with me for a little bit and we're gonna grapple at a pace where you could go for an hour. You're gonna [01:10:00] chill out a little bit because what you're doing is just gassing yourself 'cause you're not efficient yet.

And we're gonna learn how to be efficient so that you can be more consistent. You can get five rounds in a night, or six rounds, or seven rounds rather than two because you're sitting out. So many

Randy William: exactly. And that's just another, there's so many ways to

Riley: I.

Randy William: thing with different names. It's all about mat time, right? It doesn't matter if you're drilling, rolling, doing the whole eco thing. It doesn't matter as long. It's relatively organized and you're on the mat, like the flow rolling.

People like to hate on. That's just energy conservation, so you can do it longer. That's all it is. people try to make this more less than what it really is. Like some people like to go one direction the other direction. The whole point is try to do it as long as possible. Lifting weights allows me to do this longer.

I'm not a big guy. I stay in my lane. I

don't do [01:11:00] absolutes

Riley: Mm-hmm.

Randy William: I only roll with big people that I know, right? Not because I'm a bitch. like I'll beat you up, but it's not worth being sore tomorrow. It's so I can not be sore tomorrow so I can train every day. Uh, that's why the one place my ego kind of slowed down a little bit.

Like I'm like, I don't need to win every round anymore. That took me until second degree. Black blacked off

to learn.

Riley: Oh man. Yeah, that's a,

Randy William: Took me a long time, man. It took me a long time to

slow down

Riley: that's a big deal, man. 'cause we take pride in that. Right. I'll grapple with anybody anytime. I'll take on any match. But then there's this point where you're kinda like, yeah, but I had to miss two days of training because I did that.

Randy William: Exactly

Riley: it? Yeah.

Randy William: I go with Jay once every other week and every once in a while I'll do two in a row because I know he's kind of tired, but I'll still kick my ass. But it's not as painful. And, um, no one that sport does this stupid shit, right? [01:12:00] Wrestlers, they wrestle within their lane up or down a single class in practice. uh, Sumo does it, is because there's no weight classes at all to begin with. So like no sport like an absolute right? Like it's not a thing. You don't compete in your own weight class and then jump in with the world champion in his own weight class. That's dumb. That's why people get injured. I think most injuries happen due to. Falling body weight. And if somebody's way bigger than you, like if you, you could, you have a blind fell, you could slip and fall and break my arm. no skill.

Just

fell

Riley: just fell

Randy William: like it, it can happen. We, we've all slipped on the mats when they're all gross. So like, in my lane unless I really know you. If I know you're older and crippled, I slow my speed down 'cause that's my attribute, that's my gift. Yours, maybe [01:13:00] size and strength, you would've to slow that down for people, lesser than you. That's another thing that goes circling back to instructors don't know how to teach that aspect either. How to teach people to use just the principle based or try to do take away 'cause um, that was, uh, an art concept. Uh, limitation, bleeds, creativity. art teacher would take away the tools I used the most and told me to paint something the same and it would piss me off. But that's what like getting injured in Juujitsu is I can't use my leg, so I still gotta do the same shit, or I can't use my speed, so I gotta find a way to control you without speed,

Riley: You said, how, how did you phrase that? Limitation breeds

Randy William: creativity.

Mm-hmm.

Riley: It's so funny, man. 'cause you know, I was talking to, I, I interviewed, you know what a Bulgarian bag is. Have you ever seen those? I interviewed [01:14:00] Ivan, Ivan Ov.

Randy William: So once I

go

like

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. So the guy who invented those things lives right here in my hometown. And I met him actually down in Salt Lake City at a different event.

And, and, uh, we realized we lived in the same town together. And so I interviewed him a few episodes ago and we were talking about that, you know, we were talking about Jiujitsu versus Greco Roman wrestling and how those rule sets, the limitations that you're talking about really breed, different technique and different responses.

And,

um, you know, and he was talking a lot about, they use the gut wrench a lot, you know, to try to turn their opponent. And,

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: I was like, you know, in Juujitsu we don't use gut wrench at all. Like, because the total, the reaction's different because of the limitations on the rule set. Right?

Randy William: Yeah, because they

don't, they won't roll to their

Riley: Right. That's, they'd lose if they did. Right. That's the name of the game. Yeah.

