Sensei George Rego on the Martial Arts Mindset: Be Difficult to Harm but Easy to Respect
Jun 19, 2026Sensei George Rego on the Martial Arts Mindset
Host Pete Deeley welcomes listeners back to The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset, promotes subscription coffee and announces the new app “My Jiu-Jitsu Journey,” then interviews Sensei George Rego about his lifelong martial arts path. Rego describes walking into an old, gritty dojo as a child and feeling instantly “at home,” drawn to the combination of real physical capability and character, honor, and discipline—echoing Miyamoto Musashi’s “twofold way” of sword and pen. He discusses the unique trust of training, the deep teacher-student bond, and the grief of losing his sensei. Rego shares lessons on discipline becoming self-discipline, navigating students who disappear, and his motivation for writing “The Founding of Jujutsu and Judo in America,” including Teddy Roosevelt’s ju jitsu connections. He concludes that a strong martial artist should be difficult to harm but easy to respect.
In this episode
- 00:00 Welcome and Updates
- 01:05 Meet Sensei George Rego
- 02:01 Why Martial Arts
- 03:25 First Dojo Awakening
- 05:54 Quiet Strength Ideal
- 09:14 Twofold Way Mindset
- 13:21 Loss of a Sensei
- 15:02 Teacher Student Bond
- 19:08 Trust and Time on Mat
- 22:18 Students Who Disappear
- 23:44 Refocus on Students
- 25:07 Sensei Beyond Fighting
- 27:13 Systems and Discipline
- 29:14 Gravitas of a Master
- 31:05 Why Write the Book
- 33:53 Research and Roosevelt Dojo
- 35:05 Preserving Hidden Lineages
- 36:22 Where to Find the Book
- 36:57 Audiobook and Bestseller Run
- 38:33 Hard to Harm Easy Respect
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