Discipline And Dedication With Jason Ours

7 months ago

Keeping our bodies healthy should be of paramount importance. It means we should leave the old lifestyle and be open to change. In this episode, Jason Ours, the owner of Next Level Fitness Training LLC, emphasizes the value of discipline and dedication in keeping our bodies healthy and fit. He also shares the reason behind teaching Jiu-Jitsu and how it helps improve your health. Jason brings next-level wisdom into a healthy lifestyle you shouldn’t miss. Let’s kick into this episode and embrace the miracle a healthy body could bring for us.

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Discipline And Dedication With Jason Ours

If you are enjoying the show, be sure to leave a review, rate the show, and share the episode. It helps boost our message. You never know who's tuning in. It could help somebody in need. We have a very special guest, Jason Ours. Jason is a jiu-jitsu specialist. He's a Gym Owner and Personal Trainer out of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey at Next Level Fitness. He has changed my life for the better, and we'll get into that in this episode. He's a patient under Upper Cervical care. Upper Cervical has been able to help him turn his life around as well. You guys are going to enjoy this episode. Please welcome Jason Ours.

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Welcome, everyone, to a new episode of the show. We have one of my favorite people in the entire world on the show, Jason Ours. He is a gym owner, personal trainer, jiu-jitsu practitioner, and specialist. He is a patient of mine. He's changed my life in so many ways. It's an honor to have him on the show. Jason, how are you?

I'm doing well. Thank you. That's quite the introduction.

You are a jack of all trades, especially in the health department. Being a doctor, I sometimes ask you for some supplemental advice. You're a wealth of knowledge on recovery, supplements, and training. You have so much knowledge about a lot of things. I'm very excited to have you on the show. You are also the first and only person I have ever met from West Virginia. Where were you from in West Virginia and what was it like growing up there?

I am from a small town called Buckhannon, West Virginia. It was a nice place to grow up. It’s pretty quiet. When we got a Walmart my freshman into sophomore year, that was probably the biggest news. It was the most exciting time, but like most small towns, it pretty much killed the economy there, too. I grew up on a farm. Every day, after school, I worked there and in the summer.

What was the farm like? What did you guys grow? Did you have all the different types of animals on it, too?

Yeah. We had everything but horses. We grew everything from corn to tobacco to limes. We had two lime trees, so go figure. We had two apple trees and lots of berries. It was a great time.

A lot of farm-to-table eating.

I didn't have a store-bought egg until I was 7 or 8. I found it disgusting. I was like, “What is this?”

Did you guys feed off the cows and animals off the farm as well?

Yes, we did. We had a lot of cattle. We had 50. To me, that's a lot. We always had fresh meat and fresh chickens.

You are in West Orange, New Jersey. What is the sum or the difference you notice from eating farm-to-table food rather than going to your local grocery store?

The food tastes so much different. I try to buy locally from Jersey Farms. That's one of the perks of having a Whole Foods. If you have the ability to get local food, I always go for that. It does taste different. I do notice more nutrient deficiencies. Luckily, I have a good mind-body-stomach food connection, but it is harder to eat healthy, especially when you are not growing it yourself or putting your hands in the dirt. Honestly, putting your hands in the dirt is one of the best things you can do for your health, especially if you're having stomach problems, which I've had before having drank a lot of milk.

Talk about that. You almost died as a kid, right?

I did. I had scarlet fever from progressed strep. It was a textbook case. I had red splotches everywhere. It was a mess. I was on antibiotics for six months.

How old were you?

I was four.

I don't remember much when I was four, but when you have an event like that, can you remember anything clearly because it was such a traumatic thing,?

It is weird. I believe I was in pre-K. I remember everything before that. I remember crawling as a kid. I remember pretty much going back to school, but that period of time, that six months, I don't remember anything.

You got pulled out of school. You were on antibiotics and working on recovery. You were quarantined?

Yeah. My family, too, unfortunately. Strep, especially if you're on antibiotics and it progresses to Scarlet fever, it becomes antibiotic-resistant. It’s an antibiotic-resistant strain. Protecting other people is paramount because if another kid is susceptible to that particular strain of strep, it can cause problems like PANDAS and other stuff later on.

My next question is were there any residual illnesses after all those antibiotics? Were you chronically sick as a kid? How was that?

