GSP: Overcome Fear and Become an MMA Champion | EP44

GSP reveals he hated fighting — so why did he become the greatest MMA fighter of all time? In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Georges St-Pierre breaks down the mindset, preparation, and mental tools that built a legend.

🥊 What we cover:

1. Why GSP hated fight night but kept competing anyway
2. How bullying and a difficult childhood became his greatest fuel
3. The truth about confidence: "It's not the absence of fear — it's knowing you have what you need to succeed"
4. How to "make the butterflies fly in formation" and perform under extreme stress
5. His 4-layer preparation pyramid: physical, technical, tactical, and mental
6. Visualization strategy: best-case, realistic, and worst-case scenario planning
7. The small, unglamorous daily habits that separate champions from everyone else
8. Training for longevity — mobility, stability, and staying athletic for life

Whether you're a fighter, an entrepreneur, or anyone who struggles with self-doubt — this episode is a masterclass in mental performance and turning adversity into fuel.

Contacts for interviewee:

Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@GSPPodcastOfficial

Website: https://www.gspofficial.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgesstpierre/

Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gsppodcastofficial/

GSP Foundation https://www.gspofficial.com/gsp-foundation

GSP Training tools

The Path: https://thepathbygsp.com/

RushFit: https://www.rushfit.com/

MMA Academy: https://mmaacademy.gspofficial.com/

"The Way of the Fight" book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-way-of-the-fight-georges-st-pierre/1114516179

Alcoholics Anonymous https://www.aa.org/

Marcelo Garcia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelo_Garcia_(grappler)

Khamzat Chimaev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khamzat_Chimaev

Sean Strickland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Strickland

Hurricane Katrina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

Dan Millman https://peacefulwarrior.com/

"Way of the Peaceful Warrior" — book by Dan Millman https://peacefulwarrior.com/way-of-the-peaceful-warrior/

Tough Love Fitness https://www.tufflove.org/

Aleo Foundation https://fondationaleo.ca/en/

Jeremy Corbell https://www.youtube.com/JeremyCorbell

Music “Disambiguation” by Robel Borja https://open.spotify.com/artist/7j0DUZ79z4edeLkU2H1UoJ?si=eISl0YfaQ-yLThljs48j5A

This episode was directed and presented by Dave Meyer, editor & coproducer by Ryan Turner, producer & marketing Robbie Lockie, music kindly provided by Robel Borja.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Confidence is very important in life and everything you do. Because you can have all the skills in the world, but if you don't have the confidence, it's like someone who has a lot of money in his bank account but no way of accessing it. It's useless. So you need the skill or you need the confidence. Remember, confidence is not the absence of fear. It's knowing that you have what you need in order to succeed. You know, if you have the butterfly, it's okay. But what makes the difference, someone who can perform under stress at his best, is he makes the butterfly fly in formation. And it's true.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to the Agence Warrior Lab. I'm BJJ Corobelt and Dirty Dozen member Dave Meyer, here to draw wisdom from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the martial arts and explore how it applies to success in business, relationships, your long-term health, and making the most out of your life. What you're about to hear is a discussion I had with George St. Pierre, GSP. George is a former UFC Walterweight champion, a former UFC middleweight champion, a UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Canada Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, a member of the Order of Canada. He's been an actor in major motion pictures, he's a speaker, he's the author of the book Way of the Fight. He is an entrepreneur and an anti-bullying advocate. He also has his new GSP podcast, and we'll link to that in the show notes. Now, George stepped away from the UFC as a champion, ending his pro MMA career at 26-2 and zero. And he's considered to be among the very best UFC fighters of all time. George has a busy schedule and we've been trying to connect for a while and finally got the chance to as he was traveling. He had to join from his cell phone, and we had a few technical challenges, but we made it work for a quick discussion. Now, this is a lab, so I'm gonna pop in once or twice just to get your reactions on what we're talking about. And you can drop your answers and thoughts in the comments section of the YouTube video. And if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications of when new episodes drop. Now sit back and enjoy my conversation with George St. Pierre. So, George, thanks so much for making the time. It's been a little bit of a challenge, but we made it work and I appreciate it. Thank you. So I've heard you say, if we could just talk about fighting for a little bit, I've heard you say that you don't actually like the fighting itself. Was that true in your career? That the actual moments of fighting was not actually what you enjoyed.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

