YouSaid · the spoken record

Travis Stevens

lines on the record: 248
first: 2021-09-21
most recent: 2021-09-21
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And I think if they can cut those strings sooner, it'll allow you to get over it quicker and get to a happier place sooner. And then as long as you're focusing on what's making you happy, Things you do that make you happy will attract other people who do those things that will in turn build stronger, better relationships.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the number one thing Can tell people and how I've lived my life is you've really got to like forget everybody in your life right now, your mother, your father, your grandparents, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, whoever it is, and really decide like, what is going to make you happy? At some point in my career, The act of pushing my body to the limit made me happier than winning a Grand Slam medal. Pushing my body to the limit didn't make me happier than winning an Olympic medal. There's a balance there. And I think a lot of people struggle with living their life where they're happy and they make other people happy or take in their... Feelings into the considerations of what they need to do in their life.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then you start thinking about the physical responses. And when you do that really well, you can actually get the pins and needles and your body will start to sweat and your heart will start to race as if you're in it. Because it's not about the technique. It's more about the physical, like, what does it feel like to have your fingers ripped out of a gee in the first exchange? Now my hands can feel that. And then on a cellular level, like I fought the Olympic Games so many times to the point where it is no longer a goal, it's an anticipation.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, when I was getting ready for 2016, you think about how do you feel like standing in the chute? Like, what does your body feel like? Is your heart racing? How is your breath? Is your mouth dry? And then you think about like, okay, the ref j just started the match. What happens? Like, how was the atmosphere like? How do you emotionally respond to these things? More so than me trying to beat a specific judo player, right? Like, oh, the ref just gave you a penalty at a minute 30. Like, how do you feel?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now I'm out of the fucking worlds. But when I was in the chute, I struggled because I started allowing the Hungarian guy that I was going to face to do things to me. I would have to play defense to and then counter. It's like great, but now I'm doubting my own ability. So I went to a sports psychologist and the big game changer for me was I focus more on the emotional physical response that happens in matches rather than the actual, you know, quote unquote like Instagram picture that would have happened.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That Yeah. And so I remember I was at the World Championships. I can't remember what year it was. But I was ready. Like I was healthy. I was ready to go. And we all thought this is the year Travis wins the worlds. I go out there in the first round. I'm in the chute for like 45 minutes. The match went into Golden Score, then the next match went into golden score, and the fucking next match went into golden score. Then the referee came and told me you can't wear your gi. Then Big Jim goes, why can't he wear his gi? Any ghee that has his name on it, we're not going to let him wear. He has to wear a different ghee. So then I go, fuck you, I'm leaving, and I walked out there and I fought. I lost in Golden Square because I did a Koachi and they called it a false attack. And I went.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One of the biggest things Jimmy brought to the forefront when it came to the mental side was the visualization, right? And when I started visualizing myself winning, I started seeing more success. But once I started seeing more success with the visualization also came self-doubt. Because as I'm starting to Picture myself like I would picture myself before fighting Churches Ville. I'm going to throw him with Koshigruma and I can see it. And if I stand in the chute for too long, you start to like, but what if he counters? You go, well, if he counters with this, I'm going to counter with that, but you already let that doubt in. And then you start playing this like five-step scenario, but you still come out on top. But all that doubt has seeped into your mind, right? And a lot of people don't understand that.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Had I was a brawler before. I was like, if I threw you once, I'm throwing you again. Sometimes you get caught Why would I do that? I'm already winning.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The last 30 seconds, he changed. He started protecting his lead instead of continuing the fight the way the entire match was going in his favor. He made a mental shift, and when he made that mental shift, I beat him. He didn't know how to win the fight. He can win exchanges, but he can't win the fight. So the last thing you want to do is have to win every exchange in a match. You want to know how to kick it into sixth gear, like when to step off the gas, when to focus on gripping, when to attack, how often to attack, all those things like.