Randy William: It's like, um, that's why I argue that I did eco before it was cool. And these eco notes pissed me off. [01:15:00] 'cause they act like this is some new concept. Every sport has always broken things down and turned it into games. Every sport ever I taught on base.

Like I coached lacrosse, I learned real quick the old school way of three techniques and then kill each other or just throw people to the wars does not work. I also learned, uh, the, that that family garage that makes you wait six months to roll does not work. So I came up with, I will just teach a situa, like a technique, side control, escape, and we'll only work from there. That way I can throw him to

the wolves without him being

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: That was my thought process back then, because I wanted to not scale away new guys, but I also didn't wanna bore people who wanted to roll. 'cause I had a bunch of athletes. We were just a bunch of mil. They were just a bunch of military airmen,

but I didn't want 'em to get injured

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: So I was a purple belt doing the games, right? We just call 'em situational, [01:16:00] again, that's limitation to breed creativity. If you only know one technique, you'll find ways to mess with their

base and use that technique.

Riley: that's right.

You know, it's funny. So for the audience, for the audience who doesn't know when, when Randy referred to Eco, that's a new thing in the Juujitsu world. Well, it's not a new thing, but it's a new, um, phraseology to explain something that's been around forever. But there's this big argument that it's the new latest and greatest way to learn.

And, and, uh, you know, it's just, again, it's a reba of old stuff. Um, so that's what he's referring to.

Randy William: Yeah. It's goes back to the stupid old man. That's what they are. That's all they are. They're the kids. They're the teenagers of Juujitsu. Right now we don't know what we're talking about because

we're old.

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: The thing is, I firmly believe a vast majority of your training after Blue Belt should be situational is inspiring just because something's 90%, you still need that 10%.

Riley: for sure.

Randy William: I [01:17:00] have grappled with so many guys who are Blue and purple belt that come from Eco Gyms only beat them one at their own games. 'cause I let them run the class. 'cause it's funny like, and then they're like the landlords of Juujitsu. Yeah. They get the job done, but it looks like shit. Like they don't have skill or the technical approach. They run around the guard using attributes when you could just pivot or take the time to learn from someone like me who's really good at pivoting, he'd be even better. Like its place. Just, you should probably teach 'em how to play the game before playing

the game. I, I,

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. You're, you, you have to have a base before you can start inventing stuff, right?

Randy William: literally a base

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: of those dude just fall the

Riley: yeah. yeah. That's a, that's another thing too, which again, kind of goes back to, you know, so many different, um, concepts from leadership to business ownership to, you know, sometimes [01:18:00] people just fall over if they don't weather it enough, they don't get the grit, or they have to really push through some stuff and just tip over.

Randy William: Exactly. And it's like grit was always something I always thought I had, and then I realized everyone could do that. have to not care what people think. I think a lot of what holds people's back is they care. The best advice I ever got sounds so harsh, but it's the greatest thing I ever heard. I say that a lot.

I heard a lot of awesome things that no one gives a fuck about you. They forget about you. The moment you're not in their peripherals. That was awesome. 'cause the moment you're not, you hear scroll on Facebook, you might like something and then they forget. You walk by, you know, you see a guy in a ridiculous red jacket, you think, ah, that was ridiculous.

You forget. No one really cares and it's the greatest thing ever to realize No one really cares what you do. Good or bad, [01:19:00] you probably shouldn't do shit, but no one can. They'll forget, everyone

forgets

Riley: That's the,

Randy William: Everything's

Riley: there's a lot of wisdom in that, man. I, I, uh, one of the questions I was gonna ask you is what's the best advice you've ever received? And, you know, you just, you got there before I,

Randy William: probably, probably, that's one of that's up there. I've gotten a

lot of good advice

Riley: circle back to that 'cause I wanna hear more, but, um, yeah. Uh, Randy.

Randy William: like I said, I like

latch onto quotes

Riley: Yeah. No, that's beautiful, man. I, I think there's freedom in that, right? When you're, it's like you may screw up, you may, you may put a video out there where you just kinda look like an idiot, but people are gonna forget, you know, put the next one out.

Who cares? I.

