What Is a PhD? And How It’s Just Like Grappling
In this episode of The Shintaro Higashi Show, Shintaro sits down with Peter Yu to explore a surprising parallel between two intense disciplines: grappling and academia. What is a PhD? And how does it compare to climbing the ranks in judo or BJJ? As it turns out, earning your doctorate has a lot more in common with martial arts than you might think.
Watch the full video here ↓
PhD Students Are the Competitors
A PhD isn’t just about learning—it’s about contributing something new. Peter explains that pursuing a doctorate is essentially entering a system where you must define your own problem, solve it, and prove your findings to your peers. It’s the academic version of developing your own unique grappling game.
“A master’s degree is like learning the system. A PhD is like building your own system,” says Peter.
Just as a judo athlete builds a specialized skillset (like Flavio Canto’s top-to-bottom transitions), a PhD candidate goes deep on a specific topic and creates original work. Your “wins” are research papers, and your “competitions” are conferences and journals.
Peer Review Is the Match
In academia, peer review is where your work gets tested. Submitting a research paper to a journal or conference is like entering a high-level tournament. The reviews are double-blind—neither the author nor the reviewer knows each other’s identity, keeping it objective.
“Publishing is like medaling,” Shintaro notes. “The journal is the tournament, and the reviewers are your judges.”
Once a paper is accepted and published, it joins the “body of knowledge,” much like a new technique enters the canon of grappling. Other researchers may build on it, or challenge it, just as competitors evolve strategies in response to dominant judo metas.
Labs Are Teams, and Advisors Are Coaches
Just like an elite grappler needs a good team and coach, PhD students are part of a lab, usually led by a professor (advisor). That advisor helps secure funding, shape research direction, and guide the student’s development.
“A PhD lab is like a dojo,” Peter explains. “You’re part of a team, but you also have to prove yourself individually.”
And if things don’t click with your advisor? It’s like being in the wrong gym—you might finish your master’s and walk away.
The Real Struggle: Uncertainty
The biggest mental challenge in a PhD? According to Peter, it’s uncertainty.
“You’re doing research no one’s ever done before. You don’t know if it’ll work. That messes with you,” he says.
Shintaro compares this to being in camp for a major tournament with no guarantee of victory. The anxiety, the pressure to perform, the self-doubt—it’s all the same. Except in academia, the matches take months or years, not minutes.
Final Thoughts: Respect the Process
Whether you’re rolling on the mat or running simulations in a lab, there’s a deep commitment to mastery and discovery. If you’re in tech, training jiu-jitsu, or just curious about how knowledge is built—this episode is for you.
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