No, I hate fighting. I did it because I wanted to use that to propel me where I wanted to be in life, to have the freedom, the wealth, the life that I have. But I hated to fight. Fighting was the worst day of the year for me. But I had to do it in order to keep maintaining my lifestyle. So I did it because I like to train, I like the sports, the science of it, I like the freedom that it provides me. When you're successful, when you're a professional athlete, you have a lot of freedom and you get the fruit of your labor, sort of thing. For me, it's very rewarding. And I like the confidence it gives me, but fighting, I couldn't. It's unbearable. It's very stressful.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I can certainly imagine that. And I experienced that to a much lesser degree with my jiu-jitsu fighting. I had not fought professionally in a cage, which I think must be much, much worse. There's nobody swinging at my head. But I want to dig into that just a little bit because I totally get if you are having good paydays and succeeding, you want to keep those fights going so you can have the life that you want to live. But you didn't start as a champion, right? When you started fighting, you weren't yet where you wanted to be. Was that your vision that you saw that if you the first time you went to do a fight, the second time you went to do a professional fight, did you have a vision that I can turn this into something that gives me that kind of freedom? Or was there a different motivation at that time when you weren't having that kind of freedom yet?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

I grew up with a lot of anger and I was a very different person at the time. I was a kid that didn't have any confidence in itself. I remember I used to look at myself in the mirror and I didn't like what I was seeing. But I fell in love with who I wanted to become. And I'm not talking about like titles and this because it didn't exist at the time. I wanted to be someone successful, I wanted to be someone strong, and I didn't know how to get there. I used martial arts to build up my confidence slowly because I was a victim of bullying in a schoolyard. My dad was drinking, was an alcoholic. So things were not going well at school, were not going well at home either. However, I'm very fortunate because I saw my dad turn around. I saw him quit drinking. And at the time he started in an association called the Anonymous Alcoholic. And not only did he quit drinking, he only later on started mentoring young people that want to start drinking. So I witnessed that. I saw how hard it was. So even though it started very negative, it then ended up being a very positive thing for me because I had a perfect role model following my dad. And I saw him struggle very, very hard. And we didn't have a lot of money growing up. So I grew up in an environment like I use martial art to sort of value myself, to gain confidence. And that's how I think I made it slowly to where I became a professional mixed martial art fighter.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, that makes sense to me because even if you're not getting that level of freedom or success in your early days, you are building confidence. And if that confidence and reshaping how you view yourself is what you're achieving through your fighting, I could totally see why that drives you forward. I too, like so many great fighters I know have stories about how they were bullied as kids to different degrees. I too was bullied as a kid. But it was interesting because I had, I was fortunate for my parents to put me in a jiu-jitsu class, not Brazilian jiu-jitsu, when I was just six years old. I had a cousin who was a black belt at a local jujitsu school. And my brother was actually being bullied, who was older than me. So they put us both in. So at the times when I was bullied, I actually had some jiu-jitsu to fall back on. So when kids would try to push me, I could evade when kids would try to grab me, but it was still a very scary experience, and it definitely shaped my desire to be a strong person, right? Do you want to feel like you're a strong person? And you mentioned confidence. I'd like to talk about confidence with you a little bit. No one better to talk to about this than you. In my experience, you build confidence through experience, right? Once you've done something, you do it again, you build the confidence in it. Certainly in terms of fighting, I've always said, and I'm curious if you agree with this, that a fight is won or lost in the preparation. So, yes, you can perform really well on the day, or perform it doesn't have to be a fight in a business meeting, in a presentation, anything. You can perform really well in that moment, but it's the preparation that's really going to make the difference as to how you perform. And I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on how to build confidence? Is it through experience? And do you agree about the importance of preparation versus just how you perform in the moment?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, you touch on something that I believe is very true to build up your confidence. And confidence is very important in life and everything you do, especially in combat sport, because you can have all the skills in the world, but if you don't have the confidence, it's like someone, if I can make it that analogy, someone who has a lot of money in his bank account, but no way of accessing it. It's useless. So you need the skill, but you need the confidence. And the way you build up your confidence, it's with the preparation. Remember, confidence is not the absence of fear, it's knowing that you have what you need in order to succeed. And the way you prepare yourself to build your confidence, there's different stages of preparation for a combat athlete. There's the physical stage, which is are you in shape? Are you in jury free? You know, your physical condition. This is very important. There's also the technical aspect. It's a little bit the West, it's like a pyramid. The base is the physical, it's the base. If your cars is not in order and you have a flat, it's not gonna go well. You're not gonna win the race. So it's the same thing. Your physique, are you in jury free? Are you in shape? That's a first layer. Then the second one I would say is technical, your knowledge. Your knowledge is very important. Your knowledge is a weapon in the art of war. So, how much do you know? Like, do you practice your how to get out of an umbar, your triangle choke? Whatever it is, like how to invade kicks, how to counter this. Knowledge is the second layer. Then in the preparation, you have a third layer called the tactical layer. How you, with your strength, you match against your opponent's strength. How you will prepare yourself, a game plan to take him outside of his comfort zone. How you will become and transform yourself to be the perfect nemesis to a style. This is the third layer. And there's a fourth layer I would say that makes a big difference is the mental part. Visualize. A lot of people will roll their eyes when I talk about this. They think it's a little bit esoteric. But I truly believe in that. I think you need to see it in your head. You need to force yourself to see how you think this will happen, how you think you want it to happen. And if something that you don't want to happen happen, how you will react to be prepared. And you need to play this in your head. It's part of the preparation. Because if you don't do that and you only work on the physical thing, when something unexpected will happen, you won't be able to be ready to react accordingly. So you have to program your computer to react and to do things. You have to see it, to feel it. And this is part of the preparation as well. And this is that mental aspect of it is very important. That's why there's a lot of great athletes in the gym. They're very good. They're champion in the gym. But when the lights are on, they can't perform. I believe it's mostly due to the mental preparation. It's a poor mental preparation. And you have to address that. The better you prepare, the better you increase your confidence. And of course, that does not guarantee a win. You always try to focus only on the things that you can control. What you do every day, people try to only control the on and change the big things in their life. The big things, it's not really what makes the difference. Yeah, you have to change those big things, but sometimes you don't have any big thing to change. You have to focus on the small, mundane thing that you can do every day that gets you closer to your roles. And those are little things that you don't see that makes a big difference, but you have to wait a week, a month, or maybe a year. Then when you turn around and you see how much you have improved, now you'll see the result. But those small things that you can do every day are the ones that are important in order to prepare. And you have to focus on that. And it's not sexy, but that's truly what I believe is the best and most efficient way to prepare. And you have to try to not focus on, oh, am I gonna win or lose? Ultimately, I believe you don't control these things because the upset happens all the time. You zig when you should have sagged. However, if you focus on the preparation, it will optimize your chance of succeed and slope the odds in your favor. That's the best way to prepare. Ultimately, there's no way to have a guaranteed victory. It's only a HUDs. You play with the HUDs.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