Randy William: nah. There was this one, one time, uh, I put a story and I said, it's so easy to become juujitsu famous. You just, you don't even have to be good at Juujitsu, right? You could just talk like an asshole, or you could have a gimmick, you could make a funny face. And then one of those dudes who made the funny face, made a video who's all pissed [01:20:00] off, like challenging me to a match, right? And he's a perfect boy. He's probably good. I don't know. I don't care. I just thought that was funny how riled up somebody got over a truth. It doesn't take much to become jujitsu famous. You don't need to be a competitor. That actually is a detriment. You're tearing your body down, paying all this money for some crap metals that don't get you.

Anyway. I competed a lot when I was younger 'cause it was fun. Not 'cause I cared about being famous

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: and, um, I left with some feathers with a lot of people that make a lot of people mad that day. But they all got no one messages about it. No one comments on the post anymore. No one

cares.

Riley: that's such a cool perspective, man. Um, gosh, that that'll make my wheels turn for a while. 'cause I, it's funny, I, uh, it's, it's like this, I totally agree with it. The idea, and I, I, I'm coming to this understanding over time,

Randy William: Mm-hmm.

Riley: but then all of a sudden, as you say that [01:21:00] it's kind of, um, it's trickling down into these other areas where I'm thinking about that whole idea of, you know, I've been teaching a class, or I'm doing a thing and I say something completely stupid, or I realize.

Someone's question, I answered the wrong thing. Right? As a, as an instructor, I thought they were asking this and this, this, and I, and I show them a, a solution that I think they're asking me, and then they look at me kind of crazy and I'm like, that's not what you were asking at all, was it? And then we, then we get on the right track and everything's good, and then they forget about it.

And here we go.

Randy William: Going back to the instructor thing, be willing, like, yeah, I don't fucking know, dude. I don't know. I've never experienced it. Like I can question still. I've experienced a lot of grappling. I'm like, dude, that's never happened to me. 'cause I don't put myself in that dumb ass situation.

Like, how did you end up there? go back. Uh, but with that same quote, my, uh, jiujitsu coach Alberto. He told me who matter, matter, and those who don't, don't. [01:22:00] Same thing. Just another way of phrasing it, like those people's opinions matter. Those

ones don't,

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: someone doesn't really care. And what's

their opinion mean?

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. Do you, do you ever spend any time reading through comments on, on your stuff, or do you,

Randy William: I answer

all

Riley: you do. Okay.

Randy William: or bad

answer, all of them.

Riley: I love it, man. Um,

Randy William: The only ones I don't are like, if it's just like emojis or something, they, they don't, those don't really count. But even those, I usually do with more emojis just because it's engagement. half my day is sitting at home, fucking around on my phone anyway,

Riley: All right, man. What's, uh, outside of Jiujitsu, what's your favorite pastime?

Randy William: I wish I had one. I pretty much the three great Fs fight, fuck and eat feed. That's it. I don't do anything. I was like, play with my kids. I love my [01:23:00] family. Spend a lot of time with my wife I don't do, I don't care about anything else. live in a fucking box. I'd be good. The only reason I don't is 'cause that would make my wife

unhappy.

Riley: That's funny. That's a, that's a subject for a different day. I, yeah. I would live under bridge too if it wasn't.

Randy William: like anything else. I've given an honest try. I tried painting it. I used to be an artist. I went to art. My high school was an art school. I have a minor in art uh, I'm

bored.

Riley: Yeah. You, you create art on the inter internet, right? That's, that's what you're doing now. So,

Randy William: like the,

that's my creativity for the

Riley: yeah. Uh, your favorite band.

Randy William: Ooh. I have a few, I love my Nicko GoCon band, like all my death metal bands. like Lorna Shore, but then I listen to Iron Maiden. go back to Sting or the Scorpions. It's all over the place with metal and rock, because that's what my, my real dad listened to is like

Scorpion Iron

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: That's where I grew [01:24:00] up with a giant

stereo.

Riley: You, uh, you use that for, uh, background music in a lot of your videos, don't you?

Randy William: Yep.

Riley: A lot of metal.

Randy William: Yeah. If I use all kind, I use all kinds of music as

background music,

Riley: What's, uh, what's something that's quirky about you that most people don't know?

