Zuckerberg and Fridman Roll: Why Two Busy Leaders Are Training Jiu-Jitsu

Lex Fridman opens by introducing the footage as a training session with Mark Zuckerberg, recorded shortly after their most recent podcast conversation. He describes jiu-jitsu as a martial art aimed at gaining positional dominance over an opponent and then submitting them by breaking an arm or leg, or by choking them unconscious. The submission is stopped just before that point, when the opponent taps twice to give up.

Fridman gives his own background for context. He is a black belt who has trained jiu-jitsu for more than fifteen years, plus ten more years of judo and wrestling. Zuckerberg, by comparison, has been training for just over a year, and Fridman says he has approached it with humility and a seriousness that Fridman finds truly inspiring.

Fridman also addresses the recent back and forth between Elon Musk and Zuckerberg on social media. He calls himself a longtime friend of Musk and a new friend of Zuckerberg. He says he is excited to see each of them take up martial arts in his own way and looks forward to training with both.

Fridman acknowledges that Zuckerberg and Musk run large, successful, impactful companies and are extremely busy. He still believes there is tremendous value in them practicing martial arts. In his view it will make them better leaders, better human beings, and students of human nature.

The core reason, he says, is that jiu-jitsu is humbling, at least for him, and humility is a powerful tool for innovation and leadership. He quotes the 17th-century Japanese swordsman and warrior philosopher Miyamoto Musashi: "Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world."

Fridman adds that this is still a martial art, and he also cites Musashi's line that the way of the warrior is the resolute acceptance of death. He then sets up the video as live technical training and practice of techniques under the guidance of the legendary jiu-jitsu and judo instructor Dave Camarillo.

The training footage begins with a trainer reminding the fighters that they need to grapple too, and the session moves quickly into live rounds. The audio is mostly mat noise, bells, laughter and instruction, so the story is told through the coaching. Early on a coach jokes that he thought one participant was a soccer player, and a trainer tells the pair to go.

Around the five-minute mark the coaching turns to specific positions. One cue is to sit up straight and, if that position is not there, to shoot a triangle, followed by a reminder to close the hand. A little later the coach tells a fighter to sit back and says he should now be able to finish the move.

When the bell sounds at about seven minutes, a trainer tells Zuckerberg he looks like a jiu-jitsu guy and calls his round awesome. The trainer then pairs Mark and Lex for one last round.

In the last round the coaches call out a dense run of corrections. When the opponent has a guillotine, one tells the fighter to turn away from the elbow. Another advises sweeping and getting a pin, especially when tired, with the left shoulder tight and a grip on the neck or trap.

The cues keep coming as the round goes on. Fighters are told to watch for a monkey choke, to posture up repeatedly, to keep the head down, and to apply shoulder pressure. Later the coach points out that Zuckerberg should be doing something with his other hand, or his opponent will try to manipulate him.

Toward the end the coach urges transitions and positional control: hold the bottom leg, go back in, sit on him, and get ready to spin. At about 10:30 a bystander cheers Zuckerberg on with "Nice, Mark. There it is." The coach follows with a call to step over, lift the leg and pull it through before time is called at 11:30.