I hear what you're saying. And obviously, having done all that and done it well is the thing that builds your confidence because you have a reason to be confident. I have a couple thoughts from what you're saying. First of all, I agree, I have this thing I call brackets. And what I mean by that is this, I'm holding my fingers up, but this is the worst I can possibly do on a day, and this is the best I can possibly do. Am I gonna win? It depends on the other guy. Like, is he up here? Is his worst better than my best? Marcelo Garcia is gonna beat me, even if he's got pneumonia in jujitsu, right? But more often, even if I'm better, if I operate in my lower range and he operates in his best range, he might win. And I have no control over this other guy. I have no control over that. All I can do is try to raise this up through what you're saying. Get better and better. So my best is better, my worst is also better. And then on the day of the fight, try to perform at my upper point, and then we'll just see. But you're right, you don't ultimately control because there's another guy. It's a story with two authors.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

It's not the best theme that wins the game, it's not the best fighter that wins the fight. It's the fighter that fight the best that eye of the fight. In that moment. You see that very often. Like a few days ago, there was a huge upset in the world of MMA. Kamzat Shimayev lost to Sean Strickland. Like the odds were favoring Shimayev, but there's things happening in life that you sometimes are out of your control. There's choice that we make that can affect the result. The universe is so complex, it's very hard to be to have a guarantee result. It's almost impossible.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I agree. You're just increasing the odds. And I like what you said about how the it's the small things that you're doing every day where you can't always see the result and you only get a chance to see the result when you look back. And that's true in so many things. Like if somebody's trying to lose weight, but they're not going to lose 10 pounds in one day. I mean, I'm talking about just a normal person trying to lose fat. It's eating healthy, it's exercising, it's something you do over time. If someone's trying to save money or build a business, you don't suddenly, unless you win the lottery, have, you know, a million dollars in one day. It's the small, correct things you're doing over time. And you just have to have confidence. Or I say, like a swimmer, you can swim a mile, but it's one stroke, one stroke, one stroke. And then every once in a while you lift your head up and you check, is this working? You look back, have I covered distance? Am I doing everything right? Then put your head down again. One stroke, one stroke, one stroke.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