I had recurrent strep overgrowth. A lot of people think of strep when they have it like, “I had an infection. I took antibiotics and it went away.” What it really does is when you take those antibiotics, it helps your microbiome come back into balance, hopefully. While you might kill some of that strep off, a lot of times, it mutates and gets smarter. It doesn’t cause constant flare-ups and constant sore throats, but it still presents in other ways. One of the ways that it did for me was I lost my handwriting. I had memory issues after that. They come and go. They are weird side effects.

Strep, like other bacteria, affects people neurologically. It affects the fine motor skills. I didn't have a lot of anxiety, but it can cause anxiety, too. I was talking to a client about her kid. I asked if her son had strep throat as a kid. She's like, “Yeah,” because a lot of the symptoms he was saying he had were anxiety and problems focusing. He is very intelligent and smart but couldn't hold down a conversation. He couldn't focus at all. He also had muscular atrophy, the inability to gain muscle, and sudden losses of motor skills.

I was like, “Did he have strep as a kid?” She's like, “Yeah as an infant.” Going on antibiotics is terrible for a kid’s microbiome. Everyone that has strep at a young age like that that I've seen anyway avoids white food like bread, pasta, and cheese. They are things that aren't necessarily bad in moderation but cause other problems. Those are great prebiotics for strep strains but not great prebiotics for us.

Right around the time I met you, you were doing some gut health things and rehabilitation because of the scarlet fever you had when you were a kid. At what point did you make the connection where it's like, “A lot of this stuff is coming from the issues I had when I was a kid. I need to start taking care of my body?”

I struggled for a while. It seemed to get worse. I eat so healthy. I eat spinach, beets, and berries. Those are the staples in my diet. I eat eggs and good grass-fed meats. It's not quite like the farm but still pretty good. I eat chicken. I tried to focus on eating good quality food, but I still had some major stomach issues. I was like, “What's going on here?”

When I started looking at attacking some of that strep because I did a lot of research on PANDAS and on how to feed good bacteria while killing bad bacteria, that made a big difference. I started incorporating a lot of raw garlic, some of the occasional turmeric, Manuka honey, and then some fermented foods to help rebuild the microbiome and give oxygen to inflamed gut linings. It’s fantastic. It was a complete 180.

Eight months? That was my next question. That's not something you have a couple of probiotic drinks and then it all comes back.

Unfortunately. I find the best things to eat are kimchi and kimchi juice. I've read a lot about Lactobacillus Sakei. It's a bacteria strain that goes in your nose. You twirl it up there. It’s primarily the main bacteria in kimchi and kimchi juice. That made a big difference, too, putting it up the nose at night. I had no sinus issues ever since then. I had sinus issues. I couldn’t breathe out of the right side of my nose for ten years.

You put a little swab of the probiotic strain.

It’s on a Q-tip right up the nose.

I've never heard of anybody do that before.

I had to reach outside the box. It was an experience the first time. I've had other people do it, some of my clients who have had issues with their sinuses for longer than I did. My buddy, for the first time in twenty years, his jaw clicked open. His sinuses were very inflamed and puffed out. They went overnight.

Are you buying something from a health food store? Are you making your own strain? How does that work? Kefir or sauerkraut?

I use that Lactobacillus Sakei. You can either get it from LantoSinus or ePothex. They have there a strain of Lactobacillus Sakei.

They do a little swab up the nose?

Yeah. You put it in a little water. Use a Q-tip. Have a little bit. You want it to be pasty, not super watery. You drink the rest. That alone almost makes it so that I don't have to eat other foods, but I still do.

The way I met you was you came into the office, Upper Cervical, for upper cervical help. What were some of the things you were experiencing that Upper Cervical was able to help you with?

I had chronic headaches. It was terrible sometimes to the point where I'd be teaching a class and I had to lie down. I could not sit up anymore. I couldn’t get comfortable at night. I couldn’t sleep. I had nerve pain down my hands all the way down to my fingertips and my toes. Occasionally, I have a locked jaw. Everything on the right side of my body hurt.