Randy William: huh? Quirky dude. All I do when I'm at home is pace and clean. I don't really often. This is like the longest you're going get me to sit down, and that's 'cause I can't walk around my phone because I did that on a podcast and I made the guy dizzy. So I try to not do that. I don't sit still very often. It's either I'm sleeping or going a thousand miles an hour. It's not really a middle ground.

Riley: It's funny 'cause you just, you seem like that kind of guy to me. Just kind of high strung and,

Randy William: Yeah,

it's, hype is a

good

Riley: yeah. Uh, favorite food.

Randy William: I love pizza, but my [01:25:00] like safety food, I would have to say is any form of peanut butter and jelly. I'll make it into burritos. I'll make it into frozen waffles. I'll make it in from pancakes, bread. I'll even sometimes make peanut butter, make jelly, bake a loaf of bread, and then make a peanut butter

and jelly.

Riley: Sweet.

Randy William: know why, just I don't know why. There's always been a thing, like I go through a jar of peanut

butter a week,

Riley: That's, uh, it's funny, that's a, I think an under, it's an underappreciated food, right?

Randy William: It is.

Riley: You, talked about macros.

Randy William: if you eat enough of 'em, you'll live longer. There's like a stupid study on like hot dogs or peanut butter and jelly and hot dogs take away from your life. But peanut butter and jelly doesn't. So like I'm good. I'm gonna live forever. I take my 10,000 steps. I probably have that today already.

Yeah. I got

10,000 steps. I slept half a

Riley: That's so funny you say that in high school one time, I, I went on and I, and I decided for three days straight, that's all I was gonna eat was peanut butter and jelly. I found my limit in that, but I still love them.[01:26:00]

Randy William: Oh yeah. I, dude,

I don't think there is a limit.

Riley: Oh man.

Randy William: That's my midnight snack. I'll get up and I get, you know, like the, I have like giant

cups from uh,

Riley: Uhhuh.

Randy William: we go. That's like all milk. And then just like nine peanut butter jellies and I'll go back to sleep,

Riley: I love it, man.

Randy William: half my diet

is peanut butter.

Riley: That'll have to be your, uh, your, your nickname Peanut Butter and Jelly. I love it.

Randy William: My proper, I'm teaching just eating a fucking sandwich and just rubbing it on their

white key.

Riley: It's a little daily on there. Oh my gosh. Um, have you ever, ever been in a fight outside of the, the, uh, martial arts school? Uh.

Randy William: Lots of them when I was in high school, in college, just because I, again, I was never one to pick fights, but I will never say no or I didn't talk my way out of 'em like I do now. I still talk shit, but I'll, I'll escalate and then I'll deescalate because that's fun. But in college, [01:27:00] I, I got in a lot of fights or a lot of grappling matches too, of people just talking shit on the football team. Not very often was super serious. The only one that was real bad was at a softball field. My, uh, son's, the guy who got me into jitsu, he played church league softball, and there was just a group of dudes just hanging out, just talking, just heckling some random church league softball, dude. They weren't even part of everyth. So I always talk shit back and then one of 'em was like, you wanna square up? I'm like, yeah, I've been waiting for this. And he's like, what? He was confused and he was like, alright, I didn't have to do anything. He tried to tackle me. I guillotined him until he fell asleep and dropped him on his face. was boring.

Riley: I've got a, one of the guys I train with, he's a, he just got his first degree black belt. Right. And he, but he's a bouncer here in town and he's constantly getting, you know, just having to do kind of exactly what you're talking about. He's, he's put multiple people to sleep, just like calm down dude.

And he just puts him to sleep, lays him down, and the [01:28:00] situation's over. And he talks about it pretty routinely. Like when you're at that level of grappling and understanding of how to deal with people, it's pretty easy.

 

Randy William: Yeah, it's uh, one of those confidence builders that's almost egotistical. I don't like, you have to really have self-control, it keeps me grounded. Not [01:29:00] the, because any room I walk into, I'm like, if it's unarmed and one-on-one and all the stipulations people wanna make,

pretty confident in

Riley: Yeah. I.