That's how great things happen is by steps. You see all the time in business guys that are they try a home run. It might work once, but it doesn't work every time. And then you, if you try a home run every time, you put yourself at the risk and you don't do well. It's a small thing. You have to be patient and let the magic work and the hard work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So let's talk just for a second about fear, because you have a lot of experience with that. And obviously, anybody who stepped into the ring, I would imagine it has to be some level of fear. I've dealt with fear at various times. I love, I read somewhere that you said that you have someone can have butterflies, but it's about making the butterflies fly in formation.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I had a sport psychologist when I was younger, and he was always saying to me, but if you have the butterfly, it's okay. But what makes the difference, someone who can perform under stress at his best, is he makes the butterfly fly in formation. And it's true. When I was younger, I thought I was not in the right business, in the right field of work because I was very scared, very nervous. And when I looked around, some of the guys that were hiding their feeling, they were like putting on a mask, they were like, Oh, I'm not scared, I can't wait, I'll kick his butt. And it was very scary for me because I was like, man, I don't belong there. I don't, I'm not like a psychopath. Like I felt like I did never belong there. And I was trying to see sport psychologists, and they were always trying to brainwash me, saying, like, oh, stop saying you're afraid, you're not afraid, you're excited. That's the word they used to say. I remember very well, excited. I was like, excited does not apply here. I would be excited in other situations, not in that one. I realize there's no shame to be afraid. There's no courage without fear. If you do things, even though you're afraid, you deserve more props because you're courageous. And I shouldn't have been afraid to admit that I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

I completely agree with you. I had an experience that I've talked a little bit about on the podcast, but I'm a pretty confident person and I'm okay with like rock climbing and my airplanes, whatever. I'm not crazy, but I'm don't have really fear of much. And I'm confident in my fighting ability and street fighting and all that stuff. But I had a situation where I had gotten sleep deprived over a long period of time. And it's a long story. I probably had some residual stuff from I helped rescue thousands of animals after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. And there's a lot of death, and so there was some danger, and there was just a lot of stuff going on. And I think I still kept that with me. And something kind of snapped in me. And I went through a period that lasted a long time of like an anxiety disorder. And I got a chance to experience fear. I've never really experienced that and really have to cope with it literally every single day. And what you say about if without fear, you don't get a chance to experience courage. At that period of time, I couldn't train. I have so much respect now for people with PTSD, because apparently it was related to that. But eventually got better. And I've tried to turn that into something that's very positive that now, how can I help other people? Now I've got a chance to see what it feels like when someone feels fear. And that's exactly what you said about wow, if people are experiencing fear and able to act anyway. And I'm talking about step into the ring. I'm also talking about for someone who has anxiety to go to the store if that's what's scaring them or whatever. I mean, whatever it is, to make a presentation in front of people, that's truly courage when someone has to push through that. And sometimes we don't see the people around us who are having to experience courage to live every day. We only see the people who do the famous things. So I'm a big believer in respecting fear. And my friend Dan Milman, who wrote The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, says fear. What does he say? Fear is a useful soldier, but it's a terrible master. So it's how do you use the fear but not let it control your life, I guess, is his point. It's a good analogy.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Yeah. Fear, it's a sign of intelligence. It's there to make us realize that ultimately we're not in full control. And it's there to make us realize that if we're not at our best, this is what can happen. It's basically combat sport. You play hockey, you play football, but you don't play fighting. If you lose, or even if you don't lose, you the damage that you can sustain could have a dramatic effect on your lifestyle. It could even make you die sooner or create brain damage or break one of your limbs or articulation. So it could damage your life very seriously.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Just popping in to get your thoughts on this, the difference between when you are playing a sport and fighting, which is also a sport, and it's an interesting question. You know, football takes a lot of toughness. And if you're going into an important football match, you could be very nervous and you certainly can get injured. So why is it that we call some sports playing? And why would we not say I play MMA or I play boxing or something like that? And my best guess on that is if the goal of the sport is to hurt the other person, then we're not saying play. And I'm not sure if you agree with that. So we don't say play wrestling, and the goal is not to hurt someone in wrestling. You say I wrestle, the goal is to pin them. So I'm not sure if this is right. But you know, the goal of football is not to hurt the other person, but the goal of MMA is to hurt them, to stop them, either to make them injured or pass out or tap out. The goal of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is to put them in a position where you're either going to hurt them or they tap out. So, what is your thought on this? Why do we use the term play for some sports? And where should we not use the term play? And what is it that makes the difference? Give me your comments on that. I'm interested to hear what you have to say. Leave the comment in the video on YouTube. And now let's get back to the show.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