Years ago, I was out of the Navy and everything. I was like, “Why am I having pain like this? I cannot get comfortable.” No massage helped. The doctors wouldn't help me. They rarely helped with anything, honestly. They are like, “Eat a vegetable.” I'm like, “I eat plenty of vegetables.” I happened to see the symptoms of it and was like, “This looks like me.” I looked at my driver's license photo. My head was cuffed to the side. I was like, “No brainer.” They were like, “How did you know that there was an issue with your neck?” I was like, “I looked like I had issues with my neck.”

You were lucky enough to land in Upper Cervical, too. Did you go to standard chiropractic first?

I tried standard chiropractic first. While it helped a little bit, it was a temporary fix for a day. It eventually caused more problems and more harm than could. I landed on Atlas Orthogonal, which happened first, but after a car accident before I met you, it didn't work after that. That thing about Atlas Orthogonal is very C1-centered. You don't deviate outside of there. The thought process is that C1 controls everything.

You had some C2, C3, and C5 show up every now and then.

For sure. It would be adjusted and then it would come right out. I'd get in the car, turn left, and knock out. I'm like, “What can I do?” I happened to look you up and was like, “Ugh.” After that, it was an instant relief. My headache was gone.

Sometimes when I see you in the office, I don't even have to ask you how you're doing because you're exactly like me where it is almost like a blank stare. It is like, “Put me back in alignment. Upper Cervical has worked wonders for you. I've told you this so many times. At the time I met you, my upper neck was in alignment, but I was in chronic pain from not doing anything. I was working, going home, and maybe going for a run. I was not really moving at all.

When I started doing jiu-jitsu with you, my whole body transformed. I was not getting that excruciating lower back pain anymore from movement and mental clarity after a jiu-jitsu workout. Everything in my life increased as I started going to your classes and doing jiu-jitsu. I didn't realize how much I wasn't moving and how that impacts your life so much. When did you start doing jiu-jitsu?

I'm glad that everything worked out in that way. We loved having you there.

I'm going to pop in every time I'm home.

My first exposure to it was in 2002. I was driving by with some of my friends. I was like, “What are they doing?”

The class was outside?

It was in July. It was outside. It was in Fortaleza. Fortaleza is beautiful. It’s on the equator. It’s paradise. It must have been 85 degrees or hotter. It was 11:00 AM. I was like, “What are they doing?” They're in a really thick gi. I did judo. I was like, “If they're not doing judo, what are they doing?” They had shorts.

I still haven't seen that.

I've never seen it since except for Sambo. I’m like, “That's jiu-jitsu.” They were like, “Jiu-jitsu?” I was like, “Jiu-jitsu like the joint lock and toss-him-off-the-train Steven Seagal stuff? I want to try that out.” I went to a class and they looked at me like, “You are American.” I was like, “That’s not important.”

You're an American. You know a couple of words in Portuguese but not really. Who knows what they were saying to you?

I could understand what they were saying. I spent enough time there.

They were like, “Let's crush this fucking American.”

The West Virginian going to Brazil and trying to speak, to them, it probably sounded like straight hillbilly. They beat me up, to say the least.

They were probably not expecting you to come back again.

I did the next day. I went every chance I could without interfering with my friends. What a great time.

Did you fall in love with it then?

I did. The thing about it is when I was in West Virginia still in high school, there was no place to do it. I told my friends to teach them what I did and they were like, “This is weird.” They weren't going to do it. It's not for everybody. After I got into college, my first instructor, Adam Coons, was a great guy. He was 5’6” and probably between 260 and 280. He also whooped me. I only beat him three times in my entire life.

The guy sounds like a brick wall.

It was always a struggle. He was a brick wall. He was a great teacher. He was a big influence in my life. If I wasn't in class, I was training in the academy.

You were training like six days a week, you said, right?

Yeah. He let me 6 days a week, 3 hours a day at least. It was hard. When you first start out, you're like, “This is awesome. I want to go every day,” and then life gets in the way a little bit. I never let that happen. I kept it up. What I found helped a lot, too, and I've carried this over for the rest of my life. You're not always going to be motivated to do something, so discipline needs to take over.

I found that putting myself in once I was able to start teaching kept me more motivated because I had to show up. Once you hit a purple belt or a blue belt, people fall off. I didn't fall off. I was lucky. I got my purple belt when I should have. I didn't have any imposter syndrome. After that, he let me start teaching. I was like, “I can't miss a class.” Even if I wanted to because I was tired and sore, I was like, “I have to show up. I have to do something because people were counting on me.” I carried that over for the rest of my life.