Randy William: I did striking for just as long as I've been grappling everything I've just done together. There was no, uh, just when I started Juujitsu, there wasn't no gi, there was just MMA, like that was the thing. So I learned real

quick not to get punched in the

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: And, um, what grounds me is just I have a family. I can't I could be grappling. Somebody half my size, smaller, weaker, no experience, step

on a rock and break my

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: uh, that'd be an embarrassing way to go. I die. I want it to be hilarious, but not embarrassing.

Riley: I die. I want it to be hilarious. I like it. Uh, tell me this, uh,

What, uh, scariest moment of your life.

Randy William: [01:30:00] Uh, driving to the hospital when I didn't know if my wife was alive or not, because I knew they weren't legally allowed to tell me, but I knew that was pretty terrifying because I was like, it could be a chance, I guess. And then it was scary 'cause like now I had this whole open future that I didn't understand anymore.

'cause I, I've always kind of preplanned my life to a degree. So I was like, well then I sold everything and moved in with my old roommate and started my entire life over. I like sold literally everything but my juujitsu stuff. And then I met my current

wife, which was pretty cool.

Riley: Did you, when you say you sold everything, was that just because you just kind of wanted to disengage, clean slate, like.

Randy William: So like I said, a lot of people didn't understand and they thought it was very heartless. But literally the day [01:31:00] after I went to the gym, which is the only place I've ever felt truly myself and alive, like I can feel my heartbeat and other people's heartbeat and all of those things, like that's always something that's relatively, I guess intimate is kind of a weird word, but the correct word for that. Grappling is the only thing that gave me that feeling like, of like feeling alive compared to every other sport or thing I've done. So the day after I didn't feel alive I was like, all right, I sold everything. Or I donated all of her stuff that had zero sentiment value, like clothes, furniture, things that didn't matter, right? And things were sentiment value or things of value. I sold and got rid of anything that didn't matter because if it doesn't matter, then I shouldn't hold onto it. I sold my car, my, I had a little teeny little trailer and a piece of land I sold that sold everything and moved in with my roommate, which was closer to my older son [01:32:00] anyway, and spent 10 k going on dates, like literally a couple, like a week later, on a date every day and realized 99% of women are wasted my time. And it goes back to a quote. I also heard, the moment you control your lust, you'll learn women are boring. And, um, I deleted all of the dating apps. It was like, oh, that was a waste of time and money. I kind of accelerated the process, obviously when you, used all my insurance money to accelerate everything. And then, uh, my current wife messaged me on an app I forgot to delete and I kind of dictate my, uh, decisions on a magic eight ball. I know. That's ridiculous. So I shook my eight ball and I was like, oh, I guess I'd go on one more date. And I knew then that I was, oh, that's the one we got married. Like I knew that day.

The next [01:33:00] day I told her I knew that day and she thought I was nuts. And then we got married a couple months

later.

Riley: Man.

Randy William: I forgot the original

question, but I'm it

all

Riley: Well, it was, it was the scariest moment, uh, of your life. But yeah, you covered a lot of ground there. You know, I'd asked you before, what's something quirky about you? And you just said you make all your decisions by Magic eight Ball, that, that would qualify.

Randy William: yeah, because if, I don't know, it doesn't matter what I choose. It doesn't matter. I'll learn either way.

Riley: It's an interesting way to put that, man. Yeah. You'll learn either way.

Randy William: Yeah. If you stick your eye between my legs, you don't know if I'm gonna arm by you or you're gonna pass, but you're

gonna learn one way or the

other.

Riley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's all learning, right?

Randy William: Yeah. It's all,

Riley: Oh, man.

Um, so back to, you said the best advice you'd ever received earlier. Um, I forget how you phrased it, but then you said there were some other things that were, [01:34:00] were in there too with best advice you'd ever received.

Randy William: Oh, yeah. So do it right or do it twice. Was a really good one for me because one, I didn't like doing things right the first time because that meant it took a long time. I'd rather half-ass things twice I just like moving a lot. Right. That was just how I did it. If I had to go chop wood, I'd chop half of it, do something else, then chop more wood. So that quote took different meanings from me as I got older. Like, you can do it right or you can do it twice. Either way is fine it. There's nothing wrong with doing something twice. I say that to my guys in the gym. You're gonna do it right, do it twice or be in really good shape. You just gotta keep doing it till you do it, right?

Like there's nothing wrong with doing something more than once. Nobody does something right the first time. So the quote took a whole new meaning for me as I got older.