It's a sign of intelligence, it's there to show you what's the worst that can happen. And it's important that you take that and realize that it's an it's there to help you. If you don't have any fear, first, if I wouldn't have any fear, I wouldn't not think I would perform as well. I think what helped me perform at my best is the relation I have with fear. It's very unpleasant, makes you extremely uncomfortable. But for me, it's important. I need it. I need it. I need to care about what I do. I need to want it to be the best and fear of being humiliated, fear of ending up into the hospital. I need that. It put me on the edge, and that's when I perform at my best.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

I can understand that. And yes, the courage it would take to push through that danger. It is real, very real danger to your point. Stepping into a ring, you could really get hurt. There's a person who's trying to hurt you, basically. They're trying to stop you. I call it make friends with fear. You don't have to like it, but you just have to say, okay, I see you're here. I'm examining the situation. Thank you for alerting me to this danger. I'm gonna make a decision and I'm gonna move, and just try to kind of keep fear in its place. But yeah, I don't think you can push it down. I think you a crazy person experiences no fear.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

What the best you can do is to prepare yourself the best you can, build up your confidence. And confidence is not the absence of fear, it's knowing that you have what you need to succeed. So, what you can do is when it's time to do your thing, you put on a mask, you go all in, knowing that you're the best you could be, and you check mark every everything. You don't leave any stone unturned. And when you do that, it dramatically slowed the odds in your favor because you're confident, you go all in, and a lot of people. They underestimate the importance of preparation. I've seen guys beating other guys with much less skill, much less talent, because they add a better preparation.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, yeah. It goes back to I think fights are won or lost in the preparation. You mentioned one thing about preparation, which is visualization that you said some people might think is esoteric. I am completely in agreement with you, but with an asterisk next to it, which is I very much believe and do for important things in my life, visualize things. I think that's very important. When you think about it, if experience, setting aside like being in physical shape or something like that, but which is a real physical thing, but in terms of your experience of something, you gain confidence from your experience. And that experience exists in your memory and in your brain. And there's nothing to say that memory couldn't have been inserted there. What I mean is like you have a dream. You really are experiencing something, it feels real. So what happens in your thoughts is your reality. If I hit you in the head and you lose your memory, suddenly you've lost all of your experience, you've lost your confidence, nothing changed. It's what's in your head. So I believe that by getting your head straight and by visualization, that is a very valuable form of practice. That is your reality, what's in your head, with the asterisk that it needs to be based on what you know is real. So I know a lot of martial artists, you might too, who are studying various styles of martial arts, but they've never been in a fight ever. And they imagine in their head what they think it will be like. So they're mentally visualizing, but when they actually experience it, it's totally different. So I put that asterisk that you need visualization of what you will do, but it has to be based on what you know is real, like situations that are real. And I don't know if you would agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Oh, yeah. If I the more experience you have, the better you could be at visualizing because you have more frame of reference to think of because you experience it firsthand. The less experience you have on something, sometimes you might think that you your vision is accurate, but it's not. And another thing I can say is that when you visualize, it's a form of preparation. It's very important. There's three things that you need to do. Yeah, it's important to visualize how you want this thing to happen, but it's not always the reality. But it's important to do it, it's one part of the work that we just talked about. It's important also to think realistically how you think it's gonna go down. What really gonna happen in the 50-50%, like what is the most likely odds it's gonna happen? And also you have to force yourself to think what you really don't want to happen. So you have all the extremes of the spectrum. You have what you really want to happen, what you think is gonna happen, and what you don't want it to happen. So you cover all the possibilities. And by doing that, especially when you cover the negative possibility, it's you don't want to leave a traumatic experience in your head because it creates a scar. You want to build up a champion mindset. So when you force yourself to think, what's the worst thing that can happen? You have to force also yourself how you're gonna solve the problem and turn the table, turn the situation around to your advantage. If that happens, the worst can happen. What I'm gonna do in order. If I am in a fight, I get dropped. Boom. How I'm gonna cover myself, scramble back up, take control back of the fight. It's important to think of those things because it might happen. And if it happens, you know how to react. It's important to think about the worst scenario case. But not only the worst out of that situation and get back the upper end. This is very important. But you have to build up your mental in a very positive way. So you have to be very confident and be undefeated up here to have a champion mindset.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

