#003: Ryan Hurst – 28 Years in Japan, 5 Black Belts & Evolving From Fighter to Healer

About this episode

Ryan Hurst shares his transformative journey from America to Japan, exploring cultural differences and personal growth through martial arts.

In this deeply personal episode, I'm joined by Ryan Hurst—gymnast turned martial artist, movement teacher, and a man who found his true home 6,000 miles from where he was born. Ryan went to Japan at 19 for a semester and stayed for 28 years, earning five black belts, becoming fluent in Japanese, and co-founding GMB Fitness, which has helped over 119,000 people worldwide reclaim their physical autonomy. But this conversation goes far beyond fitness or fighting. It's about what happens when you let a culture transform you completely—when you trade American individualism for Japanese collectivism, when you learn that silence doesn't need filling, when you discover that taking your shoes off at the door means leaving the outside world outside. Ryan shares raw truths about Japanese family life, the culture of respect that shaped him, and how martial arts became his path from seeing weakness as something to exploit to seeing it as something to heal. 🔍 Episode Contents (In Deeper): 1. The American Who Became Japanese * Ryan's journey from a semester exchange to 28 years, from toilet slippers to fluent integration * Living with his kendo instructor's family and becoming part of Japanese…

People in this episode

Host: John Patrick Morgan

Guest: Ryan Hurst

Topics covered

• martial arts
• cultural transformation
• Japanese collectivism
• physical autonomy
• personal journey

Keywords

• martial arts
• Japan
• cultural integration
• GMB Fitness
• black belts
• physical autonomy
• collectivism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: GMB Fitness

Places: Japan, Midwest

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