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, if we had to put it down to a very simple thing, he taught me how to win. It wasn't necessarily like the technical side of Judo. Like we went over gripping, we went over this, we adapted that. The real strength to Jimmy was like, he knows how to win. And most people think, well, if I get really good at this technique, I'll be able to throw people with it and not win. That is not how the world of sports works, right? Remember in one of my YouTube videos, I was doing a breakdown of a match from the Cuba Grand Prix where I was fighting a Mongolian guy. He's kicking the shit at me. Not gonna lie. Four minutes in, like, he was just throwing me left and right. He was so fast. I felt like I just couldn't get to him.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think it shows, you know, if he actually got it, like let's go with that premise of like he earned it That just shows a level of physical persistence and mental fortitude to be able to like Take those beatings and just keep showing up until you've overcome Can now give those beatings.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Concepts together because being able to go from one to another and then back and forth. Is part of the reasons why I was successful at judo is just because. Everything I do at some point, it touches that spider web of like being able to get from one area to another. We refer to it as like a toolbox, right? You need more tools in your toolbox. But if you're always grabbing the wrong tool for that job, then you're just not going to have success”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Lose and then figure out how I'm going to win. And once I know that position is now done. Then I start with another position. And then once I've figured out how I'm going to lose and how I'm going to win, the next thing I do is I don't go to a third. I figure out the bridge between the two. At what point during my openings can I transition back into this opening?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm a huge fan of just learning new things in general, right? Like when I left Judo, like I took a job as marketing for Fuji sports. And I was getting frustrated with designers. So I learned Photoshop. I also got angry with a photographer. So now I take all the photos too. Just because I don't mind learning. You know, I've spent my entire judo career learning all the time like adding new techniques, finding new ways, practicing, developing. And so when it comes to chess, I treat it just like I do anything else. I just stick to one plan and I learn all the ins and outs of that one plan. And then I develop another plan, right? Like my practice like a London opening, for example, and just, I don't even care if I win or lose. I just want to figure out how I'm going to.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's so much wrong with it. But it worked. Because when you think about, remember what we talked about at the very beginning, he's got to get his center of gravity under his. Here's one of the top players in the world throwing another top player in the world with his hip at that guy's shoulder height and it's still working.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think he's done this particular throw, not this style of it, but Uchimata so much. That his body has adapted to be able to do this. So when people are trying to learn and like break down videos. Don't understand the power he has and what we call end range motion”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because he's leaning so far into the throw with his body weight, and he's allowing that tricep grip to rotate. That's going to draw Ungari forward. And now when you pause it right here, you think about the sheer physics to like get your body into this position. Jimmy and I were so like, when we saw this for the first time, we tried to just stand like that and we couldn't do it. left foot is pointing straight ahead His chest is perpendicular to that foot or parallel with it, right?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's supposed to be a backstep, right? Yeah. And then he goes, nope, he's bringing that foot forward. I'm just going to go for it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's still above the elbow because you can see the bend, right? And right here, see how he never put back it up a little bit? This is kind of like one of those things. Yeah, pause it right there. So when he puts his right foot down, he's pulling so hard with his back. When owner goes to put his left foot down, it never touches the mat. By putting his left foot back, it actually pulls him Garvey's foot forward So he's able to speed up. What was supposed to have been a step turned out to just in the middle of the action, he makes a split second decision before putting the foot down to just continue. He recognizes that feel in his hands”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, he doesn't actually lift him off the floor And if you look at it in like slow motion almost, Yeah, there we go. The Hungarian player was like 100% defense, and he still did this. So, right here, like press pause, this is like. Identify if you're trying to learn you don't figure out how to set it up. Because knowing how to get to the point right before you pull the trigger is probably the most important. So when we watch this play out, what Ono is going to do is he's going to pivot off his right leg right here. He's going to backstep with his left and it's going to pull Ungarve's front leg all the way forward into what we would call like a neutral square stance So he plants hard and look at it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is where you start setting it up. It's like you can see he was standing in a left handed stance, and then he changes.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When you see him with that, his gee jacket on he's a jack dude. Which is uncharacteristic of a Japanese player from back in the day, in a way changed all that. He was like, we're going to get physical to compete with the Europeans.