I think that's wonderful. And coming from you, I mean, just see the results of that. Just jumping in for a second, what is the role of visualization from your point of view? I'm interested in your thoughts. Leave a comment on the YouTube video and I will read it and respond. And now back to the show. So I want to switch just a little bit to talk about just general exercise, being in shape, and how you're experiencing that. I exercise every day, always have my whole life. I was very fortunate, like I said, to start martial arts at a very young age. And people will say to me, Oh, Dave, you're so disciplined. Like you just get anywhere you are, you get out there, you go into the stairs of the hotel, whatever it is, you find a way to work out. And I always tell them, like, I'm not as disciplined as you think. I just have the habit. Like it's easy for me to do that. It would be much harder for you to do that because you don't have the habit. So I have this saying, habit gets you into the gym, which is good, but then breaking habits makes you better. Meaning, don't always do the same exercise, challenge yourself in different ways. And I'm curious your thoughts on that. If you would agree with that habit is good because it gets you to where you need to be, and then breaking the habit in terms of what you're actually doing. So you're getting strong in different directions. You don't like get into a the same thing, always the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah, I think it's uh you want to you want to create different stress on the body. There's stress that are detrimental, fighters, flight, stress, but there are stress that are beneficial. Help you create armesis, like the training, for example. It's a beneficial stress. But if you get used to do something every day, you become more efficient, and therefore it doesn't stress your body as much. But it creates, it increases your skill at doing that particular work. In training, when you want to create and develop skills, it's important to repeat the same thing every day. In martial art, for example, movement of martial art, but to be in shape in terms of athletic work, to be in shape, you need to force yourself to do different types of work to change your routine. Because you don't want it to adapt to only one particular type of work. You want to make sure you're well-rounded in everything. So you have to switch things around to create stress, to force your body to be a better adapter to those work.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

And so, what is it like for you now? I don't know if you're carrying any particular injuries from your years fighting, but how are you doing now in terms of your what are you doing to stay in shape now? I think I saw somewhere that you sprint or you do the value of sprints. I am to me, sprinting is my secret magic thing for endurance. And I haven't been able to do it the last couple months because I've got an issue with my hip that has developed. So I've changed to swimming sprints. But I'm wondering, I call it homework. It's like what you do off the mat to bring a better body onto the mat, whether you're just training for fun now or still fighting. What is the kind of homework exercise that you're doing and how is it working for your body these days?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Oh, I try to incorporate different stability and mobility exercise. And when I use weight, I try to use weight in a way, not that I'm necessarily trying to lift as heavy as possible, but I use a particular load and I try to make that load travel as fast as possible to work on explosivity, pulsing. And I think in especially in combat sport, that's the real killer. You want to be able to pulse, to change direction, to accelerate with a load. And I think that's the real key secret here. On top of that, you need to be very stable and mobile to have great mobility. So that's the whole thing, the whole concept that I'm working on. I have a program that I call the Path by GS Speed. It's online. We're teaching people how they can train and use those that same concept and incorporate that in their training routine.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Yes. So we will have links to that and anything else that you want in the show notes, and I'll be sure that I put it into my intro as well. And are you, in terms of your training now, are you thinking about just longevity? Like, are you trying to do things that you're going to be able to do into your 70s? Are you still trying to keep your edge as a fighter so you can be a sparring partner for people? Like, what's your goal in the physical that homework training that you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Well, my longevity, it's my first objective, but I try to. There's certain areas I can improve skill-wise, knowledge-wise, but I'm aware that I'm past my physical prime. So I try to delay the lost. I try to maintain what I have for as long as I give you an example. In my sprints, I don't have the same times that I used to have. But I try to maintain it. I try to delay the loss. I try to stay up there as much as long as I can, which gradually, slowly I'm declining.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I'm 63. I totally understand what you're saying. And I'm still at the point, again, like I say, I haven't sprinted in a couple months because I have this hip issue that I'm having to deal with. But I remember I used to get people like at the field commenting and saying, like, man, how many times are you doing this? I would do them like Tabata style, like sprint, then rest half the time, then sprint again, then rest half. It was just, I would kill myself. And people would say, man, you're in such good shape. And I remember the first time someone said, Man, you're such good shape. How old are you? So they're like, oh, so now I'm being impressive, not because I'm just fast, but I'm being impressive because I look like I'm an old guy who's kind of fast. But you know what? That's just the way it is. Like, yeah, the speeds are going to go down. Yes, we're going to be able to do less on the mat than we used to be able to do. But I feel like fighting, and certainly jujitsu, is all about adaptation. And I've talked about this in a couple of recent interviews with a few different people, that we've always been adapting. Even when I felt that I was my 100% best Dave that I ever brought to the mat, I could have been stronger. I could have been faster. I could have had more flexibility, but I didn't feel like I was having to adapt because I felt like I was at my best. But I was adapting to the body I had at the time. So as you get older, you have to adapt to the changes. And it's harder because you watch the times go down or your shoulder doesn't go as far as it used to, or you can't do that move again because you don't want to put your neck under threat. But you just adapt because that's what a good fighter does. And we'll be adapting until we're when we're 70. We'll still be fighting, hopefully on the mat. And we will be fighting a much more limited game because we will have adapted, but we'll be the best 70-year-old there could possibly be, right? That's my goal. Yeah, that's the goal, exactly. So, do you have any protocols for reducing inflammation in your I like fasting?