If you want to make sure you stick to a goal, don't add responsibilities and other aspects of your life. Narrow it into that field or goal that you have to make sure that you reach it. Especially as a business owner, I have to be more motivated than my clients. On days when they don't feel like showing up, they need someone that shows up. I have to do that. You know. As a doctor, I'm sure you get tired. You're lucky. You're in a profession where you help people. You see them come in better usually after the 1st time, 2nd time, or whatever.

To touch on that, you can love what you do, but at some point, you're going to be like, “I don't want to go. I don't feel like doing this.” Discipline has to take over. You have to show up. That's an art in itself. What is discipline, and how do you move that to the front of the line to show up?

Discipline is a way of organizing yourself into a system of things that are going to get you to a place where you want to be. That's what discipline is. I need to wake up at the same time every day, and everyone should, to get into a rhythm. That's a good place to start, honestly. If you can wake up at the same time, you’re most of the way there to doing something.

What are you going to do? You wake up at whatever time you need to. Unfortunately, if you're a new parent, babies will dictate what time you wake up. Let’s say you're not or if you have older kids, wake up at the same time every day. Get into a rhythm because that rhythm is going to lead to other things in your life. It is having time to do other things.

A lot of times, people come in like, “I don't have time to work out.” I'm like, “Do you really not? What did you do last night?” They're like, “I got home. I ate. I watched my show. I needed that time to decompress.” I'm like, “You're looking at working out as a chore and it doesn't need to be.” Honestly, this is something I've developed over time, too. Whenever people come in, you're not always going to be able to crush a workout. Do something. Stay into a rhythm. Keep a rhythm going. If you can show up whenever you don't feel like it, when you feel like it, you are going to put out something.

Sometimes, on those days when you don't feel like going, you end up having the best either class or workout.

The days you don't feel like going and you're like, “Ugh,” sometimes, that's the best. Sometimes, your nervous system is primed to go. It's amazing. Oftentimes, that happens. I remember telling you that one time. You're like, “I'm tired. I don’t feel like my best.” I'm like, “Show up. You'd be surprised. Some of those are your best classes.” Every time you did, you're like, “I killed it.”

With what you mentioned before, when you find a purpose outside yourself, something bigger than yourself, when you started teaching and you were showing up for other people, I feel like that puts things into perspective in terms of discipline as well.

That narrowed my focus. You can either rise to the occasion if other people are counting on you or you cannot. If you're the type of person that takes in too much and you try to put too much on your plate without having a scope of what you're trying to accomplish, that causes people to implode. That's a problem. Whenever people come in and they say, “I want to lose 60 pounds in 2 months,” it's been done before, but are you going to want to suffer that much for that amount of time?

This is a bad analogy, but it's one that I've heard for a long time. You can't eat the elephant in one bite. You need to take multiple spoonfuls of it, like maybe a spoon a day to get to where you want. Eventually, you will reach your goal. I try to do landmark checks with my clients. I’m like, “It's three weeks. You should be this much down in inches.”

We don't necessarily go by weight because we put a lot of muscle on, especially if they haven't done anything. If they're new to working out, they balance out. They don't change. They might lose 2 pounds in 1 month and a half or so. After that, weight starts coming off. I don't go by weight. We go by how people feel. I'm more interested in their overall health than what size they are.

You've been doing jiu-jitsu for so long. You've reached so many of your goals. Everybody, when they start, wants to become a black belt. You've competed and everything. What still brings you to the mat? Why do you still do jiu-jitsu after reaching all your goals and everything? What is it that keeps you going?

I love teaching. It's probably the most fun I have on any given day. It's been tough after shoulder surgery. I'm missing the class, but I'm still there. I still teach it. I’m not rolling. That's what makes me involved in it still. Honestly, even if I didn't teach, I would still go. It probably wouldn't be as much fun for me because I love seeing other people get better. It is something that I feed on.

Having a system of discipline, a system to get you to your goals no matter what it is, jiu-jitsu is prime for that. Systems work. Holding a mount is a great position, but what are you going to do from there? What are you going to do if this person moves to this position? Get away to get to the underhook. You got to hand fight. You got to do that. Seeing other people do that makes me very proud.