Riley: That's amazing perspective, man. 'cause I, I honestly have never thought about it that way. 'cause we're always [01:35:00] thinking, you know, do it right or do it twice means do it right the first time. But,

there's,

Randy William: exactly do it right the

first

Riley: you do it twice.

Randy William: right the

first time?

Riley: Yeah. Nobody,

Randy William: Nothing. Nothing's right the first time. That's why I don't make fun of white belts. I roast blue belts 'cause they're fucking stupid. You are not stupid if you don't know You're stupid if you know and keep doing the same shit. And even that in itself, you have to keep doing the same shit

to

Riley: yeah.

Randy William: Like it's not really negative. Like being

stupid isn't always bad.

Riley: No. You, you mentioned earlier your second degree black belt and you just. Grab the, grab the concept that you mentioned, you know, before and I'm, I'm like, yeah, it just happened to me the other night where I was doing something and I, I'm like, dude, I am 12 years into this game and this thing that my instructor said the first night I was in class finally clicked,

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: how dumb am I, man?

Yeah, that's, uh, but, but that's the learning process, [01:36:00] right? Back to your,

Randy William: Yeah.

Riley: it's beautiful.

Randy William: then was really strict with belts, like super strict with blue belts. 'cause that's the only belt I could promote at Brown Belt. Like all my blue belt were probably borderline purple belts. It was ridiculous. Like they were winning everything. I put 'em in, they were athletes. uh, now I actually have standards versus how I feel. And that was a big learning thing. 'cause like, I can't judge the 110 pound chick who's 30 against my airmen.

That's not

fair.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: She'll never catch up. It, it just won't happen. So I had to learn how to build standards that were fair, but kept with the sport, the martial art and the self-defense aspect because I, they're all important to

me.

Riley: That's a, that's a tough juggling thing, you know? And that's, yeah, that's a conversation I'd love to have with you off air. 'cause that's, you know, very much just juujitsu related. But yeah, it's, [01:37:00] that's an interesting thing to me. Um, Randy, what's something that's on your bucket list that you, you want to do before you cash it in?

Randy William: Uh, it'd be nice if Juujitsu paid all my bills

so my wife didn't have to.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: Like, that's kind of the ultimate goal, right? Like, I don't wanna be rich. I like dude. The only reason I have this $40 bottle is 'cause my wife bought it for me. You think I'd give a

shit? I'll drink that of a

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: Uh, very simple dude.

I like to train, hang out. But it would be really nice if this all paid off in the end for her. supported everything I do. Like she's at work, she's in the military, she's doing everything so I can stay home and take care of our kids. 'cause while of course she would want to do that, we both believed somebody should always be home with our kids.

And when we got married, she already had an established career I was literally a bum. I worked at, I was welding at the time. I can't believe she made me, [01:38:00] man.

Riley: You know, that's one of the marks of a good marriage is you both feel like you're married up. Right.

Randy William: wow, dude. I made way up

Riley: What's, uh, what's your favorite book? Something you would recommend everyone read? I.

Randy William: the house of the scorpion. read it when I was a kid. I was like 12 or 13. And for some reason it really stuck with me and I every, I read it again. Every once in a while. It's a young adult book. Even reading it back in like this is kind of corny, but a lot of the lessons are there. But I think it stuck with me 'cause it's about a kid who's a clone and clones are unacceptable. So he is treated like shit his whole life until he was important. And I relate to that a lot. I love where I come from. I love my home state. I love the gyms I've built and the people I've built. But none of those people in Delaware. I've, when I taught in Delaware my whole life, until I moved here, I never once had a black belt visit my gym my professor. [01:39:00] That's it. one clustering there. No one came to see us. We always had to reach out. Granted, probably that's my own fault. I was kind of an asshole. I liked winning too much. I understand. But. I built a lot of people there in a lot of places, and I'll never get the credit for it. That bothers me. It still does sometimes. And here important. My students like to hang out. They wanna do these things. They wanna cross train. People come to visit me. People come from different countries to my gym. Now, do you know how crazy that is? We had a guy he flew from the key West to mobile, came to Biloxi to train with me, and then compete in the Biloxi tournament, and then won with the thing I

taught him the day before.

