Dave Camarillo, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo coach known for training Mark Zuckerberg and some of the UFC’s top star, has a clear stance on children and martial arts: it should not be optional.
Appearing on the Tim Ferriss Show, the founder of Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu made his position plain when discussing his own upbringing and his approach to raising his son.
“I don’t think that should be an option,” he said of training for children in his household. “Like it’s not an option for me for a child to go to school. It’s the same with training.”
Camarillo speaks from personal experience. Growing up, his parents enrolled him and his older brother in judo from an early age, and the discipline became woven into daily life.
“My parents, I think, were brilliant in that they put us in martial arts and it became like brushing our teeth,” he told host Tim Ferriss. “You’re not going to get out of brushing your teeth. You’re not going to get out of going to school. As a kid, you’re not going to get out of doing judo.”
The results, he argues, speak for themselves. Camarillo has spent years teaching children at his academies in Pleasanton and San Jose, watching firsthand how consistent training transforms young people.
“When I talk about kids who go through training, hardcore training like I have, physically on a physical realm and many times on a mental realm, they are so beyond their peers,” he said. “Try to bully one of my students. It’s just not going to happen.”
For Camarillo, jiu-jitsu stands above other martial arts for children and adults alike because of what he calls its “universal usage.” Whether it is competitive sport, self-defense, or MMA, the art provides tools that apply across a wide range of real-world situations.
He made the case directly: “If you’re telling me a 34-year-old school teacher who’s never done anything in their lives, you have to check out jiu-jitsu.”
He also values the sport’s longevity. Unlike high-impact striking arts, jiu-jitsu allows practitioners to spar with full resistance for decades without the same physical toll. For children starting young, that means a lifetime of practical skill-building.