There is something about jiu-jitsu. What I love is the strongest guy doesn't always win. The fastest guy doesn't always win. It's almost like the more knowledge you have. There's no way to cheat jiu-jitsu. The only way to get better is to keep showing up. You have people that are more talented than others, but that only works until it doesn't. There's no way to cheat jiu-jitsu, which is one of the most amazing things.

It’s very fair. You're going to have your bad days like anything. You're going to have days whenever your system isn't working. You're like, “So-and-so kicked the crap out of me. I usually beat him or her.” It happens. Luckily, they're rarer this time than they were. I have days where I'm like, “Things weren't working for me too well. I couldn't get to the position I wanted to.” With experience, even you know. You've run against new people.

You almost feel like it's not working until somebody new walks in the door and you crush them.

I try to narrow my focus. This is such a bad analogy to you, but I've heard it and it fits. Jiu-jitsu is like a sandwich. The more you have already put together, adding another layer to it isn't that bad because you have your foundations. We have guard submissions getting to positions. That right there is the core of everything. If we want to add another submission or add another part to our game, it's not so hard. That provides a challenge. That keeps me in it, too. I still want to challenge myself.

It also makes every other aspect of your life so much easier. When you go to a class and you're fighting for your life and people are trying to strangle you and choke you, the rest of your day is not going to be as difficult.

We have a great community, too. Everyone that's in our classes is great. I'm lucky in that regard. All my students are great people. They are good training partners. They are out for each other. They are great friends. I consider them some of my best friends, too. That environment is very hard to find in life. Having people that you can count on, who are out for your well-being, and who give you a hard time but in the best possible way is wonderful for physical fitness and also for mental health in general.

It's all walks of life, too. It's every single walk of life coming together. There are no differences when you're on the mat. It’s everybody helping each other, which is cool to see.

We have the doctor and the IT specialist. It is things that they can have in common. It's fascinating. I recommend everyone try it. They might not like it. It's not for everybody. If you're looking to stay active, then there are not many things better than jiu-jitsu. I've had people that do triathlons come in and pass out literally.

I noticed, too, that after I started doing jiu-jitsu, I didn't love working out, but it made me want to move more. Once you get that sensation that your body's moving and everything's starting to feel better, the object in motion continues to stay in motion. You're looking at other things you can do to improve your health. I started even working out at your gym and doing training. The combination of working out and doing jiu-jitsu is unmatched. There's nothing better.

It’s amazing. It is working out, especially if you do it in a smart way. You're a professional. We want to keep your goals in alignment with your work and what you really want. You wanted to be healthier. You wanted to be stronger in jiu-jitsu. It was a great goal. A lot of times, doing more jiu-jitsu is great for people who want to be stronger, but supplementing with pull-ups, chin-ups, some hip thrusts, and basic exercises makes a big difference. A lot of people think that when they have back issues and neck issues, jiu-jitsu isn't good for them. A lot of times, it helps.

I thought it was going to be the worst thing for my neck. It made it so much stronger.

It’s surprising. It honestly surprises me, too, but the amount of rector strength it requires is fantastic.

That's the one reason I didn't do jiu-jitsu for the longest time. I was always fascinated by it, but I was like, “I can't do that. With all the neck issues I've had, there's no way I can pick that up,” and then I met you. It wasn’t a death match in my first class. I was guided and shown. I wasn't thrown into it without any help, which is important as a teacher. You didn't just toss me to the wolves. There were systems in place. In every class, I would learn more. That's what I was worried about joining a random gym. You don't know what you're walking into.

You're going to find bad ones everywhere. There are good places and bad places. Recognizing those is important. I read it every day. The instructor should have a plan for you based on your goals no matter what. What I heard from you is, “We need to do this. We need to look out for your health.” That's paramount. I understand. I have the same issues, so I did have an understanding of that.

Part of being an instructor is listening, too, because it's not about necessarily everything I want. I want people to come in, succeed, compete, and show me what's working and what isn't. I'm not always going to get that, but I can always make sure that people are happy and that they're learning. That's what I want most.

What you helped me the most with was you gave me a solid foundation of jiu-jitsu that I could carry on to other places. When I went to the new school down in Florida, I wasn't lost. I knew how to defend myself. There were people better than me, but I had a solid foundation because you taught me exactly what I needed to know to go to the next place or the next level.

