The Ageless Warrior Lab
Dave Meyer | Host, Ageless Warrior Lab podcast | President & Co-founder of Food System Innovations and Humane American Animal Foundation
Join BJJ coral belt, Gang of Eight and Dirty Dozen member Dave Meyer as we draw wisdom from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the martial arts and explore how it applies to your life, success in business, and your long-term health.
Dave Meyer is a pioneering American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner, and accomplished non-profit founder and Philanthropist. He is an eleven-time world champion in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is the current world champion in his age/weight division in the no-gi format.
Dave co-founded and served as CEO of Adopt-a-Pet.com for two decades, turning it into the world's largest nonprofit homeless pet adoption website and helping save millions of animals, before its acquisition by Mars Inc.
Today, Dave leads Humane America Animal Foundation and Food System Innovations, working on farm animal welfare and a healthy and sustainable food system. He frequently advises U.S. lawmakers on these issues, and has raised and deployed over $160 million in philanthropic capital as part of his work in the nonprofit space.
In his athletic career, Dave has risen to the highest ranks of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He earned his black belt from Rigan Machado in 1996 and ranked among the first Americans ("the Dirty Dozen") to do so. He was the first American to medal at the black belt level at the BJJ World Championships in Brazil in 1998. Dave is one of just several Americans to achieve the rank of coral belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a group now referred to as the “Gang of Eight”. He continues to compete at the world championship level, winning world championship titles in his age division.
As a martial artist and instructor, he taught at UCLA, Steven Seagal's Tenshin Dojo, and developed a globally used grappling curriculum with John Will, including customized material for Chuck Norris's UFAF association. He has written several books on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, including "Training for Competition: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Submission Grappling".
Meyer also played a critical role in post-Katrina animal rescue, co-authored books pet care, and co-founded a Haiti orphanage for children with HIV, exemplifying a lifetime of impactful leadership in both martial arts and philanthropy.
Dave resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, and continues to coach BJJ athletes and compete at the world championship level. He is the President & Co-Founder of Humane America Animal Foundation and Food System Innovations, of which the Ageless Warrior Lab is a project.
The Ageless Warrior Lab
Caio Terra on BJJ Technique, Training Smart & Building Champions | Ep. 29
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, I sit down with Professor Caio Terra, a BJJ black belt and one of the most accomplished competitors and coaches in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu history. Caio is a multiple-time world champion who competed at rooster weight—the smallest division—yet regularly defeated opponents in the absolute (open weight) division, sometimes facing competitors literally twice his size. He received his black belt in 2006 and has since built the Caio Terra Academy in San Jose, California, and the Caio Terra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association (CTA), producing numerous world champions and helping students worldwide through Caio Online.
We discuss what separates understanding from mimicking in jiu-jitsu and why the students who struggle most at first often become the best, the evolution of BJJ training culture from the brutal 1990s to today's more technical approach, and Caio's unique teaching philosophy that encourages every student to develop their own distinct style rather than copying a template. Caio shares why he was initially the "worst student" his teacher ever had, how he learned to translate techniques to his own body rather than just replicate movements, and why counter-attacking based on what your opponent gives you is more effective than forcing positions.
We also dive into the challenges of adapting your game as you age and lose physical attributes you once relied on, the price of training too hard and the injuries that come from years of elite competition, and why technique will always matter more than strength or cardio. Caio opens up about his car accident and ongoing shoulder issues, the regret of not doing more joint rehab earlier in his career, and how the lessons learned on the mat—problem-solving, adaptation, and resilience—translate directly to navigating life's challenges off the mat.
Whether you're a BJJ practitioner looking to develop your own game, a coach seeking insights on how to build champions without creating clones, or someone interested in how world-class athletes balance competitive success with long-term health and teaching, this conversation delivers hard-earned wisdom, honest reflections on the cost of greatness, and inspiration to train smarter while staying true to your own path.
Caio Terra Academy
Caio Terra Online
Ricardo Vieira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Vieira
Rodrigo 'Comprido' Medeiros
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Medeiros
Roger Gracie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Gracie
David Mitchell
https://www.instagram.com/dmitch442
Woolf Barnato, Black Sheep BJJ
https://www.blacksheepjiujitsu.com/
Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Ribeiro
Bruno Malfacine
https://www.brunomalfacine.com/academy/
Music:
“Disambiguation” by Robel Borja https://open.spotify.com/artist/7j0DUZ79z4edeLkU2H1UoJ?si=eISl0YfaQ-
This episode was directed and presented by Dave Meyer, editor & coproducer by Ryan Turner, producer & marketing Robbie Lockie, music kindly provided by Robel Borja.