Riley: Awesome.

Randy William: Like that was the coolest fucking

thing to me.

Riley: There's something cool about that, man. When you see somebody take something, you know you taught them and then they, they win with it.

Randy William: And

then win

Riley: Oh my gosh.

Randy William: [01:40:00] that. That's like I, I've said it before, Jiu jitsu's. Not humbling in the regard of you role. If you kick your ass, you're not gonna

humble me. Even if you beat

my,

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: I can always find an excuse, Hey, he's 2 25, whatever. But even still, I never was humbled by getting my ass kicked in this sport. 'cause if that was the case, I would've never kept doing it. What was humbling is people seeking me out to help them or putting that effort into me. 'cause in the beginning, no one did, but my professor and my coach, that was it. And my son's grandfather, of course I was spazzy, I was kind of egotistical white belt. I was 17. I thought I knew everything. And those three were the only ones who helped me grow up. And there were a lot of people wanted to kick me outta the gym at that time. So

Riley: Gosh, man.

Randy William: that's what's humbling now that people still wanna invest in me, even though I don't really have much to give back. I'm only good at a sport that's honestly meaningless in the end.[01:41:00]

Riley: That's quite a perspective, man. 'cause I think I had that thought here. You know, I'm at the time of this recording, I'm just a few weeks into, to my black belt, right? And when I was reflecting on that process and that, man, I just spent 12 years doing this, thing's been really important to me. But in the long run, the big scheme of things, there's, there's nothing really that important about it.

You know, it's just, it's important to me. It means a lot to me because it's, you know, it's a quarter of my life I put into this thing. But

Randy William: that,

Riley: yeah, in the end,

Randy William: and that's okay. It's okay for something to be

important to you, but not someone

Riley: yeah.

Randy William: I tell all of my younger gentlemen that nobody's special. Alright? No human being is special. It's the relationships between two people that is right. If some random person died, which is happening constantly, know, went blink an eye.

But the moment somebody, you know, you think about it and then when someone close to you, then it matters. relationships. [01:42:00] So that's the only thing that matters. It took me too long to understand that it doesn't matter how good you are, jujitsu, it doesn't matter how business savvy you are. you can't communicate and make people remember that relationship with you, then you're not gonna be successful. I was not successful until I moved 'cause I just didn't give a shit, dude. All I cared if I was getting better at Juujitsu and that's not the end all, be all. Who cared if I was the best in the room, if I was the poorest in the room, I literally, no joke. Uh, Tuesday went to lunch with one of my students.

He's a pilot, he's 27 and um, we would eat lunch just 'cause he flies to mobile. That's one of his stops and that's only an hour. So I always go see him whenever he is in town and he is like, man, I could have been a black belt by now. I was like, shut the fuck up dude. You're making 250 KA year, sitting on your ass, flying a plane you, he's a millionaire. Like he's invested all that. He's already like a millionaire, he dresses like I [01:43:00] do. You wear t-shirts, fucking Crocs. Like he's just a normal kid. I still see him as like the guy I started with. It's, it's funny. Because I, most of my original students, we were all kids together. I was 20 when I started teaching. All my students are still, all my main students are still in their twenties, late twenties now. So it's, uh, we're all like growing up kind of together,

Riley: It's amazing that that was one of the things that really stood out to me was like, I look back and I was like, where was I 12 years ago when I started this thing to where I am now? You know how much life has passed? And I'm like, gosh, man, that got me choked up. Just thinking back about what that little piece of fabric around my waist really meant to me, I, that was tough.

Randy William: Yeah. And those people who say belt don't matter. are the same people who would say marriage certificate doesn't matter.

They're the same

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: because a marriage, your [01:44:00] marriage means nothing to me. What the fuck does your piece of paper mean? But to you

two, it better

mean

Riley: that's right.

Randy William: I, I don't care. I'm unrelated for a second. No one's ever questioned my belt online. That's pretty hilarious. Anyway, I

expected that to happen at least

once,

Riley: Yeah. Well. If it means anything, man, the,

Randy William: comes down to.

Riley: the technique you share is solid. And I, I think that's probably a big portion of it. You know, you don't, you don't watch your videos too long before you realize that you know what, he, he knows what he's talking about. So you're, uh, you are a good teacher. I, I like it.