That's what I want. Eventually, I want everyone to be black belts. It's not going to happen. Not everyone who comes in is going to stick with it because it can take a considerable amount of time to be a black belt as it should. That should not be handed out. You should earn them. One of the great things about jiu-jitsu is that you earned your place.

Honestly, one of the reasons I started it was because I was a little nervous walking down the street not knowing how to control people. “What if somebody grabs me? What if somebody grabs my wife?” There are a ton of people that can kick the shit out of me, but I at least have a basic understanding of what to do in a situation that I did not have before.

That's self-defense. The self-defense portion of it, too, is important. You are doing some basic striking. Jiu-jitsu isn’t the be-all and end-all of self-defense, for sure. Whether it's boxing, kickboxing, or Muay Thai, those are all great for understanding spacing and distance, knowing how to throw a punch, and having some solid core rotation. That right there, if you can have the basics in case the fight goes to the ground and be able to stand up and avoid a takedown, you've got most of the fight done.

You’d be surprised to take someone who's been doing it for two months and put them up against someone who might be overly aggressive or drunk and they would come at you. I've heard stories of some of my students coming and being like, “I was in this situation and it was one-punch-and-done.” Luckily, I haven't been in too many scenarios like that. Learn the basics.

Also, knowing exactly what you know, a black belt in jiu-jitsu and a black belt in judo, you know how to strike and everything. I feel like when you do know that, you don't go out looking for a fight. You're good. You’re more reactive to things happening to you than looking for stuff.

Brian is one of my students. He was saying that the more that he trains, the more he doesn't want to get into fights outside the gym. I'm like, “We have nice mats. Don’t be laying on concrete.” If I did a basic throw and they landed on their head on concrete, it’s done. They’re probably dead. It's a great way to end a fight, but it's also potentially life-changing in the form of whether you can live with yourself for hurting someone so seriously.

On the flip side of that, you know exactly how to take somebody down without doing that.

That comes with a lot of time. That takes a little bit more finesse. Oftentimes, when I roll with people, even brand-new, on a matted floor or a matted wall, I have to look out for them because a lot of times, they charge me. If I did a toss, they go headfirst into the wall and then they might be paralyzed. Oftentimes, I get hurt with new people because I'm trying to stop them from doing something that's going to hurt them. It takes a while for them to lose the inability to control themselves.

Everyone wants to come in and they want to feel like Superman. They want to feel like they dominated. It doesn't happen for a while. That's where we're doing the basics, learning the mount, learning guard, and learning how to escape positions. We did a lot of that. We always do a lot of that because that's the core of jiu-jitsu. If you make a mistake when you go for an arm bar and you miss it, you're in a bad position. Someone's getting to your back probably. Especially at a high level, you have to know how to escape those bad positions.

It's very easy with sports jiu-jitsu to lose the self-defense aspect. What I liked about your school is you still teach the self-defense aspect and the practical situation of why we're doing it.

We did some self-defense. We do work with weapons. I don't like working with gun defense because that's more for the military. When someone's got a gun, you give them what they want. Any club-based weapon or a knife even, those are touchy. If someone puts their hands on you, you should know what to do. Oftentimes, trap. Put your hands up, like, “You don't want any of this,” and then look for the time to counterstrike. A lot of jiu-jitsu is position-based. Always be in a good position, whether it's on your feet or on the ground. Oftentimes, when you get to the underhook and get the arms above the head, it’s hard for people to fight back.

At the end of all my shows, I like to ask all my guests, “What is one piece of advice that has resonated with you over the years that you would like to gift the audience?” It could be anything.

There are so many. Narrowing this down is going to be tough, but that's fair. It's something I already touched on. If you feel like you're lacking motivation, you need to create a system for yourself that will work to gain some motivation or discipline. Discipline is more important than motivation, for sure. Something that needs to be worked on daily, weekly, and monthly is having goals and having a system. You should stick to short-term goals if you have a problem with motivation and discipline.

A lot of times, people will do this. They look too far ahead. They are like, “I want to be here for this many years,” but what are you doing this week to do it? A lot of people financially, if you have a problem with spending, save an extra $20. See if you can spend $100 less. Start short-term, start small, and then build discipline that way. Don't try to take on too much because people overreach all the time. That's most of my job. It is keeping people centered. Keep your world small.