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“His adaptability to the situations and understanding of What needs to happen in order to throw these people? I specifically watched a match with his, and I was going to do a breakdown video on it because.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I remember when we were talking about his coaching, I was like, why didn't you take this team or like, why'd you pick this team? And he's like, I can't work with those people. Like, those people are weak. They're children. Like, they don't know how to train hard.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You gotta go for a ride. You know, he was 78 kilos when he took second at the All Japans, which is an open weight class. He could throw down with anybody anyway class and still win.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm going to pick my top three. And I would go. Generationally speaking, I would pick Ono for today. Probably Iliadis for like my time frame, like the From a developmental standpoint. And then I'd probably go Koga. And then before Koga, I'd probably go Nom Like the person of that generation that people like. As a whole, in judo, respected.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The sport evolves Players that are like, if you took champions from the past and you fought them against the players of today, it's not happening. And that goes with anything, right? So every time you think of who's the best of all time, it's probably somebody within a generation or two of.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's not somebody that I don't think His results are there, but you don't really know how he got there. So it's hard for me to like, I can't see his judo. So I'm not sure”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If it's against a noteworthy player in a noteworthy position, there are a lot of highlights of people that are good judo players, but their highlights are of scrubs. On the IJF circuit. It's like great. The Japanese guy threw the guy from Senegal, Free Pone. Great. We kind of expected that. You took the world number one against the 330th person in the world. What'd you think was going to happen? When I see those highlights thrown around social media, I'm like, that's not a highlight. They might as well have just been at the dojo, like practice and throws.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What comes to my mind is like a Koga. A Namura who's a 60 kilo guy, but again, his dynamics and how long he was dominant for, like it just.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They could hang in there for a little bit, but eventually his size, like you can't control that weight. Weight moves weight. And when you have to use all your strength to keep him upright and off of you, your muscles just give out because you don't have somebody of that stature and that skill to train with, to train those muscles.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“An ability to like The act of judo of like throwing, pinning, arm locking versus can you win a judo match? Like when you look at somebody like Nomora who threw everyone he fought through three Olympics, multiple world championships, multiple things like. Up here, judo player. In the essence of judo, he can throw pin or arm lock just about anybody he steps on the mat with during his time. Tended to when you look at his judo Because of his size. Again, it's just because he's in the heavyweight category. He was so much bigger. People just couldn't handle it, and you would see really good judo players just break.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Final, or was it semi? When I looked at his draw because he decided not to compete throughout the quad and do like the bare minimum to go? Of his age, I didn't think He would have enough energy to battle his way through. Draw that he had. And sure enough, he didn't. He felt earlier than I thought, but. He's not the young athletic person he used to be. And when they changed the rules to judo, they allowed people to take people into really, really deep waters. You saw at this Olympics, which you know. Did it ruin the sport, or did it not? I'm not sure, but it was definitely difficult to watch.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I couldn't play team sports because if one of my teammates wasn't doing their job correctly, I would go play their position. I'm going to do it better than you.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I'm just wondering how the IJF, like when you look at a player stat. Is it going to be like team gold medal for the Olympics versus their own personal gold medal?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you have Namura at 60 kilos from Japan three time Olympic gold medalist, no team event. Are you going to weigh Teddy's team event at all”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure they're going to catalog that team event. Like, are they all technically Olympic champions or is France an Olympic champion?”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When you look at me now, I'm probably like 230, right? I probably have the strength of a seventy kilo judo player. The weight doesn't really do much.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In jiu-jitsu, the weight doesn't get amplified in the sport. Like the weight is just the weight, right? If you can. You can leg press 220 and you can bench 220 then. You can train with a guy who's 220. That's easy. They're not going to hurt you.