Yeah.

Randy William: I, never, uh, comment on most people's videos that I know suck some of 'em are really well known black belts. I just know that they're not good based on the way they move. You can tell that somebody's fumbling through a technique or this or

that. You can

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: some people just aren't good teachers,

and that's okay too.

Riley: yeah. Sometimes an amazing practitioner, but not a good, good instructor. Right. And that's, that's where those original questions [01:45:00] about, you know, what is a, what is it like to teach? 'cause that's a different art form and that trans.

Randy William: there's a, I had a lot of strategies on teaching that I would change in cycl flu I still had to teach myself, so I would like teach side control escapes while I was working on my side. Control if

icy.

Riley: All the time. Yeah. For real.

Randy William: That's how I, that's how I taught myself juujitsu. I just would spam something if I could do it to a white belt a thousand times. Doing it to a blue belt isn't much harder, then doing it to a blue belt, to a purple boat isn't much different.

Riley: So true.

Randy William: Make everything the same and it's easy,

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. That's the process is is moving your way up the belt rinks with a new thing. Right. Um, man, what's next for you, Andy? What, what are you gonna do from here?

Randy William: Literally today, pick up my kids and then go beat up kids at open mat. 'cause open mat is always like nine military dudes just walk in for one day thinking they're cool and we just beat the shit out of 'em. And then they leave. [01:46:00] Because I open mat mats are either humongous it's just me and one other guy and then I feel bad for him.

'cause Friday is the day, don't ask me fucking questions, minus just you. Of course. But Friday when I train, it's just, I focus on what I'm working on. it's open mat so no one asks me questions. They know if they ask me a question, it's really funny because I'll act like an old school bazillion black belt and tell 'em, I'll just give 'em the wrong answer and then spam their question on

them.

Riley: Gosh,

Randy William: if someone asks me an arm by a question, I'll just arm by

'em like 30 times.

Riley: this is how you do it, huh? No instruction.

Randy William: I teach God day I teach right? When we come to the sparring part, like after situations, I just spam what I just taught you.

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: all, it's hilarious. Sometimes I get caught, sometimes I fuck up, but like I, I've been teaching side control escapes now.

I just literal lay there and then get out and then let 'em do it again. Then get out and

[01:47:00] then sweep 'em and then

get

Riley: Yeah,

Randy William: it's

just

funny.

Riley: it's it. I love that you said that.

Randy William: that, that's, that's eco, right? That's the eco

thing. I just do it

Riley: Yeah. It's funny that you say that 'cause it just last night that's exactly what I did. In fact, I, I had a class of, uh, purple belts and up Right. And that, that was who I was teaching and,

Randy William: Oh wow.

Riley: and, uh, yeah. So, oh, it's so fun to teach those guys. 'cause you, you don't have to go back on anything. It's just, they all know the basics and so

Randy William: They're the

Riley: Yeah.

Randy William: skip warmups.

Riley: right. So anyways, we took those guys and I told 'em afterwards when we were just finishing up class, it was time to go grapple. And I said, I, I wanna know your score at the end of the day on how many of these things that we taught tonight, how many did you hit? You know? And, and they all came to me afterwards and said, yeah, I got five, I got six, I got whatever, whatever it was of how many times they hit the technique of the night, you know?

That's great.

Randy William: your cookies,

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. That's great, man. Well, listen, dude, tell the audience where you can be found and where, where your, where your magic is.[01:48:00]

Randy William: Uh, well, Instagram mostly because I actually can interact on the YouTube. I write back to the comments, but it's YouTube. I don't care about YouTube, is black. But Randy with

underscores

Riley: Okay.

Randy William: and yeah, I message everyone back unless it's something ridiculous, but

Riley: Awesome man. Yeah, well,

I enjoy your channel, you guys go check that out. Uh, black belt, Randy, Instagram and YouTube both. It's, it's entertaining. Um, if you're a Juujitsu person, it's, it's legit. Good instruction. Um, Randy, I appreciate you coming on today, dude.

Randy William: Yeah, That's fun, man.

Thank

you.

Riley: Yeah, man.

Randy, go earn your salt, my friend.

Randy William: Yes. I'll see you soon, I'm

sure.

[01:49:00]