SPEAKER_00 32:42

I practice fasting when I'm four times a year. I do three days of water fast, and it really helped me to take away my inflammation.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Interesting. I do with my wife, we try to do an annual fast, which is a five-day clear broth. There's different protocols. I think the main thing that people need to know is consult a doctor, whatever. Fasting could be good, but you do need some, you need fluids, you need some sort of electrolytes and things like that. So, George, you mentioned bullying, and I know you have GSP Foundation, and this is something that you care a lot about. I care a lot about it as well. And it's what drove me ultimately to decide to protect animals. I mean, I've taught a lot of things for kids, I've taught martial arts my whole life. I'm on the board of Tough Love Fitness, which is a nonprofit here in San Francisco area that offers free training for elderly people, for women, but I kind of focused my life into wow, animals are so weak and people abuse them. And I just makes me crazy. But is the GSP Foundation something that people can support? How can people support you?

SPEAKER_00 33:42

The foundation I have is it gives money to other foundations. So I assemble the money to give money to, for example, Aleo. Like I give money to athletes that they use sport. It's they're chosen because of the results in sport and also academic results. So I think sometimes it's better to be for something than against something. Yes, I'm against bullying, but I'm trying to help bullying by encouraging people into sport. Because if they find themselves a passion, I believe it helps them develop confidence. And if they're confident, the risk of them being bullied will drop dramatically because bullied, they go after people who are weak or not confident. But if you have someone who's confident, the way he carries himself, he will not be bullied.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

I agree with you 100%. That's been my experience as well. Last question, because I know you have another uh interview you got to move on to. 30 years from now, if you could have something as your legacy besides your performance inside the cage, right? So people would remember, oh, GSB, one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. And what would you want the other thing to be your legacy of your life besides your achievements inside the cage?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Well, it changed over time. When I was young, I wanted to be the champion, that this, my ego was that. But nowadays, I think it's more important for me to be known as someone who makes a positive mark, a positive person, a good person. Help people. I think it's more important for me now than being the decorated fighter, this and that, because this will fade away. Everything we have in this world at some point will fade away. And our ego wanted, we want to live through history and time, but after in a few generations, what is important is the human side of you that is important.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

I couldn't agree with you more, and I think you're doing it, and I hope you have decades and decades left to build that legacy. I think you're already doing it. Jeremy Corbell, who connected us, had just said you're a wonderful person, and I'm so glad that we got a chance to meet. And thank you for taking the time and your busy schedule.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Thank you very much, David. Take care.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

I hope you enjoyed my talk with George St. Pierre. Check out his new GSP podcast, and you can connect with all his resources at gspofficial.com. And I'll have links to all that in the show notes. And if you enjoyed the show, please do leave a comment, subscribe on YouTube, and you can share. And if you're watching on Apple or Spotify, leaving a review really helps. I'll be back next week with more lessons from the lab. And until then, keep developing your strength, your wisdom, and go out and do good in the world.