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Physical, like people don't understand it, but the physical size of a 90 kilojudo player versus the physical size of an 81 kilojudo player, it's like putting a human in a human. Like there's enough. It's not like you could stand next to your friend who's 180 pounds and you could be 160 and you guys could look identical. It is different when both the 90 kilo, 100 kilo, and 81 kilo both have 6% body fat, and they're cutting into the class.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I just hear it in like young kids, even some of my own talk about where their weight's at, they almost take a sense of pride on how much they have to lose because they hear stories like this. And it's like, that's not the takeaway. I did it because I had to. I was put in a situation where like I may not have gone to this game that I moved up to 90 kilos because I wouldn't have had time to grow into the division.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's a difference between having to do it because you have to and you get through it. Than setting yourself up. To do that because you think it's the cool thing or the thing you're supposed to be doing in order to be successful. There are plenty of like. Two time Olympic medalist, I probably could have been a two time Olympic medalist had I not cut that much weight. I probably would have multiple world medals had I not cut that much weight because my body wouldn't have been that broken. There's always the other side of it. So just when you're looking at it, like,”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would tell people right now who are listening like. Don't go through that. And I think a lot of wrestlers, a lot of young judo players, a lot of young, like just combat sports people were weight classes are a thing. They almost take a sense of pride, like when I hear them talking about how much weight do you have to cut? You have to cut a pound more, it's like you've accomplished more like you're tougher. You're not There's no trophies for that”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, the who you become along the journey is really what the prize is. Like when you think about Any of them, most of the people that go through that depression after the games, it's because that is their shrine. Like that is who they've identified as that is who They've told the world, the community, their friends, their family. That's how they've identified. I've identified as the person who perseveres, overcomes, and accepts challenges. So, like, all those things are just put in a suitcase off to the side and I'm on to the next great chapter thing that I'm trying to do.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's an interesting kind of Predicament because there's like those cookie cutter answers about how proud you are and how grateful you are. At the end of the day, it's not who you are. So that skill set and that mentality that it took to accomplish that, that's who you are. And so this was just a stepping stone in who I am. So it's in the past to me. Like there's no shrine in my house that has like an Olympic medal in it. I can't remember last time I looked at it.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Never felt it. Because he didn't beat me. It's an important distinction because when I'm training and when I'm competing, I understand that I take risks and I accept those consequences. That's why I take them. That's a consequence. That's not him being the better judo player dominated a match and I didn't have an answer and then he threw me. Then I would be a little upset. Like when you're tired and somebody's coming at you and like you can't do anything about it, that's a shitty feeling.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It really requires, and you have to wrap your head around the idea of like if you want the ability to beat these people and throw these people, like you got to be willing to get thrown yourself. This isn't boxing. There's no, I'm going to stand in a place where he can't hit me and I can hit him because we have the ghee and because they can grab it, they have just as much ability to throw you as you them.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it's all he knows This is where I lose it. See how my knee hit the ground My knee wasn't supposed to touch the ground I was supposed to sit to my hip to bring him down. Something happened where my knee touched. And it didn't happen in the first one, it just happened there. Like that, we never should have been in that predicament. And that's one of the things where when you're looking at sports for anybody who's trying to improve. You have to, when you're trying to improve, you've really got to ignore the ends of the spectrums, right? The oopsies and they got lucky. Only focus on the middle, like the technique I was doing was perfectly sound. It just happened that the one oopsie happened on the stage. It shouldn't have happened on. And there's no. There's no amount of drilling that will ever Prevent that from happening”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, you have to show movement and progression. Hurt the forehead. Like, see, I threw that hand in there kind of hard. Ripping it across his face just because.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Doing both. I'm being overly physical And to a lot of the BJJ people who are watching this, they're like, oh, well, I would have done this. I would have done that. You've got to think like. If that referee who's refing the judo side of it looks at it for a couple seconds and is like, He's not really moving.”
2021-09-21 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #223 – Travis Stevens: Judo, Olympics, and Mental Toughness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source